Morning News | The draft amendment to the People's Bank of China Law aims to clarify the legal status of digital renminbi; South Korea will transfer about 40 unregistered virtual asset service providers to law enforcement agencies

Compiled by: ChainCatcher

What important events have occurred in the past 24 hours?

Anthropic Mythos model detects security vulnerabilities in U.S. government confidential systems

According to ChainCatcher, the Associated Press reported that Anthropic's Mythos model has discovered vulnerabilities in U.S. government confidential systems.

Draft amendment to the People's Bank of China Law aims to clarify the legal status of digital yuan

According to ChainCatcher, Caixin reported that the "Draft Amendment to the People's Bank of China Law" was submitted for its first review at the 23rd meeting of the 14th National People's Congress Standing Committee on June 23, 2026. Among the new proposals is the "clarification of the legal status of digital yuan." The 2020 draft only mentioned that "the yuan includes both physical and digital forms." Previous drafts also stipulated that no unit or individual may produce or sell token tickets and digital tokens to replace the yuan in circulation, and the People's Bank of China should order the cessation of illegal activities, destroy illegally produced and sold token tickets and digital tokens, confiscate illegal gains, and impose fines of up to five times the illegal amount.

User losses at SecondFi may exceed $20 million

According to ChainCatcher, regarding the recent security incident at the Cardano ecosystem project SecondFi, SlowMist founder Yu Xian stated: "I am actually quite unfamiliar with the Cardano ecosystem. I observed for a whole night last night, but if both addresses starting with addr1q are hacker addresses (which they should be based on behavior), the losses for SecondFi users should exceed $20 million (over 129 million ADA and other tokens stolen)."

Earlier reports indicated that SecondFi disclosed that its security incident affected approximately 16 million ADA, with the issue stemming from web wallet generation software.

YZi Labs and CEA Industries reach cooperation agreement, ending agency rights dispute

According to ChainCatcher, BNB treasury company CEA Industries announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with YZi Labs, and both parties will jointly promote adjustments to the BNC governance structure. According to the agreement, Ella Zhang, Alex Odagiu, and Matthew Roszak have been appointed as company directors, and both parties will jointly select an independent director with experience in digital assets, capital markets, and governance of listed companies.

At the same time, the board will establish a CEO selection committee, with YZi Labs partner Alex Odagiu serving as interim president until a new CEO is appointed. As part of the agreement, YZi Labs will terminate its previous consent solicitation and withdraw related requests. CEA Industries stated that this move will help strengthen corporate governance and enhance its ability to execute long-term strategies around the BNB ecosystem.

Pafin acquires crypto tax service provider Gtax

According to ChainCatcher, market news indicates that Japanese crypto asset automatic profit and loss calculation service provider Pafin will acquire the industry backbone company Gtax and plans to complete the service brand integration by October.

Castle Labs report: RWA market size has reached $28.2 billion, but DeFi penetration rate is only about 10%

According to ChainCatcher, Castle Labs released an RWA industry report stating that the on-chain tokenized real-world assets (RWA) market has reached $28.2 billion, growing approximately 500% since early 2025, with a peak of $31.8 billion.

Currently, tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds and money market funds remain the largest category, with a scale of about $17 billion, accounting for nearly 60% of the entire RWA market, among which BlackRock BUIDL and Hashnote USYC have both surpassed $3 billion in scale. The report also pointed out that tokenized stocks have become one of the fastest-growing RWA sub-sectors, growing over 170% this year, significantly higher than the approximately 60% growth rate of tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds.

Castle Labs believes that the expansion of stablecoins, the entry of institutional funds, and the advancement of regulatory frameworks such as CLARITY and MiCA are driving traditional financial assets to continue to go on-chain. However, the current industry's biggest bottleneck has shifted from asset issuance to redemption mechanisms and DeFi composability. Currently, of the approximately $28.2 billion in on-chain RWA, only about $3 billion has entered DeFi, with a penetration rate of about 10%.

Chicago Options Exchange launches prediction market platform Cboe Predicts

According to ChainCatcher, the Chicago Options Exchange (Cboe Global Markets) announced the launch of a new prediction market platform "Cboe Predicts," along with the first batch of prediction products. These products include binary options contracts based on the mini S&P 500 index (XSP), with codes XSPBW and XSPBX. The contract size is one-tenth of the standard S&P 500 index options (SPX).

Currently, the contract has been launched on Interactive Brokers and plans to be pushed to more retail brokerage platforms such as Charles Schwab in the coming months. Additionally, as securities options, these products will be centrally cleared by the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) and will follow the same regulatory and monitoring framework as U.S. listed options.

Zuckerberg orders Meta to develop independent prediction market application, code-named Arena

According to ChainCatcher, citing two Meta employees, The New York Times reported that Mark Zuckerberg has instructed an internal small team to develop an independent prediction market application code-named "Arena," which will operate separately from existing products like Facebook and Instagram.

