News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News The U.S. Department of the Treasury released a joint statement on August 4, outlining discussions from the U.S.-UK Financial Regulatory Working Group meeting held in London on July 8. Regulators from both countries expanded collaboration in areas including digital assets, stablecoins, payment modernization, AI, financial stability, capital markets, and cross-border financial cooperation. Participants included finance ministries from both countries, the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve, the UK Financial Conduct Authority, and multiple U.S. financial regulatory agencies. The U.S. side provided updates on the implementation progress of the GENIUS Act for stablecoins and digital asset market structure, while the UK side presented its digital strategy for wholesale financial markets. Both sides support comparable regulatory standards for stablecoins, including cross-border usage, comparable treatment of similar risks, and requirements that stablecoins used as money be backed at least one-to-one by high-quality liquid asset reserves. The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has proposed implementation standards for the GENIUS Act, covering reserves, redemption, capital, liquidity, risk management, custody, and safekeeping. The Bank of England has published draft rules for stablecoins that could reach systemic scale in the UK economy, including a temporary issuance cap of £40 billion per systemic stablecoin, unrestricted use by individuals and businesses, and reserve requirements. The Financial Regulatory Working Group is expected to convene again in early 2027.
Odaily News S&P Global Ratings on Monday awarded BlackRock's new tokenized money market fund, the BlackRock Daily Reinvestment Stablecoin Reserve Vehicle (BRSRV), an "AAAm" rating, its highest principal stability fund rating. The rating is based on investment and counterparty credit quality, maturity structure, and management's ability to maintain a stable net asset value. S&P Global Ratings stated that it found no weaknesses in BlackRock Advisors' management and organization, credit research and analysis, risk management, or compliance. It also noted that the fund's tokenization framework demonstrates operational resilience, employing a permissioned architecture that restricts transactions to whitelisted wallets to mitigate network, smart contract, and blockchain network risks. BRSRV launched Monday as an open-end management investment company, aiming to make its shares eligible as qualifying reserve assets for payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act. The fund will hold cash, U.S. Treasuries with maturities of 93 days or less, and overnight repurchase agreements collateralized by Treasury instruments, maintaining a weighted average maturity of no more than 60 days and a weighted average life of no more than 120 days. In a separate stablecoin stability assessment summary published Tuesday, S&P Global Ratings stated that six of the 11 stablecoins it covers possess "sufficient" or stronger capacity to maintain their fiat peg. USDT remains at Level 5 "weak," with TUSD and USDe also at Level 5; USDC, EURC, USDG, and USDP are rated Level 2 "strong."
Odaily News, the "Fed Whisperer" Nick Timiraos stated in an article that U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent's policy reaction function has shifted to being less dovish. His remarks this year suggest that the Federal Reserve should continue to hold interest rates steady. Earlier this year, Bessent cited models indicating that the Fed's interest rate level could be anywhere from over 25 basis points to more than 100 basis points above the neutral rate. Today (August 4), he made two points. First, he defended Warsh's decision last week not to elaborate on any policy reaction function: "I think every meeting should be open, and market participants should judge for themselves... I believe Warsh wants to keep options open to achieve the best outcome."Second, he did put forward a policy reaction function that could be viewed as dovish, arguing that recent shocks should be ignored: "What impact will a rise in short-term interest rates really have? We will wait and see." He raised the question but then responded by pointing out that underlying inflation is "very mild... very steady." "In core inflation, excluding the more energy-affected volatile items, the rest has been very steady. I think this will continue."
: Tyler Williams, a senior official at the U.S. Department of the Treasury responsible for digital asset policy, has departed. He had served as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's primary crypto advisor and was involved in shaping the Trump administration's digital asset agenda. Bessent confirmed that Williams' last working day at the Treasury was last Friday. Williams joined the Treasury in early 2025, having previously served as Head of Policy at Galaxy Digital, and is expected to return to the private sector. Williams' departure comes amid a continued stalemate in Congress over the CLARITY Act, a digital asset market structure bill. The legislation has faced obstacles to advancement before lawmakers' August recess due to disagreements over federal ethics provisions for officials.
