Japan's Financial Services Agency supports cryptocurrency anti-money laundering pilot programs, with the participation of several well-known companies

European Central Bank backs ESMA with centralized oversight of crypto regulation, and bearish signals for Bitcoin emerge

The European Central Bank has officially supported transferring regulatory authority over crypto-asset service providers to the European Securities and Markets Authority, marking an important step in the process of consolidating crypto oversight. This change is intended to unify regulatory standards, reduce fragmentation issues, and strengthen compliance requirements, but it is expected to increase the compliance burden for small and medium-sized businesses. The market reacted negatively, and confidence in Bitcoin’s price outlook declined.

The European Central Bank supports consolidating crypto regulatory powers under ESMA and plans to unify the EU regulatory framework

The European Central Bank supports consolidating regulatory authority over crypto assets with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The proposal is intended to unify supervision, reduce opportunities for regulatory arbitrage, improve the efficiency of cross-border coordination, and strengthen investor protection. Going forward, ESMA will be responsible for regulating stablecoins, trading platforms, and more; the specific implementation details are still to be clarified.

Korea’s central bank: Cryptocurrency trading should introduce a “circuit breaker” mechanism; CBDC should be the digital core

The Bank of Korea recommends introducing a circuit breaker mechanism in the crypto-asset industry to prevent abnormal trading, and points out that the Bithumb mistaken payment incident reveals a structural vulnerability. The governor nominee, Hyun-sung Shin, emphasizes that CBDCs and deposit tokens should be the core of digital currencies, and proposes a phased opening strategy for stablecoins. The Bank of Korea also plans to launch an offshore KRW system with real-time gross settlement in 2027 to reduce credit risk.

A candidate for the Governor of the Bank of Korea: CBDC and deposit tokens should become the core of the digital currency ecosystem

A Bank of Korea central bank governor candidate, Shin Hyun Song, said that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and deposit tokens issued by commercial banks should be the core of the digital currency ecosystem. He supports a Korean won stablecoin, but emphasized that maintaining monetary trust comes first. He suggested issuing stablecoins through a bank-led consortium, which could later be expanded to non-bank institutions, while also carefully assessing the stablecoin’s regulatory compliance.

The Bank of Korea recommends introducing a circuit breaker mechanism in the crypto asset market to cope with the risk of extreme volatility.

The Bank of Korea has proposed introducing a “circuit breaker mechanism” into the crypto asset market to address market volatility and risk, and believes that existing regulatory measures are insufficient to deal with potential issues in the crypto market. The context for this proposal is a recent system malfunction incident at a certain exchange.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority vice president: The issuance timeline for the second batch of stablecoin licenses has not been determined, and the total number of licenses is extremely limited.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Chen Weimin, said the timeline for issuing the second batch of stablecoin licenses is still uncertain and may be affected by the two institutions granted licenses in the first batch. In addition, China-funded institutions were advised to put their applications on hold, and the number of institutions ultimately granted licenses will be limited, with only a small number meeting the requirements of the “Stablecoin Ordinance.” HSBC Payme users can enable a stablecoin account, but they must be Hong Kong local residents.