What changed
With the CLARITY Act stalled, the US agencies wrote the rules themselves, and the register's United States entry now carries four new comment deadlines. The Federal Reserve's GENIUS Act proposals for bank-affiliated stablecoin issuers were published on September 29 with comments due November 30, and Treasury followed on September 30 with an interim final rule, effective at once, setting out how the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee will review state regulators' certifications. On October 1 the SEC proposed crypto custody rules for investment advisers and funds, admitting state trust companies as custodians and permitting adviser self-custody under conditions; comments close December 7. On October 5 the CFTC issued the advance notice it had sent to the White House three weeks earlier, Regulation CTX for retail crypto asset transactions and Regulation CAM for a crypto asset market category of exchange, with comments due December 14, and FinCEN withdrew the 2020 unhosted-wallet reporting proposal and the 2023 mixer designation. Commissioner Peirce left the SEC on October 2; the Commission has two members and the Crypto Task Force has no named lead.
Three state items belong beside the federal ones. New York and Wyoming signed a supervisory agreement on October 1 that lets each regulator lean on the other's licensing reviews and examinations. Florida's stablecoin issuer licensing took effect the same day under HB 175. California's three digital asset bills were chaptered, and the governor's September 30 deadline passed with nothing else on his desk.
Outside the US, the UK authorisation gateway opened on September 30, with applications due by February 28, 2027 and the regime starting October 25, 2027. ESMA answered the MiCA review the same day and on October 8 told authorized CASPs to stop serving stablecoins that do not comply with MiCA, with three months to clear legacy exposures. Russia's register rules took effect October 5 and the Bank of Russia admitted its first five depositaries and four exchangers the next day. Thailand finalized domestic bitcoin and ether ETF rules effective October 16. Hong Kong committed to a licensing bill for dealing, custody, and advice within 2026, Japan's FSA opened its on-chain finance forum and approved a stablecoin trade-settlement pilot, the IMF completed El Salvador's reviews and asked for Digital Asset Issuance Law amendments, VARA set a minimum scope for reserve audits, ADGM opened a DeFi consultation, and Australia's no-action relief expired.
What it did to the grades
No status grade changed. Russia stays in transition until the July 2027 licensing cutoff passes, the UK stays in transition until October 2027, and the United States stays partial because the market-structure half of its framework is still proposal and guidance rather than statute. The Laws A–Z index grew to 113 instruments with Thailand's ETF rules, and fourteen existing entries carried new text.
Since October 12
The largest step of the week came from the EBA, which on October 14 classified USDC as the first significant e-money token under MiCA and takes over supervision of its reserves, own funds, liquidity, and recovery and redemption plans from November 12. On October 9, three days before our last review, EU governments agreed that only the largest cross-border CASPs should move to ESMA supervision, narrowing the Commission's proposal to move all of them, and on October 16 EU leaders asked for a deal on the market integration and supervision package by the end of the year. On October 15 ASIC opened consultation on the standards for Australia's platform regime and Australia's Treasury released its draft crypto tax reporting law. Argentina's CNV rewrote its provider rules, South Korea had 27 websites of unregistered operators blocked and warned on offshore perpetual futures, Taiwan's FSC said its licensing law should take effect in the first quarter of 2027, and Russia's registers reached eight depositaries and thirteen exchangers, with Moscow Exchange planning crypto trading from December 1. In the United States, comments on Treasury's GENIUS definitions were due October 19 with no extension, California's Attorney General settled with Fidelity Digital Asset Services over past withdrawal limits, and the CLARITY Act did not move.
BaFin's refusal of the MiCA application of futurum bank, operator of bitcoin.de, the Banco Central do Brasil's refusal of a provider authorization, and the draft rules for the digital asset tax that Illinois has since agreed to stay until July 1, 2027, were on the October 12 watchlist and are now on the register with sources. So are the OCC's September 18 trust charter decisions for Bastion, Catena, and Agora, which we had held for confirmation. The review also found four items the register had missed: Nigeria's July 17 executive order dividing virtual asset oversight between the central bank and the SEC, the IRS staking safe harbor for investment trusts of October 6, the A7 network sanctions of October 1 and FinCEN's related proposal of October 5, and a 34-state settlement under which Coinme agreed to end its crypto kiosk business.
