Crypto Markets & On-Chain Ecosystem Developments

South Korea's National Assembly postponed digital asset taxation three times in 2021, 2022, and 2024, despite public opinion surveys consistently showing majority support for implementation. Academic research published in June in the 'Korean Political Studies' journal found that arguments about

Twenty-six companies including Visa, Mastercard, and Circle launched the Agentic Payments Alliance on the 18th (local time), according to an announcement by stablecoin payment firm Rain on X. The alliance aims to build a collaborative ecosystem for AI agent-based payment infrastructure. Rain

According to Wednesday's announcement, Bitcoin.com is integrating USDU, a US dollar-backed stablecoin registered with the Central Bank of the UAE, into its self-custodial web and mobile wallet. USDU, issued by Abu Dhabi-based Universal Digital, is the first and only Foreign Payment Token registered

Kakao added stablecoin-related information services to its corporate business purposes at a March shareholder meeting, according to a corrected semi-annual report filed on the 19th. The South Korean tech company cited plans to

Maple Finance has emerged as the second-largest institutional crypto lender globally, ranking behind only Tether, following a strategic transformation that began after the 2022 crypto credit collapse. The platform currently holds approximately $1.9 billion in active loans and has maintained a

Singapore's Police Force Online Criminal Harms Act Office issued a Code of Practice on August 17 requiring Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to block financial-services advertisements from reaching Singapore users unless advertisers hold required local authorization, with a compliance deadline of

According to Seoul National University's Korean Political Research Institute, a June 2026 research paper found that infrastructure concerns from crypto industry professionals and investors carried more weight than public opinion in South Korea's three decisions to delay digital asset

According to Rain, a stablecoin payments company, 26 founding members across payments, stablecoins, blockchain, and AI sectors launched the Agentic Payments Alliance on August 18. The alliance aims to build infrastructure for AI agent-driven commerce, where agents execute transactions on users'

According to Axios citing White House sources on August 18, prediction market companies were excluded from a private meeting between President Trump and technology industry leaders scheduled for August 19. The White House confirmed the companies will not be invited and will not attend the

On August 18, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new regulations exempting certain digital asset investment contracts from registration requirements under the Securities Act of 1933. According to the SEC's proposal for "Regulation Crypto Assets," issuers meeting specific

According to its amended interim report filed on August 19, Kakao added "other information services" to its business scope and is pursuing stablecoin and digital asset services in partnership with subsidiaries. The company said the initiative aims to support a multi-asset digital wallet and create s

President Donald Trump stated that Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig is working to bring perpetuals-focused trading platform Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion during a Wednesday press conference with technology leaders and federal

According to Trump on Wednesday, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig is working to bring perpetuals-focused platform Hyperliquid into the United States in a "fully compliant and legal fashion." Trump made the comments during a press conference with federal agency chairs and

According to Onchain Lens, a large whale has unstaked 300,660 HYPE tokens worth approximately $21.02 million and entered the unstaking queue this week. A total of 726,300 HYPE tokens, valued at around $50.4 million, are scheduled to be unstaked this week.