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According to The Block, the T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), jointly established by Tether, TRON, and TRM Labs, announced that since its establishment in 2024, it has frozen over $450 million in illegal crypto assets globally.The unit intercepted illegal proceeds in 2025, with a year-on-year increase of 43.9%, covering 23 jurisdictions including the United States, Spain, and Germany, and was recognized by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as "an important resource for global law enforcement agencies."T3 FCU has participated in various criminal investigations, including exchange hacks, North Korea-related activities, terrorist financing, and violent crime cases, and assisted the Brazilian Federal Police in freezing over $5.989 billion in assets, including 4.3 million USDT.

U.S. Judge Margaret M. Garnett in New York postponed the ruling on Aave's emergency application on Wednesday, which aims to unfreeze $71 million in ETH related to the Kelp DAO hacking incident, and requested both parties to submit supplemental briefs before the hearing on June 5. Aave is attempting to reclaim the $71 million in ETH frozen on Arbitrum to assist in the asset recovery efforts from this hacking incident—Kelp DAO suffered losses of up to $293 million from the hack, making it one of the most severe security incidents in the DeFi space this year.However, the U.S. law firm Gerstein Harrow LLP submitted a restraining order to the court in early May, claiming that its client has rights to the aforementioned funds. Aave then filed an emergency motion to lift the freeze, warning that if the funds are not released in a timely manner, it could lead to user liquidations and potentially impact the entire DeFi market. Judge Garnett noted in her ruling that Aave failed to adequately explain how user funds would incur "compound losses" if the restraining order remained in place. She also acknowledged the complexity of the case, the risks faced by the victims, and requested both parties to provide supplemental statements on six key issues, including: whether the hacking transaction is subject to New York state sanctuary principles, the legal distinctions between fraud and theft and what rights the hacker has over the stolen assets, which laws apply to determine the priority of claims for frozen assets, whether constructive trusts are an appropriate remedy, and whether Aave or Arbitrum can identify individual victims and proportionally return assets. Both parties must submit supplemental briefs by May 22.Meanwhile, the overall compensation work for Kelp DAO is progressing. Kelp and Aave announced on Tuesday that the rsETH held by the hacker has been destroyed on Arbitrum, and approximately $278 million in loss tokens will be restored within the next two weeks through the funds of the Aave Recovery Guardian multi-signature wallet. Once the relevant smart contracts are reactivated, all functions of rsETH will return to normal.

On May 5, the Hong Kong High Court approved the application of the Department of Justice to issue an injunction against 42 individuals and companies, including Chen Zhi, the founder of the Prince Group, who are suspected of operating a scam park in Cambodia, freezing a total of HKD 8.938 billion in assets. The frozen assets include deposits in bank and securities accounts, stocks, and properties. Among them, Chen Zhi's personal assets in Hong Kong exceed HKD 6.36 billion. Zhou Yun, who assists in managing his assets, has total assets exceeding HKD 2 billion, and her personal accounts hold the equivalent of HKD 15.92 million in Hong Kong dollars, euros, and Bitcoin. In addition, related personnel from the Prince Group, Hu Xiaowei and Li Tian, have approximately HKD 400 million and HKD 172 million in assets frozen, respectively. The court will reconvene on August 3 to decide whether to extend the injunction.

According to FinanceFeeds, the victim's lawyer from North Korea attempted to redefine the rsETH attack incident that occurred on Aave as "fraud" rather than "theft" before a hearing at the Manhattan federal court, in order to maintain a freeze order on assets worth $71 million in ETH.The lawyer argued that the attacker borrowed assets using worthless collateral and did not repay, which constitutes a fraudulent loan transaction, aiming to use these frozen assets to pay for terrorism judgment compensation under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.Previously, hackers associated with the Lazarus Group minted unsecured rsETH through a cross-chain bridge vulnerability and borrowed approximately $230 million in assets from Aave, of which $71 million was intercepted by Arbitrum developers. The victim's lawyer also questioned Aave's standing, pointing out that its terms of service state it does not have control over user assets. Additionally, DeFi United has raised $327 million, exceeding the amount in dispute.

According to Cointelegraph, Coinbase has been sued in a federal court in California, with the case involving frozen funds related to a $55 million DAI phishing theft.The plaintiffs claim that a portion of the traceable stolen funds flowed into Coinbase retail user accounts after being mixed through Tornado Cash and are currently still frozen; Coinbase stated that the assets can only be released after a court ruling on ownership.The lawsuit also states that the theft is related to the malicious wallet theft platform Inferno Drainer, and the victims had commissioned Zero Shadow and Five Stones Intelligence to track the flow of funds.

