Autor Cointelegraph by Vince Quill

The United States will lose its leadership position in crypto to other countries, including China, if US lawmakers fail to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY), a crypto market structure bill, according to Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis.Passing a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework would “ensure” that other countries “do not write the rules of the next financial era,” Lummis said. She added in a separate X post:“America built the dollar-dominated financial system that has anchored global stability for a century. The Clarity Act ensures we build the next one. The time to act is now, before Beijing decides it will.”In May, the Senate Banking Committee voted to advance the CLARITY Act after the legislation had stalled for months, reviving crypto industry hopes that the bill might be codified into law in 2026.Source: Senator Cynthia LummisThe crypto market structure bill is one of the most significant pieces of crypto regulations in the US, but it is unclear if it will be signed into law in 2026 due to opposition from the banking lobby and the looming US midterm elections.Related: ‘We are so close this time’ — Senator Lummis on market structure billJPMorgan CEO says banks will oppose CLARITY, as the window to pass it narrows JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said on Friday that banks will oppose the latest version of the bill because it still allows crypto companies to pay interest on user deposits.He added that the current iteration of the CLARITY Act does not impose the same anti-money laundering (AML) and capital reserve requirements on crypto companies that banks must follow.The full text of the CLARITY Act. Source: US Congress“The banks will not accept it that way,” Dimon said, adding that the banks would continue to “fight” the bill. Dimon was critical of crypto exchange Coinbase and its CEO Brian Armstrong’s efforts to pass the bill.“No one is going to bow down to this guy or that company,” Dimon said. Meanwhile, the window to pass the CLARITY Act is narrowing as the US heads into the midterm election season.If the bill is not signed into law in 2026, the window to pass the legislation may not come again until 2030, Senator Lummis warned.Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi?Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Stablecoin issuer Circle froze $12.6 million in USDC dollar-pegged tokens linked to privacy protocol Zama’s confidential USDC smart contract on Saturday, according to onchain sleuth ZachXBT.The smart contract is “publicly labeled” on block explorers and the privacy protocol’s technical documentation, ZachXBT said. The exact reason for the freeze is “unclear,” he said, adding that wallets linked to the Overnight Finance decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol deposited $12.4 million into the Zama protocol on May 11, 2026. He said:“Overnight Finance held a governance vote recently to distribute treasury funds after holders alleged the team was rug-pulling. Regardless, it’s precedent-setting to unilaterally freeze the contracts or addresses of a protocol where funds have been commingled with Zama users.”Source: ZachXBT“From my understanding, the Zama team does not appear to have been notified of the Circle freeze prior,” he said. Cointelegraph reached out to Circle but did not receive a response by the time of publication. The company has come under fire for failing to freeze funds following major hacks of crypto platforms, and freezing wallets of legitimate crypto projects and protocols without giving those projects prior notice. Related: Tether freezes over $500M of USDT in 30 days, BlockSec data showsCircle comes under fire for freezing legitimate user funds, but not stolen crypto In March, ZachXBT accused Circle of “wrongfully” freezing 16 stablecoin wallets linked to online casinos and legitimate crypto exchanges.The wallets were frozen in connection with ongoing civil court cases in the United States; however, the businesses and wallets “do not appear related at all,” he said.He later added that Circle failed to freeze about $420 million in 15 separate cases involving fraudulent transactions or funds stolen through crypto hacks since 2022.A list of 15 incidents since 2022, in which Circle failed to freeze funds, according to ZachXBT. Source: ZachXBTThese incidents included the failure to freeze $232 million in stolen user funds from the April 2026 Drift Protocol hack, despite having a six-hour window to act, he said.Following the incident, users filed a class action lawsuit against Circle for failing to freeze the funds, which flowed through Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), a bridge that allows assets to move between different blockchain networks.Magazine: Are DeFi devs liable for the illegal activity of others on their platforms?

