regulations

According to CoinDesk, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce has called for a reevaluation of the regulatory approaches to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML). She believes that the practice of "the more data, the better" creates an overwhelming amount of information, making it harder to identify the issues that truly need attention.Peirce stated that zero-knowledge proofs can be used to verify compliance without exposing personal data. This perspective was cited in insights published by CoinDesk on its X account.

According to Cointelegraph, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States has stipulated that for transactions in 2025, brokers generally need to report the sales income from digital assets, but in most cases, they do not need to report the cost basis, and taxpayers still need to calculate their gains and losses themselves; starting from 2026, brokers will need to report the cost basis for eligible digital assets. The IRS also emphasized that even if a taxpayer does not receive a 1099-DA, they still must report income and gains and losses related to digital assets.During the first tax season applying the 1099-DA reporting rules for cryptocurrency assets in the United States, some investors are facing issues such as missing transaction data and difficulties in verifying cost basis. A survey conducted by Awaken Tax in August among 1,000 U.S. cryptocurrency investors showed that 21% of respondents who have filed or plan to file for an extension are still waiting for exchanges or cryptocurrency platforms to provide the necessary information; about 20% indicated that their 1099-DA form information is incomplete or are unsure whether it accurately reflects their trading situation.

The U.S. midterm elections have become a key concern for the stock market amid the surge in AI trading. Polls indicate that the Democratic Party may regain control of Congress, and Wall Street strategists point out that this could put pressure on AI boom stocks.The Chief Market Strategist at Zacks Investment says that if the Democrats perform strongly in the elections, hearings on AI safety issues may increase. A strategist at Wolfe Research expects that the Democrats may establish an "AI Special Committee" for inquiries.

Citigroup stated in its latest market strategy program that the failure of the U.S. Senate to advance the CLARITY Act for formal review did not interrupt Bitcoin's rebound. After the procedural vote on the bill was blocked, Bitcoin remained strong, indicating that funds have begun to reduce their reliance on a single legislative node and are instead focusing on whether regulatory rules can continue to move forward.Citigroup believes that the legislative blockage will limit the CFTC's ability to obtain a more comprehensive regulatory mandate for the crypto market in the short term, but the SEC can still advance some rule-making based on its existing authority. For the market, this means that the compliance process for the crypto industry still has room to continue, with the subsequent focus on the SEC's actual execution pace regarding trading, tokenized assets, and market access rules. Additionally, the macro environment remains a variable for Bitcoin's rebound.The baseline judgment of Citigroup's economic team is that this round of interest rate hikes may be close to "one and done"; however, the quantitative macro team warns that if AI investments continue to support growth, and employment and wage pressures persist, interest rates may face further upward revision risks. Citigroup views Bitcoin's position above the mid-term moving average as a signal of warming risk appetite and notes that its correlation with Nasdaq performance is worth continued tracking.

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is fulfilling its earlier commitment to rapidly advance cryptocurrency regulatory rules. Previously, a landmark digital asset bill failed to progress in the U.S. Senate this week.As the futures and swaps regulatory agency that was originally set to become the main regulatory body for the cryptocurrency market under the CLARITY Act, the CFTC has submitted a new proposal aimed at regulating cryptocurrency asset trading and markets for White House review. Information released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Friday indicates that the proposal was accepted on Thursday.

According to Cointelegraph, Bernstein analysts stated that after the failure of the CLARITY Act to pass the Senate procedural vote, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are expected to "actively and swiftly" advance the formulation of digital asset regulations to make up for the time spent on previous bill negotiations.Bernstein anticipates that the new regulations may cover token classifications for financing, protective measures for DeFi and self-custody protocol developers, exemptions for stock tokenization innovations, expedited approvals for perpetual contracts of real-world assets, and revisions to rules related to sports event contracts and their swap classifications. Relevant agencies may provide additional regulatory clarity for the industry through administrative rules.Analysts believe that the CLARITY Act could have reduced the risk of the regulatory framework being adjusted with changes in the political environment through legislation, but due to limited remaining legislative time and controversies over ethical provisions, the likelihood of the bill being voted on again is low.The SEC had previously proposed a new framework applicable to certain crypto asset investment contracts, intending to allow entities to issue tokens not exceeding $5 million within 4 years, or tokens not exceeding $75 million within 12 months, and set up safe harbor arrangements. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins had also stated that if Congress fails to pass the CLARITY Act, the agency has the ability to formulate digital asset rules on its own.

According to informed sources, the U.S. government is pressuring Mexican officials to accept new regulations on the export of artificial intelligence hardware.U.S. and Mexican trade officials are expected to hold a new round of talks in Washington as early as next week. The two countries are also expected to discuss the possibility of reducing tariffs imposed by the U.S. on steel, aluminum, and automobiles.

According to Bitcoin.com, the cryptocurrency industry in Brazil may enter a consolidation phase due to new regulations from the central bank. The new regulations require virtual asset service providers to meet higher capital, auditing, anti-money laundering, and ongoing reporting requirements, with capital requirements for certain types of institutions reaching up to 37.2 million reais, approximately 7.2 million dollars.