According to official news, Aave LLC has submitted an emergency motion requesting the withdrawal of the asset freeze notice issued to Arbitrum DAO on May 1, 2026. This notice attempts to seize approximately $71 million worth of ETH, which belongs to the victims of the attack on April 18.Aave stated that attackers do not gain legal ownership of stolen property merely by stealing it, as the law clearly stipulates. The assets being recovered are intended to be returned to users affected by the attack on April 18, 2026. Freezing these assets harms the users that the recovery efforts are supposed to protect.Aave has requested the court to hold an emergency hearing and temporarily lift the freeze order, while continuing to work with the Arbitrum community and DeFi United to compensate the affected users.

According to Cointelegraph, the U.S. law firm Gerstein Harrow LLP has applied to the court for an injunction to prevent Arbitrum DAO from transferring frozen Ethereum assets related to the Kelp attack.The law firm claims that its clients have obtained default judgments in three cases against North Korea, totaling approximately $877 million (including punitive damages and interest), and assert a right to claim the related assets.Previously, Kelp DAO was attacked on April 18, resulting in losses of about $292 million, which is believed to be related to the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group. Subsequently, the Arbitrum security committee urgently froze approximately 30,766 Ether (about $73 million).The incident has sparked controversy. Some community members believe that if the injunction takes effect, it will delay the return of funds to the victimized users and shift the North Korean-related debts onto secondary victims. Previously, Aave Labs had proposed to unfreeze the funds and inject them into a compensation fund to restore the damaged assets.It is worth noting that Gerstein Harrow has previously filed claims regarding assets stolen by North Korean-related hackers and frozen by cryptocurrency platforms, including the 2023 Heco Bridge incident. Industry analysts believe that this case may have a demonstrative impact on the disposal of DAO assets and the definition of cross-jurisdictional claims.

MegaETH executive PaperImperium disclosed on platform X that documents from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York show that the U.S. court has issued an injunction to Arbitrum DAO, prohibiting it from transferring approximately $71 million in ETH assets that were frozen during the KelpDAO hacking incident. The plaintiffs are attempting to use these funds to enforce unpaid judgment compensation related to North Korea's involvement in terrorism, kidnapping, and other cases over the years, and have applied to issue legal notice to Arbitrum DAO through alternative service, treating it as a "partnership organization" that can be held accountable.The court documents also indicate that Arbitrum DAO has a Security Council governed by ARB holders, which has the ability to take action in emergencies. Therefore, if relevant members refuse to cooperate, they may face legal liabilities such as contempt of court. The market believes that this case may become an important precedent for the U.S. judicial system directly constraining DAO governance structures and further highlights the compliance pressure on DeFi protocols within the real legal framework.

MegaETH supervisor PaperImperium disclosed on platform X that documents from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York show that the U.S. court has issued a restraining order to Arbitrum DAO, prohibiting it from transferring approximately $71 million in ETH assets that were frozen during the KelpDAO hacking incident.The plaintiffs are attempting to use these funds to enforce unpaid judgment compensations related to North Korea's involvement in terrorism, kidnapping, and other cases over the years, and have applied to serve legal notice to Arbitrum DAO by alternative means, treating it as a "partnership organization" that can be held accountable. The court documents also indicate that Arbitrum DAO has a Security Council governed by ARB holders, which has the ability to take action in emergencies; therefore, if relevant members refuse to cooperate, they may face legal liabilities such as contempt of court. The market believes that this case may become an important precedent for the U.S. judicial system directly constraining DAO governance structures and further highlight the compliance pressures DeFi protocols face within real legal frameworks.

According to market news, the Arbitrum committee voted to unfreeze $71 million worth of Ethereum to mitigate the $290 million loss caused by the Kelp DAO vulnerability.

Crypto analyst Ali Martinez stated that as May begins, Bitcoin is still oscillating within a narrow range, while order clusters at key price levels are forming, which may become the core area for large-scale liquidations.Upper resistance: $80,000. This position serves as a major psychological and technical resistance, gathering a large amount of short liquidity. If broken, it may trigger a short squeeze, pushing the price quickly up to $84,000. Lower support: If $80,000 fails to break, the lower liquidity range includes $75,000, $73,000, and $70,000, which may support a pullback. He pointed out that the current market is in a tug-of-war phase between bulls and bears, and if the price effectively breaks through the $75,000 to $80,000 range on a daily basis, it may determine the overall trend for the month.

