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According to Gate market data, the Nikkei 225 index closed down 3318.34 points on October 15, with a decline of 4.90%, reporting at 64425.95 points. The South Korean KOSPI index also closed down 454.54 points on the same day, with a decline of 7.56%, reporting at 5554.27 points.During the trading session, the South Korean stock market once fell more than 9%, triggering the circuit breaker mechanism for the tenth time this year. The South Korean financial regulatory agency held an emergency meeting in the afternoon regarding the stock market, and subsequently, the market's decline narrowed. SK Hynix initially closed down 11.06%, while Samsung Electronics fell 9.48%.

According to official news, the South Korean financial regulatory agency issued a statement that it will hold an emergency meeting to discuss the stock market. (Jinshi)

AI financial software Fragment announced on Wednesday the completion of a $12 million Series A funding round. This round is set to close in mid-2025, led by FirstMark and BoxGroup. The company's CEO Thomas Neckel did not disclose the post-round valuation.Fragment was founded by Thomas Neckel, with co-founder and CTO being former Robinhood engineer Varun Mohan. Developers can integrate Fragment into their own software, which uses double-entry bookkeeping to verify the sources and uses of funds, confirming account balances before funds move. Neckel stated that the product is a financial building block for automating business activities for agents.The company previously completed a $11 million seed round led by Stripe, with participants including BoxGroup, as well as Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Plaid CEO Zach Perret. Fragment claims to currently have about 50 to 60 paying customers, including Ramp, BILL, and Whop, for sharing transaction records and reducing manual reconciliation. FirstMark managing partner Adam Nelson stated that the goal is to become the standard toolkit for providing financial capabilities to agents.

The Trump administration plans to transfer three senior officials from the U.S. artificial intelligence model testing agency CAISSI to the White House, reporting directly to White House technology policy director Michael Kratsios and national cyber director Sean Cairncross. The government had previously considered moving the entire agency to the White House but ultimately only adjusted part of the senior leadership; the related transfers have not yet been completed, and the identities of the three officials have not been disclosed. Since its establishment by the Biden administration, the agency has used three different names in less than two years, and Chris Fall, the head, resigned just three months after taking office in July of this year, with a successor yet to be determined.CAISSI is affiliated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the U.S. Department of Commerce, has about 40 employees, and an annual budget of approximately $15 million, responsible for model safety assessments. According to informed sources, the agency is collaborating with the National Security Agency to test OpenAI's Astra and Anthropic's Mythos before public release; it has previously assessed DeepSeek V4 Pro and Zhiyuan GLM-5.3. Google confirmed that Gemini 4 Argon has participated in the voluntary testing process before the U.S. government release. The White House hopes that this adjustment will allow model testing experts to be more directly involved in policy decision-making.

According to NADA NEWS, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan has requested financial institutions, including cryptocurrency exchanges, to promptly stop using images of documents such as driver's licenses for identity verification (KYC) and to switch to a new verification method that reads integrated circuit (IC) chip information through smart devices.

Bitcoin software company Breez stated that since AI coding agents have become mainstream, the demand for its developer tools has surged significantly, with consulting requests increasing by approximately 14 times. Developers and the AI agents they deploy are seeking to integrate Bitcoin payments into their applications. Breez directly attributes this growth to Anthropic's Claude Code, which was launched as a research preview in February 2025 and officially opened three months later.Breez noted that before 2025, potential partners mainly fell into three categories: staunch Bitcoin enthusiasts, crypto developers, and fintech companies that view Bitcoin as an asset class. Since the launch of Claude Code, many developers with little to no Bitcoin experience have begun to inquire, with demand coming from fitness applications, messaging apps that want users to transfer money to each other, eSIM services for travelers, and a team developing a mushroom identification app. Breez stated that these developers often choose Bitcoin for its speed, as traditional payment processing involves bank accounts and cross-border transfers, which can take weeks or even months, while its SDK can be operational in just a few minutes.Breez mentioned that an increasing number of inquiries are coming from software rather than humans, as coding agents often represent the companies deploying them in making requests. The company believes that agents prefer Bitcoin because it is permissionless; agents can build applications and set up payments for global users without needing to open bank accounts, go through approvals, or sign documents. Breez stated that its latest SDK, built on the Bitcoin scaling protocol Spark, has successfully handled the increased traffic.

