regulations

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK is seeking feedback on specific regulatory activities for digital assets under its cryptocurrency roadmap.This consultation covers how activities such as stablecoin issuance, trading platforms, custody, and staking will fall under regulatory oversight. The consultation will close on June 3, 2026, and cryptocurrency businesses can apply for FCA authorization starting September 30, 2026. The FCA stated that the consultation on the rules for the future cryptocurrency asset regime is largely complete, and a policy statement will be released this summer. Before the new legislative regime is implemented in 2027, cryptocurrency assets remain largely unregulated in the UK, except for financial promotions and financial crime purposes.

The Web3 asset data platform RootData has outlined Upbit's business partners, which are relatively limited and mainly focused on areas such as blockchain infrastructure and compliance services. This is closely related to South Korea's unique and strict regulatory framework: under a system environment centered on real-name systems, VASP regulation, and anti-money laundering, exchanges are required to take greater responsibility for the flow of funds and user identities, making Upbit more inclined to develop its own systems and build localized capabilities rather than extensively introducing external partners.From the disclosed structure, on the technical side, infrastructure capabilities are strengthened through Lambda256, Aptos, and others; on the compliance level, service providers such as VerifyVASP, Chainalysis, and Crystal Intelligence are introduced; and supplementary funding and liquidity are provided through Circle and Naver Pay. Additionally, Upbit quickly built trading capabilities relying on its cooperation with Bittrex since its launch in 2017.On the branding side, Upbit has explored NFT entertainment collaborations with Hybe and has laid out plans in esports (LCK) and signed top players like Faker, while also becoming a primary partner of the Korean Sports Council. However, as the popularity of NFTs and the metaverse has declined, the influence of related entertainment collaborations has weakened. Related compilation: [Upbit Web3 Partner Network Compilation (continuously updated)](https://cn

According to CoinDesk, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) under the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) will jointly issue proposed rules requiring stablecoin issuers to establish a comprehensive anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance system. Specific measures include freezing, intercepting, and rejecting suspicious transactions, as well as complying with the relevant provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act.The rules emphasize an outcome-oriented approach, believing that financial institutions understand their own risks best. Issuers that establish a sound compliance system are typically exempt from enforcement actions. This move aims to implement the GENIUS Act passed last year, which is expected to take full effect in 2027.

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Department of Labor has proposed a new rule that would allow 401(k) retirement plans to include alternative assets such as cryptocurrencies, private equity, and real estate, in response to an executive order signed by President Trump last year.If the rule is passed, it will change the traditional structure of retirement plans that primarily focus on stocks and bonds, allowing plan providers to include non-publicly traded products like digital assets. The Secretary of Labor stated that the rule aims to better reflect the current investment environment in retirement plans. Supporters believe this move could improve portfolio diversification, but Senator Elizabeth Warren warned that it could expose workers to higher risks, costs, and potential losses. U.S. 401(k) plans hold trillions of dollars in retirement savings, and even a small allocation to digital assets could bring significant inflows to the crypto market.

According to Cointelegraph, the proposal supported by Trump to "allow cryptocurrencies and private equity to be included in 401(k) retirement plans" has passed White House review. The U.S. Department of Labor is expected to issue relevant rules soon.

According to a report by the British newspaper The Guardian, the UK government will officially announce today the review report on political financing regulations in the UK, including measures to strengthen the prevention of foreign funding (including cryptocurrencies) interfering with democracy.Previously, Nathan Gill, the former leader of the Reform Party in Wales, was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for accepting bribes in cryptocurrency. The core content of the report is expected to include a ban on political parties accepting cryptocurrency donations, on the grounds that cryptocurrencies are anonymous and difficult to trace, and may be used by foreign countries to evade existing rules and interfere with UK elections. The UK Labour government plans to incorporate the review results into the upcoming Elections and Democracy Bill to comprehensively tighten the regulation of political donations.

According to the People's Daily, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council recently issued the "Regulations on the Integrity of Leaders of State-owned Enterprises."Article 7 explicitly prohibits leaders of state-owned enterprises from using their power or position to seek personal gain, specifically including: accepting gifts, cash, and virtual currencies from related enterprises; buying and selling real estate and vehicles at unfair prices as a disguised form of receiving property; entrusting others to invest in securities and futures without contributing capital but still benefiting; engaging in power-for-money transactions through anonymous shareholding or holding shares on behalf of others; obtaining large returns through financial activities such as private lending; using insider information or trade secrets for personal gain; embezzling or illegally occupying and misappropriating company property; and pocketing discounts, intermediary fees, and reward returns. Violators will be dealt with according to regulations, discipline, and law.

