ChainCatcher News, the Web3 Working Group of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan's Digital Society Promotion Headquarters held its second study session, focusing on the review of regulations related to crypto assets (virtual currencies).The meeting discussed the different regulatory approaches to crypto assets compared to traditional securities and explored the direction for future regulatory revisions. Participants believed that, in addition to investor protection, it is necessary to consider the coordination with overseas regulations and the smoothness of transactions, suggesting further improvements to disclosure regulations, market access, and conduct standards.In addition, some experts pointed out that the existing regulatory framework should be abandoned, and more detailed regulatory discussions should be conducted based on the characteristics of crypto assets.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, analyst Omkar Godbole stated that the defensive positioning in the stock market may stem from concerns that President-elect Trump's inauguration on January 20 could become a "buy the rumor, sell the news" event. Over the past two months, risk appetite in the financial markets has increased, with the market anticipating that the incoming Trump administration will implement reforms favorable to businesses and the economy, but the possibility of profit-taking cannot be ignored.Trump will be inaugurated on January 20, and there is widespread expectation that this move will drive changes in cryptocurrency regulation, and may even establish strategic Bitcoin reserves in the coming months, both of which could support the next round of market trends. QCP Capital shares a similar view and suggests that traders should wait for new U.S. economic data on Friday before making further positioning.

ChainCatcher news, Binance officially stated in its 2024 year-end report that Binance achieved milestones in 2024 with over 250 million registered users, over $160 billion in managed user assets, and a cumulative trading volume reaching $100 trillion. With the surge in institutional participation, Binance's VIP user base has doubled, and the number of registered institutional users has nearly doubled as well.In addition, Binance has doubled its commitment to enhancing compliance and security in 2024, investing hundreds of millions of dollars in key projects. Currently, Binance's internal compliance team has grown to 650 members, enabling it to obtain regulatory authorization in 21 jurisdictions.

ChainCatcher news, according to Morningstar, investors seeking to continue the cryptocurrency bull market will closely monitor any regulatory changes in 2025, as well as whether Trump's commitments to the crypto industry will materialize. Trump has repeatedly vowed to support the crypto industry during his campaign and has received backing from several key figures in the sector.Fundstrat's head of digital assets, Sean Farrell, explained, "The first 100 days of Trump's term will be very, very important, as analysts often use the 'first 100 days' as a benchmark for measuring the efficiency and influence of an incoming U.S. president." Although the incoming president has yet to outline any specific plans, investors will be watching to see if Trump fulfills his promise to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the U.S., which primarily includes:Clear guidelines on which cryptocurrencies should be classified as securities;Whether Trump will fulfill his commitment to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the U.S.;Any changes to the SAB121 bill, which establishes accounting standards for companies that custody cryptocurrencies, requiring publicly traded companies, including banks, to recognize the cryptocurrencies they hold in custody as liabilities on their balance sheets;Whether the Federal Reserve will significantly lower its key policy interest rates in 2025.

ChainCatcher message, Ripple's Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty outlined six key principles on New Year's Eve, urging the U.S. SEC to adopt a prudent approach to cryptocurrency regulation:The SEC has jurisdiction only over securities transactions;Selling gold bars with contractual rights, ownership, or mining interests may constitute a securities transaction;Selling the same gold bar without post-sale rights or obligations is merely an asset sale, which the SEC has no authority to regulate;The SEC's jurisdiction will not expand based on its self-serving view of who "should" disclose;Tokens are not securities, although they can be the subject of securities transactions;The notion that tokens can "evolve" from securities to non-securities is a fictional fallacy with no legal basis.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Financial Times, despite the regulatory authorities' request to remove illegal cryptocurrency advertisements, half of the banned ads remain online, and the UK's financial regulators have yet to penalize any companies for failing to remove illegal cryptocurrency ads. According to data obtained through a freedom of information request, of the 1,702 alerts issued by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority between October 2023 and October 2024, only 54% resulted in the closure of illegal crypto ads, apps, or websites.Regulators can impose fines or initiate criminal proceedings against groups that violate the new law, which aims to clean up the extensive promotion of illicit activities in the UK cryptocurrency market. The new regulations require cryptocurrency ads to be authorized by the FCA or an FCA-authorized firm before being published online; otherwise, regulators will take "tough" action. However, sources familiar with the process indicate that the FCA has not yet exercised any new powers. Instead, it is focusing on targeting "financial influencers," who promote such schemes online.

