On May 18, 2026, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England published a joint vision to expand tokenisation and distributed ledger technology across wholesale financial markets, aiming to help the shift from pilot projects to live production use. The plan pairs regulatory work with infrastructure changes, including a consultation on near-24/7 settlement operations and updated prudential guidance covering tokenised exposures and stablecoins.

On May 14, the Senate Banking Committee voted 15-9 to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, outlining how U.S. regulators would oversee crypto markets. The bill would clarify SEC and CFTC roles, create a joint advisory committee, and set frameworks covering DeFi decentralization tests, stablecoin reward limits, and tokenized securities treatment.

On May 15, 2026, the FCA, the Bank of England and HM Treasury said frontier AI models are raising cyber risks for regulated financial firms and financial market infrastructures. They urged firms to reinforce operational resilience and cybersecurity to counter AI-driven attacks that can be faster, more scalable and lower cost.

On May 12, 2026, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said it filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in litigation involving KalshiEx LLC. The agency argues Congress created a comprehensive federal derivatives framework under the CFTC that preempts state laws when applied to CFTC-regulated prediction markets.

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2026 — CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said the agency is working more closely with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to better align oversight, rulemaking and enforcement across securities and derivatives markets, including digital assets. He said the agencies have entered a memorandum of understanding and started joint efforts such as a harmonization initiative, participation in the SEC's Project Crypto, and work on a "common-sense" crypto asset taxonomy.

On May 12, 2026, Elliptic announced it raised $120 million in a Series D round led by One Peak, with participation from Nasdaq Ventures, Deutsche Bank and the British Business Bank. The company said the financing values Elliptic at $670 million and will fund expansion of its blockchain analytics and compliance infrastructure for banks, fintechs, government agencies, exchanges and payments firms.

On April 3, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published a notice that a Nasdaq-proposed rule change to its transaction fee schedule was immediately effective. The filing updates the reference month for a non-displayed liquidity credit tier to February 2026 and extends the tier's expiration from March 2026 to August 2026. Nasdaq designated April 1, 2026 as the operative date, and the SEC is soliciting public comments.

On April 2 in New York, the Linux Foundation said it created the x402 Foundation and accepted Coinbase's contribution of the x402 protocol to set up neutral, open-source governance for a proposed "payments over HTTP" standard. The protocol is intended to embed payments into web interactions so apps, APIs, and AI agents can exchange value within typical HTTP-based workflows. The announcement was made at the MCP Dev Summit North America.

On April 1, the CFTC said a U.S. federal court entered a supplemental consent order against former FTX head of engineering Nishad Singh, which—together with a prior order—wraps up the agency's enforcement action. The Southern District of New York ordered $3.7 million in disgorgement, a five-year trading ban, and an eight-year registration ban, and required continued cooperation. The CFTC added it is not seeking restitution or a civil monetary penalty at this time.