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5 US spot Ether ETFs on CBOE to start trading on July 23

Five spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been listed on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and will commence trading on July 23, “pending regulatory effectiveness.”

According to the options exchange’s new listings, the Ether funds approved to go live by Tuesday on the platform include the VanEck Ethereum ETF (ETHV), Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF (QETH), Franklin Ethereum ETF (EZET), Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH), and the 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF (CETH).

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier approved the listing of ETH ETF from Grayscale and Proshare on the New York Stock Exchange Arca. Previously, the agency also reportedly gave preliminary approval to at least three Ether funds, including products from BlackRock, VanEck, and Franklin Templeton.

South Korea’s crypto law comes into effect

South Korea’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act has taken full effect starting July 19, the country’s top financial regulator announced.

Initially approved on July 18, 2023, the new law was granted a one-year grace period for regulatory refinement.

Under the act, customer deposits will be held in segregated bank accounts, separate from the virtual asset service provider’s (VASP) assets. VASPs will be required to maintain reserves or insurance to cover losses from hacks or technical malfunctions.

VASPs must also verify and disclose the actual holdings of crypto assets that match their customers’ assets.

Besides implementing surveillance systems and adhering to the guidelines set by the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA) — an organization representing major crypto exchanges — VASPs are urged to provide clear information to users, including Korean translations of white papers and other essential documents.

The new law also prohibits market manipulation, insider trading, and other fraudulent activities, imposing criminal penalties and fines on violators.

WazirX launches bounty program to recover stolen funds

WazirX, one of India’s largest crypto exchanges, announced a bounty program to help it recover over $230 million in digital assets stolen in a July 18 cyberattack.

The program offers two options for participants. The “Track and Freeze” bounty offers up to $10,000 worth of Tether (USDT) for providing actionable intelligence that leads to the freezing of the stolen funds.

Meanwhile, the “White Hat Recovery” bounty offers 10% of the recovered amount as an incentive for facilitating the recovery of the siphoned assets. The exchange extends this reward to the hackers themselves if they return the funds to a specified ERC-20 wallet address.

Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT noted that the perpetrator’s on-chain activity related to the stolen funds “has the potential markings of a Lazarus Group attack.”

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic also tied the Wazir X incident to hackers affiliated with North Korea.

North Korean hacking group Lazarus has been behind some of the biggest heists in the crypto industry, including the Ronin Bridge hack in 2022, when they ran off with $625 million. Before the WazirX attack, the group was also allegedly responsible for several recent hacks this year.

Byteline Rewind is a weekly roundup summarizing some of the most significant Web3 news and developments from the weekend. It is sent out every Monday morning at GST.

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