News linked to this event type.
According to The Block, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a new consultation paper seeking feedback on how to bring digital asset activities—including stablecoin issuance, trading platforms, custody, and staking—under regulatory oversight. The consultation period ends on 3 June 2026. Crypto firms will be able to begin applying for FCA authorization as early as 30 September 2026, and the new regulatory regime is expected to officially take effect in 2027. The FCA stated that, prior to the new regime coming into force, crypto assets are largely unregulated in the UK—except for financial promotions and anti-financial crime oversight. Industry insiders note that the UK’s progress on crypto regulation clearly lags behind Europe, which has already established a comprehensive enforcement framework; however, some practitioners view the FCA’s systematic, phased implementation approach positively.
According to The Block, the Washington-based think tank Cato Institute published a critique of the U.S.’s current Bitcoin tax policy. Researcher Nick Anthony pointed out that the existing tax framework—which classifies Bitcoin as “property” rather than “currency”—requires users to calculate capital gains or losses for every single transaction, including routine, small-value purchases. This makes tax filing extremely cumbersome and effectively hinders Bitcoin’s adoption as a payment instrument. In response, the Cato Institute proposed several reform measures, including fully eliminating capital gains taxes on cryptocurrency payments and introducing a de minimis exemption threshold for small transactions. The report also referenced the existing Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act—a bill that would exempt crypto transactions under $200—but Anthony argued that this threshold is too low to reflect real-world consumer spending levels. Currently, the Trump administration has expressed support for establishing a de minimis exemption for cryptocurrency transactions and will continue evaluating related legislative options.
According to CoinDesk, South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance announced it will launch a blockchain-based deposit token pilot in Sejong City in Q4 2026, replacing traditional government procurement card payments. The project has been approved under the 2026 regulatory sandbox program, permitting institutions to pay business promotion expenses in the form of tokenized deposits. Token payments can be pre-configured with spending limits and eligible industry scopes, helping reduce the need for manual audits and lowering transaction fees for small businesses by eliminating intermediaries such as card networks. This marks the second fiscal application of deposit tokens, following the first pilot conducted under an electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure subsidy program. If the pilot yields significant results, the Ministry of Economy and Finance plans to expand the program further.
Currently, McCann’s passport has been confiscated, and he has been ordered to remain in the country pending the results of the forensic autopsy. Notably, Liquid Alpha, a fund managed by McCann, announced its liquidation last December after suffering losses of as high as 78% in 2025.
According to CoinDesk, JPMorgan Chase released a research report stating that legislative negotiations for the U.S. CLARITY Act are nearing completion, with contentious issues reduced from over a dozen to just “two or three remaining items.” Discussions regarding stablecoin rewards have also entered a constructive phase. The bill aims to clarify the regulatory framework for digital assets, delineate responsibilities between the SEC and the CFTC, and establish compliance pathways for stablecoins and DeFi platforms. The latest proposal is expected to garner support from both the crypto industry and traditional financial institutions. However, the official text of the bill has not yet been published, nor has a vote been scheduled. Moreover, if Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections, the priority for crypto-related legislation may decline, introducing uncertainty into the bill’s progress.
According to The Block, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated in an interview with Reuters that there is a “huge opportunity” for a renminbi (RMB)-backed stablecoin. If Chinese authorities wish to enhance the RMB’s global competitiveness, stablecoins could serve as a key technological tool for currency internationalization, and he predicted China may launch an RMB-backed stablecoin within the next three to five years. Notably, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and multiple other regulatory bodies explicitly prohibited, as of February 2026, the issuance of RMB-backed stablecoins outside mainland China without prior regulatory approval. In contrast, Hong Kong’s regulatory stance is markedly different: last week, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued the first stablecoin licenses to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial—a joint venture among Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, and Hong Kong Telecom.
According to Crunchbase, financial compliance startup Spektr has announced a $20 million Series A funding round, led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Northzone, Seedcamp, and PSV Tech. To date, the company has raised a total of $26 million. Spektr primarily provides AI Agent–based compliance services—including risk assessment and sanctions list monitoring—to cryptocurrency wallet service providers such as Phantom, as well as traditional financial institutions.