Brazil revoked Resolution BCB 588 on September 30, before our last review, and reissued its Coaf reporting rule as Resolution 591, which defers reports on fourth-quarter self-custody transfers to January 2027; the Brazil entry and the calendar now reflect it. Australia's Digital Assets Framework Act commences on April 8, 2027. This register had said April 9; ASIC's consultation paper gives the correct date, and the Australia entry, the calendar, and the September briefing are corrected. No status grade changed, and the Laws A–Z index grew to 115 instruments with Nigeria's executive order and Illinois' digital asset tax.
Since October 19
In the United States the OCC adopted the first final rule setting GENIUS Act requirements for stablecoin issuers on October 21, effective January 18, 2027, the day the Act takes effect. It dropped the presumption against third-party yield arrangements that the Federal Reserve's pending proposal still carries, confirmed that the yield ban does not reach deposits, and set daily liquidity, counterparty, redemption, and capital requirements for the issuers it supervises. Florida proposed its own issuer rules on October 20 with similar capital and liquidity floors. Comments on Regulation Crypto Assets closed October 20 without an extension. Canada published draft stablecoin regulations on October 24 for a fall 2027 start.
In Europe, FINMA announced on October 20 that it had approved Switzerland's first bitcoin ETF, the FCA consulted on perimeter and DeFi guidance for the UK regime, France's authorities asked for an explicit ban on EU services for non-MiCA stablecoins, and the Central Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase Ireland over e-money safeguarding. Russia's exchanger register grew to eighteen entries. In Asia, the Bank of Thailand proposed licensing baht stablecoin issuers and wallets, Taiwan issued a travel rule amendment, Hong Kong's SFC approved the first secondary trading of tokenised funds on a licensed crypto platform, HSBC launched its licensed Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, and South Korea's finance ministry reviewed readiness for the January crypto tax as a deferral bill reached committee.
Two items we had held for confirmation are now on the register: the community bankers' lawsuit against the OCC's trust charters, filed October 2, and Vietnam's Decree 284/2026/ND-CP on crypto fines, in force since September 1. The review also found an October 13 joint motion in which Illinois agreed to an injunction staying its digital asset tax until July 1, 2027 while the court decides the two challenges to it. No status grade changed, and the Laws A–Z index grew to 118 instruments with the OCC rule, Canada's draft regulations, and Vietnam's decree.
This update corrects three earlier statements. The SEC's quorum amendment, effective October 2, lets a single commissioner act on a matter when all the others are disqualified; the register had described it as letting the members in office form a quorum when fewer than three serve, which the rule already allowed. The OCC's October 14 review found debanking policies at all nine of the largest national banks and sector restrictions that reached digital asset activities; the register had said all nine restricted services to those sectors. The restriction of non-qualified Russian investors to bitcoin, ether, and USDT comes from a Bank of Russia draft; Moscow Exchange announced only its December 1 start date.
What comes next
Comments close on Australia's crypto tax reporting draft on October 28 and on Illinois' digital asset tax rules on October 30. Brazil's filing deadline for existing providers is also October 30, and from November 6 authorized institutions there may no longer deal with unauthorized providers. FATF's plenary week runs from October 26 to October 30. Argentina's monthly provider reports start November 1. Kenya's licensing deadline for existing providers and the comment deadline on FinCEN's A7 proposal fall on November 4. The Senate returns on November 9 with no CLARITY vote on its announced schedule. The window to request a hearing on Florida's stablecoin rules closes November 10, the EBA takes over supervision of USDC on November 12, Thailand's baht stablecoin consultation closes November 17, and comments on the FCA's perimeter and DeFi guidance close November 18. ASIC's consultation closes November 27, and November 30 brings the Fed, Treasury, and ADGM comment deadlines and the close of the MAS consultation on dispute resolution. The European Parliament's economic affairs committee is expected to vote on the EU supervision package on December 1, according to law-firm trackers. Comments close on the SEC custody proposal on December 7, on the CFTC advance notice on December 14, and on Canada's draft stablecoin regulations on December 23. The Basel Committee has said it will give an update on its review of the bank cryptoasset standard later this year, and the GENIUS Act and the OCC's final issuer rule take effect on January 18, 2027. The full timeline is on the deadline calendar.
On the watchlist, not yet on the register
Three items are reported but not yet citable to a primary source. The governor of South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service told lawmakers at the October parliamentary audit that combined supervision of digital assets is written into the government's Digital Asset Basic Act, which has still not been published or submitted. The presidential office is reported to be weighing a further delay of the crypto gains tax. The content of the European Parliament committee's draft compromise on crypto supervision, which would let smaller CASPs opt into ESMA oversight, is known only from press and law-firm reports ahead of the expected December 1 vote. Each moves onto the register when a primary document can be linked.