News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News: James Comer, Chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Committee and Republican Representative from Kentucky, has expanded an investigation into insider trading on prediction markets, requesting that Hyperliquid Labs, Crypto.com, and Aristotle Exchange Inc., the operator of PredictIt, explain their identity verification procedures as well as measures to identify and prevent insider trading.In letters sent Tuesday to the CEOs of the three companies, Comer requested relevant documents and information, stating that the committee is investigating whether these platforms are fulfilling their legal obligations and taking sufficient measures to identify and stop insider trading before it occurs.
According to Crowdfund Insider, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul have filed a civil lawsuit against QCX LLC, the operating entity behind Polymarket US, alleging that it ran an unlicensed gambling business by offering event contracts for sports, elections, and other occurrences to local users through prediction markets without authorization from the New York State Gaming Commission. The complaint also notes that the minimum age for mobile sports betting in New York is 21, whereas Polymarket allegedly permits users aged 18 to 20 to participate. New York seeks a court order to halt Polymarket’s related operations and advertising campaigns within the state, demanding the forfeiture of alleged illicit gains, compensation to users, and civil fines of up to three times the relevant earnings; for unauthorized sports betting activities, the state also mandates an additional $100,000 penalty for each instance of providing or attempting to provide such services. Polymarket Chief Legal Officer Neal Kumar stated that the company plans to contest the lawsuit. According to reports, Polymarket subsequently filed its own lawsuit, arguing that such event contracts fall under the exclusive regulatory authority of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Odaily News: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has previously secretly approved 3 insider trading investigations into Polymarket trading, involving Biden pardon, Iran war, and Google-related event contracts. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig approved an investigation in May into contracts related to the Biden pardon, after a trader had profited over $300,000 from the related market; in the same month, the CFTC also approved an investigation into Iran war contracts, after a group of suspicious accounts was exposed for profiting $2.4 million with a win rate of approximately 98%. In July, the CFTC further launched an investigation into Google-related Polymarket contracts, focusing on individuals who may have used non-public information about Google's 2025 search rankings to trade. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York is also conducting a parallel investigation, and Polymarket stated that it has referred the relevant matters to law enforcement and is cooperating with the investigation.
According to reports from Caixin, multiple sources revealed that the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has visited the offices of Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) located at The Center in Central to conduct an investigation, with some employees questioned. The inquiry stems from the possibility that certain clients' trades at the securities firm may be connected to the insider trading incident involving US stock options at Futu Holdings and Tiger Brokers in May this year. Late yesterday evening, a source close to Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) stated that the SFC's investigation has nothing to do with the company itself and only involves individual clients. Unlike the mainland's securities trading regime, regulators in the Hong Kong market cannot directly see through to the trading activities of brokerage clients from the exchange. Therefore, investigating improper trading practices by broker clients typically requires cooperation from the securities firms. Previously reported, the Futu-Tiger options insider trading case has identified 45 individuals, with combined illicit profits totaling $155 million.
According to Crowdfund Insider, Ondo Finance has appointed Allison Parent as Chief Policy Officer to engage with policymakers and regulators and advance regulatory and industry standards for tokenized assets. Parent previously served as an Executive Director at the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA) for nearly 10 years. Her career also includes roles as Head of Global Policy and Strategy at Barclays, Senior Policy Advisor and Market Legal Counsel at the Bank of England, and General Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget, where she contributed to landmark post-financial crisis legislation such as the Dodd-Frank Act.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Gabriel Perez was ordered to disgorge $107,539.02 in illicit profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty, totaling approximately $172,000, for utilizing material nonpublic information obtained during his federal government tenure to trade presidential mention-type event contracts on prediction market platforms.
