regulation

According to the Financial Times, the deposit scale of crypto lending vaults has surpassed $10 billion, a significant increase from $4 billion at the beginning of last year, reflecting the growing demand from investors for digital asset yield strategies. These vaults operate through smart contracts on decentralized finance platforms, with each vault having a "curator" who effectively acts as an investment manager responsible for selecting lending strategies, setting risk limits, and charging fees. Their yields typically range from 3% to 10%, with riskier strategies yielding up to 20% or even higher.The allure of returns comes with significant risks. Loans may be collateralized by illiquid tokens, crypto-asset-backed stablecoins, or tokenized private credit, and if the collateral depreciates or becomes difficult to sell, depositors will face losses. Automatic liquidation may exacerbate market downturns, while hacking attacks, code errors, and pricing mechanism flaws can introduce additional vulnerabilities. Although publicly accessible smart contracts provide transparency, investors may focus only on surface yields while overlooking their underlying risk exposures. Major depositors currently include fintech companies, digital asset treasury firms, and hedge funds.Bitcoin lending institution Two Prime is one of the companies that recently entered this market. The company launched a Bitcoin lending vault on the Pareto platform in September, targeting an annualized yield of 1.5% to 2% through institutional lending. This vault accepts wrapped Bitcoin, with a minimum deposit of 5 WBTC, and has invested approximately $10 million of its own funds to absorb initial losses. On the regulatory front, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has raised questions regarding the securities held by the vaults, while European regulators have proposed regulating intermediaries that provide access to DeFi.

On October 19, Wu Qing, Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, stated at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Financial Street Forum Annual Conference that they will adhere to a steady approach, fully maintain the safety and stability of the capital market, closely monitor domestic and international market dynamics, and strengthen risk assessment and policy tool reserves.Wu Qing also stated that they will consolidate and improve the mechanisms for stabilizing the market, focus on strengthening the prevention of risks in new types of businesses, remain highly vigilant against new risk points such as leveraged products linked to A-shares from abroad, and continuously build a solid risk defense wall for the capital market.

According to The Block, the prediction market exchange under Crypto.com filed a lawsuit against Missouri officials in federal court on October 16, along with Novig, seeking to prohibit the state from enforcing sports betting laws on its sports event contracts. Previously, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issued cease-and-desist orders to six companies from September 16 to 17, requiring them to stop offering sports event contracts to local users within 30 days or obtain a license from the Missouri Gaming Commission and pay a 10% betting tax.The exchange of Crypto.com, North American Derivatives Exchange, sued in the Western District Federal Court of Missouri, claiming that the Commodity Exchange Act grants the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction and takes precedence over state gambling laws. The lawsuit also stated that the Attorney General's letter was mistakenly sent to Foris DAX, Inc., and that the state constitution only allows for the issuance of two mobile sports betting licenses, with no licenses currently available.Novig, through its exchange operator Ludlow Exchange LLC, filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District Court, requesting a preliminary and permanent injunction to maintain the status quo while the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals hears the related case in Iowa regarding Kalshi. Among the six companies that received cease-and-desist orders, four, including Kalshi and Polymarket, have not yet followed up with lawsuits.

Michael Passalacqua, Senior Advisor to the Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Head of the Innovation Working Group, introduced that after the Clarity Act was stalled, the CFTC is advancing Reg CAM, the "Crypto Asset Market" framework, which aims to provide a voluntary path for cryptocurrency trading platforms to come under the CFTC's nationwide unified regulation.This arrangement is primarily aimed at platforms that offer leveraged, margin, or financing trading to retail customers, allowing them to escape the patchwork of state money transmission licensing regulations; pure spot trading without leverage generally remains outside this mandatory framework. Passalacqua stated that the relevant rulemaking is currently in the public comment phase, and there is still no conclusion on whether the industry finds this proposal attractive.

