The crypto sector caught between stock market ambitions and legal turbulence
This Wednesday, April 1st — no, this isn’t a joke — crypto news was particularly packed. Between a Korean exchange treading water on its way to Wall Street, a European platform finally opening its doors to the Big Apple, and the arrest of an alleged mastermind behind digital fraud schemes, the day certainly deserved a recap.
Bithumb and its IPO: the eternal postponement
The South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb won’t be listed on the stock market before 2028, if not later. That’s the inevitable conclusion after the company’s CFO indicated that the firm is currently working to “strengthen its accounting policies and internal controls.”
In concrete terms, Bithumb had already postponed its stock market ambitions once before, which were originally scheduled for 2025. But apparently, getting your books in order takes time — a lot of time. The initial public offering (IPO), which would allow retail investors to purchase shares of the platform on a regulated market, is thus pushed back to at least 2028.
This delay comes in a particularly competitive context: Bithumb’s direct rival, the Upbit platform, is also working on its own stock listing. A race to the Korean Nasdaq that currently resembles a marathon where everyone is walking. Bithumb, once one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is seeking to regain the confidence of regulators and institutional investors after several years of controversies and internal upheaval.
eToro finally sets up shop in New York
Good news from across the Atlantic: eToro, the Israeli-based social trading platform, has officially launched its crypto trading services in New York. This rollout comes three years after obtaining its BitLicense, the precious regulatory credential issued by New York State’s Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
According to Andrew McCormick, eToro’s head of operations in the United States, the platform was the first company to receive this license in 2023, following the collapse of FTX — that traumatic episode which prompted American regulators to significantly tighten the reins on the sector.
For those unfamiliar with the BitLicense, it’s a mandatory operating permit for any company wishing to offer cryptocurrency-related services to New York residents. Renowned for being one of the country’s strictest regulations, it has historically led several major players to leave the state entirely rather than comply with it. Obtaining this license is a bit like landing an internship at Goldman Sachs: long, difficult, but it says a lot about your credibility.
eToro’s arrival in New York thus symbolizes a gradual normalization of the sector, with well-structured companies managing to navigate a post-FTX regulatory environment that remains demanding.
Cambodia: arrest of alleged crypto fraud kingpin
On a far less cheerful note, Chinese authorities arrested Li Xiong, former president of the Huione Group, following his extradition from Cambodia. The individual is no stranger to American regulators: federal agencies have established links between Huione Group and billions of dollars in illicit financial flows transiting through cryptocurrencies.
Huione Group is accused of having facilitated, through crypto infrastructure, large-scale fraud schemes — particularly so-called “pig butchering” scams, those online romantic frauds where victims are manipulated for weeks before their life savings are siphoned off in cryptocurrencies.
Li Xiong’s arrest illustrates a broader trend: international cooperation in combating financial crime related to digital assets is intensifying, and major players in these networks can no longer indefinitely rely on lenient jurisdictions to escape.
Broader perspective
These three pieces of news, though seemingly disparate, paint the same portrait of the crypto sector in 2026: an industry that’s growing, but not always without growing pains. On one hand, serious players like eToro that play by the rules of regulatory compliance and end up reaping the rewards. On the other, platforms like Bithumb realizing that access to traditional capital markets demands an internal rigor that not everyone has yet achieved. And in the background, authorities worldwide progressively tightening the screws on fraudulent uses of cryptocurrencies.
An industry’s maturity is also measured by its ability to clean house — whether it’s its accounts, its licenses, or its bad actors.