A Russian-Israeli citizen allegedly involved in the $190 million Nomad bridge hack will soon be extradited to the US after he was reportedly arrested at an Israeli airport while boarding a flight to Russia. 

Alexander Gurevich will be investigated for his alleged involvement in several “computer crimes,” including laundering millions of dollars and transferring stolen property allegedly connected to the Nomad Bridge hack in 2022, The Jerusalem Post reported on May 5.

Gurevich returned to Israel from an overseas trip on April 19 but was ordered to appear before the Jerusalem District Court for an extradition hearing soon after, according to the report. 

On April 29, Gurevich changed his name in Israel’s Population Registry to “Alexander Block” and received a passport under that name at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport the next day.

He was arrested at the same airport two days later, on May 1, while waiting to board a flight to Russia. 

Gurevich allegedly identified a vulnerability in the Nomad bridge, which he exploited and stole roughly $2.89 million worth of tokens from in August 2022.

Dozens of copycat hackers discovered and capitalized on the security vulnerability soon after, leading to a total loss of $190 million.

Gurevich allegedly reached out to a Nomad executive on Telegram

Prosecutors allege that shortly after the hack, Gurevich messaged Nomad’s chief technology officer, James Prestwich, on Telegram using a fake identity, admitting that he had been “amateurishly” seeking a crypto protocol to exploit.

He allegedly apologized for “the trouble he caused Prestwich and his team” and voluntarily transferred about $162,000 into a recovery wallet the company had set up.

Prestwich told Gurevich that Nomad would pay him 10% of the value of the assets he had stolen, to which Gurevich responded that he would consult his lawyer. However, Nomad never heard back from him after that.

Alleged messages between Gurevich and Nomad’s James Prestwich were shared on X by Israel-based Walla News journalist Yoav Itiel. Source: Yoav Itiel

At some point during the negotiations, Gurevich demanded a reward of $500,000 for identifying the vulnerability.

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US federal authorities filed an eight-count indictment against Gurevich in the Northern District of California on Aug. 16, 2023, in addition to obtaining a warrant for his arrest. California is where the team behind the Nomad bridge is based.

The US submitted a formal extradition request in December 2024, the Post noted.

The money laundering charges that Gurevich faces carry a maximum of 20 years, significantly harsher than what he would face in Israel.

Gurevich is believed to have arrived in Israel a few days before the $190 million exploit occurred, prompting Israeli officials to believe he carried out the attack while in Israel.

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Two Florida crypto bills have been removed from the legislative process in the latest blow to American state-level strategic Bitcoin reserve ambitions. 

Florida’s House Bill 487 and Senate Bill 550 have been “indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration” on May 3, according to the Florida Senate. 

Florida’s legislative session adjourned on May 2 without the passage of these two bills, which would have advanced legislation to establish a crypto reserve for the state. The Senate and House agreed to extend the session until June 6 to address budget plans. 

Lawmakers passed about 230 bills during the session, dealing with things like prohibiting putting fluoride in the water, protecting state parks, and a school smartphone ban, but diversifying state treasury portfolios was not among them. 

State strategic Bitcoin reserve legislation race. Source: Bitcoin Laws

HB 487, which was introduced in February, would have allowed Florida’s chief financial officer and the State Board of Administration to invest up to 10% of certain state funds into Bitcoin (BTC).

SB 550 was also filed in February to enable investments of public funds in Bitcoin.

Related: Alabama, Minnesota lawmakers join US states pushing for Bitcoin reserves

Florida has now dropped out of the race to pass state-level crypto investment legislation, along with Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Montana and Oklahoma, which have all seen Bitcoin bills fail to pass House or Senate votes, according to Bitcoin Laws. 

Arizona has two more chances 

It came just days after Arizona advanced its strategic Bitcoin reserve legislation further than any other state, until House Bill 1025 was vetoed by Governor Katie Hobbs, who labelled digital assets “untested investments” on May 3.

The Digital Assets Strategic Reserve bill would have permitted Arizona to invest seized funds into Bitcoin and create a reserve managed by state officials. 

