The U.S. Department of Justice has asked Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York to schedule an October 2026 retrial for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm on unresolved sanctions and money laundering charges. Storm was previously convicted only for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and sentenced to five years, a move critics say clashes with recent Treasury language and a key Uniswap ruling viewed as favorable to DeFi developers.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission is reportedly planning to keep USD-based stablecoins like USDT and USDC out of upcoming corporate virtual currency trading guidelines. Under the draft rules, eligible companies could allocate up to 5% of their capital into leading crypto assets via regulated exchanges, while authorities continue to favor KRW-denominated stablecoins over U.S. dollar alternatives. Stablecoin use in Asia remains strong, with regional activity heavily concentrated in markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan.

Trump’s crypto advisor Patrick Witt challenged U.S. banks’ hardline opposition to the CLARITY Act, warning their stance could backfire amid concerns about deposit flight to stablecoins. Stablecoins have purchased $153 billion in U.S. Treasury bills as of December 2025, becoming a major buyer and bolstering the White House’s push to leverage stablecoins for cheaper federal debt financing.

BlackRock has reduced the staking fee on its Ethereum ETF from 18% to 10% to stay competitive as ETH staking demand reaches record levels. At the same time, Culper Research has taken a short position in ETH, arguing that recent Ethereum upgrades are compressing validator yields and could ultimately hurt staking demand and the asset's value.

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority has instructed MEXC, KuCoin, and their affiliates to stop all unlicensed crypto activities in the emirate, warning users of potential financial and legal risks. The enforcement actions, issued on Thursday and Friday, come amid surging crypto flows in the wider region and growing concerns over Iran’s increasing use of digital assets to bypass U.S. sanctions.

The U.S. Treasury and IRS have proposed making electronic delivery the default method for crypto tax forms, aiming to cut the cost and burden of mailing paper documents to customers. Under current rules, staking rewards like 1 ETH are taxed as income when received and can also incur capital gains tax when sold at a higher price. Congressman Mike Carey has urged officials to clarify and ease the tax treatment of staking, while the IRS conducts an internal review on the issue.

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan argued that the Iran-related escalations over the weekend turned crypto venues like Hyperliquid and Tether Gold into the main global hedging channels while traditional markets were shut. He highlighted Hyperliquid's real-time oil pricing, a 30% weekend jump in HYPE, and a $300 million volume spike in Tether Gold as evidence that on-chain finance may be advancing faster than his previous 5‑10 year outlook.

Over the past five days, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded $1.5 billion in inflows while BTC has held between $65K and $70K. At the same time, President Donald Trump has criticized banks for allegedly stalling the CLARITY Act and urged them not to weaken his broader crypto agenda.

Analyst Anndy Lian has questioned whether wrapping real-world assets into tokens delivers true crypto benefits or simply introduces extra intermediaries and expenses. Despite these concerns, the tokenized RWA market has reached $26 billion with 657K asset holders, supported by firms such as BlackRock and platforms including Robinhood and Hyperliquid. The sector's resilience during broader crypto weakness suggests continued demand even as critics warn of higher operational friction.