What has been happening this week in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies? This weekly review rounds up the key developments and background reports — from a shifting balance of power in Washington to a reconstructed multi-billion-dollar exchange hack.

US Midterms Strip the Crypto Industry of Its Regulatory Tailwind

Democrats are taking control of both chambers of Congress after the US midterm elections — and with them, the crypto industry loses its regulatory tailwind. For the past two years, Washington tended to advance the industry's interests rather than slow them. So far, the tangible result is the GENIUS Act, which regulates stablecoins and was signed into law in July. By contrast, the Clarity Act, a comprehensive market-structure bill intended to delineate which agencies oversee which parts of the crypto market, failed in the Senate in September after clearing the House. Research firm TD Cowen considers further progress unlikely over the next two years and additionally expects investigations into President Donald Trump's crypto businesses.

The industry's campaign committees had spent USD 170 million on the elections. In Ohio alone, more than USD 60 million was deployed against crypto-critical Democrat Sherrod Brown, who previously chaired the Senate Banking Committee. Nevertheless, Brown won his race and could now assume a leading oversight role in the Senate. Within the industry itself, the spending remains controversial. Even so, the campaign committee Fairshake plans to stay the course in 2028 as well.

With Democrats winning both chambers of Congress, the chances of getting the Clarity Act passed are fading — forcing the crypto lobby to rethink its approach in Washington.

Switzerland Ranks Sixth in Benchmark of Digital Financial Centers

The Swiss Blockchain Federation, which represents the country's blockchain industry, has published its first global comparison of financial centers, placing Switzerland sixth out of 15. The benchmark measures regulated infrastructure for securities, bonds and funds on the blockchain. With 75.62 out of 100 points, Switzerland sits behind the US, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.

The country achieves top scores for legal certainty and blockchain infrastructure, which the association attributes to its early legal framework — the DLT legislation in force since 2021. On speed of implementation, however, it reaches only 6.0 out of 10 points, and on market size just 5.0. The weighting is decisive here: speed, market size and AI together account for 45% of the overall score.

Accordingly, the association demands faster and more predictable licensing from financial regulator FINMA, along with a framework for Swiss franc stablecoins. At the same time, it stresses that it is not seeking weaker supervision.

Analysts Reconstruct the USD 6.3 Billion Binance Hack

Analytics firms have largely reconstructed the theft of around USD 6.3 billion from crypto exchange Binance in late October. The sum exceeds any previously documented theft from a crypto exchange; the prior record was the roughly USD 1.5 billion hack of Bybit in February 2025. According to their findings, preparations began at least 36 hours in advance, when a new wallet received small amounts via the obfuscation service Tornado Cash, which the US Treasury placed under sanctions in 2022. The attackers also tested their code repeatedly, most recently around four hours before the strike.

Most of the loot then left the exchange's online wallets in roughly 20 minutes. Ordinarily, an exchange's signing system checks every withdrawal before approval. Yet analytics firm TRM Labs concludes from ordinary-looking transfers across nine blockchains that this system itself signed for the attackers.

Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle, which can freeze individual addresses, intervened only about an hour after the attack began. By then, around USD 786 million had already moved into the non-freezable cryptocurrencies Ether and TRX. How the attackers got in remains unclear, as the announced root-cause report is still outstanding.

North Korea Denies Role in Binance Incident as Outflows Normalize

North Korea denies being behind the theft of around USD 6.3 billion from crypto exchange Binance. This week, Kim Yo Jong, sister of ruler Kim Jong Un, called the FBI's accusation "absurd rhetoric." Observers widely regard crypto theft as a key funding source for the country's weapons programs — US authorities and United Nations panels have for years attributed billions of dollars in stolen cryptocurrency to North Korean hacker units such as the Lazarus Group. Against this backdrop, analysts in Seoul read the unusually quick denial as a sign of concern about tougher measures — although this remains unproven.

Meanwhile, Binance itself reports that customer outflows have normalized. After the hack, the exchange froze withdrawals for more than two days. Over the past weekend, customers withdrew a net USD 4.72 billion. Since reopening, however, the exchange says net outflows have equaled only around 3% of the assets on the platform. In addition, Binance is courting customers with fee discounts and yields of up to 10% on selected products.

ZachXBT Uncovers Cyberattack on French Bank Crédit Mutuel Arkéa

French bank Crédit Mutuel Arkéa this week confirmed a cyberattack in which its own money was moved into cryptocurrencies. Independent investigator ZachXBT had made the case public two days earlier, tracing the trail on public blockchains. ZachXBT estimates the damage at over USD 133 million, possibly higher; the bank confirms only the order of magnitude.

According to ZachXBT's reconstruction, the funds moved through swap services and partly into the cryptocurrency Monero, which conceals addresses and amounts. More than USD 30 million escaped an easy early freeze, the investigator says, because the report to the authorities came too late.

The bank says customer assets are unaffected and that the amount does not threaten its financial strength. Part of the funds remains blocked, according to the bank, so the final loss is still open. Neither the bank nor the investigator has named a perpetrator, and the method of the attack also remains unexplained. The case underscores that even a bank's own funds become a target once they move onto public blockchains.

The weekly review will continue to track the most important developments in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.