Protocol 27 is the final planned upgrade. ESMA registered the whitepaper. But PayPal integration remains unconfirmed, RoboPay is disputed, and PI trades at a fraction of its peak. What is real and what is not.
Every few weeks, a headline declares that Pi Network has secured a partnership that will finally deliver the real world utility its community has been waiting for since the project launched in 2019. In August 2026 alone, reports emerged that PayPal had added PI to its merchant payment program and that RoboPay would integrate PI for AI driven robot service payments. Each announcement triggered a spike in social media activity and a brief uptick in trading volume.
Neither has been confirmed by the parties allegedly involved.
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This pattern, in which ecosystem claims outrun verifiable facts, defines the central tension of Pi Network in 2026. The project has real infrastructure. Its protocol upgrades are genuine. Its ESMA whitepaper filing is a matter of public record. But the gap between what the network has built and what its community claims it has partnered with is wide enough to matter.
What the protocol upgrades actually changed
Pi Network’s technical roadmap in 2026 centers on two mandatory upgrades: Protocol 26 and Protocol 27.
Protocol 26 carried a hard deadline of Aug. 11, 2026. All mainnet node operators were required to complete the upgrade or risk disconnection from the network. The upgrade enhanced contract security and state management, laying the groundwork for more complex smart contract interactions on the Pi blockchain.
NEW: Pi Network begins Protocol 26 Mainnet upgrade
The deadline for node operators is August 11 ahead of the final Protocol 27 release pic.twitter.com/F0E4Y95oWm
The Pi Core Team has designated Protocol 27 as the “final planned upgrade” in the current development sequence. That language is significant. It does not mean the network will stop evolving, but it signals that the foundational infrastructure layer is approaching a state the team considers stable enough to support sustained application development.
The node network itself has grown. Pi reports more than 421,000 active nodes, a figure that reflects the network’s distributed validator model. Validators on Pi do not stake tokens in the way Ethereum or Solana validators do. Instead, they run lightweight software that contributes to consensus through Pi’s adaptation of the Stellar Consensus Protocol.
The distinction matters for understanding Pi’s security model. The network trades the economic security guarantees of proof of stake (where validators risk capital) for a broader distribution model (where more participants run nodes at lower cost). Whether that trade off produces sufficient security for high value transactions remains an open question.
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The ESMA whitepaper: what it means and what it does not
In 2026, ESMA registered Pi Network’s MiCA whitepaper as entry 549 in its public registry. The filing was submitted by PiBit Ltd, the entity that appears to manage Pi’s European regulatory compliance.
MiCA, the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation, requires crypto asset issuers operating in the European Union to publish a whitepaper that meets specific disclosure standards. Registration of the whitepaper is a procedural step. It means ESMA has received the document and made it publicly available. It does not mean ESMA has reviewed the document for accuracy, endorsed the project, or granted any form of regulatory approval.
The distinction is critical because the Pi community has at times characterized the ESMA registration as an endorsement. It is not. It is closer to a filing requirement, similar to how a company files a prospectus with a securities regulator before the regulator reviews it.
That said, the filing is not trivial. Completing a MiCA compliant whitepaper requires legal and compliance work that many crypto projects have not undertaken. It positions Pi to operate within the EU regulatory framework if and when full authorization is granted. For a project that began as a mobile mining experiment with no clear regulatory strategy, the ESMA filing represents a genuine step forward.
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The PayPal question
In mid August 2026, reports circulated that PayPal had added PI to its “Pay with Crypto” program, which allows eligible U.S. merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments. The claim appeared in several crypto news outlets and spread rapidly through Pi community channels.
JUST IN: Pi Network releases Node version 0.6.2 with connectivity upgrades
The update arrives as operational mainnet apps reach 82 toward the 100 milestone pic.twitter.com/YwkxdWdwlm
The evidence does not support the claim as of this writing.
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PayPal’s official documentation lists Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and PayPal USD (PYUSD) as supported assets in its crypto payment program. PI is not on that list. PayPal has not issued a press release, blog post, or public statement confirming PI integration.
