News, data and analysis on tokenized assets, market design and digital economic systems.
Standard setters have agreed the reference framework (FSB recommendations, the Basel cryptoasset standard, the FATF travel rule and IOSCO's conduct expectations) and their own reviews find implementation of it uneven.
International standard setters supply the reference framework that national regimes implement. The Financial Stability Board's global stablecoin and crypto-activity recommendations were supplemented by a thematic peer review published on October 16, 2025 that found significant gaps and inconsistencies in implementation. The Basel Committee's prudential standard for cryptoasset exposures (SCO60) had its implementation date deferred to January 1, 2026, announced on May 13, 2024, alongside a disclosure framework. The FATF's seventh targeted update, published on July 16, 2026, reported that 83% of surveyed jurisdictions had travel-rule legislation, up from 73% a year earlier, while flagging weak enforcement and growing criminal use of stablecoins. IOSCO's policy recommendations for crypto and digital asset markets and for DeFi set market-conduct expectations. The Bank for International Settlements devoted a chapter of its 2026 Annual Economic Report, released on June 23, 2026, to the singleness of money and a unified ledger, and published findings from Project Agora on May 27, 2026.
| Framework | Status | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| FSB high-level recommendations for the regulation, supervision and oversight of global stablecoin arrangements | In force | 17 July 2023 | Revised recommendations covering governance, reserve management, redemption rights and cross-border cooperation for global stablecoin arrangements. |
| FSB high-level recommendations for crypto-asset activities and markets | In force | 17 July 2023 | Same-activity, same-risk approach to crypto-asset service providers, conflicts of interest and cross-border data sharing. |
| FSB thematic peer review on implementation of the crypto-asset and stablecoin recommendations | In force | 16 October 2025 | Found significant gaps and inconsistencies in national implementation, particularly for stablecoin arrangements and cross-border cooperation. |
| Basel Committee prudential standard for cryptoasset exposures (SCO60) | In force | 1 January 2026 | Group 1 and Group 2 classification with a 1% Tier 1 exposure limit for Group 2 assets; implementation deferred from January 2025 to January 1, 2026 in the May 13, 2024 announcement, with an accompanying disclosure framework. |
| FATF Recommendation 15 and the travel rule for virtual assets | In force | 21 June 2019 | Requires licensing or registration of virtual asset service providers and transmission of originator and beneficiary information for transfers. |
| FATF seventh targeted update on implementation of standards for virtual assets and VASPs | In force | 16 July 2026 | Reports 83% of surveyed jurisdictions with travel-rule legislation, up from 73% in 2025, with persistent enforcement gaps and rising criminal use of stablecoins. |
| IOSCO policy recommendations for crypto and digital asset markets | In force | 16 November 2023 | Eighteen recommendations on conflicts of interest, market manipulation, custody, cross-border risks and retail distribution. |
| IOSCO policy recommendations for decentralised finance | In force | 19 December 2023 | Applies existing standards to DeFi arrangements by identifying responsible persons and addressing governance and disclosure. |
| BIS Project Agora (tokenized correspondent banking on a unified ledger) | In force | 27 May 2026 | Findings published with seven central banks and more than 40 private financial firms on tokenized wholesale settlement and cross-border payments. |
| BIS Annual Economic Report chapter on the next-generation monetary and financial system | In force | 23 June 2026 | Sets out the singleness of money, elasticity and integrity as tests for tokenized systems, and argues for tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank money on a unified ledger. |
| CPMI-IOSCO application of the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures to stablecoin arrangements | In force | 13 July 2022 | Clarifies that systemically important stablecoin arrangements are subject to the PFMI, including governance, settlement finality and money settlement. |
Every development we have evidenced under Global standard setters, newest first.
Binance published a zero-knowledge proof on 2 November, from its 31 October snapshot, letting holders of ten tokens, among them bitcoin, ether, USDT and USDC, confirm their balances are backed at least one for one. The less traded tokens that make up the last 5% of the stolen assets are not covered; a wider snapshot is due 4 November. A second withdrawal phase began on 3 November.
Binance began restoring withdrawals in phases on 1 November across 15 networks. It says it has replaced about 95% of the stolen assets from SAFU, part of its futures insurance fund and its corporate treasury, with a full proof of reserves due by 3 November. The FBI attributed the theft to North Korea on 31 October.
Tether's BDO attestation as of 30 September 2026 shows assets of $191.45bn against liabilities of $183.50bn, an excess of $7.95bn, up from $4.11bn at 30 June. Tether reports $1.5bn of quarterly net operating profit and $132.4bn of direct and indirect Treasury bill holdings.
Binance said an attacker took assets worth about $6.3bn on 29 October 2026 and suspended withdrawals, pledging to cover losses. TRM Labs attributed the theft to North Korea's TraderTraitor unit. Tether, Circle, Ripple and World Liberty Financial froze stablecoins; Binance put the total frozen at about $3bn.
Mastercard and BVNK launched accounts that banks, fintechs and companies can offer under their own brand, holding fiat and stablecoins side by side, with conversion, stablecoin-linked cards and local bank payouts over Mastercard Move. No stablecoin, chain, issuer or price was named.
The Financial Stability Board published a note for G20 finance ministers saying stablecoins used across borders, and the national rules for them, have never been tested in severe stress. It flagged tokens issued jointly by affiliates in several countries, put the market at about $300bn, unchanged in a year, and named no issuer.
