Spain’s gambling regulator blocked local users from Polymarket and Kalshi “as a precautionary measure” as authorities there address allegations the prediction markets platforms were in violation of gambling laws. On Tuesday, Spain’s Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) said the country’s Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption, and Agenda 2030 had opened legal proceedings against the two companies, as they appeared to be operating without necessary licensing. The DGOJ issued an order blocking Spanish users from Kalshi and Polymarket until the proceedings were resolved, expected in three to four months.“The DGOJ wishes to remind the public that, in Spain — in line with other European jurisdictions — prediction markets are deemed to constitute games of chance when bets are placed on uncertain future outcomes,” according to a Tuesday notice. “Consequently, operating such markets within Spanish territory requires obtaining a specific administrative license.”Source: Spain’s Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs, and Agenda 2030 The move by Spanish authorities follows a similar governmental ban in Indonesia, which blocked access to Polymarket on Friday after the platform listed bets on whether President Prabowo Subianto would leave office before the end of his term. Other countries, including Australia, France, Poland, Singapore, Ukraine and Switzerland, have restricted access to Polymarket over gambling concerns, with the platforms also facing US state-level crackdowns and restrictions.Related: Kalshi valuation doubles to $22B after $1B funding roundA spokesperson for Polymarket told Cointelegraph that the platform was “committed to engaging constructively with relevant authorities in every jurisdiction.” A Kalshi spokesperson declined to comment.Kalshi and Polymarket are two of the largest prediction markets platforms by trading volume, with combined in weekly notational volume $6.1 billion, according to DeFi Rate.NYT report shines light on US federal response to prediction marketsOn Sunday, the New York Times reported that officials at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) were pushed out of the agency after they voiced concerns about prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket. The financial regulator, under US President Donald Trump’s hand-picked chair, Michael Selig, has taken the stance that the CFTC has “exclusive authority” over the platforms, filing lawsuits against any state authority that challenged this position.Prediction Market Volume: Kalshi & Polymarket Aggregated Data. Source: DeFi RateLawmakers on the US House of Representatives’ Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced on Friday that they had initiated a probe into Kalshi and Polymarket over insider trading concerns. Committee Chair James Comer cited reports of “suspiciously timed trades” on the platforms ahead of US military actions against Iran, allowing certain users to potentially profit from insider information.Magazine: 50K investors fight Korean crypto tax, Singapore cancels Bsquared: Asia Express

Safety protections on open-source artificial intelligence models from major technology groups can be removed in minutes using publicly available tools, allowing systems to produce responses on topics including bioweapons, malware and other prohibited content, according to Financial Times testing with AI safety group Alice.The findings released Monday add to concerns that safeguards embedded by developers may not persist once model weights are released and modified, raising questions over where responsibility for AI safety should sit.The investigation, conducted using tools available on public code repositories, found that guardrails on models developed by companies including Meta and Google could be removed in under 10 minutes without specialist hardware.Modified versions of the systems were then able to respond to prompts that original models refused, including requests linked to malware and chemical hazards, according to the tests.The results highlight a challenge for policymakers as open-source systems become more capable and widely distributed. Related: AI agents must be treated as untrusted systems: ResearchersUnlike proprietary models, open-source systems can be downloaded, altered and redistributed outside the control of their original developers, making post-release enforcement of safety constraints more difficult and raising questions over whether regulation focused primarily on model development is sufficient.Governance limitsGlobal regulators are developing frameworks for advanced AI systems, including the European Union’s AI Act and emerging frontier model safety approaches in the United Kingdom and the United States. However, experts say the findings reveal limitations in current governance assumptions.European Union’s AI Act. Source: European CommissionMarkus Levin, co-founder of decentralized physical infrastructure network company XYO, told Cointelegraph the rapid removal of safeguards shows “how quickly control shifts once open models are released,” adding that most governance proposals still focus too heavily on the model-building stage.David Minarsch, a founding member of Olas and chief executive of Valory, an AI agent platform, told Cointelegraph that governments were unlikely to prevent determined actors from accessing or modifying models once weights are widely mirrored online. He said regulation would be more effective if focused on deployment, distribution and harmful real-world use rather than the original developer layer alone.Control moves downstreamRonghui Gu, chief executive and co-founder of CertiK, a blockchain security firm, told Cointelegraph that governance at the developer layer still matters, but becomes insufficient once models can be freely downloaded and redistributed.Gu said policymakers were more likely to influence commercial hosting, enterprise deployment and distribution channels than prevent the spread of modified models entirely. He argued that security standards must evolve to identify malicious or high-risk behavior in third-party AI tools and autonomous AI agent environments before deployment to better contain runtime threats as agents take on more autonomous roles.Levin said containment becomes increasingly difficult once models are mirrored and redistributed, meaning policymakers may need to focus more on infrastructure and distribution points rather than model design alone.Both Levin and Minarsch compared the issue to open-source software and crypto networks, where attempts to suppress distribution have historically proven difficult once code is publicly available. Minarsch added that while safety layers can deter casual misuse, they should not be mistaken for robust protection against sophisticated actors.Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act now

Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, has repurchased $1.5 billion of its 0% convertible senior notes due in 2029 for $1.38 billion at an 8% discount to par, in a move that significantly cuts future debt obligations.The purchase reduces Strategy’s outstanding debt through convertible notes from $8.2 billion to $6.7 billion for 2029, the company announced on Tuesday. The notes were repurchased using the company’s cash reserves.Strategy also reported an additional $15.5 billion in aggregate notional amount of outstanding preferred stock and a USD reserve of $871 million.Buying back debt at a discount can strengthen the balance sheet of a company by reducing future payment obligations and shows active debt management from Strategy, typically seen as a positive sign by shareholders.The update comes after Strategy did not announce a fresh Bitcoin purchase this week, following its $2.01 billion purchase the prior week. Four smaller Bitcoin treasuries stepped in to buy a cumulative 602.6 BTC worth about $46 million last week, Cointelegraph reported earlier on Tuesday.Strategy announces $1.5 billion outstanding note buyback. Source: Strategy.comCrypto industry watchers praised the debt buyback. “Great move by Strategy,” wrote asset management firm Bitwise’s European head of research, André Dragosch, adding that the debt reduction removes a “major uncertainty around the cash repayment wall in mid-2028,” as investors would likely demand repayment due to the relatively high conversion price of these notes, around $672.Related: New York lawsuit tests lost property claim over dormant Bitcoin Strategy shares sink 3% after announcementWhile a reduction in outstanding debt is typically a positive sign for shareholders, Strategy’s stock price fell 3% in pre-market trading on Tuesday and was changing hands at above $159 at the time of writing.The slide adds additional pressure to Strategy’s declining share price, which fell 10% during the past month and 59% during the past year, data from Yahoo Finance shows.Bitcoin’s price also fell by about 1.2% during the past month and by 29% over the past year, according to TradingView.MSTR/USD, 1-day chart. Source: Yahoo FinanceThe move comes a week after Strategy announced its third-largest investment of 2026, as it acquired  24,869 BTC for $2.01 billion between May 11 and 17, at an average purchasing price of $80,985 per BTC, Cointelegraph reported last Monday.Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs bleed $1B, Aave’s $71M ETH unfreeze bid delayed: Hodler’s Digest, May 10 – 16