On the Pi side, PayPal does not appear on the KYB (Know Your Business) verified business list that Pi Network maintains. The KYB list is Pi’s own registry of businesses that have been verified to operate on its mainnet. If PayPal had completed a formal integration, a KYB listing would be expected.
The gap between the claim and the evidence is not unusual in crypto. Unconfirmed partnership reports are common, particularly for projects with large and active communities. But the pattern is worth noting because PayPal integration, if real, would be genuinely transformative for a token trading at $0.09. The fact that it remains unverified after more than a week of circulation suggests that the claim was at best premature and at worst fabricated.
RoboPay and the AI robotics narrative
On Aug. 5, 2026, the Fabric Foundation announced that Pi Network had joined RoboPay as a payment partner. The stated purpose was to enable on chain payments for AI driven robot services and autonomous agent hiring, using PiRC2 smart contracts for recurring and automated settlements.
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The announcement painted an ambitious picture: a future in which humans hire robotic services through programmable payment channels on the Pi blockchain. Instead of purchasing a robot, a user would purchase the outcome they need, with payment settled automatically through smart contracts.
The Pi Core Team has not confirmed the partnership.
This is the second high profile ecosystem claim in August 2026 that lacks official confirmation from Pi’s own team. The pattern raises a structural question about Pi’s ecosystem development model. Third party organizations announce integrations. The Pi community amplifies them. Pi’s core team remains silent. The result is a steady stream of partnership news that cannot be independently verified.
Whether the RoboPay integration is real, planned, or aspirational is unclear. What is clear is that the Pi Core Team’s silence does not help its community distinguish between confirmed partnerships and speculative announcements.
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The tokenomics problem
PI’s price action in 2026 tells a story that no partnership announcement has been able to change.
The token trades near $0.09, with a market cap hovering around $1 billion. Its 24 hour trading volume sits near $11.5 million, modest for a token in the top 60 by market cap. The most active trading pair is PI/USDT on OKX, with approximately $3.6 million in daily volume.
The deeper issue is supply. Pi has a maximum supply of 100 billion tokens, of which approximately 11 billion are currently in circulation. That means roughly 89% of the total supply has yet to enter the market. As locked tokens vest and new tokens are distributed through mining rewards, the circulating supply will continue to grow.
For PI to reach $1, a target that many community members have discussed publicly, the fully diluted market cap would need to exceed $100 billion. That would place Pi roughly in line with Ethereum’s current market cap. For a network with $11.5 million in daily trading volume, no confirmed major partnerships, and a token economy built on mobile phone mining, that valuation is difficult to justify on fundamentals alone.
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The circulating supply dynamic also creates selling pressure. Each new batch of tokens that enters circulation represents potential sell orders from miners who have been accumulating PI since the project’s early days. Unless demand from new buyers matches or exceeds the rate of new supply, the price faces persistent downward pressure.
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What the ecosystem actually looks like
Strip away the unconfirmed partnerships and the picture that remains is simpler than the headlines suggest.
Pi Network has a working mainnet with more than 421,000 active nodes. It has completed two major protocol upgrades in 2026. It has filed a MiCA whitepaper with ESMA. It has an ecosystem directory where developers can build and list applications.
JUST IN: Pi Network details Launchpad model for project token launches
Proceeds from Pi go into a liquidity pool with the ecosystem token to bootstrap liquidity pic.twitter.com/88WRoCcNjM
The number of operational mainnet apps is growing but remains modest. Pi’s ecosystem directory includes applications ranging from payment tools to social platforms, but none has achieved the kind of adoption metrics (daily active users, transaction volume, revenue) that characterize successful decentralized applications on more mature blockchains.
The Pi Browser, which serves as the gateway to Web3 applications on the network, provides a curated entry point for users. The App Studio offers development tools for builders. But the developer ecosystem lacks the depth of tooling, documentation, and community support that Ethereum, Solana, or even newer chains like Sui and Aptos provide.
