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On 07 April 2025, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), through Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, issued a memorandum titled “Ending Regulation By Prosecution.” This policy document represents a recalibration of the federal government’s approach to digital asset enforcement, positioning the US DOJ squarely in alignment with Executive Order 14178 issued by President Donald J. Trump. The directive marks a formal departure from the prior administration’s prosecutorial strategy, where criminal enforcement was frequently employed to fill perceived regulatory gaps in the digital asset space, a practice now expressly denounced by the current administration as a misuse of criminal law. The memorandum reflects a foundational shift in enforcement priorities, signalling the end of what the US DOJ now characterises as "regulation by prosecution", a term referencing the aggressive use of criminal statutes to indirectly enforce regulatory compliance in lieu of clear legislative or...

On 21 April 2025, Paul S. Atkins was officially sworn in as the 34th Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC), following his nomination by President Donald J. Trump on 20 January 2025 and confirmation by the United States Senate on 9 April 2025. Chairman Atkins previously served as a Commissioner of the US SEC from 2002 to 2008, having been appointed by President George W. Bush. A member of the New York and Florida bars, Chairman Atkins holds a Juris Doctor degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law (1983) and an A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Wofford College (1980). Prior to his reappointment, Chairman Atkins served as chief executive of Patomak Global Partners, a regulatory consulting firm he founded in 2009. In that capacity, he was instrumental in shaping industry best practices, particularly within the emerging digital asset sector. His corporate governance experience includes serving as an independent director and non-executive chairman of the...

On 11 April 2025, United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce delivered her opening remarks titled “The Mother” at the second session in an ongoing series of roundtables convened to address regulatory challenges and opportunities in the crypto asset market. Speaking from Washington, D.C., Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce opened the discussion by thanking US SEC staff, market participants, and members of the public who had engaged with the Crypto Task Force. She appreciated the diverse institutional participation in the roundtable, which comprises national securities exchanges, alternative trading venues, and crypto-native firms. Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce stated that successful markets are marked by the capacity to support a wide array of business models and approaches to trading. She emphasised that the regulatory framework governing crypto asset markets in the United States must not hinder flexibility and innovation. Instead, it...

On 15 April 2025, Suman Ziaullah, Head of Technology, Resilience and Cyber at the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (UK FCA), offered a forward-looking perspective on the future of operational resilience, following the sector-wide compliance deadline of 31 March 2025. UK FCA concluded the final stage of its operational resilience framework, reaffirming that the journey now moves beyond compliance into cultural transformation. In a reflective commentary which underlined that while regulated firms have met the mandatory deadline, the true test lies in how well they anticipate and respond to disruptions that could cause intolerable harm to consumers and markets. The message is clear that the operational resilience must now be integrated into the very design, strategy, and governance structures of firms and not treated merely as a regulatory raincoat. Ziaullah, through a metaphor of being caught unprepared in the rain, emphasised that operational resilience is not about...

On 15 April 2025, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (File No. SR-SAPPHIRE-2025-18) submitted by MIAX Sapphire, LLC, seeking approval to amend Exchange Rule 402 to permit the listing and trading of options on the VanEck Bitcoin Trust. This filing represents a significant step in broadening access to regulated crypto-derivative instruments within the United States and forms part of a competitive response to a contemporaneous application lodged by Cboe Exchange, Inc. The proposal, grounded in the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, offers a structured legal justification for expanding options trading to include spot Bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs), specifically the VanEck Bitcoin Trust. MIAX Sapphire seeks to include the Trust under Exchange Rule 402, which sets the “Criteria for Underlying Securities” eligible for options trading. The VanEck Bitcoin Trust, structured as a commodity-based ETF, holds Bitcoin...

On 7 April 2025, Ms. Christina Choi, Executive Director of Investment Products at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HK SFC), delivered a keynote address titled “Fuelling the Web3 and Digital Asset Ecosystem in Hong Kong” at the Hong Kong Web3 Festival. The speech marks a pivotal moment in articulating the regulator’s evolving vision for the region’s digital asset future, firmly anchored in pragmatism, regulatory clarity, and investor protection. In her opening remarks, Ms. Choi used a poignant anecdote involving a floppy disk mistaken as a 3D-printed “save button” by her son to illustrate the exponential pace of technological change, a prelude to emphasising the promise and disruption of Web3. Framing blockchain as the new technological frontier akin to the floppy disk’s transformation of data portability, Ms. Choi affirmed that the HK SFC views Web3 not as a fleeting trend, but as a foundational shift in the financial landscape. Ms. Choi reaffirmed that the HK SFC, in...

On 11 April 2025, United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw delivered remarks at the second session of the Crypto Task Force Roundtable titled “Between a Block and a Hard Place: Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading.” Framing the session in terms of its implications for investor protection and regulatory adaptation, Commissioner Crenshaw voiced concern over the structural vulnerabilities in crypto trading platforms, particularly in how these platforms interact with retail investors and manage core trading functions without formal oversight. Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw’s remarks focused on bridging the regulatory disconnect between investor expectations and the operational reality of crypto asset trading platforms. Emphasising the multi-functional roles played by these platforms including: brokerage, custody, and clearing; Crenshaw stated that, unlike their traditional finance counterparts, many of these entities operate...

On 10 April 2025, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC), through its Division of Corporation Finance, published a detailed interpretive statement titled "Offerings and Registrations of Securities in the Crypto Asset Markets." The statement provides comprehensive staff views on the application of existing federal securities law disclosure requirements to offerings and registrations of securities within the crypto asset markets. This initiative forms part of the US SEC’s broader regulatory effort, led by Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda and the Crypto Task Force, to create a clear and consistent disclosure regime for market participants involved with crypto-related securities. The statement serves as a non-binding interpretive document outlining the expectations and common issues the Division has observed in the review of United States Securities Act and Exchange Act filings. It aims to clarify applicable disclosure requirements for issuers engaged with crypto...

On 10 April 2025, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) took a significant step towards regulatory transparency with the Division of Corporation Finance’s release of a detailed interpretive statement on Offerings and Registrations of Securities in the Crypto Asset Markets. Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, in a public statement titled Let’s Talk Disclosure, welcomed the development as part of the agency’s investor protection mission. While the guidance does not attempt to redefine whether a crypto asset qualifies as a security, it provides practical compliance-focused insight on the nature and scope of disclosures required under federal securities laws when securities are offered or registered in connection with crypto networks, applications, and related operations. This development marks a crucial moment for regulatory certainty in the digital asset space. As the crypto industry continues to mature, the absence of tailored disclosure frameworks has been a...