News linked to both this project and an event.
According to CoinDesk, Coinbase Canada's new CEO Eric Richmond stated at the Toronto Blockchain Futurist Conference that Coinbase aims to become Canada's "all-in-one exchange," fully introducing products such as derivatives, decentralized finance (DeFi), and tokenized assets into the Canadian market to achieve "24/7, seamless, frictionless" one-stop financial services.
According to CoinDesk, the world's largest custodian bank, The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), announced it will migrate its transfer agent core bookkeeping business to the blockchain, involving approximately $8.6 trillion in assets and 7.6 million accounts, aiming to establish a single on-chain ownership ledger and reduce reliance on multi-layer intermediaries. BNY client Baillie Gifford (managing over $261 billion) will be the first to use the service, launching the UK's first fully locally regulated tokenized fund, while BlackRock and its money market business Dreyfus also plan to follow suit. BNY stated that existing traditional systems will continue to run in parallel, with trillions of dollars in funds remaining on the traditional track in the short term.
According to CoinDesk, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Minnesota Katherine Menendez ruled on July 28 local time that the Minnesota state law criminalizing the operation of prediction markets likely violates the federal Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), and granted a preliminary injunction to Kalshi, Polymarket, and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to suspend the enforcement of the state law. The judge held that prediction market contracts structurally fall under 'swap' products within the CFTC's regulatory scope, federal law takes precedence over state law, and the three plaintiffs are 'likely to prevail in the formal trial'. Additionally, the judge noted that failing to suspend the enforcement of the law would cause 'irreparable harm' to Kalshi and Polymarket. The preliminary injunction will remain in effect until the final judgment of the case is issued.
sports merchandise and betting platform Fanatics will acquire a federally regulated exchange and clearing house from BGC to launch and settle its own prediction market operations. Fanatics and BGC also plan to develop new market data products that combine prediction market activity with traditional financial market data. This deal enables Fanatics to enter the prediction market space, competing directly with platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
According to CoinDesk, the new draft of the CLARITY Act has been officially released. This draft merges the two versions from the Senate Banking Committee and the Agriculture Committee and includes ethics provisions for the first time. Voting procedures are expected to commence this Monday or Tuesday, with the formal vote potentially taking place as early as the week of August 3.
According to CoinDesk, South Korea's largest trading company POSCO International is collaborating with LG CNS, a technology subsidiary under the LG Group, to pilot the tokenization of real trade accounts receivable on the Layer-1 blockchain Injective. The project aims to accelerate commercial payment processes among POSCO's global subsidiaries by placing accounts receivable on-chain, building a single ledger shared by buyers, sellers, and banks, enabling compliance rules to flow synchronously with assets, and is expected to significantly compress the traditional reconciliation cycle that typically takes several days. POSCO International reported revenue of $22.2 billion last year, with operations covering steel, energy, and battery materials, among other fields.
the race for the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) is coming to an end, but the real challenges for companies are just beginning. The high cost of maintaining ongoing compliance systems may reshape the European crypto landscape. The future competitive focus in the industry is likely to shift from "who can obtain a license" to "who can afford the regulatory costs," driving companies towards scaling through mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, or partnerships with banks. As MiCA is gradually implemented and the UK's crypto regulatory framework takes shape, the European crypto industry is entering a new phase of consolidation. Insiders believe that high-standard regulatory requirements could fuel a new wave of M&A, and cooperation between crypto-native companies and traditional financial institutions will deepen further.This trend may be even more pronounced in the UK market. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is developing a new regulatory framework for crypto assets, which is expected to bring crypto businesses under the existing financial services regulatory system, subjecting them to capital, operational, and customer asset protection requirements similar to those for traditional investment firms. Steven Lightstone, a partner at Morgan Lewis in London and co-head of the global fintech team, stated that while the FCA aims to promote market competition and support new entrants, its regulatory standards will be very strict when it comes to consumer protection. Unlike the EU's standalone MiCA framework, the UK's approach will directly leverage the existing financial regulatory system to manage crypto firms.Meanwhile, increased regulatory certainty is accelerating the entry of European banks into the digital asset space. Simon Schneider, CEO of Sygnum Europe, noted that currently fewer than 20% of banks in Europe offer crypto-related services, indicating a significant market gap. The greatest value of MiCA is not just creating a new licensing system but providing legal certainty for financial institutions to enter the digital asset market. Citing Switzerland as an example, he pointed out that after the introduction of distributed ledger technology regulations, most major Swiss banks have begun offering digital asset services, a path that other parts of Europe may follow in the future. Banks are unlikely to replace crypto-native companies altogether; instead, they are more likely to rely on specialized infrastructure providers and collaborate in areas such as custody, brokerage, staking, and asset tokenization.As companies that fail to secure MiCA licenses gradually exit the European market, assets may become further concentrated among regulated entities. However, Schneider believes that self-custody models and institutional custody models will continue to coexist for the long term.Industry insiders suggest that the European crypto industry is entering a "regulatory-driven consolidation cycle." For crypto startups that previously