Pi’s differentiation has always been accessibility. Mining on a mobile phone, with no hardware costs and minimal technical knowledge required, created a user base that now numbers in the tens of millions. Whether that user base translates into an economically active network is the question that Protocol 27, the final planned upgrade, is supposed to answer.
What to watch
The aftermath of the credibility gap will play out across several measurable indicators over the coming weeks and months.
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Protocol 27 release timeline. This is designated as the final planned upgrade. Its contents and execution will signal whether the Pi Core Team believes the infrastructure layer is ready for sustained application development.
PayPal’s official crypto asset list. If PI appears in PayPal’s next quarterly update to supported assets, the integration is real. If it does not, the community will need to reckon with another unconfirmed claim.
KYB verified business count. Pi maintains its own registry of verified businesses. Growth in confirmed KYB listings, particularly from recognizable brands, would be a more reliable indicator of ecosystem adoption than third party partnership announcements.
Circulating supply growth rate. The pace at which new PI enters circulation relative to trading volume will determine whether selling pressure continues to weigh on the price.
ESMA review outcome. The whitepaper registration is a disclosure step. The next milestone is whether ESMA grants full authorization, which would allow Pi to operate as a regulated crypto asset within the EU.
Read more:
Is Pi Network’s PayPal integration confirmed?
No. As of Aug. 20, 2026, PayPal’s official documentation does not list PI as a supported asset in its “Pay with Crypto” program. PayPal also does not appear on Pi Network’s KYB verified business list. The claim remains unverified.
What is Pi Network’s Protocol 27?
Protocol 27 is designated by the Pi Core Team as the “final planned upgrade” in the current development sequence. It follows Protocol 26, which enhanced contract security and state management. Protocol 27’s full contents have not been publicly detailed.
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What does ESMA registration mean for Pi Network?
ESMA registered Pi’s MiCA whitepaper as entry 549, filed by PiBit Ltd. This is a disclosure step required under EU regulations. It does not constitute regulatory approval or endorsement of the project.
How many nodes does Pi Network have?
Pi Network reports more than 421,000 active nodes. These nodes run lightweight consensus software based on Pi’s adaptation of the Stellar Consensus Protocol, rather than staking tokens.
Why is PI’s price near $0.09 despite a large user base?
PI has a maximum supply of 100 billion tokens, of which approximately 11 billion are in circulation. The high maximum supply means that reaching $1 would require a fully diluted market cap exceeding $100 billion. Additionally, daily trading volume near $11.5 million is modest relative to the market cap.
Is the RoboPay partnership with Pi Network confirmed?
The Fabric Foundation announced the partnership on Aug. 5, 2026, but the Pi Core Team has not confirmed it. This follows a pattern in which third parties announce integrations that Pi’s own team has not verified.
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How does Pi Network’s consensus mechanism work?
Pi uses an adaptation of the Stellar Consensus Protocol. Validators run lightweight software on mobile phones and computers to contribute to consensus. Unlike proof of stake networks, Pi validators do not stake tokens, trading economic security guarantees for broader participation.
What would it take for PI to reach $1?
At a maximum supply of 100 billion tokens, PI at $1 would require a fully diluted market cap exceeding $100 billion. That would place Pi roughly in line with Ethereum’s current valuation, requiring a level of adoption, utility, and trading volume that the network has not yet achieved. This is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Cryptocurrency markets carry substantial risk. Always conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Published Aug. 21, 2026.
It was just days ago when we were speculating whether Ripple’s cross-border token would decisively lose the $1.00 support and how low it could go. Analysts outlined the first targets, ranging from $0.90 down to $0.60.
The situation changed, though, in a very impressive manner. Bitcoin skyrocketed and took the entire market with it. Interestingly, XRP took the main stage yesterday, and it rocketed to $1.30 for the first time in months, after gaining 30% from that low. Here’s what analysts are saying now.
Who Is Driving The Run?
The most obvious answer comes from whales. As reported yesterday, this highly vital part of every token’s ecosystem went on a tear, accumulating more than 300 million tokens in 96 hours, leading to a massive price explosion to $1.30. Before that, they had scooped up another 72 million coins at the end of last week in just a day.
