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The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized rules Wednesday for payment stablecoin reserves, redemptions and related custody activities, implementing the GENIUS Act for entities under its jurisdiction.
The final rule states issuers must maintain reserves worth at least as much as their outstanding stablecoins and generally process redemption requests within two business days.
The rule applies to national banks, federal savings associations and federal branches and their subsidiaries, as well as nonbank firms that seek or receive federal qualified issuer status, according to the agency’s announcement. It also covers state-qualified issuers when the OCC has regulatory or enforcement authority over them.
The rule and the GENIUS Act will take effect Jan. 18, 2027.
“We are providing a clear, practical framework for payment stablecoin innovation, with strong standards for reserve backing, redemption, and risk management,” Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said.
The OCC dropped a proposed presumption that certain arrangements involving affiliates or related third parties violate the law’s yield ban. The final rule retains the ban on issuers paying holders interest or yield solely for holding, using or retaining their stablecoins. The agency said it retains authority to act against attempts to evade that prohibition.
The OCC said it will announce separately when it begins processing issuer applications and waiver requests; the agency and Treasury will address Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money-laundering and sanctions requirements in separate rulemaking.
Magazine: Agents can trade 24/7 — but Yat Siu warns you could lose access at any time
France wants cryptocurrency platforms to face liability for certain decentralized finance (DeFi) incidents if they fail to vet protocols or ignore known security risks.
French authorities published proposals Wednesday to revise the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The joint response to a European Commission consultation came from France’s Treasury, the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), the central bank and the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR).
“CASPs [crypto-asset service providers] should be liable for certain incidents affecting clients where they actively facilitated access,” French authorities said.
MiCA excludes crypto services provided in a fully decentralized manner without intermediaries. France’s proposal would extend investor safeguards by imposing new duties on regulated platforms that connect customers to DeFi protocols.
The Commission is reviewing whether MiCA needs updating as crypto markets develop. Its consultation sought views on activities outside the law’s original scope, including DeFi. The responses will inform a report to EU lawmakers due by June 30, 2027, which could include proposals to amend the law.
French authorities proposed requiring platforms to vet DeFi protocols before offering access and monitor them for vulnerabilities and suspicious activity. They also backed certification of protocols and smart contracts, along with platform liability for certain incidents.
The requirements would apply fully to significant CASPs, with obligations scaled for smaller providers.
Platforms could still connect customers to uncertified protocols if they conduct their own due diligence and provide enhanced risk disclosures, the authorities said.
Related: Ledger’s early implant warnings deserved more action, Karpelès says
The authorities also addressed non-custodial or self-custodial wallets by opposing blanket certification requirements for developers. They favored voluntary certification for more advanced wallets that integrate DeFi services.
Beyond DeFi, France backed plans to transfer supervision of “significant CASPs” from national regulators to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
The authorities also proposed lowering MiCA’s current threshold of 15 million average daily active users in the EU for identifying significant CASPs. They also suggested considering custody assets, business risks and group complexity when deciding which platforms should fall under ESMA supervision.
Related: France advances stablecoin tax, eyes self-custodial wallets and exit tax proposals
France also called for a review of MiCA’s asset-referenced token (ART) category, which covers tokens designed to maintain a stable value by referencing assets or combinations of assets. The authorities noted that no ARTs had been authorized under MiCA and proposed adapting the e-money token (EMT) framework to cover multicurrency stablecoins.
Magazine: MiCA is coming for DeFi vaults, but regulation will be difficult
Update (Oct. 20, 9:53 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from Kalshi.
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown announced a lawsuit against Kalshi, its affiliates and two Susquehanna trading companies, alleging that the prediction markets platform had been facilitating illegal betting in the US state since 2024.
In a Tuesday press briefing, Brown said Utah officials had petitioned a court to compel the companies to return about $30 million to $60 million in profits they made through allegedly illegal event contracts. The Utah attorney general alleged that Kalshi illegally offered its services to more than 32,000 users in the state, resulting in significant losses.
