North Korean hackers use memecoins to launder stolen crypto; xStocks adds 200 UK and EU equities and plans Hong Kong listings

Asia’s crypto plumbing had a noisy week: blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said North Korean hackers used freshly created memecoins to move stolen funds from the $6.3 billion Binance hack, while Kraken parent Payward expanded xStocks to more than 200 tokenized UK and EU shares and said hundreds of Hong Kong-listed equities are next. For PSPs, exchanges, and banks, the common thread is simple: tokenized assets and on-chain laundering are now running through the same rails, and compliance teams need to treat them as one risk surface.

1. Elliptic said North Korean hackers created at least six memecoins on NEAR between Nov. 5 and 7 and used liquidity pools on decentralized exchanges to move $430,000 of stolen funds between wallets. The tokens attracted almost no outside trading and were abandoned shortly after launch, which is the part that matters operationally: the coins were not meant to build a market, just to provide a temporary laundering wrapper.
2. The same technique was also used after the $1.5 billion Bybit hack in 2025, according to Elliptic. In that case, North Korean-linked actors moved at least $24 million through a newly created token on the TRON blockchain. For monitoring teams, the pattern is not a one-off exploit but a repeatable laundering method built around fast token creation and short-lived liquidity.
3. Kraken parent Payward said xStocks has added tokenized versions of more than 200 stocks listed in the United Kingdom and European Union, bringing the platform to more than 1,500 tokenized assets. Payward said it has seen more than $45 billion in cumulative transaction volume and over 550,000 unique holders, which gives a sense of the scale now reaching payment and custody providers around tokenized equity distribution.
4. Payward also said it plans to add hundreds of Hong Kong-listed equities in the coming weeks. That sits alongside Hong Kong’s own licensing push: Deputy Secretary for Financial Services Chan Ho-lim told FinTech Week that the region will introduce a new licensing regime for virtual-asset trading, custody, advisory and management through amendment bills to be submitted to Legislative Council this year.
5. Hong Kong’s enforcement picture is moving too. Police have arrested 22 people in a cross-border money laundering investigation allegedly involving an over-the-counter crypto network that moved more than HKD$150 million (US$18 million) while attempting to obscure the origin of funds. Separately, the US sanctioned 41 entities allegedly linked to Cambodia’s Prince Group, including Qiu Yong, who is accused of running Hong Kong companies on behalf of the criminal organization.

South Korea added a practical angle for exchanges: the Financial Services Commission (FSC) plans to allow crypto exchanges to suspend deposits and withdrawals when hacking is suspected, rather than waiting until a breach is confirmed. The FSC said it will issue a no-action letter for preventive suspensions under certain conditions, and also called for round-the-clock monitoring, higher cold-wallet holdings, and stronger insurance coverage and reserves. GOPAX responded by suspending trading, deposits and withdrawals on November 6 and moving all user assets to cold wallets.