The initial design uses a game-like points system rather than real money betting, but the possibility of introducing real money models in the future has not been ruled out. After the news was released, Robinhood and DraftKings stocks fell in early trading this week. Meta's applications have 3.56 billion daily active users, far exceeding the total distribution scale of all existing prediction market platforms, and if officially entered, it will directly impact crypto-native platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi.

Prediction markets are currently in a rapid growth phase, with Polymarket's trading volume surpassing $10 billion for the first time in March this year. On the regulatory front, the CFTC is currently in litigation regarding federal jurisdiction over prediction markets and state-level betting laws. Meta's points system design temporarily bypasses this issue, but its scale means that any shift to real money betting will immediately become a significant regulatory event.

Sonic Labs announces extension of Fantom Opera operations until the end of the year and announces new management team

According to ChainCatcher, Sonic Labs released the latest progress update, announcing that the Fantom Opera network will continue to operate until at least the end of 2026 and will continue to provide funding support for cross-chain bridges during this period.

The team stated that this move was based on community feedback, as there were previous plans to cease operations of Fantom Opera by the end of this month. Meanwhile, Sonic Labs announced a new management structure, appointing Matt Visser as CEO and Kosta Kourkoumelis as COO, and stated that it will publicly disclose team member responsibilities information in the future, gradually eliminating the unified "Contributor" label.

Additionally, the project party stated that it will begin to lift some restrictions on community accounts, allowing normal expression of critical opinions, while establishing dedicated communication channels for disclosure, support, feedback, and developer collaboration, and plans to launch a more comprehensive ticket support system and community engagement activities. The team stated that it will regularly disclose operational progress in the future.

South Korea hands over about 40 unregistered virtual asset service providers to law enforcement

According to ChainCatcher, Newsis reported that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea has handed over about 40 unregistered virtual asset service providers to law enforcement for processing. The report pointed out that since these unregistered companies are not subject to South Korea's "Virtual Asset User Protection Act" and "Specific Financial Transaction Information Reporting and Use Act," they face risks such as personal data leakage and hacking attacks, and may also be used for money laundering and concealing criminal funds.

Multiple private equity firms receive notice to suspend new cross-border TRS

According to ChainCatcher, Shanghai Securities News reported that several private equity industry insiders revealed that they received notices from cooperating brokerages last night, requiring them to suspend the increase in cross-border TRS (Total Return Swap) scale by managers. According to public information, TRS is a financial derivative that allows private equity to obtain the returns (or losses) of an asset without directly holding foreign assets (the principal does not leave the country) by signing a return swap agreement with a counterparty brokerage. Since the beginning of this year, due to the impressive performance of the global technology sector, many private equity firms have configured overseas assets through cross-border TRS.

Since May, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and seven other departments jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for Comprehensive Rectification of Illegal Cross-Border Securities and Futures Fund Operations," targeting leading cross-border internet brokerages such as Tiger Brokers, Futu Holdings, and Changqiao Securities. After the space for mainland residents to engage in illegal cross-border stock trading has shrunk, private equity products using cross-border TRS to configure overseas technology targets have increasingly attracted funding attention.

Sun Yuchen and He Yi speak out against Zhu Pan's fraud, CoinUp responds: Zhu Pan is not the platform operator

According to ChainCatcher, Binance co-CEO He Yi posted on X stating, "Zhu Pan once impersonated others to defraud me unsuccessfully and also impersonated me to defraud Brother Sun." Tron founder Sun Yuchen immediately retweeted in response, stating, "This is absolutely true, and the industry should collectively resist such fraudulent behavior and bring it to justice."

At the same time, CoinUp officially released a statement regarding recent market discussions about the platform and CPX, stating that Zhu Pan is not the operator of the CoinUp platform and does not participate in the core operations of the platform; his identity is only that of a project party for a project launched on the CoinUp platform. Regarding the recent significant price fluctuations of CPX/USDT, CoinUp stated that it is mainly due to concentrated selling pressure in the market, and the specific reasons are under investigation and verification. The platform emphasized that after a comprehensive security check, it has not suffered from hacking attacks or system vulnerabilities, and user asset security and account data integrity are intact, with functions such as deposits, withdrawals, and trading operating normally.

Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission annual report: Total market value of virtual asset ETFs has increased by 90% since launch, licensed trading platforms' transaction volume has increased by 125% year-on-year

According to ChainCatcher, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission released the "2025-26 Annual Report," showing that Hong Kong's capital market has achieved significant growth across various asset classes over the past year, including investment funds, digital assets, and the stock market. Among them, the growth of tokenized investment products has accelerated, with the total managed assets of 13 retail products recognized by the Securities and Futures Commission increasing nearly sixfold year-on-year to HKD 10.8 billion as of March 13; at the same time, the total market value of 11 virtual asset spot ETFs reached HKD 4.3 billion, significantly increasing by 90% since their launch in 2024, recognizing Asia's first Solana spot ETF; the transaction volume of 12 licensed virtual asset trading platforms has increased significantly by 125% within a year.

