News linked to both this project and an event.
According to The Block, BlackRock Financial Management Company, BlackRock Japan, Japanese financial group SBI Holdings, and Startale Group have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore linking tokenized money market funds (MMFs) with the Japanese yen stablecoin JPYSC, and will research related technological infrastructure, business models, distribution channels, and regulatory requirements.
Odaily reports: Crypto wallet Phantom began rolling out Kalshi prediction market services to U.S. users on October 23, allowing users to trade event contracts directly within the app, with availability set to gradually expand over the coming weeks. Users must complete Kalshi's KYC verification and can fund trades through a Phantom Cash account using CASH, a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin. Due to lawsuits in various states, Phantom will temporarily restrict sports, election, political, and certain other category markets in some states.Kevin Jacobs, Phantom's general counsel, said the company believes the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has clear jurisdiction over such products and will comply with state restrictions during the litigation. (The Block)
According to The Block, the Ethereum Foundation announced a delay of the Glamsterdam upgrade, originally scheduled for October 26 on the Hoodi testnet, to allow for further review of EIP-8037's interaction with mainnet smart contracts. A new activation date has not yet been announced. Hoodi is one of Ethereum's test networks, primarily used to validate network upgrades before they go live on the mainnet.
via The Block on X that, according to the New York Post, prediction market platform Polymarket has fired its Chief Marketing Officer Matthew Modabber, who was closely associated with Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan.According to reports, the dismissal followed an internal investigation. The investigation was launched earlier this year, prompted by a series of incidents that raised concerns among the company's investors.
According to The Block, JPMorgan analysts including Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou stated in Wednesday's report that recent actions by U.S. regulators are partially offsetting the adverse impact of the Senate's failure to advance the Clarity Act, but until a crypto market structure bill is enacted, the political and legal risk premium will persist. Analysts note that regulator-driven measures could encourage institutional participation in the short term, but only legislation can ensure a more durable regulatory framework. If the Democratic Party wins the White House, existing regulatory measures could be overturned within as little as two years. The bill is unlikely to pass this year and may instead be put back on the agenda in 2027.
According to The Block, Lee Eog-weon, Chairman of the South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC), stated at a National Assembly hearing that government consultations on the Digital Assets Basic Act have entered the final stage, and the government will push for the bill's prompt enactment. The legislation aims to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets, covering licensing systems for cryptocurrency exchanges, stablecoin issuance rules, and related legal definitions.
Standard Chartered has signed a final agreement to acquire 100% equity of crypto asset custody institution Zodia Custody, with the transaction still pending regulatory approval. Under the arrangement, Zodia Custody's custody business will be integrated into Standard Chartered, while its software business will be transferred to a standalone company backed by SC Ventures, the venture capital arm of Standard Chartered. (The Block)
According to The Block, Injective has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korean digital asset custodian BDACS, planning to designate its KRW stablecoin KRW1 as the exclusive KRW settlement asset for RWA and tokenized asset activities on the Injective network. Both parties aim to enable tokenized assets to be traded and settled directly in KRW on Injective without routing through USD stablecoins. The minting and redemption of KRW1 will be exclusively available to approved institutional partners and will still require regulatory approval.
Odaily reports: The Blockchain Association has submitted comments on the U.S. Treasury Department's proposed implementation rules for Section 3 of the GENIUS Act. This provision primarily governs the eligibility of entities issuing and selling payment stablecoins within the United States.The Blockchain Association stated that it supports the core regulatory framework proposed by the Treasury Department in principle, but calls for further clarification of the definition of digital asset service providers, the criteria for determining "knowing participation" conduct, and the compliance requirements for foreign stablecoin issuers, in order to reduce uncertainty during the rule implementation process. (The Block)
According to The Block, Mastercard announced at Money20/20 USA the launch of its stablecoin risk intelligence service, Stablecoin Security. The service helps financial institutions assess stablecoin payment risks before funds are moved on-chain. The system traces fund origins, screens for potential links to fraud, scams, sanctions violations, and other financial crimes, and generates a risk score based on transaction context. Banks can integrate the scoring into their existing risk management and compliance systems via API. Borderless.xyz and Keyrails serve as the launch partners. The service will initially roll out in North America, with global commercial deployment expected in 2027. Citing research from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Mastercard noted that transactions on Ethereum in 2025 encompassed 593 million stablecoin transfer events across 141 million transactions, with nearly 60% occurring within complex multi-step processes rather than simple one-to-one payments.
