uk

According to The Block, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) finalized a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework on Tuesday, with a mandatory licensing regime set to take effect on October 25, 2027. The framework covers prudential requirements, market abuse regulation, and stablecoin standards, applicable to crypto trading platforms, custodians, stablecoin issuers, lending and staking service providers, as well as certain DeFi companies with identifiable controlling entities.Businesses can apply for authorization between September 30, 2026, and February 28, 2027, and existing anti-money laundering registrations will not automatically convert. Regarding trading platform rules, the FCA requires UK-qualified crypto asset trading platforms to conduct due diligence, meet entry standards, and publish disclosure documents, while removing the previous exemption that allowed fungible crypto assets to list without disclosure documents. Market abuse rules cover insider trading and market manipulation.For stablecoins, the FCA has removed the obligation to forecast the redemption of reserve assets, allowed limited group internal custody arrangements, and lowered the K-SII capital ratio for stablecoin issuance from 2% to 1%. Crypto assets on qualified platforms will be subject to a uniform 40% net risk exposure requirement and a 40% counterparty default volatility adjustment. FCA's Director of Payments and Digital Finance, David Geale, stated that this framework is an important milestone for crypto regulation in the UK, providing regulatory certainty while allowing businesses to maintain innovation space.

According to CoinDesk, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced that it has transferred over $8.3 million worth of USDT to a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by the country's asset recovery agency ARMA (National Agency for the Search, Tracking, and Management of Assets). This marks the first successful inclusion of seized cryptocurrency assets into national management in Ukraine's history.The transfer was made based on a court order and stems from an investigation by the National Bureau into an international hacker organization. The funds involved came from a wallet belonging to a member of this organization, which has been accused of attacking individuals and businesses in Europe and the United States to steal data and extort money. The proceeds were laundered in Ukraine through high-value assets such as real estate and vehicles. Currently, four suspects have been detained but have not yet been sentenced, with estimated losses exceeding $100 million.The report notes that the funds are currently only held in custody and have not been formally confiscated, as confiscation requires a court ruling. At this time, Ukraine is considering establishing a strategic reserve for cryptocurrency, similar to previous ideas from the United States. The reserve funds would come from confiscated cryptocurrency assets in criminal and civil cases, rather than being purchased on the open market.

According to Decrypt, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office has for the first time transferred seized cryptocurrency assets to the state asset management agency ARMA, with over 8.3 million USDT moved to its custody wallet.The funds come from the wallet of a suspected member of an international hacking group, which has been accused of carrying out ransomware attacks and data theft against businesses and individuals in Europe and the United States, and laundering money in Ukraine through the purchase of real estate and vehicles, causing losses of over 100 million dollars. Currently, four suspects have been detained, with assets worth over 11.1 million dollars seized, including real estate, vehicles, approximately 1 million dollars in cash, and cryptocurrency assets. This takeover by ARMA marks the first custody case involving digital assets following its reforms in 2025 to enhance the transparency of asset management related to criminal cases.

The Sun Wukong Ecology announced that it will hold a roundtable discussion today at 20:00 Beijing time at X Space, themed "High-Performance Open Source Model M3 Free Access! B.AI partners with MiniMax for exclusive full subsidies to accelerate the implementation of the Agent economy."It is reported that this event will feature special guests from MiniMax and industry KOLs, who will delve into how the exclusive subsidy program launched by B.AI in collaboration with MiniMax empowers complex Agent scenarios. Participants will focus on the dual reduction trend in development thresholds and costs for AI Agents under the "free access" model, analyzing its role in promoting the large-scale practical application of the Agent economy.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the "Leadership Change Before 2027" event on the prediction market Polymarket, the "Yes" option for the sub-market "Starmer - Prime Minister of the UK" has experienced significant fluctuations, rising from 28.5% an hour ago to the current 43.5% (a fluctuation of 15%). Please note the impact of relevant breaking news.

According to Jinshi reports, Ukrainian President Zelensky warned that Russia is about to launch a large-scale attack on Ukraine.

