IG Europe has partnered with Bitpanda to offer crypto for European investors, using the Austrian exchange’s infrastructure for liquidity, trading connectivity and market data.IG’s push to bring spot crypto trading to its European client base comes after launching the service in the United Kingdom in 2025. The new expansion has no confirmed timeline.“This partnership broadens our product offering across Europe, giving experienced investors access to a wider range of asset classes with the quality and security they demand,” said Esteve Jane, managing director of IG Europe, which is regulated by BaFin in Germany.IG Group is a London-listed FTSE 100 trading platform with 1.3 million clients globally.The Bitpanda deal allows IG to offer crypto services to clients across the bloc without building the infrastructure itself. It also comes as MiCA has raised the compliance bar for offering crypto services, with stringent requirements around capital, governance, risk management and custody, making partnerships like this a faster route to market.Related: Bitpanda targets banks with Vision Chain tokenization platformIG Group sees minimal crypto revenueIG Group reported 331.2 million British pounds ($444.5 million) in revenue for the first quarter of the year, with spot crypto contributing just $3.2 million, less than 1% of the figure.Despite the small revenue, IG Group has been expanding its crypto push. The company acquired Australian crypto exchange Independent Reserve, enabling the launch of spot crypto to IG’s clients in Australia in March. In 2025, it also obtained its Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) license in Germany.IG Group shares are up 2.7% today. Source: Yahoo! FinanceMeanwhile, in October, IG sold the futures exchange Small Exchange to Kraken as part of a separate collaboration with the global crypto exchange.Related: Bitget taps ex-Bitpanda legal chief Oliver Stauber to build Vienna MiCA hubBitpanda expands offeringsAs Cointelegraph reported, Bitpanda is building Vision Chain, an Ethereum layer-2 designed to let European banks and fintechs issue and trade tokenized stocks, bonds and funds under MiCA and MiFID II compliance.The company has also been expanding beyond crypto. It recently added support for thousands of equities and exchange-traded funds as part of a move toward becoming a full-stack financial platform, and launched in the UK earlier this year. The Vienna-based exchange is eyeing a potential public listing this year.Big Questions: Is China hoarding gold so yuan becomes global reserve instead of USD?

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned six Ethereum addresses tied to a Sinaloa Cartel-linked money laundering network that allegedly converted drug proceeds into cryptocurrency.OFAC added the addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals list (a US sanctions list of people, entities and assets subject to blocking restrictions) on Wednesday as part of sanctions against 11 individuals and two entities connected to two Sinaloa Cartel financial networks.Treasury said one network, led by Armando de Jesus Ojeda Aviles, collected bulk cash in the US from fentanyl and other drug sales before allegedly converting the money into cryptocurrency for transfer to the cartel in Mexico.The action highlights how cartel-linked money laundering networks are using digital assets alongside cash couriers and front businesses, raising sanctions compliance risks for crypto exchanges and other virtual asset service providers.OFAC adds six new Ethereum addresses to sanctions list. Source: OFACCartel cash moved into cryptoThe Sinaloa Cartel is allegedly using blockchain technology to launder its illicit fiat money proceeds, according to OFAC.Cointelegraph contacted OFAC for more details surrounding the Sinaloa Cartel’s money laundering operations.Related: Kelp DAO attacker moves $175M in Ether after exploit: ArkhamTreasury did not identify which crypto platforms or protocols were allegedly used by the network. The listed Ethereum addresses, however, create sanctions exposure for exchanges, wallet providers and other crypto firms that screen blockchain transactions.Looking at some of the biggest cryptocurrency hacks, attackers laundered the majority of the $1.4 billion stolen during the Bybit hack, or about $1.2 billion, through THORChain, swapping funds from Ether to Bitcoin, according to Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou. Attackers behind the recent $293 million Kelp DAO hack also primarily used THORChain to swap the Ether for Bitcoin, generating about $910,000 in fee revenue for the protocol, Cointelegraph reported on April 23.Magazine: 53 DeFi projects infiltrated, 50M NEO tokens could be ‘given back’: Asia Express