India's cybercrime agency has requested GitHub to remove the code repository for Bitchat. Bitchat is an offline messaging app launched by Jack Dorsey, featuring a decentralized design and no registration requirement. Indian authorities stated that Bitchat's design hinders lawful surveillance and investigations. Delhi protesters used this app, along with similar Bluetooth mesh applications, to coordinate actions during the exam scandal protests, circumventing multiple internet outages. It remains unclear whether GitHub complied with the takedown request within the three-hour deadline. As of Friday, Bitchat is still available on major app stores, and open-source code can typically be mirrored and stored beyond a single platform. (CoinDesk)
Odaily news The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to pay $150,000 to resolve a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit concerning its records on the Ethereum investigation. According to a joint case status report filed on July 22, the SEC and the plaintiff, History Associates Inc., have reached a settlement and have requested the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss the case.Under the agreement, the SEC will continue to provide the remaining relevant documents and pay a fixed amount to cover the plaintiff's legal fees. The lawsuit was filed by History Associates in June 2024. This agency, commissioned by Coinbase, demanded the SEC disclose materials related to its regulatory investigation of Ethereum, including investigation files on Zachary Coburn and Enigma MPC, as well as records of regulatory discussions regarding Ethereum's transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS).Previously, this lawsuit prompted the SEC to deliver thousands of documents. The court also ordered the SEC to prioritize providing internal communications sent, received, or reviewed by then-Chairman Gary Gensler regarding Ethereum's migration from PoW to PoS.During the case, the SEC sparked controversy for deleting some of Gensler's text message records. The SEC's Office of Inspector General previously disclosed that the agency accidentally deleted Gensler's text messages from October 2022 to September 2023. Subsequent documents revealed that the SEC also wiped data from 21 senior officials' phones.Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the incident highlights transparency issues within government agencies during the crypto regulatory process and noted that the relevant lawsuits aim to promote public access to the basis for regulatory decisions. With the SEC completing the submission of the remaining documents, this lawsuit, which has lasted for over two years, will officially come to an end. (CoinDesk)
Goldman Sachs Group CEO David Solomon stated that while the CLARITY Act is not perfect, he supports its advancement, believing it will establish a clearer and fairer regulatory framework for the digital asset market, enhance market stability, and promote innovation.Solomon said the most significant implication of the CLARITY Act is "creating a level playing field, allowing the market to develop healthily." This stance contrasts sharply with that of some banking executives, such as JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. They argue that the bill, by allowing crypto companies to offer stablecoin products similar to interest-bearing deposits without assuming the same regulatory requirements as banks, could weaken the competitiveness of traditional banks.Currently, Republican senators in the U.S. have released a revised text of the CLARITY Act, which could be submitted to the Senate for a vote as early as next week. The bill aims to clarify the division of responsibilities between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in regulating digital assets, and will continue negotiations on terms related to stablecoin issuance, consumer protection, and yield-bearing stablecoins. (CoinDesk)
According to CoinDesk, the UK government plans to complete the first tokenized sovereign bond issuance tests through HSBC and the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) in early 2027, but industry experts point out that on-chain cash settlement issues remain the core obstacle hindering the implementation of the plan. Varun Paul, Global Head of Central Banks and Market Infrastructure at Fireblocks, stated that the project has secured sufficient institutional support, and a change in government (UK Prime Minister changing from Keir Starmer to Andy Burnham) is unlikely to reverse it, and tokenized government bonds are expected to boost market demand given the UK's current debt scale of nearly 3 trillion pounds (approximately 4 trillion USD). Jannah Patchay, Founder of Markets Evolution, pointed out that tokenized bond technology has been validated for nearly seven years since Santander Bank issued the first tokenized sterling corporate bond in 2019, but the absence of on-chain counterparty risk-free settlement assets has remained unresolved. She called on regulators to promote the use of compliant sterling stablecoins to provide an on-chain settlement mechanism. Currently, the global stablecoin market size reaches $300 billion, but TGBP, the largest pound stablecoin by market capitalization, is only worth about $34.2 million, accounting for a negligible proportion.
According to CoinDesk, the Cardano wallet SecondFi was attacked due to a vulnerability in its transaction signing software. A total of 16.1 million ADA (approximately $2.4 million) across 374 wallets was stolen, and the platform has announced permanent closure. The vulnerability allowed attackers to derive private keys from transaction data visible on-chain. The Cardano network itself was not affected, nor were hardware wallet users. An investigation by Groom Lake, a blockchain intelligence company hired by EMURGO, revealed that the primary attackers were sophisticated and well-funded. Some indications point to North Korea's Lazarus Group, but this has not yet been officially confirmed. SecondFi plans to release a wallet export tool in early August and launch a zero-knowledge recovery portal later in the month. EMURGO has established an asset recovery wallet, with the specific distribution time to be determined.