ChainCatcher, regarding the incident of OKX employees leaving to join Binance, OKX founder Star tweeted that over the past few years, many excellent OKX colleagues have joined other companies in the industry, including Yuki. We are proud of them for gaining recognition and favor from competitors, and we sincerely wish them success in their future development.OKX has hundreds of former employees from BN, including regional CEOs, product leaders, technical leaders, and many outstanding business and functional colleagues. They have brought valuable experience, perspectives, and input to OKX and have made significant contributions to the company's development. More importantly, they have deeply integrated with the OKX team and become part of OKX's culture and success. We have never treated this matter as marketing material to hype up.Talent mobility within the industry is a normal phenomenon and a sign of industry maturity. What truly matters is not where people come from, but whether they can continuously create value. Of course, for the very few who violate laws, business integrity, and professional ethics, we will take resolute measures and legally protect the company's legitimate rights and interests."A company that constantly talks about its vision, where the founder even in writing a book does not forget to heavily belittle former employees including the former CFO and former Asia head, is often the one with the least vision," Star said.Previously, according to RootData, former VIP account manager of OKX Yuki left to join Binance as a key account manager, sparking discussions among many crypto KOLs such as KuaiDong.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market event "Philadelphia Phillies vs. Milwaukee Brewers" on Polymarket, the win rate of the sub-market "O/U 8.5" for the "Over" option has experienced a sharp fluctuation, dropping from 43.5% an hour ago to the current 19.5% (a fluctuation of 24%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

Stand With Crypto's UK branch has initiated action, calling on banks to lift restrictions on transfers to cryptocurrency exchanges, arguing that such practices conflict with the UK's goal of becoming a global digital asset hub.The organization stated that about 40% of banks in the UK have blocked or delayed transactions to cryptocurrency exchanges, and 80% of exchanges reported a significant increase in trading resistance from customers over the past year. Some exchanges have even experienced nearly £1 billion in transaction cancellations within a year due to banks refusing to process transfers.Stand With Crypto UK plans to mobilize over 286,000 registered cryptocurrency advocates in the UK to submit formal complaints to their respective banks. The organization stated that users should not be unable to access legitimate asset classes due to banks imposing "one-size-fits-all" restrictions on the entire industry.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market event "Milwaukee Brewers vs. Athletics" on Polymarket, the win probability for the "Athletics" option in the sub-market "Spread -3.5" has experienced significant fluctuations, rising from 11.5% an hour ago to the current 36% (a fluctuation of 24.5%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority proposed in its quarterly consultation document to allow certain approved investment funds (including UCITS funds and some non-UCITS funds) to hold up to 10% of cryptocurrency exchange-traded notes. This proposal aims to align approved funds with investor demand while ensuring adequate consumer protection.The UK Financial Conduct Authority stated that, given the speculative nature of the underlying crypto assets, it is inappropriate to allow retail-focused funds to have significant risk exposure to crypto products, and the 10% cap will set a conservative limit. Additionally, the UK Financial Conduct Authority is publicly consulting on whether non-regulated and qualified investor schemes can invest in more speculative assets without a holding limit; this public consultation will last for five weeks until July 13.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market event "Milwaukee Brewers vs. Athletics" on Polymarket, the win probability for the "Milwaukee Brewers" option in the sub-market "Milwaukee Brewers vs. Athletics" has experienced severe fluctuations, dropping from 54.5% an hour ago to the current 19.5% (a fluctuation of 35%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

According to The Block, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed allowing authorized investment funds (including UCITS schemes and most non-UCITS retail schemes) to allocate up to 10% of their assets to cryptocurrency exchange-traded notes (ETNs).This proposal is included in the FCA's 52nd quarterly consultation document, and the public and institutions have five weeks to submit their opinions, with a deadline of July 13. The FCA stated that this move aims to bridge the regulatory gap between individual retail investors and authorized funds. Since the FCA lifted the four-year retail ban on cryptocurrency ETNs in August 2025, individual investors can directly invest in ETNs, but funds were previously still subject to an "effective ban."The FCA emphasized that the 10% cap is deliberately set, as exceeding this ratio could force funds to be reclassified as restricted public investment products, affecting their retail fund status. In the proposal, professional and qualified investor schemes are not subject to the cap; long-term asset funds and non-UCITS retail schemes operating in the form of alternative investment funds will be excluded.The FCA pointed out that cryptocurrencies do not align with the investment objectives of these funds. From the industry perspective, the Investment Association supports the proposal, believing that acquiring crypto assets through regulated listed products is manageable in terms of risk, and the 10% cap helps manage fund risk. Fund managers must ensure that their holdings are consistent with the investment objectives and risk characteristics disclosed by the fund and disclose significant cryptocurrency ETN holdings.The FCA emphasized that it is not currently considering allowing authorized funds to directly hold cryptocurrency assets for investment and will make a decision after assessing the impact of the upcoming cryptocurrency asset regulatory framework and client asset protection rules.

