News linked to this event type.
Under this proposal, supervisory authority over systemically important cross-border entities will be transferred from national competent authorities to ESMA, covering large CASPs, trading venues, central counterparties (CCPs), and central securities depositories (CSDs). This represents the most significant structural adjustment to the EU’s crypto regulatory architecture since the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) fully applied to CASPs at the end of 2024. Under the current MiCA framework, national competent authorities serve as first-line supervisors, while ESMA plays only a coordinating role.
According to CoinDesk, Ron Hammond, Policy Lead at crypto market maker Wintermute, stated that the U.S. crypto market structure bill—the Clarity Act—continues to face multiple obstacles in its legislative process, with only about a 30% chance of passage this year. The bill aims to clarify the respective regulatory responsibilities of the SEC and CFTC over digital assets. However, current negotiations are progressing unevenly, and the timeline has been repeatedly delayed. Key resistance stems from traditional banking institutions—particularly over whether stablecoins should be permitted to generate yield—a point of serious disagreement. Related compromise proposals have repeatedly stalled. Moreover, internal divisions among Democrats, as well as issues concerning DeFi compliance and anti-money laundering (AML), further add uncertainty to the legislation. That said, Ron Hammond believes the bill still retains room for advancement; whether it can be enacted this year ultimately hinges on whether critical disagreements can be resolved.
According to Caixin, applications for the second batch of Hong Kong-compliant stablecoin licenses are underway. Reliable sources revealed that Futu Securities and OSL Group are among the contenders for the second batch of licenses. However, in November last year, China’s People’s Bank of China and 12 other ministries reiterated their stance on cracking down on virtual currency trading within mainland China and classified stablecoins as virtual currencies—meaning stablecoin trading will not be permitted in mainland China.
According to a report by the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, Norman Chan, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), stated that stablecoin issuers’ choice of currency for issuance primarily depends on the applicants’ own preferences. While the first stablecoin to be launched will be pegged to the Hong Kong dollar, issuing stablecoins pegged to other currencies—including the renminbi—is permitted under Hong Kong’s regulatory framework. However, applicants must also obtain approval from mainland Chinese regulatory authorities. Regarding when the second batch of stablecoin issuer licenses will be issued, Chan said there is currently no official timeline, though the HKMA continues to engage in discussions with prospective applicants. It is reported that HSBC’s stablecoin will be integrated into both the PayMe and HSBC HK mobile apps, supporting real-time peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers as well as peer-to-merchant (P2M) services.
According to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, the Iranian delegation scheduled to hold talks with the United States that day comprised 71 members, including the core negotiation team, expert teams, media representatives, as well as protocol and security personnel. The Iranian delegation was led by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Iranian Parliament). Other members included Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Central Bank Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati, and Secretary of the Defense Commission Ali Akbar Ahmadian. Also part of the delegation were Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani, Deputy Director for Foreign Policy at the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Bagheri Kani, Member of Parliament Seyyed Mahmoud Nabaviyan, International Affairs Advisor to the Parliament Speaker Abolfazl Amouei, and Strategic Advisor to the Parliament Speaker Mehdi Mohammadi. Given the high complexity and sensitivity of the negotiations, Iran deployed technical and expert committees in addition to its core negotiating personnel. Moreover, the U.S. delegation totaled 300 people, a significant portion of whom belonged to security, protective, and protocol teams. (Xinhua News Agency)
According to U.S. News, U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi for the District of Arizona ruled to temporarily bar the state from taking criminal or civil enforcement actions against prediction market platform Kalshi under state law. Additionally, Kalshi’s scheduled arraignment on April 13 has been halted. This ruling responds to a motion previously filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In the temporary restraining order, Judge Liburdi stated that the State of Arizona may not enforce its state gambling laws against contracts listed on markets regulated by the CFTC.
HashKey Group Chairman Xiao Feng stated in an exclusive interview with the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po that Hong Kong’s issuance of the first batch of stablecoin licenses represents a significant milestone for the local digital asset market. He noted that this move further accelerates Hong Kong’s tokenization of fiat currency and completes a critical piece of infrastructure—clearing and payment systems—for its digital financial ecosystem. Beyond facilitating cross-border payments and trade settlements, Hong Kong-issued stablecoins will also serve as core mediums of exchange for digital asset transactions. Xiao Feng added that, in the long term, their greater value lies in enabling micro, cross-border, and programmable payments among AI agents, while synergizing with real-world assets (RWA), on-chain clearing, and other use cases—thereby helping Hong Kong secure a more pivotal role in the global evolution of digital assets and digital finance. He also emphasized that HashKey’s trading platform will adhere to principles of openness and regulatory compliance, supporting stablecoin issuers and related products that meet supervisory requirements to jointly foster healthy ecosystem development. Currently, HashKey is actively engaging in substantive cooperation discussions with licensed stablecoin issuers and welcomes institutions planning to launch compliant stablecoins in Hong Kong to establish partnerships. As a core participant in Hong Kong’s digital asset market, HashKey will leverage its existing licensed and compliant framework, fiat on-ramps, and industry resources to support compliant stablecoins across listing, liquidity provision, payment scenario expansion, and the implementation and refinement of related applications—driving orderly industry ecosystem development.
