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ChainCatcher reported live that Li Baiwei, Partner at HashKey Tokenisation, John Cahill, Chief Operating Officer of Galaxy Digital Asia, Abdelhamid Bizid, Managing Director of BlackRock, and Min Lin, Managing Director and Head of Global Business Development at Ondo Finance, attended the HK Web3 Feastival roundtable to share insights on "From Wall Street to Blockchain: The Practical Logic and Future Landscape of Global RWA Issuance."The attendees generally agreed that the core value of RWA and asset tokenization is no longer just an innovative narrative at the conceptual level, but a realistic path for upgrading financial market infrastructure. John Cahill stated that blockchain is essentially a superior "underlying pipeline" for financial markets, and in the long run, the ultimate goal of financial markets will be "tokenization of everything"; what truly needs attention is not whether tokenization will happen, but whether market participants have already begun preparing for this endgame.Abdelhamid Bizid pointed out that from the perspective of traditional asset management institutions, the current tokenized products primarily serve clients who do not wish to move funds out of the on-chain ecosystem but want to achieve stable returns and compliant asset allocation tools. BlackRock has seen a clear demand for on-chain yield products and will continue to launch more new products. However, he also emphasized that the real bottleneck in the industry at this stage is not technology, but rather institutional adoption, demand validation, liquidity depth, regulatory clarity, and non-technical barriers such as costs and taxation.Min Lin, drawing from Ondo's practice, stated that the key to tokenized stocks is not just moving U.S. stocks onto the blockchain, but transforming stocks that are originally static in brokerage accounts into programmable financial instruments that can serve as collateral, margin, and lending assets in DeFi, further unlocking capital efficiency. He mentioned that the main demand currently observed by Ondo still comes from retail and crypto-native funds in regions like Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, which find it difficult to directly access the U.S. stock market. This indicates that tokenized stocks at this stage are more like "global asset access tools" rather than mainstream trading venues for institutional funds.

According to Crypto In America, the U.S. CLARITY Act has entered a critical negotiation period this week, and whether it will receive the long-awaited committee review in April or be postponed until May will depend on recent progress. The Senate Banking Committee will focus on the confirmation hearing of Federal Reserve Chair nominee Kevin Walsh at the beginning of the week. After that, the committee must decide by Friday whether to notify the review of the bill in order to hold a vote in the week of April 27.The banking group represented by the North Carolina Bankers Association is lobbying against the stablecoin yield restriction provisions in the bill, urging members to call Senator Thom Tillis's office to request amendments. It is reported that industry groups are also reaching out to other committee members.After more than two months of negotiations, crypto companies and banks reached a compromise at the end of last month, which the crypto industry is generally satisfied with. However, after the White House Council of Economic Advisers report downplayed the risks of stablecoin yields to the banking system, calls for amendments from the banking side have intensified.Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council, criticized banks on the X platform for "further lobbying out of greed or ignorance." Senator Tillis proposed holding an in-person "crypto carnival" meeting, but this may extend the timeline. He emphasized that there are still issues to negotiate but expressed optimism about scheduling the review in the coming weeks.In addition to yield issues, the bill also needs to address ethical and DeFi-related provisions. This week's progress will determine the fate of the bill, and the market is highly attentive.

Vitalik Buterin stated at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival that Ethereum's ultimate goal is to build a digital infrastructure where users do not need to trust any intermediaries, featuring "self-sovereignty," supporting various decentralized applications from finance, social interactions to identity verification, which will serve as trust anchors for off-chain applications (such as privacy voting, prediction markets, decentralized social).

ChainCatcher live report, the Executive Director of the Intermediaries Division of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Ye Zhi Heng, delivered a keynote speech titled "ASPIRe in Action Hong Kong's Digital Asset Journey" at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival. He reviewed the six major milestones since the Commission launched the ASPIRe roadmap last year, including allowing licensed platforms to provide staking services, conducting joint consultations on virtual asset trading and custody systems, opening up perpetual contracts and margin financing frameworks, and launching plans to strengthen market defenses through technology.He revealed that the draft regulations for the four systems of virtual asset trading, custody, management, and advisory have reached 260 pages, and the draft was received last week. The work for the next 12 months is divided into three major clusters: first, promoting innovation through regulation, advancing legislative and regulatory guideline consultations; second, promoting innovation through practice, gradually allowing tokenized authorized funds to trade on licensed platforms; third, promoting innovation through interaction, advancing automated reporting, signing international bilateral memorandums, and combating financial crime frameworks. He emphasized that Hong Kong is "moving steadily forward, fast because of stability."

