Autor Cointelegraph By Turner Wright

[Update (June 3 at 8:01 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a response from Fairshake in the fourth paragraph.]Democratic and Republican candidates across California, New Jersey and South Dakota won their respective primaries on Tuesday after being the beneficiaries of supportive ads purchased by cryptocurrency industry-backed political action committees (PACs).On Tuesday, Democrats Jacqui Irwin, Ted Lieu, Zoe Lofgren, Dave Min, Mike McGuire, Hilda Solis, George Whitesides, Lou Correa and Lateefah Simon won their respective California primaries for House seats. Democrat Rob Menendez and Republican Mike Rounds also won primaries for New Jersey’s 8th congressional district and a South Dakota Senate seat, respectively.Selection of results after Tuesday’s primaries for California House seats. Source: CalMattersThe political wins came after the Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs PACs spent about a combined $3.5 million on media to support the candidates. The groups are affiliated with Fairshake, a political action committee funded largely by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and Ripple Labs that reported having a war chest of $193 million in January.“America needs members of Congress who will act to lay out responsible guardrails for the community to maintain our global leadership,” Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter told Cointelegraph.The PAC spending came on the heels of similar buys for supportive media in Texas runoff primaries last week, which resulted in Democrat Christian Menefee defeating incumbent US Representative Al Green, and four Republican candidates winning primaries in smaller House districts. Many of the candidates in the state races have supported advancing digital assets, either through voting on “pro-crypto” legislation while in office like the GENIUS Act or in public statements.Related: PACs laud Texas primary wins, look to back more pro-crypto candidatesMaryland is shaping up to be the next focus for Fairshake and its affiliates. Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings showed Protect Progress had spent more than $3.1 million as of Wednesday to support Democratic candidate Adrian Boafo in Maryland’s 5th Congressional district, which is scheduled to hold a primary on June 23. Crypto advocacy organizations back new developer-focused PACOn Wednesday, industry leaders announced the launch of Defend Developers, a hybrid PAC that will support “incumbent members of Congress who actively champion developer protections and crypto builders.” According to the group, Defend Developers’ board of directors includes “CEOs, CLOs, and policy leaders at top crypto organizations, including DeFi Education Fund, Orca Creative, Solana Policy Institute, and Uniswap Labs.”“For too long, developers building decentralized technologies have faced regulatory uncertainty and enforcement actions instead of clear rules and guidelines,” said the PAC’s founder, Gavin Zavatone. “While legislation and rulemakings are being written as we speak, for some policymakers there is limited incentive to understand the fundamental nature of software development.”No official data available on Defend Developers as of Wednesday. Source: FECThe FEC portal did not show any funding or expenditure activity, as of Wednesday. Nick Stoltzfus, co-CEO of on-chain student loan digital asset platform Stratofied, was listed as treasurer and custodian of records in the PAC’s statement of organization on May 15.The PAC did not say where or how it would focus its efforts as part of the 2026 US midterms other than “key races across the country.” Cointelegraph reached out to Defend Developers for comment but did not receive an immediate response.Magazine: Korea’s first memecoin rug-pull case, China’s crypto rules review: Asia Express

Top Democrats on three House and Senate committees called on the US Labor Department to halt its plans to allow digital assets and “alternative assets” to be held in Americans’ retirement plans. In a Tuesday letter, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Bobby Scott asked acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling to rescind the department’s proposal to allow private equity, digital assets, private credit, and other “alternative assets” to be included in 401(k) plans. Source: Senate Banking CommitteeThey said the policy would “expose retirement accounts to exceptionally volatile assets, like digital currency,” citing a “lack of regulation and safeguards” putting many cryptocurrencies at risk of fraud. As the ranking members of the Senate Banking Committee, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and House Committee on Education and Workforce, respectively, they said that the current administration had weakened enforcement of crypto fraud at financial agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).“The application of securities laws to crypto assets is rapidly evolving, and many securities law protections that investors have for public securities may not be available for crypto,” said the letter. “This lack of sufficient guardrails is likely to harm investors.”Related: Basic adds VanEck crypto ETFs to 401(k) plans amid US retirement shiftThe proposed policy, announced by the Labor Department in March, followed an August 2025 executive order from US President Donald Trump directing agencies to “democratize access to alternative assets,” including crypto. According to the Investment Company Institute, Americans held about $10.1 trillion in 401(k) plans as of Dec. 31.Trump family conflicts of interest cloud 401(k) order and CLARITY ActSanders, Warren and Scott questioned whether the Labor Department policy would financially benefit anyone in the current administration, given Trump was “rife with conflicts of interest in this area,” including his family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. Lawmakers have made similar arguments in proposing amendments to a digital asset market structure bill, the CLARITY Act, expected to be addressed in the US Senate soon. Democrats in that chamber have said that they would not vote for any legislation that doesn’t contain provisions on ethics.Magazine: HYPE chases $100 target, ETH could dump below $1800: Market Moves

