CFTC to join SEC in exploring crypto regulations without CLARITY bill
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SEC cancels key crypto regulatory meeting
The SEC canceled a meeting on proposed crypto offering rules after the Senate left for recess without voting on the CLARITY Act.
Russia's State Duma approved the final version of the cryptocurrency regulation bill, removing the mandatory requirement to declare wallet addresses.
According to Mars Finance, the Russian State Duma Financial Market Committee has approved the final version of the government's cryptocurrency regulatory bill, which will be submitted for a second reading. Committee Chairman Anatoly Aksakov revealed that the second reading version makes several key adjustments: the requirement to mandatorily declare cryptocurrency wallet addresses has been removed, replaced by only requiring the declaration of balances and transaction records to protect residents from the risk of sensitive information leaks; new amendments allow the legal purchase of securities in the securities market and Russian digital financial assets using cryptocurrencies. In the future, it may allow legitimate Russian brokers and asset managers to trade on foreign crypto exchage, but additional requirements such as jurisdictional "friendliness" must be met. For non-professional investors, the annual limit through a single intermediary is 300,000 rubles, and only for "the most liquid cryptocurrencies." The bill also introduces a two-day freeze on large transfers abroad and to third parties. Aksakov did not specify whether the proposal to ban Russians from using non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets is retained.
Crypto hacker losses decreased by 47% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, but the overall security situation has not improved.
According to Foresight News , citing Cointelegraph, total losses from cryptocurrency security incidents in the first half of 2026 amounted to approximately $1.32 billion, a 46.8% decrease year-over-year. However, CertiK warns that this figure is misleading. The data from the same period last year was severely distorted by the massive $1.4 billion theft from Bybit, the largest single hack in history. In reality, attackers are becoming more targeted and destructive. Specifically, phishing attacks resulted in $508.2 million in losses in the first quarter, while losses in the second quarter rose 59% quarter-over-quarter to $807.5 million. Over 70% of these losses came from the KelpDAO and Drift Protocol incidents, both believed to be the work of North Korean state-sponsored hackers. A report from TRM Labs during the same period also indicated that the number of attacks surged from 83 to 207 in the first half of the year, the highest on record, with smart contract vulnerability attacks accounting for 60%. CertiK also points out that private key and multi-signature wallet management remain the most vulnerable security areas that attackers can exploit. He recommends that protocol providers strengthen private key management from multiple levels, including hardware security, multi-signature governance, and geographically dispersed signers.
Swyftx has obtained an Australian financial services license and is seeking opportunities in the cryptocurrency payments sector.
According to Foresight News , citing Cointelegraph, Australian cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx has obtained an Australian financial services license, indicating its intention to explore opportunities in the cryptocurrency payments sector. The license allows Swyftx to offer derivatives such as cryptocurrency options or futures to retail customers and authorizes it to provide non-cash payment services, enabling the fintech company to offer payment services to both business and retail clients. Swyftx interim co-CEO Andrea Yuen stated that after obtaining a license to provide payment services, the company "will no longer be a pure cryptocurrency spot exchange." Swyftx does not currently hold an AFSL license for spot cryptocurrency trading.
Former Twitter CISO Michael Coates appointed Chief Information Security Officer of the Solana Foundation
According to Foresight News , security expert Michael Coates announced on the X platform that he has been appointed Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of the Solana Foundation, marking a new chapter in his career. Coates previously served as Head of Security at Mozilla, CISO at Twitter, and founded Altitude Networks, a startup focused on enterprise SaaS data security, which was later acquired by CoinList, thus entering the crypto industry. Coates stated that he chose to join Solana because the chain currently handles tens of billions of dollars in daily stablecoin transactions, exceeding the combined daily trading volume of most cryptocurrencies. He mentioned that future work will focus on integrating security capabilities into the foundation of industry operations and application security, addressing the unique security challenges of cryptocurrencies, and collaborating with policymakers and standards bodies to promote improvements in cybersecurity regulation.
The US CFTC has filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency pool operator Trevor Vernon, alleging a $14.8 million investment fraud.
According to BlockBeats, on July 8th, the US CFTC filed a lawsuit against Trevor Vernon and his company, Argent Capital Management, on Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges that between March 2022 and February 2026, Vernon operated a commodity pool involving stock index futures, options, and crypto assets, raising approximately $14.8 million from at least 60 investors and falsely advertising investment performance, thus committing investment fraud. The CFTC claims that the transactions resulted in losses exceeding $8.6 million for investors. Vernon allegedly concealed these losses and misappropriated approximately $3 million to pay returns to investors, operating in a manner "similar to a Ponzi scheme," and misappropriated $136,000 for private jet travel. The regulator also points out that the transactions involved commodities such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and is requesting the court to prohibit Vernon from continuing related trading and registration activities, recover illegal gains, impose civil penalties, and compensate investors.