Data shared by Vincent Van Code on X confirms this narrative. The market observer outlined “what is REALLY going on” within the XRP ecosystem, indicating that 53% of all sizeable buy orders were from LARGE players, followed by 35% from medium traders, and small investors accounted for just 12%.
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As such, Van Code concluded that “retail is not the driving force of this rally. This is great news.”
Another great XRP graphic to show you what is REALLY going on.
Take a look at the Larege order buys, 53% of all transactions were LARGE, medium 35%, and small only 12%.
This tells us retail is not the driving force of this rally.
The spot XRP ETFs were also in the green for three consecutive days, but the actual inflows are still quite modest compared to what they were in November and December last year. As such, they are probably not the main driver of this recovery.
What’s Next for XRP?
The mind-blowing 30% rally in days has given analysts the confidence to make some major predictions. Crypto Patel outlined a scenario in which he envisions XRP skyrocketing to $10 and noted that it doesn’t sound crazy.
Back in 2017, when the token stood at $0.006, people believed reaching $3 was impossible. Yet, it did it a year later. In 2023, he noted that the majority was against XRP again, calling it dead. Then it posted a massive surge from $0.50 to $2.60 in a month or so. As such, he concluded that the $1.00 dip served as an accumulation zone and “$10-$20 is absolutely on the table.”
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Mikybull Crypto predicted that “XRP is about to pull a god candle after this Ichimoku cloud retest,” while CW said the asset has broken through a major resistance level after ending the long downtrend. They noted that the token has begun a “full-fledged uptrend.”
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is using his company’s own legal bill as evidence that Washington’s approach to digital assets has a direct, measurable cost. Garlinghouse has said Ripple spent roughly $150 million fighting the SEC over more than four years
On the same occasion, Garlinghouse also noted that a majority of the company’s hiring during that stretch happened outside the United States. It’s as proof that regulatory ambiguity pushes capital and jobs offshore, not just headlines into court dockets.
RIPPLE CEO: "The status quo is not good enough." Brad Garlinghouse says Ripple spent MILLIONS fighting the SEC over four years, while 80% of its hiring happened outside the U.S. as a result. He says America needs clear crypto rules to protect users and keep innovation at home… https://t.co/BaNrlR5RZNpic.twitter.com/HwLONKul9y
The SEC sued Ripple, Garlinghouse, and co-founder Chris Larsen in December 2020, alleging the company raised funds through unregistered securities sales of XRP. The case dragged through multiple rulings before both sides filed a joint stipulation dismissing their appeals in August 2025, per the SEC’s own litigation release, leaving a $125,035,150 civil penalty and a registration-related injunction in place.
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That outcome distinguished between institutional sales and secondary-market trading of XRP rather than declaring the token categorically exempt from securities law. It’s a nuance that matters when Ripple invokes the case as a template for how crypto assets should be regulated going forward.
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Garlinghouse has previously called the resolution a long overdue surrender by the SEC, arguing the agency pursued the case to intimidate the industry rather than to police fraud.
Selig Declares an End to Regulation by Enforcement
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The renewed attention to Ripple’s legal costs surfaced around an August 19 White House innovation meeting that brought crypto executives together with regulators to discuss digital-asset policy and the stalled CLARITY Act. CFTC Chair Michael Selig used the appearance to draw a hard line under the prior enforcement posture.
Selig said, adding that innovators were now being welcomed to the White House instead of being “railroaded to the big house.” He also said additional regulatory roadmap details would follow at the CFTC’s inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee meeting on August 20, whose published agenda covers digital assets, tokenized collateral and emerging financial products.
BREAKING: CFTC Chairman Selig says he “remains hopeful” Congress will get CLARITY to President Trump’s desk and lock in durable crypto rules. “Passing CLARITY is the surest way that we can prevent another Gary Gensler from running a rogue campaign of lawfare.” If the bill… pic.twitter.com/DuyYptBdLe
Garlinghouse, who attended alongside SEC Chair Paul Atkins and executives from Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, Robinhood, Nasdaq and Intercontinental Exchange, posted his own read on the meeting afterward.
