Web3 Wavefronts - Digestible News on Crypto, DeFi and AI

On February 19, 2026, the SEC Division of Trading and Markets issued a staff FAQ under Exchange Act Rule 15c3-1 that sets a uniform 2 percent net capital haircut for qualifying payment stablecoins held as proprietary long and short positions, replacing a prior de facto full deduction practice. The 2 percent level aligns with haircuts applied to money-market instruments backed by short-term Treasur...

Russian authorities will treat cryptocurrencies and stablecoins as tradable assets, file a draft bill to the State Duma in March 2026, and target adoption during the spring session with the law set to take effect on July 1, 2026 and full liabilities and penalties phased in on July 1, 2027. The regime will require exchanges, brokers, banks, and custodians to obtain local licenses and meet requireme...

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded about $3.8 billion in net redemptions across five consecutive weeks, the longest streak since February 2025, bringing year-to-date outflows to about $4.5 billion and printing roughly $316 million in net redemptions in the most recent week. BlackRock’s IBIT registered roughly $2.10–$2.13 billion of withdrawals over the five-week span, including about $303.5 million l...

The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) published two advisories on February 12, 2026 identifying over-the-counter crypto desks and crypto payment processors as channels for laundering and tax evasion. The J5 membership includes the Australian Taxation Office, Canada Revenue Agency, Dutch FIOD, HM Revenue and Customs, and IRS Criminal Investigation. The advisories reported average daily OT...

Mirae Asset Consulting agreed to acquire 92.06 percent of Korbit in an all-cash transaction valued at 133.5 billion KRW (about $92–93 million), covering approximately 26.91 million shares. The buyer’s board approved the transaction on February 5, the deal was disclosed on February 13, and closing is expected within seven business days after regulatory and contractual conditions are satisfied. Sell...

On February 16, 2026, X announced Smart Cashtags that make $TICKER tags interactive by surfacing real-time quotes, sparklines, and reference information in the timeline and by opening a compact trading panel that routes users to integrated partner brokerages and crypto exchanges for execution. X will provide market data, routing links, and the UX surface while partner brokerages and exchanges rema...

Harvard Management Company reduced its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) position by about 1.48–1.50 million shares, a roughly 21% decline, in Q4 2025 and initiated a position in the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA). At quarter-end it held approximately 5.35–5.40 million IBIT shares valued at $265–266 million and approximately 3.87–4.00 million ETHA shares valued at $86.8–87 million, for combined ETF posi...

On February 11, 2026, Canton, North Carolina voted unanimously to enact a 12-month townwide moratorium on new data centers, server farms, and cryptocurrency mining, explicitly covering the roughly 185-acre former Pactiv Evergreen paper mill site. The moratorium begins before any formal permit applications were submitted and suspends permit intake and processing while staff draft zoning and perform...

Federal prosecutors indicted 24-year-old Elmin Redzepagic of Wolcott, Connecticut, on 21 counts alleging a cryptocurrency investment scheme that operated from May 2021 through March 2025. The indictment alleges he solicited funds by representing himself as a skilled crypto trader and diverted large portions of investor deposits into an online gambling venue, with investigators and local reporting...

Revenues for Europe’s cryptocurrency exchanges are projected to increase from USD 19.38 billion in 2025 to USD 164.30 billion by 2034, implying a 26.8 percent compound annual growth rate between 2025 and 2034. MiCA establishes licensing and passporting across the European Union and sets regulatory expectations for custody, asset segregation, disclosures, and reporting. Regulatory alignment under M...

Show description: BlockFills paused client deposits and withdrawals and is returning attempted inbound transfers while coordinating with investors and counterparties to stabilize liquidity. Trading to open or close positions in spot and derivatives remains allowed under tighter limits, heightened risk checks, and faster liquidation triggers. Accounts that fall below required margin can face forced...

The European Commission has drafted a measure to prohibit transactions with exchanges and crypto asset service providers registered in Russia. The draft shifts from targeted listings to an activity-based approach that bars dealing with Russian-registered crypto venues and service providers. Named targets include Garantex, the A7 payment platform and its A7A5 ruble stablecoin. The package also incl...

