SFC and AFRC extend audit oversight cooperation to licensed virtual asset providers
The Securities and Futures Commission and the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council signed a memorandum of understanding replacing their 2021 agreement, adding the financial reporting and audits of SFC-licensed virtual asset service providers to the entities covered. It provides for information sharing, case referrals, mutual assistance, and coordinated inspections and investigations.
Newsom signs a ban on meme coins by public officials and a digital asset money laundering law
AB 2409 bars California officials and employees with procurement authority from issuing meme coins and, from January 1, 2027, bars service providers from offering residents meme coins tied to federal, state, or local officials, with civil enforcement by the Attorney General and local prosecutors. SB 1208 extends the state money laundering statute to digital assets, allows warrants to seize wallets holding suspected crime proceeds, and sets up forfeiture, sunsetting January 1, 2032. AB 1180 lets the DFPI accept certain licensing fees in stablecoins from July 1, 2027. The governor framed the package as a contrast with the Trump family token ventures.
Hester Peirce, head of the SEC Crypto Task Force, will leave the Commission on October 2
Commissioner Peirce posted a resignation letter saying her last day is October 2, 2026, after which she joins Regent University School of Law. Her departure leaves Chair Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda as the only sitting commissioners, a two-member quorum, with no Democratic nominees pending. No successor for the Crypto Task Force has been named.
SEC staff say buybacks and network upgrades on a functioning network are not, by themselves, a securities signal
The Division of Corporation Finance updated its crypto asset FAQs, building on the March 17 interpretive release. Marketing a system's current or planned features without promoting profit is generally not a representation of essential managerial efforts; once a system is functional, work to secure, maintain, or improve it is not such an effort; and a buyback announcement for a non-security asset on a functional network is not one either, while a non-functional network marketing buybacks as a source of returns is different. The answers are staff views with no legal force.
The Federal Reserve proposes its GENIUS Act rules for bank-affiliated stablecoin issuers
The Board issued two proposals: a framework for payment stablecoin issuers that are subsidiaries of Board-supervised institutions, requiring full backing in short-term Treasury bills and other high-quality liquid assets, standardized capital requirements for credit and operational risk, risk management and safekeeping rules, and a presumption that certain third-party arrangements are prohibited payments of interest or yield; and an application procedure for banks seeking approval for a subsidiary to issue. Governor Barr supported the proposals while warning that stablecoins are only stable if they can be redeemed at par under stress. Comments close 60 days after Federal Register publication.
CFTC staff allow tokenized permitted investments and on-chain recordkeeping
Three CFTC divisions updated their crypto and blockchain FAQs: futures commission merchants and clearinghouses may invest customer funds in tokenized versions of investments permitted under Regulation 1.25, provided the token carries the same legal and economic rights and all existing limits apply, and the recordkeeping rules are technology neutral, so required records may be kept on a blockchain if the registrant can produce them. Chairman Selig called it part of the agency's push for regulatory clarity.
EBA sets out its priorities for the MiCA review
Responding to the Commission's targeted consultation, which closes September 30, the EBA asked for stronger rules on multi-issuer and third-country stablecoin schemes, clearer classification of crypto assets, MiCA coverage of crypto lending and of service providers routing clients to DeFi protocols, a cost-benefit review of the bank-deposit reserve floors, and better issuer and CASP reporting. As of September 1, 2026, 39 e-money tokens and no asset-referenced tokens had been authorized.
Bank of Russia publishes the register rules for crypto exchangers and depositaries; applications open October 5
Directive 7429-U and Regulation 890-P, the first implementing acts under Federal Law 282-FZ, were registered by the Justice Ministry and published, entering into force October 5, 2026. Exchangers need at least RUB 15 million in capital and digital depositaries RUB 50 million to 250 million depending on activity; licensed banks, brokers, and existing information-system operators get a simplified track; unregistered exchangers may operate until July 1, 2027.
Brazil requires Coaf reports on self-custody transfers and cuts unauthorized providers off from the banking system
Resolutions BCB 588 and 589, dated September 23 and published September 24, amend the AML circular and the VASP framework. From October 1, 2026, virtual asset transfers to or from self-custody wallets of US$10,000 or more must be reported to Coaf by the next business day, without a suspicion trigger. From November 6, 2026, authorized institutions may not deal with unauthorized virtual asset providers, and from January 1, 2027 providers must report client balances, custody in Brazil and abroad, proof of reserves, and staked assets.
