News linked to both this project and an event.
Bitget Stock Spot rToken has listed SK Hynix (rSKHY). From now until July 17, users trading rSKHY can enjoy a 0 fee promotion.In addition, the platform has launched a exclusive event for new users, with a total prize pool of 50,000 USDT equivalent in SK Hynix. During the event, new registered users who complete a net deposit of at least 1,000 USDT and their first trade can randomly receive 10-88 USDT equivalent in rSKHY. New users participating in rSKHY trading can also unlock corresponding tiered stock rewards based on their cumulative trading volume, with the highest individual reward being rSKHY worth 888 USDT. The participation period is from July 10 to July 17.It is reported that rTokens, identified by the letter "r" followed by the stock ticker symbol (e.g., rNVDA for Nvidia), are issued by Reality, a licensed RWA protocol under Bitget. Through a partnership with compliant broker Alpaca, they are directly connected to global liquidity pools such as Nasdaq and NYSE. Their features include: 1:1 reserve of underlying assets held by a licensed custodian, stock dividends distributed 1:1 in token form, corporate actions (such as stock splits and reverse splits) mirrored synchronously, and the holdings can be used as cross-collateral for unified accounts and USDT-margined contracts.
The international banking communication organization SWIFT has announced that its blockchain-based distributed ledger technology is ready to enter the initial application phase. A total of 17 global financial institutions will serve as early adopters to test real-time transactions based on Tokenised Deposits.SWIFT stated that since announcing its plan to integrate a blockchain ledger into its technical system at the 2025 Sibos conference, it has taken only nine months to progress from concept design to preliminary implementation. This project aims to help financial institutions explore the application of digital assets and new forms of digital value on top of the existing trusted, secure, and global infrastructure.The first application scenario focuses on improving the efficiency of cross-border payments. As the demand from businesses and consumers for 24/7 financial services increases, traditional payment systems are constrained by time zones and operating hours. The SWIFT ledger will provide a secure coordination layer for participating banks, enabling them to facilitate round-the-clock transfers of funds based on tokenised deposits issued on their own ledgers, before final settlement through existing clearing systems.SWIFT stated that tokenised deposits were selected as the first pilot direction because they represent a regulated digital form of commercial bank money. This approach can enhance customer experience and liquidity management efficiency without altering existing compliance, credit risk, and control systems.
According to official sources, Circle announced that it has received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish the national trust bank Circle National Trust. The institution will initially provide digital asset custody services for Circle and its affiliates, and may open to selected institutional clients in the future based on demand.
prosecutors from Wisconsin and New York have expressed dissatisfaction with stablecoin issuer Circle, as the company has repeatedly refused to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in recovering stolen funds.According to the report, multiple law enforcement agencies had requested Circle to help victims of fraud and hacking incidents recover their losses by burning and reissuing USDC. However, Circle declined these requests based on its own policy stance.Circle stated that modifying the blockchain ledger to reverse transactions would undermine the fundamental properties of the USDC stablecoin and could set a dangerous precedent for the entire crypto industry. This incident highlights the conflict between the immutability of blockchain and the need for law enforcement to recover assets. (Protos)
: Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has formed five working groups to conduct a comprehensive review of the Fed's monetary policy operational mechanism, covering areas such as balance sheet management, policy tools, and the impact of AI. Each working group will operate independently, conduct fact-based research, and submit analysis results to the Federal Open Market Committee. The team members include multiple economists and former central bank officials. Among them, Harvard University economist Raj Chetty will co-lead the data working group, tech investor Marc Andreessen will be responsible for the productivity and employment working group, and former White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Greg Mankiw will co-lead the inflation working group.
Gate issued an announcement regarding the recent "user asset theft incident," sharing internal comprehensive verification results, analysis of the incident's cause, and progress on subsequent handling. Regarding the verification process and key facts, the announcement stated that after comprehensive verification, materials submitted by the applicant at the time, including account information, real-name information, transaction records, Alipay screen recordings, etc., matched the account completely. According to analysis by the technical team, Alipay screen recordings can only be made by the customer themselves or someone with access to the customer's Alipay account. Alipay possesses an extremely strict real-time risk control system; logging into Alipay on a different device will mandate multi-factor authentication. This indicates a situation involving serious leakage of customer information or device compromise. Regarding the Gate platform audit mechanism, the announcement stated that the Company's security unbinding audit mechanism strictly executes the four-fold verification process of "Multi-channel advance notification + System risk control preliminary screening + Manual multi-layer review + Time protection," and never has nor will it approve any security item change application based on a single material alone. Gate always takes information security and customer data protection as the Company's core management requirements. The issue of internal information leakage mentioned by some parties does not exist. Regarding fund recovery and subsequent handling, the announcement stated that Gate processed the matter with the highest priority immediately after the incident occurred, coordinating security, compliance, legal, business, and other teams to carry out on-chain analysis and asset tracking and freezing. It continues to coordinate with third-party institutions such as Tether to advance fund freezing. Subsequently, it will also actively cooperate with judicial authorities in investigations and data collection. Any substantive progress will be communicated immediately.