ChainCatcher news, in August this year, the Hong Kong High Court heard the world's first lawsuit involving "Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO)", ruling that six defendants must disclose detailed financial statements and supporting documents for their blockchain and Real World Asset (RWA) projects in response to allegations of asset misappropriation, involving over 6 billion HKD. Wu Jiezhuang, Chairman of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, Web3 and Virtual Asset Development Forum Committee, believes that the current development framework for Web3 in Hong Kong is still not完善, and suggests that the SAR government introduce regulations for DAO.He stated that the entire digital asset ecosystem can be divided into two important segments: one is exchanges, and the other is public chains, which usually exist in the form of DAOs but are like "orphaned souls" without a place to land worldwide. If Hong Kong wants to develop a digital asset ecosystem, it needs to regulate DAOs as soon as possible and establish a framework for DAOs so that these public chains can land in Hong Kong.Wu Jiezhuang further pointed out that the United States and Abu Dhabi already have relevant legal frameworks regulating DAOs, and Hong Kong should establish one as soon as possible. Since DAOs do not have legal entities, he suggested that the SAR government could refer to the current licensing practices in the securities industry to establish a DAO licensing system, requiring licensed DAOs to clarify internal individual relationships and to establish Responsible Officers (RO) to ensure that licensed companies comply with regulatory requirements and maintain daily operations.

ChainCatcher news, Trump made some promises to the crypto industry during his campaign, and whether he will make the U.S. government a holder or even a buyer of Bitcoin remains a hot topic. SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci stated, "I want to remind everyone, if you think that after January 20th next year a switch will be flipped and everything will get better, and the Bitcoin and digital asset community will thrive, you are mistaken; that's not how Washington works."

ChainCatcher news, according to Solid Intel, Japan has implemented stricter regulations to strengthen oversight of unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, ETHDenver founder John Paller stated in an interview: "Trump's focus on deregulation and promoting economic growth could create ideal conditions for the flourishing of DeFi. That said, we need to protect innovative policies while allowing builders to experiment without fear."Web3 company Vanar's CEO Jawad Ashraf also mentioned that a more direct impact on DeFi is that the new U.S. government may provide clearer regulations on whether crypto tokens qualify as financial securities. This will lead to more fee conversion implementations and also make it possible to legally pay protocol revenues to token holders in the form of dividends.

ChainCatcher news, a report from CITIC Securities states that if Trump plans to relax regulations on the cryptocurrency industry after taking office as President of the United States in 2025, the primary task will be to clarify the regulatory responsibilities of the industry. Against this backdrop, the currently stalled "21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act" in the U.S. Senate is expected to gain new momentum. With the anticipated easing of the regulatory environment in the U.S., the cryptocurrency industry chain in the U.S. stock market is expected to receive a positive boost, and three directions are recommended for attention:The increase in trading activity in the U.S. cryptocurrency industry may benefit U.S. cryptocurrency exchanges;Favorable policies for the U.S. cryptocurrency industry are expected to promote the growth of mining machine demand;The development of the U.S. cryptocurrency industry may benefit the U.S. utility sector. (Jin Shi)

ChainCatcher news, according to Ledger Insights, the German Parliament (Bundestag) passed the Financial Market Digitalization Act (Finanzmarktdigitalisierungsgesetz of FinmadiG) this week. The parliament responded to industry demands to ensure legislation is in place before MiCAR fully comes into effect on December 30.FinmadiG not only pertains to cryptocurrencies and MiCAR but also affects other EU laws, such as DORA and the Funds Transfer Regulation. For MiCAR, it introduces the Cryptocurrency Market Regulation Act (KMAG), which replaces Germany's old cryptocurrency rules with MiCAR.Technically, MiCAR is a regulation, so local laws are not required. However, legislation must designate BaFin as the regulatory authority; otherwise, BaFin cannot issue licenses. This will allow EU companies with cryptocurrency licenses from other countries to operate in Germany, but German companies will not be able to operate in the EU.Additionally, MiCAR allows companies holding existing licenses to continue operating for up to 18 months, with the transition period determined by each jurisdiction. The new German legislation specifies one year.