US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Michael Selig is claiming that the agency under former President Joe Biden “politically targeted” the co-founders of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini through enforcement actions.In a Tuesday CNBC interview, Selig said under his leadership, the CFTC was “trying to get back to a baseline” on enforcement, after what he claimed was politicization by the Biden administration. While the Selig acknowledged that he is a political appointee nominated by US President Donald Trump, he claimed that the recently reported staff cuts targeted people “engaging in lawfare.”“The Biden administration weaponized the federal agencies against the crypto industry and many other industries,” said Selig. “They politically targeted people like the Winklevoss twins, and that’s not acceptable. We’re righting those wrongs. We’re gonna start fresh. The agency should not be used to engage in lawfare.”Michael Selig in Tuesday interview. Source: CNBCUnder Selig, the CFTC last week moved for a federal court to vacate the agency’s $5 million settlement with Gemini, which it reached in January 2025 before the commission was under the Trump administration. Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss each donated $1 million to Trump’s 2024 election campaign and have since attended White House events with the president, including the signing ceremony for the stablecoin-related GENIUS Act.“I’m not going to get into the facts, because this is an active investigation, litigation rather,” said Selig. “But what is important here is that to the extent the agency was used to politically target folks, we’re reversing that, and we’re starting fresh.”Related: CFTC backs crypto perpetual contracts, issues advisory on 24/7 tradingAccording to former CFTC Chair Timothy Massad, it was “extraordinarily unusual” for the agency to attempt to reverse its position on a previously settled case like Gemini’s. Cointelegraph reached out to the CFTC and Gemini for comment but did not receive an immediate response.Selig leads CFTC policy as the agency’s sole commissioner and chairUnder Selig, the CFTC has taken the position that federal commodities law supersedes individual US states’ authority over prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. The commission has filed lawsuits against Minnesota and other jurisdictions attempting to restrict or ban prediction markets.Source: PolymarketSelig remains the agency’s sole commissioner following a string of resignations and departures from its leadership in 2025, including former acting chair Caroline Pham. Many US lawmakers have urged Trump to fill the agency’s five-person leadership panel with a bipartisan group of regulators, but the president had not announced any picks as of Tuesday.Magazine: HYPE chases $100 target, ETH could dump below $1800: Market Moves

A group of lawmakers within Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are seeking reforms to the country’s cryptocurrency taxation system, as well as support for initiatives for the development and adoption of yen-denominated stablecoins.According to a Monday Nada News report, the LDP’s Parliamentary Association for the Promotion of Blockchain delivered recommendations to Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, including provisions on stablecoins, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and applications for blockchain technology.The document proposes doubling the leverage cap for retail cryptocurrency derivatives trading and establishing a framework for ETFs tied to digital assets.Katayama reportedly responded to the proposals by saying Japan “must move forward without falling behind global developments,” referencing crypto legislation and frameworks in the United States. “We must advance initiatives to expand on-chain finance across Asia — including the development and adoption of yen-denominated stablecoins,” LDP member Junichi Kanda said at a Monday press conference.Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama (second from left) in a December 2024 meeting on Promotion of a Digital Society. Source: LDPThe recommendation came about two months after the Japanese government approved changes to allow classification of crypto assets as financial instruments rather than solely as a method of payment. The country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Agency, also reportedly planned to amend its regulatory framework to allow crypto ETFs.Related: Japan PM Takaichi disavows ‘Sanae Token’ after memecoin hits $28M peakJapan’s potential entry into the global $320 billion stablecoin market, now dominated by tokens pegged to the US dollar, comes after US lawmakers enacted legislation for a payment stablecoin framework, the GENIUS Act. According to an April report from the Bank for International Settlements, the market capitalization of Japanese yen-denominated stablecoins was less than 0.01% of US dollar-pegged coins.Source: PexelsPolymarket reported eyeing Japanese marketPrediction markets platform Polymarket, already facing regulatory scrutiny in the US amid state-level lawsuits and while supported at the federal level, was reportedly looking at approval to operate in Japan by 2030. Japan’s strict laws covering online and in-person gambling could prove a challenge for the company.Magazine: 50K investors fight Korean crypto tax, Singapore cancels Bsquared: Asia Express

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) took positions on cryptocurrency perpetual futures contracts and how the industry may be more suited for “24/7 trading, clearing, and settlement.”In a Friday notice, the CFTC said it had approved perpetual futures contracts tied to the spot price of Bitcoin for prediction markets platform Kalshi. The company announced at about the same time that it would launch the perpetual futures contracts on its platform in a move closer to a derivatives exchange.“​​The Order was based on representations and submissions made by Kalshi in support of its request for Commission approval, including its explanation and analysis of the BTCPERP Contract’s terms and conditions, the nature of the underlying commodity market, and the BTCPERP Contract’s compliance with applicable provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and the Commission’s regulations thereunder, including the Core Principles applicable to [Designated Contract Markets],” said the CFTC.Source: CFTCThe perpetual futures contracts, or “perp” products, would allow Coinbase and Kalshi users to speculate on crypto prices without owning the underlying assets. The CFTC no-action position for Coinbase and approval for Kalshi represented the US agency being more open to crypto derivatives. Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal called the CFTC decision a “massive first for the industry” in a Friday X post. The exchange launched stock perpetual futures for non-US traders in March.Related: CFTC seeks to reverse settlement deal with GeminiIn a separate notice, the CFTC distinguished between the suitability of traditional markets and crypto markets for 24/7 trading. According to the agency, “derivatives referencing crypto assets may be well-suited for 24/7 trading due to their digital infrastructure and global reach” while others, like agricultural markets, may not be based on their “unique customer bases, regional nature” and other factors.CME Group also announces 24/7 crypto futures trading, pending regulatory review. Source: CME GroupTrump touts CFTC’s authority, with no additional commissioner nominationsOn Tuesday, US President Donald Trump posted to social media, in a statement supporting Michael Selig and the CFTC in their fight for jurisdiction over prediction markets. The post came amid several state-level lawsuits attempting to restrict or ban the platforms, while Selig claims the agency has “exclusive jurisdiction” under the Commodity Exchange Act.Selig remains the chair and sole commissioner at the federal commodities regulator in a panel intended to consist of a bipartisan group of five people. As of Friday, Trump had not announced any nominations to fill the seats.Magazine: HYPE chases $100 target, ETH could dump below $1800: Market Moves