News linked to this event type.
A compromise text of the Clarity Act, agreed upon by members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, was released on Friday. The text allows crypto companies to continue offering stablecoin reward programs but prohibits them from providing stablecoin yields that function as or are economically equivalent to bank deposits.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) stated in a comment letter to the CFTC that state-level regulatory measures for prediction markets are creating "barriers to fair access" and could undermine market liquidity.a16z pointed out that requiring platforms to restrict user access on a state-by-state basis would affect market uniformity, conflicting with the principle of fair access at the federal level. Additionally, frequent bans and enforcement actions could also compress overall trading depth.The institution emphasized that prediction markets play a significant role in information discovery and probability pricing, supporting unified federal regulation. The CFTC, meanwhile, maintains that the relevant contracts fall under its exclusive regulatory scope.
According to The Block, MoonPay has launched the stablecoin debit card “MoonAgents Card,” enabling AI agents and users to spend directly from on-chain wallets. The card is integrated with the Mastercard network and issued by Monavate, a regulated global payment platform.
the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) has issued Resolution No. 561, prohibiting the use of virtual assets for settlement in regulated eFX international payment and transfer services. The resolution stipulates that payments and receipts between eFX service providers and their foreign counterparties must be conducted exclusively through foreign exchange transactions or non-resident Brazilian Real accounts, and the use of virtual assets is strictly forbidden.This regulation also applies to eFX providers in a transition period that have not yet been included in the approved category. These companies must apply for authorization from the Central Bank by May 31, 2027, if they wish to continue providing services. This move does not constitute a comprehensive ban on crypto asset transfers within Brazil but aims to confine cross-border payment flows within the regulated foreign exchange track.The Central Bank of Brazil stated that the decision is due to a surge in the use of stablecoins for cross-border payments, which has raised concerns regarding money laundering, tax issues, and monetary sovereignty. (Cointelegraph)
Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) disclosed in a regulatory filing on April 30 that it holds $219 million worth of shares in Strategy, a decentralized finance (DeFi) asset management protocol. Strategy provides institutional-grade yield optimization and automated risk management services. The investment aligns with trends including real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, automated liquidity allocation, and institutional participation in on-chain finance.
In an article titled “Getting Prediction Market Regulation Right,” Miles Jennings, Policy Lead and General Counsel of a16z Crypto, and others argue that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)’s current efforts to reform the regulatory framework for prediction markets come at a critical juncture—prediction markets are evolving from niche products into essential infrastructure. When combined with AI- and blockchain-driven novel risk-management models, prediction markets can enable AI agents to automatically hedge risk, adjust on-chain event contract positions in real time, and play a central role in risk management, information aggregation, and truth assessment. a16z Crypto warns that an overly conservative regulatory framework would constrain the growth potential of prediction markets. Accordingly, it has submitted a comment letter offering recommendations on key issues—including the application of statutory core principles and CFTC regulations to prediction markets, public interest considerations related to event contracts—and proposing five regulatory recommendations for prediction markets: (1) granting the CFTC unified regulatory authority over event contracts; (2) optimizing dispute resolution mechanisms for such contracts; (3) strengthening monitoring of insider trading and market manipulation; (4) re-evaluating the “special rules”; and (5) exploring clearer compliance pathways for on-chain prediction markets.
According to Bloomberg, the Japan Exchange Group (JPX) plans to advance preparations for listing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) related to crypto assets once revisions to the relevant crypto asset legislation are completed—potentially launching as early as next year. JPX CEO Hiromi Yamamichi stated that several asset management firms have expressed interest in launching crypto asset ETFs, and “we can proceed at any time” if legal and tax treatments are clarified. However, if the legislative process is delayed, the ETF launch could be pushed back to 2028.
According to CoinPost, SBI Holdings announced on May 1 that it has officially begun negotiations with bitbank Co., Ltd.—the operator of the cryptocurrency exchange bitbank—regarding a capital and business partnership, with the aim of bringing bitbank under SBI’s consolidated subsidiaries. SBI will proceed with the share acquisition upon completion of due diligence and internal procedures; the specific timing and method of acquisition remain subject to further discussion. Previously, SBI’s subsidiary SBI VC Trade completed the absorption merger of BITPoint Japan in April.