“Under Utah law, I have determined that this operation is causing a significant and substantial ongoing harm to a significant number of Utahns,” said Brown. “And so today, we are asking the court to stop sports, elections, politics, culture and mention bets here in Utah.”
Kalshi sued Utah in February after lawmakers passed a bill on betting on prediction markets as gambling under state law. In August, a judge ruled in favor of Utah officials, saying federal laws under the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) do not preempt state gambling laws. An appellate court also denied Kalshi’s request for an injunction in September, blocking the platform from operating during its appeal.
“Kalshi is a federally regulated financial exchange, like the stock market,“ Kalshi spokesperson Jacki McGavick told Cointelegraph in response to the Utah lawsuit. “Our customers trade with each other and set the prices. As a national derivatives market overseen by the CFTC, Kalshi answers to federal law, and no single state should have a veto over it. This latest state court action does not affect our ongoing federal litigation.“
Related: NFL backs New Jersey authorities in SCOTUS petition over Kalshi
The civil lawsuit is one of many filed by US state authorities against prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket over alleged violations of state gambling laws, many involving sports betting. Officials in Arizona remain the only ones in the US pursuing criminal charges against Kalshi, but other states, including Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Nevada, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and New York, have filed civil suits against one or more prediction market companies.
The Utah lawsuit comes as the US Supreme Court considers whether to accept a petition to weigh in on New Jersey’s own case against Kalshi over allegedly illegal sports bets. The case, if accepted by the high court, could potentially resolve whether the purview of prediction market companies falls under state authorities or the CFTC, which claims “exclusive jurisdiction” over the platforms’ event contracts.
Magazine: Agents can trade 24/7 — but Yat Siu warns you could lose access at any time
Bitwise Asset Management and the Hyperliquid Policy Center are pressing the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revise its proposed crypto rules, seeking clearer guidance on token classifications, airdrops and secondary-market trading in comment letters submitted Monday.
The requests come as the SEC closes public comments Tuesday on its proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, which would create exemptions for qualifying crypto fundraising and a conditional safe harbor for tokens associated with investment contracts.
In an Oct. 19 comment letter, Bitwise Asset Management urged the SEC to clarify how investment managers should determine whether a crypto asset is subject to securities laws, arguing that managers need a standard they can apply using “publicly available information.”
The firm also sought clearer rules on when managers can rely on an issuer’s proposed Form TR filing, which would certify that an investment contract has ceased to exist, and how they should assess tokens when no such filing exists.
Source: US Securities and Exchange Commission
In a separate submission, the Hyperliquid Policy Center urged the SEC to broaden its proposed safe harbor, arguing that it could come too late in a project’s development. The group called for clearer protections for airdrops that reward network participation, as well as guidance on token buybacks.
Hyperliquid also warned that the proposal “fails to provide clarity” on whether unregistered intermediaries can facilitate token trading or whether tokens can trade freely through onchain protocols. It urged the SEC to address secondary-market transactions directly rather than leaving exchanges and decentralized trading venues facing regulatory uncertainty.
Related: House Finance panel chair says regulator actions on crypto ‘fall short’ of CLARITY bill
While industry participants sought changes to the proposed rules, former SEC enforcement official John Reed Stark and Duke University finance scholar Lee Reiners took a different position altogether. In an Oct. 16 comment letter, they urged the commission to withdraw the proposal entirely, arguing that it exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and would weaken investor protections.
Stark and Reiners said that existing securities laws and the Supreme Court’s Howey test already provide a framework for regulating crypto offerings. They argued that the fundraising exemptions would weaken investor protections, while the proposed safe harbor would allow issuers to effectively remove their tokens from securities oversight through self-certification.
The two also warned that adopting the rules in substantially their current form would invite an immediate legal challenge, potentially resulting in the framework being struck down.
With the public comment period closing Tuesday, the SEC will review the submissions before deciding whether to revise, adopt or withdraw the proposed rules. The commission has not announced a timetable for a final decision, and any final rule would require a commission vote before taking effect.