According to The Block, citing South Korean media outlet Digital Asset, South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said it will investigate unfair trading practices involving crypto assets linked to token foundations, as well as other high-risk market activities.
According to The Block, Bitwise Chief Information Officer Matt Hougan stated that regardless of whether AI development drives economic prosperity, investment bubbles burst, or growth remains modest, Bitcoin will ultimately benefit. Hougan noted that if AI collapses, it may temporarily drag Bitcoin lower in the short term, but government bailouts and monetary expansion policies will ultimately drive a rebound in Bitcoin.
According to The Block, Standard Chartered Bank has pushed back its forecast for the stablecoin market to reach a $2 trillion scale from 2028 to 2030. Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank's Global Head of Digital Asset Research, stated that stablecoin supply has consistently hovered between $300 billion and $320 billion over the past 12 months, currently standing at approximately $309 billion. The stagnation in growth is viewed as a cyclical, rather than structural, issue. Despite the slowdown in supply growth, usage continues to climb—average monthly on-chain transfer volume neared $10 trillion in 2026, a significant increase from $4 trillion in 2025, with May alone recording a record-high $19 trillion in on-chain transfers. Stablecoin velocity has also doubled from 15x in 2025 to approximately 30x. Specifically, USDC velocity rose from 45x to 80x, primarily used for payments and AI agent-to-agent transactions; USDT velocity remains around 7x, mainly serving dollar savings demand in emerging markets. Kendrick noted that competition is most intense in mature market payments and traditional finance alternatives, with potential challengers including OUSD, stablecoin infrastructure provider M^0, and the multi-bank shared stablecoin network A+. On the regulatory front, the U.S. GENIUS Act is expected to take effect in January 2027, and its global rollout effectiveness will be a primary risk factor influencing the realization of the forecast.
According to The Block, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is conducting an early review of the online sports betting industry, focusing on alleged false or misleading advertising by betting companies such as FanDuel and DraftKings. Prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket are expected to fall outside the scope of this review.
Odaily News: CME Group CEO Terrence Duffy stated that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) attempt to expand its regulatory authority over prediction markets is "a bit of a stretch," and that the related regulatory dispute could ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court.Speaking at the DC Fintech Week event on Tuesday, Duffy said the battle over prediction market regulation could evolve into a legal showdown among state governments, tribal governments, and the federal government. "This is going to the Supreme Court, and I think the states and the tribes will prevail," he said. (The Block)
According to The Block, Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has received final regulatory approval from Dubai and plans to officially launch exchange services in the UAE within the coming weeks. Kraken will offer spot and margin trading, staking, xStocks, and Krak transfers denominated in AED (UAE dirham), as well as institutional OTC spot trading and Kraken Prime services. The crypto derivatives business remains pending further regulatory approval.
According to The Block, former acting CFTC chair Caroline Pham stated that the agency's jurisdiction covers virtually everything, and she believes it does not need to wait for Congress to pass new legislation to regulate the crypto market.
According to The Block, hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger stated it is investigating reports of fund theft involving users in Southeast Asia. All affected users purchased their devices from distributor CryptoBilis. Ledger has requested CryptoBilis to suspend sales and shipments during the investigation. Official guidance advises users who purchased devices from this distributor within the past 90 days to refrain from configuring their devices; if already configured, they should transfer their assets to a new hardware device using fresh mnemonic phrases.
According to The Block, Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued regulatory framework rules for cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which are set to officially take effect on October 16. In the initial phase, the underlying assets of the relevant funds will be limited to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
Odaily News: Coinbase-backed crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto (SWC) has announced its first batch of Senate candidate endorsements, including Ohio Republican Senator Jon Husted, as well as Iowa candidate Ashley Hinson and New Hampshire candidate Chris Pappas.Previously, the U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act in a procedural vote on September 15. SWC Executive Director Mason Lynaugh stated that following this vote, the organization will shift more of its focus toward elections. SWC also announced expanded support and advertising spending for certain House candidates. The organization had previously said it would factor senators' performance on key CLARITY Act votes into candidate records. (The Block)