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What changed in cryptocurrency regulation and policy this week?
Government decisions, new rules and policy shifts reported this week.
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The U.S. Digital Asset Market Clarity Act has failed to pass in Congress, leaving a regulatory void for the cryptocurrency sector.
Read at coindesk.com ↗03
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde reportedly intervened to block Binance from obtaining a crypto-asset service provider license in Greece.
Read at finextra.com ↗04
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued an exemption for passive software providers from broker registration requirements.
Read at techmeme.com ↗05
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), led by Chairman Paul Atkins, announced a 5-year innovation exemption on September 17, 2026.
Read at coindesk.com ↗06
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 3.75%-4% on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, following a unanimous 12-0 vote.
Read at decrypt.co ↗07
On Tuesday, September 15, 2026, the United States Senate voted to block the advancement of the Clarity Act.
Read at techmeme.com ↗08
Senate Republicans in the United States released the final draft of the Clarity Act on September 14, 2026.
Read at theblock.co ↗8 of 50 regulation and policy events are listed; the rest were ranked lower by importance and multi-source corroboration and are not shown.
What funding rounds and acquisitions happened in cryptocurrency this week?
The week’s notable investments, financing rounds, acquisitions and strategic deals.
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Singapore-based payments firm dtcpay has completed a $25 million Series A funding round led by Japan's SBI Group.
Read at coindesk.com ↗10
S&P Global has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire OpenZeppelin, a provider of security standards for onchain finance.
Read at finextra.com ↗11
S&P Global has led a strategic investment in the cryptocurrency data provider Kaiko, extending the company's Series B funding round.
Read at theblock.co ↗12
Kaiko, a crypto data provider, announced on September 14, 2026, that it raised a $110 million Series B extension led by S&P Global.
Read at thedefiant.io ↗What products launched in cryptocurrency this week?
Notable product launches, releases and platform updates from the week.
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Ripple announced that asset managers and commercial projects are preparing to utilize the Batch V1.1 upgrade for the XRP Ledger.
Read at coindesk.com ↗14
The Solana network reduced its target slot time from 300 milliseconds to 250 milliseconds on September 18, 2026.
Read at coindesk.com ↗15
Zcash developers have scheduled the NU7 network upgrade for November 5, 2026, with a final activation decision expected on October 20.
Read at coindesk.com ↗16
The Solana network reduced its target slot time from 300 milliseconds to 250 milliseconds on Friday, September 18, 2026.
Read at decrypt.co ↗17
Blockworks is launching 'Agentic Detection' within its Messari Monitoring product, allowing crypto exchanges and banks to receive compliance alerts directly from AI agents.
Read at thedefiant.io ↗18
Payward, the parent company of Kraken, announced on September 17, 2026, its intention to launch onchain perpetual futures markets for clients in the United States.
Read at finextra.com ↗19
Circle launched the Arc blockchain on September 16, 2026, positioning it as an economic operating system for payments and tokenized assets.
Read at coindesk.com ↗20
Morpho has launched lending and borrowing markets for Coinbase's tokenized stocks on the Base blockchain.
Read at thedefiant.io ↗8 of 26 product launches events are listed; the rest were ranked lower by importance and multi-source corroboration and are not shown.
What financial results were reported in cryptocurrency this week?
Earnings, guidance and other financial results reported this week.
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Grayscale Investments is executing a 3-for-1 forward share split for its Zcash ETF (ZCSH) to lower the price per share.
Read at decrypt.co ↗22
Bitcoin surged to $80,846 on September 18, 2026, marking a 5.88% increase over 24 hours following the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points.
Read at decrypt.co ↗23
On Friday, September 18, 2026, Bitcoin ETFs recorded a total net inflow of $433 million, with Fidelity's FBTC fund contributing $310.7 million to this total.
Read at theblock.co ↗24
Bitcoin fell approximately 4% to below $76,000 on September 15, 2026, following the failure of the Clarity Act.
Read at unchainedcrypto.com ↗25
Robinhood Chain experienced a 97% decline in daily fee revenue, dropping from a peak of $8 million in early September to approximately $230,000 by September 16, 2026.