Garlinghouse said, citing a figure of 67 million Americans, or close to one in four people, are now holding crypto. That’s the political backdrop against which he’s positioning Ripple’s litigation history: not as a closed chapter, but as a cautionary case study lawmakers should point to when arguing for a formal SEC regulatory pathway for crypto issuers.
Beyond Ripple and SEC: Why the CLARITY Act Is the Real Stakes
The practical argument underneath Garlinghouse’s comments is that the CLARITY Act would replace the case-by-case litigation model that consumed Ripple legal budget with a defined split of jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC. That’s the same logic driving industry proposals for a token safe harbor that would let projects raise funds and build networks without facing an enforcement action years into their operating history.
Whether that framework moves through Congress this session remains an open question, and Ripple’s own post-litigation position, including its financial standing after the SEC dispute, will likely stay a reference point in that debate regardless of the outcome.
Selig’s comments suggest the CFTC intends to move on rulemaking with or without a finished statute, but a durable division of authority between regulators still requires legislative action rather than agency posture alone.
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For traders, the immediate takeaway isn’t a new legal threat to XRP – the SEC’s case against Ripple is closed, with the penalty and injunction from the district court’s judgment standing as final. The relevant signal is political: a sitting CFTC chair publicly renouncing enforcement-led regulation, with Ripple’s leadership in the room, tightens the odds that market-structure legislation gets prioritized before the next election cycle rather than shelved again.
The U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve made news on March 6, 2025, with an executive order that sets out how government-held Bitcoin may be managed and permits the development of budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional Bitcoin. The order does not establish an open-market purchasing program or specify an amount of additional Bitcoin to be acquired.
That framework has kept attention on the role that government demand could play alongside institutional and corporate interest in Bitcoin. It also provides the policy context for the $1.5 million Bitcoin bull case associated with Cathie Wood in reporting by TheStreet.
Jim Cramer says he was told President Trump is buying Bitcoin for the US strategic reserve during the crash this week. "I heard at $60k he's gonna fill the Bitcoin Reserve." pic.twitter.com/1VAAp2jK4d
The March 6 executive order establishes a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate United States Digital Asset Stockpile for government-held digital assets other than Bitcoin.
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Under the order, the reserve is capitalized with Bitcoin held by the Treasury Department that has been finally forfeited through criminal or civil asset-forfeiture proceedings, or in satisfaction of certain civil money penalties. Agencies were directed to review their authority to transfer Government Bitcoin they hold to the reserve and report the results to the Treasury secretary.
Bitcoin deposited into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is not to be sold and is to be maintained as a reserve asset of the United States, subject to applicable law. The order describes Bitcoin as having a permanently capped supply of 21 million coins and says the government holds a significant amount of BTC, without providing a total holdings figure.
Authority to Explore Additional Bitcoin Acquisition
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The order directs the Secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce to develop strategies for acquiring additional Government Bitcoin. Those strategies must be budget-neutral and must not impose incremental costs on U.S. taxpayers.
Trump deferred to regulators when asked whether the government would buy more Bitcoin When he was asked about accumulating Bitcoin or other crypto at the White House meeting, he said the subject had been discussed and that he would "rely on Paul and the whole group for that." He… pic.twitter.com/rHrHZSjqCG
The accompanying White House fact sheet likewise states that Treasury and Commerce are authorized to develop budget-neutral acquisition strategies. The directive addresses strategy development; it does not identify a purchase amount, schedule, or acquisition method.
The executive order treats the non-Bitcoin stockpile differently. It says the government will not acquire additional stockpile assets beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings or civil money penalties without further executive or legislative action. The Treasury secretary may determine stewardship strategies for that stockpile, including potential sales.
TheStreet reported that ARK Invest’s multi-scenario Bitcoin framework places its 2030 base case near $730,000 to $750,000 and its bull case at $1.5 million. The report described the bull case as resting on institutional adoption, Bitcoin’s fixed supply, and its emergence as a legitimate digital store of value.
