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According to BBX data, last weekend Japan's largest financial group completed the most important cryptocurrency acquisition, and U.S. bipartisan senators launched a new regulatory offensive against prediction market platforms. The core developments are as follows:SBI Holdings, Inc. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 8473) announced the acquisition of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank (privately held) for approximately $289 million. After the transaction is completed, SBI's cryptocurrency business will surpass all competitors, creating Japan's largest cryptocurrency exchange. SBI Holdings is one of Japan's largest independent financial services groups, already owning cryptocurrency-friendly network bank SBI Shinsei Bank, cryptocurrency asset custodian SBI Digital Asset Holdings, and multiple Bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency venture capital investments. Bitbank is one of Japan's largest spot BTC exchanges and holds an official cryptocurrency exchange license from the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan. This acquisition marks a shift for traditional Japanese financial institutions from "strategic trial" in the cryptocurrency sector to "scale acquisition dominance," alongside the joint stablecoin plan of the three major banks: Mitsubishi UFJ ($MUFG), Sumitomo Mitsui ($SMFG), and Mizuho ($MFG) (targeting March 2027), forming the most intensive wave of cryptocurrency layout in Japan's financial industry by 2026.U.S. Senators John Curtis (Republican, Utah) and Adam Schiff (Democrat, California) reported on June 28 that they jointly sent a letter to the CFTC, urging it to conduct a formal investigation into the prediction market platform Polymarket (privately held), citing a "concerning" investigative report regarding Polymarket's "deceptive marketing" practices, which accused it of systematic misleading in user acquisition and risk disclosure. This is the third regulatory offensive against prediction market platforms initiated by Congress this year (previously, the House Oversight Committee launched an insider trading investigation on May 22); the two senators come from different parties, which is significant. For Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: $HOOD), this investigation poses indirect pressure—Robinhood's prediction market/event contract business (which achieved a record daily trading volume in June) faces the same regulatory qualitative disputes as Polymarket; however, Robinhood's defensive advantage lies in its ongoing application for a CFTC Designated Contract Market (DCM) license, providing a clearer compliance path compared to Polymarket.

According to Jinshi reports, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) shows that as of the week ending June 23, stock fund managers increased their net long positions in the S&P 500 Index CME by 4,547 contracts to 987,977 contracts.At the same time, stock fund speculators reduced their net short positions in the S&P 500 Index CME by 146,022 contracts to 355,669 contracts.

According to the official website of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the CFTC and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) jointly issued a document seeking public comments on further coordination of the regulatory framework for portfolio margin and cross-margin for securities, security-based swaps, futures, swaps, and related positions. The two agencies aim to enhance risk management efficiency, reduce unnecessary market fragmentation, and strengthen customer protection through unified or strengthened coordination.The key points for public comment include existing portfolio margin models and practices, customer protection, cross-margining and inter-product offsets, capital and margin and collateral handling, clearinghouse and clearing organization arrangements, as well as technology and operational implementation, with a comment period of 60 days after the document is published in the Federal Register.

According to Cryptopolitan, the prediction market platform Kalshi has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, challenging the newly signed SB3019 bill in the state. The bill requires prediction market platforms to obtain state-level licenses and imposes a 0.2% tax on digital asset transactions involving Illinois customers, set to take effect on July 1. Kalshi argues that federal law grants the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over exchange-traded derivatives, and that additional state regulatory requirements conflict with the Commodity Exchange Act.If Kalshi withdraws sports event contracts from Illinois to comply with state law, it would directly violate the CFTC's uniformity requirement; if it continues to operate without a license, it would violate state law, and implementing geographic blocking technology would be costly. This lawsuit is the latest case in the dispute over prediction market jurisdiction between the CFTC and various states, with the CFTC having sued nine states to assert federal authority.

According to the official announcement, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has released a request for comments, seeking public feedback on the development of two energy derivatives markets: first, the extension of standard futures contracts to all-day trading, and second, the potential listing of perpetual contracts referenced to physical delivery or storable energy commodities such as crude oil.The CFTC stated that this move aims to assess the impact of relevant changes on the market based on data, while maintaining safeguards against market manipulation and market disruptions in support of prudent innovation. Written comments must be submitted within 30 days after the relevant documents are published in the Federal Register.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has completed its handling of the case against former Celsius CEO Alexander Mashinsky. According to the final ruling, Mashinsky is permanently banned from registering for any business related to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is prohibited from participating in commodity trading activities within its regulatory scope.