Latvia may allow residents to pay personal taxes with cryptocurrency by 2027, aiming to attract crypto businesses and investors. Prime Minister's strategic planning and new economy advisor Didzis Dejus told CoinDesk at the UN:BLOCK Fintech conference in Riga that he believes this arrangement will be realized next year. The country's Ministry of Finance has agreed to the plan, which still needs to complete technical integration with payment service providers.The plan builds on a proposal announced in May 2025, when Latvia proposed accepting cryptocurrency for tax payments and promoting the tokenization of assets such as real estate. Dejus stated that Latvia is not afraid to be the fastest-moving country and hopes to attract more crypto businesses beyond licensing. He did not disclose specific payment service providers or specify which cryptocurrencies could be used for tax payments.Meanwhile, the Latvian parliament passed legislation on October 15, changing the taxation of withdrawals from crypto investment accounts to apply to amounts exceeding the deposited amount, rather than taxing each transaction. The law introduces a one-time reporting mechanism, allowing holders to settle past tax obligations by declaring 10% of the asset's market value by the end of 2026, with the reporting period from April 1 to May 31, 2027, and taxes due by July 23. Dejus stated that this measure will help those who purchased cryptocurrencies years ago but lack cost records. The timing of the tax payment plan may depend on the next government, as the United List led by Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs won the parliamentary elections on October 3 and is expected to be nominated again, but still needs coalition partners.

According to Cointelegraph, a recent poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos shows that a majority of American respondents oppose betting on U.S. elections and other government actions through prediction markets. The survey indicates that 69% of Democratic respondents and 61% of Republican respondents oppose using prediction markets to bet on election outcomes. The survey was conducted from September 30 to October 5, covering 4,506 adults nationwide.Aside from elections, even regarding betting on professional sports events, 43% of respondents expressed opposition, while only 29% indicated support. The prediction market industry is currently dominated by platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, which allow users to bet on U.S. elections, government policy trends, and sports events, and has sparked multiple lawsuits regarding regulatory authority.The Trump administration is pushing for federal regulation of the industry through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), while several states have expressed opposition to this. Previously, on October 8, Cointelegraph reported that 39 states and the District of Columbia submitted an amicus brief, indicating that the conflict between the CFTC and state authorities over prediction market issues has created a "national turf war" that cannot be resolved without a Supreme Court ruling.

According to Bloomberg, Hyperliquid Labs co-founder Jeff Yan is seeking the United States to establish rules that can protect its blockchain. He believes that Hyperliquid's regulatory responsibilities should fall on the financial institutions operating markets based on that blockchain, namely the application layer, rather than the blockchain network itself. This regulatory division allows Hyperliquid to enter Wall Street without bearing the full compliance burden of traditional exchanges.Jeff Yan also stated that Hyperliquid is currently not open to U.S. customers, and Hyperliquid prefers to be the underlying trading technology used by traditional financial institutions, rather than replacing existing market participants, positioning itself similarly to how Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides computing infrastructure for businesses.

The Iranian Navy stated that the number of violating oil tankers damaged while attempting to cross the restricted navigation zone of the Strait of Hormuz has increased recently. On the 17th, an oil tanker caught fire and lost its navigational capability in the Gulf of Oman. On the same day, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard reported that two supertankers exploded after hitting mines in the strait, one of which was carrying over 2 million barrels of crude oil.

Turkish Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek confirmed on Saturday that Ethereum ecosystem token Hex and PulseChain founder Richard Heart were detained in Istanbul. Gürlek stated on the X platform that Heart, whose real name is Richard James Schueler, was detained along with his wife during an operation in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul on Wednesday, and the police subsequently detained three individuals confirmed to be his bodyguards. The operation was carried out by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office in conjunction with the city's police intelligence and financial crimes department, with support from Turkey's intelligence agency MİT.Gürlek indicated that the police conducted searches at 15 addresses in the Beşiktaş, Üsküdar, and Sarıyer districts, seizing $7.15 million in cash, six cold wallets, 160,000 Turkish lira, 28 watches, 97 pieces of jewelry, 300 bags, and 19 graphics cards, while also confiscating four long-barreled rifles, three unlicensed handguns, and 1,400 rounds of ammunition. Gürlek stated that judicial procedures and the examination of seized items are still ongoing. Turkey's state news agency Anadolu reported separately that the police seized nine vehicles registered under Heart's wife's name. According to CoinGecko data, Hex has dropped about 14% in the past 24 hours.Gürlek linked Heart's red notice to the $1 billion cryptocurrency fraud charges involving the United States and Finland. The notice was issued in December 2024 at the request of Finnish authorities, who sought his arrest on charges of serious tax evasion and assault. In the United States, a federal judge dismissed the Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit against Heart in February 2025 on jurisdictional grounds, and the agency decided not to refile the lawsuit in April of that year.