CFTC sends the White House a pre-rule for a crypto asset market regime
The CFTC submitted a pre-rule filing titled 'Regulation of Crypto Asset Transactions and Crypto Asset Markets' for White House regulatory review, the first formal step toward a CFTC-registered category of crypto asset market built on the agency's existing authority over leveraged and margined retail commodity trading. Chairman Selig had said the agency would act if Congress did not. The approach cannot reach unleveraged spot trading, which still requires legislation, and a binding rule is unlikely before late 2027 after two comment rounds.
SEC issues its innovation exemption for trading tokenized stocks on chain
Two days after the Senate vote, the SEC granted five-year conditional exemptions, running to September 17, 2031, that let new Tokenized Securities Venues trade tokenized versions of exchange-listed US stocks through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools without registering as exchanges, while liquidity providers are exempt from dealer registration. Participants must be allow-listed, tokens must carry the same rights as the underlying shares, trading halts with the primary market, and each venue is capped at 75 symbols and 0.25% of volume for the most liquid stocks, or 250 symbols and 2.5% for the rest. Issuers get 30 days' notice, and a right to object, before a third party tokenizes their stock. Chairman Atkins called it a bridge toward durable rulemaking, and the Commission is taking public comment.
Senate rejects cloture on the CLARITY Act, 49–50
The motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 fell eleven votes short of the 60 needed on Roll Call Vote 234, two days after sponsors released a final text built around a White House-backed ethics package. No Democrat voted yes, and Democrats who had negotiated on the bill said the ethics terms still fell short. Republicans Collins, Hawley, and Moran voted no, and Tillis switched his vote to no so he could enter a motion to reconsider, which leaves leadership a procedural path to try again after the November elections. Without a lame-duck agreement, the bill expires with the 119th Congress on January 3, 2027.
White House yields on ethics; a 'final' CLARITY text lands on the eve of the cloture vote
After months of silence on the Tillis-Gallego counterproposal, the White House accepted most of the bipartisan ethics package over the weekend, and late Sunday Senators Lummis, Boozman, and Scott released what they call the final text. Covered federal officials, the president, vice president, members of Congress, judges, and their spouses, with significant crypto financial interests must divest or move them into qualified blind trusts, with state attorneys general able to enforce alongside the Justice Department. The text carries roughly 126 Democrat-requested changes and adds an 18-month circuit breaker letting the Treasury secretary suspend stablecoin rewards if they start draining community bank deposits. The answer comes Tuesday at 2:15 pm. Senate Democrats caucused Sunday night without committing the votes, banking groups say the deposit-flight protections act too late, and cloture still needs roughly nine Democrats.
Revised CLARITY text lands days before the Senate's September 15 cloture vote
A revised Senate text released ahead of Tuesday's 2:15 pm vote adds an ethics provision barring public officials, government employees, and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, enforced through the Justice Department. Democrats pressing for the Tillis-Gallego alternative, which adds state attorney general enforcement and divestment requirements, say it falls short, and the White House has not responded to that counterproposal. Cloture needs 60 votes and at least two Republicans are expected to oppose, so roughly nine Democrats must cross. The calendar cuts the other way too. The House leaves Washington on September 17 and has dropped the following two voting weeks, so even a successful cloture vote likely pushes any final reconciled bill into the post-election session.
Russia's crypto market law takes effect, legalizing trading through regulated intermediaries
Federal Law No. 282-FZ, passed by the State Duma on July 21 and signed August 4, lets Russians buy and sell crypto through Bank of Russia-regulated exchanges, brokers, and other intermediaries. Non-qualified investors must pass a test and are capped at RUB 300,000 a year per intermediary, while tested qualified investors face no cap. The ban on domestic crypto payments stays, crypto may settle foreign-trade contracts, and intermediaries have until July 1, 2027 to be licensed or registered.
Singapore publishes draft legislation to give its stablecoin framework statutory force
MAS proposed Payment Services Act amendments that would create a stablecoin issuance licence, require reserves at least equal to par value and redemption at par, recognize foreign-issued stablecoins meeting equivalent standards, and add powers over systemic stablecoins. The 2023 framework has operated as MAS policy. Comments close October 16, 2026, and no commencement date has been set.
