TLDR:

• SEC paused Justin Sun’s wash trading case in 2023 while exploring resolution, raising conflict concerns over Trump ties 
• Atkins offered lawmakers confidential briefing on Sun case but cited regulatory restrictions on public discussions 
• SEC dropped major enforcement actions against Binance, Ripple, Coinbase, rejecting previous regulation-by-enforcement approach 
• Atkins confirmed SEC and CFTC are developing joint crypto rules aligned with House-passed Clarity Act framework

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins faced intense scrutiny from House lawmakers regarding the agency’s shift in cryptocurrency enforcement policies.

During Wednesday’s oversight hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, Democrats questioned the regulatory pullback on major crypto cases, particularly involving Tron founder Justin Sun.

Atkins defended the agency’s new direction while promising clearer regulations for the digital asset industry through collaboration with the CFTC.

Sun Case Raises Questions About Enforcement Priorities

Representative Maxine Waters, the committee’s ranking Democrat, pressed Atkins on the agency’s handling of the Justin Sun investigation.

The SEC had accused Sun in 2023 of orchestrating wash trading schemes involving over 600,000 fraudulent transactions to inflate TRX token volumes. However, the agency paused the case last year while exploring potential resolution options.

Waters highlighted Sun’s connections to President Trump’s family through World Liberty Financial Inc. “Well, while you were exploring a potential resolution, Mr. Sun has been busy ingratiating himself within Trump’s orbit,” Waters said to Atkins during the hearing.

She questioned whether these ties influenced the SEC’s decision to halt enforcement actions. The California lawmaker also referenced recent allegations from Sun’s former girlfriend suggesting evidence of TRX manipulation.

Atkins responded that regulatory restrictions prevented him from discussing specific cases publicly. He offered lawmakers a confidential briefing on the matter, stating he was willing to have further conversations “to the extent the rules allow me to do that.”

Waters pressed further, asking whether the SEC’s focus on real fraud extended to crypto markets. “Whatever involves securities,” Atkins responded.

The agency dropped several high-profile enforcement actions last year against major crypto firms including Binance, Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, and Robinhood.

SEC leadership criticized the previous administration’s regulation-by-enforcement approach. When asked about protecting investors versus Trump business interests, Atkins stated, “As far as what the Trump family does or not, I can’t speak to that.”

Regulatory Clarity Takes Center Stage

Republican committee members shifted focus toward Atkins’ plans for establishing comprehensive crypto regulations.

The chairman outlined ongoing coordination with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to develop clear operational guidelines for digital asset companies.

These efforts align with the Clarity Act passed by the House, though the legislation’s Senate fate remains uncertain.

Atkins explained that both agencies are working on rules “consistent with what’s in the Clarity Act that you all passed here in the House, and hopefully what will come out of the joint work that you’re doing with the Senate.”

He added that this effort would help provide certainty regarding jurisdictional boundaries between the two agencies. The framework would establish which types of digital assets fall under SEC or CFTC oversight.

The CFTC recently updated its guidance on stablecoins, allowing national trust banks to issue payment stablecoins and expanding eligible tokenized collateral.

Meanwhile, the National Credit Union Administration proposed rules for credit unions seeking stablecoin issuer status.

These moves implement provisions from last year’s GENIUS Act, marking the crypto sector’s first major legislative achievement.

A policy race now develops between Atkins’ SEC and Senate lawmakers working on comprehensive crypto legislation.

Recent Senate delays may allow the SEC to lead in establishing digital asset regulations. The industry watches closely as regulatory frameworks take shape across multiple federal agencies.

As the curtain falls on Consensus Hong Kong 2026, the focus has shifted from the corporate boardrooms to the show floor. While institutional talk dominated the main stages, nearly 1,000 developers spent the week in the trenches of the EasyA x Consensus Hackathon, signaling a definitive pivot in the industry: the “Year of the Application Layer.”

