regulatory

According to an official statement from the U.S. SEC, Jamie Selway, the Director of the Division of Trading and Markets at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stated at the Piper Sandler Global Exchanges and Fintech Conference that Chairman Paul Atkins has instructed the division to advance the framework for the listing and trading of security tokens, with the guiding principle of "promoting innovation without creating regulatory arbitrage."

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. government is betting that stablecoins issued by private entities like Tether, pegged to the U.S. dollar, will expand to a scale of about $3 trillion in the coming years to support the international dominance of the dollar and absorb more demand for U.S. Treasury bonds.However, the article points out that the current mainstream stablecoin issuers are concentrated in Tether, which has questionable compliance and anti-money laundering practices in its registered location. In the event of a run or smart contract failure, this could impact the large amounts of U.S. Treasury assets it holds and disrupt global payments and settlements. The European Central Bank is advancing the use of central bank digital currencies and "tokenized euros" to support atomic settlements, in order to avoid being locked into critical financial infrastructure by U.S. private dollar tokens.

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. government is betting that stablecoins issued by private entities like Tether, pegged to the U.S. dollar, will expand to about $3 trillion in the coming years to support the international dominance of the dollar and absorb more demand for U.S. Treasury bonds.However, the article points out that the current mainstream stablecoin issuers are concentrated in Tether, which has questionable compliance and anti-money laundering practices in its registered location. In the event of a run or smart contract failure, this could impact the large amount of U.S. Treasury assets it holds and disrupt global payments and settlements. The European Central Bank is promoting the use of central bank digital currencies and "tokenized euros" to support atomic settlements, in order to avoid being locked into U.S. private dollar tokens on critical financial infrastructure.

Terry Duffy, the CEO of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group, expressed great concern about the recently approved perpetual contracts by U.S. regulators. Terry Duffy stated that perpetual contracts have almost no practical use for institutional investors, yet expose retail investors to excessive risk. He completely disagreed with the CFTC's decision to approve the first batch of crypto perpetual contracts after a rapid review and mentioned that he had called the CFTC chairman to express his concerns.Terry Duffy warned that perpetual contracts and prediction markets are triggering a speculative frenzy among retail investors, which could lead to an impending disaster. The first batch of perpetual contracts approved by the CFTC is listed by Kalshi, and several U.S. exchanges are also discussing launching their own perpetual contracts.

According to a report titled "Stablecoins: Waiting for Regulation" released by the UK House of Lords Financial Services Regulatory Committee, the global market capitalization of stablecoins has exceeded $310 billion, but the UK pound stablecoin market is still in its infancy, and the construction of the regulatory framework is clearly lagging behind the United States (GENIUS Act) and the European Union (MiCAR).The report criticizes several aspects of the current regulatory proposals from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England, focusing on:• The Bank of England's requirement for systemic stablecoin issuers to deposit at least 40% of reserve assets in non-interest-bearing central bank deposits, which the industry believes will severely harm issuers' profitability and the international competitiveness of the UK market;• The proposed holding limits (individual £20,000, corporate £10 million) are considered extremely difficult to implement and may stifle the development of the pound stablecoin market;• The T+1 redemption requirement will impose a significant operational burden on issuers;• The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) restrictions on deposit-taking institutions issuing stablecoins under independent brands are deemed overly stringent.The report also acknowledges the liquidity support loan mechanism proposed by the Bank of England, considering it an innovative regulatory measure that surpasses other major jurisdictions. The committee calls on regulatory agencies to strictly adhere to the established timeline, ensuring that the complete regulatory framework comes into effect as scheduled on October 25, 2027, and recommends adopting a principle-based, technology-neutral regulatory approach to achieve a reasonable balance between financial stability and market innovation.

Bitcoin News posted on the X platform that the SEC has listed digital assets as a strategic priority before 2030, calling for the establishment of a clear regulatory framework for blockchain, tokenization, custody, trading, staking, and cryptocurrency market infrastructure.The SEC stated that blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the U.S. financial infrastructure and acknowledged that innovative developments have surpassed existing regulations.The plan also calls for a clearer delineation of the regulatory boundaries between the SEC and CFTC, which is a key issue for Bitcoin and the broader digital asset industry. After years of regulatory uncertainty, the SEC now officially positions digital assets as part of the future of U.S. capital markets.

