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2026

July

July 23, 2026•15 min read•Regulation & Sovereignty•

Kazakhstan's Digital Assets Decree: A Risk Map Before the Start

Kazakhstan's Presidential Decree of 7 July 2026 promises a legalisation window for crypto held abroad and a three-year personal income tax exemption. Dauren Karashev, Founder of Kazakhstan's Crypto Forensics Laboratory, maps five verifiable reasons why the lawful-origin check at the centre of the disclosure programme cannot be performed as literally worded, and sets out what the draft law must fix before the window opens.

Issue #26-29•July 19, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 29-2026

Japan and South Korea enact sweeping regime changes and emerging markets from Nigeria to Tanzania to Thailand build out crypto rules, as the UK sets stablecoin priorities at Mansion House and AML enforcement tightens from OFAC to a record EU crypto seizure in Greece.

Issue #26-28•July 12, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 28-2026

MiCA's register becomes the operative EU gatekeeper and ESMA pivots to enforcement, the US tightens bank AML and crypto fraud lines, and regulators from Kazakhstan to Kenya to Dubai all move in the same week.

Issue #26-27•July 5, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 27-2026

The FCA publishes its final cryptoasset rulebook and cuts capital from consultation, the US escalates on three enforcement fronts, and Asia leans into tokenisation as India's RBI keeps a ban on the table.

June

Issue #26-26•June 28, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 26-2026

MiCA's transition ends 1 July as the Bank of England publishes its systemic-stablecoin rulebook, FATF reshuffles the grey list, and Treasury, VARA and Korea escalate enforcement.

Issue #26-25•June 21, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Infrastructure Brief•

Infrastructure

Weekly Digital Assets Infrastructure Brief: Week 25-2026

Where digital-asset infrastructure meets the regulatory perimeter: the ECB sets out its digital-euro vision, the IMF documents Nigeria's stablecoin shift, and tokenized sovereign-debt custody and non-bank token issuance draw supervisory attention.

Issue #26-25•June 21, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 25-2026

US regulators open GENIUS Act stablecoin KYC rulemaking as the EU MiCA deadline closes, enforcement sharpens at the CFTC and DOJ, and Africa from Zimbabwe to Kenya to Nigeria builds out its virtual-asset rulebook.

Issue #26-24•June 14, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 24-2026

The EU takes an unprecedented power to ban an entire country's crypto-asset services and blacklists 11 platforms in its 21st Russia sanctions package; the US GENIUS Act machinery advances as the OCC sets reporting forms and New York's DFS proposes a Part 202 framework aligned to the federal regime; the House Ways and Means Committee circulates seven digital-asset tax drafts and the CFTC proposes event-contract rules; the FCA proposes a 10% crypto ETN cap for retail funds; and the ESAs, Bahrain, Liechtenstein, Greece, Nigeria, Singapore and the FSB add regulatory firsts and perimeter-building across the week.

Issue #26-24•June 12, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Infrastructure Brief•

Infrastructure

Weekly Digital Assets Infrastructure Brief: Week 24-2026

14 signals across 9 jurisdictions: Hong Kong's HKMC prices a HK$12 billion inaugural public digital bond, the largest digital bond issuance globally to date; BIS Project Agora validates atomic settlement of tokenised central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits across eight central banks and advances to real-value testing; the ECB publishes a roadmap to extend T2 settlement hours toward 24/7 in support of Pontes and the digital euro; Zerohash secures the first EMI licence granted to a MiCAR-authorised firm; the SFC issues issuer guidance ahead of Hong Kong's 16 November 2026 uncertificated securities market launch; Visa and Brale test privacy-enabled stablecoin settlement on Canton; BitGo unveils a modular digital-asset operating model for banks; Copper ME wins ADGM in-principle approval; Rain and Standard Chartered establish banking infrastructure across Bahrain and the UAE; KB Financial completes a won-stablecoin offline-payments pilot in Korea; the RBA publishes CBDC focus-group findings; and AirAsia MOVE, the Solana Foundation and Intebix sign an LOI to bring Kazakhstan's tenge stablecoin onto Solana.

Issue #26-23•June 4, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 23-2026

OFAC delivers its largest digital-asset action against Iran; the US GENIUS Act framework moves from statute to machinery as the FDIC, OCC, SEC and CFTC all act in a single week; New York and the EBA sign the first transatlantic stablecoin supervision pact; and Australia's AUSTRAC sets a 1 July go-live for its virtual-asset AML regime and travel rule.

May

Issue #26-22•May 31, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 22-2026

UK FCDO uses Regulation 17A against a cryptoasset exchange for the first time, sanctioning HTX and the A7 network; Hong Kong concludes its VA advisory/management consultation; France's AMF threatens prosecution for unlicensed MiCA firms after 30 June; Japan finalises stablecoin and intermediary rules taking effect 1 June; CFTC moves to vacate the 2025 Gemini $5M settlement.

