[News Brief] Apr 22, morning | U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “The CLARITY Act Is in the Final Stretch... Urges Passage Before Congressional Recess”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “The CLARITY Act Is in the Final Stretch... Urges Passage Before Congressional Recess”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill, has entered its final phase and urged Congress to pass it before recess.

According to Cointelegraph, Bessent said lawmakers have entered the final stage of negotiations over the bill. The CLARITY Act is designed to clarify the regulatory framework for digital assets in the United States, and the market is closely watching whether it will help ease regulatory uncertainty.

Coinbase Pushes for Integrated Exchange in Canada for Crypto, Tokenized Stocks, and Prediction Markets

Coinbase is working to build an integrated exchange in Canada that combines cryptocurrency, tokenized stocks, and prediction market trading.

PANews, citing Bitcoin Magazine, reported on the 22nd that Eric Richmond, managing director of Coinbase Canada, disclosed the plan.

Richmond said blockchain technology enables 24/7 trading, reducing the time and access constraints of traditional banking and stock markets. Coinbase is working with Canadian regulators to support the service.

Coinbase has previously expanded services related to prediction markets and stock trading in the United States.

Trump Fully Waives $100 Million Fine Against BitMEX Parent Company

According to Bloomberg, President Trump has fully waived a $100 million fine imposed on HDR Global Trading, the parent company of BitMEX.

HDR Global Trading had been set to pay the fine for anti-money laundering violations, and on March 27, 2025, President Trump signed pardons for the company and four former executives, including co-founder Arthur Hayes.

According to the report, discussions over the corporate pardon began in early 2025, and precedent involving corporate pardons by the British monarchy was reportedly cited within the White House.

BitMEX had previously listed a trading product linked to Trump’s memecoin in January 2025. Bloomberg said the total amount of fines forgiven through corporate pardons during Trump’s second term has reached about $200 million.

U.S. Prosecutors and Secret Service Freeze More Than $25 Million in Crypto Linked to International Fraud Ring

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said it has frozen more than $25 million in cryptocurrency as part of an investigation with the U.S. Secret Service into an international fraud ring.

According to the source, prosecutors filed five civil forfeiture complaints in federal court in the District of Columbia on July 21, 2026. The funds are suspected proceeds from crimes including fake cryptocurrency investment platforms and online romance scams targeting residents of the United States and Canada.

Investigators believe the criminal organization used multiple wallet addresses and mixing services to conceal the origin of the funds. The move is part of the U.S. “Fraud Center Strike Force,” launched in 2025, whose total recovered assets have surpassed $800 million.

The U.S. Secret Service said the investigation is ongoing and that it will continue coordinating with international law enforcement agencies to track down those behind the fraud network.

ORO Loses $630,000 in Cryptocurrency in Suspected North Korean Hacker Attack

AI shopping agent developer ORO said it lost about $630,000 worth of cryptocurrency in an attack believed to have been carried out by a North Korean hacking group.

According to PANews, citing Protos, the attacker used a compromised Telegram account to send an ORO employee a fake Microsoft Teams link and induced the installation of a malicious extension. After exfiltrating data for about a month, the attacker stole 147,000 ALPHA tokens on July 13.

ORO said it believes the attack was likely carried out by the North Korean hacking group Sapphire Sleet. The company explained that due to the lack of hardware wallet support in the Bittensor protocol, owner keys were temporarily stored in a software wallet, during which internal security principles were not properly followed.

ORO said it is tracking the stolen assets with exchanges, investigators, and Bittensor ecosystem partners. It added that its subnet remains fully operational and that other wallets, user data, and validator signing keys were not affected.

Suspected Exploits Detected on BSC-Based GemJoin and 42DAO, With Estimated Losses of About $900,000

Security monitoring firm TenArmorAlert detected suspicious attack activity involving BSC-based GemJoin and 42DAO, PANews reported.

Estimated losses from the incident are around $900,000. The specific attack method and whether there was additional damage have not yet been confirmed.

Whale Alert: 191.33 Million USDC Transferred From Aave to Anonymous Whale Wallet

According to Whale Alert, 191,337,360 USDC, worth about $191,384,716, was transferred from Aave to an anonymous whale wallet on the 21st.

Large stablecoin movements can be interpreted as a signal of market liquidity depending on whether they are deposited to exchanges or followed by buying or redemption activity.

Source: Whale Alert

Whale Alert: 2,663 BTC Transferred From OKX to Unknown Wallet

According to Whale Alert, 2,663 BTC was transferred from OKX to an unknown wallet on the 21st local time. The transfer was worth about $176,738,266.

Large transfers from exchanges to external wallets can be interpreted as custody-related moves or a possible reduction in selling pressure, though the actual purpose of the transfer has not been confirmed.

Source: Whale Alert

Morgan Stanley Buys 115 More BTC via Spot Bitcoin ETFs

According to Odaily, Arkham data shows that Morgan Stanley purchased about 115 additional BTC via affiliated spot Bitcoin ETFs last week.

As a result, Morgan Stanley’s total bitcoin holdings increased to 5,876 BTC, valued at more than $389 million.

Growing institutional holdings of bitcoin through spot ETFs are often interpreted as a sign of long-term market demand.

S&P Dow Jones and Pantera Jointly Launch ‘S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index’ for Institutions

S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital have jointly launched the ‘S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index’ for institutional investors, The Defiant reported.

The index includes tokens and companies that generate real use cases and revenue through a fundamentals-based screening process, excluding bitcoin and memecoins. The initial basket contains 18 components, including Hyperliquid, Solana, and Aave.

Inclusion criteria include posting positive protocol revenue over multiple consecutive quarters. On-chain data provider Artemis verifies the relevant revenue data.

Pantera said it is currently in discussions with asset managers about products such as ETFs based on the index, though no tracking products have been launched yet.