Crypto Regulation and Compliance Updates

A federal grand jury indicted 10 executives and employees, accusing them of orchestrating a “pump-and-dump” scheme involving allegedly fraudulent transactions with a cross-border backdrop. The investigation was conducted jointly by the FBI and the IRS-CI, uncovering market manipulation activities. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison and substantial fines. This case underscores the strength of regulatory enforcement against the crypto market and promotes global cooperation.

Anthropic accidentally leaked 512,000 lines of source code for Claude Code on March 31, triggering security risks and concerns about market valuation. After the leak, the code quickly spread to GitHub and prompted DMCA takedowns. The leaked content revealed internal functionality and unpublished details, exposing the security risks businesses face. The incident highlights that AI companies need to strengthen code security and permission management, and it could also affect Anthropic’s pre-IPO prospects.

On-chain reports show that about 6.7 million bitcoins are stored in addresses that are vulnerable to quantum computing attacks, some of which belong to Satoshi Nakamoto. Google’s team warns that these bitcoins face a risk of their private keys being derived due to the use of early P2PK scripts. Experts emphasize that it is crucial to safeguard the security of these assets, and call for advances in quantum protection and the development of regulatory policies to address future threats.

The European Central Bank, in its latest DeFi report, used data from DeFiLlama for the first time, indicating that regulators are paying close attention to decentralized finance. The report sheds light on the problem of concentrated governance power, which is of great significance for policy-making. Improving DeFiLlama’s credibility can help promote cooperation between regulators and DeFi platforms. In the future, DeFi may face stricter compliance requirements, while also bringing governance challenges.

The LML token was attacked, suffering a loss of about $950,000, and its price is nearly zero. The attacker exploited a design flaw in the TWAP pricing mechanism to manipulate the price, using a series of trades to obtain large rewards and quickly cash out. This incident highlights the potential risks in DeFi protocol reward mechanism design, and also serves as a reminder for the industry to strengthen safeguards to prevent similar attacks from happening again.

Gate News update. On April 1, Bloomberg reported that the EU is pushing to consolidate regulatory authority over large crypto institutions into the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), and Malta has publicly opposed it. If the relevant proposal is advanced by the EU Council and Parliament this summer, Malta may need to hand over its direct regulatory authority over top crypto institutions to ESMA.

Gate News update: On April 1, according to PeckShield monitoring, LML was hacked, with losses of about $950,000, causing the LML token price to plunge 99.6%. The attacker converted 950,000 USDT into 450.6 ETH and deposited it into TornadoCash.

Gate News update: On April 1, according to PeckShield monitoring, LML suffered an attack loss of about $950,000, causing the LML token to plunge 99.6%. The attacker converted 950,000 USDT into 450.6 ETH and deposited it into Tornado Cash.

The US commodities regulator’s chief enforcement director sent a cautionary message to prediction market insider traders on Tuesday, vowing that violators will face enforcement action. “We are aware of the speculation about insider trading,” CFTC enforcement director David Miller said at a panel at

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is strengthening its oversight of insider trading in prediction markets, emphasizing that event contracts are swap contracts subject to strict financial regulation. Multiple recent cases have drawn attention, and the CFTC will prioritize handling serious violations, while related legislation is also moving forward to push prediction markets toward compliance. Investors need to pay attention to legal and information compliance.

PeckShield’s report shows that in March 2026, the crypto industry experienced 20 major security incidents, with losses totaling $52 million, up 96% from the previous month. Among them, USR stablecoin depegging and complex attacks resulted in a large amount of bad debt, and security threats are expanding into real-world and social-engineering levels.

The Ministry of Public Security successfully transferred the core member of the criminal syndicate, Li Xiong, back from Cambodia to China on April 1. Li Xiong is suspected of multiple crimes and has already been subjected to compulsory measures. The public security authorities will continue to step up efforts to track down the remaining fugitives.

A Fed governor highlighted that the regulatory framework on stablecoins established by the GENIUS Act should be complemented by strict federal oversight. The warning comes amid the scheduled markup of the Clarity Act, which aims to patch the regulatory gaps of the GENIUS Act on digital

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s first systematic assessment of payment stablecoins finds that they could improve cross-border payment efficiency, but may also change the flow of reserves and monetary policy. Stablecoin regulation is governed by the GENIUS Act and may affect the Fed’s asset management policies; as the scale grows, regulation will become more stringent.

Spanish bank CaixaBank was approved on March 30 to become the sixth crypto-asset service provider under the EU MiCA regulation, allowing it to offer services for crypto-asset custody, trading, and transfers. The EU’s MiCA authorization is valid across member states, providing regulatory convenience. Unauthorized institutions will lose their eligibility to provide services in 2026.

Gate News message, April 1, UX Chain’s official announcement stated the launch of a platform shutdown plan. According to the announcement, users must clear all outstanding positions before the platform begins full liquidation on April 30. The protocol is expected to be completely shut down by May 15. UX Chain stated that it will use reserve funds and fiscal funding to cover the protocol’s funding shortfall, and specific details will be published in the UX Governance Forum.

Hong Kong’s Hong Kong dollar stablecoin licensing program has been delayed, and it has still not been approved to date. The market expects it may be pushed back to April. Regulators are focused on the applicants’ use cases and compliance, and the high bar is intended to reduce risk. HSBC, Standard Chartered, and others are potential licensees. Stablecoins will connect traditional finance with blockchain assets, and this will be tied to competition in regional digital finance.

Google research shows that the number of qubits required to break Bitcoin could be lower than 500,000—far below expectations—which puts about 9.0 million BTC at potential risk. Quantum computers can intercept transactions within “9 minutes,” and especially after the Taproot upgrade, many wallets are exposed to attack risk. This serves as a reminder that the crypto industry needs to guard against quantum threats as soon as possible.

A Google quantum artificial intelligence white paper shows that a quantum computer with about 500,000 qubits could break Bitcoin’s ECDSA algorithm in 9 minutes, dramatically increasing the threat level. The risk is mainly concentrated in old addresses whose public keys have already been exposed, especially about 2.3 million bitcoins that face high risk. The industry is calling for an upgrade to post-quantum cryptography before 2029 to strengthen security, but implementation faces consensus challenges.

Hong Kong’s first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses was originally expected to be issued in March 2026, but as of the end of March, none has been issued yet, drawing market attention. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority emphasized that it will announce progress in due course. The frontrunners with stronger support currently include Standard Chartered and HSBC, while it appears that mainland Chinese institutions have not been able to make the shortlist. Delays in granting licenses could affect Hong Kong’s position as a pioneer in the global stablecoin regulatory space.