ChainCatcher message, when asked about regulatory issues, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce stated that the crypto industry needs "clear and reasonable boundaries of regulatory authority."

ChainCatcher news, Bernstein analysts stated that as exchanges and broker/dealer models begin to merge, the crypto industry is moving towards a more integrated "one-stop" multi-asset investment platform. For example, Coinbase is in deep negotiations to acquire Deribit, Kraken is about to acquire NinjaTrader, and Robinhood is integrating Bitstamp.Analysts noted that Deribit's BTC and ETH options market has a monthly trading volume exceeding $10 billion, accounting for about 70% of the market share, while the monthly trading volume of cryptocurrency futures is around $4.5 billion. The acquisition of Deribit by Coinbase will enable it to expand into the derivatives space, particularly in options, and will compete with Binance in the international crypto derivatives market.

ChainCatcher news, according to CNBC, Ripple announced this week that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has officially withdrawn its four-year lawsuit against the company. CNBC stated that this represents the end of the SEC's years-long crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry. The Ripple case may become the final chapter of related lawsuits, as this case was filed on the last day of former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton's tenure.As of now, lawsuits or investigations against Coinbase, Kraken, Robinhood, Binance, and OpenSea have all been withdrawn, resolved, or put on hold.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the political action committee Fairshake in the cryptocurrency industry plans to invest $1.5 million to support the campaigns for two key U.S. House seats in the Florida special election. These two seats are crucial for the Republican Party to maintain its slim majority in the House. One of the vacant seats is related to Matt Gaetz, who was nominated by President Trump for Attorney General but withdrew due to facing criminal charges.According to Fairshake spokesperson Josh Vlasto, the super PAC will invest $1.2 million to support state Senator Randy Fine in his campaign for the seat left by Michael Waltz, who currently serves as Trump's national security advisor. Additionally, Fairshake will invest approximately $345,000 to support state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis in his campaign for the seat left by Gaetz.Both Republican candidates meet Fairshake's main criterion: support for digital assets. The Florida special election will be held on April 1, with early voting starting this weekend. While the Democrats have also invested heavily, these seats have shown a clear tendency toward the Republicans in recent voting.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has announced that it has stopped conducting reputation risk reviews for national banks and financial institutions. Previously, the cryptocurrency industry had strongly criticized being excluded from the financial system. OCC Acting Comptroller Rodney E. Hood stated that institutional reviews should focus on "appropriate risk management processes" rather than subjective judgments. The OCC will also remove reputation risk content from its manuals and guidelines, but emphasized that this does not affect its fundamental requirements for bank risk management.Previous news, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency stated that banks have the right to engage in certain cryptocurrency activities.

ChainCatcher news reports that on-chain detective ZachXBT revealed that during his assistance in freezing Bybit hacker funds, he became acutely aware of the serious issues regarding security vulnerabilities and hacker attacks in the crypto industry. He stated that multiple "decentralized" protocols have recently derived almost 100% of their monthly trading volume and fees from the North Korean hacker group DPRK, yet these projects refuse to take any responsibility.Moreover, centralized exchanges (CEX) are slow to respond, allowing hackers to launder money in just a few minutes, while some CEXs take hours to take action. ZachXBT also criticized the KYT (Know Your Transaction) system for its serious flaws, which are easy to circumvent, and noted that the KYC (Know Your Customer) mechanism poses more of a data leak risk for ordinary users due to account leaks and insider issues, while being nearly ineffective in preventing the flow of illegal funds.He pointed out that North Korean hackers DPRK recently successfully laundered $1.4 billion, fully exposing the compliance and security system vulnerabilities within the industry, and expressed concern that only government-mandated regulations could lead to improvements in the industry.

ChainCatcher message, in response to the previous articles by The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg revealing discussions about the Trump family's crypto project WLFI and potential investments from Binance, the Trump family's crypto project WLFI stated that the unverified articles published by The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and other media outlets seem to have political motives, indicating a disturbing agenda-driven news reporting pattern that harms the cryptocurrency industry.WLFI clarified: "WLFI is a DeFi project with a significant mission to establish a new financial system that benefits millions. It's that simple. We are honored to collaborate with many leading protocols and organizations to advance the blockchain industry. For anyone interested in the facts, we recommend ignoring false reports and not just looking at sensational headlines. Instead, please listen directly to official opinions."