The competition, which has become a staple of Consensus by CoinDesk’s flagship events, saw over 30 projects pitch on demo day. The quality of builds, aided significantly by generative AI, clearly demonstrated that the barrier between a “proof of concept” and a “market-ready product” has effectively been removed.

A rising bar: From infrastructure to intent

The evolution of the developer talent at Consensus has grown gradually. In previous years, hackathon submissions were often deeply technical, building faster consensus mechanisms or niche scaling solutions that remained out of reach for the average user.

This year, however, the bar has been set to a new level. Developers have evolved into product builders, shifting their focus from the backend to the user.

“The big thing that we’ve seen right now is that developers are actually building things that real people can actually use,” said Phil Kwok, co-founder of EasyA. “We’ve seen a big increase in the application layer. This is the year of the horse in Asia, but it’s the year of the application layer in blockchain.”

This shift toward User Experience (UX) was evident in the sophisticated use of “passkeys”, technologies from iOS and Android that allow users to log into Web3 apps without the friction of 24-word seed phrases, Kwok said. By removing these traditional “clicks” and barriers, developers are finally making products that feel like the apps people use every day.

The Winners’ Circle

The judges awarded top honors to projects that prioritized automation, security, and risk management, three pillars essential for the next wave of retail adoption, Kwok explained.

First place: FoundrAI ($2,500)

Taking the top spot was FoundrAI, an autonomous AI agent designed to act as a “startup in a box.” The platform doesn’t just launch tokens; it manages the entire lifecycle of a project, including hiring human developers to build out the product. It represents a provocative look at the future of decentralized labor.

Second place: SentinelFi ($1,750)

Addressing the industry’s persistent “rug-pull” problem, SentinelFi provides real-time safety scores for crypto traders. By performing six-category on-chain analysis, the tool helps users sniff out scam tokens before they commit capital—a critical utility as token launch volumes explode.

Third Place: PumpStop ($1,000)

PumpStop rounded out the top three with a non-custodial trading layer focused on risk mitigation. Using state-channel instant execution, it allows traders to set stop-loss orders with on-chain proofs, bringing professional-grade trading tools to a decentralized environment without sacrificing custody.

The ‘show floor’ evolution

The growth of the hackathon reflects a broader shift in the Consensus ethos. Once a strictly corporate affair, the event has increasingly integrated the “builder” culture into its DNA. Dom Kwok, co-founder of EasyA, noted that the hackathon has moved from side rooms to the center of the show floor.

“Typically every hackathon that we host gets bigger and bigger,” Dom said. “It’s taking up more and more of the conference floor every year. We had someone flying in from San Diego just to see what was getting built.”

Despite the “depressing” macro environment often reflected in token prices, the sentiment on the ground in Hong Kong remained stubbornly bullish. Organizers pointed out that while interest rates and Fed policy drive the charts, the builders are focused on the 93% of the world that doesn’t yet own crypto. The path to that next billion users, it seems, is being paved by developers who finally realize that usability is the ultimate feature, Dom said.

Phil and Dom said they can’t wait for Consensus Miami 2026 to see how much more the bar is raised and how many more developers participate with surprisingly great new ideas.

Alameda Research’s bankruptcy estate has distributed another $15 million worth of Solana to creditors, extending a repayment process that has now been running for nearly two years.

According to blockchain data highlighted by Arkham, the latest monthly tranche involved the transfer of roughly $15.60 million in Solana (SOL) to 25 separate addresses.

The movement forms part of a structured distribution program that has been ongoing for 21 months following the collapse of FTX and its trading arm, Alameda Research.

Despite the steady outflows, Alameda’s on-chain wallets still hold approximately $314.95 million worth of SOL, keeping the estate among the largest known holders of the token tied to the defunct exchange empire.

Market impact questions resurface

The renewed transfers have reignited debate over whether these distributions ultimately translate into sell pressure on the open market.

