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Odaily Planet Daily: Ten European financial institutions have jointly launched Regulated Layer One (RL1), a network established as a European Cooperative in Luxembourg that has commenced operations, targeting regulated financial markets and tokenized assets. RL1 founding members include ABN AMRO, Cecabank, Chartered Investment, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, DekaBank, DZ BANK, LBBW, Natixis CIB, SC Ventures, and Seturion. RL1 stated that each member holds equal decision-making power over the network's governance and development. This permissioned private network is built on infrastructure developed by German fintech company Secure Worldwide Interbank Asset Transfer (SWIAT), which has transferred ownership of the network to the cooperative. SWIAT stated that during its three-year production phase, the platform processed over 50 transactions with a total value exceeding €700 million. RL1's intended use cases include digital currencies, tokenized bonds, collateral, and blockchain-based settlement. RL1 will be led by former SWIAT Managing Director Henning Vollbehr. KfW and L-Bank will continue to support the initiative, and RL1 is in discussions with additional institutions such as NatWest regarding joining the network.
Cash Cat has announced the launch of its meme coin launchpad, letscash.fun. The project team stated that the platform originated from the community's demand for a fair launch mechanism following the listing of Robinhood Crypto, and was driven by community development.Cash Cat indicated that the platform operates in two modes: In Creator Mode, 70% of tokens go to the creator and 30% to the protocol; in Self-Destruct Mode, similarly, 70% is used to buy and burn tokens. The 30% obtained by the protocol will be used to burn cash-cat:native, increase treasury funds, and support development.The platform is powered by Uniswap v4, employing a permissionless, decentralized mechanism that is immutable after deployment. It is currently undergoing its final security review by Hyacinth Audits and SB Security.
Odaily News: Eric Richmond, the new CEO of Coinbase Canada, stated that the exchange aims to provide Canadian users with the same advanced crypto products available in the U.S. market, including derivatives, DeFi services, and tokenized assets. Eric Richmond noted that Canada needs to transition from case-by-case exemptions to a dedicated and coordinated national digital asset regulatory framework to support more complex products. Canada was an early adopter of spot crypto ETFs and has already passed the "Stablecoin Act." He pointed out that, compared to the United States, Canada’s regulatory guidance is progressing more slowly and is more fragmented, which is delaying Canadian retail investors' access to higher-yield lending, broader futures trading, and similar products.
Odaily News: The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a criminal complaint against cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub Online and two former directors, Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, accusing them of submitting false financial reports between May and October 2021. The case has been referred to the Thai Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) for investigation, and prosecutors will determine whether to formally indict. The SEC stated that Bitkub suffered a cyberattack in May 2021, resulting in the theft of 16 types of digital assets, with losses exceeding $50 million. Regulatory investigations revealed that Bitkub failed to reflect the related losses in its Form DA 1 daily net capital reports from May 10 to October 30, 2021. The SEC alleges that the involved executives made false entries in the company's official documents, leading regulators to believe that client assets were intact and the company had not suffered financial losses. Bitkub subsequently completed the acquisition of replacement assets in late October 2021, but the SEC maintains that the reports during that period constituted false statements. In a statement on July 23, Bitkub stated that current customer holdings were secure and accounts were complete. Bitkub claimed that its co-founders purchased replacement assets of the same type and quantity, bearing the losses themselves, and noted that the cyber theft incident had been reported to law enforcement authorities on May 10, 2021.
: Paul Atkins, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stated that he is optimistic about Congress passing the CLARITY Act. The SEC is assisting Congress in advancing the bill, including answering questions and providing technical assistance. The CLARITY Act aims to establish a clearer regulatory framework for digital assets in the U.S. crypto market. The bill has passed the House of Representatives and is currently under consideration in the Senate. Atkins stated that legislation is the way to ensure relevant rules have long-term applicability. If Congress fails to complete the legislation, the SEC is prepared to formulate rules addressing the market structure issues covered by the CLARITY Act and other crypto market matters.
Fox Business crypto journalist posted on X that former NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood stated last week that credit unions play an important role in modernizing the financial system. A few days later, AmericasCUs, along with credit union leagues in all 50 U.S. states, supported the vast majority of the Clarity Act. However, they echoed the banking industry's concerns regarding the bill's stablecoin yield provisions, urging senators to strengthen the language. These groups believe that the current Tillis-Alsobrooks compromise could still allow for "functionally passive" reward structures, potentially causing deposits to flow out of local credit unions.
Odaily News Emirates has launched Crypto.com Pay on its website and mobile application. Eligible UAE residents can now use this service to pay for flight bookings priced and settled in UAE Dirhams. Transactions are processed through the Crypto.com Dubai entity and comply with UAE regulatory requirements. This feature fulfills the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Emirates and Crypto.com in July 2025. Users booking through the Emirates App will be redirected to the Crypto.com App for payment authorization, while desktop users can select Crypto.com Pay at checkout and scan a QR code to complete the payment. The Crypto.com Dubai entity, which serves as the payment infrastructure provider, holds a Stored Value Facility license from the Central Bank of the UAE and operates under the relevant framework. This service is currently limited to eligible UAE residents only. Emirates has not yet announced a launch plan for international customers, foreign currencies, or markets outside the UAE.