Terence Duffy, the outgoing CEO of the CME Group, stated that the company will sue the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Thursday because the latter approved the prediction market platform Kalshi to launch Bitcoin perpetual futures products.

Mike Selig, Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), reiterated that the review of cryptocurrency perpetual contracts will be conducted on a "single asset" basis. CFTC staff had previously clarified this position in the advisory opinion regarding 24/7 continuous trading, and the regulator will assess the compliance of perpetual products for different underlying assets using this framework.

Mike Selig, the Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), posted on the X platform to clarify several misunderstandings in the market regarding perpetual futures contracts and to address the controversy arising from the recent approval of related contracts by the CFTC. Mike Selig stated that the Commodity Exchange Act and relevant CFTC rules do not explicitly require that "futures contracts" must have a fixed expiration date or delivery date. Since Congress has not clearly defined this term, the identification of futures contracts is primarily based on judicial precedents and CFTC interpretations, and a fixed expiration date is not a necessary condition.In response to the claim that "the CFTC-approved BTCPERP contract allows U.S. users to use 250 times leverage," high leverage is not a characteristic of the perpetual contract structure itself, but rather a feature of the previous offshore trading model. Perpetual contracts regulated by the CFTC will adhere to the same leverage limits as other regulated futures products.Regarding the criticism that "the CFTC did not provide opportunities for industry participation and feedback," the CFTC publicly solicited opinions on "perpetual contracts" and "24/7 trading" in April 2025 and received over 100 responses from industry participants, including several CFTC-registered entities. Additionally, concerning the view that the funding rate mechanism is believed to incur high costs and induce undesirable market behavior, after considering the costs of opening positions and rolling over traditional term futures contracts, the annualized holding cost of the perpetual contract funding rate is roughly equivalent to that of traditional futures. The funding rate mechanism actually helps maintain price anchoring.

Mike Selig, Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), published an article clarifying four major misconceptions about perpetual futures contracts.Regarding the misconception of "fixed expiration date": There is a viewpoint that the defined "futures contract" requires a fixed expiration date or delivery date, and the indefinite nature of perpetual contracts is inconsistent with congressional intent. Selig clarified that neither the Commodity Exchange Act nor CFTC regulations provide a clear definition of the term "futures contract," nor do they require a fixed expiration date or delivery date. Since Congress did not define the term, the criteria for its determination are provided by case law and committee interpretation, both of which do not require a fixed expiration date.Regarding the misconception of "high leverage": There is a viewpoint that the CFTC approved a futures contract allowing Americans to use leverage of up to 250 times when approving the BTCPERP contract, violating its own rules. Selig clarified that extreme leverage has been a characteristic of trading perpetual contracts in offshore venues since their inception, and is not inherent to the contract structure itself. The perpetual contracts regulated by the CFTC are subject to the same leverage limits as other futures contracts regulated by the CFTC.Regarding the misconception of "public opinion": There is a viewpoint that the CFTC did not provide the industry with an opportunity to participate or express opinions. Selig clarified that the CFTC released a request for comments on "perpetual contracts" and "24/7 trading" in April 2025, soliciting public input, and received over 100 comments from a wide range of stakeholders, including many registered entities regulated by the CFTC.Regarding the misconception of "funding rates": There is a viewpoint that the funding rate mechanism imposes unique and prohibitively high costs on market participants, fostering bad behavior in the market. Selig clarified that after considering the costs associated with opening positions and rolling over contracts with expiration dates, the annualized cost of holding futures contracts with expiration dates is roughly equivalent to that of perpetual contracts. The funding rate mechanism is far from fostering bad behavior; rather, it is a constraint tool that keeps the contract linked to the underlying spot market.

According to official news, Michael S. Selig, Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced two senior personnel appointments: Donald Battle as Chief Data Innovation Officer, serving in the data department and joining the innovation working group; J Matthew Haws as Senior Advisor to the Chairman's Office and Head of the Chicago Region.Among them, Battle previously served in the cryptocurrency working group and the data science group of the enforcement division at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), possessing experience in blockchain forensics, data science, and anti-money laundering; Haws has over 13 years of legal and compliance experience in the derivatives market.

