News linked to both this project and an event.
According to Cointelegraph, the crypto political action committee Fairshake, backed by Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and Andreessen Horowitz, announced it will fund 32 House candidates in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, including 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats. As an initial round, Fairshake will contribute $1 million each to the campaigns of six of these candidates, totaling $6 million. All 32 candidates previously voted in 2025 to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act). The bill had earlier failed to pass a crucial procedural vote in the Senate, and its subsequent progress remains uncertain.
Michael Selig, Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said that regulatory agencies already possess substantial existing statutory authority. While participating in the work of the President's Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, he has studied statutory authorizations and legislative-level authorities, and will continue to issue regulatory rules in the crypto sector based on existing regulatory authority to prepare for the development of new areas in finance.
The U.S. Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, with the retirement of key lawmakers making it impossible to revive this 635-page bill, backed by both Wall Street and the crypto industry, before the end of the year, leaving the crypto regulatory framework facing a complete reset.
the U.S. Senate recently failed to advance the 635-page Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (Clarity Act), which aims to establish a regulatory framework for digital asset market structure.The bill sought to legally classify crypto tokens, set licensing requirements for trading-related businesses, and delineate the regulatory jurisdiction between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). (CoinDesk)
Arthur Hayes stated that U.S. policymakers may support the AI industry and government debt financing through money printing, driving cryptocurrency prices higher; if China shifts from limited tightening to large-scale monetary stimulus, it could also boost demand for scarce assets. He is also monitoring financial stress in France, including BNP Paribas-related credit default swaps and French government bond spreads.Catrina Wang, General Partner at Portal Ventures, said that banks and asset management companies have advantages in on-chain financial markets thanks to their existing client relationships. Todd McDonald, co-founder of R3, pointed out that public blockchains can help institutions reach clients beyond their own networks; Justin Kugel, Executive Vice President of Growth at World Liberty Financial, said that user demand for asset management and investment evaluation still leaves room for intermediaries.Chetan Karkhanis, Senior Vice President of Digital Asset Client Relationships at Franklin Templeton, said the company has no intention of issuing its own stablecoin and hopes tokenized money market funds will provide investment returns. Haonan Li, co-founder and CEO of Codex, said that trade routes connecting Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia are driving demand for stablecoin payments; buyers pay eastward for goods, while manufactured products flow westward.Ilya Podoynitsyn, co-founder and CEO of FinHarbor, said that before allocating to crypto assets, companies need to confirm they have long-term idle funds that will not affect daily operations. Michael Camarda, Chief Development Officer of Ethereum treasury company SharpLink, said that both buying back shares and increasing ETH holdings can raise ETH per share; the company has adopted both methods to meet the preferences of institutional and retail investors. (Cointelegraph)
Enterprise-grade digital asset infrastructure provider Cregis recently made its debut in the South Korean market, engaging with local exchanges, payment institutions, and Web3 enterprises. Centered on scenarios such as enterprise digital asset wallets, incoming and outgoing payments, and treasury management, the initiative aimed to assess the practical demand for digital asset infrastructure in South Korea and explore potential partnership opportunities. As digital asset applications progressively extend from trading into payments, financial services, and corporate operations, enterprises are increasingly demanding robust infrastructure for wallet management, fund movement, security, and compliant operations. Cregis noted that this inaugural presence in South Korea marks a crucial step toward deepening local market integration and gaining a clearer understanding of enterprise requirements. Established in 2017, Cregis delivers digital asset wallet, payment processing, and treasury management infrastructure to financial institutions, payment service providers, forex brokers, fintech firms, and Web3 enterprises. Headquartered in Hong Kong, the company has built out local operational teams in Dubai, New York, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and São Paulo, and has served a total of over 4,000 enterprise clients spanning more than 50 countries and regions.
