compliance

On August 21, China Merchants Yonglong Bank issued a notice to customers, stating that it is cooperating with the latest risk management and account compliance guidelines from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Securities and Futures Commission to conduct a comprehensive optimization and review of investment accounts for mainland investors. Upon verification, all investment accounts held by relevant customers (including wealth management, securities, and/or paper gold passbook accounts) as of May 22, 2026, have no asset balance, and there have been no investment transaction records in the past 12 months, which have been classified as "zero balance non-active investment accounts."To maintain normal account operations, the bank requires customers to submit the "Non-Active Investment Account Declaration" as soon as possible. Customers can complete the submission through the pop-up in the personal account section of the China Merchants Yonglong Bank mobile app; joint account holders or those who have not registered for the mobile app can call the customer service hotline for guidance, and each joint account holder must submit separately. The main content of the declaration includes confirming the accuracy of personal information, the legality of the source of funds, that the account has not been closed or suspended due to suspicious documents, and timely notification of any changes in information.The bank reminds that if customers fail to complete the submission in a timely manner, new investment transactions (including buying stocks, subscribing to wealth management products, etc.) will be suspended accordingly; if the submission continues to be delayed, it is expected that starting from November 2026, relevant "non-active investment accounts" may be closed. Once an account is suspended or closed, no new securities or wealth management product investment transactions can be conducted.

According to The Defiant, Arbitrum activated the ArbOS 61 Elara upgrade on August 20, adding optional protocol-level transaction filtering, priority fee support, and alternative data availability interfaces for dedicated chains, while adjusting the base fee management and expanding the Stylus contract capacity of Arbitrum One. The compliance filtering feature is turned off by default and requires the chain owner to actively configure external compliance service providers (such as TRM Labs or Chainalysis) and set rules, executing through a dual mechanism of simulated transactions and on-chain guardians.The priority fee feature is also turned off by default and requires the chain owner to enable it through pre-compilation. The collection of priority fees on Arbitrum One still requires a separate DAO vote. Elara also introduced the BaseFeeManager contract, allowing Offchain Labs to adjust the base fee within the DAO-approved range of 0.01 to 0.1 gwei, with a validity period of two years. The code size limit for Stylus contracts has been increased from 24KB to 96KB, which does not apply to Solidity contracts.

According to RootData, among 3,244 cryptocurrency projects with financing records spanning no more than four years and amounts that can be accounted for, 1,617 have a cumulative financing amount of no more than $5 million, accounting for 49.8%. The median financing for this batch of projects is $2.5 million, with about 96% recording only one round of financing.In terms of sectors, DeFi, infrastructure, and gaming projects together account for 59.2%, with small-scale financing mainly flowing to protocol development, underlying technology, and consumer applications. However, a quarter of the projects in the sample have already ceased operations, indicating that while lower regulatory thresholds can improve financing efficiency, they cannot replace product demand and sustainable operational capability.Institutional participation is also higher than the market's usual perception of "small projects": 92.9% of the sample has identifiable investor records, and 83.5% disclosed at least two investors. Among them, Animoca Brands, Shima Capital, and Big Brain Holdings participated in 84, 69, and 67 projects, respectively.It is reported that the U.S. SEC officially proposed the "Regulation Crypto Assets" on August 18. The proposal aims to set up two tiers of issuance exemptions: projects can raise no more than $5 million in a single instance within four years; projects with greater financing needs can raise up to $75 million within each 12-month period, but must submit financial statements and fulfill ongoing reporting obligations. The proposal is currently in a 60-day public comment period and has not yet officially taken effect.

Eclipse founder Neel Somani published an analysis stating that by leasing diesel generator sets, AI data centers can bypass grid access bottlenecks and complete deployment within months. Taking a 50MW inference data center as an example, about 40 leased diesel units are needed (monthly rent of approximately 2 million USD), consuming about 2.5 million gallons of diesel each month (approximately 12.5 million USD), with the cooling system costing about 1 million USD, and the total hardware investment being about 1.9 billion USD (including approximately 21,000 GPUs and supporting network equipment). Based on similar leasing agreements like Colossus 2, monthly revenue could reach approximately 180 million USD.