Analyst Jukan from Citrini forwarded a research report from Tianfeng Securities and stated that the U.S. government needs to maintain its leading position in the AI field, making it difficult to truly stop once it enters the AI race. Jukan believes that the recent calls from Anthropic and OpenAI to slow down AI development should not be viewed solely as safety initiatives; there may also be multiple considerations behind it, such as the inability to slow down competition and consolidating leading advantages through safety regulation.Jukan further pointed out that the related "AI slowdown" calls seemingly stem from the challenges of safety testing, operational monitoring, and third-party validation keeping pace with the speed of model iteration. In the short term, this may suppress market sentiment in the AI sector and lower market expectations for the next generation of models; another possibility is that the industry remains optimistic about AI in the long term but wishes to delay the next round of significant R&D investment, prioritizing the commercialization of existing products and reducing infrastructure and capital expenditure pressures. He believes that the AI race is essentially similar to a "prisoner's dilemma," where all parties wish to slow down, but no one dares to be the first to stop, or they may lose technological, customer, and financing advantages.Jukan also mentioned that Anthropic and OpenAI have recently emphasized recursive self-improvement (RSI), which is related to AI already assisting in the development of the next generation of AI and the acceleration of model iteration speed; at the same time, it has been reported that during internal testing at OpenAI, incidents occurred where agents collaborated to escape the sandbox and intrude into Hugging Face's production servers. Jukan believes that as the release of models incurs expensive evaluation, certification, and ongoing audit costs, large laboratories are better able to bear these fixed costs, while smaller teams may face higher entry barriers as a result; if leading laboratories further participate in the formulation of evaluation standards, industry barriers may continue to rise.

The new regulations from the Central Bank of Brazil require virtual asset service providers to meet compliance requirements related to capital, auditing, anti-money laundering, and ongoing reporting, with capital requirements reaching up to 37.2 million reais, approximately 7.2 million US dollars. Currently, among about 300 related institutions, only 20 to 25 may meet the conditions to apply for authorization, and it is expected that only 10 will obtain licenses.Some small platforms have ended or restructured their retail operations, including Bitnuvem, NovaDAX, Digitra, and Coinext, but these platforms did not attribute their decisions to the new regulations. Institutions that fail to meet the requirements will also face ongoing compliance costs, and some businesses may struggle to maintain operations. Related institutions must apply for authorization by October 30, and those that do not apply will cease operations within 30 days and notify customers.Isabel Longhi, Head of Public and Regulatory Policy for Ripple Latin America, stated that market consolidation is expected to occur as the Brazilian crypto market matures, but the new regulations will limit innovation in the short term.

According to Cryptoslate, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand has proposed a new regulation draft for stablecoins, allowing licensed crypto platforms to only permit customers to deposit or withdraw stablecoins from/to their verified accounts or wallets, prohibiting transfers to others' wallets.At the same time, a limit of 5 million Thai Baht (approximately 150,000 USD) per person per platform per day has been set. The proposal is currently in the public consultation stage, with comments due by September 25, and has not yet come into effect.

According to a report by the Financial Association on September 4, the Thai government has ordered the suspension of construction on 49 data center projects, awaiting the introduction of new regulations for the industry. Danucha Pichayanan, Secretary-General of the National Economic and Social Development Council of Thailand, stated at a press conference on Friday that the suspension is necessary because the government is formulating new regulatory rules and regulations for existing data centers as well as those that are about to begin operations.The Thai Data Center Regulatory Committee, chaired by the Minister of Finance, held its first meeting on Friday. Danucha indicated that the committee is expected to announce new regulations for data center enterprises within a month.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) has officially approved the travel rule for crypto assets, requiring digital asset operators to verify the ownership or control of wallets when customers send or receive crypto assets to self-custody wallets, and to retain transaction-related information for at least five years for regulatory review. Pornanong Budsaratragoon, Secretary-General of the Thai SEC, stated that the rule aims to reduce the risk of digital asset operators being used for money laundering and terrorist financing.The new regulations were finalized after two rounds of public consultations this year, with the first round presenting a draft in March and a notification draft released in June. The Thai SEC stated that most stakeholders expressed support. As the travel rule is implemented, Thailand is considering expanding the access to regulated crypto products. On Monday, the Thai SEC proposed allowing intermediaries to offer specific crypto derivatives traded on regulated overseas exchanges to retail investors.In the days prior, regulators also advanced the draft rules for spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and simultaneously sought opinions on the foreign digital asset custodians used by funds investing in crypto assets. Thailand's move aligns with global regulatory trends, as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) estimates that by 2026, 83% of surveyed jurisdictions will have enacted travel rule legislation.