According to Fox News and NBC News, a spokesperson for OpenAI confirmed that San Francisco police arrested a suspect early Friday morning for throwing a Molotov cocktail at the residence of OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, as well as for making threats outside the AI giant’s San Francisco headquarters. OpenAI stated: “Fortunately, no one was injured.” The company added: “We are deeply grateful to the San Francisco Police Department for their swift response and thank the city government for its support in ensuring the safety of our employees. The suspect has been taken into custody, and we are cooperating fully with law enforcement in their investigation.” As of now, Altman has not issued any public statement regarding this arrest. In a separate statement, the San Francisco Police Department said officers responded early Friday to a residential property in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood “for a fire investigation.” The suspect fled on foot, and his description was immediately disseminated to all officers. Later, the San Francisco Police Department received a report and dispatched officers to a business located at 1400 Third Street to address “an unidentified male threatening to burn down the building.” (OpenAI’s headquarters is located at 1455 Third Street.) The department stated: “Upon arriving at the scene, officers recognized the male as the same suspect involved in the earlier incident and immediately took him into custody.” The suspect is reported to be a 20-year-old man.
According to Cointelegraph, Denis Beau, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, stated at the EUROFI High-Level Seminar that the Bank of France is advocating for the European Union to strengthen payment restrictions under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) on non-euro stablecoins—particularly U.S. dollar–pegged stablecoins. Beau noted that existing regulatory measures may be insufficient to address the risks posed by widespread stablecoin adoption. Meanwhile, on April 7, the French National Assembly passed an anti-fraud bill that would require annual reporting of self-custodied crypto wallets with a value exceeding €5,000; however, the bill has not yet completed the legislative process.
SimpleChain announced the completion of a $15 million seed funding round, raised privately from family offices and institutional investors. SimpleChain is building an RWA-focused Layer 1 operating system for institutions. Built on Granular Data and native Compliance-as-a-Service (CaaS) technologies, the platform aims to accelerate the development of the Real World Assets (RWA) sector. The official statement notes that further updates will be released in the future. SimpleChain focuses on asset tokenization, on-chain verification, compliance automation, and global liquidity—providing infrastructure support for real-world economic systems. Its core capabilities include a trusted data foundation, a programmable compliance layer, and a high-performance blockchain architecture, enabling institutional-grade RWA issuance and on-chain financialization. SimpleChain seeks to enable seamless global interaction among assets, data, and institutions—replacing traditional intermediaries’ trust with technology, cryptography, and verifiable data.
According to CoinDesk, amid the Iran conflict, Binance has offered its approximately 1,000 employees in the UAE the option of temporary relocation to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, or Bangkok. Binance stated that its UAE operations continue normally, with some employees choosing to remain locally, and global user services remain unaffected. This measure follows regional unrest that has disrupted major cryptocurrency, business, and sports events in the UAE—including the postponement of TOKEN2049 Dubai to 2027 and the cancellation of TON Gateway due to security and travel concerns. The UAE government reported having intercepted hundreds of missiles and drones since late February. Binance is deepening its collaboration with local authorities through Abu Dhabi’s global regulatory framework, and its global operations are backed by Abu Dhabi.
Circle Chief Strategy Officer Dante Disparte responded to the major security breach affecting Drift Protocol on April 1, which resulted in over $270 million in stolen funds. He stated that open financial systems must be built upon foundations of legal accountability, shared security, and rules that evolve in real time with emerging threats. Circle freezes USDC funds only when legally required—a measure reflecting its compliance obligations and safeguarding users’ assets and privacy rights. He emphasized that openness and accountability must be balanced, and all participants across the ecosystem—including protocols, wallets, infrastructure providers, exchanges, and stablecoin issuers—must jointly shoulder responsibility for security and accountability. Circle is collaborating with U.S. and international policymakers to advance stablecoin legislation, including the GENIUS Act, to establish a more modern legal framework enabling lawful, rapid intervention against illicit activities while protecting property rights and privacy—ensuring the continued resilience and robust growth of open financial systems.
