YGG Play has released a shutdown guide, advising users to unstake their YGG accounts and redeem in-game points by July 31st.
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The South African Revenue Office has released tax guidelines for crypto assets, potentially subjecting approximately 6 million users to audits.
Odaily Odaily that the South African Revenue and Taxation Office (SARS) released a draft guidance on cryptocurrency taxation on July 1, 2026, proposing compliance rules for approximately 5.8 million to 6 million cryptocurrency users in South Africa, with a public comment period open until August 31, 2026. Under the updated framework, crypto assets are classified as intangible assets, not foreign or traditional currencies, and taxpayers are not required to pay tax on unrealized gains or losses while simply holding the assets. Tax obligations are triggered upon disposal of the assets. If an individual's crypto activity is deemed similar to business activities or short-term day trading, profits will be classified as gross income and taxed at marginal rates ranging from 18% to 45%. If crypto assets are held as long-term investments, capital gains tax will be levied on disposal gains, with an effective individual tax rate ranging from 18% to 36%. The draft also treats the exchange of crypto assets as a barter transaction, with tax consequences arising immediately at the local market value at the time of exchange. SARS announced the deployment of a Crypto Revenue Augmentation Unit to track and audit digital wallets, and urged taxpayers who had previously failed to disclose crypto earnings to complete their filings through a voluntary disclosure program to avoid administrative penalties from increased enforcement after the August deadline. (Bitcoin.com News)
The Curaçao Gaming Authority has released encryption guidelines, requiring licensees to be fully compliant by mid-2027.
PANews reported on June 25th that, according to iGB, the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) has released cryptocurrency policy guidelines for B2C online gaming license holders, covering the entire lifecycle requirements for crypto deposits, betting, withdrawals, and fund management, to be implemented in phases until mid-2027. Key requirements include: licensees may only accept cryptocurrencies for gaming and cannot act as exchanges or custodians; they must possess blockchain analytics capabilities for wallet screening and transaction monitoring; they must prioritize fiat-backed stablecoins, while privacy coins and meme coins of unknown origin must be evaluated or prohibited; player, operational, and fund wallets must be separated. The CGA requires an immediate ban on transactions involving sanctioned wallets and mixers, submission of compliance policies within three months, completion of risk assessments and staff training within six months, and full compliance by June 2027. These guidelines are consistent with FATF international standards.
Yield Guild Games announced the closure of its game publishing division, YGG Play, and the layoff of 35 employees.
PANews reported on July 7th that Gabby Dizon, co-founder of the Web3 gaming guild Yield Guild Games (YGG), announced the closure of its game publishing division, YGG Play, affecting 35 positions. YGG will pay departing employees an additional eight weeks' salary during the transition period and assist them in finding new employment. The YGG Play platform and games such as LOL Land and Waifu Sweeper will continue operating until July 31st, after which they will be shut down. GIGACHAD BAT will move to delabs Official, while Ragnarok Breaker will continue to be operated by Planetarium HQ.
The Ethereum Foundation has released new policy guidelines outlining use cases for governments and institutions.
PANews reported on July 2nd that, according to The Block, the Ethereum Foundation's Global Policy Strategy Team released a policy guide for governments and institutions, attempting to position Ethereum as a critical public infrastructure. The report states that Ethereum has maintained uninterrupted operation since its launch in 2015, with approximately $76 billion worth of staked ETH secured as of March 2026. It boasts a geographically distributed validator network, multiple independent client implementations, and a large developer ecosystem. The Foundation believes that many current digital services rely on centralized intermediaries, posing risks such as single points of failure, cyberattacks, or political pressure. Ethereum's decentralized architecture makes it more suitable for applications such as digital identity, public records, and asset tokenization. The report cites successful examples such as decentralized identity initiatives in Bhutan and Buenos Aires, and an Ethereum-based land registration project in India, demonstrating that governments have begun exploring this technology.
Financial Times: US AI guidelines could be released as early as next week.
PANews reported on July 2nd that, according to the Financial Times, AI guidelines are expected to be released as early as next week following US government intervention in the model release plans of Anthropic and OpenAI.
EVAA Protocol has released a teaser for its AI Agent, sparking community speculation that it may bring a brand-new AI interactive experience to TON DeFi.
BlockBeats reported on July 8th that EVAA Protocol, a lending protocol within the TON ecosystem, released its first teaser video for its AI Agent, announcing its upcoming launch and inviting the community to guess its core functions. Those who guess correctly will have a chance to win rewards. The official video clip shows messages such as "Connecting to TON network" and "Liquidity synced," and displays the product deployment progress in the format "Deploying EVAA_AGENT.exe," sparking community speculation. The product may revolve around AI-driven DeFi interactions within the Telegram ecosystem. Whether it will involve liquidity management, lending optimization, or other functions remains to be officially announced. EVAA Protocol is one of the leading DeFi lending protocols within the TON ecosystem, committed to providing users with secure and efficient decentralized lending and liquidity services. With the continued development of Telegram and the TON ecosystem, EVAA is constantly expanding the integration of AI and DeFi. EVAA Protocol's signal regarding its AI Agent not only leaves room for speculation about product iterations but also raises market expectations for how AI will further lower the barriers to entry in DeFi and reshape the on-chain asset management experience. On June 9th, The Open Network community voted to rename the network's native token from Toncoin to Gram, and the token code will also be changed from TON to GRAM.