Ripple and the Republic of Palau Collaborate to Mint First PSC Stablecoin

U.S. regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has fined Seychelles-headquartered crypto prime brokerage Falcon Labs as part of an overall settlement with the company.  The CFTC had found that the company had operated as an unregistered futures commission merchant (FCM) and furthermore, that it had enabled access to digital asset exchanges without the requisite registration.Photo by Joshua Hoehne on UnsplashSettlement termsIn a press release published to its website on May 13, the CFTC set out the nature of its settlement with Falcon Labs. The parties have agreed that Falcon Labs must discontinue its activities in acting as an unregistered FCM, with particular emphasis on it having provided U.S. individuals with access to digital asset derivatives trading.  Furthermore a fine of $1,179,008 has been applied in disgorgement and in addition, Falcon will have to pay a civil monetary penalty of $589,504. These penalties have been significantly reduced by comparison with the CFTCs original ask, on the basis that Falcon Labs cooperated fully with the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement over the course of the regulator’s investigative process into the activities of the company. In its statement the regulator set out its intent relative to enforcement going forward. Ian McGinley, the CFTC’s Director of Enforcement, stated:”The CFTC is taking the fight one step further by, for the first time, charging an intermediary that inappropriately facilitated access to those exchanges. Today’s action highlights that the CFTC will not hesitate to charge any entities—exchanges or intermediaries—who are providing customers access to digital asset products and services that require registration but have failed to appropriately register.” McGinley added that “the CFTC’s enforcement program has made clear it will not tolerate digital asset exchanges that fail to register with the CFTC or comply with the agency’s rules that maintain integrity in the derivatives markets.” No admission of guiltIn responding to the CFTCs original complaint, Falcon Labs tried to up the ante in terms of compliance. It moved to improve customer identification controls. As a consequence of its market position as a trading intermediary Falcon Labs enabled customer trading on a number of digital asset exchange platforms.  That activity included facilitating U.S.-based institutional customers relative to crypto derivatives trading. It allowed its own account with various digital asset trading platforms to be used, through a system of sub-accounts, by its customers, oftentimes without adequate customer information having been sought. In reaching this settlement with the CFTC Falcon Labs has not made any admission of guilt relative to the regulator’s findings. Alongside paying the agreed upon fines, it will voluntarily agree to adhere to the implementation of improved controls and to withhold its services from user groups that are deemed to be restricted, including all U.S. nationals. Taking to the X social media platform to comment on the matter, Mike Sellig, a partner at New York-based law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, claimed that the settlement demonstrated that the CFTC was following in the footsteps of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), establishing “a body of widely applicable precedent.”

Japan's parliament passed landmark legislation on July 15 reclassifying cryptocurrencies as financial products under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, removing them from the Payment Services Act framework that had treated them as a means of settlement. According to CoinPost, the reform introduces insider-trading rules to the sector for the first time, raises penalties for unregistered dealing, and clears the way for domestic crypto ETFs. Under the changes, crypto exchange operators will be redesignated as "crypto asset trading businesses," and unregistered sales will carry prison terms of up to 10 years and fines of up to 10 million yen ($61,000), up from three years and 3 million yen. Gains will move from comprehensive taxation (where combined income and residence taxes can reach 55%) to a separate flat tax of around 20%, with losses eligible for a three-year carryforward, though those tax measures take effect only once the amended law is in force. If enforcement falls in fiscal 2027, the new rate would apply from Jan. 1, 2028.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashWeak yen drives crypto adoptionThe overhaul lands as Japanese companies increasingly turn to cryptocurrency as a treasury asset, with the yen's prolonged weakness pushing them to diversify their cash strategies, SBI VC Trade, the crypto exchange arm of financial conglomerate SBI Holdings, said. The exchange said it is seeing greater uptake of SBIVC for Prime, its service for corporate and large-lot clients, from companies looking to hold and use crypto. It is also fielding more business from listed firms that distribute Bitcoin (BTC) or XRP to shareholders through benefit programs, a practice the company said is spreading in Japan. The comments accompanied SBI VC Trade's announcement that its registered accounts topped 2 million as of July 6, double the 1 million it reported in 2025. The Tokyo-based firm attributed the growth in part to its April 2026 merger with fellow SBI Group exchange BitPoint Japan and to its stablecoin business. SBI VC Trade is Japan's only registered electronic payment instruments trading firm, the license category covering stablecoins. The company began offering USDC, the first U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin available in Japan, in March 2025. In June 2026 it added JPYSC, which it describes as the country's first yen-denominated trust-type stablecoin, along with Ripple's dollar-pegged RLUSD, and launched a stablecoin lending service. The exchange plans to merge its two service brands around the end of December 2026. Separately, SBI Crypto, the group's mining unit, said it will shut down its mining pool on July 31. The pool will stop accepting mining shares at 7 a.m. Japan time, and the company urged customers to keep directing hashrate to the pool until the cutoff so that all eligible shares are included in the final payout. SBI Crypto said it has held discussions with other pool operators, some of which may offer preferential terms to migrating clients. Metaplanet expands into securitiesIn another sign of crypto's deepening ties with Japanese finance, Siiibo Securities, an online platform for privately placed corporate bonds, has changed its name to Metaplanet Securities after joining the Metaplanet group, the Tokyo-listed company known for its large BTC treasury. Siiibo, which holds a Type I financial instruments business license, said it plans to build a platform combining BTC and finance, developing products for retail investors that draw on its new parent's BTC management expertise while continuing to serve yield-seeking investors. Remixpoint discloses crypto yieldsListed energy and crypto firm Remixpoint, meanwhile, disclosed returns on its digital asset holdings as of the end of June. The company said it has earned a cumulative 9.95 BTC, worth roughly 108 million yen based on monthly average rates, from lending its BTC. Staking of altcoins has generated about 27.9 million yen in total, comprising roughly 10.1 million yen from ETH and 17.8 million yen from SOL, the company said, adding that it will continue building a financial structure that generates recurring income. 

