Malware Surge Tied to State Actors
North Korean and Iran-linked hackers were responsible for the majority of a 420% increase in malware on public blockchains this year, according to a Chainalysis report. State-linked hackers accounted for roughly two-thirds of new activity in which attackers stored malware instructions or infrastructure information on public blockchains.
Chainalysis identified UNC5342, a North Korea-linked group, as responsible for previously unattributed activity spanning Tron, Aptos, and BNB Smart Chain. The use of public blockchains increases the durability of malware campaigns because stored information remains accessible after domains, servers, or code repositories are taken down. In 2025, North Korean hackers employed a technique called EtherHiding to place crypto-stealing code in smart contracts.
CoinEx Shuts Operations
CoinEx, a Hong Kong-founded cryptocurrency exchange, announced it will cease operations after nine years. The exchange cited falling trading volumes and liquidity during the bear market, alongside rising regulatory and compliance costs, as reasons for the decision. Withdrawals remain open until December 22.
Asia-Pacific Regulatory and Market Developments
Singapore Exchange became the first major Asian traditional finance exchange to receive approval from the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission to provide Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures to U.S. institutions.
India's securities regulator and central bank launched a tokenized corporate bond pilot, with three companies issuing a combined 10.25 billion rupees, approximately $107 million, through the new market infrastructure.
Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new stablecoin regulations that would prohibit users from transferring more than 5 million baht per day, worth around $151,000.
Bitcoin Suisse announced plans to shift up to half of its Swiss jobs to Bratislava and Vietnam, establishing a new center in Vietnam for back office and administrative roles.
Binance signed a memorandum of understanding to help develop the Vietnam International Finance Center in Ho Chi Minh City.