Read at coindesk.com ↗26
Cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx announced it will cease operations on December 22, 2026, exactly nine years after its 2017 launch.
Read at decrypt.co ↗27
The Balancer protocol has proposed a plan to wind down its operations and distribute the remaining treasury funds to BAL token holders.
Read at theblock.co ↗28
Between September 10 and 17, 2026, Truist announced the sale of $5.5 billion in auto loans and its exit from near-prime auto lending.
Read at tearsheet.co ↗8 of 23 financial results events are listed; the rest were ranked lower by importance and multi-source corroboration and are not shown.
What court rulings and legal actions hit cryptocurrency this week?
Court rulings, filings and legal actions reported this week.
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The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), in collaboration with tax authorities and police, conducted raids on three illegal peer-to-peer cryptocurrency businesses.
Read at techmeme.com ↗30
The succession crisis at Ondo Finance has escalated following the death of founder Nathan Allman in May 2026.
Read at coindesk.com ↗31
Federal prosecutors in the United States charged two Robinhood engineers, Hefu Chai and Huaisong Xiang, with commodities and wire fraud on September 15, 2026.
Read at decrypt.co ↗32
The US Department of Justice is seeking to seize $61 million in cryptocurrency proceeds linked to illicit Iranian oil sales.
Read at theblock.co ↗33
Justin Sun has initiated a lawsuit against actress Jing Tian in China to recover a $4.5 million payment he claims was a marriage fee.
Read at wsj.com ↗34
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed a civil forfeiture complaint on September 14, 2026, seeking $61 million in cryptocurrency linked to illicit Iranian oil sales.
Read at unchainedcrypto.com ↗What research was published in cryptocurrency this week?
New research findings and studies published this week.
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Security firm Trail of Bits utilized AI agents over a six-month period to develop custom tooling for auditing the Miden VM, a zero-knowledge virtual machine.
Read at trailofbits.com ↗36
Chainalysis reports a 5.2x year-over-year increase in blockchain-assisted cyberattacks, specifically using 'Blockchain Dead Drops' (BDD) to store malicious code on public blockchains.
Read at chainalysis.com ↗What incidents and outages hit cryptocurrency this week?
Incidents, outages and safety events reported this week.
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An attacker exploited a module-authorization vulnerability in a Gnosis Safe wallet to drain approximately $7.8 million in rsETH on September 15, 2026.
Read at unchainedcrypto.com ↗38
An MEV bot named Yoink front-ran an exploit targeting a Safe wallet on the Ethereum network on September 15, 2026.
Read at thedefiant.io ↗39
Poland attempted to purchase oil from Venezuela using digital currencies, resulting in a loss of $230 million.
Read at ft.com ↗40
Attackers are using a fake AI crypto trading agent website, tradingclaw.pro, to distribute the Needle Stealer malware.
Read at helpnetsecurity.com ↗41
Between February 12 and August 11, 2026, 224 victims were tricked by fake YouTube tutorials into deploying malicious smart contracts, resulting in the theft of 274.60 ETH.
Read at thedefiant.io ↗5 of 6 incidents and safety events are listed; the rest were ranked lower by importance and multi-source corroboration and are not shown.
What partnerships were announced in cryptocurrency this week?
Partnerships, integrations and joint projects announced this week.
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John Wu, president of Ava Labs, stated that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) spent a year testing Avalanche blockchain technology for potential tokenization initiatives.
Read at theblock.co ↗43
UK-based crypto-as-a-service platform Zumo has entered into a partnership with the regulatory and financial services firm Zeyro.
Read at finextra.com ↗44
Nasdaq Verafin and Stablecore announced a partnership on September 15, 2026.
Read at finextra.com ↗What people moved in and out of cryptocurrency roles this week?
Executive appointments and departures reported this week.
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On September 15, 2026, the Solana-based lending protocol Kamino appointed Michael Weisz as its new CEO.
Read at thedefiant.io ↗1 of 3 people moves events are listed; the rest were ranked lower by importance and multi-source corroboration and are not shown.