According to DeFiprime, the SEC and CFTC jointly released Interpretive Release 33-11412, defining most native tokens of decentralized networks as digital commodities, and clarifying that staking, LSD, wrapped tokens, and compliant airdrops do not constitute securities offerings.Based on this, the article proposes three fundraising and treasury models that have been difficult to implement previously: the first is Liquid Genesis Staking Pools (LGSP), which are based on staking ETH, SOL, etc., and incentivized through both LSD yields and protocol tokens; the second is Commodity Pre-Participation Agreements (CPA), which exchange work contributions and funds for future network participation rights instead of presale tokens; the third is Separation-Accelerated Revenue Rights (SARR), which ties to decentralized milestones and features decreasing profit-sharing, designing the "separation principle" as a tool to drive teams to accelerate decentralization.The author states that all three models are based on existing contract components and can support long-term treasury and team expenditures in simulations.

Alex Thorn, the research director at Galaxy Research, posted on the X social platform pointing out that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released a milestone digital asset classification guideline this Tuesday, officially categorizing digital assets into five types: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities (tokenized securities), clearly stating that only the last category constitutes securities, which must be registered or exempted under federal securities law.This guideline, published as a committee-level interpretive rule in the Federal Register, explicitly replaces the "investment contract" analysis framework used since the Gensler era in 2019 and provides two clear paths for tokens to detach from securities characteristics: first, if the issuer fulfills its promised core management tasks, the investment contract is terminated, and the token can be freely traded as a non-security in the secondary market; second, if the issuer abandons the project or remains silent for a long time, the investment contract also terminates. Additionally, the guideline clarifies that airdrops, mining, and staking generally do not constitute securities transactions, and the packaging or unpackaging of assets does not change their securities characteristics.Alex Thorn believes that this guideline officially marks the end of the Gensler era's hostile regulatory stance towards the crypto industry, providing important clarity support for further institutional entry. However, he also cautions that interpretive rules are not legally binding and can be overturned by a new administration at any time, which is also the core reason for the industry's ongoing push for the CLARITY Act legislation.

According to Jinshi, the proposal announced by the Federal Reserve on Thursday will relax capital requirements for large financial institutions on Wall Street, a move that could free up billions of dollars for lending, stock buybacks, and dividend payments. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michelle Bowman stated that these changes will strengthen the overall capital structure and maintain stability. The proposal will undergo a 90-day public consultation period and is expected to "moderately lower" capital requirements for large banks.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea has initiated sanctions against the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, as the exchange was found to allow users to transfer funds to unregistered overseas trading platforms and failed to implement customer identity verification (KYC) procedures. According to Seoul News, the sanctions may include a suspension of new customer services for up to six months, while existing users' deposits and withdrawals will not be affected.This penalty adds insult to injury for Bithumb, which had previously mistakenly sent out $40 billion worth of Bitcoin due to operational errors and is currently facing an investigation by advertising regulators.The exchanges GOPAX and Coinone are also under investigation by the FIU. Competitor Upbit faced a three-month ban on new customers last year for similar violations and is currently challenging this through legal means, with a court ruling expected in April.

The Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Sarah D. Morrison, ruled that there is no historical evidence indicating that Congress intended for federal law to take precedence over state regulation of sports gambling, and thus denied the preliminary injunction request filed by the prediction market platform Kalshi.Kalshi had previously sued the Ohio Casino Control Commission in an attempt to prevent it from taking enforcement action against the platform's event contracts under state gambling laws. Last year, the regulatory agency accused Kalshi of operating illegal sports gambling in Ohio.Kalshi argued that the event contracts it offers are derivatives regulated under the Commodity Exchange Act and should fall under the jurisdiction of the CFTC, thereby asserting that federal regulation should take precedence over state gambling laws.However, the judge stated that there is no evidence from historical and legislative context to suggest that Congress intended for the law to supersede state sports gambling regulations, noting that when the Dodd-Frank Act amended relevant laws in 2010, sports gambling was still widely restricted in the U.S.Kalshi announced that it would appeal the ruling. The case is seen as an important test of the legal status of prediction markets, and its outcome could affect the future compliance prospects of other prediction platforms in the U.S., including Polymarket.

The Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Mike Selig, disclosed his remarks at the FIA Global Clearing Markets Conference, stating that the U.S. is undergoing a new technological revolution driven by AI, blockchain, and prediction markets. The CFTC needs to ensure that the regulatory framework adapts to this transformation.Selig outlined the focus areas for the coming years: achieving forward-looking derivatives market regulation through principle-based oversight with minimal effective intervention; addressing the legacy issues of the Dodd-Frank Act; ending the regulatory turf battles and enforcement-style regulation between the CFTC and SEC; ensuring that the U.S. maintains its status as a global crypto hub by clarifying classification rules for real crypto perpetual contracts; establishing a gold standard regulatory framework for prediction markets; making the U.S. a leading market for AI computing; refocusing the Commission on its core responsibilities, moving away from non-core areas like climate policy; prioritizing the needs of the agricultural and energy communities; and bringing markets for critical minerals back to the U.S.

