Latest Crypto News & Market Updates

Singapore Payment Services Act: DPT Licensing and Asset Protection

Singapores crypto regulatory framework is best understood as an activity-based licensing system rather than a single “crypto licence.”　　The Payment Services Act 2019 (PSA) regulates Digital Payment Token, or DPT, services alongside other payment activities. Its scope was materially expanded on April 4, 2024 to capture custody, token transfers and exchange-arrangement activities that previously could fall outside the perimeter.　　Customer-asset safeguards followed in October 2024, requiring relevant DPT service providers to place customer assets into trust arrangements or return them within the prescribed timeframe, maintain proper records and separate safeguarding functions from trading and investment decisions.　　A second framework then became important in 2025.　　From June 30, 2025, Singapore introduced a separate Digital Token Service Provider regime under the Financial Services and Markets Act for specified Singapore-linked businesses that provide digital-token services only to customers outside Singapore. MAS has said the licensing bar for that model is high and that it will generally not issue such licences.　　These two regimes should not be combined.　　For a crypto platform operating from Singapore in 2026, the useful questions are:　　Which legal entity provides the service？　　Does it serve customers in Singapore, customers overseas, or both？　　Which regulated activity does it perform？　　Does its MAS permission actually include Digital Payment Token Service？　　Those questions

09-23Industry Research

South Korea Virtual Asset User Protection Act: Safeguards and Market Abuse

South Koreas Virtual Asset User Protection Act has moved well beyond its launch phase.　　The law took effect on July 19, 2024 and added a dedicated user-protection and market-conduct layer on top of the countrys earlier virtual asset service provider registration and anti-money-laundering framework.　　Its core protections are concrete.　　Customer cash deposits must be managed separately through banks. Virtual asset service providers must actually hold the types and quantities of crypto entrusted by users. At least 80% of the economic value of customer virtual assets must be maintained in cold storage. Providers also need insurance, mutual-aid arrangements or reserves for specified incidents such as hacking and system failures.　　The law also created a much stronger market-abuse regime covering conduct such as insider dealing, price manipulation and fraudulent transactions.　　By July 2026, those provisions were no longer theoretical. Korean financial authorities reported that they had completed investigations into more than 40 suspected unfair-trading cases since the law took effect and had referred or reported more than 30 cases to investigative authorities.　　That enforcement record makes the 2026 question different from the one investors asked in 2024.　　It is no longer:　　Will South Korea enforce the User Protection Act？　　It is:　　How do the custody rules work in practice, what does the

09-23Industry Research

Japan Payment Services Act: Crypto Registration, Custody and 2026 Reform

Japan has one of the longest-running crypto exchange registration systems among major financial markets, but its regulatory structure is changing again in 2026.　　The Payment Services Act (PSA) remains the current foundation for cryptoasset exchange registration, custody and customer-asset protection. Amendments adopted in 2025 took effect on June 1, 2026, introducing a new intermediary category and additional measures affecting customer assets and stablecoin-related services.　　A second reform followed only weeks later.　　On July 15, 2026, Japan enacted amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) and Payment Services Act that are designed to move much of the regulation of cryptoasset trading into the FIEA framework.　　That later reform has passed, but it has not yet replaced the existing PSA regime as of September 2026.　　The Financial Services Agencys implementation materials state that the cryptoasset regulatory changes are scheduled to take effect within one year from April 1, 2027. Until the relevant provisions commence, existing PSA registration and custody rules remain operational.　　That creates a two-layer question for users and businesses:　　What rules apply to the provider today？　　and:　　What will change when the 2026 FIEA reform takes effect？　　Those questions need to be kept separate.Japans crypto framework is broader than the Payment Services Act　　The PSA is central, but it