Hong Kong will begin issuing its first stablecoin issuer licenses in March 2026 under the Stablecoins Ordinance that took effect in August 2025. The licensing perimeter covers fiat-referenced coins issued in Hong Kong and HKD-referenced tokens issued outside Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has received dozens of submissions and plans to approve a small pilot cohort at launch. Th...

Department of Justice files released under a 2025 transparency initiative record a roughly $3 million purchase of a Coinbase stake in 2014 at an implied valuation near $400 million and a negotiated sale of roughly half that position in early 2018 for about $15 million to Blockchain Capital, with correspondence naming intermediaries who sourced the allocation and identifying Brock Pierce as a broke...

Senate Bill 310, filed January 12, 2026 and carried by Senator Craig Bowser, would permit cryptocurrency contributions to Kansas state and local campaigns while leaving acceptance optional for individual campaigns and excluding federal races. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs on January 13 and has a public hearing scheduled for January 22 in Room 144 S at 1...

U.S. crypto policy shifted from enforcement-driven litigation to statutory frameworks, joint agency playbooks, and supervisory alignment. Congress enacted the GENIUS Act to create a nationwide stablecoin regime that classifies permitted payment stablecoins as a distinct class, places primary federal oversight in an OCC-centered framework, assigns roles to the FDIC, Federal Reserve, Treasury, and s...

On February 6, eight Chinese agencies led by the People’s Bank of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a joint notice banning the issuance, distribution, marketing, and servicing of unapproved RMB‑pegged stablecoins inside the mainland and by offshore entities that target mainland users and classifying unauthorized tokenized claims on property, bonds, commodities, securities...

On January 31 at about 10:45 a.m., two California teenagers approached a residence on Windrose Drive in Scottsdale posing as delivery workers and forced entry. Inside, they restrained two adults with duct tape, assaulted at least one victim, and a third person hid and called 911. Police arrived during the attack; the suspects fled through the backyard and a short vehicle pursuit ended at a nearby...

India’s finance ministry and tax authorities have moved to active engagement with onshore and offshore crypto exchanges to map trading behavior and align platform data pipelines; authorities are holding structured conversations about order routing, derivatives, staking, and wallet flows to identify reporting gaps. Project Insight links exchange statements and wallet activity to income tax returns...

U.S. regulators intensified scrutiny after Reuters reported a rise in cryptocurrency activity tied to Iran. Blockchain analytics firms flagged increased on-chain flows and peer-to-peer trading linked to Iranian counterparties, including greater use of stablecoins, decentralized venues, and informal over-the-counter desks. U.S. Treasury and sanctions officials signaled that these flows could be use...

Tian Ruixiang unveiled a USD 1.5 billion, multi-year initiative to back Web3 infrastructure, developer tools, and early-stage ventures through direct investments, incubation programs, and strategic partnerships. The plan allocates capital across seed and Series A investments, incubator support for core protocol and middleware development, and reserved funds for strategic infrastructure including n...

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) plans to grant the first stablecoin issuer licenses in March 2026 under the Stablecoins Ordinance, which came into force on August 1, 2025. HKMA will approve an initial tranche of issuers drawn from 36 applications that have completed initial reviews and it has requested supplementary materials on reserve composition, distribution controls, and operational r...

A UAE-backed consortium acquired 49% of World Liberty Financial for $500 million. Deal documents show the transaction routed approximately $187 million to Trump family accounts and about $31 million to entities linked to Steve Witkoff, and Eric Trump signed the agreement four days before the presidential inauguration. After closing, two officials affiliated with the UAE National Security Force joi...

Federal authorities arrested Tejas Patel and Navya Umeshkumar Bhatt on January 31, 2026, and charged each with three counts of federal money laundering tied to a coordinated social engineering and fraud pipeline spanning Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Investigators allege callers impersonated trusted brands and regulators, told victims their accounts were compromised, and instructed victims to...

Chainalysis analysis found Chinese-language laundering networks moved $16.1 billion in 2025, about $44 million per day, across roughly 1,799 active wallets and representing nearly one fifth of an estimated $82 billion in global crypto laundering flows. Operators fragmented large inflows, routed funds through stablecoins and multi-hop wallets using peel chains and consolidation addresses, and used...