Section
Regulation
Senate Panel Gears Up for Clarity Act Markup as Amendment Count Tops 100
The Senate Banking Committee will begin marking up the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Thursday with more than 100 amendments filed to the 309-page bill, testing whether the bipartisan coalition that carried crypto legislation through the House can survive the Senate.
SEC, CFTC align on six enforcement fronts
SEC and CFTC launched coordination across six regulatory fronts to eliminate duplicative enforcement, CFTC Chair Michael Selig said.
Prosecutors charge 30 in BigLaw M&A insider trading ring
Federal prosecutors have charged 30 defendants in a decadelong insider trading scheme that saw M&A lawyers at six major US law firms steal confidential deal data and funnel it to traders.
HarrisX poll: 52% back CLARITY Act ahead of May 14 Senate markup
A HarrisX survey of 2,008 registered voters shows 52 per cent support the CLARITY Act, with 70 per cent saying the US should already have passed crypto legislation. The poll lands days before a Senate Banking Committee markup that could determine the bill's fate.
DOJ charges 30 in global insider trading ring spanning three continents
US prosecutors unsealed criminal charges against 30 individuals in a decade-long insider trading scheme that allegedly generated tens of millions of dollars in illicit profits by front-running approximately 30 merger and acquisition deals. Two attorneys are accused of exploiting law firm access to steal confidential deal documents.
US judge declines to rubber-stamp Musk's $1.5M SEC settlement over Twitter stake
A US federal judge has declined to immediately approve the SEC's $1.5 million settlement with Elon Musk over his late Twitter stake disclosure, demanding briefs on whether the deal is fair to investors who allegedly lost about $150 million. A 13 May hearing has been set.
Estonia regulator warns Zondacrypto over missing MiCA white paper
Estonia's Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority issued an investor warning against Zondacrypto operator BB Trade Estonia OÜ for failing to publish a required MiCA white paper for the TeamPL token. The action comes as the exchange faces a missing cold wallet containing 4,500 bitcoin and a Polish investigation into withdrawal difficulties.
Senate Banking schedules May 14 CLARITY Act crypto markup
The Senate Banking Committee will mark up the CLARITY Act on 14 May, the first committee vote on crypto market-structure legislation in 10 months, though an ethics dispute over Trump family crypto holdings threatens the bipartisan coalition.
Atkins pushes formal SEC rulemaking for on-chain markets and crypto vaults
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins on Friday set out four areas for formal rulemaking on crypto: on-chain trading, broker-dealer definitions, clearing and settlement, and vaults. The speech at the SCSP AI+ Expo broke from his predecessor Gary Gensler enforcement-led approach.
BlackRock files for tokenized money-market funds on Ethereum, targets stablecoin reserves
BlackRock filed paperwork with the SEC on Friday to issue two new tokenized money-market funds, including an Ethereum-native digital share class of its $6.1bn Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund. The move pulls the world's largest asset manager deeper into onchain finance.
Lagarde rejects euro stablecoins, warns $300bn market threatens ECB policy transmission
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde rejected calls for the euro area to promote euro-denominated stablecoins, warning that the $300 billion market risks financial stability and would narrow the channel through which ECB rate decisions reach the real economy.
CME targets 1 June launch for bitcoin volatility futures, pending CFTC review
CME Group will list cash-settled bitcoin volatility futures from 1 June, pending Commodity Futures Trading Commission clearance, becoming the first US exchange to offer regulated contracts that trade implied volatility independent of bitcoin's spot price. CME (CME) shares slipped 1.2 per cent on the announcement.
Ex-Willkie M&A counsel pleads guilty as DOJ charges 30 in BigLaw insider-trading ring
Federal prosecutors charged 30 people in what they called a global insider-trading ring that used stolen merger files from three major New York law firms. A former Willkie Farr & Gallagher M&A counsel is among the cooperating witnesses.
SEC's Atkins calls on Congress to pass CLARITY Act, modernize crypto rules
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins called on Congress to pass the CLARITY Act and announced a comprehensive overhaul of how securities regulations apply to blockchain-based financial systems, including exchanges, brokerages and crypto vault yield protocols.
Kraken parent Payward files for OCC charter to offer regulated crypto custody
Kraken parent Payward has filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Payward National Trust Company, seeking federal oversight for digital asset custody services.