Senate files cloture on the CLARITY Act, teeing up a floor vote in September
Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a cloture motion on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, in the final hours before the August recess. The move came too late for a summer floor vote but positions the market structure bill for procedural action almost immediately when the chamber returns. Open items include illicit finance provisions, agriculture committee reconciliation, and ethics language covering digital asset activity by senior officials. The House passed its version 294–134 on July 17, 2025.
California's Digital Financial Assets Law goes operative; unlicensed activity now carries penalties of up to $100,000 per day
DFAL licensing took effect on July 1. Any business engaging in digital financial asset activity with or on behalf of a California resident must hold a DFPI license, have a completed application pending, or qualify for an exemption. Governor Newsom signed SB 97, a technical clean-up bill, on June 30. The DFPI began accepting applications through NMLS on March 9, 2026.
MiCA's grandfathering window closes: CASPs without authorization can no longer serve the EU
The transitional period under Article 143(3) of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation ended on July 1, 2026. Crypto-asset service providers that operated under national regimes but did not obtain a MiCA authorization must cease serving EU clients. ESMA confirmed the cutoff in April. The stablecoin titles have applied since June 30, 2024, and the full regulation since December 30, 2024.
FCA publishes final rules for the UK cryptoasset regime (PS26/9–PS26/13)
The FCA released five policy statements finalizing rules on admissions and disclosures, market abuse, stablecoin issuance, regulated cryptoasset activities, and prudential requirements, plus guidance on the consumer duty, international firms, and operational resilience. The same day, the Bank of England and FCA published a joint approach to supervising systemic stablecoin issuers. The authorisation gateway opens September 30, 2026; the regime comes into force October 25, 2027.
Bank of England finalizes its approach to sterling systemic stablecoins
The Bank published a policy statement on regulating sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins alongside a consultation on a draft Code of Practice, settling how issuers whose coins reach systemic scale will be supervised in coordination with the FCA.
CLARITY Act placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar as No. 423
Following the Banking Committee’s 15–9 vote, the bill became formally eligible for full Senate floor consideration without further committee work. Passage still requires a 60-vote cloture threshold, reconciliation with the Agriculture Committee’s Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act, reconciliation with the House text, and a presidential signature.
CFTC approves the first bitcoin perpetual futures contract on a designated exchange
The Commission cleared a true perpetual futures contract for listing on a US designated contract market and issued a policy statement inviting further perpetual listings, part of a run of market-opening steps under Project Crypto alongside SEC-CFTC work on extended trading hours.
Senate Banking advances the CLARITY Act 15–9 on a 309-page text
The May 12 committee print added a compromise barring interest or yield on idle stablecoin balances while permitting activity-based rewards, a framework for DeFi trading protocols, an insolvency safe harbor for digital commodity transactions, and strengthened illicit finance measures.
Hong Kong SFC opens secondary-market trading of tokenized SFC-authorized products
The Securities and Futures Commission announced a framework to pilot secondary trading of tokenized authorized investment products, extending a regulatory architecture that now spans licensed VATPs, the HKMA stablecoin regime in force since August 2025, and custody and dealing proposals.
FCA consults on perimeter guidance for the incoming UK crypto regime
The consultation helps firms assess whether their activities fall inside the new regulatory perimeter confirmed by Parliament in February. The FCA reiterated that the authorisation gateway opens September 30, 2026, with final policy statements due in the summer.
SEC and CFTC issue a joint interpretive release sorting crypto assets into five categories and naming 16 digital commodities
The first major product of the agencies’ March 11 memorandum of understanding classifies assets as digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, or digital securities. Sixteen named assets, including ether, XRP, and solana, are treated as digital commodities. The release is guidance, not statute: it binds staff practice but can be revised by a future Commission, which is the core argument for the CLARITY Act.
California DFPI opens DFAL license applications through NMLS
The Department began accepting applications four months ahead of the July 1 deadline, citing the expected volume. Applicants filing a completed application by July 1 may continue operating while review is pending; the DFPI expects roughly $100,000 in tangible net worth and a surety bond starting at $500,000.
IRS proposes regulations to ease broker issuance of digital Form 1099-DA
The proposed rules facilitate electronic delivery of the new digital asset broker reporting form, whose first filings cover 2025 gross proceeds. Basis reporting phases in for 2026 transactions.
Parliament makes the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026
The statutory instrument brings a broad set of cryptoasset activities inside the FCA’s regulatory perimeter for the first time, moving well beyond the anti-money-laundering registration and financial promotions rules that previously defined the UK’s approach. The full regime applies from October 25, 2027.
Senate Agriculture advances its Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act 12–11
The party-line vote moved the CFTC-focused half of the market structure package out of committee after Democratic amendments were rejected. The text must be reconciled with Senate Banking’s CLARITY draft before any floor vote can produce a unified bill.
DAC8 takes effect: EU-wide tax reporting for crypto-asset service providers begins
Directive (EU) 2023/2226 requires reporting crypto-asset service providers to collect and report user and transaction data to tax authorities, aligned with the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework. First exchanges of information follow in 2027.
Vietnam's Law on Digital Technology Industry takes effect, the country's first statute recognizing digital assets
The June 2025 law defines virtual assets and crypto assets in Vietnamese legislation for the first time and assigns the government authority over their business conditions, alongside a government resolution piloting a regulated domestic crypto market for five years.
South Korea's stablecoin bill stalls over the Bank of Korea's bank-ownership demand
The central bank argues stablecoin issuers should be at least 51% owned by regulated banks; ruling-party lawmakers disagree. The dispute has pushed the second phase of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act framework, including won-stablecoin licensing, toward 2027.
Brazil's central bank VASP rules enter into force
Resolutions issued in November 2025 under Law 14,478/2022 took effect, requiring virtual asset service providers to obtain BCB authorization, and folding stablecoin and foreign-exchange-linked transactions into the FX regulatory perimeter, with transition windows for firms already operating.
Application window closes under Hong Kong's Stablecoins Ordinance
Issuers of fiat-referenced stablecoins operating in Hong Kong had to file with the HKMA by October 31 or wind down within a month. The Ordinance took effect August 1, 2025; the first licenses were expected in early 2026.
GENIUS Act signed: the first US federal framework for payment stablecoins
The law creates a licensing regime for payment stablecoin issuers under federal and qualifying state regulators, requires 1:1 reserves in high-quality liquid assets, bars paying interest or yield on the stablecoin itself, and phases in over 18 months. OCC and FDIC proposed implementing rules followed, along with Federal Reserve FAQs on capital treatment.