Issue #26-21•May 21, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 21-2026

Trump signs payment-rails review EO; CFTC sues Minnesota to block state prediction-market felony statute; BoE Breeden previews June draft sterling-stablecoin rules and PRA confirms banking groups may issue via insolvency-remote entity; European Commission opens MiCA review consultation; MAS revokes Bsquared's Major Payment Institution licence.

Issue #26-20•May 14, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 20-2026

Senate Banking advances CLARITY 14 May with Sections 401/402 intact; CBUAE grants the first VASP SVF licence to Crypto.com; FINMA opens AMLO-FINMA revision; Treasury runs a coordinated IRGC alert and sanctions; BIS, Fed and BoE align on stablecoin prudential framing.

Issue #26-19•May 10, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Infrastructure Brief•

Infrastructure

Weekly Digital Assets Infrastructure Brief: Week 19-2026

15 signals across 11 jurisdictions: DTCC sets a July pilot and October 2026 launch for its DTC tokenization service with 50+ Wall Street firms (Russell 1000, ETFs, US Treasuries); the HKMA confirms its first two stablecoin licensees (Anchorpoint Financial and the Standard Chartered/HKT/Ant Group consortium) and sets strict conditions for the next wave; the SFC opens 24/7 secondary trading of tokenised SFC-authorised investment products on licensed VATPs; FINMA approves SIX Group's merger of SDX DLT CSD into traditional securities services and authorises crypto custody at the main depository; Western Union goes live with USDPT, a federally regulated digital dollar on Solana issued by Anchorage Digital Bank; Spain's Sabadell and Bankinter join the Qivalis euro stablecoin consortium ahead of an H2 2026 launch; Samsung SDS wins the contract to build the Korea Securities Depository's tokenised securities platform; ECB President Lagarde separates stablecoin monetary and technological functions and anchors Europe's response in Pontes and Appia; Mastercard and Yellow Card launch a five-market EEMEA stablecoin partnership; KBank pilots Ripple-rail cross-border transfers to the UAE and Thailand; Visa expands stablecoin settlement to nine chains as the run rate hits USD 7 billion; Modern Treasury integrates USDC settlement on Polygon for its USD 400 billion payment-orchestration platform; Bermuda runs a Phase 2 USDC airdrop and onboards merchants for a sovereign on-chain economy; SQRIL goes live with stablecoin-to-fiat QR and mobile-money payments across Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa; and CIMA publishes its 2026 reporting schedule for Virtual Asset Service Providers.

Issue #26-19•May 7, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 19-2026

15 signals across 8 jurisdictions: Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks finalise the CLARITY Act Section 404 stablecoin yield compromise, opening the long-stalled Senate Banking markup the week of 11 May; the OCC's GENIUS Act NPRM closes its comment window with Circle, AICPA, and BlackRock letters anchoring the operational stakes for licensed payment stablecoin issuers; a federal judge in Arizona permanently blocks the state's criminal case against Kalshi on Commodity Exchange Act preemption grounds; FinCEN consolidates Customer Due Diligence FAQs to align with its Exceptive Relief Order; the CFTC issues a supplemental no-action letter extending swap reporting relief to Gemini Titan and Gemini Olympus binary and variable-payout contracts; the FCA opens its Pre-Application Support Service to cryptoasset firms from 11 May ahead of the 30 September authorisation gateway and 25 October 2027 regime commencement; the FCA also publishes Policy Statement PS26/7 finalising fund tokenisation rules with an immediate-effect Direct to Fund dealing model and on-chain primary records; Bison Bank launches Portugal's first MiCA-compliant bank-issued e-money tokens (EUB and USB) with Basel SCO60 preferential treatment; South Korea's National Assembly committees approve Foreign Exchange Transaction Act amendments bringing virtual asset service providers under FX licensing while the Seoul Administrative Court grants Bithumb a stay of execution against the FIU's six-month suspension; FATF publishes the 5th round Mutual Evaluation Report on Singapore placing the country on Regular Follow-up with explicit VASP credit; ASIC's 30 June 2026 INFO 225 transition deadline approaches under its 18-month DAF Act implementation roadmap with 10% turnover penalties for unlicensed activity; Brazil's Banco Central publishes Resolution 561 banning stablecoins and crypto from regulated eFX cross-border settlement effective October 2026; CPMI-IOSCO consults until 30 June on initial margin and CCP resilience disclosures; and BIS Paper 170 maps the impact of stablecoins on the international monetary and financial system with explicit warnings on digital dollarisation.

