Nasdaq is designing a tokenized stock framework in which issuers back tokens that are recorded directly in official shareholder registries, aiming to keep full legal parity with conventional shares while using blockchain for settlement. In parallel, Hong Kong plans to grant its first stablecoin licenses to major banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered, while the SEC studies exemptions for tokenized securities and global institutions explore broader real‑world asset tokenization.

Venus Protocol, a decentralized lending and borrowing platform, reported suspicious activity in its Thena (THE) and Cake (CAKE) pools tied to a suspected supply cap exploit exceeding $3.7 million. The attacker allegedly accumulated about 84% of THE’s market cap and then used the tokens as collateral to borrow multiple assets, prompting Venus to pause borrows and withdrawals for THE and some low-liquidity tokens.

Galaxy Research's Alex Thorn says the CLARITY Act must be placed on the full U.S. Senate agenda by early May to keep a realistic path to passage in 2026, warning that disputes over stablecoin yields and DeFi rules are slowing progress. Banking sector concerns about deposit flight, debates over regulatory turf and protections for blockchain developers, and falling Polymarket odds are adding to uncertainty for the U.S. digital asset market.

On 14 March 2026, Robinhood's Head of Crypto Johann Kerbrat explained why the firm is building Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum Layer 2 based on the Arbitrum stack, instead of launching a new Layer 1 blockchain. The network underpins a tokenization push that has already brought about 2,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs on-chain for European users, while evolving SEC guidance and potential exchange-level oversight of centralized sequencers cloud the outlook for a planned U.S. mainnet later in 2026.

The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has declined to hear Custodia Bank’s final appeal over its denied Federal Reserve master account, ending the crypto-focused bank’s five-year legal effort to gain direct access to the central bank’s payment system. Judges upheld the view that the Federal Reserve has discretion over which institutions can obtain master accounts, even as other fintech and crypto firms, including Kraken and Revolut, pursue their own routes to US banking access. The ruling drew a strong dissent from Judge Timothy Tymkovich, who warned that refusal of a master account can be “indispensable” and potentially fatal for a bank.

The US Department of Justice and Europol dismantled the SocksEscort residential proxy network, seizing 34 domains, taking 23 servers offline across 7 countries, and freezing $3.5 million in cryptocurrency. The operation, running since 2009, allegedly hijacked 369,000 devices in 163 countries and was used to support account takeovers, ransomware, and crypto fraud, exposing 124,000 registered users to potential enforcement action.

On 13 March 2026, HSBC and a Standard Chartered-led joint venture emerged as frontrunners for Hong Kong's first stablecoin issuer licenses, which are expected to be announced by 24 March 2026. The new regime mandates 100% high-quality liquid asset reserves, strict AML rules, and next-day redemptions, while Hong Kong simultaneously advances broader digital asset reforms covering custody, derivatives, tax, and wholesale settlement. The initiative positions Hong Kong as a tightly regulated hub for institutional on-chain payments and cross-border trade finance.

Swedish authorities are investigating a reported data leak tied to CGI Sverige after a threat actor called ByteToBreach claimed to have exposed source code and sensitive material from the country's e-government platform. CGI said the incident involved two internal test servers with an older application version and its source code accessible but no evidence of impact on production data or services. Officials and security researchers warned that the leaked code and documentation, if authentic, could pose ongoing risks to Swedish and European public cyber infrastructure.