Digital Finance Providers Seek EU Carve-Out from New Legislation
Policy
”Digital finance providers want a carve-out from forthcoming European legislation governing distributed ledger technology, arguing that Europe is losing out to the US. Boerse Stuttgart Group, Nasdaq Inc., and fintech associations from France, Spain, Italy, Hungary and Poland are among 39 signatories asking the European Commission and the European Parliament to fast track a review of the DLT pilot regime as standalone legislation, carving it out from the European Union’s Market Integration and Supervision Package. Distributed ledger technology, which powers cryptocurrency, is increasingly part of mainstream financial services and forms part of the new EU’s regulatory push.”
Source: Bloomberg
UK Sets Out Plan to Integrate Payments Rules Covering Stablecoins and Tokenized Deposits
Regulation
“The UK Treasury has set out plans to consolidate payments regulation into a single framework spanning traditional payment services, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits, as part of a broader overhaul unveiled during Fintech Week in London. The measures are designed to support innovation and modernize the UK’s payments regime while aligning it with changes in digital finance, including tokenization and blockchain-based settlement systems, the Treasury and City Minister Lucy Rigby said in a statement on Tuesday. According to the statement, the framework includes plans to regulate stablecoins used in payments under a forthcoming issuance regime, while expanding the Financial Conduct Authority’s remit over Open Banking and exploring regulatory adjustments for payment activity conducted by AI agents.”
Source: The Block
Crypto PACs Amass $180 Million War Chest for Midterm Races
Policy
“Political groups tied to the cryptocurrency industry are sitting on a nearly $180 million war chest ahead of this year’s midterm elections, giving it the ability to outspend even some of the Republican Party’s most prominent super PACs. Most of that money is left over from last year with the vast majority held by Fairshake, a group largely funded by Coinbase Global Inc., Ripple Labs and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. Since January, the eight political action committees and super PACs associated with the crypto world raised just over $11 million, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings. Almost all of it went to a new group called the Fellowship PAC, which is tied to the stablecoin company Tether.”
Source: Bloomberg
BlackRock Suddenly Bets $871M on Bitcoin Dip
ETPs
“Bitcoin investors watching the price chop on Iran headlines are suddenly getting a cleaner signal from Wall Street’s biggest asset manager. BlackRock’s spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund absorbed $871 million of inflows last week, according to Marc Baumann, founder of digital-asset research firm fiftyonexyz. 'IBIT (BlackRock). $871M weekly inflow. Led every crypto ETF,' Baumann posted on X on April 19. He added that the fund 'led every crypto ETF' across the seven-day stretch. The flows landed into a market that had been hammered by geopolitics. 'Bitcoin dipped under $74,000 amid stalled Iran peace talks and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,' crypto commentator David Gokhshtein wrote on X on April 19. Bitcoin briefly traded around $70,900 before clawing back near $75,600 on Monday, with trader @virtualbacconn attributing the bigger move to 'the Fed held rates at 3.50–3.75%' and a familiar sell-the-news pattern around FOMC meetings rather than Hormuz alone.”
Source: Forbes
Stripe and Paradigm-backed Blockchain Tempo Launches Advisory Unit to Promote Stablecoin Adoption
Stablecoins
“Tempo, the new blockchain backed by payments company Stripe and VC firm Paradigm, has launched a 'stablecoin advisory' to help businesses and financial institutions adopt stablecoins. The advisory operation pledges Tempo support in identifying relevant use cases and offers 'forward-deployed' engineers who can work within clients to successfully integrate stablecoins. Tempo has been closely watched in the crypto space since Fortune first reported on its existence in mid-2025. After disclosing a $500 million funding round that valued the company at $5 billion in October, Tempo formally launched in March. Now, the payments-focused blockchain is betting that businesses will turn to stablecoins for their payment flows if given adequate know-how and technical support.”
Source: Fortune
