regulators

One year ago, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act," known as the GENIUS Act, marking the first time the U.S. initiated the construction of a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins. The GENIUS Act requires federal regulatory agencies to establish governance rules for stablecoins, covering issuer reserves, governance, and operational requirements.Relevant details are still being developed by agencies such as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

According to The Block, U.S. regulators failed to issue the final rules necessary to implement the federal stablecoin framework within the one-year deadline set by the GENIUS Act. This act was signed into law by Trump on July 18, 2025, requiring the OCC, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the NCUA, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and state stablecoin regulatory agencies to complete the supporting rulemaking by no later than July 18, 2026.As of the afternoon of July 18 local time, the main rule proposals released by the OCC, FDIC, NCUA, and the Treasury remain in the proposal stage, with some rules related to the Federal Reserve and anti-money laundering regulation still open for public comment. The report notes that the act does not stipulate that missing the deadline will automatically extend it, nor does it suspend the relevant statutory requirements or delay the overall framework's effectiveness.Among them, the OCC's comprehensive implementation proposal covers reserve assets, capital, liquidity, custody, risk control, and reporting requirements; the FDIC's proposal involves reserves, redemption, custody, and the deposit insurance treatment of stablecoin reserves; the NCUA proposed licensing and operational risk control plans in February and May, respectively, but the comment period for the latter only ended the day before the deadline, making it objectively impossible to complete formal rulemaking before the statutory deadline. The report indicates that this means that some key rules necessary for the operation of the stablecoin framework will not be finalized until at least after the deadline.

According to BLOCKMEDIA, the South Korean police are investigating a case of political interference in the competition of the cryptocurrency market. A former assistant to independent lawmaker Kim Byung-ki is accused of pressuring the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) in February last year to force Upbit to terminate its fee waiver activities for $USDC and $USDT, in order to alleviate the financial pressure on its competitor Bithumb, which was suffering due to a zero-fee promotion.The suspicion arises from the fact that the assistant obtained an informal advisory position at Bithumb months after the interference, while at the same time, the lawmaker's son was also hired by the exchange as an intern. Bithumb denies any knowledge of political interference and insists that the fee adjustments were independent business decisions.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) plans to block the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) from quickly listing a 24x7 oil contract due to concerns that the energy market is not ready to handle a surge of around-the-clock derivative contracts.CME stated in June that it plans to offer around-the-clock trading for a futures contract linked to WTI crude oil, based on 10 barrels, arguing that investors want to manage their positions "whenever news breaks." On Wednesday, CME submitted a self-certification application for this new product, meaning the CFTC has only one day to intervene, or the contract will be available for trading. According to informed sources, the CFTC plans to block CME's self-certification.CFTC Chairman Michael C. Selig has met in recent weeks with executives from energy companies such as Shell, Vitol, BP, and ExxonMobil. Another application submitted by CME for the same product (which requires a 45-day review period) is still under consideration by the regulatory agency.

According to Decrypt, the Kenya Capital Markets Authority is tendering for blockchain monitoring tools to track fraud, money laundering, and sanctions evasion across more than 20 public blockchains. This move aims to support law enforcement needs under Kenya's new cryptocurrency legal framework.The platform will automatically issue alerts for high-risk wallets, large transfers, mixers, darknet-associated addresses, and sanctioned entities, and will screen transactions against the sanctions lists of the United Nations and the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control.

According to The Block, South Korean media regulators will give Polymarket an opportunity to respond before deciding whether to take corrective action against its prediction market platform.Regulators are reviewing whether Polymarket's services constitute illegal gambling activities prohibited by South Korean law.

According to Livecoins, the Chilean Financial Market Commission (CMF) announced the cancellation of the registration qualifications of the cryptocurrency platform Plusspay, due to its investigation revealing connections with the Venezuelan criminal organization "Tren de Aragua," which was used to provide financial support to the gang.In addition to Plusspay, several other institutions, including Pixeltec and Iuinvest, that failed to submit complete information on time as required by the Financial Technology Law (Lei Fintec) have also had their qualifications to provide services in the Chilean market revoked. These institutions are prohibited from expanding their customer base and may only conduct operations related to clearing services and returning frozen funds to existing users. Regulators emphasized that payment and cryptocurrency service providers must enhance transparency to prevent money laundering and illegal fund flows.