Bitcoin’s 21 million-coin supply cap is stated in the executive order. The order also says that a fixed supply creates a strategic advantage for nations that are among the first to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Those statements explain why the reserve’s acquisition authority is relevant to the discussion of Bitcoin demand, even though the order does not set out an active buying program.
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Bitcoin is trading above $75,000 at the time of writing, after trading below $65,000 four days earlier. Most news confirmed that Bitcoin was also traded near $35,000 four years earlier before reaching $126,000 in October 2025. Those figures provide context for the scale of a $1.5 million long-term bull case, but they do not establish a future outcome.
A person holds a PopMart Labubu The Monsters Big into Energy Series Vinyl Plush dolls during a press preview at an AliExpress pop-up store in London, Britain, Nov. 11, 2025.
Isabel Infantes | Reuters
Shares of Pop Mart fell over 4% in Hong Kong on Friday after the Labubu maker reported first-half results that showed declining sales in Asia-Pacific and the Americas.
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For the period ended in June 30, the toy maker reported a 23.8% year-over-year rise in first-half revenue to 17.17 billion yuan ($2.55 billion). But the growth was unequal: in Asia Pacific ex-China it fell 9.7%, and dropped 16.5% in the Americas. Revenue in China, meanwhile, jumped 47.3%.
Citi said the results came in below expectations, citing pressure in overseas markets, where sales declined 11% year over year. The company has faced challenges globally ranging from inventory management, supply chains to warehousing and logistics and store operation, according to Citi.
The bank now expects Pop Mart’s group revenue to decline 8% year-over-year in 2026 and lowered its price target to HK$198. Citi said management now sees its initial 20% revenue growth target for 2026 as difficult to achieve, given more challenges than expected and competitive pressure.
The shares were recently down 3.9% to HK$147.70 ($18.84).
[PRESS RELEASE – Panama City, Panama, August 21st, 2026]
Finassets.io, a crypto payment gateway for businesses, has added USDC (SOL) to its Back Office, giving merchants a cost-effective network for stablecoin payments.
Solana is among the fastest, lowest-cost networks for settling USDC today, and Finassets, a B2B crypto payment infrastructure provider, has added support for USDC Solana (SOL) payments across its platform. Merchants can now accept and process USDC (SOL) alongside 70+ other supported cryptocurrencies, using the same Back Office, payment button, checkout, and API already in place.
Solana already carries billions in USDC
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Solana holds the second-largest share of circulating USDC after Ethereum, at roughly $6.7 billion of Circle’s total supply, on a network built for higher throughput than most alternatives. Solana’s mainnet has also run without an outage for more than two years.
Built for stablecoin payments across multiple assets
USDT and USDC already run across multiple networks in the Finassets Back Office, and USDC (SOL) extends that setup rather than adding a separate product. With Auto-Convert, incoming crypto is converted to a stablecoin as soon as the payment arrives, with the rate fixed at that moment, protecting merchants from price changes.
Network choice still affects the two numbers that matter most to a merchant, what a transfer costs and how long it takes to confirm. Solana comes out faster and cheaper than Ethereum on both, which makes it one of the most cost-effective networks for settling USDC right now.
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*Fees rise during congestion, and have historically pushed Ethereum transfer costs well above $100.
No new integration required for existing merchants
Merchants already using Finassets can enable USDC (SOL) directly in the Back Office, through the same payment button, checkout, and API already connected. Those onboarding now choose one of two integration methods:
Payment button. Installs on a website or online store with no backend development; customers pay directly from a Solana wallet.
API integration. Generates a unique Solana wallet address per transaction and tracks transaction details, including destination and confirmation, via webhook.
Both paths include sandbox access and step-by-step setup documentation for testing before go-live.
“USDC on Solana is one of the most efficient stablecoin payment options available today. It combines a widely used dollar stablecoin with one of the fastest and lowest-cost networks. We added it to give merchants a faster, more cost-effective way to move USDC, especially when they’re processing payments at scale.” said Vitalijs F., CEO of Finassets.