this week, U.S. Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden sent letters to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, expressing concerns over a loan provided by Tether to a family trust fund benefiting Lutnick’s children.The letter notes that prior to becoming Commerce Secretary, Lutnick led Cantor Fitzgerald, which has served as the custodian for Tether’s reserves since 2021. The senators question whether the loan may have helped Lutnick’s children obtain funds to acquire their father’s stake in Cantor Fitzgerald, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest or bribery. Additionally, the senators expressed concerns over Tether’s past compliance record and its lobbying activities during the legislative process of the GENIUS Act, emphasizing the need to ensure that politically connected crypto stakeholders do not receive special treatment. (The Block)
According to the U.S. War Powers Act of 1973, the President must terminate the use of armed forces within a 60-day deadline after initiating military action without congressional authorization. Currently, some lawmakers argue that May 1 marks the expiration of this deadline, citing President Trump's notification to Congress on March 2 regarding the commencement of hostilities. However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the current ceasefire status means the 60-day clock has been paused or stopped.In response, Senator Adam Schiff argued that a ceasefire does not pause the clock, and believes that since the war did not face an imminent threat at its outset, the military action was illegal from the start. Meanwhile, some Republican lawmakers, such as Lisa Murkowski, indicated that if the White House fails to present a viable plan by next week, they will introduce an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) proposal to fulfill Congress's oversight duties under the Constitution. At present, uncertainty remains over whether President Trump will seek the additional 30-day extension allowed by the Act. (CNN)
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published Policy Statement PS26/7, permitting tokenised funds to be incorporated into the existing fund regulatory framework and supporting fund managers in maintaining investor records via distributed ledger technology (DLT) systems. Under the new rules, on-chain transaction records may serve as the primary ledger for fund unit transactions; however, firms must develop appropriate resilience plans. The FCA has also introduced an optional Direct-to-Fund (D2F) model, under which the fund or its custodian acts directly as the counterparty to investors’ transactions, streamlining subscription and redemption processes and enabling on-chain settlement. The FCA stated that it will continue evaluating the use of stablecoins, digital cash, and smart contracts in fund settlement and operations.
The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a resolution (S. Res. 708) prohibiting senators from participating in prediction market trading, effective immediately. The proposal, introduced by Bernie Moreno, aims to curb speculative trading using non-public information.Several recent related incidents have drawn regulatory attention, including cases where individuals profited from prediction markets using confidential information. Meanwhile, platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket are also strengthening internal controls to prevent insider trading.At the state level, New York and Illinois have also implemented similar measures, restricting public officials from using non-public information to participate in prediction markets.
the Ethereum Protocol Support Team has announced the launch of Ethereum Protocol Fellowship Cohort 7 (EPF7). The application channel is now open, with a deadline of May 13th.This program is designed to cultivate engineers capable of participating in Ethereum core protocol development, focusing on the network's core attributes including censorship resistance, open-source nature, privacy, and security. Key areas of focus include client implementations, protocol specifications, testing, and cutting-edge research.EPF7 will adopt a "small-scale, high-density" model, reducing participant numbers to enhance the depth of mentorship and the quality of project contributions, while strengthening collaboration opportunities with the core development team. The project runs from June to November. Selected participants will receive mentorship support from the Ethereum core developer community. Some participants will also receive monthly grants to focus on protocol development work. The program goals include nurturing long-term contributors for the Ethereum core research and development team, and driving participants towards producing substantive results in client development and protocol research.It is reported that the EPF team will host an online information session on May 6th at 15:00 UTC to further introduce project details and answer application-related questions.
Anchorage Digital has announced a partnership with stablecoin infrastructure protocol M0 to jointly develop a next-generation compliant stablecoin issuance and management system aligned with the U.S. regulatory framework. Anchorage Digital plans to expand its issuance platform capabilities by integrating M0's modular stablecoin protocol, providing institutional clients with infrastructure support to issue stablecoins under the U.S. regulatory system.M0 allows institutions to issue and manage stablecoins based on demand and has already partnered with several payment and crypto platforms, including Stripe, MoonPay, and MetaMask. The protocol supports a highly modular design, enabling various types of institutions—including fintech companies, exchanges, and payment service providers—to quickly issue their own stablecoins. (CoinDesk)
: According to official sources, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has officially released new industry guidance, clarifying the standards and requirements for enterprises to compliantly use Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) within the current regulatory framework. The new rules simultaneously optimize the fund trading mechanism, introducing an optional Direct-to-Fund (D2F) model that allows investors to directly engage in transactions with both traditional funds and tokenized funds, significantly improving circulation efficiency. These rules were jointly developed by the FCA and the industry, balancing financial innovation while maintaining regulatory bottom lines, helping the asset management industry reduce costs and increase efficiency, and accelerating the implementation of traditional asset tokenization.
