Full Spectrum
Together with KR1 - An Ethereum focused digital asset technology company, listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The TLDR👇
Kelp DAO Hit for $292M in Largest DeFi Exploit of 2026
An attacker forged a cross-chain message on Kelp DAO’s LayerZero bridge on Saturday, minting 116,500 unbacked rsETH (~18% of supply). The attacker deposited the tokens into lending protocol Aave as collateral and borrowed $193M in ETH. Aave froze the affected markets within hours. An incident report from Aave Labs estimates bad debt between $124M and $230M depending on how losses are distributed. Depositors pulled $6.2B from Aave over the weekend. Arbitrum’s Security Council froze $71M in ETH linked to the exploit on Monday night, recovering roughly a quarter of the stolen funds. LayerZero attributed the attack to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, which compromised infrastructure used to verify cross-chain messages. Combined with the $285M Drift exploit on April 1, Lazarus Group’s estimated DeFi haul exceeds $575M in 18 days. Source.
Hong Kong SFC Enables 24/7 Trading of Tokenised Funds
The SFC published a pilot framework enabling round-the-clock secondary trading of tokenised SFC-authorised funds on licensed virtual asset trading platforms. Initial scope covers tokenised money market funds. Settlement may use regulated stablecoins and tokenised deposits. AUM in tokenised classes in Hong Kong rose seven-fold over the past year to $10.7 billion across 13 products. Source.
HSBC Launches Tokenized Deposit Service in the US
HSBC launched its Tokenized Deposit Service (TDS) in the United States on April 13, enabling eligible corporate and institutional clients to transfer funds 24/7, domestically and cross-border, instantly and onchain. Tom Halpin, North America Lead for Global Payments Solutions, said clients “are looking for faster, more transparent ways to manage liquidity and move money without adding operational complexity.” TDS is now live in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg and the UK. HSBC processes approximately $500 trillion in electronic payments annually. The service is built on HSBC’s proprietary distributed ledger technology and integrates with clients’ existing treasury infrastructure. Source.
Coinbase and Bybit in Talks to Tokenize US Stocks
Coinbase and Bybit are discussing the tokenization, custody and global distribution of US equities, including pre-IPO stocks. The talks do not involve an equity stake. Bybit plans to enter the US separately through a JV led by former co-CEO Helen Liu. Tokenized equity trading hit $2.87B in March, up 80%+ in 30 days, with holders crossing 200,000. Source.
Morgan Stanley: Crypto Is “Becoming Daily Business”
Amy Oldenburg, Morgan Stanley’s Head of Digital Asset Strategy, told GSR that crypto is moving into core operations across the firm’s institutional, wealth and asset management divisions. 80% of crypto distribution on the platform is currently self-directed. Morgan Stanley plans to support tokenized equities on its alternative trading system (Trajectory Cross) in H2 2026 and launch crypto trading on E-Trade in H1 2026. Source.
Goldman Sachs Files for Its First Bitcoin ETF
Goldman Sachs filed with the SEC for the Goldman Sachs Bitcoin Premium Income ETF. The fund will invest in existing spot BTC ETFs and sell covered call options to generate monthly income. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas called it “boomer candy.” Goldman had zero crypto ETF products before this filing. Morgan Stanley launched its spot Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) the previous week. Source.
SIX Group Puts €2T in Equities Data Onchain via Chainlink
SIX Swiss Exchange and Spain’s BME Exchange will publish equities data onchain through Chainlink’s DataLink service. The data covers €2 trillion in combined market cap and will be accessible to 2,600+ applications across 75+ blockchains. Deutsche Borse, FTSE Russell, S&P Global and Coinbase have signed similar arrangements. Source
Mitsui & Co. Deploys Precious Metals Token on Ethereum L2
Mitsui & Co. Digital Commodities is moving its Zipang Coin (ZPG), a precious metals-backed crypto asset previously issued only on private blockchains, onto OP Mainnet using Fireblocks’ institutional issuance platform. Trading began April 20 at GMO Coin. OP Mainnet was selected for its Ethereum security inheritance and enterprise track record. Mitsui is one of Japan’s five largest trading houses. Source.
📊 Insight of the Week
🎙️Podcast of the Week
Canton vs zkSync debate on Unchained podcast
💼 5 Enterprise Job Opportunities in Crypto
- Senior Vice President, Digital Assets Product Strategy & Commercialisation - BNY (London)
- Managing Director, Head of EU Sales - BitGo (London)
- Director, Product & GM - Embed, Payward Services - Kraken (Portugal)
- Sr Director, Stablecoin Labs - Visa (NYC)
- Digital Assets Strategist, Vice President/Executive Director - Morgan Stanley (NYC)
See you next week.
James Smith & David Walsh