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According to Bits.media, the Central Bank of Russia aims to prohibit Russian citizens from trading on cryptocurrency exchanges that comply with international sanctions. Ekaterina Lozgacheva, head of the Central Bank's Strategic Development Department, stated that the Central Bank plans to ban Russians from trading on foreign cryptocurrency exchanges that adhere to international sanctions. Russians can only trade cryptocurrencies on foreign platforms through Russian brokers, provided that these foreign platforms do not comply with international sanctions.The country's central bank will establish its own standards for foreign platforms that Russian brokers and investors can use. Lozgacheva noted that even trading cryptocurrencies abroad through Russian intermediaries is subject to foreign regulation, posing additional risks. The annual purchase limit for non-professional investors is set at 300,000 rubles, and they can only access the most liquid cryptocurrency assets through domestic brokers. A test must be completed before trading, and qualified investors are not subject to the limit but must also undergo testing. Relevant restrictions will be included in the second reading version of the draft "Digital Currency and Digital Rights Law," with key provisions expected to take effect on July 1.

According to CoinPost, the Financial Services Agency of Japan announced a cabinet order amendment, officially recognizing foreign trust beneficiary rights that are "equivalent" to Japan's electronic settlement system as electronic settlement methods under the Fund Settlement Act. The amendment will take effect on June 1.This revision clarifies: first, it establishes a legal basis for qualified foreign trust-based stablecoins to provide services within Japan; second, it stipulates that electronic settlement method operators should use equivalence with the Japanese system as the eligibility criterion when handling foreign electronic settlement methods. At the same time, relevant foreign trust beneficiary rights will be excluded from the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act's securities and will only be regulated as electronic settlement methods.The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan has officially approved the "AI + Blockchain Finance" proposal, supporting yen stablecoins and tokenized deposits.

On May 19, the Financial Services Agency of Japan announced the revised Cabinet Office Ordinance related to electronic payment methods and transaction operators, clearly including trust beneficiary rights established under foreign laws that are equivalent to the Japanese system within the scope of electronic payment methods under Japan's Fund Settlement Act, providing a legal basis for the compliant circulation of trust-type stablecoins issued by specific foreign entities within Japan. The new regulations will take effect on June 1, 2026, and also clarify that the relevant foreign trust beneficiary rights are not considered securities under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala has increased its IBIT holdings to nearly $660 million worth of Bitcoin ETF shares.

According to The Block, sovereign wealth funds, universities, and banks have recently disclosed their 13F holdings reports for the first quarter of 2026. On the sovereign wealth fund side, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala increased its holdings in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (ticker IBIT), raising its share count from 12,702,323 to 14,721,917, adding over $90 million in holdings, with a total holding value of nearly $660 million. Mubadala's Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) maintained its IBIT holdings unchanged, holding 8,218,712 shares valued at $315.8 million.Several university endowments reported that their cryptocurrency ETF holdings remained largely stable. Harvard University's endowment reported holding 3,044,612 shares of IBIT, valued at approximately $117 million. This is a 43% decrease from the 5.35 million shares held at the end of 2025, after Harvard had already reduced its holdings by 21% in the fourth quarter. IBIT is no longer its largest holding (overtaken by TSMC, Alphabet, Microsoft, and SPDR Gold Trust). Harvard also completely liquidated its previously established position in BlackRock's Ethereum spot ETF valued at $86.8 million from the previous quarter.Dartmouth College reported holding 201,531 shares of IBIT, valued slightly above $9 million, unchanged from the previous quarter. The college transferred its Ethereum ETF holdings from Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust to Grayscale's Ethereum Staking ETF, keeping its 178,148 shares unchanged. Dartmouth also disclosed a new holding in Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, holding 304,803 shares, currently valued at nearly $3.67 million. This is the first time an institutional endowment fund has expressed interest in expanding its investment scope beyond Bitcoin or Ethereum into other cryptocurrencies.Meanwhile, Brown University maintained its holdings of 212,500 shares of IBIT, while Emory University simplified its Bitcoin fund holdings from two to one. The school liquidated its 4,450 shares of IBIT while increasing its holdings in Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust from slightly over 1 million shares to 1,354,148 shares.Traditional financial institutions are also actively rebalancing positions and hedging. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) increased its direct holdings in IBIT and enhanced the use of put and call options for hedging. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) increased its holdings by 214,370 shares of IBIT after liquidating its previously held Trump-related U.S. Bitcoin stocks. Barclays also disclosed its IBIT positions, including approximately 4.46 million shares of spot stock and a significant number of put and call option positions related to the ETF. Hong Kong-based Laurore has reduced its IBIT holdings from 8,786,279 shares to 6,846,279 shares.

