court

The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that it is working with the two largest stablecoin issuers globally to attempt to recover nearly half of the stolen funds from the Binance hacking incident. In this attack, hackers stole over $6 billion in assets from the Binance cryptocurrency exchange.The U.S. Department of Justice has obtained court authorization to seize or restrict the disposal of $1.2 billion from the $2.7 billion that Tether and Circle Internet Group immediately froze following the hacking incident on October 29. Investigators are still tracking the remaining funds. The Federal Bureau of Investigation refers to the related hacking group as TraderTraitor, which is currently attempting to transfer and launder the stolen assets through cross-chain bridges, mixers, and cryptocurrency exchanges.

This week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submitted a court brief (amicus brief) in support of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Previously, the CFTC was sued by the Capital Markets Alliance (CMA) last week, which sought to overturn the CFTC's approval of individual stock perpetual derivatives. CMA is an industry organization with members including Cboe and Citadel Securities.In the brief, the SEC rebutted CMA's claim that the CFTC has "gone rogue," stating that the CFTC's new rule changes are also subject to SEC review, and that the SEC and CFTC frequently collaborate, which is crucial for regulating stock perpetual contracts. The SEC indicated that its brief clarifies that the description of "CFTC out of control, SEC absent" is incorrect. CMA claimed in the lawsuit that the CFTC violated the Administrative Procedure Act because these perpetual derivatives should fall under SEC jurisdiction and requested the court to "overturn the approval."Subsequently, several cryptocurrency companies, including Coinbase, Kraken's parent company Payward, Kalshi, DRW Holdings, Paradigm, and Jump Trading, submitted a joint brief opposing CMA. Among them, Coinbase, Kalshi, and Payward have submitted applications to the CFTC for listing stock perpetual contracts linked to U.S. stocks, which were considered approved on November 2. The economic advocacy organization Better Markets and former SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee also submitted a brief, arguing that these new products should be regulated by the SEC. Better Markets stated that these products are essentially security swaps and should be regulated by the SEC to provide strong investor protection.

According to a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the operator of the sports prediction market Novig, Ludlow Exchange, had its application to block a preliminary injunction regarding the applicability of betting laws in New York State denied.The court determined at the preliminary injunction stage that Novig's sports event contracts do not fall under the definition of swap contracts as defined by the Commodity Exchange Act, allowing New York State to require it to obtain a state betting license or prohibit the relevant contracts from being listed and traded in its market. The ruling document shows that Novig was designated as a contract market by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in June 2026 and began offering sports event contracts to New York customers in August.

According to The Defiant, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in Northern California approved the preliminary injunction request from the California tribe on November 4, prohibiting the event contract platform Kalshi Inc. and KalshiEX from offering sports event contracts on the Indian land of the plaintiff tribe.The injunction covers sports contracts for baseball, tennis, soccer, basketball, golf, esports, racing, boxing, and UFC, but is limited to the land of the plaintiff tribe and does not apply to the entire state of California. Previously, Kalshi stated that it had proactively blocked trading in the relevant areas, but the tribe questioned its effectiveness. According to the injunction, the tribe must provide boundary maps by November 13, and Kalshi must report compliance steps within 21 days.

According to CryptoBriefing, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Court released a white paper on "Dispute Resolution Oracles" (DRO) on November 5, proposing a scheme that allows off-chain court or arbitration decisions to directly trigger the enforcement of on-chain tokenized assets. This mechanism is entirely based on the principle of voluntariness, requiring parties to designate a dispute resolution forum in advance, with the DIFC Court serving as the first qualified provider.The DRO itself does not actively change assets but is responsible for verifying execution instructions and generating auditable execution records on the participating blockchain; actual dispute resolutions, arbitration, and mediation will still proceed in the traditional manner. The white paper positions this framework as an open technology and legal standard and outlines five core elements: jurisdictions with enforcement capabilities, adoptable open standards, a qualified provider registry, a controlled pilot program, and international dialogue on mutual recognition.The proposal was announced at the Dubai Future Tokenization Forum and is part of the DIFC Court's growth strategy from 2026 to 2030.

According to Digital Asset, the Civil Division 63 of the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea dismissed all lawsuits filed by Dunamu, the operator of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, against its competitor, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, and ordered Dunamu to bear all litigation costs.Previously, Dunamu accused Bithumb of copying its API documentation and sought compensation of approximately 200 million Korean won (about 140,000 USD).

According to a case published by the People's Court of Fusui County, Guangxi, in 2020, a couple in their seventies, referred by an acquaintance, participated in an overseas virtual currency mining machine financial management project, initially investing 4,200 yuan and successfully recovering the principal, followed by additional investments of over 60,000 yuan.In December 2020, the involved platform was shut down, and the funds could not be withdrawn. In early 2026, the couple sued the investment introducer and the actual operator, demanding the return of all investment funds and interest.The court found that the virtual currency investment behavior involved violated relevant financial regulatory provisions and contravened public order and good morals, rendering the entrusted financial management contract invalid. The investment losses primarily stemmed from the illegality of virtual currency trading itself and platform risks, rather than being directly caused by the actions of the trustee. Based on this, the court dismissed the plaintiff's lawsuit, and the second instance upheld the original judgment, which has now taken effect.

