News linked to this event type.
Odaily reports: Crypto wallet backup company Vault12 submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, stating that the SEC's proposed token safe harbor framework fails to adequately address centralized exchanges' listing concerns, and trading platforms still worry they may face retroactive challenges from the SEC regarding the legal status of tokens in the future.Vault12 raised $17.45 million from 38 investors in 2018 through a future token agreement. Its issued Vault Guardian Token (VGT) has not yet been listed on any centralized exchange. The project has fulfilled or formally abandoned all commitments in its white paper, but exchanges it previously approached still require confirmation that the SEC will not determine in the future that VGT remains subject to the original investment contract.The SEC's "Regulation Crypto Assets" proposal introduced in August this year aims to provide exemptions for token fundraising and allow eligible projects to terminate the association between tokens and original investment contracts through a safe harbor mechanism. Vault12 recommends adding a 60-day objection period; if the SEC does not raise objections within the deadline, qualifying filings should have final effect on the agency, except in cases of fraud or material misrepresentation. (CoinDesk)
Standard Chartered has signed a final agreement to acquire 100% equity of crypto asset custody institution Zodia Custody, with the transaction still pending regulatory approval. Under the arrangement, Zodia Custody's custody business will be integrated into Standard Chartered, while its software business will be transferred to a standalone company backed by SC Ventures, the venture capital arm of Standard Chartered. (The Block)
Milan prosecutors stated that Italian authorities are carrying out arrests of 30 individuals suspected of operating a mafia-linked underground banking network. The network is suspected of transferring approximately €68 million abroad and using cryptocurrency to launder illicit funds. The operation has extended to Spain, where local police are executing European arrest warrants, and Swiss authorities are also seeking to arrest another suspect.Prosecutors said the network was based at a car rental company near Milan and used shell companies to issue fake service invoices, helping involved businesses in construction, logistics, and other industries reduce their taxable income. After the relevant companies paid via bank transfer, the network deducted commissions and returned the funds in cash. Funds in the shell companies' accounts were transferred to banks in Luxembourg, Lithuania, and Germany, and then moved through crypto exchanges into digital wallets suspected of being controlled by the organization. Investigators identified more than €110 million in fake invoices and found that the network also handled proceeds from drug trafficking and funds defrauded from victims of online crypto investment scams. (Bloomberg)
the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has published the final rules implementing the GENIUS Act, becoming the first regulatory agency to finalize stablecoin implementation rules under the legislation. The rules will take effect on January 18, 2027, providing an access pathway for banks and non-bank enterprises to engage in payment stablecoin business, and establishing standards for foreign stablecoin issuers and asset custody.Regarding stablecoin rewards, the final rules remove the presumption clause in the draft proposal that certain commercial arrangements between issuers and third parties may constitute a violation, but the statutory prohibition on issuers paying interest directly to stablecoin holders remains in effect. The OCC will review issuer-third party relationships on a case-by-case basis and may take enforcement action against conduct that circumvents the Act.
Odaily reports: The French Ministry of Finance, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the Banque de France, and the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR) have jointly proposed amendments to the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), requiring crypto platforms to bear responsibility for certain customer losses when they proactively offer access to DeFi protocols without reviewing those protocols or ignoring known security risks.France proposes that platforms review relevant protocols before providing DeFi access, continuously monitor for vulnerabilities and suspicious activity, and support the certification of protocols and smart contracts. The relevant requirements would apply fully to significant crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), with proportionally adjusted obligations for smaller platforms.France also proposes transferring supervisory authority over significant CASPs from national regulators to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), and lowering the current EU threshold of 15 million daily active users. Additionally, France suggests re-examining the asset-referenced token (ART) category and adjusting the electronic money token (EMT) framework to cover multi-currency stablecoins. (Cointelegraph)
According to Cointelegraph, the French Ministry of Finance, the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF), the Bank of France, and the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) have jointly proposed revisions to MiCA, advocating for additional obligations to be imposed on crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) that actively provide users with access to DeFi protocols.
Google Cloud has announced the preview of "Government-Specific Gemini," a custom solution developed for the public sector. The offering is designed to meet the strict compliance, data sovereignty, and confidentiality requirements of government agencies, deeply adapting general-purpose large model capabilities to public administration scenarios.
According to CoinDesk, Ripple’s brokerage Ripple Prime (formerly Hidden Road) has enabled institutional clients to trade swap contracts linked to over 100 stocks, commodities, and money markets around the clock, with the option to use its US dollar-backed stablecoin RLUSD as collateral. These swap contracts track the perpetual contracts listed on the Trade.xyz platform on Hyperliquid, are currently provided under Ripple Prime’s British Virgin Islands license, with plans to expand into additional jurisdictions in the future, while trading firm Virtu has already joined as an early client. In a client report, Daragh Maher, Head of Digital Assets Research at HSBC, characterized the offering as a “gradual rather than revolutionary” upgrade, noting that its current market size remains modest compared to traditional finance, with initial activity likely concentrated among market makers, proprietary trading firms, and hedge funds executing basis trades.