The Sui layer-1 blockchain experienced another disruption on Friday, causing a “network stall” that temporarily halted block production, before normal activity resumed, according to the Sui team.Network activity “may be paused,” the Sui team said. The network disruption lasted for over three hours and 30 minutes at the time of publication, according to the Sui network’s uptime dashboard.Sui’s mainnet validators experienced disruptions on both Thursday and Friday. Source: SuiThe last block before the disruption was produced at about 11:51 UTC on Friday, according to the Suiscan block explorer. Network activity on the Sui mainnet resumed at about 3:30 UTC. The Sui team said in an update: “Both today’s and yesterday’s halts are due to the interaction of the 1.72 release, which introduced address balances and gas charging logic. Yesterday’s implemented fix was an interim measure designed to restore functionality to the network.”The interim fix had a “low probability” of causing a network disruption, and the long-term software fix has now been implemented by a majority of Sui validators. Source: SuiThe incident follows several major disruptions and network outages, including Thursday’s outage, which caused a nearly six-hour outage due to a “crash bug in the gas charging logic,” according to the team. The crash was the second major network disruption in 2026.Related: SUI spikes 50% amid staking moves, zero-fee stablecoins, privacy pushThe Sui network went down in January due to a consensus bugIn January, the network went offline for over six hours, halting block production due to a consensus bug. Validators submitted conflicting transactions to the protocol’s checkpoint mechanism, and the network was unable to reach the necessary threshold for consensus, according to the post-mortem report.Source: SuiJanuary’s disruption was not caused by network congestion, user funds were “never at risk,” and no “certified transactions” were rolled back, the Sui team said at the time.“The issue was detected and contained by Sui’s checkpoint certification and quarantine mechanisms, which prevented any user-visible fork at the cost of halting progress,” according to the post-mortem report.High-throughput smart contract blockchain networks feature several layers, including data availability, transaction execution and validator consensus, which introduce more potential points of failure. However, network outages in crypto also impact centralized service providers, including exchanges, which have fewer coordination challenges than decentralized blockchain networks.In May, crypto exchange Coinbase suffered a temporary service disruption due to an Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage, forcing it to switch markets to an “auction” mode before restoring full service.Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act now

The French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) warned that crypto companies operating in the country without a license have until June 30 to acquire the permits or exit the country.AMF President Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani told a press event on Thursday that crypto companies that fail to obtain a license by the deadline must have “orderly wind-down ⁠plans” to offload customers and end their operations, according to Reuters.Under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework, crypto service providers are required to have licenses to operate, but can acquire a license in any of the 27 EU member states and “passport” the license to any of the other member nations.Cointelegraph contacted AMF about the looming deadline, but did not receive an immediate response. With the MiCA deadlines looming, tensions are mounting between EU member states about licensing requirements and whether control over Europe’s crypto regulations should be centralized by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).Related: EU opens consultation on MiCA stablecoin rules and DeFi gapsDisagreements over MiCA control could disrupt current passport model ESMA is a Paris-based organization that can potentially create a conflict of interest over crypto regulations in the EU, critics of the move say.That’s because centralizing control with the agency takes regulatory control away from nation-states, potentially threatening the passporting of licenses across the EU region.A spokesperson for Malta’s Financial Services Authority (MFSA) told Cointelegraph that changing the MiCA regulatory structure is “premature,” adding that regulators need time to assess the impacts of MiCA, which became legally applicable in 2024.In April 2026, Peter Kerstens, an adviser on technological innovation, digital transformation and cybersecurity at the European Commission’s financial services department, said that MiCA may be overhauled to regulate a more mature crypto industry.Kerstens said that EU regulators would seek consultation from the public about any potential overhaul to MiCA that would alter existing provisions or add new requirements for crypto service providers operating in the region.Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Monthly payment volume on crypto-linked debit and credit cards is up about 230% over last year, amid a proliferation of crypto-related payment products.Cumulative volume on crypto-linked payment cards reached $7.8 billion this month, according to The Kobeissi Letter, a market research publication.Payments giant Visa is capturing about 90% of crypto card transactions through partnerships with onchain native companies like Jupiter Global, analysts at The Kobeissi Letter said. Cumulative crypto card volume between 2023 and 2026. Source: The Kobeissi LetterJupiter Global is the payments project launched by the team behind the Jupiter decentralized crypto exchange on the Solana network. The Kobeissi Letter added:“Crypto card adoption has rapidly accelerated in 2026 due to growing access to stablecoins as a payment rail through crypto cards. In other words, more people can now spend stablecoins like fiat by using crypto cards, further driving adoption.”The growth of crypto payment cards highlights how digital assets, particularly stablecoins, are becoming integrated into the traditional financial system without displacing incumbent payment providers like Mastercard and Visa.Related: Solayer launches Visa-compatible card for USDC paymentsCrypto cards are powering everyday payments around the globe Crypto exchange OKX launched a stablecoin payments card for customers in Europe in January 2026, which operates on the Mastercard network.Crypto protocols and platforms helping facilitate onchain payments products. Source: Mars DeFiGrocery store purchases were the top spending category and accounted for about 26% of all OKX card transactions in January, while restaurants accounted for 18% of the total transaction volume, according to data from OKX.Online shopping was the third-biggest spending category, accounting for about 13% of the total transaction volume for the month.“When crypto pays for lunch, payment adoption is real. For years, critics pointed to a lack of everyday utility as crypto’s weak point: great as a speculative asset, less useful as actual money,” the OKX team said.In March, Visa and Bridge, a fintech company owned by payments company Stripe, announced plans to roll out stablecoin-linked payment cards in over 100 countries. Initially, 18 countries were supported, including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Chile, with plans to expand the product into the Asia-Pacific (APAC), Africa, and Middle East regions by the end of 2026.Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026