News linked to both this project and an event.
U.S. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce stated in a speech that she does not endorse certain speculative phenomena currently present in the market; financial products that function like lotteries—sparking hopes of short-term wealth—may fade as investor interest wanes. Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital, shared the remarks, noting that Peirce anticipates the underlying legal, technological, and market infrastructure supporting these products could be repurposed in the future for more enduring investment and risk-management products. Meanwhile, Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store, commented that the SEC’s balancing of regulation and innovation is reassuring, and he speculates that the compliant yet controversial products described by Peirce are in fact “prediction-market ETFs,” which he expects will soon receive approval for listing.
: Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store, posted on platform X, stating that SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce recently mentioned in a speech that the regulatory body is attempting to strike a balance between regulation and innovation.Nate Geraci believes that such remarks may be related to prediction market ETFs, and stated that this type of ETF product could be launched soon.
According to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking will hold a markup session for H.R.3633, the “Digital Asset Markets Structure Act of 2025,” at 10:30 a.m. ET on May 14. Committee members will vote on the bill’s text and related amendments. If approved, the Banking Committee’s version will be merged with the portion overseen by the Senate Committee on Agriculture to form the final version, which will then proceed to a full Senate vote.
According to Cointelegraph, after a 15-month investigation, police in New South Wales, Australia, seized 52.3 bitcoins—valued at approximately AUD 5.7 million (about USD 4.1 million)—and arrested two suspects allegedly operating a dark web marketplace in Ingleburn, Sydney. Authorities stated that the seized bitcoins are suspected proceeds from illicit dark web activities linked to drug and weapons trafficking. The operation, conducted by the State Crime Command’s Cybercrime Squad (Strike Force Andalusia), is regarded as one of the largest dark web-related cryptocurrency seizures ever carried out in Australia. Meanwhile, AUSTRAC has recently intensified its anti-money laundering (AML) oversight of domestic virtual asset service providers and cryptocurrency exchanges.
According to CoinDesk, at the “Perp DEX Explosion: Bullish Volumes and Bear Market Resilience” panel at Consensus Miami, several industry insiders stated that institutional investors are still largely avoiding decentralized exchanges offering perpetual futures (Perp DEXs). Veteran trader Wizard of SoHo pointed out that Drift’s recent multi-million-dollar hack highlights security vulnerabilities in the DeFi ecosystem, making secure onboarding of institutional capital a core competitive focus for major Perp DEXs. Anderson of Canary Labs expressed concern about DeFi’s current security posture, noting that large institutions face significantly greater challenges adopting decentralized exchanges compared to centralized platforms. Additionally, the structural tension between DeFi’s permissionless, open design and institutions’ stringent KYC compliance requirements is seen as a key barrier to scaling adoption. Michaël van de Poppe, founder of MN Fund, shared his views on AI-powered trading tools, stating that AI agents represent an evolutionary extension of algorithmic trading—and that trading will increasingly become fully automated.
, Coinbase Vice President of US Policy Kara Calvert stated at the Consensus 2026 conference that the CLARITY crypto market structure bill could be reviewed by the US Senate Banking Committee as early as next week. Kara Calvert noted that the bill requires at least 60 votes to pass in the Senate, and parties are currently working to secure bipartisan support.A HarrisX survey shows that 70% of voters believe the US should enact clear cryptocurrency legislation. Additionally, Kara Calvert believes that the lack of a cohesive tax policy is a major barrier to institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies, as current tax rules require crypto exchanges to record transactions as small as $1. She expressed hope that tax reform legislation could make progress in 2026 and predicted that the House of Representatives might take action on related legislation within the next month or two.
On-chain investigator ZachXBT stated that LAB’s founders engaged in CEX market manipulation while issuing “philosophical” statements—actions that harmed retail investors. ZachXBT noted he had attempted to contact them privately, but received no response. He added that such “scammer” behavior is further eroding the crypto industry’s already dwindling public trust.
According to The Block, BNY announced the expansion of its crypto custody business into the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in the UAE through partnerships with Finstreet and the ADI Foundation, offering institutional clients crypto-asset custody services. Initially, the service will support custody for BTC and ETH. The three parties will subsequently explore extending these services to the ADI Foundation’s underlying blockchain infrastructure and gradually expand to stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and other regulated digital instruments.
According to CoinDesk, BNY Mellon—the world’s largest custodian bank, with $59 trillion in assets under custody—has announced a partnership with Finstreet and the ADI Foundation to launch digital asset custody services in the UAE, operating under the regulatory framework of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Initially, the service will focus on custody for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), with plans to later expand to stablecoins and tokenized assets.