The IRS is intensifying its regulatory oversight of tax compliance for crypto assets as the April 15 filing deadline approaches, with related enforcement actions continuing to strengthen.Reports indicate that about 61% of U.S. crypto investors are still unaware of the new reporting rules for the 2025 tax year, and approximately 52% of investors are concerned about facing penalties due to reporting errors. The new rules require brokers to report digital asset trading income to the IRS for the first time using Form 1099-DA, but the cost basis still needs to be calculated by the investors themselves.Industry insiders state that the current regulatory environment has become stricter, and investors need to maintain complete records of transactions and wallet data, and report accurately to avoid potential legal risks.

According to official news, Circle has released its vision for the development of the internet financial system in 2026, proposing to focus on building cross-chain interoperability infrastructure, liquidity orchestration capabilities, and an institutional-grade asset issuance system to promote the efficient flow of value in a multi-chain ecosystem.In terms of cross-chain infrastructure, Circle stated that it will launch features such as "Fast Transfer" in the future, achieving second-level settlement without waiting for final confirmation from the source chain, thus improving the efficiency of fund utilization. In the asset expansion layer, the CCTP plans to extend to more assets beyond USDC, including EURC, USYC, and cirBTC, and support the issuance and circulation of real-world assets (RWA) across multiple chains.In addition, Circle is advancing cross-chain process coordination, simplifying multi-chain operational processes through tools such as Bridge Kit, Deposit Kit, Fee Service, and Workflows, achieving "one-click" cross-chain interaction, reducing development complexity, and enhancing user experience.

In response to Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) proposing a bet of $1 billion (or any amount) regarding the claim of "already officially divorced," OKX Star stated that as the CEO of OKX, he cannot participate in such public bets due to the company's compliance culture, and gambling is also illegal for UAE citizens.He emphasized that to verify whether CZ is officially divorced, it is sufficient to show whether Binance's shares have been legally divided from his ex-wife, without the need for a betting proof. Furthermore, the division of marital property after a 20-year marriage is not only a legal obligation but also a basic moral responsibility. He has no interest in CZ's private life but reserves the right to question and clarify any false statements about himself made in the book and public interviews.Previously, CZ demanded an apology from Star and stated that if the bet is not accepted within 24 hours, it would prove who is misleading the public.

Sun Yuchen pointed out today during the Space live broadcast themed "The Underlying Financial Infrastructure of the AI Agent Era" and "B.AI Officially Launched": In the future, the standard for measuring national strength will no longer be traditional GDP, but rather the annual consumption of Tokens; blockchain grants AI independent accounts and payment capabilities, allowing AI to truly transition from a "tool" to a "digital life" with economic rights. In the upcoming Agent era, individuals can drive countless "digital lobsters" to complete the closed loop from code to results, achieving geometric growth in productivity.This means that B.AI is committed to building the foundational economic engine for the AGI era. It not only provides AI with independent economic sovereignty for settlement but also lowers the innovative labor force through an open-source ecosystem, making "companies" possible. When AI can create a sense of security for individuals through instant feedback, and global settlement is no longer a concern, all of humanity will truly welcome the comprehensive liberation of productivity.

According to Hurriyet Daily News, the Turkish parliament removed the tax provisions related to crypto assets during the review of the omnibus bill. The provisions had proposed a 0.3% transaction tax on crypto transactions conducted through service providers and imposed withholding tax on crypto gains.This adjustment stemmed from strong opposition from the opposition parties. Officials stated that the relevant content may be resubmitted in the form of separate legislation in the future.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett revealed that the office of U.S. Senator Thom Tillis plans to publicly release legislative text related to stablecoin yields and reward mechanisms next week, and is currently in ongoing communication with various industry stakeholders.According to reports, this move comes in response to dissatisfaction expressed by participants in the crypto industry, such as Coinbase, regarding the relevant terms presented earlier this week. Coinbase's Global Head of Investment Research, David Duong, stated that the industry is preparing a coordinated counter-proposal aimed at pushing for adjustments to the terms to protect users while maintaining a sustainable reward mechanism.

The Federal Court of Australia ordered Binance's Australian derivatives division (i.e., Oztures Trading Pty Ltd) to pay a fine of AUD 10 million (approximately USD 6.9 million).During the period from 2022 to 2023, the entity incorrectly classified over 85% of local customers as wholesale investors, resulting in 524 retail customers being exposed to high-risk crypto derivatives without statutory consumer protections, leading to trading losses of approximately AUD 8,660,000 (about USD 5.9 million) and fee losses of AUD 3,900,000 (about USD 2.7 million). Joe Longo, Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), stated that Binance failed to establish basic compliance review mechanisms and incorrectly approved hundreds of wholesale investor applications. According to the fact statement submitted to the court, Binance acknowledged flaws in its customer onboarding process, allowing applicants to repeatedly take the eligibility test until they passed, and that senior compliance personnel inadequately reviewed application materials. Binance admitted to six violations, including failing to provide product disclosure statements to retail customers, not conducting target market assessments, and not maintaining a compliant internal dispute resolution system. This fine is in addition to approximately AUD 13.1 million (about USD 9 million) in customer compensation previously supervised by ASIC. The entity's Australian financial services license was revoked in April 2023.