According to the ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the court denied the request for an injunction by Coinbase Financial Markets and Kalshi during the appeal period. The related cases involve the enforcement of prediction markets in Connecticut and New York.The court is simultaneously hearing three appeals, which involve the case against Coinbase in Connecticut, as well as the cases against Kalshi in Connecticut and New York. The judges stated that the applicants failed to demonstrate the necessity of issuing an injunction during the appeal period; the ruling did not make a decision on the substantive issues of the appeal and did not require the platforms to cease trading or close existing positions.

According to Decrypt, Judge John Bodurtha of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, Canada, ruled to return a laptop containing a Bitcoin wallet to the family of William Sandeson, who has been sentenced to life in prison.Sandeson killed Dalhousie University student Taylor Samson in 2015, and the prosecution failed to prove that the Bitcoin involved was related to the murder, drug trafficking, or criminal proceeds, thus the court determined there was no basis to continue seizing the wallet.

Cryptocurrency bank Custodia Bank has submitted a reply brief, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling allows regional Federal Reserve Banks to refuse to open master accounts for depository institutions that meet the statutory conditions.

The dispute resolution protocol Internet Court, supported by GenLayer, allows AI agents to enter into contracts with humans, with funds held in escrow and released once the terms are determined to be fulfilled. This protocol has been in a testing phase for the past year and currently processes about 12,000 rulings daily. It has been used to verify user-uploaded photos for Collective Memory and to handle disputes on argue.fun, with the mainnet expected to launch next month.Disputes are submitted to a jury composed of 5 randomly selected GenLayer validators, each running different AI models, including a series of Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, and DeepSeek. Initial rulings are completed within minutes by a simple majority, after which appeals can be made to a broader jury of 11, 23, or even up to 1,500 AIs; finality is usually reached within 30 minutes, with a maximum of about 3 hours. This mechanism draws on philosopher Condorcet's jury theorem to reduce single model bias through multiple independent evaluators.The Internet Court open alliance currently has 35 members, including ZKsync, NEAR, Consensys, and UMA. GenLayer has also launched intelligent contracts that support subjective judgments, capable of processing code, natural language, accessing the internet, and understanding images. GenLayer co-founder and CEO Albert Castellana believes this technology can be used to expedite dispute resolutions in prediction markets but also states that AI judgment is still insufficiently reliable to identify deepfakes or resolve neighborhood boundary disputes, with model bias and "representation convergence" potentially leading to groupthink issues.

According to Thai media Thaiger, the Supreme Court of Thailand ruled in judgment No. 4929/2569 that Bitcoin existing in electronic systems is considered "property" under criminal law. In this case, the victim exchanged $50,000 (approximately 1.878 million Thai Baht) for Bitcoin and then transferred it to a fraud gang.The court held that Bitcoin has market value, can be exchanged for cash, and can be held by the general public. The value lost by the victim did not disappear due to the change in form, thus meeting the elements of property crime. The judgment also cited a letter from the Bank of Thailand stating that although cryptocurrencies are not legal tender for debt settlement, they have market trading value.The court emphasized that the key issue is whether it has a price and can be possessed, which is a different question from whether it is a legal means of payment.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced a memorandum of understanding with the NBA to jointly maintain the integrity of professional basketball events in prediction markets. According to the agreement, both parties will share information, maintain regular communication on integrity matters, and collaborate to ensure that relevant markets are fair and transparent. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig stated that the NBA, along with MLB and NHL, has taken a responsible step to protect sports integrity and market participants from abuses such as insider trading and fraud, and thanked NBA President Adam Silver for prioritizing the integrity of professional basketball and the U.S. financial markets.The agreement reflects that betting on sports event outcomes is rapidly migrating to CFTC-regulated platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket, where users can trade event contracts based on real-world outcomes. Such memorandums of understanding with regulatory agencies aim to establish channels for marking suspicious activities. Previously, the NHL became the first major league to authorize trademarks for prediction markets, while MLB signed an integrity agreement after collaborating with Polymarket. The NBA's involvement is particularly noteworthy, as the league is still affected by one of the largest betting scandals in recent years: in October 2025, an FBI operation arrested Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and a coach, accusing them of participating in a gambling scheme to manipulate game outcomes to influence betting.This collaboration comes amid a jurisdictional dispute over prediction markets. The CFTC recently defined event contracts as swaps within its jurisdiction and excluded casino-style gambling; the lawsuit between the NFL and Kalshi has drawn the attention of the Supreme Court, with the NFL to date refusing to sign related agreements, contrasting with its cooperation with the NBA. Bernstein analysts expect that by the end of this decade, prediction markets could generate billions of dollars in revenue, with new participants continuously entering, and Blockchain.com is one of the latest seeking CFTC approval to offer event contracts.

