Digital assets landscape: Regulatory and policy insights for August 2025

For Strategy/Executive Teams: Cross-Agency Coordination Eliminates Jurisdictional Competition Federal agencies are developing unified digital asset oversight rather than competing for jurisdiction. The Coordination Evidence: • CFTC-SEC Alignment: Acting Chairman Pham announced "We will work closely with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Hester Peirce to achieve Project Crypto" [Source: CFTC, August 1, 2025] • Joint Framework Development: CFTC requested feedback on SEC securities law implications for unified oversight • Treasury Integration: GENIUS Act requires coordinated rulemaking across Treasury, Fed, OCC, and state regulators What Unified Oversight Enables: • Market Access Clarity: Institutional investors get regulatory certainty for large-scale allocation • Platform Licensing: "Super app" development under coordinated oversight vs. separate entities • Global Competitiveness: Treasury Secretary Bessent: "buttress the dollar's status as the global reserve currency" Strategic Implication: Q1-Q2 2026 could deliver simultaneous regulatory clarity across all major agencies. Next Steps for Strategy Teams: • Prepare for unified compliance frameworks, not agency-specific solutions • Map business models against coordinated regulatory timeline • Build institutional readiness for Q1 2026 market access RegIntelX tracks it live: digitalregintel.com

Australian financial markets are witnessing a transformative moment as ASIC announces significant easing of stablecoin regulation for licensed brokerages, potentially accelerating digital asset adoption across the continent's financial sector. #ASIC #Australia #CryptoRegulation #FinancialServices #Stablecoins

August 2025 marks a paradigm shift in U.S. digital asset policy. A coordinated series of executive, legislative, and regulatory actions has replaced a period of legal ambiguity with a durable framework for innovation and market integration. This new regime has material implications for all market participants. Key pillars of this new architecture include: Legislative & Jurisdictional Clarity: The Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act is advancing to formally bifurcate regulatory authority, granting the CFTC jurisdiction over digital commodities and the SEC oversight of digital asset securities. This establishes a predictable legal foundation for the entire ecosystem. Market Structure Modernisation: In a coordinated "Project Crypto," regulators are leveraging existing authority to enhance market structure. The CFTC is moving to permit spot digital commodity trading on regulated Designated Contract Markets (DCMs). Concurrently, the SEC has approved the critical "in-kind" creation/redemption model for ETPs, a move that significantly improves their efficiency and aligns them with traditional commodity funds. Institutional & Banking Integration: The GENIUS Act provides a federal charter and supervisory framework for payment stablecoin issuers. Furthermore, banking regulators have provided clear guidance for federally chartered institutions to offer custody, asset tokenisation, and other services, creating robust on-ramps for institutional capital. #DigitalAssets #CryptoRegulation #Fintech #MarketStructure #SEC #CFTC #InstitutionalAdoption #Stablecoins #ETFs #Policy #denouement https://lnkd.in/eAcR5N9d

August 2025 marks a paradigm shift in U.S. digital asset policy. A coordinated series of executive, legislative, and regulatory actions has replaced a period of legal ambiguity with a durable framework for innovation and market integration. This new regime has material implications for all market participants. Key pillars of this new architecture include: Legislative & Jurisdictional Clarity: The Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act is advancing to formally bifurcate regulatory authority, granting the CFTC jurisdiction over digital commodities and the SEC oversight of digital asset securities. This establishes a predictable legal foundation for the entire ecosystem. Market Structure Modernisation: In a coordinated "Project Crypto," regulators are leveraging existing authority to enhance market structure. The CFTC is moving to permit spot digital commodity trading on regulated Designated Contract Markets (DCMs). Concurrently, the SEC has approved the critical "in-kind" creation/redemption model for ETPs, a move that significantly improves their efficiency and aligns them with traditional commodity funds. Institutional & Banking Integration: The GENIUS Act provides a federal charter and supervisory framework for payment stablecoin issuers. Furthermore, banking regulators have provided clear guidance for federally chartered institutions to offer custody, asset tokenisation, and other services, creating robust on-ramps for institutional capital. #DigitalAssets #CryptoRegulation #Fintech #MarketStructure #SEC #CFTC #InstitutionalAdoption #Stablecoins #ETFs #Policy #denouement https://lnkd.in/e-XRuQ29

Today the Chairman of the SEC and the acting Chairman of the CFTC issued a joint statement announcing a joint SEC-CFTC roundtable on regulatory harmonization, which will be held on September 29, 2025. The potential areas for coordination in the roundtable include: * 24/7 Markets: Collaborating to potentially expand trading hours to align with global, always-on markets, such as foreign exchange, gold and crypto markets. * Event and Perpetual Contracts: Providing regulatory clarity for event contracts and considering how to "onshore" perpetual contracts (derivatives without an expiry date) to U.S. platforms. * Portfolio Margining: Creating a coordinated framework to reduce capital inefficiencies by allowing for the netting of offsetting positions across both SEC- and CFTC-regulated products. * Innovation Exemptions and DeFi: Considering the use of "innovation exemptions" or safe harbors to allow for peer-to-peer trading in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols while long-term regulations are developed. The outcome of this roundtable will likely have a very relevant impact on the regulatory landscape in the US and around the world. https://lnkd.in/dMYhp2Sn

