Author: John Smith

South Korea has moved to accelerate work on its Digital Asset Framework Act, with Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Byoung-hwan saying the government will step up consultations as lawmakers press for the legislation to be completed this fall. Summary South Korea’s FSC will accelerate consultations on the Digital Asset Framework Act as lawmakers seek passage this fall. The legislation is expected to cover stablecoin issuance, VASP rules and other parts of the digital asset market. Lawmakers pressed the government to move faster as digital asset regulation advances in the United States. South Korea is separately developing rules for spot crypto…

Banks and financial regulators from Europe, the Middle East and Asia joined a cross regional pilot testing post quantum security for digital asset wallets and blockchain transfers on Aug. 24. Summary Two banks will test quantum resistant wallets and transfers on a specialized NEAR testnet environment. Regulators from Abu Dhabi, Bhutan and Malta will initially observe the pilot’s first phase activities. The protocol combines multiparty computation with NIST standardized ML-DSA-65 signatures for secure digital asset transfers. Organizers plan a white paper covering test results before eventually releasing the underlying protocol publicly. No cryptographically relevant quantum computer currently exists that can…

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said on Aug. 23 that several developing economies increasingly rely on USDT for domestic commerce, international trade and dollar denominated savings. Summary Ardoino said USDT use is rising across Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia and Turkey amid monetary instability. Users increasingly hold USDT as digital dollars when local currencies weaken or cash dollars become scarce. Chainalysis ranked Venezuela eighteenth, Turkey fourteenth and Argentina twentieth for global crypto adoption in 2025. Chainalysis measured nearly $1.5T in Latin American crypto activity from July 2022 through June 2025. Tether said its technology served more than 570 million users worldwide as of…

Robert Kiyosaki renewed his call to buy Bitcoin on Aug. 22, arguing that financially educated investors use scarce assets to protect their wealth from inflation and a weakening U.S. dollar. Summary Kiyosaki urged investors to buy Bitcoin, gold, silver, and selected real estate as dollar hedges. Treasury is doubling long-dated buyback limits to at least $4 billion per operation in September. Treasury buybacks manage market liquidity and debt operations; they are not Federal Reserve quantitative easing. Kiyosaki’s $350,000 Bitcoin target for August 2024 did not materialize despite his continuing long-term bullish forecasts. Bitcoin traded near $76,000 following a weekly rally…

Term Labs confirmed on Aug. 23 that a governance exploit had affected its lending vaults. Blockchain security firms estimated that the attacker extracted approximately $8.5 million in cryptocurrency. Summary Term Labs confirmed a governance exploit affected its vaults while investigators assessed the full damage. CertiK estimated losses near $8.5 million, but Term Labs has not publicly confirmed that figure. The identified address held approximately 2,843 ETH and 1.6 million DAI after the attack transactions. PeckShield traced the exploiter’s initial two-ETH funding to Tornado Cash before the vault transactions began. Term Labs has not announced recoveries, reimbursement terms, contract pauses, or…

Onchain investigator ZachXBT said he may automatically reject future requests from crypto victims in seven jurisdictions. Summary ZachXBT said he may automatically reject future victim requests originating from seven named jurisdictions worldwide. Canada, the UK, India, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria and Bangladesh appeared on his stated list publicly. His planned website would restrict access from jurisdictions he personally characterized as low quality regions. No launch date, website address, eligibility rules or appeal process has been publicly disclosed yet. The proposed restrictions reflect ZachXBT’s personal experiences, not government sanctions, court orders or legislation anywhere. The named jurisdictions were Canada, the UK, India,…

The Blockchain Association and Crypto Council for Innovation sued Illinois on Aug. 21 to block a 0.2% digital asset tax scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. Summary Two industry groups sued Illinois to block its 0.2% digital asset tax before implementation begins. The tax takes effect January 1, 2027, covering specified exchanges, transfers and storage services statewide. Plaintiffs allege seven federal and state legal violations, including discriminatory internet taxation and vagueness claims. The complaint seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions, but no court has blocked enforcement yet statewide. Illinois House Bill 5798 proposes complete repeal but has not advanced…

Kalshi has blocked customers in Washington while asking a King County judge to reconsider an injunction restricting its prediction markets. Summary Washington requires Kalshi to block residents from seven event-contract categories under an amended preliminary injunction. Kalshi requested reconsideration after Washington agreed to delay enforcement against federally regulated competitor OG temporarily. September 2 is the scheduled decision date for Kalshi’s reconsideration request without oral argument currently. Michigan and Nevada also restrict Kalshi access while litigation over federal preemption continues nationwide. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig expects new event-contract proposals covering consumer protection and market governance requirements. The Aug. 21 motion argues…

BitMart said on Aug. 21 that it was exploring a restructuring plan involving creditor distributions and the phased restart of selected operations, less than four weeks after announcing a complete wind-down. Summary BitMart appointed White & Case while evaluating creditor distributions and a phased operational restart plan. September 9 is BitMart’s deadline for another update, not a guaranteed restructuring completion date yet. Existing notices still schedule all trading to end August 26 at 01:00 UTC unless revised. BitMart has not published creditor eligibility, payout percentages, reserve data or a court filing publicly. BMX trades near $0.06 after losing roughly 80%…

Michael Saylor renewed his case for Bitcoin on Aug. 23, describing the asset as a mechanism for converting economic value into a digital form that individuals, companies and governments can control. Summary Michael Saylor described Bitcoin as digital economic energy that entities can securely control and preserve. Strategy reported holding 840,447 Bitcoin, representing roughly 4% of Bitcoin’s fixed 21-million maximum supply worldwide. Strategy’s preferred shares are conventional securities, not blockchain tokens collateralized directly by specific Bitcoin holdings. At $77,175 Bitcoin prices, Strategy’s holdings exceeded aggregate acquisition cost by approximately $1.5 billion on Sunday. Strategy held $4.80B cash reserve after raising…