Odaily News, Garrett Jin, proxy for the "BTC OG Insider Whale," analyzed that Bitcoin's latest breakout above $70,000 was driven by multiple bullish factors, including the U.S. Treasury's expanded bond buybacks, the SEC's proposed crypto asset regulatory framework, and the White House crypto summit. The current price has entered a dense overhead supply zone ranging from the mid-$60,000s to the low $80,000s, with the first resistance layer already showing signs of weakening.Garrett Jin pointed out that the significant accumulation of new cost basis in the mid-$60,000 area over the past two months has provided underlying support for this breakout. While the short-squeeze triggered by short liquidations could temporarily push Bitcoin above $80,000 in the near term, the $80,000 to $82,500 range is a critical resistance zone to watch, and the short-squeeze momentum is unlikely to persist. If the market can effectively absorb supply below $80,000 before a breakout, it would be more conducive to a healthier subsequent trend.On the same day, SK Hynix announced South Korea's largest-ever stock buyback and cancellation plan, committing to return at least 50% of its projected free cash flow through 2027 to shareholders. Its shares surged over 10% at one point, triggering a buy-side circuit breaker on South Korea's KOSPI index. Analysts believe this move could alleviate market concerns over declining risk appetite for Korean semiconductor stocks, but it cannot alter the cyclical trajectory of the memory chip industry itself.
According to Politico, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday aimed at restricting members of Congress and their families from trading stocks. However, the bill faced division within the Democratic Party, as some Democrats argued it lacked sufficient strength. The legislation, named the "Stop Insider Trading Act," is the first congressional stock trading ban bill to be voted on by the full House of Representatives. It ultimately passed with a vote of 232 to 198, with 13 Democratic lawmakers voting in favor. Among the total 93 lawmakers who co-sponsored the bill, only two were Democrats. Another, more restrictive bill—which would require lawmakers and their families to sell stocks they currently hold—garnered broader bipartisan support but failed to reach a full House vote. Most Democrats believe the passed measure is insufficient because it does not include a mandate to divest existing holdings. The bill will now be sent to the Senate for consideration. (Jinshi)
amid growing insider trading concerns surrounding prediction markets, Goldman Sachs has prohibited its employees from trading prediction market contracts related to the bank's own events, elections, financial markets, macroeconomic data, and geopolitics. Financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America are also formulating or updating relevant policies. Bank of America, in particular, has begun clarifying prohibited practices in prediction market trading to its employees.Previously, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Department of Justice accused a Google employee of using non-public information to trade "Search of the Year" related contracts on Polymarket, profiting approximately $1.2 million. Legal experts note that the CFTC still lacks well-established case law in enforcing insider trading rules for prediction markets, and the wide variety of prediction market contracts further complicates regulatory oversight.Currently, Kalshi and Polymarket have respectively launched employment verification tools and collaborated with Chainalysis and Palantir to monitor suspicious trading activities. (CNBC)
according to sources familiar with the matter, U.S. regulators are investigating allegations brought by Susquehanna International Group. The allegations claim that an unknown insider trader profited $100 million through options bets ahead of the recent Chinese regulatory crackdown on cross-border brokerages Futu and Tiger Brokers. Susquehanna made these allegations public in a lawsuit filed in the Manhattan federal court on June 29.The sources indicated that the U.S. SEC is reviewing the trades described in the market maker's complaint. In its lawsuit, Susquehanna claims it lost over $70 million as the counterparty to much of the alleged insider trading. The lawsuit states that traders purchased options traded on U.S. exchanges of Chinese securities firms, which subsequently became the target of a regulatory crackdown on May 22. The scope and stage of the SEC investigation are currently unclear. A U.S. judge on June 29 granted Susquehanna's request to freeze the relevant accounts. The Chinese government stated that Futu and Tiger Brokers were providing unlicensed trading services to mainland residents. The stock prices of both companies fell following the announcement on May 22. Futu was fined 1.85 billion yuan in regulatory penalties, and founder Leaf Li saw his wealth decrease by $1.7 billion in a single day. (Straits Times)
According to the UK’s Financial Times, Tencent is set to launch an embedded AI agent within WeChat. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that Tencent is currently testing a prototype of this AI agent, which can assist users in performing various tasks directly inside WeChat. The company plans to initiate the regulatory approval process required before launch as early as this month. Once regulatory review is complete, Tencent will first conduct a gray-release test with a small group of external users, followed by a phased, gradual rollout. The official launch date has yet to be determined. A person who viewed an early product demonstration said users need only swipe right from WeChat’s main interface to summon the AI agent’s chat window. Sources indicated Tencent has designated this project as its top strategic priority, with management focusing intensely on refining details—yet scaling up to full deployment remains hampered by insufficient computing power supply. Internally, Tencent has preliminarily estimated the cost investment to be extremely high, and it remains unclear whether sufficient revenue can be generated in the short term to offset these costs.