According to Reuters, the European Central Bank (ECB) recently stated its support for the European Commission’s initiative to centralize regulatory authority over systemically important cross-border financial market participants—including crypto-asset service providers, major trading venues, central counterparties, and central securities depositories—from national regulators to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). This move aims to deepen the integration of EU capital markets and enhance overall competitiveness. The ECB recommends that ESMA’s Board establish a non-voting seat for central banks and emphasizes that ESMA must be granted adequate resources and personnel to effectively assume these new responsibilities. The relevant proposal will undergo negotiations between EU member states and the European Parliament and is expected to take several months before final legislation is adopted.
Decentralized GPU cloud computing infrastructure platform Aethir confirmed that its Ethereum-related bridge contract was attacked. The team promptly disconnected the affected contract and, in collaboration with major exchanges, blacklisted the hacker’s wallet, limiting losses to under $90,000. Earlier, blockchain security firm PeckShield estimated losses at $400,000. The attacker exploited Aethir’s cross-chain smart contract, AethirOFTAdapter, to transfer stolen funds from BNB Chain to Tron. Aethir stated that its Ethereum mainnet ATH token supply remains unaffected. It plans to release a detailed compensation plan and incident analysis next week and will collaborate with exchanges including Binance, Upbit, and Bithumb to freeze funds. Web3 security platform ZeroShadow is assisting with the investigation. In 2025, Aethir achieved $127.8 million in revenue and deployed over 440,000 GPU containers globally.
According to Reuters, Kraken has become the first cryptocurrency exchange approved for a Federal Reserve master account. However, the account is restricted: it only permits Kraken’s banking operations to access the Fedwire payment system and hold limited balances—earning no interest and ineligible for emergency lending. This move has raised concerns in the U.S. financial system regarding risk and transparency, including a call from Maxine Waters, Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, for greater disclosure of account details. Regulatory experts warn that lightly regulated crypto firms gaining direct access to the Federal Reserve’s payment system could pose operational and financial stability risks. The Federal Reserve stated that these restrictions are intended to mitigate liquidity shocks and credit risk; however, banks caution that they may impair banking system liquidity and exacerbate money laundering and operational vulnerabilities. Kraken says its bank reserves are fully backed and that it complies with bank-level anti-money laundering (AML) and customer identification requirements.
Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), stated that the HKMA has today issued the first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses. According to the licensees’ business plans, operations are expected to commence within the coming months, pending completion of relevant preparatory work. Mr. Yue expressed his expectation that the licensees will launch their businesses as planned, proactively explore growth opportunities while effectively managing risks, and promote the application of compliant stablecoins to address pain points in financial and economic activities. He also urged the public to remain vigilant against any fraudulent schemes or scams falsely claiming association with licensed issuers or their stablecoins. When purchasing or using stablecoins, members of the public should only use regulated channels. In case of doubt, they should consult the HKMA’s register to verify the identity of a licensee or contact the licensee directly for further clarification.
According to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)’s official website, the HKMA announced today at 5:00 p.m. the first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses, with HSBC and Standard Chartered among the licensed institutions.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong responded to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s call for the passage of the “Clarity for Digital Assets Markets Act” (CLARITY Act), expressing agreement and gratitude for his advocacy. Armstrong emphasized that bipartisan collaboration between senators and staff over the past several months has significantly strengthened the bill. Earlier, the U.S. Treasury Secretary urged Congress to swiftly pass the CLARITY Act.
According to the Nikkei, Japan’s Cabinet formally approved an amendment to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) on April 10. This amendment marks the first time that crypto assets (virtual currencies) have been brought under Japan’s financial instruments regulatory framework. It explicitly prohibits insider trading based on non-public information and requires issuers to make annual disclosures. Regulatory authority over crypto assets will thus shift formally from the Payment Services Act to the FIEA; accordingly, registered operators’ official designation will change from “Crypto Asset Exchange Operators” to “Crypto Asset Trading Operators.” Regarding penalties, the maximum term of imprisonment for unlicensed crypto asset sales operations has been increased from three years to ten years, and the maximum fine has risen from ¥3 million to ¥10 million.
According to the Every Day Economic News, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will announce the first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses on April 10 at 5:00 p.m. Subsequently, licensed stablecoin issuers will hold a press briefing. Previously, the HKMA completed its final review of the first batch of applications in mid-March 2026 and has now entered the official public announcement preparation phase. The HKMA received a total of 36 applications; the first batch of licenses is expected to include 2–3 issuers, under stringent regulatory standards. In early February this year, Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the HKMA, stated that the authority aims to issue Hong Kong’s first stablecoin issuer licenses in March this year, adding: “The number of licenses issued in this first batch will certainly be limited, with stability as the top priority.”