April

Issue #26-18•April 30, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 18-2026

15 signals across 11 jurisdictions: the CFTC sues New York and Wisconsin to defend exclusive federal jurisdiction over prediction markets, and files its first event-contract insider trading case against an active-duty Green Beret who allegedly traded Polymarket on classified Maduro raid intelligence; OFAC designates Central Bank of Iran-linked crypto wallets as Treasury's 'Operation Economic Fury' freezes $344M in USDT; the SEC opens public comment on a NYSE Arca proposal that would set an 85% generic listing threshold for crypto commodity-trust ETFs; Canada's Spring Economic Update 2026 bans crypto ATMs and creates a $352.7M Financial Crimes Agency; Banking Circle becomes the first MiCA-licensed bank to launch a stablecoin settlement service; HM Treasury publishes a draft Statutory Instrument carving stablecoin payment services out of FCA cryptoasset authorisation; the HKMA warns the public on fake 'HKDAP' and 'HSBC' tokens; the SFC issues a framework for secondary trading of tokenised SFC-authorised investment products; MAS grants Robinhood in-principle approval for a Singapore brokerage; Pakistan's PVARA mandates prior authorisation for any virtual-asset pilot; South Africa's Treasury publishes draft Capital Flow Management Regulations bringing crypto into the exchange-control regime with five-year prison terms for non-compliance; the Central Bank of Kenya opens recruitment for VASP licensing roles; Israel's Capital Markets Authority approves the BILS shekel-pegged sandbox launch; and the Isle of Man Government publishes its VA/VASP sector risk assessment.

Issue #26-17•April 24, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 17-2026

14 signals across 10 jurisdictions: the EU formally adopts the 20th Russia sanctions package with a full sectorial ban on Russian crypto-asset service providers, DeFi platforms, RUBx, and the digital rouble; BIS FSI Paper 27 reframes multifunction cryptoasset intermediaries as bank-like entities; the FCA runs its first coordinated on-site P2P crypto crackdown and leads a 17-regulator global finfluencer action; the Fed, OCC, and FDIC issue SR 26-2, first MRM revision in 15 years; OFAC sanctions a Cambodian pig-butchering scam network defrauding Americans; Russia's State Duma passes crypto bill first reading; ASIC publishes 18-month DAF Act roadmap; Vietnam advances pilot crypto-asset licensing; ECB signs digital euro standards agreements; BIS and Bank of Italy deliver parallel speeches on stablecoin coordination.

Issue #26-16•April 19, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Infrastructure Brief•

Infrastructure

Weekly Digital Assets Infrastructure Brief: Week 16-2026

11 signals across 10 jurisdictions: the ECB publishes a four-article Macroprudential Bulletin on euro stablecoins, tokenised money market funds, and tokenised bonds; ESMA confirms the end of MiCA transitional periods; HSBC launches its Tokenized Deposit Service in the US; SIX Group and Chainlink bring €2 trillion of Swiss and Spanish equities onchain; HKMA CEO Eddie Yue anchors the supervisory posture behind Hong Kong's first stablecoin licences; Ondo Finance files an SEC no-action request for Ethereum-based tokenized US securities; ClearToken launches a Canton-based PvP settlement stack; MoneyGram and NALA build a stablecoin payouts rail across Africa and Asia.

Issue #26-16•April 19, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 16-2026

16 signals across 10 jurisdictions: MAS consults on capital rules for crypto on permissionless blockchains; SEC staff grant a 5-year safe harbor for DeFi front-ends; HKMA issues the first stablecoin licences to HSBC and an Anchorpoint-Standard Chartered JV; FCA publishes CP26/13 cryptoasset perimeter guidance; ECB backs ESMA centralised supervision of large cross-border CASPs; Japan's cabinet moves crypto into FIEA; Pakistan's SBP opens client money accounts for PVARA-licensed VASPs; FinCEN proposes a wholesale reform of BSA AML programs; CFTC wins a TRO blocking Arizona's criminal prosecution of prediction markets.

Issue #26-15•April 10, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Infrastructure Brief•

Infrastructure

Weekly Digital Assets Infrastructure Brief: Week 15-2026

Infrastructure intelligence brief covering 13 signals across 10 jurisdictions: HKMA officially announces its first stablecoin licenses, DZ BANK and KfW complete a fully on-chain bond without a CSD, JPMorgan deploys tokenized deposits for Mitsubishi, the RBI proposes BRICS CBDC interoperability, Canton Network integrates Fireblocks as super-validator, and Circle routes USDC across 40 African markets.

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2026

July

July 23, 2026•15 min read•Regulation & Sovereignty•

June

Issue #26-26•June 28, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief: Week 26-2026

MiCA's transition ends 1 July as the Bank of England publishes its systemic-stablecoin rulebook, FATF reshuffles the grey list, and Treasury, VARA and Korea escalate enforcement.

Issue #26-25•June 21, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Infrastructure Brief•

Infrastructure

May

Issue #26-22•May 31, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory

April

Issue #26-18•April 30, 2026•Weekly Digital Assets Regulatory Brief•

Regulatory