Magazine: Can the SEC and CFTC’s pro-crypto rules be overturned? Legal opinion
Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Centre court (AIFC) has prohibited six platforms from offering digital-asset services without licenses in its jurisdiction and extended access restrictions to app stores.
The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) said Tuesday the court issued injunctions after the regulator sued operators of crypto platforms for offering digital-asset services without authorization.
The Sept. 15 order named BingX, Bitcoin.com, Huobi Global (HTX), BitMart, Coinbase, LBank and WEEX; an amendment three days later removed LBank after its operator blocked access in Kazakhstan.
Google and Apple are also covered as app-store operators, with geographic restrictions on access to the remaining platforms, according to the announcement.
AFSA said users of unlicensed platforms lack safeguards required of licensed firms, including asset protection, disclosure, complaints handling and dispute resolution. Kazakhstan’s National Bank oversees digital-asset service providers outside the AIFC.
Cointelegraph’s requests for comment from BingX, Coinbase and Huobi Global were not immediately answered.
“This court decision is the result of extensive and consistent efforts by AFSA’s Supervision and Enforcement teams to address the activities of unlicensed crypto platforms that were advertising without authorization and offering digital asset-related services in Kazakhstan without the required permission,” said AFSA CEO Evgeniya Bogdanova.
AFSA said it warned more than 20 platforms about AIFC rules in 2025. Nine voluntarily restricted app access in the Central Asian country and seven said they intended to seek licenses. The authority withdrew its claims against the nine, while the injunctions will be enforced against the remaining six.
Cointelegraph previously reported the country’s Financial Monitoring Agency blocked access in 2023 to almost 1,000 crypto exchanges serving the country’s citizens without proper registration.
Magazine: Made an ‘honest’ mistake with crypto taxes? New bill offers way out
Some of the biggest banks in the United Kingdom are facing fresh scrutiny over cryptocurrency transfer restrictions after thousands of customers reported difficulties moving money to crypto platforms.
Crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto said 9,803 people submitted 10,092 complaints to UK banks over restrictions on transfers to crypto platforms during a 90-day period between May and August 2026. The complaints were submitted through the group’s online tool, according to a report reviewed by Cointelegraph on Tuesday.
Lloyds Banking Group, one of the UK’s largest banking groups, received the most complaints at 2,297, followed by Barclays with 1,569 and NatWest Group with 1,278, the report found.
The complaints raise questions about access to crypto services in the UK as the country prepares to introduce a new regulatory regime for digital assets in 2027.
Barclays and HSBC UK were listed as limiting crypto transfers to 2,500 British pounds ($3,300) per transaction and 10,000 pounds ($13,300) over 30 days.
Six banks, including Starling Bank, TSB and Chase UK, were listed as banning crypto-related transfers entirely.
Meanwhile, Lloyds Banking Group and Revolut were classified as having no published crypto transfer restrictions, despite receiving customer complaints.
Revolut’s official support page, however, states that transfers to “some cryptocurrency exchanges” are unsupported. A Stand With Crypto spokesperson said this appeared to be a technical issue rather than a stated policy.
Nick Jones, founder and CEO of Zumo, told Cointelegraph that banking restrictions are a common problem among UK crypto founders and could undermine the country’s ambitions to become a global crypto hub.
“This issue of restricted access to banking services needs to be urgently addressed in order for UK crypto firms to have a level playing field where they can grow and scale,” Jones said.
Related: Advocacy group pushes back on banks’ lawsuit against OCC over charters
Jones also warned that the UK’s incoming crypto regulatory regime may not resolve the problem. Although companies are preparing for mandatory Financial Conduct Authority approval in October 2027, access to a business bank account falls outside that framework, he said.
Without coordinated action, companies could obtain full authorization yet remain unable to open a UK business bank account, Jones added.
Magazine: Made an ‘honest’ mistake with crypto taxes? New bill offers way out
Global October 20, 2026: Bitget, the world’s largest Universal Exchange (UEX), has announced the planned acquisition of GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics (Thailand) Co., Ltd., a Bangkok-based digital asset exchange and brokerage, through its interest in BTGT Management (Thailand) Ltd.
