Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, hackers stole more than $31.6 million in two bridge exploits spaced just seven hours apart, the Senate’s CLARITY Act proposed ethics restrictions on federal officials’ crypto ventures and trading volumes on South Korea’s major crypto exchanges slumped as retail investors increasingly favored stocks.

Hackers steal $31.6 million across 2 crypto bridge attacks

Hackers stole more than $31.6 million across two unrelated crypto bridge exploits spaced just hours apart, targeting bridges operated by decentralized perpetual exchange AFX and Verus Protocol. 

According to Blockaid, AFX, a decentralized perpetual exchange operating on Arbitrum, reportedly lost $24.15 million on Wednesday through a hack targeting one of its crosschain bridges. Hours later, Blockaid said it detected an exploit targeting the Verus Ethereum Bridge that resulted in about $7.5 million in crypto being stolen. 

The back-to-back exploits highlight the continued security risks facing crosschain bridges, which hold large pools of assets and move funds between separate blockchains. 

“Another bridge, another exploit. Bridges will always be a weak link, until security is upgraded,”  onchain investigator TheCrypticWolf said in a post on X. 

CLARITY ethics rules would bar federal officials from issuing tokens through 2029

The Senate’s proposed CLARITY Act would temporarily prohibit US federal officials, including President Donald Trump, from issuing or sponsoring digital assets under new ethics rules aimed at addressing conflicts of interest.

The text of the 616-page market structure bill includes what the White House called its broadest ethics provisions to date, extending the restrictions to public officials, government employees and their spouses while also preventing crypto platforms from listing tokens issued or sponsored by federal officials.

According to Senator Cynthia Lummis, the language would apply to Trump’s crypto ventures, though the restrictions would expire on Jan. 20, 2029, when his second term ends.

The proposal assigns enforcement primarily to the Department of Justice, a provision that has already drawn criticism from some Democrats. With the Senate expected to vote on the legislation as early as next week, stronger ethics safeguards remain a key demand among Democrats whose support is needed to overcome the chamber’s 60-vote threshold.

South Korea crypto volumes shrink as retail investors shift to stocks

South Korea’s major crypto exchanges have seen their trading activity fall over the past year as the country’s stock market surged, suggesting retail speculative interest may be shifting toward equities, Cointelegraph analysis shows.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) benchmark more than doubled over the period, while volumes across the country’s largest won-based crypto platforms contracted.

Cointelegraph reviewed CoinGecko’s historical 24-hour volume readings for Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax, comparing seven-day periods in July 2025 and July 2026.

After calculating the average daily volume and year-over-year percentage change, Cointelegraph took the simple, unweighted average of the five declines, producing an average drop of about 77%. This gives each exchange equal weight regardless of trading volume. However, on a combined basis, average daily volume fell about 89%, to $305 million from $2.82 billion in the comparable July 2025 period. 

ZDNet Korea separately reported that daily volume across the five exchanges was down 88% year-on-year on Monday. It said weaker fee income had pushed some platforms to sell crypto holdings, including Korbit, which raised about 1.6 billion won (about $1 million) by selling 15 Bitcoin (BTC) and 60 Ether (ETH).

South Korea is one of crypto’s most active retail markets, with exchanges relying heavily on trading fees. A sustained preference for equities could weaken crypto liquidity and squeeze smaller platforms, reshaping how local investors allocate capital between speculative assets.