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget announced that it will terminate services for certain users, with different deadlines for different accounts. According to The Defiant, Bitget's terms of service list Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan as prohibited jurisdictions. An affected user stated that the service deadline for their account is October 21.

According to documents submitted by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on October 15, the political action committee Fairshake, primarily funded by Coinbase and Ripple Labs, has invested $46.6 million through its affiliated organization Defend American Jobs in the Ohio Senate election for media advertising opposing former Congressman Sherrod Brown's return to the Senate and supporting Republican incumbent Jon Husted. This expenditure is over 50% more than Fairshake's initial plan of $30 million announced in September.In an interview aired on Pod Save America on October 16, Brown responded that he has spent his entire career battling Wall Street, big pharmaceutical companies, and oil giants, achieving success in many cases, while Husted is a spokesperson for these forces, which is why they have invested tens of millions of dollars. In addition to Fairshake, the super PAC Digital Freedom Fund, established by Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, reported approximately $3 million in advertising expenditures this week to oppose Brown and support Husted, bringing the total media spending in the Ohio campaign to over $5.9 million. With less than three weeks until the U.S. elections, early voting in Ohio has been underway for 10 days.Fairshake's spending this round has exceeded $41 million for 2024, when the PAC supported Republican Bernie Moreno and opposed the incumbent Brown. Brown, who previously served as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is one of the lawmakers in Congress openly questioning the laws and policies supported by the cryptocurrency industry. Defend American Jobs also reported spending over $6.7 million in the Nebraska Senate election opposing independent candidate Dan Osborn, whose opponent, Republican Pete Ricketts, voted in favor of the Digital Asset Market Structure Act and legislation related to stablecoins. Fairshake stated in January of this year that it held $193 million in cash before the election.

According to Gate market data, Strategy (MSTR) has expanded its decline to 6.46%, with a current price of 141.5 USD.On the news front, MSCI plans to adopt new regulations that will filter out companies whose asset structures and operational characteristics are more similar to investment funds rather than traditional operating enterprises, based on the proportion of operating assets and multiple financial ratio tests. Strategy has been listed as a potential candidate for removal due to its extremely high proportion of Bitcoin assets. The final list of affected companies is expected to be announced on November 11.The market believes that if MSTR is removed from the MSCI related indices, passive funds tracking these indices will be forced to reduce their holdings of its stock, potentially creating billions of dollars in selling pressure and posing a challenge to its model of continuously increasing Bitcoin holdings through equity financing.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, crypto investor and YouTuber Lark Davis stated in a video interview with Bitcoin Magazine that although Bitcoin is consolidating in the $80,000 range, the next major cycle is just around the corner. He cited about a dozen on-chain technical indicators, including record whale accumulation and the two-week MACD, to determine that the market bottom has formed at $57,000.Davis believes we are still in the early stages of a new bull market, with opportunities in both Bitcoin and altcoins. He pointed out that Bitcoin dominates the inflow of ETF funds and mentioned the perspective of observing the market by the proportion of ETF inflow relative to market capitalization; he also discussed whether the "four-year cycle has failed," drawing an analogy with the development of gold ETFs to illustrate how ETFs are changing the market structure of Bitcoin.He described this bear market as the shortest and shallowest in history and discussed how traumatic bear market experiences make it difficult for investors to believe that the market will improve. Additionally, he mentioned the regulatory outlook for the U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserves and the Clarity Act, believing that if Bitcoin reserves are written into law, it would add legitimacy to them.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, the Financial Services Commission of South Korea and the Financial Supervisory Service are strengthening monitoring of "perpetual contracts" linked to Korean stocks and stock indices traded through global virtual asset platforms.If illegal business activities targeting Korean residents, such as soliciting account openings or trading, are found on overseas platforms, the regulatory authorities will refer the matter to investigative agencies and take strict countermeasures.

According to Bloomberg, Jeff Yan, co-founder of Hyperliquid Labs, is seeking the United States to establish rules that can protect its blockchain.He believes that the regulatory responsibilities of Hyperliquid should fall on the financial institutions operating in the market based on that blockchain, namely the application layer, rather than on the blockchain network itself. This regulatory division would allow Hyperliquid to enter Wall Street without having to bear the full compliance burden of traditional exchanges.

NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC that the company must collaborate with Chinese artificial intelligence companies to monitor related risks. In a media briefing in London on Wednesday evening, he stated that both parties should work together to safely advance technological development. Huang mentioned that artificial intelligence poses potential dangers and indicated that he maintains ongoing dialogue with many researchers in China.Huang believes that the way to collaborate with Chinese artificial intelligence companies is through dialogue and emphasized the need to strengthen this dialogue. He stated that the United States should do this and also advocated for the United Kingdom to take the same approach. The page noted that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei advocate for increased regulation, while Huang has become a prominent voice opposing this stance. In recent months, researchers from laboratories including OpenAI and Anthropic have called for a slowdown in technological development and warned of risks to human survival.The page also mentioned that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed U.S.-China artificial intelligence dialogue with Chinese counterpart He Lifeng in September, covering communication channels for events up to the national security level. The Chinese side reported that Xi Jinping pointed out that there may be competition between China and the U.S. in artificial intelligence, but the space for cooperation may be larger, and both sides can continue to exchange views on risks and benefits to jointly prevent abuse. Huang stated that the UK, with its intellectual capital, is well-positioned to become the convener of relevant dialogue. The related market data showed that NVIDIA's stock price fell by $3.95, a decrease of 1.78%.

According to a report released by Chainalysis on Wednesday titled "North America: The Inside Story of Growth in Agency Commerce," the United States will become a net inflow country for Bitcoin in 2026, marking the first time since 2022. The data shows that institutions have continued to buy Bitcoin this year, while retail investors are generally in a selling position. The report states that dollar stablecoins provide a way for those without U.S. bank accounts to hold dollars, while Americans already have dollar accounts, leading other parts of the world to turn to digital dollars, with Americans increasingly relying on Bitcoin as a scarce store of value.The report points out that since the launch of the spot Bitcoin ETF in 2024, the U.S. share of global Bitcoin activity has been rising in each reporting period, even though the U.S. crypto economy size (2.78 trillion dollars) shrank by 2.2% during the bear market, it still retained most of the nearly doubled gains by 2025. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the Bitcoin ETF in January 2024, after having rejected such products for a decade; these funds managed by Wall Street institutions such as BlackRock, Fidelity, and more recently Morgan Stanley, set the record for the most successful issuance in ETF history.The report also states that stablecoins have transformed U.S. debt into the preferred currency for peer-to-peer economies and cross-border enterprises, with stablecoins continuously entering new application scenarios in 2026, mainly occurring overseas, bringing billions of dollars in economic activity to U.S. businesses and government. Since Donald Trump took office, several laws and executive orders supporting the crypto industry have been signed, including the GENIUS Act signed in 2025, which allows entities such as banks to issue stablecoins, provided they are backed by assets like U.S. Treasury bonds and disclose reserve status monthly.

On October 12, the Central Bank of Russia clarified in its updated guidelines that individuals are not allowed to withdraw cryptocurrency from regulated digital accounts to self-custodied wallets. The Central Bank stated that this restriction is based on Article 31(9) of the new Russian cryptocurrency market law (Federal Law No. 282-FZ), which will take effect on September 1, 2026. Digital accounts are statutory accounts used to record crypto assets, and digital custodians are registered institutions that register and transfer these assets and provide access to wallet addresses.This restriction applies to the withdrawal of funds under the regulated custodial system in Russia. For withdrawals from ordinary investment accounts, the rules cover resident individuals and do not provide exemptions for qualified investors. According to Article 31, individuals who pass the required tests and receive risk disclosures can transfer cryptocurrency to wallets managed by legally authorized foreign custodians, which is different from withdrawing to personal wallets outside of institutional custody. The law also sets exceptions for foreign trade settlements and mining.The Central Bank also stated that transfers between individuals using addresses managed by digital custodians are not allowed, including transfers generated from transactions between individuals. The aforementioned provisions belong to the general cryptocurrency market law and are not rules applicable only to participants in experimental projects. The Central Bank indicated that direct peer-to-peer transactions between individuals are only permitted until July 1, 2027, when Article 30(1) will take effect; thereafter, residents who are not authorized as intermediaries in the cryptocurrency market must complete transactions through or with the participation of authorized intermediaries, with optional channels including licensed brokers and operators of cryptocurrency exchanges listed in the Central Bank of Russia's registry.