According to Gate market data, the dollar is heading towards its best week in two months, following U.S. data showing rising inflation pressures that may force the Federal Reserve to consider interest rate hikes within the next year. The dollar index DXY has risen more than 1% this week, expected to achieve its best single-week performance since mid-March. Due to two consecutive inflation data releases this week exceeding expectations, the U.S. Treasury market has been impacted, prompting a Federal Reserve official to state that the U.S. "is facing an inflation problem."

According to Times Brasil, the decision-making committee of the administrative sanctions procedure under the Central Bank of Brazil imposed a fine of approximately $3.15 million on Banco Topázio and prohibited it from conducting over-the-counter foreign exchange business for virtual asset trading for the next two years.Regulators stated that Banco Topázio had deficiencies in customer qualification review, customer registration, and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing controls while handling approximately $1.7 billion in related business from October 2020 to September 2021, and failed to report unusual transactions to Coaf. Officials from the Central Bank of Brazil indicated that similar restrictions may also apply to other institutions involved in cryptocurrency business in the future.

Bernstein reiterated its "Outperform" rating on Figure Technology Solutions (FIGR) and maintained a target price of $67, implying about a 72% upside from the current stock price of $38.97. Figure's Q1 2026 performance was strong: loan issuance reached $2.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 113%; adjusted revenue was $167 million, a year-on-year increase of 92%, exceeding market expectations by 6%; adjusted EBITDA was $82.7 million, with a profit margin of about 50%, slightly above market expectations. However, the GAAP diluted EPS was $0.18, about 9% below expectations, primarily impacted by $26 million in equity incentive expenses.Bernstein's analysis suggests that this performance should reshape the market's perception of Figure, as it is not a traditional credit company, but rather a "tokenization-driven capital market platform," with core profits coming from network fees and operational leverage, and it maintains a pricing model based on a 25x EBITDA valuation for 2027. Additionally, the tokenization ecosystem continues to expand: the yield-bearing security token YLDS reached $598 million (up 80% quarter-on-quarter); the balance of stock lending products was $368 million (up 79%); and the small business loan segment contributed $6 million in revenue. Figure's current stock price is still not far from the 2025 IPO issue price of $36, but there remains a significant gap from the historical high of $78.

According to Bitcoin.com, the Venezuelan government has reiterated a nationwide ban on cryptocurrency mining to address the current energy crisis.The country's national power system peak demand reached 15,579 megawatts, a new high in nine years, with officials attributing this electricity peak to a persistent heatwave and national economic growth. The statement emphasized that "digital mining is absolutely prohibited nationwide," and violators will face legal sanctions. Authorities have developed a supervision plan to enforce this ban.

According to market news, the National Assembly of South Korea has passed an amendment to the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act, requiring companies engaged in cross-border transfer of virtual assets to register with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, bringing the cross-border flow of virtual assets such as stablecoins under the management system of the foreign exchange authorities.The amendment newly defines "virtual asset transfer business," covering activities that transfer virtual assets between South Korea and foreign countries through buying, selling, exchanging, etc. Virtual asset exchanges and custodians are also included in the registration scope. The amendment also reorganizes the foreign exchange business system, integrating the original currency exchange, small overseas remittances, and other businesses into "general currency exchange business" and "overseas payment settlement business." For violations of foreign exchange transaction procedures aimed at obtaining improper benefits, the penalty has been increased from fines of less than 50 million won to imprisonment of less than one year or fines of less than 100 million won.