The Block's investigation shows that on the social trading app Fomo and Robinhood's self-custody wallet Robinhood Wallet, users can directly purchase Memecoin using credit cards via Apple Pay or Google Pay without completing a separate KYC identity verification. Transactions can also accumulate points or cash back rewards as normal credit card rewards. The media tested the purchase of WIF, and transactions on the Visa and Mastercard networks were classified under merchant category code MCC 5815 (digital goods media), rather than the cryptocurrency asset categories MCC 6012 or 6051 as stipulated by card organization rules, which typically come with crypto tags and do not earn rewards.These transactions are supported by the Token Checkout product from the crypto infrastructure company Crossmint. Crossmint insists that this classification is appropriate, citing the joint guidance released by the SEC and CFTC in March of this year, which views certain Memecoins like WIF as "digital collectibles." However, Chase stated that the Visa transaction was not marked as a cryptocurrency purchase and that the classification was incorrect, and they have initiated a case review with Visa; the New York Attorney General's office also stated that it is reviewing the matter. Vanderbilt University law professor Yesha Yadav and other payment experts believe that the SEC's position and card organization rules represent "two completely different systems."

According to The Information, the Trump administration is studying a new regulatory rule for artificial intelligence chips aimed at limiting the remote acquisition of computing resources for advanced AI chips in the United States.The report states that after Trump begins his second term in 2025, the White House announced the withdrawal of the AI Diffusion Rule introduced during the Biden administration. Currently, a small team within the U.S. Department of Commerce is working on a smaller, more targeted alternative plan to restrict geopolitical competitors from accessing advanced AI chips through remote methods such as cloud computing.The rule is still in the drafting stage, and specific restrictions have not yet been clarified, but it indicates that the U.S. government may re-strengthen regulations on the cross-border acquisition of advanced AI computing power, focusing on the possibility of circumventing physical chip export restrictions through remote computing services.

According to Bloomberg, the new regulations on cryptocurrency asset financing proposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this month aim to restart the ICO financing model. The proposal allows startups to raise up to $5 million within four years and large projects to raise up to $75 million annually without full SEC registration.However, the market environment has fundamentally changed: in January 2018, ICO financing reached $3 billion, but now VC token trading volumes have significantly declined, and speculative funds have shifted to perpetual contracts, prediction markets, and AI stocks. Dragonfly partner Tom Schmidt stated, "Having something is better than having nothing, but it would have been more useful if launched a few years ago." Pantera Capital partner Cosmo Jiang pointed out, "Previously, meme coins that were legal but had actual value were illegal, which is completely contrary to the way capitalism operates." Analysts believe, "The ICO of 2026 is not the ICO of 2018; the era when white papers and dreams could attract capital has ended."

According to The Block, the Blockchain Association has submitted a letter of opinion regarding the stablecoin issuer rules proposed jointly by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Reserve. The association supports limiting the Customer Identification Program (CIP) obligations to transactions where issuers directly face customers in the primary market, and it should not extend to peer-to-peer transfer activities in the secondary market.At the same time, the association calls on regulators to further clarify definitions such as "account," "customer," and "digital asset service provider," excluding one-time redemptions and other non-continuous businesses, and to avoid creating overlapping compliance burdens with anti-money laundering rules. The association stated that the implementation of the rules should balance stablecoin security, operability, and space for industry innovation.

According to the Nikkei, Japan's Financial Services Agency plans to relax regulatory restrictions on trust banks issuing stablecoins, opening up space for individuals to conduct stablecoin transactions exceeding 1 million yen, and intends to include relevant content in the upcoming tax reform proposals.If implemented, stablecoins could further be used in large consumption scenarios such as automobiles and housing, indicating that the application of stablecoins in Japan is expanding from small payments to higher amount settlements.

On August 24, according to Caixin, the National Development and Reform Commission released the "Measures for the Administration of Foreign Investment (Revised Draft for Public Comment)" and is publicly soliciting opinions from society, from August 21 to September 20, 2026. The "Draft for Comments" expands the definition of investors from enterprises to domestic enterprises, other organizations, and individual residents, and clarifies that reinvestment by investors abroad also falls under foreign investment.In the section on foreign investment regulation, regarding the classification and regulatory division of foreign investment, the procedures for approval and filing, and other matters, investors must obtain foreign investment approval documents or filing notices before implementing foreign investments. For individual residents newly included as investors, the approval authority is the National Development and Reform Commission, and the filing authority is the provincial development and reform department of their registered residence or habitual residence.

According to Bitcoin.com, Grayscale's research director Zach Pandl pointed out in an analysis report that if the SEC's proposed new regulations on crypto asset financing (Regulation Crypto Assets) are ultimately implemented, Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain may become the main beneficiaries.The proposal establishes two exemption paths: projects raising less than $5 million can be exempt from registration for four years, and projects raising less than $75 million can be exempt from registration for one year, with a conditional safe harbor designed to provide a clear domestic compliance path for crypto asset issuance and reduce the motivation for issuers to operate overseas. Pandl noted that tokenized financing has previously been hindered by regulatory ambiguity, and if the new regulations stimulate issuance activities, it will bring more U.S. issuers and investors on-chain, driving value back to underlying networks and native tokens such as ETH, SOL, and BNB. The proposal is still in the public comment phase, and the final rules may be adjusted based on public feedback and SEC review; increased network activity does not guarantee a rise in token prices.