Odaily News, July saw the U.S. manufacturing PMI rise to 55.6, the highest since 2022, with both production and employment recovering. However, strong demand and geopolitical inflation concerns have roiled the bond market, with Bank of America warning that the Federal Reserve is facing a credibility test. The hot manufacturing performance, coupled with geopolitical inflation threats, has sent U.S. Treasury markets into sharp turbulence. Long-dated Treasuries have recently faced heavy selling, with yields briefly surging to near two-decade highs.Mark Cabana, Head of U.S. Rates Strategy at Bank of America, commented on this, calling the bond market's violent swings a "textbook inflation credibility shock."Cabana noted that the core driver of the market turmoil is not the data itself, but the Fed's lack of policy communication. He specifically pointed to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's performance at a recent press conference, arguing that Warsh failed to clearly articulate how the Fed would achieve its 2% inflation target."Standing firm on the inflation target is one thing, but if you don't tell the market the specific path, investors won't buy it," Cabana said bluntly in a Bloomberg TV interview. "The bond market cannot be fooled; it sees through all appearances." (Jin10)
: Asset management giant BlackRock has announced the launch of two tokenized money market products: the BlackRock Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund (BSTBL) and the BlackRock Daily Reinvestment Stablecoin Reserve Vehicle (BRSRV). BSTBL will offer Ethereum-based tokenized shares of an existing money market fund. These on-chain shares can be transferred between approved wallets, subject to regulatory compliance. BNY Mellon will serve as the transfer agent and tokenization service provider for BSTBL. BRSRV, meanwhile, is a new tokenized money market fund designed for digital-native institutional investors, supporting daily dividend reinvestment and multi-blockchain access, and can be used for a variety of digital asset applications, including stablecoin reserve management. Securitize will serve as the transfer agent and tokenization service provider for this fund.
According to an official media announcement, the South African National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) jointly released the "Draft Manual on Cross-Border Crypto Asset Activities" on August 3, 2026, which is now open for public consultation with a deadline of September 30, 2026. The manual is implemented in conjunction with the previously released "Draft Regulations on Capital Flow Management 2026," aiming to strengthen supervision over cross-border financial activities and prevent risks related to illicit financial flows associated with crypto assets. The manual clarifies the trigger points for cross-border crypto asset transactions—when crypto assets are transferred between a domestic authorized CASP and a foreign CASP, or from a domestic authorized CASP to a non-custodial wallet, it constitutes cross-border capital inflow or outflow and must be reported to the Financial Supervision Department (FinSurv). It is worth noting that at this stage, only individuals are allowed to conduct crypto asset outflow operations through authorized CASPs within the single discretionary allowance or foreign capital allowance; South African entities are temporarily not allowed to conduct related cross-border operations. In addition, the manual currently does not distinguish between different types of crypto assets, nor does it list crypto assets as official South African currency.
According to QCP Group, the US Treasury, via the New York Fed, jointly purchased yen with the Japanese Ministry of Finance last Friday, marking the first US-Japan joint foreign exchange intervention action specifically to support the yen since 1998. Meanwhile, the US 30-year Treasury yield briefly rose to about 5.27%, hitting a new high since 2007, before falling back to 5.24%. QCP pointed out that the transmission path of this intervention to the crypto market mainly unfolds through yen carry trades—rapid yen appreciation may force investors holding yen funding positions to deleverage and buy back yen, subsequently affecting risk assets including BTC and ETH, reenacting the market volatility triggered by carry trade unwinding in August 2024. QCP reminded that current macro monitoring indicators should take the USD/JPY exchange rate, Japan funding costs, and US long-end Treasury yields into consideration; fiscal policy operations are increasingly becoming an important variable affecting the direction of global liquidity.