On June 5, local time, the High Court of England held a procedural hearing regarding the asset disposal related to the Qian Zhiming case. Regarding approximately 60,000 bitcoins and other assets involved in the case, about 16,000 Chinese victims have registered through multiple UK law firms to participate in the civil recovery process under the UK Proceeds of Crime Act. The registration window closed on May 22.An important topic of this hearing was how multiple law firms would share the common litigation costs. The judge ultimately decided that each law firm would pay their corresponding share of £190,000 into the court account based on the number of victims they represent, with a deadline of June 26 at 4 PM. A special hearing to determine the "legal applicability issue" of whether Chinese victims can claim ownership of the assets involved will be held in July.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market event "Milwaukee Brewers vs. Colorado Rockies" on Polymarket, the "Over" option in the sub-market "O/U 10.5" has experienced a drastic fluctuation in win probability, dropping from 53.5% an hour ago to the current 21% (a fluctuation of 32.5%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market event "San Francisco Giants vs. Milwaukee Brewers" on Polymarket, the option "San Francisco Giants" in the sub-market "Spread -2.5" has experienced a dramatic fluctuation in winning probability, soaring from 73.5% an hour ago to the current 97% (a fluctuation of 23.5%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

According to PR Newswire, institutional-grade digital asset data and software provider Lukka announced the acquisition of data provenance and compliance platform PEER DATA. Lukka primarily provides auditable digital asset pricing, classification, and market intelligence for funds, custodians, banks, and exchanges; PEER DATA achieves contract digitization, data usage measurement, and end-to-end traceability through its Data Book of Record (DBOR) platform and patented Daisy Chain technology.After the merger, both parties will provide financial institutions with a "control layer" covering digital assets and a broader range of data assets, uniformly supporting pricing, classification, proof of origin, licensing, and governance, while continuously expanding to scenarios such as on-chain assets and AI data consumption. The new company will continue to operate under the Lukka brand, headquartered in New York, with existing customer service unchanged.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the event "Women's Singles: Kostiuk vs. Andreescu" on the prediction market Polymarket, the probability of the sub-market "Match Completed" for the "Yes" option has experienced significant fluctuations, dropping from 93% an hour ago to the current 76% (a fluctuation of 17%). Please note the impact of relevant breaking news.

According to a report by Reuters, Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, raised £9.3 million in the first quarter of 2026, surpassing the fundraising scale of major UK political parties for the third consecutive quarter, with some of the funds coming from large donations by cryptocurrency investors.

According to a report titled "Stablecoins: Waiting for Regulation" released by the UK House of Lords Financial Services Regulatory Committee, the global market capitalization of stablecoins has exceeded $310 billion, but the UK pound stablecoin market is still in its infancy, and the construction of the regulatory framework is clearly lagging behind the United States (GENIUS Act) and the European Union (MiCAR).The report criticizes several aspects of the current regulatory proposals from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England, focusing on:• The Bank of England's requirement for systemic stablecoin issuers to deposit at least 40% of reserve assets in non-interest-bearing central bank deposits, which the industry believes will severely harm issuers' profitability and the international competitiveness of the UK market;• The proposed holding limits (individual £20,000, corporate £10 million) are considered extremely difficult to implement and may stifle the development of the pound stablecoin market;• The T+1 redemption requirement will impose a significant operational burden on issuers;• The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) restrictions on deposit-taking institutions issuing stablecoins under independent brands are deemed overly stringent.The report also acknowledges the liquidity support loan mechanism proposed by the Bank of England, considering it an innovative regulatory measure that surpasses other major jurisdictions. The committee calls on regulatory agencies to strictly adhere to the established timeline, ensuring that the complete regulatory framework comes into effect as scheduled on October 25, 2027, and recommends adopting a principle-based, technology-neutral regulatory approach to achieve a reasonable balance between financial stability and market innovation.