Not sure whether to launch your stablecoin project from the EU or the US? Here are a few key considerations to note before making your decision: Are there stablecoin-specific rules in place? - US: The GENIUS Act was adopted on 18 July 2025, but is not expected to take effect until late 2026 or early 2027 — it could be earlier if the primary Federal payment stablecoin regulators issue final implementing regulations sooner. - EU: MiCAR has been applicable and in effect since 30 December 2024. How confident can you be that your stablecoins won’t be treated as securities triggering extensive compliance requirements? - US: the criteria relies largely on non-binding guidelines (e.g. Division of Corporation Finance) and securities-law tests extracted from old case-law with open principles (e.g. Reves and Howey). The risk of requalification as securities may not be completely ruled out today. - EU: under MiCAR, there are clear definitions for stablecoins (i.e. asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens), and the EU institutions (e.g. EBA, ESMA) offer clear guidelines with distinct market-based hallmarks, which make the qualification far more predictable. What if your stablecoins are deemed to be securities? - US: If your stablecoins qualify as securities, you will have to register the securities with the SEC or rely on a relevant exemption (e.g. Regulation S, Rule 144A, etc.), if applicable. Documenting and proving an exemption may be complex and costly. - EU: If your stablecoins qualify as a financial instrument, MiFID II and the Prospectus Regulation would apply, with clear-cut exemptions based on objective criteria. These exemptions are fact-based so planning beforehand (including financial budgeting) is possible. ESMA often updates its (binding) guidelines, which enhances certainty about the regulatory treatment of your stablecoins.

Treasury’s Strategic Delay = US Capital Efficiency Advantage Treasury issued limited GENIUS guidance Aug 18, with AML comments due Oct 17. Full implementation is likely delayed until late 2026. Why it matters: Treasury is using its statutory runway, creating a two-speed market. • US issuers → Defer costs, influence technical details in Oct • EU issuers → Immediate MiCA costs and audits • Processors → Optimize for US timeline while EU competitors pay early Cross-border arbitrage: The gap between EU MiCA obligations and delayed US implementation gives US issuers temporary advantage. Executive decision: Engage Oct 17 to influence rules but avoid premature spending. 👉 See timing analysis and strategy in this week’s DigitalRegIntel Brief. https://lnkd.in/gjfQrzY6

The SEC and CFTC released a joint statement outlining efforts to coordinate regulatory frameworks, including: o  24/7 Markets. For on-chain finance to scale, the statement indicated that the SEC and the CFTC should collaborate to consider the possibility of further expanding trading hours, where appropriate. Factors that may be relevant include operational feasibility and liquidity consistent with investor and customer protections. Specific markets, including foreign exchange, gold, and crypto assets, already trade continuously. Further expanding trading hours could better align U.S. markets with the evolving reality of a global, always-on economy. Expanding trading hours may be more viable in some asset classes than others, so a one-size-fits-all approach may not be applicable to all products. o  Event Contracts. The statement noted that prediction markets, which have existed around the world for decades, are undergoing rapid growth due to increasing demand from both market operators and the public. The agencies should work together to provide clarity for innovators who want to list event contracts on prediction markets responsibly, including those based on securities. The SEC and CFTC should explore opportunities to collaborate on considering where event contracts may be made available to U.S. market participants, regardless of where the jurisdictional lines fall. o  Innovation Exemptions and DeFi. Both agencies are prepared to consider “innovation exemptions” to create safe harbors or exemptions that allow market participants to engage in peer-to-peer trading of spot, leveraged, margined, or other transactions in spot crypto assets, including derivatives such as perpetual contracts, over DeFi protocols. These safe harbors and exemptions would allow market participants to build commercially viable models while the agencies advance longer-term rule-making. o  Next Steps. The statement announced a joint SEC-CFTC roundtable scheduled for September 29, which will focus on discussing regulatory harmonization with stakeholders. The statement indicated that the United States has long been the home of financial innovation, but recently, novel products have been driven overseas due to fragmented oversight and legal uncertainty. The SEC and the CFTC should encourage the reversal of this trend by harmonizing their approaches to product offerings, enabling increased market choice, and protecting investors through clear, predictable, and pro-innovation regulatory frameworks. Link here: https://lnkd.in/gSDfaNRT

US–EU Regulatory Cost Curves Have Diverged—Investor Implications Two timelines, two cost curves: US: Oct deadlines create engagement opportunities while delaying spending (CFTC, Treasury, unified banking). EU: Sept 15 precedents and MiCA obligations lock in compliance expenses through 2026. Implications for investors: • Capital-efficient positioning = engage US, anchor predictable EU jurisdictions • Market timing = US delay enables development before costs bite • Hedging = Germany/France/Netherlands → predictability; shape US rules simultaneously For portfolios: Cross-border strategies must differentiate. EU costs are immediate; US frameworks remain shapeable. 👉 Full investor lens in this week’s DigitalRegIntel Brief. https://lnkd.in/gjfQrzY6

FCA consults on standards for UK crypto-asset firms - STEP: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued proposals on the minimum standards crypto firms in the UK will need to comply with.