This week, a compromise proposal regarding the yield section of the Clarity Act by U.S. Senators has sparked mixed reactions within the crypto industry. Coinbase has expressed dissatisfaction with the latest compromise text to the senator's staff but has not publicly stated opposition.The proposal was presented to stakeholders in the crypto industry on Monday, with some expressing dissatisfaction while others felt the outcome was better than expected. The proposal will instruct certain regulatory agencies to formulate rules to clarify the regulatory approach to yield-generating activities, but there are concerns that regulators may set subjective standards. Additionally, the text may limit companies' ability to tie rewards to the scale of stablecoin transactions.During this week's industry conference call, Coinbase had disagreements with other parties, with some companies believing that giving up certain stablecoin rewards is too costly, while others felt that losing the Clarity Act poses a greater risk to the overall legislative framework for the crypto industry. Previously, news related to this compromise proposal had impacted the market, with Circle's stock price dropping 20% on Tuesday and slightly rebounding on Wednesday.White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt criticized the related predictions on the X platform as "uninformed" and stated that "everything will be resolved." The final text is expected to be released this weekend or early next week.

The European cryptocurrency trading platform Bitpanda announced the launch of the blockchain network Vision Chain, jointly built with the Vision Web3 Foundation and Optimism, to provide tokenized asset issuance and settlement infrastructure for European banks and fintech companies in compliance with the MiCA regulatory framework.The network uses euro stablecoins to pay transaction fees to avoid the risks of cryptocurrency price volatility.

According to Hainan Daily, the Hainan Provincial Local Financial Supervision Administration has issued a risk warning regarding trading venues. Recently, the Hainan Provincial Local Financial Supervision Administration learned from relevant channels that certain entities are promoting under names such as "Hainan International Data Asset Exchange," "Hainan Data Exchange," and "Hainan Marine Exchange," claiming to legally conduct businesses related to RWA (Real World Assets) and RDA (Real Data Assets).Market entities are conducting business in violation of regulations under the guise of trading venues without approval, which is suspected of illegal financial activities and endangers public property safety. In response, the Hainan Provincial Local Financial Supervision Administration has the following risk warnings:Currently, there is no approved establishment of the "Hainan International Data Asset Exchange" within our province. The establishment of trading venues in our province must be approved by the provincial government (the list of approved trading venues can be found in the appendix). Without approval from the competent authorities, market operators are not allowed to use terms such as "exchange" or "trading center" in their registered names, nor can they engage in activities related to trading venues.The People's Bank of China, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and eight other departments jointly issued a notice on further preventing and addressing risks related to virtual currencies, clearly stating that the regulation of the tokenization of Real World Assets (RWA) follows the principle of "strictly prohibited domestically, strictly regulated overseas." It emphasizes that conducting tokenization activities of Real World Assets (RWA) within the country, as well as providing related intermediary and information technology services, is suspected of illegal activities such as unauthorized issuance of token vouchers, unauthorized public issuance of securities, illegal operation of securities and futures businesses, and illegal fundraising, which should be prohibited.We urge investors to establish a correct investment perspective.

The Ethereum Foundation today released a systematic explanation regarding the evolution of the roles of L1 and L2. The core point indicates that as the ecosystem matures, the primary goal of L2 has shifted from "scaling Ethereum" to "providing differentiated functions, customized services, and autonomous controllable areas," while scaling has become a secondary focus.The Foundation has redefined the roles of L1 and L2 as follows:· L1: As a permissionless, highly resilient global settlement layer, it undertakes the functions of shared state, liquidity, and DeFi hub, and must continue to scale while maintaining censorship resistance, open source, privacy, and security.· L2: While developing its own on-chain economy, it will extend Ethereum's core attributes to a broader user base, forming a "full-spectrum" ecosystem.The Foundation clarifies that L2s with the highest integration with L1 should pursue synchronous composability, complete interoperability, shared liquidity, and Stage 2 mechanisms. A large number of L2s with diverse business models and technical expertise will continue to play an important role, providing functionalities that L1 does not possess.The Ethereum Foundation stated that it will continue to invest in technology to help L2 smoothly extend L1's core attributes and securely access cross-layer liquidity, while emphasizing that L2 must maintain transparency and verifiability of its security attributes.

According to Politico, Senate Republicans are considering adding bank deregulation provisions to the cryptocurrency market structure bill to help advance a stalled housing proposal.

According to Jinshi reports, the year-on-year revision of the core PCE price index for the United States in the fourth quarter is 2.9%, the same as the previous value of 2.9%.

Bitcoin Policy Institute calls for a revision of U.S. tax rules that treat all BTC payments as capital gains.