09-23Industry Research

AI potential to drive crypto demand remains ‘underappreciated’: BlackRock

The worlds largest asset manager, BlackRock, says broad AI adoption could represent an underappreciated source of demand for digital assets.　　In its latest research paper, “The Machine-Native Economy,” BlackRock said the rise of AI and machine-to-machine payments could increase demand for blockchains and other programmable payment infrastructure, including stablecoins and other on-chain assets. It also sees a potential opportunity for digital assets to support the compute market, allowing claims on computing capacity to be tokenized, traded and used as collateral.　　“Together, these developments position AI as a structural catalyst for digital asset adoption and digital assets as a potential facilitator of the AI economy,” BlackRocks Will Su, Robert Mitchnick, Jay Jacobs and William Helm wrote. “This relationship remains underappreciated and could expand the role of digital assets as core infrastructure for an increasingly autonomous digital economy.”　　The crypto industry has long argued the potential link between AI and digital assets, but BlackRocks research could bring that thesis to its broader audience of institutional investors.　　AI could drive need for machine-native payment rails　　One of BlackRocks arguments is that the rise of agentic AI could increase the demand for machine-native payment instruments.　　While existing payment rails can support some degree of automation, account setup, credentialing, and authorization

09-23Exchange

Why Is Bitcoin Price Going Up Today？ Rally Defies Every Bearish Catalyst

Bitcoin is trading at $86,767.30, up 1.1% over 24 hours and 14.6% over the past week, following a rally that pushed it to $87,000, its highest level in eight months. Over $1 billion in positions were liquidated in a single 24-hour stretch on the way there.　　Every Bearish Catalyst Fired At Once　　Three things happened this month that were each expected to break the rally. The CLARITY Act, cryptos one shot at federal market structure rules, failed on the Senate floor 49-50, ten votes short of the 60 needed, after two years of lobbying. Coinbase stock fell about 8% that day, Circle fell roughly 10%.　　The next day, the Federal Reserve delivered a unanimous 25 basis point rate hike under new chair Kevin Walsh, its first hike since 2023, as the 10-year Treasury yield sat above 5% and the Bank of Japan raised rates to a 31-year high in the same window.　　On top of that, the AI trade started cracking too, after Anthropics Dario Amodei published an essay warning the industry was outpacing its own safety work, quickly echoed publicly by Sam Altman and Elon Musk. The semiconductor index dropped over 5% by the following Monday, its worst session since July, with Nvidia,

09-23Exchange

21Shares launches Zcash ETP after U.S. ETF debut

21Shares has launched physically backed exchange-traded products tracking Zcash and ether.fi across Euronext Paris and Amsterdam, extending regulated European access to $ZEC weeks after Grayscale introduced a U.S.-listed Zcash ETF.　　21Shares announced the two products on Sept. 22, identifying them as the 21Shares Zcash ETP, ticker ZCASH, and the 21Shares ether.fi ETP, ticker $ETHFI. Both carry annual product fees of 2.5% and trade in euros in Paris and U.S. dollars in Amsterdam.　　The issuers product pages list Sept. 21 as the inception date for both securities. Each product began with 5,000 securities outstanding, while early reported assets under management stood near $100,000 apiece.　　21Shares Zcash ETP gives investors physically backed $ZEC exposure　　The Zcash product uses ISIN CH1608218801 and provides indirect exposure to $ZEC through a traditional brokerage account. Unlike buying Zcash directly, investors do not need to open a crypto exchange account or manage private keys.　　21Shares states that ZCASH is physically backed, meaning the product structure holds $ZEC corresponding to the securities issued. Its documentation identifies institutional custody providers that can include Coinbase Custody, Zodia Custody, Anchorage Digital and BitGo entities, while the current key-information section names BitGo as custody provider.　　The ETP does not give investors direct possession of the underlying $ZEC. Investors

09-23Exchange

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Challenges Banks as Stablecoin Rewards Fight Grows

Coinbase CEO Defends $USDC Rewards　　Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is pushing back against the idea that crypto platforms offering stablecoin rewards should face the same capital and liquidity rules as banks.　　In a Sept. 19 interview with Money Rehab, Armstrong argued that $USDC rewards largely pass through part of the economic return generated by the assets backing the stablecoin, including short-term U.S. Treasuries.　　“If you want to hold a stablecoin, you could actually earn reward,” Armstrong said. “Why shouldnt consumers be able to benefit from that？”　　The distinction matters because stablecoin rewards have emerged as a major battleground in Washington, with banks warning that higher-paying digital dollars could pull deposits from the traditional financial system.　　Armstrong Says Stablecoins Are Not Bank Deposits　　Armstrong drew a sharp line between $USDC rewards and deposit interest.　　“We‘re not engaging in fractional reserve lending,” he said. “That’s what you need a bank license for.”　　The GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, requires permitted payment stablecoin issuers to maintain at least one-to-one reserves using eligible liquid assets. The law also prohibits issuers themselves from paying interest or yield, while leaving debate around rewards provided by exchanges and other third parties.　　Armstrong said Coinbase is not a stablecoin issuer—$USDC is issued by Circle,

