Politics, Legal & Regulation

November 16, 2025 @ 1:28 pm By Michael Wong  |  

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Antonia M. Apps, a deputy director in its enforcement division who oversees the regulator’s Northeast offices, will leave the agency on Dec. 1, 2025. Apps, a former federal prosecutor and law firm partner, has served as Deputy Director… Read More

November 15, 2025 @ 11:43 am By Michael Wong  |  

Singapore’s central bank has completed a live trial of using a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) to settle overnight interbank loans, moving its experiments with tokenised assets onto an operational test network. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said the trial, conducted on its… Read More

November 14, 2025 @ 2:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins spoke at the 9th Annual Fintech Conference held at the Philadelphia Fed this week. He shared that he expects the Commission to establish a “token taxonomy” based on existing securities law, while acknowledging that the current regime has limitations. Atkins said… Read More

November 14, 2025 @ 1:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Aave Labs is reporting that it will soon roll out regulated on and off-ramping for its native stablecoin GHO and other stablecoins integrated into Aave Labs products across the European Economic Area via its service, called Push. This service is made possible by Push Virtual… Read More

November 13, 2025 @ 8:19 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have recently announced a new partnership on artificial intelligence in Finance between Singapore and the United Kingdom (UK) – termed the UK-Singapore AI-in-Finance Partnership. Announced at the Singapore FinTech Festival, the partnership… Read More

November 13, 2025 @ 2:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a wide-ranging attack on drug-based money laundering, the US Department of the Treasury, in partnership with the Mexican government, has applied sanctions and other measures to undermine organized crime operating in Mexico, Europe, Canada, and elsewhere. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and… Read More

November 13, 2025 @ 10:32 am By JD Alois  |  

In comments delivered today at the Treasury Market Conference, held at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speculated about the looming growth of the stablecoin market. “Payment Stablecoins,” as defined under the GENIUS Act, are expected to boost… Read More

November 13, 2025 @ 8:55 am By JD Alois  |  

Debanking —the nefarious practice of canceling financial services to individuals or organizations out of political favor —was rampant during the Biden Administration. Last January, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on the subject, highlighting some of the pejorative actions taken by financial services firms… Read More

November 11, 2025 @ 1:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last month, Europol announced that it had arrested seven individuals who were allegedly perpetrators in a SIM Swap scam operation. Described as a Cybercrime-as-a-Service operation, enforcement agencies took down five servers and seized 1,200 SIM box devices and 40,000 active SIM cards. Thousands of SIM… Read More

November 11, 2025 @ 8:42 am By JD Alois  |  

While the CLARITY Act passed the US House of Representatives eons ago, the legislation has been parked in the Senate as policymakers hash out their version of the digital asset market infrastructure bill. Yesterday, the Senate Agriculture Committee posted a bipartisan “discussion draft” of the… Read More

November 11, 2025 @ 8:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The 4-week long trial of two brothers (who attended MIT) that have been accused of carrying out a $25 million fraud scheme on Ethereum (ETH) has culminated in a mis-trial. The charges and allegations were brought by US federal prosecutors but the mistrial happened when… Read More

November 11, 2025 @ 7:52 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and altcoins have again been surging due to  seemingly renewed optimism and positive investor sentiment in financial markets, supported by an update that the US government shutdown could soon come to an end. Bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, has surged around 5%… Read More

November 11, 2025 @ 7:45 am By Omar Faridi  |  

UK Finance noted that when we imagine the future of fraud, it can be quite easy to picture Hollywood-type chaos: sophisticated deepfake heists, so-called AI super-hackers, and trust in digital payments crumbling in spectacular fashion. However, UK Finance pointed out in a blog post that… Read More

November 11, 2025 @ 6:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Caroline Pham, the Acting Chairperson of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has indicated that the regulatory agency is presently in talks with various regulated exchanges to potentially introduce spot cryptocurrency trading. This may include leveraged offerings and may be officially launched toward the end… Read More

November 10, 2025 @ 2:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) has issued a statement on the deal with certain Senate Democrats (and one Independent) to open up the federal government. Yesterday, a deal was cut with 7 Democrats and 1 Independent to approve a continuing resolution (CR)… Read More

November 10, 2025 @ 12:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Bank of England has published a consultation on possible regulations for pound-based stablecoins. The consultation proposes that stablecoins would be allowed to hold 60% of backing assets in short-term UK government debt. The balance would be held in unremunerated accounts at the Bank of… Read More

November 10, 2025 @ 11:29 am By JD Alois  |  

A deal has been reached in the US Senate to sign a continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the federal government. The US government essentially shut down on October 1st after Congress failed to pass a CR on September 30th. This is the longest period the… Read More

November 10, 2025 @ 9:27 am By JD Alois  |  

Today (November 10, 2025), credit card company Visa (NYSE:V) has issued a statement a potential legal settlement in the Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation. The settlement includes rival Mastercard. Visa states that the proposed settlement with US merchants of all sizes… Read More

November 10, 2025 @ 9:09 am By JD Alois  |  

Are prediction markets gambling or investing/trading? Well, some believe stock markets are more akin to gambling than to investing, yet public markets are subject to federal oversight – not state control like gambling. Kalshi, a top prediction marketplace, has issued a statement today pushing back… Read More

November 9, 2025 @ 7:44 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

A new report from LexisNexis Risk Solutions suggests sanctions activity has moderated since a flurry caused by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The Sanctions Pulse analyzes data from the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the UK Office… Read More