Coinbase stated that the IRS's newly introduced digital asset tax reporting form 1099-DA rules are overly complicated and may impose unnecessary administrative burdens on a large number of cryptocurrency holders.Coinbase's Vice President of Tax, Lawrence Zlatkin, pointed out that the new regulations require reporting small transactions such as stablecoin trades and network gas fees, while stablecoins themselves have relatively stable prices and gas fees are usually only a few dollars or even lower. Reporting such information could lead to "over-reporting" in the system, making the tax framework more complex.It is reported that Coinbase is currently sending 1099-DA forms to millions of users in the U.S. This system requires trading platforms to report users' digital asset transactions to the IRS and provide users with a copy for their own reporting of gains and losses. However, in this year's reporting, Coinbase will only report the total gross proceeds from digital asset sales to the IRS and will not provide the cost basis, requiring users to calculate their actual taxable gains themselves. This may lead to confusion among some investors, and Coinbase plans to calculate the cost basis for users starting from the next tax year to simplify the reporting process.

According to Bitcoin.com, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has implemented a Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and expanded Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) rules starting from March 1, requiring local crypto asset service providers to report detailed transaction data in accordance with international standards and to automatically exchange account information with over 120 jurisdictions.Regulators will shift from passive reliance on voluntary disclosures to proactive, data-driven audits by using pattern recognition and data matching to compare tax returns with on-chain and offshore transaction records. Tax experts state that the "stealth space" for evading tax regulation through multiple wallets, offshore exchanges, and offshore structures has essentially disappeared, and taxpayers holding undeclared digital assets or offshore wealth face a higher risk of targeted audits, recommending proactive compliance through Voluntary Disclosure Programs (VDP).

Stablecoin issuer Tether recently announced multiple job openings in South Korea, including Public Relations Manager, Blockchain Investigator, and Government Relations Officer. Previously, Tether entered the local market by hiring a representative for the South Korean market, but after the departure of relevant personnel, the company plans to expand its team in Korea.Additionally, industry insiders revealed that since the CEO of Circle visited South Korea last August, Circle has also been advancing its business expansion in the region. Reports indicate that the upcoming "Digital Asset Basic Law" in South Korea may require overseas stablecoin issuers to establish branches in Korea to distribute tokens in the local market. The recent actions of related companies are seen as a proactive approach to potential regulatory requirements.

According to MyBroadband, South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that the government will release a draft regulation to formally incorporate crypto assets into the capital flow management system under the Currency and Exchange Act.This move aims to improve cross-border capital regulation and complement existing anti-money laundering and anti-fraud regulations. Previously, the Pretoria High Court ruled that cryptocurrencies do not fall under the legal definition of "currency," and that current foreign exchange control rules do not apply to crypto assets, urging the government to undertake legislative reform.Although the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has appealed the ruling, insisting that cryptocurrencies should be treated as currency for regulatory purposes, the current regulatory focus has shifted to establishing clear administrative responsibilities and cross-border transaction reporting requirements. This legislative reform will end the ambiguity surrounding crypto assets in foreign exchange control, providing a legal basis for South African residents to participate in the global crypto market.

According to Jinshi reports, the Financial Secretary Paul Chan stated in the "2026 Budget" that the government will submit a draft digital asset policy bill within the year, establishing a licensing system for service providers involved in digital asset trading and custody.Hong Kong has implemented a licensing system for fiat-backed stablecoin issuers, with the first batch of licenses to be issued in March. The government and financial regulators will continue to promote licensed issuers to explore more application scenarios under compliance and manageable risk conditions.

According to CoinDesk, real estate billionaire and founder of Starwood Capital Group Barry Sternlicht stated that the company is prepared to tokenize real-world assets (RWA) such as real estate on the blockchain, but is currently unable to advance related plans due to regulatory restrictions in the United States. Starwood manages assets totaling over $125 billion.Sternlicht pointed out at the World Liberty Forum that asset tokenization could create new financing methods for less liquid assets like real estate and allow investors to participate in investments more conveniently. He described this technology as a "future trend" and believes its development stage is even ahead of artificial intelligence.Industry reports indicate that Deloitte expects the global tokenized real estate market could reach $4 trillion by 2035, a significant increase from less than $300 billion in 2024, implying a compound annual growth rate of about 27%. Sternlicht called for further clarification of the regulatory environment to unlock the potential for assets to be placed on-chain.

According to Crypto Politan, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) announced its updated regulatory framework for crypto tokens last year and released a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document to assist businesses in understanding and implementing the new regulations.The new framework allows entities regulated by the DFSA within the Dubai International Financial Centre to choose the crypto tokens they wish to work with without requiring prior approval from the DFSA, and this update has been effective since 2026. The FAQ clarifies that the new regulations cover crypto tokens used for payment or investment purposes, excluding investment tokens such as NFTs, utility tokens, securities tokens, and stablecoins.Stablecoins are limited to use by asset managers for payments. Businesses offering crypto token-related products must comply with the token regime and related requirements, with token suitability assessment criteria including their characteristics, regulatory status in other jurisdictions, global market size and liquidity, relevant technology, and whether they may hinder compliance.