Bitcoin remained near $76,000 on Thursday. After the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, market attention quickly shifted to internal policy divergence and macroeconomic uncertainty. Analysts noted that Bitcoin remains suppressed below the key resistance range of $78,000 to $79,000, lacking short-term breakout momentum.Thomas Perfumo, Chief Economist at Kraken, stated that the market is currently more focused on policy uncertainty stemming from internal "divisions" within the Federal Reserve rather than the inaction itself. This is particularly true against the backdrop of Chairman Jerome Powell's continued tenure and the potential expectation of Kevin Warsh succeeding him, creating a lack of clear policy transition.Glassnode data shows that Bitcoin remains "trapped" below the True Market Mean, with resistance concentrated in the $78,000 to $79,000 range and support lying between $65,000 and $70,000. While selling pressure has eased, demand remains insufficient to support a sustained upward breakout.On the macro front, the Fed has shown rare, severe internal disagreements, interpreted by the market as rising uncertainty over the inflation path. Analysts from institutions like Bitget Wallet and 21Shares point out that the expectation of "higher rates for longer" is suppressing risk asset performance, pushing the crypto market into a wait-and-see phase.Regarding capital flows, U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs have recorded net outflows for three consecutive days, with a single-day outflow of approximately $138 million on April 29. Ethereum ETFs saw outflows of about $87.7 million over the same period. Although individual products still saw inflows, the overall trend indicates cooling institutional demand.Meanwhile, CME open interest and ETF assets under management have stabilized but have yet to show strong signals of capital return. In the derivatives market, short positions in perpetual contracts have reached an all-time high, suggesting a potential squeeze if sentiment improves. However, the current market remains dominated by a low-volatility, low-confidence consolidation structure.Overall, Bitcoin is caught in a tug-of-war between an improving support structure and weak demand. Sustained ETF outflows, policy uncertainty, and macroeconomic risks collectively suppress its ability to break through the key resistance range. (The Block)
Polymarket announced the launch of an on-chain market integrity monitoring system solution to monitor trading behavior and enforce platform market compliance rules. The system will be built in collaboration with blockchain data analytics firm Chainalysis, covering the entire Polymarket DeFi transaction process, including real-time on-chain analysis of trading, positions, and settlement data, and identifying potential misconduct through multi-layered monitoring mechanisms, with a focus on insider trading and market manipulation.Polymarket stated that all its transactions are completed on a public blockchain. This collaboration will further amplify the advantages of on-chain transparency, enabling regulators and law enforcement agencies to obtain verifiable on-chain evidence, thereby establishing new compliance standards in the prediction market sector. Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan stated that the platform has emphasized transparency and traceability since its inception, and this collaboration will further solidify its positioning as a "trustworthy source of market information." (Businesswire)
According to The Block, Gemini’s Olympus division has officially received a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) license from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), enabling it to serve as an internal clearing house for settlement, risk management, and collateral management—eliminating reliance on third-party clearing and potentially reducing operational costs. Combined with its previously obtained Designated Contract Market (DCM) license, Gemini now possesses full-stack, compliant capabilities across futures, options, perpetual contracts, and prediction markets. Gemini is currently pursuing a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) license to complete its full suite of CFTC authorizations, positioning itself for direct competition with Kraken and Coinbase.
According to Odaily, Korean prosecutors have formally requested the court to sentence Jeong Sang-ho, the former CEO of crypto platform Delio, to 20 years in prison, charging him with large-scale economic fraud.During the closing arguments at the Seoul Southern District Court, prosecutors cited the local Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, accusing the defendant of long-term deliberate deception and false advertising, which resulted in approximately 2,800 investors having their funds locked and facing difficulty with withdrawals. Prosecutors stated that the defendant had clear fraudulent intent, the losses involved were massive, and he subsequently refused to cooperate with the investigation and deliberately shifted blame, continuously exacerbating the losses and hardships of the victims. Therefore, they sought the maximum penalty in accordance with the law. (Cointelegraph)
the Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) has announced it has formally submitted a comment letter regarding the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on prediction markets. The HPC advocates for establishing clear compliance pathways for decentralized prediction markets built on public, permissionless blockchains, while simultaneously refining the regulatory framework for centralized prediction markets.In its comment letter, the HPC calls on the CFTC to develop more flexible, function-oriented rules tailored to decentralized market structures; to establish clear legal channels for U.S. market participants to access decentralized prediction markets; and to support U.S. leadership in the field of decentralized finance innovation.The HPC states that prediction markets are a natural extension of the federal derivatives framework. They help participants directly manage their economic risk exposure to real-world events and aggregate dispersed information through continuously updated market prices. Their price discovery capabilities have been widely validated and, in some cases, outperform traditional polling and expert forecasts.The HPC points out that decentralized prediction markets based on public blockchains offer advantages such as transparency, non-custodial operation, and high resilience. They do not rely on centralized operators to hold user funds, nor do they present single points of failure. All transactions are recorded in real-time on a public ledger, facilitating both regulatory oversight and market surveillance, while market access standards are more transparent and uniform.The HPC emphasizes that the current rulemaking process should not codify reliance on single exchange operators, custodial intermediaries, or traditional settlement monitoring mechanisms. Doing so would prevent U.S. users from legally participating in decentralized prediction markets. The HPC states it will continue to promote compliant access to Hyperliquid and HIP-4 Outcome Markets for U.S. market participants, and will maintain ongoing communication with the CFTC.