According to BIT Official Chinese (@BITofficial_CN) analysis, the current crypto market faces dual pressure from the Federal Reserve's hawkish stance and the slowed progress of the CLARITY Act. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh maintains a hawkish stance; the 2-year US Treasury yield has risen cumulatively by approximately 35 basis points since late January, and the Committee has seen a pattern of 9 votes to maintain interest rates and 3 votes supporting rate hikes. Regarding the CLARITY Act, prediction markets indicate a mere 32% probability of it being signed by the end of 2026, with the legislative window continuing to narrow. Meanwhile, crypto market trading volume has retreated 80% from highs, total market cap has fallen approximately 50%, and USDT and USDC have shown no significant expansion since November 2025, reflecting an overall lack of new USD liquidity in the market. Despite this, Bitcoin remains within the $62,000 to $66,000 range, correcting only about 3% over the past week. It demonstrates stronger resilience compared to most altcoins, reflecting that active position adjustment pressure has been largely released. BIT points out that if Bitcoin subsequently regains $70,000 and drives multiple indicators to turn bullish, it will further confirm that the low point of this cycle has been established.
HTX DeepThink columnist and HTX Research analyst Chloe (@ChloeTalk1) pointed out in her analysis that global risk assets continued to come under pressure this week. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh attempted to weaken forward guidance (Forward Guidance) for the first time, hoping to make market prices a more direct economic feedback mechanism. However, the market did not interpret the rise in long-term interest rates as a natural tightening of financial conditions, but instead interpreted it as inflation risks resurfacing and a decline in Federal Reserve policy credibility. The 30-year US Treasury yield rose to 5.2%, the US dollar weakened, and US stocks retreated, reflecting that investors are beginning to demand higher risk premiums rather than betting on an improvement in economic fundamentals.
According to The Block, bipartisan Senators Thom Tillis (Republican) and Ruben Gallego (Democrat) submitted a new ethics compromise proposal to the White House on Thursday morning local time, attempting to break the deadlock in advancing the Clarity Act cryptocurrency legislation. Currently, there is less than a week left until the Senate recesses on August 7, but the bill still has not obtained the 60 votes required for passage. Democrats insist on adding stricter ethics provisions to constrain the Trump family's crypto interests, including the Meme coins they issued and the World Liberty Financial project in which the family participates, while some Republican senators have objections to the stablecoin interest provisions, worrying that it will divert deposits from traditional banks to the crypto sector. Although the draft leaked last week prohibited public officials and their spouses from issuing digital assets, it did not cover other family members, and included a "sunset clause" expiring in January 2029, which critics believe essentially nullifies the entire ethics provision. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent subsequently blamed the Democrats on X, stating that they "chose political gaming on the verge of a major victory". The Crypto Innovation Committee (CCI) warned that if the bill fails to pass, the US will hand over its global leadership position in the field of crypto regulation.
Odaily News: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the Senate on Thursday to pass the Clarity Act, stating that the House of Representatives passed the bill over a year ago, and staff from the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees have since conducted thousands of hours of negotiations on bipartisan amendments. Bessent stated that the bill will enhance consumer protection and anti-money laundering requirements while providing regulatory certainty for digital assets. He also noted that the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act provision within the Clarity Act will protect decentralized software developers, making it clear that they are not subject to the registration requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act. Bessent criticized Senate Democrats for delaying the vote for political reasons, arguing that the vote will determine whether the United States maintains its global leadership position in digital assets. He concluded his statement by quoting Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto: "If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry." The Clarity Act aims to establish a federal framework for the US digital asset market and divide the regulatory responsibilities for digital assets between the SEC and the CFTC, with most crypto assets generally falling under CFTC jurisdiction. Senate Majority Leader John Thune recently indicated that the bill is not expected to pass the Senate before the August recess.
According to reporter Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett), the controversy surrounding the BRCA provisions in the Clarity Act continues to intensify. Two key groups representing prosecutors have submitted amendment proposals to the White House, proposing to remove relevant provisions protecting software developers from criminal prosecution, but the National Sheriffs' Association (@NationalSheriff), which previously publicly opposed the Clarity Act, did not co-sign the proposal. In response, both the White House and the Treasury denied Senator Cortez Masto's claim that "the proposal reflects their position." Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt stated that the proposal is "far from" the government's position, while the Treasury directly pointed out that the wording of the relevant provisions came from Washington lobbyists.