Odaily reports: The GENIUS Act took effect on July 18, 2025, with the general applicability date being 18 months after enactment, or 120 days after the primary federal payment stablecoin regulator issues final implementing rules, whichever is earlier. The U.S. Treasury Department expects the general effective date to be January 18, 2027, with certain issuance and sales restrictions taking effect on July 18, 2028.The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published its primary implementation proposal in February 2026, and the Federal Reserve proposed rules on September 24, 2026 covering regulated issuers, reserves, capital, risk management, custody, and application procedures. An interim final rule effective September 30, 2026 has established the forms and procedures for certification of state regulatory regimes.Stablecoin issuers need to assess approval, prudential supervision, reserve, and redemption requirements; distributors and intermediaries need to analyze exchange, transfer, custody, and related financial services obligations. Companies holding stablecoins also need to review redemption channels, reserve arrangements, custody, freezing, and counterparty risks, and those accepting stablecoin payments need to distinguish between receiving payments for their own goods or services and transferring funds on behalf of others.Prospective issuers may choose the path of an approved subsidiary of an insured depository institution, a federal qualified issuer, or a state qualified issuer; state qualified issuers that meet the conditions and have outstanding issuance of no more than $10 billion may opt for state supervision. Payment stablecoin reserves must cover outstanding tokens at least one-to-one, and companies also need to map out fund flows, customer rights, compliance responsibilities, and product yield arrangements. Relevant issuers may not pay interest or yield solely by virtue of holding, using, or retaining payment stablecoins. (Bitcoin.com News)
On June 15, the Supreme People's Procuratorate published a theoretical article stating that virtual currency perpetual contract platforms should be subject to piercing-style review: any platform that lacks genuine external order matching, settles internally, has operators acting as the house, and whose profits and losses depend on market price fluctuations should be identified as an online gambling platform and characterized as the crime of running a casino; the defense raised by platforms that they "cite public market data" does not hold. The article states that the crime of illegal business operations applies only to intermediary models with genuine external order matching and no house betting against users; currently, more than 95% of platforms on the market are internal betting operations, and actual controllers as well as technical development, operations and promotion, and fund settlement personnel may all be held accountable. Such transactions constitute invalid civil juristic acts; investors' claims for return of principal and payment of returns will in principle not be supported, and losses shall be borne by themselves.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Shinhan Bank, in collaboration with Korean payment service provider KSNET, has successfully completed a pilot project demonstrating the payment and settlement process for foreign patients paying medical expenses with stablecoins, with Korean healthcare institutions receiving funds in Korean won. Announced on October 21, the pilot was conducted as a limited trial at a medical facility in Seoul, utilizing a streamlined overseas stablecoin payment service. Under this process, after foreign patients make payments using stablecoins, a regulated overseas entity converts the assets into fiat currency and remits them to South Korea. KSNET then settles the payment with the healthcare institution in Korean won. Through this initiative, Shinhan Bank evaluated the feasibility of integrating the financial infrastructure necessary for domestic receipt processing and KRW settlement.
Odaily reports: Six blockchain organizations—Stellar Development Foundation, Hedera, Aptos Labs, Ava Labs, Cardano Foundation, and Chainlink Labs—have jointly submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), requesting that the definition of "Digital Commodity" and its non-security status be explicitly clarified in the main text of the proposed "Regulation Crypto Assets."It is understood that the SEC's regulatory interpretation released in March 2026 has established the classification of digital commodities, but the relevant definition currently appears only in the preamble of the proposed rules and has not yet been incorporated into the binding rule text. The organizations believe that formally codifying it into the rules would help reduce regulatory uncertainty and provide a more stable legal framework for public chain developers and ecosystem participants.
Odaily reports: JPMorgan Asset Management has for the first time incorporated Bitcoin into its long-term capital market assumptions, projecting an annualized return of approximately 10% for Bitcoin over the next decade, with the potential to outperform stocks, bonds, and gold. However, the forecast also assumes an annualized volatility of 55% for Bitcoin, more than three times that of U.S. large-cap stocks.JPMorgan believes that gradually improving regulatory frameworks and continued enhancements in market liquidity and price discovery mechanisms could further drive Bitcoin's acceptance in traditional financial markets. Looking ahead to the next decade, technological innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, healthcare, and space, along with approximately $15 trillion in global capital expenditure growth, are also expected to drive economic growth and asset returns.Analysts noted that the correlation between Bitcoin and other assets is unstable, making it currently unsuitable as a diversification asset in balanced portfolios. As a result, the firm has not yet included it in its main portfolio models. If Bitcoin's volatility continues to decline and its correlation with other assets stabilizes in the future, its value for portfolio allocation could increase. (Bloomberg)
According to The Straits Times, Edward Robinson, Chief Economist at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, stated on October 20 at the Beijing Financial Street Forum that while central banks may consider easing monetary policy once artificial intelligence generates widespread productivity gains, the current AI investment boom is fueling demand, requiring policies to remain appropriately restrictive. He noted that AI-related investments are driving economic growth, but the technology has yet to deliver significant productivity improvements across the broader economy, and urged a gradual, data-dependent approach. The Monetary Authority of Singapore tightened monetary policy in April and July 2026 due to rising inflation risks, and maintained its stance unchanged in October; its October 14 statement warned that if the AI boom generates wider economic spillovers and pushes up unit labor costs, domestic inflation could remain elevated. Robinson said that AI-driven electronics accounted for more than 70% of Asia's export growth this year, but growth in industries producing AI-related technologies was driven primarily by increased investment and more intensive use of existing resources rather than efficiency gains. Citing OECD estimates, he added that with sufficiently broad adoption and appropriate investment, AI could boost annual total factor productivity growth by as much as 0.6 percentage points.