According to Cryptopolitan, India's financial intelligence agency has requested three major local cryptocurrency exchanges to provide information on over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency transactions valued at over $10,000.The directive requires exchanges to maintain OTC records since January 2026, focusing on beneficial ownership, particularly transactions where private companies or intermediaries may conceal the true owners of funds. OTC transactions are negotiated directly between the platform and clients, helping large buyers avoid public market price fluctuations, but also increasing the risk of lack of transparency, thus being viewed by regulators as high-risk channels for money laundering, tax evasion, and cross-border capital flows.India remains one of the largest cryptocurrency markets globally, but there is no official data on the size of the OTC market.

The cryptocurrency trading platform Bybit stated that it has noted its inclusion in the Investor Alert List of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and is actively communicating with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to further understand the basis for this listing.Bybit claims that the company has maintained open and constructive communication with MAS and continues to take measures to prevent users in Singapore from accessing its platform, including explicitly restricting access in its terms of service and geo-blocking Singapore IPs. It currently does not provide services to users in Singapore and stated that it will continue to cooperate with regulatory authorities globally. Updates will be announced in a timely manner if there are further developments.

On June 8, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO) sent a letter to Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Travis Hill. The letter pointed out that blockchain-related financial products and services have significantly increased, and blockchain technology has been placed on the high-risk list. U.S. GAO recommended establishing a relevant coordination mechanism to assist regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in jointly identifying risks and timely implementing regulatory responses.In addition, according to the GENIUS Act passed last year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is the primary regulatory agency overseeing stablecoin issuers under banks. U.S. GAO also suggested that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation rotate case managers assigned to banks to reduce threats to independence. The collapse of three banks related to the cryptocurrency industry in 2023 raised questions about whether regulatory agencies took sufficient action.

The Financial Supervisory Service of South Korea stated that the tense situation in the Middle East and market expectations for interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve are driving fluctuations in the Korean won exchange rate. The Financial Supervisory Service has requested banks to strengthen risk management measures to cope with market turmoil.In addition, the Financial Supervisory Service and the Bank of Korea will conduct inspections on speculative Korean won trading. The Financial Supervisory Service emphasized that excessive volatility in the foreign exchange market and unilateral positions are undesirable, and stated that the fundamentals of the South Korean economy and external credibility remain solid.

According to The Block, the UK's House of Lords Financial Services Regulatory Committee pointed out that the UK is lagging behind the US and the EU in stablecoin regulation.The committee urged the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to revise several proposals, including reconsidering the holding limits of £20,000 for individuals and $10 million for businesses, the 40% zero-interest central bank deposit reserve requirement, and restrictions on commercial bank issuance. It also suggested that the FCA review the k-factor capital requirements scaled by issuance rather than risk.

According to Cointelegraph, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, ICE, is calling on regulators to create a fair competitive environment that allows licensed institutions to launch around-the-clock on-chain perpetual contracts. ICE executives stated that platforms like Hyperliquid are already conducting related trades, while traditional institutions are unable to follow suit due to regulatory restrictions.ICE has begun discussions with Hyperliquid to explore the collaborative space between traditional finance and the cryptocurrency industry. In addition, ICE recently partnered with OKX to launch oil-related perpetual contracts and is working with institutions to build a blockchain securities trading system, fully laying out a 7×24 hour on-chain trading business.

France's top market regulator warns cryptocurrency companies that if they do not obtain an EU operating license by the end of June, they may be blacklisted and prosecuted.According to the EU cryptocurrency regulation (MiCA), cryptocurrency companies must obtain a license by June 30 to continue operating in the EU. European regulators have previously warned that unlicensed companies need to develop an "orderly exit plan."