According to Bits.media, Russian private bank Alfa Bank stated that it plans to establish a digital depository institution and provide cryptocurrency-related services to customers and other legal entities. The bank also hopes to develop investment tools based on open blockchains to attract foreign investors. The progress of related business is expected to depend on the formal entry into force of the Russian cryptocurrency circulation regulatory bill.
According to ESMA's official website, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) officially launched a Common Supervisory Action (CSA) targeting Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) on July 8, 2026, focusing primarily on digital operational resilience in the custody services sector. This action will assess the framework maturity of CASPs regarding risks related to Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), covering core topics such as governance arrangements, key and storage management, transaction controls, event detection and response, smart contract risks, and third-party dependencies. National Competent Authorities (NCAs) will conduct risk-based sampling surveys on authorized CASPs, with the survey period spanning from the second half of 2026 to the first half of 2027, and the final report is expected to be submitted to the ESMA Supervisory Board in the second half of 2027.
Google has updated its Chrome Web Store developer policy, explicitly listing Prediction Markets as a prohibited product. According to the new regulations, any Chrome extension that promotes or supports real-money transactions based on predicted outcomes is not allowed for publication on the Chrome Web Store. This update also strengthens requirements for transparency in user data collection and privacy protection. The new policy will officially take effect on August 1, 2026.
Odaily Odaily News Siiibo Securities, the operator of a Japanese corporate bond issuance and purchase platform, announced plans to change its name to "Kabushiki Kaisha Metaplanet Securities Inc. (Metaplanet Securities Inc.)" effective July 13, 2026, and officially join the Metaplanet Group.Siiibo Securities stated that the name change is subject to approval at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. The company previously operated an online private placement bond issuance and purchase platform for emerging companies and individual investors under the mission of "creating free, transparent, and fair direct finance" and holds a Type I Financial Instruments Business license in Japan.Upon joining the Metaplanet Group, Siiibo will further expand its business direction. It plans to leverage the parent company's experience in Bitcoin (BTC) asset management to develop and offer BTC-based financial products to individual investors, creating a "BTC × Finance" platform.Established in 2019, Siiibo Securities currently operates an online securities platform focused on corporate bonds, offering private placement issuance and investment services. The platform has covered approximately 40 companies and over 100 bond products. After joining the Metaplanet Group, it will no longer be limited to the Venture Debt field but will explore innovative yield-generating products designed to meet diverse investor return needs.
Odaily Planet Daily reported that Korean fintech company Toss has announced a partnership with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs to jointly explore a Korean won-pegged stablecoin.In the coming months, the three parties will conduct a Proof of Concept (PoC) test to evaluate the feasibility of building compliant blockchain-based digital financial infrastructure on OP Stack, providing technical verification for applications related to a Korean won stablecoin. (The Block)
Odaily News British politician Nigel Farage has announced his resignation as MP for the Clacton constituency and will stand in the subsequent by-election to reclaim his seat, stating the move is intended to challenge the political establishment. Farage is currently under investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, with the core controversy centering on a large political donation that was not properly declared. Ahead of the 2024 general election, he received £5 million from Christopher Harborne, a crypto investor based in Thailand who also holds a partial stake in the stablecoin Tether. Public scrutiny continues over whether this crypto-related donation violated parliamentary declaration obligations. Under investigative pressure, Farage chose to resign and seek re-election, an event that has also fueled ongoing market discussions about the regulatory implications of crypto capital entering Western political systems. (Bloomberg)
In response to public accusations by Du Jun, Co-founder of Huobi and ChainUP and Founder of Vernal Capital, Metagent Co-founder and former CTO Li Bojie (@bojie_li) issued a response. Li Bojie stated that ABCDE Capital committed to investing $1.5 million in the investment agreement, but actually only $500,000 was received, with the remaining $1 million never arriving, yet the company's cap table continued to record their equity based on the $1.5 million share. Affected by this, he and the co-founders voluntarily reduced their salaries, and the company's recruitment and R&D also fell into difficulties. In October 2024, Li Bojie officially resigned with board approval, citing personal family reasons preventing him from leaving mainland China and compliance risks existing in Web3 projects. He stated that during his tenure, he always fulfilled the responsibility of disclosing the cap table and business status on schedule, and after resignation, he also complied with non-compete clauses, voluntarily avoiding startup projects in fields such as Web3, AI infra, and image generation. Previously, Du Jun publicly posted stating that Li Bojie is the "founder with the least contractual spirit" he has ever cooperated with, accusing him of refusing to fulfill basic obligations agreed in the investment agreement, including refusing to synchronize business progress and financial status with investors, and subsequently losing contact.
According to TechFlow Research, minutes from Goldman Sachs' July 5 Circle management meeting indicate that stablecoin growth has decoupled from crypto market cycles, with use cases rapidly expanding towards cross-border payments, consumer e-commerce, capital market settlement, and AI agent payments. USDC accounts for approximately 99% of trading volume in the x402 agent payment protocol. Circle pointed out that the "digital dollarization" trend in emerging markets is accelerating, with USDC becoming a tool to replace local currencies and unreliable banking systems. If passed, Circle believes the CLARITY Act will be a catalyst rather than a headwind; the bill allows issuers to continue revenue sharing to incentivize distribution and encourages usage-based reward mechanisms rather than passive holding.