: Crypto exchange Kraken has opened subscription for Jersey Mike's planned IPO to retail investors. Eligible U.S. users can apply to subscribe to book-entry shares at the IPO price, while users in over 110 countries and regions can apply for tokenized stock JMKEx. JMKEx is backed 1:1 by the underlying stock and custodied with regulated institutions. Allocation results are determined by the IPO underwriters, and a successful allocation is not guaranteed; after the IPO completion, JMKEx will be tradable on Kraken and participating xStocks Alliance platforms 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Kraken stated that the tokenized stock can be transferred between platforms participating in the xStocks Alliance, on-chained, and accessed via compatible decentralized finance applications. Jersey Mike's is a U.S. sandwich chain brand with over 3,300 stores. Its expected IPO price is between $21 and $25 per share, and it will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker JMKE.
Justin Ryan Schmidt, founder of cryptocurrency investment fund Translunar Crypto LP, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison by a U.S. court for tax evasion. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that Schmidt, 46, pleaded guilty this year in federal court in Austin, Texas, to charges of underreporting his income between 2020 and 2022, declaring less than $5,000. However, prosecutors claimed that he actually earned over $7 million from his fund operations between 2019 and 2022. According to reports, Schmidt founded Translunar in 2017, primarily investing in blockchain startups, with funds mainly raised from investors in Austin, Texas, and Aspen, Colorado. The IRS Criminal Investigation Division arrested him on February 23, 2026, and he has been in custody since then. (Bloomberg)
According to The New York Times, Binance has adjusted its cooperation methods with law enforcement agencies in multiple countries, requiring some investigation requests to be submitted through foreign government channels. European investigators stated that this move has lengthened the investigation process and increased the difficulty of tracking fraud and investigating anti-money laundering cases.
Binance has adopted a policy routing the majority of foreign law enforcement agency requests through the UAE and mutual legal assistance treaty process, resulting in slower access to user data. European investigators and US prosecutors have stated that this change makes it more difficult to track scammers, combat money laundering, and quickly freeze or seize assets. Binance will still directly respond to cases involving child sexual abuse, terrorism, or imminent threats to life. Binance stated that it has not reduced its cooperation with regulatory and law enforcement agencies and defined the new process as enhanced safeguards consistent with standards for regulated institutions. The company's compliance operations continue to face ongoing scrutiny.
OdailyOdaily reports that the parliament controlled by Myanmar's military passed the "Anti-Online Scam Law" on Tuesday, allowing the death penalty for those who use violence or illegal detention to force others to engage in online fraud. A draft released in May showed that if the related abuse results in the death of the victim, the death penalty shall be imposed. The draft also stipulates that those who operate online scam centers or commit digital currency fraud can face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, with sentences for coercion-related crimes ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment. Lower house lawmaker Aye Chan stated that the death penalty clause has been retained in the approved version, the important parts of the bill remain unchanged, and the full text has not yet been published. This bill is the first law passed by the new government of Min Aung Hlaing. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that scam activities in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania caused losses of between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion in 2025, and individuals from at least 80 countries were found in related scam compounds. (Decrypt)
on July 28 that U.S. Senator Jon Husted publicly supported the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, stating that if the United States wants to maintain its leading position in the digital asset field, it needs a clear, enforceable regulatory framework that supports innovation and employment.The CLARITY Act aims to establish the first comprehensive federal framework for crypto regulation in the U.S., dividing jurisdiction between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The bill classifies tokens into three categories, granting the CFTC exclusive regulatory authority over the spot market for digital commodities, while the SEC continues to oversee assets that still resemble securities.Galaxy Research has lowered the probability of the CLARITY Act becoming law by 2026 from 50% to 30%. Alex Thorn, the firm's Head of Research, stated that the 60-vote threshold in the Senate is the main obstacle, and supporters may not yet hold a simple majority.The revised version of the bill proposes to prohibit the President, Vice President, members of Congress, federal judges, and their spouses from receiving compensation through the issuance or sponsorship of digital assets during their term in office until January 2029. It also requires relevant officials to sell their cryptocurrency holdings or place them in a blind trust.
Hyperliquid co-founder iliensinc responded to the abnormal SK Hynix pricing incident on Trade.xyz this morning, stating that Hyperliquid is a permissionless blockchain, and different teams can deploy and operate markets based on its infrastructure. Among them, the xyz:SKHYNIX perpetual contract was deployed and is operated by the XYZ team. The XYZ team is currently investigating the situation and will release updates once a conclusion is reached.Iliensinc also explained that the HIP-3 market deployer is responsible for providing data such as the mark price, oracle, and external perpetual contract price. Taking the pricing mechanism of a BTC perpetual contract as an example, the protocol provides the median of the latest on-chain transaction price, the best bid price, and the best ask price as one of three price components. The other two prices are provided by the deployer, and together these three influence the final mark price.