The Blockchain Association (@BlockchainAssn) posted on the X platform that the association has submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the proposed Regulation Crypto Assets. Previously, the committee led by SEC Chair Paul Atkins had proposed exemptions for startups and fundraising activities, as well as a safe harbor mechanism to clarify when tokens are no longer considered investment contracts. The main recommendations in the letter include: • Establish clear objective criteria: Provide non-exclusive indicators to determine when an issuer’s core managerial efforts have ended, such as open-sourcing the source code or the absence of an entity capable of unilaterally reviewing transactions. • Link liability to control: Project developers shall only be responsible for areas within their control, excluding third-party applications and community activities; exchanges, liquidity providers, and other entities relying in good faith on SEC filings by projects shall be protected. • Create a safe harbor for existing tokens: Qualified third parties such as trading platforms may file for already-issued tokens, and such filing shall not be construed as acknowledging that the tokens were once securities. • Increase exemption limits: Raise the startup exemption cap to $10 million, excluding airdrops and network rewards from the limit; raise the fundraising exemption cap to $150 million, and allow on-chain transparency to substitute audited financial statements. • Strengthen federal preemption: Satisfy
Odaily Report: The Blockchain Association has submitted a comment letter to the SEC regarding its "crypto asset regulation" proposal, recommending raising the startup exemption cap to $10 million, the fundraising exemption to $150 million (supporting on-chain transparency as an alternative to audits, with airdrops excluded from the count), and establishing a third-party filing safe harbor for existing tokens.The Blockchain Association calls for clear, objective decentralization standards for tokens to shed their "investment contract" status (such as open-source code and the absence of unilateral review rights), while strengthening federal regulatory preemption over state-level legislation, and supporting 24/7 exchange trading and self-custody.
Odaily reports: Nasdaq-listed US online brokerage Webull plans to open perpetual contract trading to eligible US clients starting in November, with the first batch of products including Bitcoin and other crypto assets, and intends to expand access before the end of the year. The contracts will be listed on the CFTC-regulated Kalshi exchange, with clearing handled by Kalshi's clearinghouse, and Webull users approved for futures trading will be able to trade through their existing futures accounts. (WSJ)
According to KUTV, Utah Attorney General Derek Brown announced on Tuesday that he has filed a civil lawsuit against prediction market platform Kalshi and several of its affiliates, alleging its online services constitute a public nuisance. The complaint was filed in Utah’s Third Judicial District Court. Brown alleges that Kalshi provided services to more than 32,000 verified Utah residents, violating the state’s anti-gambling laws and causing “significant and continuing harm” to a large number of citizens. The state is seeking a court order to block Kalshi from offering online bets on sports, elections, politics, culture, and “mention”-related events, while permitting the use of geolocation service providers to enforce the injunction. The suit also seeks up to $60 million in damages.
Odaily reports: Prediction market platform Kalshi, along with its affiliates and two Susquehanna-owned trading firms, has been sued by Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, who alleges they facilitated illegal gambling in the state starting in 2024.Brown stated that the state has asked the court to order the companies to disgorge approximately $30 million to $60 million in profits obtained through allegedly unlawful event contracts. Utah claims that Kalshi provided services to more than 32,000 users in the state and caused significant losses.In February of this year, Kalshi sued the state of Utah after its legislature classified prediction market betting as gambling. In August, a judge ruled that relevant federal law governing the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) does not preclude the application of state gambling laws.In September, an appellate court denied Kalshi's request for an injunction to block it from operating in the state during the appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to take up New Jersey's case against Kalshi over alleged illegal sports betting, a dispute concerning the regulatory authority of state governments versus the CFTC over event contracts. (Cointelegraph)
Odaily reports: Bitcoin News posted on X stating that, with the Clarity Act stalled, regulators are crafting digital asset market rules on their own under existing authority. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sought comment on a retail digital asset trading framework, including the addition of a new "crypto asset market" exchange category, with the comment period closing on December 14; the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's comment window for its proposed Regulation Crypto Assets will close on October 20. Regulators are moving faster than Congress on rulemaking, but the rules may face court challenges or be revoked by future commissions; a durable regulatory framework still requires legislation.