NXT Knowlege

Financial regulators on both sides of the Atlantic set out their thinking on AI in the same week. The Financial Conduct Authority used a 19 October speech to lay out a supervisory roadmap for AI in UK retail and wholesale finance, including plans for an "agentic finance" framework. Four days later, the SEC's Division of Examinations published its Fiscal Year 2027 examination priorities, using President Trump's preferred term for AI: "super intelligence" and treating it as an

The Financial Conduct Authority has opened a consultation on draft guidance explaining which cryptoasset activities it considers sit inside the UK's regulatory perimeter under the new regime, which starts on 25 October 2027. CP26/36 proposes updates to the FCA's Perimeter Guidance Manual to reflect two pieces of legislation: the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026, and a second stat

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has become the first US federal regulator to finalise its implementing rule under the GENIUS Act, the federal payment stablecoin framework President Trump signed into law in 2025. The final rule, announced 21 October 2026, sets out a licensing and supervisory framework for “permitted payment stablecoin issuers” — both banks and non-bank companies — along with custody standards for the assets backing stablecoins and requirements fo

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has published a Regulatory Policy on the Approval of Tokenised Funds, setting out the criteria it will apply when assessing registration and licensing applications from funds that intend to issue interests as digital tokens. The Policy implements the framework introduced by amendments to the Mutual Funds Act, Private Funds Act and Virtual Asset (Service Providers) Act that took effect on 24 March 2026, and it is part of CIMA's Rule

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has classified USDC as the European Union's first "significant" e-money token (EMT) under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), picking Circle's dollar-pegged stablecoin out of 45 EMTs notified across the bloc. From 12 November 2026, direct supervision of USDC's own funds, reserve assets, liquidity requirements and recovery and redemption plans moves from France's Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) to the EBA

The Bank of England's Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, Sarah Breeden, has signaled there is no urgency to launch a UK central bank digital currency (CBDC), telling an Atlantic Council event on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok that regulated sterling stablecoins and tokenised bank deposits may deliver the same benefits a retail digital pound was designed to provide. The remarks come as the Bank and HM Treasury approach the end of the d

ESMA has directed national regulators to require MiCA-authorised crypto firms to stop servicing non-compliant stablecoins, with legacy exposure to be cleared within three months.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (Rule Making) on two new regimes: Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions (Regulation CTX) and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets (Regulation CAM). Chairman Michael Selig unveiled the proposals in remarks at the Fordham Law Blockchain Regulatory Symposium in New York on 5 October 2026 (the writer was in attendance). The proposals would give crypto exchanges that offer margined, lev

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules addressing how registered investment advisers and regulated funds may custody crypto assets under the federal securities laws. The proposal amends the custody rule under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and related provisions of the Investment Company Act, both written decades before a digital asset existed. Advisers and regulated funds, including business development companies, have operated without a compliant

Sam Bankman-Fried has filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court, seeking review of his 2023 conviction on seven counts of wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering arising from the collapse of FTX, together with the US$11.02 billion forfeiture order that accompanied his 25-year sentence. The petition was filed on 10 September 2026 by Stanford law professor Jeffrey Fisher, and follows a Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in June that

The US Senate has failed to clear the procedural threshold needed to advance the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633), with Tuesday's cloture vote falling short of the 60 votes required to move the bill forward. The result ends, for now, the closest the United States has come to a single statutory framework dividing crypto oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and pushes the question of who regulates dig

Senate Republicans have released what they are calling the final draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (H.R. 3633), the bill that would settle whether the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates a given digital asset. The redraft folds in 126 changes sought by Senate Democrats and arrives alongside a set of ethics restrictions that President Trump has agreed to accept. A cloture vote is scheduled for Tuesda

Italy has proposed exempting digital euro payments under €10 from merchant fees entirely. NXT Law looks at what that could mean for card networks, and the interchange and merchant fee economics behind it.

The G20 Chair recently released a statement following the finance ministers' and central bank governors' meeting held in Asheville, North Carolina from 31 August to 1 September 2026, committing members to advancing responsible and effective regulatory and supervisory frameworks that preserve financial stability, support economic growth, and establish clear pathways for sound digital financial and digital assets innovation. The statement frames digital financial innovation as

Together with lawyer misusing generative AI, expert witnesses are now increasingly finding out that the use of generative AI exposes them to more potential criticism than they might have thought in the moment when they sought AI's help. Experts are using tools like ChatGPT and Claude to sort discovery documents, survey literature, and draft sections (or in some cases significant parts) of their reports. Courts in a number of jurisdictions are now exploring whether the record

The Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) has published rule requiring virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in Brazil to hold-up certain crypto transfers for up to 24 hours before they execute the transfer. It amends an earlier Resolução BCB nº 142, the BCB's existing fraud-prevention rule for payment services, and brings VASPs directly within that rule for the first time. The BCB states the change targets the fast movement of funds obtained through financial scams. The rule takes

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has published Chapter III of its 2026 Annual Economic Report, offering their view of stablecoins as monetary instruments, concluding that current designs "fall short on foundational properties of money." The BIS examines the macro-financial implications of stablecoin adoption and sets out the BIS's preferred path for digital money. The findings arrive just days after the US Senate passed legislation prohibiting the US Federal Rese

Four major crypto regulatory deadlines are clustering within a 30-day window — a rare alignment that leaves little room for businesses that have been watching and waiting. Australia's ASIC no-action relief expires soon. The EU's MiCA transition period closes July 1. The US Treasury's stablecoin BSA rulemaking is in its final phase with a final rule expected by July 18. And in Washington, a Senate floor vote on the CLARITY Act, the bill that would define the division of jurisd

Within the space of four days, two major jurisdictions have moved to regulate AI-generated non-consensual imagery with different approaches. On 14 June 2026, the European Parliament formally approved amendments to the EU AI Act through the so-called Digital Omnibus on AI package, including a new prohibition on apps and AI systems that generate or manipulate non-consensual intimate imagery. On 18 June 2026, the US Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced the NO FAKES Ac

In the United Kingdom, holding cryptocurrency has never been easier. Buying it is another matter. A coordinated campaign launched this week by Stand With Crypto UK has drawn attention to a well-documented but largely unaddressed practice: British banks blocking or limiting their customers’ ability to transfer their own money to FCA-regulated digital asset platforms — exchanges that have met the FCA’s registration requirements and are operating legally. The data The UK Cryptoa