Odaily News: BIND Group, a bank holding group managing over $2 billion in assets, is developing a stablecoin pegged to the Argentine peso through its virtual asset service provider BEN, offering programmable money services to institutions. BIND Group has also announced a partnership with Circle to provide institutional-grade payment and treasury management services for BEN clients that meet local regulatory requirements. Petersen Group is also advancing a second peso-pegged stablecoin initiative through a subsidiary, with support from crypto-as-a-service company Lirium. The product, named DIPE, has already published a whitepaper; Lirium provides related solutions for Banco Galicia and Brubank. The above projects are being pursued by companies supported by banking groups, rather than being directly offered by the banking groups themselves. The Central Bank of Argentina has prohibited private banks from offering crypto-related services to clients since May 2022. These products are primarily aimed at institutional use cases, including treasury management, payments triggered by on-chain events, and secured credit management. In March, Argentina's securities regulator classified the peso-pegged stablecoin ARGT as a security, noting that it had not been issued in compliance with regulations.
CME Group, the operator of the largest U.S. derivatives exchange, sued the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and its Chairman Mike Selig last month, opposing the regulator's approval for prediction market platform Kalshi and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to launch crypto perpetual contracts. Non-US perpetual contracts achieved a trading volume of $60 trillion last year. CME argues that the CFTC misclassified the relevant products and improperly applied the law, claiming that futures should have an expiration date, whereas perpetual contracts allow traders to establish leveraged positions on the future price of an asset without an expiration limit. CME also contends that the products harm its longer-dated futures business and that the CFTC failed to adequately consider the impact. The dispute between the parties intensified during the early stages of the Iran conflict, when demand rose for 24-hour crude oil perpetual contracts on offshore DeFi exchanges like Hyperliquid, as well as for on-chain prediction market trading related to the crude oil market. CME subsequently applied to accelerate the launch of 24-hour West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures trading but was blocked by the CFTC. Kalshi, after launching its first related product last month, stated that its trading volume exceeded $1 billion in less than a week. The CFTC is currently advancing the U.S. perpetual contracts market through policy statements and case-by-case reviews, rather than through new rulemaking procedures.
In its financial system stability assessment report released this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that Brazil's cryptocurrency-based cross-border fund flows have been growing steadily since 2017, with their scale now exceeding traditional capital movements. The report indicates that these fund flows are largely driven by stablecoins, which are utilized by both corporations and retail investors for efficiency and tax-related reasons. Stablecoin flows are correlated with international and local investment indicators such as the S&P 500, VIX, and Bitcoin prices, and are also influenced by exchange rates, interest rates, policy uncertainty, and changes in tax policies. The IMF noted that the Central Bank of Brazil has taken measures to regulate the virtual asset service provider (VASP) industry, but gaps remain in areas such as customer legal protection and the segregation of custodial assets. Comprehensive implementation of international standards, including the Travel Rule, is still necessary for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). The report points out that Brazil's crypto system is interconnected with the traditional financial system, and regulators need to collaborate with domestic and international counterparts to establish a more robust reporting framework. The Brazilian Congress is preparing to deliberate on Bill 4308/2024, aimed at regulating the status of stablecoins.
HSBC's "Affluent Investor Snapshot 2026" report shows a survey of nearly 10,000 high-net-worth investors globally. In 2026, the average allocation to crypto assets stands at 6%, down 1 percentage point year-on-year. However, 45% of respondents still plan to increase their allocation over the next 12 months, while 40% intend to maintain it. In Singapore and Malaysia, investors' crypto asset allocations are 5% and 6%, respectively, both flat year-on-year. Over the same period, global cash allocation has fallen to 19%, with funds continuing to shift towards stocks, gold, and alternative investments.
According to e27, the "2026 Affluent Investor Snapshot" survey released by HSBC shows that the average cryptocurrency allocation for global affluent and high-net-worth investors is 6%, a slight decrease of 1 percentage point compared to 2025. Singapore investors' crypto allocation remained unchanged at 5%, and Malaysia remained unchanged at 6%, with no significant signs of exit. Meanwhile, investors in both regions are actively reducing cash holdings—13% of respondents in Singapore and 16% in Malaysia plan to reduce cash allocation within the next 12 months, shifting to increase alternative assets such as fixed deposits, gold, and private equity. Malaysian investors' interest in gold is particularly prominent, with the proportion planning to increase gold holdings rising by 20 percentage points; Singapore investors are more inclined towards fixed deposits (+18 percentage points) and alternative investments (+15 percentage points). Conducted between January and February 2026, this survey covered a total of 9,993 investors across 10 global markets, with a minimum investable asset threshold for respondents of USD 100,000.
According to Bloomberg, Taiwanese prosecutors detained an NVIDIA employee and searched their company office, as part of the ongoing expansion of an investigation into the suspected smuggling of AI accelerators to China. This marks the first time government authorities have taken legal action against an NVIDIA employee. Previously, Taiwanese officials launched the first round of arrests in May, involving Super Micro Computer (Super Micro) employees, AI server distributors, and data center operators. Those arrested were accused of forging documents to evade U.S. export controls and illegally export NVIDIA AI chips to China.