Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the $40 billion collapse of the Terra ecosystem. According to reports from Inner City Press, the court found that Kwon misled the market for years, fabricated the mechanism behind Terra's stablecoin, and concealed a support deal with Jump Trading. His actions resulted in devastating losses for hundreds of thousands of investors, marking one of the harshest penalties ever handed down in a cryptocurrency fraud case.
In a separate but significant development for institutional crypto adoption, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has received a No-Action Letter from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This approval allows DTCC's subsidiary, DTC, to launch a three-year, controlled-production pilot for tokenizing assets held in its custody. The program is scheduled to begin rolling out in the second half of 2026. Under this authorization, traditional assets can be converted into digital tokens on approved Layer-1 and Layer-2 blockchains, with these tokenized versions retaining the same legal rights and protections as the original assets.
Coinbase is also poised to make a major move into tokenized traditional assets. According to a Bloomberg report, the exchange is preparing to unveil its own tokenized U.S. stocks during an event on December 17. Leaked screenshots of the upcoming app feature have circulated on social media platform X, generating significant excitement. While Coinbase has not officially confirmed the details, a company spokesperson stated that full information will be shared during the livestream, potentially marking a major step in bridging traditional finance with digital assets.
Amid these fundamental developments, cryptocurrency markets showed positive momentum. Over the past 24 hours, the market edged higher, led by a 1.66% gain in Layer 2 tokens, with Merlin Chain (MERL) and Mantle (MNT) climbing 4.99% and 4.07%, respectively. Bitcoin rose 1.37% to reclaim the $92,000 level, while Ethereum traded narrowly around $3,200. Broader sector performance was positive, with Meme tokens up 1.45%, Layer 1 assets rising 1.33%, and DeFi advancing 1.26%.
