The Daily: Hacker returns $21 million in stolen bitcoin, Robinhood Chain testnet hits four million transactions in first week, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Thursday! Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at around $66,000, with weakening ETF demand, fragile accumulation, and defensive positioning pointing to a range-bound market between roughly $79,000 and the $54,900 realized price floor, according to analysts at Glassnode.

In today’s newsletter, South Korean prosecutors recover $21 million worth of bitcoin stolen from their custody, Robinhood Chain’s testnet generates four million transactions in its first week, DBA raises $68 million for its second venture fund, and more.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon revealed he owns a “very little” amount of bitcoin.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It’s a great read — and just like The Daily, it’s free to subscribe!

Hacker returns $21 million in stolen bitcoin to South Korean authorities

South Korean prosecutors have recovered 320.8 BTC worth about $21.4 million after a hacker returned funds stolen from their custody, local media reported Thursday.

• Investigators lost the bitcoin last August after entering recovery seed phrases on a phishing website during a probe into a gambling platform, but only discovered the loss in December.
• Authorities had blocked transactions to centralized exchanges from the hacker’s wallet, limiting the ability to liquidate the stolen assets.
• Prosecutors have since moved the returned bitcoin to a local exchange for safekeeping and said they will continue efforts to track down the hacker’s identity.
• The incident prompted a nationwide review of investigative agencies’ management of seized digital assets after additional police reports revealed further missing bitcoin that was held in custody.

Robinhood’s Layer 2 testnet sees four million transactions in first week, CEO Vlad Tenev says

Robinhood’s Ethereum Layer 2 testnet processed four million transactions in the first week following its public launch, according to CEO Vlad Tenev.

• The Arbitrum-based Robinhood Chain targets tokenized real-world assets and onchain financial services, including equities and ETFs.
• The permissionless network previously underwent six months of private testing and has already integrated key infrastructure partners, including Alchemy, LayerZero, and Chainlink.
• Robinhood plans to launch the mainnet later this year as part of its broader push into tokenization, including plans for round-the-clock trading and near-real-time settlement.

Crypto investment firm DBA raises $68 million for its second venture fund

DBA has raised $68 million for its second venture fund, expanding its capital base after launching a $50 million debut fund in 2023.

• The New York-based firm, led by prominent Ethereum commentator Jon Charbonneau and former Galaxy Digital executive Michael Jordan, invests across early-stage and public crypto markets.
• DBA, short for “doing business as,” has previously backed infrastructure and application projects, including Monad, DoubleZero, Payy, MetaDAO, and bitcoin scaling startup Alpen Labs.
• The firm said decentralized exchanges, ICO platforms, prediction markets, and impact markets represent key areas shaping the future of finance.

Uniswap governance considers activating protocol fees on all v3 pools, expanding to eight additional chains

Uniswap governance launched a temp check to expand protocol fees across all v3 pools and eight additional chains, including Arbitrum, Base, Celo, OP Mainnet, Soneium, X Layer, Worldchain, and Zora.

• The proposal would introduce a tier-based mechanism to automatically apply fees across all remaining v3 pools, significantly expanding Uniswap’s protocol revenue capture.
• The system would route fees through TokenJar contracts and burn them as UNI on the Ethereum mainnet.
• The vote marks the first major fee expansion under the new UNIfication governance framework.

CME Group to launch 24/7 crypto futures and options trading on May 29

CME Group plans to launch 24/7 bitcoin and ether futures and options trading on May 29, pending regulatory approval.

• CME’s Tim McCourt said client demand for crypto risk management has reached “an all-time high,” with a record $3 trillion in notional volume traded across its cryptocurrency futures and options in 2025.
• “While not all markets lend themselves to operating 24/7, providing always-on access to our regulated, transparent cryptocurrency products ensures clients can manage their exposure and trade with confidence at any time,” he said.

In the next 24 hours

• U.S. GDP and PCE data are due at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday.
• U.S. FOMC member Raphael Bostic will speak at 9:45 a.m.
• LayerZero, Wormhole, and KAITO are among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.
• ETHDenver continues in Colorado.

Never miss a beat with The Block’s daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.

© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.