According to the Cambodia-China Times, the Cambodian court has frozen nearly 1 billion dollars in assets related to the Prince Group case, involving buildings, casinos, and thousands of real estate properties. The investigation also found that there are as many as 198 affiliated companies of the group, of which 98 are located in Cambodia, and another 100 are distributed overseas.In addition, an important member of the Prince Group, Ing Dara, has been arrested in Cambodia and transferred to the court for legal processing. Two other individuals involved, Huang Ron and Eang Soklim, have also been arrested, with Eang Soklim being identified as the nominal head of the "No. 8 Fraud Park" in Banteay Meanchey Province.

According to Malaysian media reports, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the government must return a total of 497.82 bitcoins to 9 victims of an investment scam. Based on the 2023 valuation, this batch of bitcoins is worth approximately 17.6 million USD.The court found that between 2015 and 2016, the 9 victims were deceived by Fadino Khairuman and Asyran Ismail, depositing a total of 362.04 bitcoins into the Bitkingdom wallet, with the promise of a daily 1% investment return. The relevant bitcoins were subsequently transferred to the wallets of the two individuals and were ultimately seized by law enforcement.The judge pointed out that the bitcoins involved underwent multiple transactions and transfers, involving a layered processing of funds, but the victims did not lend bitcoins to the defendants; rather, they lost their assets due to fraud, thus holding legitimate rights to the seized assets. The court ruled that the 497.82 bitcoins should be distributed according to the proportion of each victim's initial investment, with each person receiving between 0.68% to 11.7% of the total amount.

According to Caixin, just four days after the High Court of England ruled that the property rights dispute over more than 60,000 bitcoins in the Qian Zhimin case is subject to Chinese law, approximately 16,000 Chinese victims participating in the UK recovery have been given the opportunity to continue challenging this ruling.The High Court of England has held another hearing, and the judge has approved the Chinese victims to appeal the legal applicability ruling made on October 12. Lawyers from both sides also discussed issues related to the litigation costs of the previous legal applicability dispute, whether the approximately 16,000 individual applicants would continue to pursue recovery, and how to withdraw, among other matters.

According to Bloomberg Law, Arkansas and its Oil and Gas Commission requested the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday to overturn a lower court order. The order prohibits the enforcement of the state's law that restricts foreign entities from holding digital asset mining operations. The lower court previously determined that the law may have been rendered ineffective by federal regulations taking precedence.Joseph Nelson from the Arkansas Attorney General's Office rebutted this determination. He stated that the law falls within the core area of state police power, and the restricted entities are consistent with countries that the federal government has identified as threats to national security. The law was passed in 2024 and prohibits citizens or businesses from countries subject to U.S. Department of State weapon export controls from holding interests in digital asset mining equipment in the state.

According to Cointelegraph, the Astana International Financial Centre Court (AIFC) in Kazakhstan has issued an injunction against six unlicensed cryptocurrency platforms, prohibiting them from providing digital asset services locally and expanding access restrictions to app stores. The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) stated on Tuesday that the court made this ruling after the regulatory agency sued the operators of the relevant platforms for providing digital asset services without authorization.The order issued on September 15 specifically named BingX, Bitcoin.com, Huobi Global (HTX), BitMart, Coinbase, LBank, and WEEX; a three-day later amendment removed LBank from the list, as its operator had blocked access for users in Kazakhstan. Google and Apple, as app store operators, were also included and are required to implement regional access restrictions for the remaining platforms.AFSA stated that users of unlicensed platforms lack the protections that licensed institutions should provide, including asset protection, information disclosure, complaint handling, and dispute resolution. The National Bank of Kazakhstan is responsible for regulating digital asset service providers outside of the AIFC.AFSA CEO Evgeniya Bogdanova stated that this court ruling is the result of the agency's long-term efforts by its supervision and enforcement team to address the activities of unlicensed crypto platforms that advertise without authorization and provide digital asset-related services in Kazakhstan without a license.AFSA noted that it had issued warnings to over 20 platforms by 2025, nine of which voluntarily restricted app access in the country, and seven expressed intent to apply for licenses. The agency has withdrawn its claims against these nine, and the injunction will be enforced against the remaining six. Cointelegraph previously reported that the financial regulator in Kazakhstan had blocked nearly 1,000 unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges that were providing services to citizens of the country in 2023.

According to a report by 404 Media, newly submitted court records reveal the specifics of how Telegram provided user data to U.S. authorities after receiving a court order. The documents include a letter written by Telegram, which provides the phone numbers, user IDs, and IP addresses of specific users. This report was completed in collaboration with the independent media outlet Court Watch. It should be noted that the full article requires registration to view, and the currently visible content does not disclose the identities of the users involved or the specific background of the case.

According to market news, a U.S. court has officially approved the settlement between Movement Labs, the original founders, and the Movement Foundation, further resolving the previous legal disputes.In 2025, Movement faced controversy due to the market-making arrangements for the MOVE token, which subsequently led to personnel changes and disputes within the team.