According to Tech in Asia, Naver plans to pursue an IPO for its subsidiary Naver Financial within five years after completing a share swap transaction with Dunamu—the operator of South Korea’s Upbit cryptocurrency exchange. Per the shareholders’ agreement signed by both parties, an IPO committee must be established within one year following the completion of the transaction; if the IPO is not completed within five years, the deadline may be extended up to seven years. The specific timing and structure of the IPO have yet to be determined and will depend on market conditions and regulatory developments. Notably, South Korea’s proposed Digital Asset Basic Act could impact the transaction structure, and regulators are also discussing a rule that would cap the maximum shareholding ratio for major shareholders of cryptocurrency exchanges at 20%. Meanwhile, Dunamu’s operating profit for 2025 declined 26.7% year-on-year to KRW 869.3 billion (approximately USD 591 million), primarily due to a slowdown in cryptocurrency trading volume.
According to FinanceFeeds, Morgan Stanley stated that real-world asset tokenization has become the “next major step” for its global business and is now a strategic priority in its initiative to upgrade traditional financial infrastructure using blockchain. The firm plans to integrate traditional and digital assets within regulated environments, advance near real-time on-chain settlement, and launch an institutional digital wallet in the second half of 2026—supporting tokenized traditional investment products as well as crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley is also advancing the development of a tokenized private equity secondary market and building both on-chain and off-chain settlement processes.
Odaily Seer Channel monitoring shows that although Powell's term as Chair ends on May 15th, the probability on Polymarket of Powell stepping down as Fed Chair after his term expires (May 14th) is only 2%, indicating Powell is likely to continue serving as the Fed's interim Chair.The key to whether Powell can continue as Fed Chair after his term expires lies in whether Kevin Walsh, Trump's chosen successor, can secure Congressional confirmation at the Senate Banking Committee hearing on April 21st. Powell previously stated that if a successor is not confirmed by May, he will serve as interim Chair.Therefore, the market is indirectly betting that Walsh will struggle to gain Congressional approval by April 21st or even before May 15th. The reason is that North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis is obstructing this appointment, stating he will not advance any Fed nominee's process until the Justice Department concludes its investigation into Powell.Odaily Seer Channel continues to monitor prediction markets, seeing changes before they are priced in.
According to Cointelegraph, the Cato Institute—a public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C.—stated that the U.S. should eliminate capital gains taxes on cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to reduce taxpayers’ filing burdens and foster monetary competition. Nicholas Anthony, a researcher at the institute, noted that the current tax regime discourages the use of cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange, since users may trigger taxable events—and increase reporting complexity—each time they use cryptocurrency to purchase goods or services. The report also suggested alternative approaches, including exempting payments for goods and services from capital gains taxation or establishing a minimum threshold for taxation.
According to Newsis, South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on April 16 that the pilot project titled “Blockchain-Based Digital Currency for Treasury Fund Disbursement” has been selected as one of the targeted regulatory sandbox initiatives for 2026. Under this pilot, government agencies’ operational expense disbursements—currently made via government procurement cards—will instead be issued and paid using blockchain-based deposit tokens. The South Korean government stated that this initiative is expected to enhance fund usage transparency by predefining permissible usage timeframes and eligible industries, while also reducing transaction fees for small merchants through a disintermediated payment structure. The pilot is scheduled to officially launch in the fourth quarter of this year, initially in Sejong City, with gradual expansion to other regions thereafter.