According to Fortune, AI trading agent startup Catalyst announced the completion of a $30 million seed round financing, led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Jump Trading, Peak XV, Lux Capital, AntiFund, Coinbase, and Premji Invest.The company was co-founded by Justin Zheng and Dylan Iskandar in 2025, aiming to assist ordinary investors in formulating and executing trading strategies through AI agents, allowing users to express investment goals in natural language. The AI agent then translates these into trading strategies and completes processes such as asset selection, cost optimization, and trade execution, but the final trades still require user confirmation. It is reported that Catalyst has currently completed a round of testing aimed at high-frequency trading users.

According to the official announcement, Gate has launched the AGENCY perpetual contract (settled in USDT), supporting 1-10x leverage, and has simultaneously launched the AGENCY trading bot and Order Tracking feature.AGENCY (Agency) is a Launchpad on Solana equipped with AI agents and automated vaults for launching tokens.

Salus posted on platform X, claiming that the project Revenue Family, which claims to be X Money's withdrawal bridge, involves malicious authorization. The perpetrators submitted user permit signatures to obtain unlimited USDG authorization, and then called transferFrom within the same transaction to transfer funds, with the funds flowing into two hacker addresses in an 80/20 ratio.On October 1, the project claimed that its social media account was stolen by internal reviewers, suspended exchanges, and denied that REV is the official token.

According to The Block citing the Financial Times, EU regulators are questioning Binance's use of legal exemptions to continue providing services to EU customers after failing to obtain a MiCA license.Binance stated that the company complies with applicable regulatory requirements in the jurisdictions where it operates and is working towards obtaining MiCA authorization.

The personal AI agent business ai.com under Crypto.com has not yet been opened to the public since its debut during the Super Bowl in February this year. According to Cointelegraph, ai.com spent $15 million on advertising during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl to promote the launch of its AI platform, leading to a surge of users rushing to reserve personal AI agent accounts, which caused the website to crash within minutes. Nearly 8 months later, the site still displays a message indicating that due to high demand, AI agent generation is in queue. A spokesperson for Crypto.com confirmed that the platform is still under development, stating that ai.com continues to advance in stealth mode and will provide more details when it is officially released to the public.The AI agents of ai.com are positioned beyond financial scenarios. In a statement released in February, it was announced that personal agents could arrange work, send messages, operate across applications, and build projects, and it also claimed that agents could independently develop missing capabilities and share improvements within the network. Meanwhile, competitors have launched AI assistants for more specific tasks: Robinhood announced on Tuesday that it could execute automated trading within the app using AI agents, Kraken launched AI financial tools in July, and Bitget introduced the AI trading assistant GetAgent in June. Anthropic introduced computer use in Claude Cowork in March, and OpenAI launched ChatGPT Work in July.During this period, Crypto.com continues to invest in AI business.

According to CoinPost, the National Tax Agency of Japan officially launched the first upgrade of its next-generation core system KSK2 on September 24, marking the first upgrade in about 25 years. The new system centers around personal identification numbers (My Number) and corporate identification numbers, achieving unified management of individual and corporate data, and introducing AI technology to enhance the detection of improper declarations.Cryptocurrency traders and investors are particularly affected, as annual transaction reports submitted by exchanges, bank account deposit and withdrawal records, and information exchange with overseas tax authorities (CRS) data have all been included in the key analysis scope of AI.In addition, statements related to "cryptocurrency profits" on social media will also be compared with declaration data, significantly increasing the risk of tax investigations. The National Tax Agency has also integrated horizontal data between corporations and individuals, making it easier to identify inconsistencies in assets and income for investors who purchase cryptocurrencies through private company investments or with funds from gifts and inheritances.Industry insiders emphasize that properly retaining annual transaction reports and accurately and completely declaring them has become an urgent priority.

The Financial Services Agency of Japan announced that its fintech proof-of-concept center's "Payment Enhancement Project" will support the fourth case, with applicants including TradeWaltz, NTT DATA, Mizuho Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation.This proof-of-concept program will commence in September 2026, verifying the practical responses to the use of stablecoins in trade transaction fund settlements and addressing related legal issues. After the experiment concludes, the Financial Services Agency of Japan will publish results and conclusions on topics such as compliance and regulatory responses, as well as interpretations of laws providing services to general users on its official website.

