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Last week, the FTX court saga had elements of a TV drama, with Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried’s former business associate and girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, sharing some shocking stories about SBF’s rule over the company. Ellison admitted to fraud during her time as CEO at Alameda under Bankman-Fried’s direction. However, she blamed the misuse of FTX user funds directly on SBF, claiming he “set up the systems” that led to Alameda taking roughly $14 billion from the exchange.

Ellison revealed that Alameda’s bad loans created market panic around FTX, causing users to withdraw their funds. FTX then paused withdrawals to contain the situation, and the exchange came crashing down within days. When one of the employees attending the meeting asked Ellison how FTX intended to pay back its customers, she said the crypto exchange was planning to raise further funds to fill the gap.

She also told the court about the SBF’s ambitions to become the president of the United States, his willingness to “flip a coin and destroy the world,” and his plans to attract investment from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Meanwhile, former FTX chief technology officer Gary Wang, who’s also been giving his testimony in court, pleaded guilty to four charges, including conspiracy.

IRS must implement crypto reporting requirements before 2026

Seven members of the United States Senate have called on the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to advance a rule imposing certain tax reporting requirements for crypto brokers “as swiftly as possible.” A group of U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, criticized a two-year delay in implementing crypto tax reporting requirements, which are scheduled to go into effect in 2026 for transactions in 2025. The lawmakers claimed delaying implementation of the rules could cause the IRS to lose roughly $50 billion in annual tax revenue and continue policies allowing bad actors to avoid paying taxes.

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DeFi doesn’t represent a “significant risk” to financial stability in Europe yet

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) — the European Union’s financial markets supervisory authority — released an article on decentralized finance (DeFi) and the risks it poses to the EU market. In a 22-page report, the ESMA admits the promised benefits of DeFi, such as greater financial inclusion, the development of innovative financial products, and the enhancement of financial transactions’ speed, security and costs.

Warning about the risks of the technology, the regulator concludes that currently, DeFi and crypto, in general, do not represent “meaningful risks” to financial stability. That is because of their relatively small size and limited interconnectedness between crypto and traditional financial markets.

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Malaysia approves its fifth digital exchange

The Malaysia-based Hata has received in-principle approval from the Securities Commission Malaysia to register as a Recognized Market Operator as a digital asset exchange and digital broker. The approval means Hata could launch its services in six to nine months. Hata will become the fifth regulated digital asset exchange in Malaysia and the first legal entity to receive approval as a digital broker, allowing it to display trade orders from other regulated exchanges.

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Politics

Chancellor Rachel Reeves considering ‘changes’ to ISAs – and says there’s too much focus on ‘risk’ in investing

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves considering 'changes' to ISAs - and says there's too much focus on 'risk' in investing

The chancellor has confirmed she is considering “changes” to ISAs – and said there has been too much focus on “risk” in members of the public investing.

In her second annual Mansion House speech to the financial sector, Rachel Reeves said she recognised “differing views” over the popular tax-free savings accounts, in which savers can currently put up to £20,000 a year.

She was reportedly considering reducing the threshold to as low as £4,000 a year, in a bid to encourage people to put money into stocks and shares instead and boost the economy.

However the chancellor has shelved any immediate planned changes after fierce backlash from building societies and consumer groups.

In her speech to key industry figures on Tuesday evening, Ms Reeves said: “I will continue to consider further changes to ISAs, engaging widely over the coming months and recognising that despite the differing views on the right approach, we are united in wanting better outcomes for both savers and for the UK economy.”

She added: “For too long, we have presented investment in too negative a light, quick to warn people of the risks, without giving proper weight to the benefits.”

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Rachel Reeves’s fiscal dilemma

Ms Reeves’s speech, the first major one since the welfare bill climbdown two weeks ago, appeared to encourage regulators to focus less on risks and more on the benefits of investing in things like the stock market and government bonds (loans issued by states to raise funds with an interest rate paid in return).

She welcomed action by the financial regulator to review risk warning rules and the campaign to promote retail investment, which the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is launching next year.

“Our tangled system of financial advice and guidance has meant that people cannot get the right support to make decisions for themselves”, Ms Reeves told the event in London.

Read more:
Should you get Lifetime ISA? Two key issues to consider
Building societies protest against proposed ISA reforms
Is there £15bn of wiggle room in Reeves’s fiscal rules?

Last year, Ms Reeves said post-financial crash regulation had “gone too far” and set a course for cutting red tape.

On Tuesday, she said she would announce a package of City changes, including a new competitive framework for a part of the insurance industry and a regulatory regime for asset management.

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Reeves is ‘totally’ up for the job

In response to Ms Reeves’s address, shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: “Rachel Reeves should have used her speech this evening to rule out massive tax rises on businesses and working people. The fact that she didn’t should send a shiver down the spine of taxpayers across the country.”

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The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, also spoke at the Mansion House event and said Donald Trump’s taxes on US imports would slow the economy and trade imbalances should be addressed.

“Increasing tariffs creates the risk of fragmenting the world economy, and thereby reducing activity”, he said.

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Crypto-backed group gathers $141M funding to influence US elections

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Crypto-backed group gathers 1M funding to influence US elections

Crypto-backed group gathers 1M funding to influence US elections

Fairshake reported raising $52 billion from the crypto industry in the first half of 2025, at a time when candidates previously supported by the PAC were providing crucial votes.

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Politics

Programmable regulation is the missing key to DeFi’s legal future

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Programmable regulation is the missing key to DeFi’s legal future

Programmable regulation is the missing key to DeFi’s legal future

Programmable regulation could be the solution to legacy regulatory frameworks struggling to keep pace with DeFi’s rapidly evolving ecosystems. Embedding compliance in code can bring legal clarity, reduce risk and foster innovation in DeFi.

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