The move drew the ire of crypto advocates and Bitcoiners, including entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano, who said: “Imagine the ignorance of a politician to believe they can make investment decisions.”

“Arizona has two more chances to be the first in the nation to establish a Bitcoin reserve,” said Satoshi Action Fund founder Dennis Porter on May 5, citing an article from Fox’s Eleanor Terrett. 

He added that the most likely to pass is HB 2749, which offers a budget-neutral method to fund the reserve using profit from the unclaimed property fund.

Source: Dennis Porter

There is also a related bill, SB 1373, which would authorize the state treasurer to allocate up to 10% of Arizona state funds into digital assets. It has yet to reach a final vote.

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The new “Digital Asset Market Structure Discussion Draft” introduced by House Republicans on May 5 could work to reduce the dominance of large crypto firms and promote more participation in the broader market, according to an executive from Paradigm. 

The discussion draft, led by the House agricultural and financial services committee chairs Glenn Thompson and French Hill, is an “incremental, albeit meaningful, rewrite” of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), Paradigm’s vice president of regulatory affairs Justin Slaughter said in a May 5 X post.

One-pager of the digital asset market structure discussion draft submitted by House Republicans on May 5. Source: US House Agriculture Committee

One of the major changes from FIT21 is that the draft defines an affiliated person as anyone who owns more than 1% of a digital commodity issued by the project — down from 5% in the FIT21 bill — a move Slaughter said may curb the influence of big crypto firms and lead to more participation in the crypto market.

“This is a portent of the entire bill. There are often criticisms of crypto being too dominated by a few large firms. This bill makes clear the regulatory regime proposed is going to push against that fact and strongly encourage more small-d ‘democratization’ of the space.”

The draft also defines a “mature blockchain system” as one that, together with its related digital commodity, is not under the “common control” of any person or group.

Source: Justin Slaughter

The Securities and Exchange Commission would be the main authority regulating activity on crypto networks until they become sufficiently decentralized, Slaughter noted.

The draft also clarified that decentralized finance trading protocols are those that enable users to engage in a financial transaction in a “self-directed manner.” Protocols that meet this criterion are exempt from registering as digital commodity brokers or dealers.

The draft also referred to digital commodities as “investment contract assets” to distinguish their treatment from stocks and other traditional assets under the Howey test.

According to Slaughter’s analysis, securities laws won’t be triggered unless the secondary sale of tokens also transfers ownership or profit in the underlying business.

Crypto firms would also have a path to raise funds under the SEC’s oversight while also having a “clear process” to register their digital commodities with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the committee members said in a separate May 5 statement.

Joint rulemaking, procedures, or guidelines related to crypto asset delisting must be established by the CFTC and SEC should a registered asset no longer comply with rules laid out by the regulators.

A ‘clear opportunity’ to advance crypto innovation, rules once and for all

Speaking about the need for a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework, the House committee members said crypto is a “clear opportunity” to advance innovation in the US — most notably through modernizing America’s financial infrastructure and reinforcing US dollar dominance.

The Republicans criticized the previous Biden administration and the Gary Gensler-led SEC for adopting a regulation-by-enforcement strategy rather than creating clear rules for market participants.

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Many crypto firms were stuck in “legal limbo” as a result of the unclear rules, which pushed some industry players overseas, where clearer rules exist, the House committee members said.

“America needs to be the powerhouse for digital asset investment and innovation. For that to happen, we need a commonsense regulatory regime,” said Dusty Johnson, chairman of the subcommittee on commodity markets, digital assets and rural development.

Slaughter added: “This is the bill that will, finally, provide a clear regulatory regime on crypto that many have been calling for.”

Republicans already facing roadblocks over discussion draft

House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters plans to block a Republican-led event discussing digital assets on May 6, a Democratic staffer told Cointelegraph.

The hearing, “American Innovation and the Future of Digital Assets,” is expected to discuss the new crypto markets draft discussion paper pitched by Thompson, Hill, and other committee members.

However, according to the unnamed Democratic staffer, the current rules require all members of the House Financial Services Committee to agree on such hearings.

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