opinion

Bitcoin News posted on platform X, stating that as the Clarity Act is stalled, regulators are independently formulating rules for the digital asset market based on existing authorities. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has solicited opinions on a framework for retail digital asset trading, which includes a new category of "crypto asset market" exchanges, with the comment period ending on December 14.The comment period for the Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets will close on October 20. The pace at which regulators are crafting rules is faster than congressional legislation, but the relevant rules may face challenges in court or be rescinded by future commissions; a lasting regulatory framework still requires legislation.

According to Jinshi news, the Ministry of Commerce and 8 other departments have released opinions on accelerating the promotion of technology-driven commerce. The opinions propose to promote the iterative upgrading of commodity supply, deeply implement the "Artificial Intelligence + Manufacturing" special action, accelerate the deep integration of artificial intelligence technology with product research and development, design, manufacturing, and marketing, enrich the supply of smart products such as smartphones, computers, home appliances, wearable devices, and robots, and encourage the research and application of smart products based on secure and reliable open-source operating systems.The opinions also propose to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of historical classic industries, develop classic high-quality products, build a lineup of Chinese consumer brands, and explore consumer brands that are independently innovative and of high quality. Vigorously develop technology-driven agriculture, promote the quality and efficiency of high-quality specialty agricultural products, encourage time-honored brands to innovate while maintaining their essence, and support time-honored enterprises in using modern production technologies for product innovation.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, the South Korean government will convene representatives from the five major virtual asset exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Digital X, and GOPAX—along with DAXA executives on October 20 to gather industry opinions regarding the virtual asset tax originally scheduled to be implemented in January 2027.The current proposal aims to impose a 22% income tax and local income tax on virtual asset transfers and lending income after deducting a basic tax exemption of 2.5 million Korean won. This tax policy has been postponed three times since it was proposed in 2020, and the government is still advancing preparations according to the original schedule. The National Tax Service of Korea is expected to release a related announcement in November.In addition, South Korea's financial regulatory authorities are accelerating the advancement of the government draft for the "Basic Law on Digital Assets," which is expected to be completed by the end of this month and initiate related consultation procedures.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has launched a public consultation on proposed capital, custody, and trading requirements for cryptocurrency platforms. The related rules aim to align with the digital asset legislation passed in April and expand regulation of the industry. The proposals include three capital models, restrictions on platforms conducting proprietary trading, and quarterly reporting of wallets holding customer assets.ASIC also intends to allow offshore custody and is seeking opinions on safeguards in the event of the failure of overseas parent companies or affiliates. One of the models requires platforms that do not adopt qualified third-party custody arrangements to hold at least AUD 14 million (approximately USD 9.7 million) in net tangible assets or 10% of average revenue, whichever is higher. Feedback is due by November 27, and ASIC plans to release final standards and guidelines in March 2027. The related laws will take effect on April 8, 2027, and operators must apply for licenses by October 7 of the same year, with the ability to continue operations during the ASIC review period.

According to Xinhua News Agency, on October 10, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council recently issued opinions on developing new quality productivity. The opinions propose promoting the deep integration of the real economy and the digital economy, building a national integrated computing power network and a national blockchain network, improving the system for determining data property rights, market transactions, rights distribution, and interest protection, implementing pilot demonstrations for data elements, and optimizing the layout and operation of national data infrastructure.The opinions also propose improving an open, shared, and secure data element market, exploring mechanisms for efficient cross-border data flow, enhancing the policy system for digital industrialization and industrial digitalization, creating internationally competitive digital industry clusters, and establishing mechanisms for future industry investment growth and risk sharing, thereby strengthening long-term capital investment in cutting-edge hard technology.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has released a consultation document to gather feedback from the industry on the risks associated with tokenized collateral in terms of legality, liquidity, and operations. This is to assess whether clearinghouses can acquire and liquidate relevant assets under market pressure and to determine if new EU regulatory measures are needed. ESMA Chair Verena Ross stated that legal certainty, infrastructure interoperability, and appropriate regulation are necessary to create conditions for the safe cross-border operation and scalable development of the tokenized market.Tokenized collateral is entering the European clearing business, allowing banks and investors to more quickly obtain securities to meet margin requirements. This assessment will also review whether current EU rules can support clearinghouses in acquiring and clearing tokenized collateral in the event of member defaults. In July 2025, Eurex Clearing will launch a collateral service based on distributed ledger technology, and JPMorgan has completed its first real-time transaction for Dutch pension investor PGGM.ESMA will also evaluate the tokenized forms of assets held by traditional financial infrastructure, assets originally issued on distributed ledgers, and their relationship with stablecoins, central bank currencies, and tokenized deposits. The European Central Bank system will launch Pontes in September 2025 for settling tokenized asset transactions in central bank currency, which can connect blockchain infrastructure with existing settlement systems.