According to CoinDesk, Kraken's parent company Payward announced it will expand its tokenized stock platform xStocks to markets outside the United States, planning to partner with investment infrastructure provider GTN to bring listed stocks from Hong Kong, the UK, Europe, and South Korea on-chain, with further expansion to other asset classes subject to regulatory approval. Currently, xStocks supports over 500 tokenized securities, with cumulative trading volume exceeding $35 billion and nearly 200,000 holders, but the product is not currently open to US investors.
According to CoinDesk, cryptocurrency lobbying group TDC has officially sued the state of Illinois, seeking to block the implementation of a bill imposing a 0.2% tax on all digital asset transactions in the state. The bill was signed by Governor Pritzker last month and is scheduled to officially take effect next year.
crypto bank Augustus announced the completion of a $180 million funding round, bringing the company's valuation to $1 billion. The company aims to build a 24/7 financial infrastructure that connects traditional payment systems with stablecoin networks. The round was led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from investors including Hummingbird, QED, and the founding teams of Nubank, Ramp, Circle, and Deel.Augustus stated that as stablecoins gradually transform the global financial system, the traditional Correspondent Banking model is facing efficiency bottlenecks. The company aims to establish a federally chartered clearing bank for fintech companies and financial institutions, replacing traditional cross-border payment infrastructure.Unlike stablecoin issuers, Augustus does not plan to issue its own stablecoin. Instead, it aims to provide underlying banking infrastructure, enabling financial institutions to freely transfer funds between traditional payment networks and blockchain networks. Currently, Augustus offers euro clearing services through its regulated Finnish entity, processing tens of billions of euros in transactions annually. Its clients include international financial institutions, fintech companies, banks, and crypto firms, including crypto exchange Kraken. (CoinDesk)
According to CoinDesk, Tokyo-listed logistics company AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings (9090) announced plans to use the regulated yen stablecoin JPYC to make payments to its approximately 2,300 partners (including subcontractors and truck drivers). The company has provided delivery services for Amazon Japan since 2017, with revenue reaching 230.5 billion yen (approximately $1.4 billion) in the previous fiscal year.
According to CoinDesk, U.S. Senators Chris Murphy, Chris Van Hollen, and Jeff Merkley held a press conference on Capitol Hill on July 14, publicly announcing opposition to the cryptocurrency market structure bill, the "Digital Asset Market Clarity Act" (Clarity Act), and characterized it as "corrupt legislation." The core focus of the three senators' opposition is that the bill currently still fails to incorporate ethical provisions prohibiting the President and senior government officials from personally participating in the crypto industry. Van Hollen stated bluntly that the bill "will cause great harm"; Murphy used even stronger language, stating that if the bill cannot cut off the entanglement of interests between the Trump family and the crypto industry, it "is itself an umbrella for corruption."
Odaily News: Kalshi originally planned to cancel prediction market trades placed by Michigan customers following a court order, but the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission intervened, stating that Michigan has no authority over the contracts. The CFTC prevented the company from complying with the court order, which stemmed from Michigan's recent attempt to halt sports-related trading. Michigan's Attorney General argued that such trades constitute illegal gambling. Michigan is one of several states where the derivatives regulator is defending its legal authority over prediction markets. (CoinDesk).
Odaily News: Three Democratic U.S. Senators expressed opposition to the cryptocurrency CLARITY Act during a press conference in Washington, stating that unless the bill directly addresses the "corruption" issues related to President Donald Trump's personal cryptocurrency ties, it should not receive support. (CoinDesk)
the European Central Bank (ECB) has selected 36 banks and payment companies to participate in the digital euro pilot project, preparing for the potential issuance of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) possibly in 2029. Selected institutions include Deutsche Bank, Revolut, Adyen, SumUp, UniCredit, and Worldline. The list was selected from 50 applicant institutions.The digital euro pilot program is scheduled to launch in the second half of next year, lasting for 12 months. It will test the Beta version of the digital euro across various payment scenarios, including: online person-to-person transfers, offline payments, in-store payments, and e-commerce payments. The pilot scope will cover the ECB and the central banks of 19 eurozone countries. ECB employees and staff from national central banks will participate as users, while some restaurants, cafes, and online merchants will support digital euro payments.Although the digital euro currently lacks legal tender status, its design will closely align with the relevant legislative framework being developed by the European Union. The ECB stated that the final decision on whether to issue a digital euro will await the passage of relevant regulations and a decision by the ECB's Governing Council.One of the key reasons for the ECB's push for a digital euro is concern that the development of private dollar-pegged stablecoins could impact Europe's monetary sovereignty. In recent years, dollar-backed stablecoins like Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC have grown rapidly in global payment volumes, drawing the attention of European regulators to financial autonomy.However, the CBDC project still faces privacy controversies. Some privacy advocacy groups worry that a central bank digital currency could lead to transaction tracking or even pose a risk of restricted account access. In contrast, the United States has recently passed laws restricting the Federal Reserve System from issuing a digital dollar before the end of 2030.Currently, Europe's digital euro project is entering its practical testing phase, while EU legislative bodies are advancing the relevant legal framework. If the regulatory process proceeds smoothly, the digital euro could potentially be officially launched as early as 2029. (CoinDesk)