According to CoinDesk, real estate investor Grant Cardone stated at the Consensus conference that his company has simultaneously increased its holdings of $100 million in Bitcoin to its corporate treasury as part of a $235 million real estate acquisition.Cardone indicated that this latest allocation is an addition to an earlier Bitcoin purchase made in 2025. At that time, Cardone Capital incorporated 1,000 Bitcoins into its balance sheet, with that position valued slightly above $100 million, bringing the company's total Bitcoin exposure to about $200 million. He believes that this combination strategy of holding income-generating real estate along with Bitcoin will outperform real estate investment trusts (REITs).Cardone stated that traditional REITs can never structurally incorporate Bitcoin into their balance sheets, while his strategy aims to combine stable real estate cash flow with the upside potential of Bitcoin, expecting to achieve returns of 22% to 32%. He mentioned that 80% of the investors in the company's fund had never held Bitcoin before, and this strategy is designed to introduce this asset to crypto newcomers.

According to market news, the amendment to South Korea's Foreign Exchange Transaction Act has been passed by the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee. This amendment will expand the regulatory scope of foreign exchange trading to include virtual asset service providers, including cryptocurrency exchanges.The committee passed the bill in today's plenary session and adopted the revisions suggested by professional committee members. The bill has now been submitted to the National Assembly for a final vote, which may take place as early as May 7.

According to SolanaFloor, the on-chain reinsurance company OnRe Finance has completed a $5 million financing round, led by Forward and Rockaway. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of on-chain reinsurance business on the Solana network.Forward plans to deploy up to $25 million in OnRe's ONyc token to gain exposure to tokenized reinsurance returns.

According to Jinshi reports, the Office of the Foreign Investment Security Review Mechanism (National Development and Reform Commission) has made a decision to prohibit investment in the foreign acquisition of the Manus project in accordance with laws and regulations, requiring the parties involved to withdraw from the acquisition transaction.

According to a report by Jinshi citing Xinhua News Agency, Iranian Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian called on regional countries to establish a collective security mechanism "not subject to U.S. interference." During a meeting with Oman's Sultan Haitham in the capital Muscat, Amir-Abdollahian stated that Iran's experience shows that the U.S. military presence in regional countries only leads to turmoil and division in the region. He urged regional countries to jointly build an independent collective security mechanism without U.S. interference.

According to Jinshi, citing New Delhi Television, the second round of negotiations between Iran and the United States is scheduled to be held on April 27.

The South African Treasury has released the "Draft Regulations on Capital Flow Management for 2026" and is seeking public comments. The draft aims to restructure the current foreign exchange control framework based on the "Currency and Exchange Act," focusing on: aligning with the OECD and FATF recommendations on anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing, and curbing illegal capital flows; including crypto-assets in the foreign exchange control scope for enhanced risk management and regulation for the first time; further clarifying exemptions, licenses, and applicable conditions; and introducing an administrative penalty mechanism for violations of the regulations. Comments must be submitted via email to the address designated by the National Treasury within 30 days of the announcement.

In response to the U.S. accusations of China "stealing" intellectual property from American artificial intelligence laboratories, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiaqun stated during a regular press conference on the 24th that the U.S. claims are unfounded and are a smear against China's achievements in the development of the artificial intelligence industry. China firmly opposes this. We urge the U.S. to respect the facts, abandon prejudice, stop suppressing technology related to China, and do more to promote technological exchange and cooperation between the two countries.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that the United States proposed a package plan to Iran and hoped that Iran would "accept it in full." The U.S. knows very well that "this is impossible," and it does not conform to the logic of negotiation and dialogue. The spokesperson stated that Iran had previously submitted 10 ceasefire terms to the U.S. through Pakistan in response to the so-called U.S. ceasefire "15-point plan."The spokesperson said that with the participation of countries along the Persian Gulf, Iran is fully capable of ensuring the security of the Middle East, provided that the U.S. stops military intervention and war provocations. Any intervention from outside the region will only complicate the issues further. Many European countries are wise to "avoid falling into the U.S. military trap."