Arkham raised the question directly, asking whether the newly distributed SOL would be “SOLd straight into the market,” a concern that has repeatedly surfaced during prior repayment rounds.

While the latest tranche is relatively modest compared to Alameda’s historical holdings, traders remain sensitive to any supply overhang tied to creditor payouts, particularly during periods of broader market volatility.

Solana’s native token has been volatile in recent months, trading near the low-to-mid $80s to low $90s range after pulling back from higher levels seen in 2025.

Where Alameda’s SOL went

Additional context was provided by analyst Emmet Gallic, who traced the fate of the bulk of Alameda and FTX’s Solana holdings.

According to the analysis, roughly 43 million SOL was largely sold through over-the-counter deals across three major tranches in 2024, limiting direct market disruption.

Those sales included 26 million SOL at $64 to buyers such as Galaxy, Pantera, Jump, and Multicoin; 14 million SOL at $95 through a Pantera-led consortium; and a further 2 million SOL at $102 involving Figure Markets and Pantera.

Since those OTC sales, remaining SOL distributions have been handled gradually, suggesting a continued effort to balance creditor repayments with market stability. Still, with more than $300 million in SOL left on-chain, Alameda-linked movements are likely to remain a point of close scrutiny for Solana traders in the months ahead.

As part of the strategy to turn X (formerly Twitter) into a “super app” or Everything App, a key missing piece, X Money, is beginning to take shape.

X aims to be more than a social media platform. Elon Musk wants to transform it into a personal finance game-changer. Users could handle messaging, shopping, and full personal asset management in one place.

Why Are Crypto Investors Excited About X Money?

During an xAI “All Hands” presentation in February 2026, Elon Musk revealed that X Money is already running in internal testing among X employees. A limited rollout to users is expected within the next one to two months.

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The United Kingdom’s government has appointed HSBC’s tokenization platform to power a pilot issuance of digital government bonds, known as “gilts,” marking the latest step in its push to modernize sovereign debt markets using blockchain technology.

His Majesty’s Treasury has appointed HSBC Orion to facilitate the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) pilot issuance, according to a Thursday announcement.

The Treasury published a DIGIT pilot update in July 2025, outlining plans to explore blockchain applications in UK sovereign debt issuance and to support the development of domestic tokenization infrastructure.

“We want to attract investment and make the UK the best place to do business,” said Lucy Rigby, UK economic secretary to the Treasury, commenting on HSBC Orion’s DIGIT appointment. She added that the pilot will help the UK explore how to capitalize on the distributed ledger technology (DLT), enhance efficiency and reduce costs for businesses.

Key objectives and features of the DIGIT pilot

The DIGIT pilot aims to enable digitally native, short-dated government bonds operating within the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS).

The pilot is designed to support secondary market development and broader accessibility, with onchain settlement, while operating independently of the UK government’s main debt management program.

“This is exactly the kind of financial innovation we need to keep the UK at the forefront of global capital markets and I’m looking forward to working with HSBC and other parties to deliver DIGIT,” Rigby said.

HSBC has issued $3.5 billion in digital bonds globally

Since its launch in 2023, HSBC Orion has enabled the issuance of at least $3.5 billion in digitally native bonds globally, including the European Investment Bank’s first digital sterling bond and a multi-currency $1.3 billion-equivalent bond issued by the Hong Kong government.

“The UK is a home market for us and the sixth largest economy in the world,” said Patrick George, HSBC’s global head of markets and securities services. “HSBC is delighted to be supporting the continued development of the gilt market, market innovation, and the growth of the broader UK economy,” he added.

Related: Malaysia’s central bank announces stablecoin, tokenization sandbox

Alongside appointing HSBC Orion as the platform provider for DIGIT, the UK government also appointed global law firm Ashurst to provide legal services for the pilot.

“Our team brings deep expertise in digital assets transactions, and we look forward to working with HSBC and supporting the government as it takes this transformative step for UK capital markets,” Ashurst’s head of digital assets, Etay Katz, said.

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