Odaily News: Circle Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Circle Internet Group, has announced the launch of two grant programs in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP) to explore the use of regulated stablecoins and digital financial infrastructure for international development and humanitarian aid payments.Circle Foundation will fund UNDP in establishing a Digital Asset Innovation Pool to support its country offices in scaling regulated stablecoin payments from local pilots to full project delivery. The mechanism is designed to complement traditional banking systems.Another grant awarded to World Food Program USA will support WFP in building governance, risk, compliance, and fund reconciliation frameworks for digital asset distribution. WFP plans to test stablecoin payment channels in 2 to 3 countries over the next three years and conduct independent research to establish benchmarks for speed, efficiency, and cost. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily reports: The U.S. Senate failed to pass a key procedural vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, leaving the bill's future uncertain. The bill aims to clarify the division of regulatory authority over the crypto market between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).The two parties failed to reach agreement on ethics provisions that would restrict the crypto business ties of the President and senior government officials. Disagreements over stablecoin yield, decentralized finance risks, and the bill's text, combined with the approaching midterm elections, are all affecting the bill's advancement. (CoinDesk)
According to CoinDesk, the crypto lobbying group Blockchain Association announced that CEO Summer Mersinger is stepping down, with original founder Kristin Smith assuming the role of interim leader, and the transition to be completed on October 16. This leadership change comes shortly after the industry's Digital Asset Market Clarity Act was rejected by the Senate.
Circle Foundation announced its support for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP) to advance digital payment infrastructure, exploring how to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and financial accessibility of funding disbursement for development projects and humanitarian aid through regulated stablecoins. Specifically, Circle Foundation will fund UNDP’s establishment and operation of the Digital Asset Innovation Pool, facilitating the deployment of regulated payment stablecoins from pilot projects into standard programs. Previously, UNDP has tested solutions such as digital cash payments, fund disbursement in low-connectivity environments, and mobile wallets in locations including Aleppo, Syria; Haiti; Guatemala; and Gambia. Circle Foundation will also provide an additional grant to World Food Program USA to support WFP in building the governance, risk management, fund management, reconciliation, and compliance systems required for stablecoin payments, alongside integration into local fintech and mobile payment networks. Over the next three years, WFP plans to pilot stablecoin payments across payment channels in two to three countries to evaluate their costs, speed, transparency, and operational feasibility.
former New York Governor and OKX board member Andrew Cuomo stated that tokenization of US financial markets is accelerating, and the regulatory system needs to keep pace with technological and market developments. On September 17, the SEC introduced a five-year interim "innovation exemption" framework, allowing eligible on-chain trading platforms to trade tokenized stocks of certain US-listed companies under specific conditions.The framework requires trading platform participants to obtain licenses. Tokenized stocks grant investors the same rights and benefits as traditional stocks, with smart contracts audited and deployed on public chains; when the underlying stock is suspended from trading, the corresponding tokenized stock must also cease trading. On September 15, the US Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Structure Act, and comprehensive digital asset regulatory legislation remains contentious.
Odaily reports: The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has published a strategic action agenda for implementing its first five-year plan. In the short term, it will introduce a new digital asset licensing regime and implement digital asset custody supervision, CrypTech market surveillance, and anti-money laundering capacity building.In the medium to long term, it will develop a regulatory framework for tokenized investment products as appropriate, covering tokenized gold and other real-world assets. The institution will also support the Hong Kong SAR government in establishing a central gold clearing and settlement system and developing RMB-denominated gold and commodity products. (HK01 NFT)
Odaily News: The fund was founded by Abu Dhabi-based investor and Further Ventures co-founder Mohamed Hamdy, with Thoro Capital Management serving as the manager and Mohamed Hamdy as Managing Partner. Thoro Capital Management will settle in USD via stablecoins and lend directly to digital asset institutions, with Hashed as the anchor investor. The fund employs a covenant-based underwriting approach, assessing borrowers' financial condition, cash flow, and management performance, aiming to alleviate the financing issues caused by traditional banks' regulated capital requirements and crypto lenders' reliance on asset-collateralized underwriting. Tokenized private credit has become the largest real-world asset (RWA) category by cumulative on-chain lending volume, with total loans exceeding $14 billion, while the traditional private credit market exceeds $3 trillion. Previously, Hashed obtained a financial services permission from the Abu Dhabi Global Market and signed a memorandum of understanding with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office.