SEC proposes Regulation Crypto Assets, its first permanent crypto rule
Four days after canceling the meeting meant to unveil it, the SEC issued the proposal without one: a tailored offering regime for investment contracts involving crypto assets, built on two Securities Act exemptions. A startup exemption covers offerings up to $5 million over four years; a fundraising exemption, modeled on Regulation A, runs to $75 million in a 12-month period in two tiers, with financial statements and ongoing reporting at the top tier, disclosure on a new Form 1-CRYPTO, and preemption of state registration for these offerings. The release also proposes a safe harbor under which an asset stops being a security once the issuer has completed or permanently ceased the managerial efforts it promised. Comments are due October 20, 2026. The separate innovation exemption for tokenized securities followed a month later, on September 17.
Treasury proposes the GENIUS rules that define who must be licensed, and when
Treasury's section 3 proposal defines what it means to 'issue a payment stablecoin in the United States' and to 'offer or sell' one to persons in the United States, the two triggers on which the whole licensing regime turns. It confirms the expected sequence: from January 18, 2027, issuing a payment stablecoin in the US without a federal or state GENIUS license is prohibited, and digital asset service providers may only handle foreign-issued stablecoins whose issuers can comply with lawful orders under reciprocal arrangements; from July 18, 2028, providers may not offer or sell any payment stablecoin to US persons unless a licensed issuer stands behind it. Comments close October 19, 2026. The OCC's issuer rules, proposed in March, and FinCEN and OFAC's illicit-finance program rules complete the set awaiting finalization.
SEC schedules, then abruptly postpones, its first formal crypto offering rule
The SEC noticed an open meeting for August 14 to propose a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets, the formal rulemaking version of the exemptions promised under Project Crypto, then canceled the meeting the day before, citing a scheduling issue and setting no new date. The proposal surfaced anyway on August 18, issued without a meeting.
Senate files cloture on the CLARITY Act, setting a September 15 vote
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, after a marathon overnight session. The vote on that motion is set for Tuesday, September 15, 2026, the day after the Senate returns, and needs 60 votes; Republicans hold 53. Three disputes were unresolved going into the break: the ethics provision covering officials' crypto holdings, which Democrats and some Republicans want tightened, the illicit-finance and developer-protection language, and whether platforms may pay rewards on idle stablecoin balances, which the banking lobby wants closed. The merged 616-page Senate text released July 22 folds the Banking and Agriculture Committee bills into one vehicle. Cloture would only open debate.
Japan's Diet moves crypto into securities law
Amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act reclassify crypto assets as financial instruments, add insider-trading rules and disclosure duties for issuers and exchanges, and raise the maximum penalty for unregistered operation to ten years' imprisonment or ¥10 million. The rules are expected to take effect in 2027. A separate framework cuts the top tax rate on crypto gains from as much as 55% to a flat 20% from 2028.
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.
Taiwan passes its Virtual Asset Service Act
The Legislative Yuan's law replaces AML-only registration with FSC licensing, requires segregation of customer assets, subjects stablecoin issuers to central bank and FSC approval with full reserves, and sets penalties of up to seven years and NT$100 million for unlicensed operation. Registered providers get 12 months to apply and 21 months to be licensed once the Executive Yuan sets the effective date.
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.
Australia enacts its digital asset platform licensing law
The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act 2026 received Royal Assent, creating digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms as financial products that require an Australian financial services licence. It commences April 9, 2027, with a transition window for existing operators.
Canada enacts a federal Stablecoin Act
Bill C-15, the Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1, received Royal Assent carrying a Stablecoin Act under which the Bank of Canada will supervise fiat-backed stablecoin issuers subject to reserve, redemption, and no-interest rules. It takes effect by order in council, which the Department of Finance expects in 2027 once supporting regulations are published.
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.
China replaces its 2021 crypto ban notice with a broader one
Eight agencies led by the People's Bank of China issued Yinfa [2026] No. 42, repealing the 2021 notice while restating that virtual-currency business is illegal financial activity. The new notice adds that no domestic or foreign entity may issue a yuan-pegged stablecoin offshore without approval, requires approval or filing for offshore tokenization of onshore assets, bars internet platforms from hosting or promoting crypto and tokenization services, and restates the mining ban.
HM Treasury 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.