Trading, deposits and new positions ended at 04:00 UTC, on the schedule HDR Global Trading published on 23 July, and www.bitmex.com now serves a closure notice in place of the platform. Withdrawals stay open; verified accounts with balances left behind are charged 1 per cent a year, billed monthly, or USD 50 equivalent for accounts holding no more than that.
A Form 8-K discloses a five-year arrangement under which Circle pays Binance a monthly incentive fee set as a percentage of the USDC held through its Modular Smart Contract Wallet service, replacing agreements of November 2024 and August 2025, alongside a private placement of 1,237,011 Class A shares at $80.84. The press release announcing the deal does not mention the fee.
Arc goes live as a layer one whose fees are payable in USDC, with a founding validator cohort of eleven institutions alongside Circle including DTCC, ICE, Mastercard and Visa. Circle says it completed the genesis mint of 10 billion ARC in the United States and describes the token as a digital commodity, adding that the mint is not a commitment to launch it.
Complaints unsealed in Manhattan allege Hefu Chai and Huaisong Xiang learned of forthcoming Robinhood Crypto listings on a private Slack channel and bought perpetuals on Hyperliquid before each announcement, making more than $50,000 each. The pleading says the venue holds no CFTC approval for a futures market and geofences United States addresses.
The exchange said it would cease operations on 22 December 2026, nine years to the day after its launch. Spot trading ends 29 September, when non-USDT holdings are sold into outside markets and CET is repurchased at 0.005 USDT. Unwithdrawn USDT then carries a monthly charge of 5 per cent of the closing balance until claims close in August 2028.
The governance post reports protocol revenue of about $30,000 in August against a monthly burn of about $150,000, most revenue still from v2, and a treasury of at least $9m. Pools move to withdrawals only on 30 October, holders burn BAL for a pro rata share in kind from the end of May 2027, and the vote runs 25 to 29 September.
Broadridge announced on 2 September 2026 that its Distributed Ledger Repo platform would take G7 securities as collateral alongside US Treasuries, for cross-border repo, intraday repo and collateral movement with atomic settlement. The release gives August volume at $7.4tn, a daily average of $351bn, which is the lowest of the five months this desk has recorded.
Finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Asheville on 31 August and 1 September 2026 committed to frameworks that establish clear pathways for sound digital assets innovation, named three Financial Stability Board outputs they are waiting for and asked the FATF to prioritise jurisdictions with significant virtual assets use. China did not join the statement.
Twenty-one banks and asset managers said on 1 September 2026 that they had committed to establish a company in the second half of 2026, subject to closing conditions, to support the issuance of a stablecoin, starting in dollars with a euro offering the priority for expansion. They aim to go to market in the first half of 2027. No company name, token, chain or custodian is given.
Pablo Hernandez de Cos, general manager of the Bank for International Settlements, argued at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on 28 August 2026 that stablecoins fail on singleness, interoperability and financial integrity, and that tokenized bank deposits settled through central bank accounts do not. The speech stops short of asking for restrictions and allows that the two could coexist.
A one-page determination effective 24 August 2026 extends section 1(a)(i) of Executive Order 13902 to the aviation, digital asset, gold, shipping and technology sectors of the Iranian economy, so any person anywhere operating in them may be designated. The same rule suspends five general licences indefinitely, including the one authorising noncommercial personal remittances to Iran.
Standard Chartered and HSBC said on 19 August 2026 that they had executed the first live tokenized deposit transaction on Swift's blockchain-based ledger, describing it as issuing, transferring, recording and settling tokenized deposits between two banks and demonstrating interbank interoperability. No currency, value or corridor is disclosed in the release.
Tether announced on 13 August 2026 that KPMG US had audited the financial statements of Tether International, S.A. de C.V. for the year ended 31 December 2025 and issued an unqualified opinion, with reserves exceeding liabilities by $6.814bn. The statements and the auditor's report were not published.
Google's revised Chrome Web Store Developer Program policies came into force on 1 August 2026, the Regulated Goods and Services section stating that extensions facilitating or enabling real money transactions on predictive outcomes are not allowed. The change was published on 1 July. It names no venue and reaches extensions rather than the markets themselves; no removal has been reported.
A cryptographic check released on 2 November shows the exchange held enough of ten big tokens to cover every customer's balance after the theft. The smaller tokens it is still buying back are not covered yet.
The exchange drew on an emergency fund and part of a buffer that protects futures traders. The FBI blames North Korea, but how the thieves got in is still unexplained.
The largest crypto theft on record was slowed by companies that can lock their own tokens. Bitcoin and ether have no such switch, and about $2.4bn now sits beyond any issuer's reach.
The buffer that would absorb losses before USDT holders lose anything rose by $3.8bn in a quarter in which Tether says it earned $1.5bn. Its announcement does not explain the difference.
Two months after buying BVNK, Mastercard is selling banks and fintechs a ready-made way to hold, convert, spend and pay out stablecoins under their own brands. It does not say which coins, or on which blockchains.
The Financial Stability Board says a dollar token held worldwide but backed and regulated in a few countries could leave holders unsure whom to claim from if it failed. It puts the market no bigger than a year ago.
What issued, what settled, what the supervisors changed, with the numbers behind it and a note on what the numbers do not show. One email, Thursday mornings.
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