The Turkish government is on the verge of finalizing comprehensive regulations for the cryptocurrency market. It has been known for a number of months that Turkey had been working towards the production of a regulatory framework for crypto, with the primary objective of securing the country’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) "grey list." According to revelations from Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Simsek, who participated in an interview with the Anadolu Agency on Wednesday, those regulations are now nearing completion.Photo by Emre on UnsplashFramework in advanced stagesSimsek disclosed key elements of the forthcoming regulations, emphasizing the government's commitment to legally defining critical concepts in the crypto space, licensing trading platforms and aligning with the standards set by FATF. The crypto framework tailored for the Turkish market is in the advanced stages of development, with a meticulous evaluation of its technical aspects underway, noted Simsek. The overarching goal is to mitigate the risks associated with crypto trading, especially for ordinary investors, aligning with international standards to facilitate the country's removal from the FATF's grey list. Licensing and defined termsSimsek outlined the forthcoming guidelines, stating that crypto platforms will be mandated to acquire licenses from Turkey's Capital Markets Board (CMB). A number of months ago, Bora Erdamar, the director of the BlockchainIST Center, an Istanbul-based university research and development center for blockchain technology, had underscored the importance of establishing licensing standards as part of the new crypto framework. Erdamar claimed that would be necessary in order to “prevent abuse of the system.” Erdamar is of the view that any such regulatory framework may include digital security protocols, advanced custody services, compulsory proof of reserves and capital adequacy requirements. It’s understood that the regulations will provide legal definitions for essential terms such as "crypto assets," "crypto wallets," "crypto asset service providers," "crypto asset custody service" and "crypto asset buying and selling platforms." As an example, Simsek clarified the definition of crypto assets as "intangible assets that can be created and stored electronically using distributed ledger technology or a similar technology, distributed over digital networks, and capable of expressing value or rights." While emphasizing the reduction of risks in crypto trading, Simsek clarified that the regulations would not encompass the specific tax regime for virtual assets. The proposed regulations have long been under consideration as Turkish authorities aim to bring clarity to the crypto market. The Minister assured that the crypto legislative proposals would be finalized this month, preceding the FATF evaluation scheduled for February. Notably, between July 2022 and June 2023, Turkey ranked fourth globally in raw crypto transaction volumes, recording approximately $170 billion in activity, trailing behind the United States, India and the United Kingdom, as reported by the blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. A report by KuCoin last year identified a marked increase in adoption in Turkey.  It’s believed that wayward inflation over recent years relative to the Turkish lira is playing a large part in that trend. In recent weeks the Turkish president took the step of appointing an expert in blockchain and crypto assets to the central bank’s rate-setting committee.