ChainCatcher news, Ripple's Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty posted on social platform X, calling on the U.S. Congress to establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies that supports innovation. He emphasized that regulation should focus on behavior rather than the technology itself, and suggested adopting a framework familiar to regulators and judges, avoiding the incorporation of abstract policy principles from previous administrations into law without thorough research.SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda recently also publicly criticized the SEC's tough enforcement stance, arguing that it is inappropriate to take enforcement action solely for being unregistered. The industry anticipates that the Trump administration may appoint cryptocurrency supporter Paul Atkins to a regulatory position, signaling a more friendly regulatory environment.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released its final guidance on Tuesday to assist member states in implementing the upcoming regulations. ESMA published the final report on reverse solicitation, systems, the potential classification of cryptocurrencies as financial instruments, and technical standards for preventing market abuse.The EU's dedicated regulation for the cryptocurrency industry, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, is set to come into effect on December 30 across 27 member states. However, some countries have yet to develop legislation to implement MiCA. The Bank of Portugal stated on Monday that, as the legislation has not yet been passed, it is currently unclear which national authority will be responsible for these rules. Industry associations noted that part of the delay in national authorities is due to the short time gap between ESMA's release of the final technical standards in October and the implementation date.ESMA Chair Verena Ross stated, "Looking ahead, as the transition period progresses, we will continue to provide guidance and work with all national competent authorities (NCAs) to ensure the smooth implementation of MiCA and support a level playing field through regulatory convergence actions."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptoslate, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched a public consultation on cryptocurrency regulation on December 16, 2024. The new framework aims to balance innovation and risk control, focusing on issues such as market manipulation and financial fraud.The FCA proposed to authorize trading platforms to share information on suspicious market abuse and will restrict the operations of unregistered crypto businesses. The consultation period will last until March 14, 2025, with a draft regulatory framework expected to be released in 2025 and plans for full implementation in 2026, covering areas such as trading activities, stablecoin regulation, and asset custody.

ChainCatcher news, according to CNBC, Eric Trump, the second son of incoming President Donald Trump and current Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, stated that a set of "reasonable" regulatory guidelines could help the United States become a cryptocurrency superpower.In an interview with CNBC's Dan Murphy in Abu Dhabi, Eric Trump mentioned that he has "long been a loyal fan of cryptocurrency," and that his father plans to "make America the global capital of cryptocurrency" upon returning to the White House.Additionally, Eric revealed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk will play a significant role in White House policy-making and praised Musk as a "modern Einstein."

ChainCatcher news, according to OKG Research analysis, the FIT 21 bill, stablecoin-related legislation, and the repeal of the SAB 121 proposal are the three most likely and crucial crypto regulations to be introduced in the future.If the FIT 21 bill is passed, it is expected to promote the launch of spot ETFs for cryptocurrencies like SOL and XRP, and inject new momentum into the DeFi sector, especially through exemption policies and RWA integration. At the same time, the SEC may allow Ethereum spot ETF staking, which will attract attention to staking projects within the DeFi ecosystem.The market share of stablecoins in cross-border payments and settlements will continue to grow, expected to surpass traditional financial institutions like Visa. The repeal of the SAB 121 proposal will simplify the compliance burden for crypto custodians, attracting more banks and institutional investors into the crypto space.

ChainCatcher news, Jorge Tenreiro, who previously served as the acting head of the cryptocurrency and cybersecurity oversight division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has been appointed as the chief litigation counsel, expanding his responsibilities. Tenreiro played a significant role in several landmark cases, including the lawsuit against Ripple Labs.This promotion comes as the Trump administration is about to take office, indicating that the SEC will continue to enforce strict cryptocurrency regulations. The establishment of Tenreiro's new position is expected to drive crypto innovation while continuing to focus on areas such as ICOs, token sales, and market manipulation, further influencing the legal standards for cryptocurrencies.

ChainCatcher news, Zaye Capital Markets analyst Naeem Aslam stated in a report that concerns over the ongoing consolidation of Bitcoin persist, which may lead to further declines before a rebound occurs.According to LSEG data, Bitcoin fell 2.4% intraday to $95,144. Boosted by the prospect of a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment under President-elect Trump, Bitcoin previously reached an all-time high of $99,830. However, as the initial momentum from Trump's election victory faded, Bitcoin's price also retreated.