According to The Block, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand stated clearly on Wednesday at the Consensus Miami conference that she would not support the Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act unless it includes an ethics provision. She emphasized that members of Congress, the President, the Vice President, and senior executive branch officials must not profit from the industry by virtue of their insider status, bluntly declaring, “Without this provision, corruption will destroy this industry.” Previously, before the presidential inauguration, both Donald Trump and his wife launched meme coins. Their family-led DeFi and stablecoin project, World Liberty Financial, has also sparked widespread controversy. Bloomberg estimates that Trump has already earned at least $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency-related businesses.
According to CoinDesk, Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the White House’s Digital Assets Advisory Committee, stated at Consensus Miami 2026 that the White House has set July 4 as the target date for the House of Representatives to pass the Digital Asset Markets Clarity Act (Clarity Act). The specific timeline is as follows: the Senate Banking Committee will complete its markup process this month; in June, the full Senate vote will proceed during four designated Senate work weeks; and the bill will then be sent to the House of Representatives for a final vote before Independence Day. Regarding core points of contention in the bill, Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks have reached a compromise on the stablecoin yield provision—prohibiting stablecoins from offering yields equivalent to bank deposits, while preserving rewards tied to consumer spending. Witt stated this issue is “closed.” Additionally, the White House is pushing to expand the scope of conflict-of-interest provisions to cover *all* government personnel, “from the President to congressional interns,” and explicitly opposes targeted provisions aimed at specific officials or their families. Witt also warned that if the U.S. fails to establish regulatory leadership by 2026, it will be forced to follow rules set by other countries—“God forbid China sets those rules.”
according to Gate Ventures' latest weekly report, the global market performance is generally stable, but inflationary pressures and policy divergences are rising simultaneously. The S&P 500 topped the 7,200 mark for the first time. The Fed kept interest rates unchanged but showed major internal divisions. Compounded by volatile oil prices due to supply shocks in the Strait of Hormuz, market expectations of "stagflation" have intensified. Against this backdrop, the crypto market remains in a consolidation pattern, with BTC largely flat and ETH experiencing a slight pullback. ETF fund flows are diverging, and market sentiment remains cautious.At the industry level, the CLARITY Act has clarified the boundaries for stablecoin yields, further promoting a clearer regulatory framework. EURC is seeing rapid growth in Spanish retail payment scenarios, indicating that localized stablecoin applications are coming to market. The Solana ecosystem is advancing its post-quantum signature scheme, Falcon, reflecting the industry's forward-looking layout for long-term security. In terms of investment and financing, 15 deals were completed this week, with a total volume of $167 million, representing a 205% increase week-over-week. The infrastructure track continues to dominate. Among these, Four Pillars completed a Series A funding round to strengthen institutional-grade research and infrastructure capabilities. Belo secured $14 million in a funding round led by Tether, accelerating the expansion of its stablecoin payment network in Latin America. Overall, capital continues to concentrate towards infrastructure and cross-asset platforms, driving the industry's accelerated evolution towards institutionalization and multi-asset integration.
According to CoinDesk, cryptocurrency custody provider Taurus has obtained a MiFID II investment license from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), enabling it to offer tokenized financial instrument services to EU banks and asset management firms, and supporting secondary trading of tokenized bonds, fund shares, equities, and structured products. Additionally, Taurus already holds a license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), and its application under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) is underway.
Securitize, an asset tokenization platform, announced that it has received approval from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to expand the scope of its broker-dealer business through its subsidiary Securitize Market. This enables Securitize to provide custody services for tokenized securities within the traditional brokerage framework, conduct on-chain atomic swaps and clearing/settlement between tokenized securities and stablecoins, and participate in underwriting and sales of tokenized securities in both primary and secondary offerings.