According to a Reuters report on August 13, court documents show that the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is in settlement negotiations with Huobi HTX regarding related allegations. The FCA filed a lawsuit against Huobi HTX in October 2025, and in March of this year, both parties began a three-month settlement negotiation, which was extended again on June 25; the High Court of London has suspended the litigation process, giving both parties two months until the end of August to reach a settlement.A spokesperson for Huobi HTX stated that the platform is committed to maintaining high standards of compliance, transparency, and user protection, and will continue to collaborate with regulators to support the sustainable development of the crypto ecosystem.

Federal Reserve Chairman Waller has sold all financial assets he committed to divest. Waller signed an ethics compliance certification with the government ethics office last Thursday, which was made public on the agency's website on Saturday. Waller had previously submitted a divestiture certification to the ethics office, showing that he had sold most of the assets he committed to divest. The latest disclosure document indicates that he has sold the remaining holdings involved in the agreement.Waller is one of the wealthiest officials in Federal Reserve history. He had committed to divesting holdings in several investments, the underlying assets of which were not disclosed due to confidentiality agreements—some of which are valued at least $100 million.

According to a report by CNBC, the latest research published in the academic journal "Review of Accounting Studies" shows that among U.S. taxpayers holding virtual currencies, the actual proportion of those reporting transactions to the federal government is only 32% to 56%.As the IRS will require intermediaries to submit virtual currency tax forms "Form 1099-DA" starting in 2025, discrepancies between reports from businesses and taxpayer filings will be more easily identified by authorities. In the first year, the form only needs to report total earnings, while the obligation to report cost basis will officially be included starting in 2026.

Hyperliquid Policy Center issued a statement, and HPC attended the CFTC Agricultural Advisory Committee meeting, submitting a formal statement. The statement revolves around three points: first, agricultural end users need diversified market choices, and the historical ban on agricultural options has proven to be overly restrictive; second, the CFTC's phased approach to perpetual contracts is the correct path, and end user demand should drive the adoption of new derivatives; third, public blockchains contribute to modernizing clearing and settlement infrastructure, while enhancing collateral liquidity and preserving the market integrity protection mechanisms of the Commodity Exchange Act.HPC stated that it will continue to collaborate with the agricultural community to promote the regulatory implementation of perpetual contracts in the U.S. market.

Switzerland provides a regulatory path for anti-money laundering for crypto businesses through the Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) model. Smaller crypto exchanges, brokers, and custodial wallet providers join the SRO under the framework authorized by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which reviews their anti-money laundering control measures.When crypto businesses engage in financial intermediation activities such as token exchange, customer wallet custody, or payment token issuance in Switzerland, they must obtain a full license from FINMA or join an SRO. VQF, PolyReg, ARIF, and SO-FIT are responsible for supervising most crypto activities, and the review is usually completed within 2 to 4 months after the company submits its business plan, organizational structure, and anti-money laundering procedures.PolyReg, VQF, ARIF, and SO-FIT have jointly raised the minimum regulatory standards for virtual asset service providers at the beginning of 2026, covering transaction monitoring, blockchain analysis, and technical controls. The Swiss Federal Council initiated a consultation on new licensing categories for crypto custody, trading infrastructure, and payment tool issuance under the Financial Institutions Act at the end of 2025.

According to official news, Tether announced that its gold-backed digital asset XAUT has received Sharia compliance certification issued by Amanah Advisors, led by Mufti Faraz Adam. This certification confirms that XAUT complies with the core principles of Islamic finance.XAUT is issued by TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V., with each full token representing direct ownership of physical gold stored in a Swiss vault. Certification requirements include genuine ownership of physical gold, clear and verifiable asset backing, no interest, no leverage or speculative derivatives, and transparency in reserve structure.Tether stated that XAUT can be used for the integration of digital gold products in Islamic banking, takaful and halal savings products, long-term wealth preservation strategies, tokenized trade financing, and collateral applications. Amanah Advisors will continue to work with Tether to develop practical guidelines and governance frameworks to support the adoption of XAUT in a Sharia-compliant manner.