According to Fortune, U.S. prosecutors this week charged Michele Spagnuolo, a 36-year-old Italian software engineer at Google currently residing in Switzerland, with insider trading. Prosecutors allege that under the online alias “AlphaRaccoon,” Spagnuolo placed bets on the prediction market platform Polymarket—using internal Google search trend data—before the public release of Google’s “Search of the Year 2025” data, netting over $1.2 million in profits. The FBI identified Spagnuolo by tracing cryptocurrency payments. Google has suspended him and stated that betting using confidential information constitutes a serious violation of company policy. Spagnuolo is charged with violations of the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act, wire fraud, and money laundering, and faces potentially multiple years of imprisonment.
Odaily News “1011 Insider Whale” agent Garrett Jin pointed out in his latest market commentary that, against the backdrop of the Middle East conflict, the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively “blockaded” for three months. However, the market has already become “desensitized” to this geopolitical risk, and the AI narrative is reshaping traditional risk pricing logic. As a result, AI is significantly weakening the market's sensitivity to oil prices and geopolitical shocks. Since the emergence of ceasefire signals, U.S. stocks have “decoupled” from energy shocks, with gains in chip and tech stocks offsetting the impact from the energy sector, leading the market to gradually overlook the Strait of Hormuz risk. Nevertheless, he cautioned that the AI sector faces short-term risks of overvaluation and crowded trades, and a pullback could occur at any time.In the energy market, the earlier assessment that the Strait of Hormuz risk had not been fully priced in has proven correct. Oil prices had risen due to supply shock expectations, but peaked and then declined following the release of strategic reserves and the U.S. intervention as a “supplier of last resort.” A successful exit was achieved on April 29-30. He believes the current risk-reward ratio for oil prices is no longer attractive.On the macro and equity market front, U.S. households' holdings of stocks as a percentage of financial assets have reached approximately 47%, surpassing the level seen during the internet bubble era. This means a market downturn would, in turn, constrain policy. The VIX volatility index triggered different policy shift thresholds around 30 and 50, reflecting a “risk-off driven policy” characteristic.In the gold market, the recent pullback in gold is not due to the fading of a war premium but rather changes in long-term structural demand. Since 2022, central banks globally have been purchasing gold at an average annual rate of over a thousand tons, primarily for de-dollarization and hedging against sanctions risks. He defines gold as “an ultimate exit tool outside the dollar system” rather than a mere safe-haven asset.In the crypto market, the liquidity inflection point occurred last October, with funds flowing more toward AI assets, leading to a periodic drain from the crypto market. However, he believes the market is currently in a cyclical bear phase. Rebound rallies exist, but they do not equate to the start of a new bull run. The market must wait for liquidity to restart in a new cycle. The AI era is emerging as the dominant capital narrative. Even if a bubble exists, the structural opportunities it brings represent “a rare window of opportunity for ordinary investors.” Nevertheless, market cycle discipline should not be overlooked.
Odaily报道, “BTC OG insider whale” Garrett Jin has released his “Weekly Market Strategy Signal.” In his analysis, he points out that the current geopolitical situation and the trajectory of the US dollar are deadlocked: despite US strikes on Iranian-related targets, tensions in the Strait of Hormuz remain unresolved. Although US Secretary of State Rubio signaled “positive news,” the peace agreement proposed by Iran has already been vetoed by the White House.Long-term US Treasury yields continue to hover in the 5.07% – 5.18% range, reaching their highest levels in 19 years. The S&P 500 index briefly hit a new high before quickly pulling back. Garrett Jin believes that a single positive or negative catalyst is insufficient to change the market landscape. Only when at least two of the three key factors—the credit environment, Federal Reserve policy, and geopolitical conditions—converge can the market experience a substantial shift.On another front, capital expenditure in the AI sector is accelerating its shift from the United States to Asia. ByteDance plans to increase its capital expenditure to as high as $70 billion this year, while Tencent and Alibaba are also ramping up their investments. Competition in the AI arena has now escalated to the level of national competition.
According to CNBC, James Comer, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has launched an investigation into prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket, demanding that both companies detail their measures to prevent insider trading—including identity verification, enforcement of geographic restrictions, and mechanisms for detecting anomalous trading activity. Comer stated that internal records from these platforms are critical for identifying improper traders and assessing whether the platforms have fulfilled their legal obligations. Previously, Polymarket was reported to have hosted suspicious trades related to U.S. actions concerning Iran and Venezuela; Kalshi had also suspended the accounts of three congressional candidates who placed bets on their own election outcomes. Comer has directed both companies to submit the relevant documents by June 5.