According to the latest seasonal research report from Bank of America Securities, since 1928, the rolling three-month window from August to October has typically been the weakest period for the S&P 500, with a probability of gain of only 55%, an average return of -0.02%, and an average drawdown of 7.35%, the largest among all rolling three-month cycles.The report indicates that over the next three months, the market may lean towards a defensive allocation, with the U.S. dollar, gold, and U.S. Treasury bonds historically outperforming equities. Since 1992, gold has had a 61% probability of rising from August to October, with an average gain of 2.52%. The U.S. dollar tends to strengthen in August against currencies such as the British pound and the Australian dollar. However, BofA emphasizes that seasonal patterns do not necessarily mean U.S. stocks will decline, and long-term market trends will still depend on factors such as corporate earnings, monetary policy, the economic cycle, and valuations. (Jinshi)
According to Bitcoin.com, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis is pushing hard for the CLARITY Act to complete Senate voting before Congress adjourns. Section 303 of the bill grants the Treasury Department the authority to impose targeted digital asset sanctions on foreign jurisdictions, while Section 305 allows exchanges to freeze suspicious transactions for up to 180 days. On-chain data shows that North Korea's Lazarus Group stole approximately $643 million in the first half of 2026, accounting for two-thirds of the total global crypto theft during the same period ($972 million), including a $285 million attack on Drift Protocol in April and a $292 million attack on the KelpDAO cross-chain bridge. The group's cumulative theft amount has reached $6.75 billion since 2019. Currently, Galaxy Research has lowered the probability of the CLARITY Act passing within 2026 to 30%. The bill still requires 60 votes to advance, meaning at least 7 Democratic senators need to vote across party lines in support.
According to Cointelegraph, Singapore stablecoin payment company Triple-A confirmed its treasury wallet was accessed without authorization, with on-chain investigator Specter estimating losses at approximately $11.8 million. The company stated that customer funds are held in separate trust accounts and were not affected by this incident, and the relevant losses will be covered by the company's own financial reserves. Triple-A has currently restored all services and is collaborating with cybersecurity experts, blockchain forensic agencies, and the Singapore Police Force to investigate and track the stolen assets.
HMRC has recovered over £8 million in tax from 502 crypto investors through tax settlements. These settlements were completed via HMRC’s crypto asset disclosure facility, which allows holders to declare unpaid taxes before a formal investigation is launched. HM Treasury aims to collect £315 million in crypto tax revenue from an estimated 7 million crypto asset holders by 2030. (Coin Bureau)
According to a post by a16z crypto researcher Robert Hackett and data advisor Ryan Holloway, the tokenized stock market is experiencing explosive growth. As of June 2026, the total market capitalization of tokenized stocks reached approximately $1.7 billion, representing a more than fivefold increase from $329 million a year earlier, making it one of the fastest-growing categories among tokenized assets. On-chain data shows that monthly transfer volume surged from $53 million last June to $9.22 billion this June, a year-over-year increase of more than 170 times. The market structure has also changed significantly: the proportion of crypto-related products dropped from 79% to 21%; the AI and chip category jumped from nearly zero to a market share of 15.5%; tech giants rose from 0.6% to 10.6%; and ETFs and indices increased from 4.5% to 17.3%. At the institutional level, DTCC has completed the first live trades of tokenized Treasury bonds and stocks on Digital Asset's Canton network, with full services planned to launch in October, which will open access for Wall Street to approximately $114 trillion in DTC custodied assets. Meanwhile, Robinhood has launched its own chain, NYSE's parent company announced a joint venture with OKX (pending regulatory approval), and Coinbase and Binance have also sequentially launched offerings for non-U.S. users.
The UK plans to issue its first tokenized sovereign bond by early 2027. The current key prerequisite is solving the issue of on-chain cash settlement, a problem that has limited institutional use of digital bonds for years. Industry experts indicate that the plan may have garnered sufficient support from the UK Treasury, the Bank of England, and regulators to proceed after recent political changes and could potentially increase UK debt demand. Progress is currently constrained by the lack of standardized on-chain payment methods, mature GBP stablecoins, and regulatory clarity.
According to Cointelegraph, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that legislators have entered the "final sprint" phase on the Clarity Act, urging Congress to pass the bill before recess.