ParaSwap DAO members were split, with some supporting the conditional return of the fees and others voting against the refund.
Bybit confirmed it was behind a proposal requesting that decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol ParaSwap return fees earned from swaps conducted by the Lazarus Group using digital assets stolen from the exchange.
On March 4, a proposal was posted on ParaSwap’s decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) forum asking to freeze and return 44.67 Wrapped Ether (wETH), worth almost $100,000, to a wallet address.
The proposal initially attracted skepticism, with several DAO members calling for verification before advancing the proposal. Bybit shared a verification post on its official X account on March 5, confirming that it was behind the proposal to return the funds.
The US DOJ just published a new directive claiming it will stop investigating and criminally charging crypto exchanges, mixers, and offline wallets.
This has produced a mixed response from the crypto community. Some sectors are jubilant about the potential freedom for business, while others fear the growing problem of fraud and criminal money laundering.
Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a statement claiming it will no longer investigate crypto entities.
“The Justice Department will stop participating in regulation by prosecution in this space. Specifically, the Department will no longer target virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and offline wallets for the acts of their end users or unwitting violations of regulations,” the DOJ’s statement claimed.
The DOJ’s statement applies to cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets, and crypto mixers like Tornado Cash. It builds on the Department’s previous announcement today, claiming that it disbanded the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team.
The department gives itself room to prosecute individual bad actors, but only in specific circumstances.
However, the department is now moving on from crypto. According to today’s announcement, it will even drop any ongoing investigations against such entities immediately.
We will wait to see what happens with the Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet prosecutions. But the memo from the Deputy Attorney General yesterday is right on target: we should be going after bad guys. Not the developers of good tools that bad guys happen to use. pic.twitter.com/h8taM5BvGm
— Peter Van Valkenburgh (@valkenburgh) April 8, 2025
Also, it will not pursue legal liability for developers whose code is used by others to commit crimes, and it has closed all active investigations.
While it was expected that the department would lower its crypto enforcement under Trump, the complete laissez-faire decision has caught the crypto by surprise. Following the news, Tornado Cash (TORN) surged nearly 10% today.
The Department also asked regulators to review victim compensation laws. Although this is arguably a victory for crypto, it may also enable future finance crimes.
The DOJ is disabling its ability to target criminals on exchanges and mixers, with little guarantee that it can enforce the law. In other words, it may be removing critical guardrails to prevent future disasters.
“Crypto lobby: ‘Sure, Trump nixed the Crypto Enforcement Team, directed Major Fraud prosecutors to stop prosecuting crypto cases, and is trying to exempt crypto platforms from the Bank Secrecy Act, but they wrote right here that they care about stopping crypto crime! Reject the evidence of your eyes and ears!’” claimed crypto researcher Molly White.
Overall, it’ll be difficult to fully predict the implications of the department’s new policy on exchanges. For now, this directive will give many crypto-related businesses the freedom to conduct operations as they see fit.
Hopefully, business will proceed as usual without any serious controversies.
Token unlocks play a pivotal role in the crypto market, impacting liquidity, price volatility, and investor sentiment. They are events in crypto where locked coins or tokens are released and become available for trading in the open market.
This week, three major projects—Axie Infinity (AXS), Jito Labs (JTO), and Xave (XAV)—will release previously locked tokens into circulation. Here’s what you need to know and watch for.
1. Axie Infinity (AXS)
Unlock Date: April 12
Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 10.72 Million AXS (3.97% of Total Supply)
Current Circulating Supply: 160.159 Million AXS
Total supply: 270 Million AXS
Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game featuring digital creatures called Axies, often compared to Pokémon. This pet-centric game combines elements of blockchain, NFTs, and ERC-20 tokens, offering players the chance to collect, battle, and trade unique creatures in a virtual world.
The April 12 unlock will consist of 10.72 million AXS tokens valued at about $29 million. Axie Infinity will award the majority of these tokens for staking rewards and for the team.
Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 11.31 Million JTO (1.13% of Total Supply)
Current Circulating Supply: 313.37 Million JTO
Total supply: 1 Billion JTO
Jito is a liquid staking service on Solana that distributes MEV rewards to holders. On April 7, Jito will unlock 11.3 million tokens which is currently worth around $20 million.
The project will allocate the majority of the unlocked tokens for ecosystem development, core contributors, and community growth. Additionally, it will allocate 10% of the tokens for airdrops.
Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 313.29 Million XAV (3.13% of Total Supply)
Total supply: 10 Billion XAV
Xave is a DeFi platform that focus on decentralized foreign exchange (FX) markets. It enhances stablecoin liquidity through an automated market maker (AMM) model.
On April 11, the network will unlock over 313 million XAV tokens, which constitutes just over 3% of the total supply. Xave will largely focus distribution to the team, investors, and treasury.