Under the proposed transaction, GMO Internet, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiary, GMO-Z.com Holdings (Thailand) Co., Ltd., amongst others, will transfer their entire shareholding in GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics (Thailand) to BTGT Management (Thailand) Ltd. and/or its designated entity at completion. The completion of the sale and purchase agreement is subject to applicable regulatory approval, among other conditions.
GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics (Thailand) operates a licensed digital asset exchange and brokerage in Thailand. The proposed acquisition provides an opportunity for Bitget to establish a stronger operational presence in Thailand, drawing on the local company’s existing business experience and market knowledge.
The transaction comes as Bitget continues to evaluate opportunities for expansion across Southeast Asia, where demand for digital financial services is developing alongside evolving regulatory frameworks. Bitget’s approach focuses on establishing local operating capabilities that can support long-term market participation and respond to jurisdiction-specific requirements.
“Building a presence in a market requires local expertise, an understanding of the regulatory environment and a long-term commitment to the market,”said Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget. “Thailand is an important part of Southeast Asia’s digital asset landscape, and this acquisition gives us a great opportunity to establish local operations in a thriving country. Our priority is to develop the right operational foundation while bringing Bitget’s global experience and capabilities to the market.”
The proposed acquisition will enable Bitget to establish a locally operated exchange in Thailand, leveraging the existing business’s local market expertise and operational experience. Following completion of the acquisition and receipt of the necessary regulatory approval for the change of control, Bitget intends to introduce its trading platform to Thai users, bringing its world-class trading capabilities and experience to the local market while operating in accordance with applicable Thai regulations.
About Bitget
Bitget is the world’s largest Universal Exchange (UEX), serving over 125 million users and offering access to over 2M crypto tokens, 500+ tokenized stocks, ETFs, commodities, FX, and precious metals such as gold. The ecosystem is committed to helping users trade smarter with its AI agent, which co-pilots trade execution. Bitget is driving crypto adoption through strategic partnerships such as MotoGP™. Aligned with its global impact strategy, Bitget has joined hands with UNICEF to support blockchain education for 1.1 million people by 2027. Bitget currently leads in the tokenized TradFi market, providing the industry’s lowest fees and highest liquidity across 150 regions worldwide.
Source: Bitget
French lawmakers narrowly approved a new crypto tax amendment on Friday that could make crypto-to-stablecoin swaps taxable events starting in 2027.
France’s National Assembly adopted Amendment I-3898 on Friday, with 38 votes in favor, 37 against and 25 abstentions. The measure was initially introduced as committee amendment I-CF1826 by French MP Nicolas Sansu and adopted on Oct. 7.
The Assembly is scheduled to vote on the first part of the 2027 Finance Bill on Tuesday, according to its official schedule. Other crypto-related proposals remain under consideration, although it is unclear whether each will be debated or voted on that day.
If enacted, the stablecoin amendment would tax certain crypto-to-stablecoin swaps and change how the country calculates crypto capital gains tax.
French National Assembly advances Amendment I-3898 on crypto-to-stablecoin tax swaps. Source: assemblee-nationale.fr
Under the proposal, investors converting their Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies into stablecoins would trigger a tax on the gains, even without converting gains into fiat. The calculation would use the acquisition cost of the sold crypto asset and the weighted average purchasing price.
Related: Deutsche Bank prepares German crypto custody launch, eyes Asia: Report
Separately, the Assembly rejected a proposal on Friday to carry forward realized crypto losses for 10 years, with 18 votes in favor, 75 against and 3 abstentions.
French lawmakers are preparing to discuss other crypto-related proposals as part of next year’s budget. Amendment I-CF1822 proposes to extend France’s exit tax regime to cover unrealized gains when taxpayers with aggregate crypto portfolio values exceeding €800,000 ($895,000) transfer their residences abroad.
Lawmakers are also weighing amendment I-2701, which would require individuals to declare the holdings of the self-custodial wallets if their total value exceeded €100,000 ($112,000) in the relevant tax year.
As of Monday, both proposals remain under consideration for the 2027 Finance Bill.