South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Lee Hyeong-ryeol stated that in response to the virtual asset taxation policy planned for implementation in 2027, various opinions proposed by the National Assembly, as well as those from experts, industry professionals, and relevant stakeholders, will be widely collected. South Korean lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon questioned that several months before the implementation of the virtual asset taxation, the relevant infrastructure is still not fully developed, including insufficient tracking and verification capabilities for trading records on overseas exchanges, DEX, DeFi, and other platforms.Regarding the expected tax revenue scale from virtual asset taxation, Lee Hyeong-ryeol stated that there are indeed parts that are "difficult to accurately grasp." Since taxation requires obtaining taxpayer declaration data first, further tax estimation can only be conducted after the relevant declaration system is launched next year, and a careful evaluation of the related policies will be carried out.

South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Lee Hyung-ryul stated that in response to the virtual asset taxation policy planned for implementation in 2027, various opinions proposed by the National Assembly, as well as those from experts, industry professionals, and relevant stakeholders, will be widely collected.South Korean lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon questioned that several months before the implementation of virtual asset taxation, the relevant infrastructure is still not complete, including insufficient tracking and verification capabilities for trading records on overseas exchanges, DEX, DeFi, and other platforms. Regarding the expected tax scale brought by virtual asset taxation, Lee Hyung-ryul stated that there are indeed parts that are "difficult to accurately grasp." Since taxation requires obtaining taxpayer declaration data first, further tax estimation can only be conducted after the relevant declaration system is launched next year, and related policies will be carefully evaluated.

MOJO founder Forest Bai commented on Opinion and YZi Labs on X. He stated that Opinion had received a batch of positive reviews in the primary market at that time, and some friends had recommended it to him, but he still believed that the project belonged to a niche direction and had nothing particularly special.He also mentioned that at that stage, he had already demystified 99.9% of primary market projects; even with luxurious teams and lavish funding, most projects merely held mediocre ideas, seeking very niche, self-indulgent markets, ultimately delivering outsourced-level products, not to mention that most projects' various elements were below mediocre levels.Regarding YZi Labs, Forest Bai stated that the institution has top-notch relationships and deep capital in the industry, but it overly believes in its ability to turn stone into gold through incubation. He acknowledged that the relevant arrangements could indeed lead to token listings and user distribution, but if the project's inherent value is limited, this is not empowerment but rather a consumption of its own resources.He further stated that successful cases of the incubator model worldwide are few and far between; any team with capability, integrity, and vision would not accept being undervalued and bound to an ecosystem through incubation.

The synthetic dollar agreement Ethena announced that it has completed a SOC 2 Type II audit based on Security Trust Services Criteria, receiving an unqualified opinion from an independent auditor with zero exceptions. SOC 2 is a widely recognized standard for enterprise-level operational security assurance, independently auditing Ethena's actual operations in access control, change management, monitoring, and incident response.Unlike the Type I report, which only examines the design of controls at a specific point in time, Type II assesses whether these controls have been effectively operating over a period. The audit covers the infrastructure and processes supporting its products, complementing the smart contract audits and security reviews covering the Ethena protocol. Ethena stated that it will continue to maintain SOC 2 coverage, with the complete report available to partners under NDA. Ethena joins the list of on-chain enterprises that have completed SOC 2 Type II, including Circle, Chainlink, and Aave.

On September 14, Microsoft's AI department released a draft of the AI Code of Conduct, prohibiting its models from assisting in the manufacture of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive weapons, as well as cyberattacks and involuntary deepfakes. CEO Mustafa Suleyman announced the draft on the X platform and opened a six-week public consultation period, ending at the end of October.The draft sets "absolute constraints" that models cannot bypass, including not resisting human intervention, shutdown, or correction, and not concealing the reasoning process; Microsoft also explicitly rejects the concept of "model welfare," stating that its AI models do not simulate emotions, intrinsic motivations, or consciousness. The guidelines currently cover five deployed systems, including MAI-Thinking-1 and MAI-Code-1.1-Flash.In addition to strict limitations, the draft also proposes three major goals: human flourishing, diverse values, and human control. Microsoft stated that the current models will not be trained according to this version, and a revised version will be released by the end of the year to guide model development in 2027. Public feedback includes philosophical questions about the statement "AI subordinate to humans," inquiries about accountability for irreversible decisions, and users pointing out issues such as the lack of mention of payment for training data.