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller has proposed "two thoughts" on the transmission mechanism of monetary policy, emphasizing that policy effectiveness depends on initial conditions and the manner in which forward guidance is used. The first point is that "initial conditions matter," meaning policy evaluation should be based on the current state of the economy rather than historical averages. The second point concerns the role of "forward guidance." Waller believes that forward guidance can, in some cases, accelerate policy transmission by influencing market expectations to alter financial conditions in advance. However, if it is too rigid or lacks flexibility, it may instead undermine policy effectiveness or even delay necessary policy adjustments.Waller emphasized that when multiple economic scenarios exist, the "average path" cannot simply be used as the basis for policy guidance. Policymaking must maintain adaptability and flexibility to respond to different situations.
According to Red Star News, an investigation report leaked from Myanmar fraud parks shows that global telecom fraud is accelerating towards an "AI industrialization + cross-border encrypted payment" system. Fraud networks complete fund flows through cryptocurrencies and use large model-based automated tools for multi-language script generation, identity disguise, and emotional manipulation. According to investigation analysis, these systems extensively utilize OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini at the functional level to support "scaled social fraud," while on the funding end, rapid laundering and transfer are achieved through on-chain payments and cross-border channels, forming a dual-layer structure of "AI customer acquisition + encrypted settlement," enabling the fraud industry to possess high automation and cross-national diffusion capabilities. Additionally, Musk's Starlink has become the top network service provider for Myanmar fraud parks, with US ISP service providers carrying nearly one-fifth of the park's traffic. Regarding the relevant allegations, OpenAI responded that fraudsters' use of ChatGPT is highly similar to that of ordinary users, making identification difficult, but approximately 100,000 suspicious accounts are banned monthly through behavior pattern recognition and risk control systems. Google stated its AI models have established safety guardrails and emphasized commitment to "responsible AI development" to limit tools from being used for illegal purposes such as fraud.
the South African Revenue Service (SARS) released a draft guideline on crypto asset taxation on July 1, 2026, aiming to establish compliance rules for approximately 5.8 to 6 million cryptocurrency users in South Africa. The public comment period is open until August 31, 2026. According to the updated framework, crypto assets are classified as intangible assets, not as foreign currency or traditional money. Taxpayers holding these assets are not required to pay tax on unrealized gains or losses. Tax obligations arise upon the disposal of the asset. If an individual’s crypto activities are deemed to resemble business operations or short-term day trading, the profits will be classified as gross income and taxed at marginal rates ranging from 18% to 45%. If crypto assets are held as long-term investments, gains from disposal are subject to capital gains tax, with effective personal tax rates ranging from 18% to 36%. The draft also treats exchanges between different crypto assets as barter transactions, with tax consequences arising immediately at the time of the exchange based on local market value. SARS stated that it has deployed a Crypto Revenue Augmentation Unit to track and audit digital wallets and urged taxpayers who have not previously disclosed their crypto earnings to complete their filings through a voluntary disclosure program to avoid administrative penalties following stricter enforcement after the August deadline. (Bitcoin.com News).
Kraken has begun allowing eligible users to use select tokenized stocks and ETFs as collateral for futures and margin trading, enabling them to open leveraged positions without selling their existing holdings.The initial offering includes 10 tokenized stocks and ETFs, featuring Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Strategy, SPDR S&P 500 ETF, and Invesco QQQ Trust. This feature is currently only available to eligible users outside the United States.Kraken has also set collateral limits for different assets, with a maximum collateral value of $1 million for large-cap ETFs, $250,000 for most individual stocks, and $100,000 for tokenized gold and Circle stock. The platform stated that collateral limits and haircut rates will be reviewed periodically and may be adjusted based on market conditions. (Cointelegraph)
Odaily News: Fox Business crypto reporter posted on X platform, stating that the Major County Sheriffs of America has shifted to a "neutral" stance on the Clarity Act after recent ongoing discussions around parts of Section 604, i.e., the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. In a letter to leaders of the Senate Banking Committee, MCSA stated that based on its continued review of the bill, there remains an opportunity to further strengthen the legislation in a manner that supports responsible innovation and the practical needs of state and local law enforcement.
: New Hampshire's House Bill HB639 has completed the filing process. The bill clarifies that state and local governments cannot restrict individuals from using digital assets for payments or holding assets through self-custody wallets, nor impose additional taxes solely based on the use of digital assets. Meanwhile, individuals or enterprises operating nodes, mining, or staking activities are not required to obtain a money transmission license, and such activities shall not be considered as issuing or selling securities.The bill also authorizes the state Supreme Court to establish a "Blockchain Dispute Tribunal" to hear related civil disputes. It is reported that the bill will take effect 60 days after its passage.