Verona announced the launch of verUSD on X, positioning it as the first stablecoin aimed at AI agents. The project claims that verUSD has secured over $100 million in institutional launch commitments.Participating institutions include Animoca Ventures, Figment Capital, Sfermion, Pentos Ventures, ArkStream, and others. Verona is a company providing on-chain payment and settlement infrastructure for AI agents, and verUSD is intended to serve as a stablecoin tool for value transfer and settlement between AI agents.

U.S. President Trump stated that the United States will not hinder the development of the artificial intelligence industry but will support and oversee the growth of the sector. He announced plans to establish an "Artificial Intelligence Working Group" and will appoint an "AI Czar" responsible for AI affairs in the future.Trump emphasized that the government will not suppress AI innovation through restrictive measures but will use the existing judicial system to address illegal activities in the AI field.

According to Ledger Insights, Brazil's securities regulator (CVM) is advancing a pilot program for distributed ledger technology (DLT) aimed at tokenized securities. This program only involves simulated trading and does not involve real securities or investors.Coordinated by the CVM Tokenization Working Group (GTT), the testing will last for 60 days and can be extended for an additional 30 days. The draft is pending approval from the board. The scope covers most of the securities lifecycle, from issuance to settlement, including stocks, bonds, receivable certificates, and investment fund shares.

According to a joint alert issued by the Japanese National Police Agency, FBI, ASD/ACSC, BND, and BfV, the North Korean-backed cyber attack organization "WaterPlum" (also known as Contagious Interview) targets job seekers by disguising itself as an AI, cryptocurrency, and NFT company to post fake job listings. This lures job seekers into downloading NPM packages containing malware such as BeaverTail, InvisibleFerret, and OtterCookie, which then steal cryptocurrency wallet information and confidential data.As of July 2026, the organization has infected over 30,000 devices in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide, stealing information from over 7,000 cryptocurrency wallets, with the wallets under its control receiving at least approximately 1.7 billion yen (about 10.71 million USD) in cryptocurrency. The Japanese National Police Agency has discovered and dismantled a "notebook farm" established by local "supporters" for the first time in the country, where North Korean IT laborers remotely control PCs within the supporters' residences to conduct business, with the related amount involved reaching several hundred million yen.The police and FBI assess that WaterPlum and some North Korean IT laborers are under the unified command of the 313 Bureau of the Ministry of Military Industry of the Workers' Party of Korea, with the profits directly flowing into North Korea's national funding pool. The police remind IT technicians and corporate issuers to remain vigilant and avoid executing third-party code in unverified environments.

The Financial Services Agency of Japan announced the "2026 Fiscal Year Financial Administrative Guidelines," proposing to clarify the issues of on-chain finance in terms of technology, systems, and regulation through verification and dialogue between the public and private sectors, while ensuring user protection and the stability of the financial system, and to build a financial infrastructure that is both convenient and competitive.The Financial Services Agency of Japan will also promote the shortening and upgrading of securities settlement processes in conjunction with the development of asset tokenization, and plans to establish an on-chain financial forum aimed at the AI era to discuss the applications of digital finance, decentralized finance, and AI technology in the financial sector.

According to a report by Sina Finance, Lin Junxian, a former client manager of China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Limited, admitted to conspiring with an employee of a financial technology company and his accomplices to accept bribes, totaling over 470,000 US dollars in cryptocurrency "Tether." They illegally certified multiple false documents without the bank's authorization to secure several insurance-related investment transactions.An internal investigation by China Construction Bank (Asia) uncovered the incident, which was subsequently reported to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) along with full cooperation. Judge Lin Jianhong has postponed the sentencing of the case to September 18, during which the defendant will remain in custody under the Correctional Services Department.

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) in Canada stated on Thursday that tokenized deposits are legally indistinguishable from traditional deposits, and noted that the underlying technology used in financial products or services does not determine their legal nature.OSFI indicated that financial institutions can conduct tokenized deposit business under existing financial regulatory laws without the need to establish additional regulatory provisions. Financial institutions and third parties acting on their behalf must ensure that their operations comply with applicable laws and regulations. OSFI requires financial institutions to communicate in advance with the OSFI supervisor responsible for regulation before launching new products or services, and recommends seeking legal advice prior to going live. The agency oversees nearly 350 financial institutions and 1,200 pension plans.