Tennessee orders prediction platforms to cease operations, BNY launches tokenized deposits, OKX restructures institutional team

In this week’s edition of the weekly recap, Tennessee officials issued cease-and-desist orders to major prediction market platforms alleging unlicensed sports wagering, while BNY advances the tokenized deposit platform launch.

Tennessee targets prediction market platforms

• The Tennessee Sports Wagering Council issued January 9 cease-and-desist letters to Kalshi, Polymarket, and Crypto.com, ordering them to stop offering sports event contracts to state residents.
• Regulators accused all three firms of illegally operating sports wagering products without required licenses under the guise of event contracts.

BNY introduces blockchain deposit settlement

• The world’s largest custodial bank, managing nearly $58 trillion in assets, launched a platform enabling institutional clients to settle bank deposits on blockchain infrastructure.

OKX implements institutional business restructuring

• The cryptocurrency exchange recently reorganized its global institutional operations, resulting in job eliminations across the division.
• While exact numbers remain undisclosed, one source indicated half the team was terminated. However, another person reported 8-10 layoffs with 3-4 voluntary departures when restructuring was announced.

Buterin supports convicted Tornado Cash developer

• Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin publicly backed Roman Storm, convicted last August on money transmitting charges.
• He argued that privacy-preserving software constitutes a fundamental human right.
• Buterin stated Friday on X that he has “supported Roman Storm’s work from the beginning both as a strong believer in the importance of privacy, and as an active user of privacy tools, including those developed by Roman.”

Ripple obtains UK regulatory authorization

• Ripple secured approval from the Financial Conduct Authority for its Electronic Money Institution license and crypto asset registration.
• This regulatory clearance allows Ripple to expand platform operations within the United Kingdom under comprehensive financial services oversight.

Truebit suffers $26.6 million security breach

• The Ethereum-based verification and computation protocol lost approximately 8,535 ETH ($26.6 million) in a Thursday security incident involving malicious actors.
• On-chain analytics platform Lookonchain identified the approximately 8,535 ETH loss through blockchain transaction analysis.

Trump rejects Bankman-Fried pardon possibility

• President Donald Trump ruled out Thursday a pardon for FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
• The statement came while responding to New York Times reporter questioning about pardon requests for several high-profile figures including Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Florida proposes state Bitcoin reserve legislation

• Florida lawmakers filed a new proposal authorizing creation of a state-managed Bitcoin reserve.
• The legislative initiative arrives ahead of the 2026 session beginning January 13.

Optimism Foundation proposes token buyback program

• The governance organization suggested instituting a buyback program to “align the OP token” with the Superchain.
• If approved, the governance project would allocate 50% of Superchain revenue to monthly over-the-counter token acquisitions.

Indian tax authorities challenge crypto enforcement

• Income tax officials joined the Reserve Bank of India in raising concerns about virtual digital assets.
• They cited enforcement challenges threatening the government’s ability to track and tax cryptocurrency transactions.
• Tax authorities presented Wednesday their concerns about cryptocurrency and other virtual digital assets to the parliamentary standing committee of finance as the Union Budget approaches.

Rumble integrates non-custodial crypto wallet

• The video streaming platform and USDT launched a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet embedded directly into Rumble.
• This allows audiences to tip creators using digital assets without traditional payment intermediaries.
• Rumble Wallet supports Bitcoin, USDT, and Tether Gold at launch according to Wednesday’s announcement.

Ledger partner suffers data breach

• The cryptocurrency wallet manufacturer confirmed that e-commerce partner Global-e experienced a data breach.
• They also cautioned users that their own hardware and software wallets remain secure.