USDC (SOL) uses the same Finassets infrastructure
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Once enabled, USDC (SOL) follows the same operational rules as every other asset Finassets supports.
Transaction status and history tracked per asset in the Back Office
Deposits typically credited within about 30 seconds of network confirmation
Security runs at the same standard across every asset: MPC-based wallet technology, two-factor authentication, role-based access control, and IP whitelisting.
USDC (SOL) support is available to eligible merchants in selected international markets, subject to Finassets programme terms, verification, and applicable compliance requirements.
Finassets is a low-fee crypto payment gateway for iGaming and eCommerce. It’s a payment infrastructure covering a crypto payment button, crypto checkout, crypto invoicing, crypto mass payouts, B2B crypto exchange, and crypto payment API integration. Merchants can accept 70+ cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins like USDT and USDC across multiple networks. Fees start from 0.40% down to 0.20% as volume grows, with no hidden fees and full visibility into every transaction.
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Founded in 2021, Finassets is a Panama-registered B2B crypto payment infrastructure provider supporting cross-border and crypto-driven businesses across eligible markets.
South Korean lawmakers have introduced legislation that would give the Financial Intelligence Unit direct authority to investigate suspected unregistered crypto businesses instead of relying mainly on police referrals.
Summary
South Korean lawmakers have proposed giving the FIU direct powers to investigate unregistered crypto businesses.
The FIU could analyze suspected violations, file complaints and request criminal investigations under the bill.
Police suspended inquiries into 23 of 25 unregistered crypto operators referred by the FIU between August 2022 and August 2025.
The FIU said in June that 28 crypto providers were registered and 40 suspected illegal operators had been referred to authorities.
Yonhap reported that People Power Party lawmaker Eom Tae-young and nine other lawmakers filed the amendment on Thursday, proposing new powers under the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, commonly known as the Specific Financial Information Act.
Under the bill, any person could report a suspected violation of the law directly to the FIU. Once a report is received, the financial intelligence agency would be allowed to investigate and analyze the suspected conduct before deciding whether further action is required.
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The proposal would also allow the FIU to file complaints with relevant authorities, request criminal investigations, and hand information gathered during its review to investigators. Such powers would change the current process, under which the FIU can identify suspected unregistered operators but must depend on police and other investigative agencies to pursue most cases.
The bill has only been introduced and must pass the National Assembly before the proposed changes can take effect.
FIU could directly investigate unregistered crypto businesses
Lawmakers proposed the additional powers after enforcement data raised questions over how effectively cases involving overseas crypto operators were being pursued once they left the FIU.
According to Yonhap, police suspended investigations or preliminary inquiries into 23 of the 25 unregistered virtual asset service providers referred by the FIU between August 2022 and August 2025.
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The companies and people connected to the cases were reportedly located outside South Korea, making investigations more difficult for domestic law enforcement agencies.
Giving the FIU investigative and analytical powers at an earlier stage would allow the agency that first identifies suspected registration violations to collect information before a case moves to another authority.
South Korea requires companies providing virtual asset services to residents of the country to register with the FIU, including foreign companies that actively serve South Korean customers.
As crypto.news previously reported, the FIU said in June that only 28 virtual asset service providers were registered at the time, while about 40 suspected illegal operators had been referred to investigative authorities.
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The regulator said foreign businesses must follow the same registration requirements when they provide services to South Korean residents. Companies seeking registration must also meet local compliance requirements, including Information Security Management System certification.
Overseas operators have remained a key FIU enforcement problem
The FIU’s June enforcement warning provided details on how some unregistered foreign crypto businesses were reaching South Korean customers while attempting to limit their visible presence in the country.
According to the agency, some overseas operators recruited customers through Telegram and KakaoTalk open chat rooms while offering customer service in English, a setup regulators said could make their domestic activities less obvious.
Authorities also identified private currency exchange businesses selling stablecoins and other virtual assets to international students, tourists, foreign workers and people seeking transactions without disclosing their identities.