ChainCatcher news, according to Coindesk, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried recently appeared on the Tucker Carlson podcast, marking the latest stop on his media "image rehabilitation tour." During the show, SBF claimed that part of the reason he was sentenced to 25 years in prison was due to his increasingly close ties with the Republican Party before his arrest."In 2020, I was center-left and donated to Biden's campaign," SBF said, "but by the end of 2022, my private donations to the Republican Party were roughly equal to those to the Democrats. This started to become known around the time of the FTX collapse, and it may have played a role."In fact, SBF had donated over $40 million to 196 members of Congress, including senior members of both the Republican and Democratic parties, which accounted for one-third of the legislators receiving funds from him. He also criticized former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and the regulatory approach to the crypto industry during the interview.A Google document revealed during SBF's trial showed that he had considered various ways to rehabilitate his image, including "publicly criticizing political correctness" and "going on the Tucker Carlson show to declare himself a Republican." This strategy is now being implemented against the backdrop of the Republican Party controlling Washington.Reportedly, SBF's parents—former Stanford Law School professors Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman—are meeting with lawyers and others within Trump's circle, trying to secure a presidential pardon for their son. SBF recently also made comments on social media about the difficulties of layoffs, which were criticized by the crypto community as an attempt to curry favor with the Trump administration.

ChainCatcher news, Safe announced that its joint security investigation with Mandiant (now part of Google Cloud) has made significant progress and confirmed that the theft incident on Bybit on February 21 was perpetrated by the North Korean hacker group TraderTraitor, which has previously targeted the crypto industry multiple times.The attackers compromised the laptop of a Safe{Wallet} developer and hijacked an AWS session token to bypass multi-factor authentication controls. This developer is one of the few with higher privileges to perform their duties.Safe calls on the Web3 ecosystem to collectively address the increasingly complex security threats and to enhance the optimization of transaction verification tools to improve user security. The official team has released a detailed transaction verification guide and plans to further optimize the user experience to reduce potential risks.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the cryptocurrency company Ripple has announced the establishment of the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA) in the United States, which has received a two-year funding of $50 million aimed at helping Americans better understand the industry through its consumer education platform.NCA's Vice President of Communications, Ali Tager, stated that although the organization was founded by Ripple, it is not bound by any single company and will provide resources for anyone who uses, holds, or wants to learn about cryptocurrency. The NCA emphasizes that it is not a political or lobbying organization, but rather focuses on supporting cryptocurrency awareness and education.To ensure independence, the NCA is registered as a 501(c)(4) organization, accountable to the best interests of consumers rather than product revenues or profit margins. Tager stated, "We are actively listening to the voices of the community, directly gathering feedback from real cryptocurrency users, engaging with relevant industry experts and leaders, and establishing advisory committees to incorporate more third-party perspectives."The NCA plans to release a study report on cryptocurrency holders in the U.S. later this month, based on a survey of 10,000 respondents conducted from January to February. Preliminary data shows that up to 21% of Americans may be cryptocurrency users, with 76% of holders indicating that cryptocurrency has had a positive impact on their lives. Additionally, 73% of respondents believe it is important for the U.S. to become a global leader in the industry, and 81% are excited about the future applications of cryptocurrency in areas such as investment, shopping, gaming, and digital collectibles.

ChainCatcher news, according to data from the Web3 security agency CertiK, the cryptocurrency industry lost up to $1.53 billion in February 2025, with the $1.4 billion attack on Bybit by the North Korean Lazarus Group becoming the largest cryptocurrency hacking incident in history, accounting for 91% of the total losses for that month. Excluding the Bybit incident, the losses in February still reached $126 million, an increase of 28.5% compared to January.Other significant events include the stablecoin payment company Infini losing $49 million due to a suspected administrator privilege vulnerability, and the ZkLend protocol being hacked for $10 million. CertiK pointed out that the main causes of losses this month were wallet leaks, code vulnerabilities ($20 million), and phishing attacks ($1.8 million).