Odaily News: U.S. Republican Senator John Curtis of Utah has sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dick Durbin, calling for an investigation into whether Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden used their presidential family connections to obtain private economic benefits, and requesting that both be subpoenaed.Curtis noted that Donald Trump Jr. previously accepted wedding gifts from Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, actively promoted a family-backed crypto business, and served as an advisor to a prediction market platform; the company in question is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Donald Trump stated that his son has returned the relevant payments to Umar Kremlev.Curtis also requested an investigation into Hunter Biden's large-scale business dealings with foreign entities, as well as whether both individuals used their relationship with the president to create business value. He mentioned that Joe Biden pardoned Hunter Biden in December 2024, and the latter had previously denied involving his father in business transactions.The call for this investigation comes one week after Senate Republicans failed to secure enough Democratic support to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Some Democratic lawmakers opposed the bill, citing reasons including Donald Trump's use of crypto businesses to gain benefits related to the presidency; Donald Trump disclosed that he earned $1.4 billion from digital asset-related businesses in 2025. (Cointelegraph)
White House and Treasury officials state that the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is unlikely to pass during Congress's lame-duck session, with policy focus shifting to regulators such as the SEC and CFTC to accelerate rulemaking using their existing authority.
Odaily reports: The U.S. Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on September 15 with a vote of 49 in favor and 50 against, and with limited remaining legislative sessions before Congress's 2027 term, the bill's chances of passage have diminished.Fairshake, a political action committee backed by Coinbase and Ripple Labs, plans to spend $30 million in the Ohio Senate race to oppose Sherrod Brown. Fairshake spent over $130 million on advertising during the 2024 election cycle and approximately $41 million opposing Brown.Stand With Crypto, an advocacy group launched by Coinbase in 2023, said it will mobilize supporters to participate in the 2026 midterm elections based on lawmakers' voting records on the bill. As of Monday, Fairshake and its affiliated political action committees had not disclosed any new spending following the vote. (Cointelegraph)
Odaily News: On September 16, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee passed the amended H.R. 8957, the "American Reserve Modernization Act," by a vote of 28 to 21, which aims to enshrine the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Reserve program into federal law.The bill proposes that Bitcoin lawfully held by the federal government and not designated for other statutory purposes be held for at least 20 years from the effective date of the legislation, during which it may not be sold, exchanged, auctioned, pledged as collateral, or otherwise disposed of. The bill still needs to pass the House and Senate and be signed by Trump.The bill also requires the Treasury Department to establish the relevant reserve within 180 days of the effective date and to publish an annual proof-of-reserves report covering holdings, transactions, and private key control. The Treasury Department and the Commerce Department will study lawful and budget-neutral methods of increasing Bitcoin holdings, but this provision does not authorize direct purchases. (Bitcoin.com News)
The US Digital Asset Market Clarity Act has been effectively shelved, having aimed to clarify crypto regulatory jurisdiction and expand the CFTC's authority. Subsequently, SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Mike Selig have each accelerated efforts to advance alternative crypto regulatory frameworks.
According to Sing Tao Daily, ChinaAMC (Hong Kong) announced that it has partnered with Standard Chartered Bank and others to complete Hong Kong's first use case of an HKD stablecoin (HKDAP) investing in digital assets. This demonstrates how regulated HKD stablecoins can be integrated with digital financial assets within a compliant and regulatory framework, providing investors with more diversified investment options. HKDAP is an HKD stablecoin issued by Hong Kong-licensed stablecoin issuer Anchor Point Finance, spearheaded by Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong).
The U.S. House Appropriations and Ways and Means Committee passed the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act by a 38-5 bipartisan vote, aiming to reshape tax rules for stablecoins, mining, lending, and other sectors. The bill has now been sent to the full House for consideration.