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Some operators exchanged digital assets directly for Korean won or other fiat currencies, while promoters were paid to advertise foreign crypto services through YouTube channels, Telegram groups and online communities, the FIU said.
The agency warned that customers using unregistered services could face exposure to fraud, hacking and personal data leaks. Because such businesses operate outside the registered system, the FIU also said users could have difficulty recovering funds when an operator failed to deliver purchased assets.
Money laundering has remained another concern for regulators. The FIU said unauthorized crypto platforms and private exchange services could be used to conceal criminal proceeds or facilitate transfers that avoid standard checks applied by registered financial firms.
The newly introduced bill would allow the agency to pursue suspected violations of the Specific Financial Information Act itself before requesting assistance from another investigative body.
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South Korea has tightened AML rules for registered exchanges too
Regulatory attention has not been limited to companies operating without registration.
Earlier this year, domestic exchanges objected to proposed changes that would require them to report overseas-linked crypto transfers worth at least 10 million won as suspicious transactions.
A May regulatory proposal drew objections from the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance, which represents registered virtual asset service providers in South Korea.
DAXA estimated that the rule could increase annual suspicious transaction reports at Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax from about 63,000 to more than 5.4 million.
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The association argued that applying an automatic monetary threshold could cause large numbers of ordinary overseas transfers to be reported regardless of the risk attached to the customer or counterparty.
The dispute also involved the treatment of foreign platforms. Regulators have sought stricter controls on transactions involving overseas virtual asset service providers, while local exchanges have asked authorities for clearer standards for determining which foreign businesses should be treated as high risk.
Enforcement decisions under the same financial information law have already produced court challenges. In April, a Seoul court overturned a three-month partial suspension imposed on Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, after the FIU alleged 44,948 transactions involving 19 unregistered overseas platforms.
Bithumb separately secured a court stay against a six-month partial suspension after regulators accused it of customer verification failures and dealings with unregistered foreign companies. Coinone also obtained temporary court relief from enforcement measures connected to anti-money laundering and customer verification requirements.
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Cross-border crypto transfers face separate registration rules
South Korea has also created another regulatory route for businesses moving digital assets across national borders.
Under amendments to the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, companies handling cross-border virtual asset transfers will have to register with the Ministry of Economy and Finance when the framework takes effect in December.
A June licensing report detailed how authorities were preparing enforcement regulations that could allow eligible fintech companies, alongside crypto businesses, to provide blockchain-based cross-border remittance and foreign exchange services.
The South Korean government promulgated the revised law on June 2 with a six-month grace period. Once implemented, virtual asset transfers involving South Korea and another country will fall under the country’s regulated foreign exchange system.
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Companies seeking to provide the service will need to register with the finance ministry and report qualifying overseas transfers through the Bank of Korea’s foreign exchange reporting network.
Authorities have said crypto transfers previously operating outside the formal foreign exchange reporting system created risks involving illicit foreign exchange transactions and money laundering.
Applicants under the new framework must first complete virtual asset service provider registration, connect their systems to institutions responsible for transmitting foreign exchange and digital asset transaction data, and satisfy additional requirements covering facilities and qualified personnel.
Marvell Technology (MRVL) stock jumped Wednesday after the fabless chipmaker announced a deal to develop chips for Alphabet (GOOGL) unit Google. Marvell also issued to Google a warrant to purchase up nearly 59 million shares of Marvell stock at an exercise price of $206.58 per share. On the stock market today, Marvell stock surged 9.9% to 237.27. Meanwhile, rival Broadcom…
The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is preparing to take a major step in establishing and eventually regulating derivatives tied to AI compute. On Wednesday, the CFTC said it was seeking public comment on compute derivatives contracts. The move kick-starts the regulatory process in setting up a formal market for AI compute derivatives. CME Group announced Aug. 11 that…
Spot bitcoin ETFs pulled in $606 million on Aug. 20 and ether funds $221 million, both bigger than the prior day, confirming the institutional bid behind bitcoin’s run.
SEC over four years, while 80% of its hiring happened outside the U.S. as a result.
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