opinion

Digital asset company Tether announced that it has completed a full independent audit conducted by KPMG U.S. on the financial statements of Tether International, S.A. de C.V. as of December 31, 2025. KPMG U.S. issued an unqualified audit opinion.The audit covered transactions, systems, ownership records, valuations, counterparties, and financial statement evidence, and reviewed the balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in equity, and cash flow statement. KPMG U.S. also physically counted and inspected each gold bar held by Tether. Tether's Chief Financial Officer Simon McWilliams stated that the audited financial statements for 2025 show that its reserve assets exceed liabilities by $6.814 billion. Tether stated that this audit is an important step in fulfilling its long-term commitment to financial transparency.

According to Jinshi, the United States is seeking opinions on expanding the scope of metal tariff products, suggesting tariffs on products such as welding machines and cranes.

The South African National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) have jointly released the "Draft Manual on Cross-Border Crypto Asset Activities," which is now open for public consultation, with a deadline of September 30, 2026.This manual is implemented in conjunction with the previously released "Draft Regulations on Capital Flow Management 2026," aiming to strengthen the regulation of cross-border financial activities and prevent the risks of illegal fund flows related to crypto assets.The manual specifies the triggers for cross-border crypto asset transactions—when crypto assets are transferred between authorized CASPs in South Africa and foreign CASPs, or when they are transferred from an authorized CASP in South Africa to a non-custodial wallet, this constitutes cross-border capital inflow or outflow and must be reported to the Financial Surveillance Department (FinSurv).It is noteworthy that, at this stage, individuals are only allowed to conduct outbound crypto asset operations through authorized CASPs within a single discretionary limit or foreign capital limit, and South African entities are currently not permitted to engage in related cross-border operations.Furthermore, the manual does not currently differentiate between different types of crypto assets, nor does it classify crypto assets as South Africa's official currency.

According to Digital Asset, the South Korean Supreme Court announced on July 2 the legislative preview of the "Partial Amendment to the Civil Execution Rules," establishing regulations for the civil enforcement of virtual assets, which will take effect on October 1 after gathering opinions. The amendments cover the enforcement and liquidation of the right to request the transfer of digital assets, as well as the enforcement and liquidation of the digital assets themselves.After the court's seizure order takes effect, third-party debtors are prohibited from transferring assets to the debtor, and the debtor is also prohibited from disposing of relevant rights. Seizing creditors can apply to the court to require third-party debtors to state whether they acknowledge the claim and its specific content. Seized assets can be liquidated through transfer orders or sale orders, with sales conducted through entrusting virtual asset businesses, selling after transferring to the executor's account, or exchanging for more liquid digital assets before selling. For digital assets with insufficient liquidity, they can be converted into other digital assets for liquidation. The Supreme Court's administrative office will gather opinions before August 11.

According to the Bangkok Post, the Bank of Thailand is advancing a 1:1 baht-backed stablecoin plan and expects to launch a public consultation (open call for opinions) on the related proposal by the end of this year.

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.

The European Commission is publicly soliciting opinions on the revision of the MiCA framework, with the industry focusing on core issues such as stablecoin reserve rules, the decentralization identification of DeFi, and the regulatory jurisdiction of prediction markets.

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 hket, Hong Kong's Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Chen Haolian, stated that the authorities will submit legislative proposals to the Legislative Council within the year regarding the provision of virtual asset services and management, promoting the establishment of a comprehensive regulatory system covering trading, custody, advisory, and asset management, and implementing a mandatory licensing arrangement.The new framework will be advanced according to the principle of "same business, same risk, same rules," aligning with the current regulated activities under the Securities and Futures Ordinance, and will focus on strengthening private key management and client asset security requirements in virtual asset custody.The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission stated that the current applications for licenses related to virtual assets continue to increase, but licensing will adhere to the principle of "quality over quantity," balancing market capacity and quality.

Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated that the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking public opinion on "prediction market ETFs." The regulator is clearly still weighing this new type of product and hopes to gain more time and feedback. Such products are essentially brand new (somewhat similar to crypto assets), and the regulator needs to ensure a thorough understanding of the risks and mechanisms before "opening the floodgates" to establish sufficient confidence.