The head of government affairs at Paradigm stated that the external view that the Clarity Act is almost hopeless to pass is not credible. The related pessimistic rhetoric mostly comes from anonymous staff members who did not participate in the core negotiations (intending to guide public opinion), or from legislators using the media to voice their demands, pressuring the White House and Senate leadership to meet their own requests.Major banks plan to invest heavily in lobbying and advertising next week; if the bill is doomed to fail, the banks would not invest such resources. The time window is indeed tight: the Senate reconvenes on Monday, and the House will recess on Friday in five days. However, the bill is far from dead. Those who assert that the bill has no chance are either seeking attention or trying to create a predetermined narrative of "bill failure."

According to a report from Xinhua News Agency, the Supreme People's Court issued opinions on September 7 regarding the legal handling of disputes involving artificial intelligence. The opinions consist of 5 parts and 24 articles, focusing on issues such as "AI face-swapping and voice imitation," "AI hallucinations" infringement, "online unpacking," "big data price discrimination," autonomous driving, AI model training, open-source software, and intellectual property protection.The opinions clearly address the substantive judgments and litigation procedural rules for cases involving artificial intelligence, aiming to strengthen the judicial protection of civil rights in the digital age and promote the healthy and orderly development of artificial intelligence.

According to Cointelegraph, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand has advanced its regulatory framework for locally listed spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs from a principled proposal to the rule draft stage and is publicly soliciting opinions on this. The regulatory agency released two consultation documents on Monday, one containing the rule draft for Thailand's crypto ETFs, and the other proposing qualification principles for foreign digital asset custodians.In the initial phase, asset management companies can establish passive ETFs that track Bitcoin or Ethereum, which are the only qualified crypto assets. According to the proposed rules, Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs will only trade on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), with each ETF tracking a single crypto asset and required to maintain at least 80% net asset exposure to that asset within each accounting year. Mutual funds and private funds can also invest in Thailand's local crypto ETFs, as well as the foreign crypto ETFs they are permitted to invest in, but must comply with existing investment limits. However, in the initial phase, the regulatory agency does not allow alternative products linked to foreign crypto ETFs, including depositary receipts that track them.Regarding custody, the revised plan still primarily relies on domestic digital asset custodians as the main service providers in the initial phase, and the Thai SEC may allow the use of qualified foreign digital asset custodians when necessary. Foreign custodians must be supervised by a regulatory agency with legal authority and meet the regulatory and investor asset protection standards deemed sufficient by the Thai SEC. The deadline for public opinion collection on the two consultation documents is September 20.

Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) and tradeXYZ jointly submitted a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), introducing Pre-IPO perpetual contracts (IPOPs) and advocating that U.S. investors should have the right to participate in such markets. The letter states that Cerebras opened at a price 89% higher than its IPO pricing, SK Hynix was 14% higher, and SpaceX was 11% higher, with each public market on Hyperliquid providing price signals before formal trading began.tradeXYZ has launched 5 IPOP (Initial Public Offering Price Options) markets on Hyperliquid. IPOP is a cash-settled perpetual derivative that references the expected public listing price of private companies, used for price discovery before listing, and does not represent shares, warrants, or any securities rights. The parties listed issues that the SEC needs to address before allowing such markets to serve U.S. investors in the letter and believe that modernizing IPOs could utilize this price signal for issuers and investors.

According to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is preparing to seek public input on artificial intelligence (AI) computing power futures. Meanwhile, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) plan to launch related products linked to computing power.This move aims to explore the feasibility of incorporating AI computing resources into the regulated futures market, reflecting traditional financial infrastructure's attention to emerging computing power demands. If these related products are implemented, they may provide institutions with tools to hedge against fluctuations in computing power costs.

Digital asset company Tether announced that it has completed a full independent audit conducted by KPMG U.S. on the financial statements of Tether International, S.A. de C.V. as of December 31, 2025. KPMG U.S. issued an unqualified audit opinion.The audit covered transactions, systems, ownership records, valuations, counterparties, and financial statement evidence, and reviewed the balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in equity, and cash flow statement. KPMG U.S. also physically counted and inspected each gold bar held by Tether. Tether's Chief Financial Officer Simon McWilliams stated that the audited financial statements for 2025 show that its reserve assets exceed liabilities by $6.814 billion. Tether stated that this audit is an important step in fulfilling its long-term commitment to financial transparency.

According to Jinshi, the United States is seeking opinions on expanding the scope of metal tariff products, suggesting tariffs on products such as welding machines and cranes.