Odaily News Ripple announced a partnership with South Korea's major insurance institution, Kyobo Life Insurance, to explore government bond tokenization settlement based on the Ripple Custody platform. The goal is to compress the T+2 settlement cycle for South Korean government bonds to near real-time execution. Both parties stated that they will focus on evaluating the technical and regulatory feasibility of tokenized government bond settlement. Specific transaction scale, launch timeline, and bond types involved have not been disclosed yet, and the overall initiative is still in the pilot exploration phase. Additionally, Kyobo Life will also explore stablecoin-based payment solutions, but specific currencies and implementation timelines have not been clarified. (CoinDesk)
According to Bloomberg, Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives are advancing a bill that would require the U.S. government to identify Chinese and Russian entities that extract outputs from leading U.S. AI models through improper queries and copying techniques—and then use those outputs to develop competing systems—and to consider imposing sanctions on them. As outlined in the draft bill reviewed, proposed measures include adding violators to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List and pursuing sanctions under the President’s emergency economic powers granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.
On-chain lending platform Votre has raised $3.75 million in seed funding, led by a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator, with participation from MaC Venture Capital, Druid Ventures, and angel investors from Goldman Sachs, Harvard University, and OrangeDAO. Founded in 2025, Votre operates a non-custodial crypto lending platform on Coinbase’s Base Layer 2 network, enabling users to borrow USD—settled the same day—using Bitcoin as collateral, with loan sizes ranging from approximately $25,000 to $5 million. The funds will be used to scale technical infrastructure, increase platform capacity, enhance liquidity management tools, and strengthen risk and compliance systems.
According to an official announcement, Aave Labs has launched Aave Checkpoint—a governance security system powered by AI—to conduct structured, multi-layered reviews of governance proposals and payloads before they are executed on-chain. The system has been operational since March 2026 and has covered all governance proposals during that period. Aave Checkpoint combines automated analysis with mandatory manual review: it fetches on-chain payload data, proposal source code, and IPFS-hosted text, then cross-references Seatbelt simulation results to examine execution paths, state changes, and potential risks—generating audit reports accordingly. Each AI-generated report must be signed off by at least two independent reviewers before the review is finalized. Currently, the system supports Aave V3, V4, GHO, and Aptos-v3.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that Circle has expanded its collaboration with Dunamu—the operator of Upbit—to support the compliant adoption of digital assets, and broadened its partnership with Bithumb to strengthen stablecoin infrastructure and raise market awareness of stablecoins. Allaire noted that South Korea is rapidly advancing regulation for stablecoins and digital assets, and that local cryptocurrency adoption rates are high. During his time in Seoul, he also met with representatives from KakaoGroup, Coinone, Hashed, Shinhan Bank, KB Financial Group, and Woori Bank.
Odaily News As the U.S. midterm elections approach, the White House is accelerating efforts to promote a crypto market structure bill to ease the long-standing disputes between the banking industry and the crypto sector.Reports indicate that multiple parties, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt, and related policy figures, have recently publicly called for advancing this bill. The U.S. Council of Economic Advisers has also released a report addressing the banking industry's concerns about the crypto sector.Analysts suggest that, based on the timing, the current period may be a critical window for promoting relevant legislation, but uncertainty remains regarding whether the bill can be smoothly passed. (The Hill)
According to Cointelegraph, Denmark’s central bank, Danmarks Nationalbank, published a staff paper stating that only 4% of Danish citizens hold cryptocurrency—a figure unchanged since 2023 and lower than that of other European countries such as Norway, Finland, and the UK, where ownership exceeds 10%. The survey found that most holders own less than 10,000 Danish kroner (DKK) in crypto assets, with total holdings estimated between $317 million and $847 million. The report attributes the limited adoption of cryptocurrency in Denmark to the central bank’s long-standing cautious stance, tax-related considerations, and concerns about risk. Crypto holders are predominantly young and high-income individuals, and the primary use case remains investment rather than payments.
According to Cointelegraph, Tarek Mansour, CEO of prediction market platform Kalshi, stated that Kalshi will launch a “Parent Portal,” allowing parents to submit identification information to verify whether their children are impersonating them to circumvent the platform’s age restrictions. Kalshi will also add selfie verification to accounts, using facial recognition technology to determine whether the user matches the registered identity. The report notes that Kalshi is currently under scrutiny at both the state and federal levels in the U.S. over sports event contracts and wagers related to military operations. Meanwhile, Kalshi has argued in court that it falls exclusively under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and related state-level lawsuits remain ongoing.