: Galaxy Research Head of Research Alex Thorn stated that the U.S. Senate Banking Committee has released the first updated complete draft of the CLARITY Act since January. The new draft features significant adjustments in several key chapters, including:A substantial rewrite of Chapter I concerning definitions and the scope of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) authority; the addition of Section 109 on insider trading; an update in Chapter II changing "common control" to "coordinated control"; a rewrite of Section 301 to further clarify the regulatory boundary between DeFi and CeFi; an update to Section 404 incorporating the compromise proposal from Tillis and Alsobrooks; adjustments to Section 505 narrowing the scope of SEC authority limitations in the tokenization field; and a restructuring of the bankruptcy and insolvency framework in Sections 701 and 702. Additionally, Section 904 is a new addition, namely the "Build Now Act."Alex Thorn also noted that the developer protection provisions in the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, found in Section 604, remain largely intact with only minor modifications, without weakening their core protections.
According to Crowdfund Insider, digital asset management firm Grayscale Investments plans to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) focused on Cardano (ADA) by the end of 2026. The product is expected to trade under the ticker symbol GADA and would convert Grayscale’s existing Cardano Trust into a listed ETF—rather than filing a new application. If the relevant regulatory filings take effect by mid-August, the application may enter the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) streamlined review process and could begin trading in late October 2026. Grayscale has also recently increased ADA’s weight in its Smart Contract Fund from approximately 17.96% to 18.33%.
According to Crowdfund Insider, Circle’s French subsidiary, Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS (referred to as “Circle France”), received formal authorization from the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) on April 20 to provide custody and transfer services for its stablecoins USDC and EURC across the entire European Economic Area (EEA). Under Article 60(4) of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), this authorization enables Circle France to operate via the “passporting mechanism,” allowing customers in all EEA member states to access these services without requiring additional local licenses. Circle is the largest compliant issuer of electronic money tokens (EMTs) under MiCA regulation in the EU. The authorized custody services cover secure storage and management of clients’ crypto assets, while the transfer functionality supports seamless asset movement. Dante Disparte, Circle’s Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy and Operations, stated that this milestone reflects Circle’s commitment to operating within Europe’s regulatory framework and supporting the development of trusted digital financial infrastructure in France and across the EU. This authorization builds upon Circle’s prior authorization as an electronic money institution in France.
Garrett Jin, agent representing the “1011 Insider Whale,” stated that Trump’s launch of the so-called “Project Freedom” is not a de-risking signal, but is more likely to act as a “fuse” for a new wave of uncertainty. Multiple factors are converging, including energy inventory pressures, enhanced regional military deployments, shifts in policy and legal environments, and tightening diplomatic pathways. Individually, these variables do not constitute definitive signals, but their concentration within the current time window may elevate market volatility risks. Overall, investors are advised to maintain a cautious and hedging mindset, paying close attention to the potential disruption of market sentiment by macroeconomic and geopolitical variables.Although the market has interpreted this move as a sign of easing tensions, driving risk assets higher, the underlying structure is more akin to a strategic framework of “limited engagement plus potential response.” The action primarily maintains shipping security through coordinated shipping lanes, insurance support, and military standby, rather than direct escort operations. This approach could, in fact, amplify reactions to specific triggering events.
Garrett Jin, the agent of “1011 Insider Whale,” authored an analysis stating that Trump’s so-called “Project Freedom” is not a signal of risk mitigation but rather a “fuse” for a new wave of uncertainty. Although the market interprets it as a de-escalation and has driven risk assets higher, its underlying structure more closely resembles a “limited engagement + potential response” strategic framework. This initiative primarily maintains maritime security through coordination of shipping lanes, insurance support, and military readiness—rather than direct naval escort—potentially amplifying market reactions once triggered by specific events. Meanwhile, multiple factors—including energy inventory pressures, heightened regional military deployments, shifts in policy and legal environments, and tightening diplomatic channels—are converging. Individually, these variables do not constitute definitive signals; however, their concentration within the current time window may elevate market volatility risk. Overall, investors are advised to maintain caution and adopt hedging strategies, closely monitoring how macroeconomic and geopolitical variables could potentially disrupt market sentiment.