Magazine: How the EU’s crypto tax rules are expected to work for users and platforms
Crypto investors who failed to report trades in previous years may soon breathe a sigh of relief thanks to legislation currently advancing in the US Congress.
Section 502 of the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, H.R. 10357, would require the Treasury secretary to establish a Digital Asset Voluntary Disclosure Program within 12 months of the bill becoming law.
That would allow eligible taxpayers to correct any past digital asset tax violation by filing amended returns and paying the tax owed, along with interest and a program penalty.
The House Ways and Means Committee approved the bill by a 38-5 vote on Sept. 16, but it has not become law yet; it still has to pass the House and Senate and be signed by the president.
“It’s a big change that would help a lot of ordinary taxpayers, and it has gotten very little attention,” Andrew Gordon, executive director of Digital Asset Tax Action, tells Magazine.
Crypto investors in the US are already grappling with the first filing season under the new 1099-DA broker reporting rules, which give the IRS greater visibility into crypto transactions.
Gordon says those rules should make reporting easier going forward, but they fail to address the years before coming into effect.
The House Ways and Means Committee approved the bill by a 38-5 vote. Source: Ways & Means
“A large share of investors didn’t report correctly over the years,” he says, and existing procedures don’t offer taxpayers who made “honest mistakes” a predictable way to resolve their liabilities.
Related: Greece plans 10% capital gains tax on cryptocurrencies
“Today, a crypto investor who learns they didn’t properly report their crypto or has not reported at all has no good way to fix it,” he says; investors can discover years later that they misunderstood the tax treatment of crypto-to-crypto trades or reporting activity across multiple platforms.
The IRS’s existing Voluntary Disclosure Practice is aimed at taxpayers who willfully violated tax rules and face potential criminal exposure.
For taxpayers with errant reporting skills, they can currently correct their mistakes by filing amended returns, but the penalty treatment is not as predictable as provision 502’s proposed crypto-specific program.
Sharon Yip, a certified public accountant (CPA) and founder of Crypto Tax Advisors, says reporting errors among ordinary crypto investors are common.
In her firm’s experience, some clients did not report crypto because they believed no tax was due until they cashed out, while others relied on incomplete exchange records or incorrectly classified transactions.
“There is no standardized process that gives non-willful crypto investors predictable penalty treatment or a clear resolution,” Yip tells Magazine.
She says a crypto-specific program could “fill this gap” by providing a “defined correction period, reduced and predictable penalties and greater certainty for taxpayers who come forward voluntarily.”
Under Section 502, taxpayers would generally have to file amended returns within 24 months of the program being established, and the bill sets out two penalty tracks.
There are lower rates for taxpayers who certify under penalty of perjury that their violations were neither fraudulent nor willful. They would face a 0% penalty on the first $25,000 of tax deficiency per year and 5% on amounts above that, if they file within the first 12 months of the program.
For those who don’t certify, rates of 25% on the first $25,000 and 40% above it apply, with the rates increasing if taxpayers miss the initial window.
49% of crypto users understood selling crypto can be a taxable event. Source: Cointracker
There is also relief from specified civil penalties, and taxpayers who don’t certify are protected from criminal referrals based on information properly disclosed for the tax offenses covered by the provision.
Yip says taxpayers should check their transaction histories across exchanges and wallets to identify which years need correcting before assessing whether their mistakes were genuinely non-willful.
Because falsely certifying carries a penalty of perjury, she advises seeking professional guidance where taxpayers are unsure.
Section 502 could come as a welcome relief for many US crypto users; a 2026 report by CoinTracker and Coinbase found that only 49% correctly understood that selling crypto can be a taxable event.
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Cointelegraph publishes long-form journalism, analysis and narrative reporting produced by Cointelegraph’s in-house editorial team with subject-matter expertise. All articles are edited and reviewed by Cointelegraph editors in line with our editorial standards. Some articles contain affiliate links, from which Cointelegraph may earn a commission. These relationships do not influence which products we review or our editorial conclusions. Content published in here does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals where appropriate. Cointelegraph maintains full editorial independence.