According to The Block, the European Union has officially launched a public assessment and consultation on the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), evaluating the framework's applicability in the context of the rapid evolution of digital assets, and is open for industry and public feedback until August 31.This assessment covers the core regulatory framework of MiCA, including key regulatory areas such as crypto asset issuance, asset-referenced tokens (ART), electronic money tokens (EMT), and crypto asset service providers (CASP). The EU's consultation is divided into two paths: an open call for public opinions and a technical consultation aimed at financial institutions, regulators, and industry organizations.The European Commission stated that this move is driven by the ongoing evolution of the global digital asset market and the competitive pressure brought about by the rapid advancement of crypto regulation in the U.S. and Asia. Meanwhile, the transitional period for MiCA will end in July 2026, at which point crypto companies will need to obtain full compliance authorization.Recently, Zerohash has become the first company to simultaneously obtain both the MiCA CASP license and the Dutch electronic money institution license, and Poland has just passed its local MiCA implementation bill. The head of Coinbase's European policy stated that MiCA has established early global standards but should undergo "targeted optimization" to balance regulatory safety and international competitiveness.The European Commission also supports centralizing the regulatory authority over large cross-border crypto institutions to ESMA to strengthen the unified regulatory framework.

According to FinanceFeeds, Alex Thorn, the research director of Galaxy Digital, stated that as advancements in quantum computing hardware accelerate, the Bitcoin community is shifting from decentralized debates to forming a preliminary consensus on quantum threats. The core direction is to gradually introduce post-quantum cryptography (PQC) through soft forks, achieving an upgrade of the address system and long-term security assurance.The report points out that the current Bitcoin signature mechanism, which uses the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, can theoretically be cracked by Shor's algorithm. Approximately 2 million BTC from early p2pkh addresses are at risk because their public keys have been exposed, facing the potential risk of "collecting first and decrypting later." The community tends to promote a "migration window" mechanism to guide users in transferring their assets to new quantum-resistant addresses, and after a multi-year grace period, to implement freezing or destruction of untransferred assets to prevent large-scale market impacts in extreme situations. Additionally, the consensus includes enhancing "cryptographic agility," which allows protocols to switch signature algorithms without interrupting the network.The current proposal leans towards a dual-signature mechanism that uses ECDSA and PQC (such as Dilithium) in parallel, ensuring security redundancy while facilitating a smooth transition. Analysts believe that this approach transforms the quantum threat from a "black swan event" into a manageable technological upgrade, helping to solidify Bitcoin's security foundation as a long-term store of value asset.

According to The Block, BlackRock submitted a letter of opinion to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), opposing several reserve asset restrictions proposed in the draft implementation rules of the GENIUS Act.BlackRock opposes setting the cap on tokenized reserve assets at 20%, as this limitation would restrict the development of its products such as the BUIDL fund. The BUIDL fund supports over 90% of the shares of USDtb under Ethena and JupUSD under Jupiter. BlackRock also requested that the OCC confirm whether Treasury bond ETFs qualify as reserves and include two-year floating rate Treasury bonds in the list of eligible assets.

According to Bitcoin.com, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a notice seeking public comment on the rule change proposed by the NYSE Arca.The proposal requires that at least 85% of the assets in commodity trust shares must meet existing eligibility standards, with derivatives calculated based on nominal total value. Eligible assets include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP, which have been traded on designated markets for at least six months and have exchange-traded products providing significant exposure, while NFTs and collectibles are explicitly excluded.If the trust holds Bitcoin and over-the-counter call options on Bitcoin ETFs, only about 71% of the exposure will meet the requirements and will not be approved. The proposal aims to limit most exposure to a manageable range of assets while allowing more products to be listed. The SEC can approve, reject, or initiate related procedures during the review period.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, reaffirming its exclusive jurisdiction over the U.S. commodity derivatives market (including prediction markets). This case involves Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. KalshiEx LLC (case number SJC-13906).CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig stated that Congress has authorized the CFTC to have sole regulatory authority over the commodity derivatives market and warned that any state attempting to override federal law "will see you in court." The brief details the legislative history and framework of the Commodity Exchange Act, clarifying that the federal regulatory system takes precedence over relevant state laws. Previously, the CFTC has filed lawsuits against Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, and New York, successfully obtaining a temporary restraining order against Arizona to prevent it from exercising state jurisdiction over prediction markets regulated by the CFTC.