a regulatory review delay by the U.S. SEC has prevented the first batch of ETF products linked to prediction markets from launching as scheduled, postponing their listing timeline. Multiple institutions, including Roundhill Investments, GraniteShares, and Bitwise Asset Management, submitted applications for over 20 prediction market-related ETFs in February this year. These event-driven products cover topics such as election outcomes, economic recessions, tech layoffs, and commodity prices.Under SEC rules, ETFs typically automatically become effective within 75 days of filing, unless the regulator requests further review. These products were originally expected to launch this week, but their listing has been delayed as the SEC has requested issuers to provide additional details on product mechanisms and disclosures. Relevant sources indicate this delay may be a short-term adjustment. These ETFs typically track "yes/no" event probabilities—such as election results or economic indicators—through derivative instruments and are linked to CFTC-regulated prediction market platforms like Kalshi. Each contract pays $1 if the event occurs, or zero otherwise.While prediction market trading has recently grown rapidly due to increased activity surrounding political events and geopolitical conflicts, it has also raised regulatory concerns regarding insider trading and market manipulation. Bitwise's Chief Investment Officer noted that innovative financial products often require a longer regulatory cycle but may ultimately succeed, emphasizing that prediction market ETFs could become a new channel for retail investors to access event-based trading. (Reuters)
Garrett Jin, agent representing the “1011 Insider Whale,” stated that Trump’s launch of the so-called “Project Freedom” is not a de-risking signal, but is more likely to act as a “fuse” for a new wave of uncertainty. Multiple factors are converging, including energy inventory pressures, enhanced regional military deployments, shifts in policy and legal environments, and tightening diplomatic pathways. Individually, these variables do not constitute definitive signals, but their concentration within the current time window may elevate market volatility risks. Overall, investors are advised to maintain a cautious and hedging mindset, paying close attention to the potential disruption of market sentiment by macroeconomic and geopolitical variables.Although the market has interpreted this move as a sign of easing tensions, driving risk assets higher, the underlying structure is more akin to a strategic framework of “limited engagement plus potential response.” The action primarily maintains shipping security through coordinated shipping lanes, insurance support, and military standby, rather than direct escort operations. This approach could, in fact, amplify reactions to specific triggering events.
Garrett Jin, the agent of “1011 Insider Whale,” authored an analysis stating that Trump’s so-called “Project Freedom” is not a signal of risk mitigation but rather a “fuse” for a new wave of uncertainty. Although the market interprets it as a de-escalation and has driven risk assets higher, its underlying structure more closely resembles a “limited engagement + potential response” strategic framework. This initiative primarily maintains maritime security through coordination of shipping lanes, insurance support, and military readiness—rather than direct naval escort—potentially amplifying market reactions once triggered by specific events. Meanwhile, multiple factors—including energy inventory pressures, heightened regional military deployments, shifts in policy and legal environments, and tightening diplomatic channels—are converging. Individually, these variables do not constitute definitive signals; however, their concentration within the current time window may elevate market volatility risk. Overall, investors are advised to maintain caution and adopt hedging strategies, closely monitoring how macroeconomic and geopolitical variables could potentially disrupt market sentiment.
According to The Block, Payward, Kraken’s parent company, has announced the completion of its acquisition of Chicago-based crypto-native exchange Bitnomial, thereby obtaining a full suite of U.S. derivatives licenses from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), including Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), Designated Contract Market (DCM), and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) licenses. Payward stated that it will first launch spot margin trading on Kraken, followed by perpetual contracts and options products, all available to eligible U.S. customers. This acquisition will also provide partners—including banks, brokers, and payment service providers—with a channel to offer U.S. derivatives to their end customers. Bitnomial will operate independently under Payward while retaining its existing licenses and regulatory framework. The transaction’s value is reported to be up to $550 million, comprising cash and stock, implying a valuation for Payward of approximately $20 billion; however, the final terms have not been disclosed.
Payward (Kraken’s parent company) has announced the completion of its acquisition of Bitnomial, marking its official entry into the U.S. crypto derivatives market with full regulatory credentials. Following the transaction, Payward now holds a comprehensive set of U.S. CFTC licenses, including Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), Designated Contract Market (DCM), and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) status, enabling it to launch compliant derivatives services in the U.S. market.Payward stated that it will gradually roll out spot margin trading under the Kraken brand, followed by plans to launch perpetual contracts and options products, while expanding institutional-grade derivatives capabilities through the Bitnomial framework. It is reported that Bitnomial, as a Chicago-based native crypto derivatives trading platform, has long held the three core CFTC licenses and has been relatively aggressive in listing new assets. After the transaction, it will retain its existing licenses and regulatory framework, continuing operations within the Payward system.Additionally, this acquisition continues Payward’s recent expansion moves: the company had previously secured a $200 million investment from Deutsche Börse Group and filed IPO-related documents with the U.S. SEC, signaling its accelerated push into globally compliant derivatives and capital market pathways. (The Block)
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has received over 1,500 public comments on its proposed rules for prediction markets, reflecting intensifying regulatory discussion in this space. Platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi have expressed support for the proposed regulatory framework, viewing it as conducive to industry standardization and development. However, some stakeholders have called for stricter regulation and enforcement measures to mitigate potential risks. Market analysts note that this comment period highlights substantial disagreement regarding the compliance boundaries, product classification, and regulatory positioning of prediction markets. The finalization of these rules may thus become a pivotal factor shaping the industry’s future development.