According to official news, WonderFi announced on Monday that the Canadian investment regulatory organization has approved Robinhood's acquisition of the digital asset products and services company WonderFi. Robinhood has stated that this transaction will help deepen its ability to offer programmable financial products. Robinhood's accessible, low-cost, and secure platform will continue WonderFi's mission of making it easier for millions of Canadians to engage in crypto trading.WonderFi's technology and products, including Bitbuy and Coinsquare, are highly compatible with Robinhood Crypto, covering crypto trading, staking, and custody. The transaction was originally scheduled to be completed in the second half of last year, but both parties later extended the closing date to June 1 of this year to give Robinhood more time to deploy its proprietary technology in Canada and obtain regulatory approval. As reported by PYMNTS last year, this transaction closely follows Robinhood's acquisition of the crypto exchange Bitstamp in 2025 and is interconnected with that acquisition.

According to a report by Cai Lian She, Tiger International issued a statement clarifying that recent remarks about its "refusal to cooperate with regulators" or "confronting regulators" are completely inconsistent with the facts.The company stated that compliance is the lifeline of its operations. In response to the latest regulatory requirements put forward by regulatory agencies, the company will strictly rectify in accordance with the guidance of the China Securities Regulatory Commission and relevant regulatory departments. Starting in 2023, the company has fully stopped opening accounts and marketing to mainland users, and by the end of the first quarter of 2026, the proportion of assets from mainland clients is expected to be about 10%. The client and asset scale in overseas markets is steadily growing, and the company will steadily advance compliance work to ensure the safety of client assets.

According to Bloomberg, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) are pressuring U.S. regulators to impose oversight on the decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid, citing concerns about market manipulation and violations of sanctions.

According to Cointelegraph, the Israeli Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority has approved the virtual asset trading platform Bits of Gold to launch a stablecoin BILS pegged to the Israeli shekel.This stablecoin has previously completed a 2-year pilot on the Solana blockchain. According to the announcement, the reserve assets of BILS will be held in designated independent accounts within Israel. The project is also part of the regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry promoted by the Israeli Tax Authority and the Ministry of Finance, covering specific stablecoin activities.

ChainCatcher reported live that HashKey Capital CEO Deng Chao and Sharplink CEO Joseph Chalom jointly attended the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival roundtable discussion, exploring "From Finance to Strategy: How Public Companies Are Positioning Themselves Based on Digital Assets."Chalom, who worked at BlackRock for 20 years, began leading BlackRock's blockchain and digital assets team six years ago, during which he launched Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, raising about $100 billion at its peak. He stated that the choice to establish a digital asset treasury with Ethereum rather than Bitcoin is because Ethereum is a "native productive asset," which can earn nearly 3% returns through staking, while Bitcoin can only be held in anticipation of appreciation. Sharplink has been listed on Nasdaq and has raised billions of dollars to purchase Ethereum since launching its digital asset treasury strategy last June, currently holding approximately 770,000 ETH and earning about 17,000 ETH and over $35 million in rewards for investors through staking.Regarding industry trends, he pointed out that Ethereum is dominating three major use cases: stablecoins (over 60% occur on Ethereum), asset tokenization, and decentralized finance. He specifically warned that currently over 95% of stablecoins are denominated in US dollars, and if stablecoins are to become the payment rail for trillions of transactions in the AI economy, Asian regulators should not allow them to be dominated by the US dollar and US Treasury bonds, as this will trigger a geopolitical competition to advance local stablecoin legislation.Discussing market cycles, he noted that the crypto market has experienced significant pullbacks since last October, with short-term prices being unpredictable, but in the long term, the current risk-reward ratio is at its best level in a long time. He emphasized that digital asset treasuries are not passive investments; Ethereum is a high-volatility asset, and volatility is a characteristic of capital appreciation rather than a defect.

According to Bloomberg, Andrew Ferguson, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, sent letters to payment companies such as Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Stripe, warning them not to refuse services based on users' political views or religious beliefs.Ferguson stated that preventing law-abiding individuals from conducting legitimate business is not in line with American values. This move comes as the Trump administration focuses on the issue of "de-banking," with the government previously suing JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon, accusing the bank of cutting off services to Trump and his businesses for political reasons. The Trump Organization has also sued Capital One Financial Corp., alleging political discrimination. Both JPMorgan Chase and First Capital deny the allegations. Stripe responded that it would not restrict services based on political views.