According to official news, the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has announced the launch of perpetual futures products regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), officially open to U.S. traders.This product marks a significant expansion of the compliant cryptocurrency derivatives market in the U.S., allowing traders to participate in perpetual contract trading for the first time within a regulatory framework.

According to Bloomberg, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is considering whether to block the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME) from launching an application for around-the-clock crude oil contracts. A senior CFTC official stated that continuous trading may not be suitable for crude oil, as it could exacerbate already extreme volatility during periods of geopolitical tension. CME announced last Thursday plans to launch crude oil and gold futures contracts that would be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which surprised the CFTC. The new crude oil contract will be one-tenth the size of the existing micro WTI futures contract and is scheduled to go live on August 30, pending regulatory review. A week ago, the CEO of CME expressed "serious concerns" to the CFTC about clearing the way for cryptocurrency perpetual contracts. The CFTC stated it would evaluate perpetual contract applications on a case-by-case basis, noting that certain assets may not be suitable for this product.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Market Oversight Division has issued a waiver to designated contract markets (DCM), allowing them to convert existing perpetual digital commodity futures contracts into true digital commodity perpetual futures contracts.According to the waiver, DCM can remove the expiration date of the existing perpetual digital commodity futures contracts and implement relevant modifications to convert them into true digital commodity perpetual futures contracts. The conversion is contingent upon meeting several customer protection and procedural conditions specified in the waiver. These conditions include: soliciting feedback from market participants holding open positions; providing advance notice and an opportunity to close positions; offering appropriate risk disclosures; and ensuring that no other substantive contract terms are modified.

Former CFTC and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler submitted an amicus brief to the appellate court, arguing that federal law does not grant his former agency, the CFTC, the authority to regulate sports-related prediction markets.Several other entities have submitted similar amicus briefs, stating that sports-related prediction markets violate state and tribal regulatory provisions. Courts in various parts of the United States are currently deliberating whether sports-related prediction markets should be regulated at the state or federal level, with related rulings involving tax collection and other regulatory matters.

According to informed sources, the CFTC is proposing a comprehensive set of new rules to regulate prediction markets. The parameters of these rules will continue to allow most sports-related betting while striving to avoid obvious manipulation.According to a draft of the proposed rules seen by The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. CFTC will introduce new regulations on Wednesday, seeking to prevent predictive bets that it believes are not in the public interest or are easily manipulable, such as in cases where one person may have an undue influence on the outcome.The agency's proposal does not directly prohibit trading any specific type of so-called event contracts but outlines the factors under which regulators will review certain types of contracts on a case-by-case basis.The U.S. CFTC has previously provided some preliminary guidance on which types of bets should be avoided, and Kalshi and other prediction platforms have taken action in advance.Additionally, informed sources revealed that the CFTC is considering other rules, including those aimed at protecting retail traders.

Kalshi announced that its newly launched crypto perpetual contract product has surpassed a notional trading volume of $1 billion within 7 days of its launch, with over $100 million traded in the first 24 hours after the product went live.Previously, Kalshi received formal approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) at the end of May this year, allowing it to list 13 crypto digital asset contract projects, including perpetual contracts referencing the spot price of Bitcoin (BTCPERP), and officially launched trading on June 3, becoming the first entity in U.S. history to offer such products on a domestically compliant exchange.

According to The Block, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael Selig, questioning whether the agency is capable of taking on greater regulatory responsibilities for cryptocurrency and prediction markets. Warren pointed out that CFTC's staff has decreased by about 25%, and enforcement activities have significantly declined, stating that expanding responsibilities would be a "recipe for disaster." She criticized the CFTC's handling of cases involving Gemini, Polymarket, and Crypto.com, and noted that officials attempting to raise concerns about the relevant companies have been sidelined from the agency. Selig insisted that prediction markets and event contracts fall under CFTC's "exclusive jurisdiction," and the agency has even sued several states attempting to ban the operation of prediction market platforms. In her letter, Warren requested the agency to provide records related to personnel changes, communications with prediction market companies, and the Clarity Act.