Several European tokenization and financial infrastructure firms have urged the EU to amend its DLT Pilot Regime, arguing that tight asset categories, issuance caps, and a 6-year license limit are stalling blockchain-based market growth. They warn Europe could fall behind the US, where regulators have issued a DTCC no-action letter and clarified tokenized securities rules, paving the way for larger-scale tokenized trading and faster settlement.

A group of European tokenization and market infrastructure firms has asked EU legislators to rapidly amend the DLT Pilot Regime, arguing that current asset limits, volume caps and license durations are holding back regulated onchain markets. They warn that without a narrow technical fix, tokenized asset activity may shift to the United States, where regulators and major exchanges have already moved to clarify how tokenized securities can be issued, custodied and settled within existing frameworks.

On 5 February 2026, Circle announced a strategic partnership with prediction market platform Polymarket to embed its fully reserved USDC stablecoin infrastructure into onchain markets. The collaboration is intended to make USDC a core settlement layer for prediction-based trading, aiming to enhance reliability, capital movement, and scalability as market activity and liquidity increase.

The Aster decentralized exchange and perpetual futures platform announced on Thursday that its new layer-1 blockchain testnet is open to all users, with a mainnet release targeted for Q1 2026. The project, which rebranded in March 2025 into a perpetual futures DEX and competes with Hyperliquid, plans to roll out fiat on-ramps, open-source its code and expand token utility as perp DEX volumes surged into the trillions of dollars in 2025.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has criticized the launch of new generic EVM-based Layer 1 chains, calling them a dead end and arguing that Ethereum's base layer will already provide substantial EVM blockspace. He now promotes a broader spectrum of designs, including deeply integrated app-chain models and institutional Layer 2s, urging developers to focus on differentiated features such as privacy, app-specific efficiency and ultra-low latency. While questioning the rollup-centric roadmap, he still assigns Layer 2s a role in delivering extreme scalability for demanding use cases like AI.

As of February 5, 2026, Swiss private bank Maerki Baumann & Co. Ltd. is regulated in the UAE by the FSRA of ADGM, according to a press release. Its Abu Dhabi Middle East Hub, operating under the ARCHIP brand, will provide liquidity management, trading, custody, staking, and other digital asset services to blockchain and crypto firms.

On February 5, 2026, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced the Safeguarding Consumers from Advertising Misconduct (SCAM) Act, requiring social platforms to verify advertisers and exposing noncompliant companies to FTC and state attorney general actions. In 2025, Reuters reported Meta’s internal estimates tied roughly $16 billion of 2024 revenue to suspect ads, prompting calls for SEC and FTC probes, while major banking associations and AARP voiced support for the bill.

U.S. lawmakers opened a House inquiry into World Liberty Financial after a Wall Street Journal report on a $500M UAE-linked bid for a 49% stake. On Feb 5, 2026, Rep. Ro Khanna said he sent a letter seeking ownership records, payment flows and internal communications, with responses due by March 1, 2026. Donald Trump told reporters he was unaware of the deal.