According to the official blog, Paradigm has submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury regarding the rulemaking for state-level regulatory pathways under the GENIUS Act. Paradigm supports the core framework of the proposal but points out that without addressing four issues, the state-level pathway will not effectively serve issuers.First, the proposal anchors the federal framework to the yet-to-be-finalized OCC regulations, requiring states and issuers to plan based on an undecided benchmark, which directly hinders market access. The Treasury should not finalize this rule before the OCC's implementation rules are finalized.Second, the proposal requires unanimous agreement from the heads of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC to certify the state-level system, but does not set a decision timeline, veto explanation standards, or mechanisms to prevent a single member from indefinitely blocking certification. Paradigm suggests establishing a 180-day decision deadline, creating a corrective process for supplementary submissions, and requiring specific veto explanations.Third, the proposal mandates that the state-level system maintain a reserve fund for 12 months of operating expenses, which may crowd out early issuers. It is suggested that states be allowed to adjust reserve fund requirements based on the size and risk profile of the issuer. Fourth, the proposal fails to adequately preempt hostile actions from individual states, and this loophole must be addressed.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released the "Draft Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2026-2030" and is seeking public comments. The goals proposed in the draft include "providing a solid regulatory foundation for digital assets and distributed ledger technology through a rational, coherent, and principle-based approach."The document points out that a modernized framework will also ensure that custody, trading, and staking services can operate under appropriate regulation, avoiding duplicative or conflicting requirements, while clarifying jurisdictional issues between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This coordination aims to ensure that the crypto market has clear, principled, regulation-based rules of the game, promoting innovation while maintaining the highest level of investor protection. Furthermore, the document suggests that the agency's responsible use of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology could further enhance regulation, reduce costs, and unlock new efficiencies.

According to the latest weekly report from Gate Ventures, macroeconomic and regulatory factors continued to dominate market sentiment over the past week.U.S. stock indices rose across the board, with the Nasdaq index leading with a 1.19% increase. The U.S. dollar index weakened to 98.942, reflecting a repricing of investor expectations regarding monetary policy. Although BTC and ETH ETFs recorded net outflows of approximately $1.42 billion and $240 million respectively, putting overall pressure on the crypto market, the process of institutionalization is still accelerating.On the industry front, asset tokenization and institutional applications became market highlights, with the regulatory framework continuing to improve. Stellar collaborated with DTCC to promote the implementation of asset tokenization, driving XLM to rise 83% in a single week; the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued guidance on regulated cryptocurrency perpetual futures trading; Paxos became the first native crypto company to obtain SEC clearing agency status.In terms of investment and financing, a total of 7 financing transactions were completed last week, with a disclosed total financing amount of $521 million. Among them, Samsung invested $408 million in Dunamu, further reflecting traditional financial institutions' long-term optimism about digital asset infrastructure.

According to the "Financial Stability Review" published by the Central Bank of Russia, Russian private investors currently hold approximately 3.8 billion rubles in cryptocurrency-linked financial instruments, which is nearly unchanged from 3.7 billion rubles six months ago, indicating a stagnation in market interest. Among them, 1.7 billion rubles have flowed into crypto-linked corporate bonds, with 5,600 investors holding a total of 1.7 billion rubles in crypto futures positions, and about 3,800 people investing 354 million rubles in digital financial assets linked to Bitcoin and Ethereum. The main issuers are large banks such as Sber and VTB.At the same time, the Moscow Exchange has successively launched Bitcoin and Ethereum futures and related ETFs, and will add Solana, Ripple, and Tron futures varieties in May 2026.

According to Coindesk, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has once again harshly criticized Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and warned that if lawmakers do not address traditional banks' concerns about stablecoin regulation, the latest version of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act may ultimately fail. Dimon believes that the bill would allow stablecoin issuers to effectively pay interest on deposits without bank-like protections and predicts that if adopted as is, the bill "will ultimately fail."