Defillama founder 0xngmi posted on the X platform that the KelpDAO hacking incident triggered a chain reaction of panic withdrawals from DeFi lending protocols, even those on Solana that were not directly affected were not spared. The specific data is as follows: Aave net outflow of $6.2 billion (-23%), Morpho net outflow of $716 million (-9%), Sky net outflow of $272 million (-4%), JupLend net outflow of $76 million (-8%).0xngmi added that the entire DeFi TVL directly evaporated by nearly $10 billion as a result. In such events, no one is a winner; it only shrinks the "cake" of the entire industry, and everyone suffers.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK is seeking feedback on specific regulatory activities for digital assets under its cryptocurrency roadmap.This consultation covers how activities such as stablecoin issuance, trading platforms, custody, and staking will fall under regulatory oversight. The consultation will close on June 3, 2026, and cryptocurrency businesses can apply for FCA authorization starting September 30, 2026. The FCA stated that the consultation on the rules for the future cryptocurrency asset regime is largely complete, and a policy statement will be released this summer. Before the new legislative regime is implemented in 2027, cryptocurrency assets remain largely unregulated in the UK, except for financial promotions and financial crime purposes.

According to analyst Alicharts, Bitcoin is at a critical turning point. Bitcoin is testing the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) resistance level, marking its third test in six months. The previous two tests ended in failure: in October last year, Bitcoin faced rejection, leading to a 30% drop from $116,000 to $80,000. In January, Bitcoin similarly faced rejection, resulting in a 39% drop from $97,000 to $59,800.Alicharts warns that a third rejection here would represent a significant structural failure. It could trigger a triple top effect, potentially pushing Bitcoin's price back to the annual low of $59,800. If BTC can ultimately break through this barrier and close above the 100-day SMA, then the upper limit will be breached. A breakout here would open a direct path to $80,000 - $84,000, confirming that the macro adjustment may have ended.

Binance co-founder He Yi (@heyibinance) published a lengthy article on the X platform on April 10, directly responding to a series of accusations made by OKX founder Xu Mingxing (@star_okx) against CZ and Binance. He Yi refuted each point in the article, stating that Xu deliberately blamed Binance for the market crash on March 11, defined the BNB chain meme as market manipulation by Binance, hired online trolls to suppress competitors, and engaged in "six tactics" such as creating controversies to drive traffic to himself. He bluntly stated, "You know too well how to attack a professional woman," emphasizing that his position is earned through independent effort and is unrelated to anyone else.At the end of the article, He Yi also responded strongly to personal attacks against him, stating, "You know too well how to attack a professional woman, just by stigmatizing 'she is where she is today because of a man,' deliberately creating scandalous rumors, and belittling me as 'a trophy'," and emphasized, "My identity is not given by anyone; I built my own empire. I came, I saw, I conquered; this applies to both my career and my relationships."Previously, CZ (@cz_binance) had posted about Xu Mingxing's public $1 billion bet, demanding that he "apologize like a man." Xu Mingxing responded by stating that CZ's public initiation of a huge bet contradicts the professional ethics expected of executives at regulated exchanges. The debate between the two parties is still ongoing.

According to The Block, Michael Selig, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, stated that when assessing which prediction market contracts are susceptible to manipulation, the agency will "largely respect the opinions of various sports leagues."Previously, the National Football League (NFL) sent letters to prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, requesting them to stop offering contracts on single game outcomes, drafts, injuries, and other easily manipulated or predetermined contracts, believing that such contracts could incite manipulative behavior.On the legislative front, bipartisan lawmakers have proposed bills aimed at prohibiting federally regulated prediction markets from launching sports-related contracts, and several states have challenged the legality of such platforms through legal means. Meanwhile, Major League Baseball has chosen a collaborative approach, reaching an agreement with Polymarket and signing an information-sharing agreement.