Key Highlights A Bitwise report reveals notable geographic centralization on the Solana network, with infrastructure heavily concentrated in Europe across Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and London. Solana’s reduction of slot times from 400 milliseconds to 250 milliseconds between August and September 2026 has deepened regional disparities and shortened validator processing windows. While the European Securities and Markets ...
Key Highlights: The U.S. CFTC proposed defining qualifying event contracts across politics, sports, culture, and weather as swaps, while issuing an interim final rule to exclude traditional sportsbook wagers and casino games. ESMA issued an opinion advising MiCA-authorized crypto-asset service providers to halt services for noncompliant asset-referenced and e-money tokens within three months. New York ...
Key Highlights: The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued updated guidance targeting crypto-asset service providers handling unauthorized stablecoins under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. Crypto firms must establish technical, contractual, and organizational controls to block European Union clients from purchasing or expanding exposure to non-compliant tokens. Firms are permitted to facilitate temporary, ...
Key Highlights Bitget Wallet Chief Operating Officer Kan emphasized that digital asset custody risk centers on “blast radius,” distinguishing the unaffected self-custodial service from centralized exchange pooled systems following Bitget’s revised $387.5 million security breach. European regulator ESMA is preparing a comprehensive crypto custodian resilience review spanning 2026 to 2027 to scrutinize key storage, operational ...
Key Highlights: U.S. authorities and lawmakers intensified crypto enforcement, with the Treasury targeting the Russia-linked A7 Network and a Senate subcommittee scrutinizing Tether’s sanctions controls. In Europe, ESMA recommended broadening the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework to regulate DeFi intermediaries, technical interfaces, and staking activities. The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) officially opened its authorization ...
Key Highlights ECB President Christine Lagarde personally intervened to halt Binance’s MiCA license approval in Greece, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The intervention was reportedly motivated by concerns that Binance’s stablecoin operations could undermine the ECB’s Digital Euro project, slated for a 2027 pilot and 2029 launch. Binance withdrew its Greek application in ...
Key Highlights Binance confirms it remains committed to securing a MiCA license in Europe despite withdrawing its Greek application in mid-June after the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) declined to approve it. Binance’s Head of Europe, Gillian Lynch, states the exchange met all HCMC requirements and had a “complete application” with nothing material outstanding. The ...
xStocks Surpasses $800 Million in Tokenised Assets with 300,000+ Unique Holders Tokenised equities platform xStocks has crossed a significant milestone, reporting over $800 million in assets backing its tokenised stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The platform also confirmed that the number of unique holders has exceeded 300,000, according to figures released by the company. “London’s ...