According to an official announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice, the "Fraud Center Strike Force" announced today a series of coordinated actions against Southeast Asian criminal organizations: two Chinese managers, Huang Xingshan and Jiang Wenjie, working at the "Shun Da Fraud Center" in Myanmar, have been indicted for allegedly forcing trafficked laborers to engage in cryptocurrency investment fraud and have been arrested in Thailand; a Telegram channel with over 6,000 followers, used to lure individuals to Cambodia's fraud centers for forced labor, has been shut down; and 503 fraudulent domain names disguised as legitimate investment platforms have been seized.On the financial side, the task force has frozen over $701 million in cryptocurrency suspected of being related to fraud and money laundering, and through "Operation Level Up," notified 8,935 victims, estimating the recovery of potential losses at approximately $563 million. Additionally, the U.S. State Department announced a reward of up to $10 million for information related to the "

Tether announced that it has supported the U.S. government's freeze of over $344 million USDT, involving two wallet addresses. This freezing action was carried out in collaboration with the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and U.S. law enforcement agencies, aimed at preventing further movement of funds.The freeze was based on information provided by multiple U.S. law enforcement agencies, linking these addresses to illegal activities. Tether stated that when wallet addresses are associated with sanctions evasion, criminal networks, or other illegal activities, the company will take freezing measures. This has now become Tether's routine response to legitimate requests from U.S. and global law enforcement agencies.Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated, "USDT is by no means a safe haven for illegal activities. We take immediate action when there are credible links to sanctioned entities or criminal networks. Recent events have shown what can happen when platforms fail to act swiftly, law enforcement fails, users are exposed, and trust is lost. Our approach is different; we combine blockchain transparency, real-time monitoring, and direct coordination with law enforcement agencies to prevent the flow of funds. This is a responsibility we take very seriously as one of the largest issuers in the market."This action is part of Tether's cooperation with U.S. law enforcement agencies. The U.S. Department of Justice had previously confirmed Tether's support in law enforcement actions, successfully seizing nearly $61 million and approximately $225 million in "pork scam" funds.

According to MLM monitoring, Tether has just frozen two wallets on the Tron chain, involving funds of up to 344 million USDT.

According to The Block, the price of Bitcoin has surpassed $78,000, and the Fear and Greed Index has moved out of the extreme fear zone. K33 Research indicates that Bitcoin may maintain its upward momentum, with a high likelihood of more short squeezes occurring in the short term.The K33 report points out that in the past week, interest rates have continued to decline, while prices have climbed to a three-month high. The open interest has been steadily increasing, and the lows are also being raised. The leverage ratio is gradually rising, combined with extremely low interest rates, indicating that short positions are steadily increasing, which not only raises the possibility of future short squeezes but also increases their potential scale.

The Spark strategy chief monetsupply.eth tweeted criticism of Aave's decision to unfreeze the core Ethereum WETH market, arguing that this decision is poorly considered under current conditions. After the unfreezing, it will allow LST/LRT holders to establish extremely high-yield looping positions, resulting in continuous liquidity shortages for aEthWETH, making it difficult for ordinary users to withdraw normally.Taking weETH looping as an example: weETH is currently trading at a 0.5% discount, and if it returns to par within a month, the implied yield is about 6%. Combined with the basic staking yield, the total yield can reach 8%. Meanwhile, the maximum borrowing rate for core ETH on Aave is 5.15%, allowing loopers to earn an additional 2.85% yield; weETH can be leveraged up to 14 times, resulting in a maximum annualized yield of about 45%.He believes that this essentially provides LST/LRT loopers with a "free lunch," while further deteriorating the user experience for aWETH holders and stablecoin borrowers.

MonetSupply, the strategy director at Spark, posted on platform X that Aave has decided to lift the freeze on the Ethereum Core WETH market. Under the current interest rate model, LST/LRT holders can execute high-leverage circular strategies using assets like weETH, taking advantage of the approximately 0.5% discount on the weETH market price and the Aave ETH borrowing rate cap of 5.15%, to achieve an annualized return potential of about 45%.Currently, the utilization rate of the aEthWETH market has reached 100%, making it more difficult for regular depositors and stablecoin borrowing users to exit or refinance from aWETH. MonetSupply pointed out that this decision provides arbitrage opportunities without addressing the liquidity tension of aEthWETH, weakening the liquidity and experience for regular users.

The Arbitrum Security Committee announcement has taken emergency action to rescue 30,766 ETH stored at the Arbitrum One address, which is related to the KelpDAO vulnerability. With the assistance of law enforcement, the Security Committee identified the attacker and has always ensured that the safety and integrity of the Arbitrum community are maintained without affecting any Arbitrum users or applications.After extensive technical investigation and review, the Security Committee identified and executed a technical solution to transfer the funds to a secure location without impacting the state of any other chains or Arbitrum users. As of 11:26 PM Eastern Time on April 20, the funds have been successfully transferred to an intermediate frozen wallet. The address that originally held the funds can no longer access them, and only the Arbitrum governance body can take further action to transfer these funds, which will be coordinated with the relevant parties.