Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ) tested the “first atomic” L1-to-L2 transaction, ZachXBT offered rare insight into a Chinese organized crime network that allegedly laundered more than $1 billion for North Korea’s Lazarus Group and the CFTC moved ahead with plans for a new crypto regulatory framework.

EEZ tests atomic L1-to-L2 transaction in push to unify Ethereum

The EEZ has tested an atomic transaction between Ethereum mainnet and a layer-2 network, according to a project contributor.

On Tuesday, EEZ contributor Eduardo Antuña Díez shared the transaction and called it the “first atomic cross-chain” L1-to-L2 transaction. The transaction’s logs record a cross-chain call carrying 0.001 Ether (ETH) and a state update for a rollup.

In an atomic transaction, linked actions across networks either all succeed or are all reversed if any part fails.

In March, developers behind the EEZ said the framework was designed to let rollups interact with each other and Ethereum mainnet within a single transaction, without relying on bridges. The project aims to reconnect liquidity and applications spread across separate L2 networks.

Gnosis co-founder Friederike Ernst previously told Cointelegraph that the lack of synchronous composability forces protocols to maintain separate deployments across L2s, fragmenting liquidity into multiple markets.

Chinese crime network laundered over $1B for Lazarus: ZachXBT

A Chinese organized crime syndicate laundered more than $1 billion stolen in multiple crypto exploits for North Korea’s Lazarus Group, according to blockchain investigator ZachXBT. 

In an Oct. 5 thread on X, pseudonymous blockchain investigator ZachXBT said he posed as a paying client to infiltrate the money laundering network in February 2025, just days after the Bybit hack. He put up $349,700 in stablecoins and took a 5% loss on each order to build trust with one of the network’s operators, known as “Jimmy Green.”

ZachXBT said the operations spanned Hong Kong and mainland China, and information supplied by the launderer helped him identify a cluster of more than $12 million in Bybit-linked funds, with Tether later freezing $442,000 in associated USDt (USDT). 

The investigation offers rare insight into the alleged intermediaries handling North Korea’s stolen crypto. Hackers linked to the country have stolen at least $6.75 billion in digital assets through 2025, according to Chainalysis. 

CFTC moves ahead on crypto rules after CLARITY stalls

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is moving ahead with a new crypto regulatory framework after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, with Chair Michael Selig saying the agency will use its existing authority to act without Congress.

The CFTC issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking covering platforms that allow retail customers to trade crypto using margin, leverage or financing. Under the proposal, the agency would create a new category of designated contract market called a “crypto asset market,” or CAM, giving qualifying exchanges a path to operate under uniform federal oversight rather than a patchwork of state rules.

The framework would not cover ordinary spot crypto exchanges, which generally remain subject to state money-transmission laws, although the CFTC retains authority over fraud and market manipulation.

The move follows the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) own proposal for a tailored crypto securities regime and signals that both agencies are prepared to pursue new rules despite the CLARITY Act’s failure in the Senate.

Their efforts are advancing with unusually thin leadership. Hester Peirce’s departure leaves the SEC with two commissioners, while Selig remains the CFTC’s sole commissioner and chair.