09-23Exchange

Australia Digital Assets Framework Act: Platform Licensing and the 2027 Transition

Australias digital-asset regulatory framework changed materially in 2026, but the most important new platform rules are not yet fully operational.　　The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act 2026, Act No. 38 of 2026, received Royal Assent on April 8, 2026. It creates a new financial-services framework for digital asset platforms (DAPs) and tokenised custody platforms (TCPs) under the Corporations Act.　　The reform is significant because it regulates the platform arrangement itself rather than simply trying to classify every crypto token as a traditional financial product.　　But enactment should not be confused with commencement.　　ASICs current implementation roadmap says the new DAP/TCP framework will commence in April 2027, followed by a licensing transition. At the same time, Australias existing financial-services laws already apply where a digital-asset product or service falls within existing financial-product definitions.　　That creates two parallel questions for businesses in 2026:　　What law applies to my product today？　　and:　　What additional DAP or TCP obligations will apply when the new framework commences？　　For users, the same distinction matters when an exchange says it is “preparing for Australias new crypto licence.” Preparation for a future regime does not establish that every service it provides today is already properly authorised.The Act is law, but the new framework starts in 2027　　The

09-23Industry Research

GENIUS Act Explained: US Stablecoin Rules and Implementation in 2026

The GENIUS Act is no longer only a policy framework waiting for an effective date.　　The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act, became law on July 18, 2025 as Public Law 119–27.　　Its principal effective date is now effectively fixed at January 18, 2027.　　The statute originally used a two-part formula:18 months after enactment; or120 days after the primary federal payment stablecoin regulators issue final implementing regulations;　　whichever occurs first.　　The first date is January 18, 2027.　　By late September 2026, the principal federal implementation packages remained in proposed-rule form. OCC had proposed its main framework, FDIC had proposed prudential and custody rules, and the federal banking agencies and FinCEN had proposed customer-identification requirements. No final implementing rule had been issued early enough for the 120-day mechanism to produce a date before January 18, 2027.　　That makes the distinction between law enacted and regime effective much clearer than it was earlier in 2026.　　For issuers, exchanges and users, however, one date is still not enough.　　The Act also contains separate delayed restrictions, including a rule that, beginning three years after enactment — July 18, 2028 — digital asset service providers generally may not offer or sell payment stablecoins in the United States unless

09-23Industry Research

Brazil Virtual Assets Law: Central Bank Licensing, VASP Rules and FX Boundaries

Brazils crypto regulatory framework moved from broad legislation into detailed central-bank supervision in 2026.　　The foundation remains Law 14,478 of 2022, which created a legal framework for virtual-asset services. But a current review can no longer stop there.　　Decree 11,563 assigned the main authorization and supervisory role to the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), while preserving the authority of the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) over securities. Then, in November 2025, the BCB published Resolutions 519, 520 and 521, which became the operational core of the regime in 2026.　　Those rules took effect primarily on February 2, 2026.　　They address three different questions:who needs authorization and how the transition works;how virtual-asset service providers must operate;when virtual-asset transactions fall inside Brazils foreign-exchange and international-capital framework.　　The result is much more specific than the phrase “crypto is regulated in Brazil.”　　For users and businesses, the important questions are:　　Which legal entity provides the service？　　Is it authorized, in the authorization process or operating under a valid transition？　　Is the product a virtual asset, a security, a derivative or a foreign-exchange service？　　Which regulator and rule apply to that activity？　　Those distinctions matter more than a generic “BCB regulated” label.Brazils framework now has several regulatory layers　　Brazils virtual-asset regime can be understood through four main

09-23Industry Research

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