Paul Atkins, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stated on social media, "For a long time, the SEC has been at odds with new technologies and innovations, forcing many entrepreneurs and businesses to turn overseas. That era is over. Under President Trump's leadership, and in collaboration with the U.S. government and congressional colleagues, we are providing the much-needed regulatory clarity for the digital asset market."

Paul Atkins, the Chairman of the U.S. SEC, stated that the SEC has long been at odds with the development of new technologies and innovations, leading entrepreneurs to turn to overseas markets. He said this phase has ended. Under President Trump’s leadership and with the cooperation of government and congressional colleagues, the SEC is providing what it calls the "much-needed clarity" for the digital asset market.

According to Forbes, the decentralized derivatives platform Hyperliquid has launched the pre-IPO perpetual contract for SpaceX (SPCX-USDC) on Trade.xyz, sparking a global regulatory gray area controversy. This contract allows leveraged trading without holding any shares of SpaceX and has not been authorized by the company, with an initial reference price of $150, corresponding to an implied valuation of approximately $1.78 trillion, which quickly surged to $216.It is reported that this contract is settled in USDC, with prices derived from market oracles, and is not linked to SpaceX's actual financials or equity structure. SpaceX itself has neither authorized nor participated in this market, yet its valuation is being priced and traded in real-time on-chain, leading to the controversy of "private company price discovery being taken over by decentralized derivatives." This market originates from Hyperliquid's HIP-3 mechanism, which supports the notion that the valuations of private companies may be being repriced by on-chain derivatives, while the regulatory framework has yet to be established.

According to a report by the Financial Associated Press, in response to the issue of "some banks in the Hong Kong region requiring a declaration to open investment accounts," the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) responded today that the relevant regulatory requirements were issued to all recognized institutions on May 22.Materials provided by the HKMA indicate that registered institutions must take three additional measures when opening and managing investment accounts for mainland investors, including:Closing investment accounts opened using suspicious or forged documents, identifying customer investment accounts that have used suspicious or forged documents since January 2023 or during any other period specified by the HKMA; relevant documents include identification documents.Closing investment accounts with zero balance that have been inactive, specifically referring to investment accounts held by mainland investors that have had no asset balance as of May 22, 2026 (reference date), and have had no activity initiated by the customer in the 12 months prior to the reference date.When opening new investment accounts, obtaining a written declaration from the mainland investor confirming that all funds used to support investment activities and related settlements come from legal sources outside mainland China.Relevant documents show that the newly added additional regulatory measures apply only to investment accounts, including investment accounts within comprehensive bank accounts; non-investment functions (such as regular savings, time deposits, payments, loans, and credit cards) are not within the scope of these measures. Additionally, the applicable subjects of these additional measures are individual customers and do not apply to corporate or institutional clients.

According to Jinshi News, the Hong Kong Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission have released a consultation summary regarding the regulatory framework for virtual asset provision and management services. The proposed licensing system for virtual asset provision and management received broad support from the market during the consultation period.The new licensing system will follow the principle of "same business, same risk, same rules," and its scope will be consistent with the regulated activities under the Securities and Futures Ordinance. This series of new systems will enhance participation in Hong Kong's digital asset market and help build a robust and secure ecosystem.

According to Cointelegraph, Binance announced its official return to the Philippine market through a partnership with BlockShoals, using the sandbox framework of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an entry point. Previously, Binance was banned by the Philippine SEC in 2024, and this return is made possible through the compliance sandbox mechanism.

The South African National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) stated that they are shifting the focus of cryptocurrency asset regulation to rules governing cross-border digital asset activities, rather than restricting the holding itself, and have extended the public comment deadline for the draft Capital Flow Management Regulations to June 30, 2026. Both parties clarified that the proposed rules are not intended to criminalize the holding of cryptocurrency assets and will not be applied retroactively. A draft manual for the cross-border cryptocurrency asset framework will be released later, clarifying the definition of cross-border cryptocurrency transactions and the obligations of authorized cryptocurrency service providers.