Weekly roundup: MetaMask investigated over North Korean consultant connection (cleared), Knaken exchange bankruptcy raises MiCA concerns, and Injective registers as SEC transfer agent for tokenized securities.
Regulation & Gov ·
Consensys initiated an investigation after discovering that a consultant working with MetaMask had links to North Korea, a nation with a history of deploying hackers against cryptocurrency platforms. The consultant, introduced through a third-party provider, contributed code to the wallet for approximately a month before access was revoked. Consensys determined there was no evidence of stolen assets, data breaches, malicious code insertion, or user harm, though the company temporarily halted product releases to conduct the review.
A Rotterdam court ruled that the Dutch exchange Knaken must declare bankruptcy after roughly €7 million in customer funds went unaccounted for. The platform ceased operations in June and remained inaccessible to users for approximately one month. The court found the exchange lacked sufficient assets to reimburse all customers, raising questions about the adequacy of the European Union's recently implemented MiCA regulatory framework.
Injective filed a Form TA-1 with the SEC to register as a transfer agent, seeking to record ownership of tokenized securities directly on-chain. If approved, the blockchain would assume traditional transfer agent functions including maintaining shareholder records and processing transfers while operating within regulated US capital markets. The approval status and timeline for Injective's registration remain pending.