SK Hynix's financing in the U.S. may exceed Alibaba's record scale, ADR financing up to $29 billion

According to ChainCatcher, South Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix plans to raise up to 45 trillion won (approximately $29 billion) through the issuance of American Depositary Receipts (ADR) in New York, with the related transaction set to start in July. If successful, this financing scale will surpass Alibaba's $25 billion IPO in 2014, becoming one of the largest overseas equity financing projects in South Korean history and approaching global capital market historical records.
According to the plan, SK Hynix will first issue shares in South Korea, then deposit the relevant shares into the Korean Securities Depository as ADR underlying securities. South Korean regulators are expected to complete the review by July 3. The raised funds will mainly be used for the construction of the Yongin semiconductor cluster in South Korea and a factory in Indiana, USA, as well as the purchase of EUV extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment to support the expansion of advanced storage capacity related to AI. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America have been selected as lead underwriters.

SK Hynix's confidence in this U.S. financing stems from its strong position in the AI industry chain. As a leading company in the global high-bandwidth memory (HBM) field, the company is a core supplier of Nvidia's AI accelerator chips, and driven by AI demand, its stock price has increased by over 300% this year. CEO Kwon Oh-joon stated that the company hopes to leverage the U.S. capital market to enhance its global influence and achieve a valuation level commensurate with other AI hardware companies.

Dunamu and more than seven other companies bid for South Korean police's crypto asset custody project

According to ChainCatcher, the Korea Economic Daily reported that at least seven companies, including Dunamu, the operator of the South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, have submitted proposals to bid to become the first private custodian of virtual assets seized by the South Korean National Police Agency. Other bidders include major custodians Korea Digital Asset (KODA), Korea Digital Asset Custody (KDAC), BDACS, Hecto Wallet One, Infinite Block, and DSRV.

An official from a virtual asset custody institution explained that the selection results may be finalized next month. The official pointed out that in a previous pilot project for the National Tax Service, the winning bidder was determined within one to two weeks after the proposal presentation ended.

Federal Reserve Chairman Warsh to testify before Congress for the first time on July 14, market focuses on stablecoin and interest rate policy signals

According to ChainCatcher, CoinDesk reported that Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh will testify before Congress for the first time at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on July 14, with traders closely watching his signals on stablecoins, bank custody, and interest rate policies.

South Korea includes token securities in capital market reform framework, infrastructure construction goal to be realized by February 2027

According to ChainCatcher, South Korea has included token securities in the overall framework of capital market reform. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) recently launched a capital market infrastructure review meeting to coordinate the promotion of reforms such as speeding up securities settlement, extending trading hours, and digital transformation.

According to the plan, the token securities framework will officially take effect in February 2027, with related subordinate regulations expected to solicit opinions externally in July this year. In terms of infrastructure construction, Samsung SDS has been awarded a contract by the Korea Securities Depository (KSD) to develop a token securities management platform, which will connect the existing electronic securities account system with blockchain data, aiming to complete this by February 2027.

SBI officially issues Japan's first trust bank-supported yen stablecoin JPYSC

According to ChainCatcher, Japanese financial group SBI Holdings announced the official issuance of the yen stablecoin JPYSC, with the first issuance completed. This stablecoin is managed by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank for reserve asset management, and the licensed cryptocurrency trading platform SBI VC Trade is responsible for circulation and distribution. SBI stated that JPYSC is Japan's first yen stablecoin managed by a trust bank and is also the first product recognized as an "electronic payment means" under the Payment Services Act. Unlike the previously launched fund transfer-type stablecoins in Japan, JPYSC is not subject to the single transaction and account balance limit of 1 million yen.

SBI expects that JPYSC will attract retail and institutional users with lower transaction costs and large transaction support capabilities, and can serve as the yen base asset for on-chain foreign exchange markets, institutional lending, and RWA (real-world asset) tokenized settlements. Currently, JPYSC is only open to SBI VC Trade account holders, and its usage scope will be expanded after the regulatory and tax framework is further clarified. SBI also plans to launch JPYSC lending services.

In recent years, Japan has been continuously promoting compliant stablecoins to integrate into the mainstream financial system. After JPYC was approved in 2025 as Japan's first legally recognized yen stablecoin, the three major banks in Japan—Mitsubishi UFJ Bank (MUFG), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and Mizuho Bank—are also jointly promoting stablecoin projects and plan to launch commercial trading in the 2026 fiscal year.

SecondFi 374 addresses lost approximately 16 million ADA, affected users can submit compensation applications

According to ChainCatcher, Cardano wallet service provider SecondFi stated that it has identified the root cause of the recent security incident and deployed patches for unaffected wallets, and will soon resume normal operations. SecondFi disclosed that there were a total of four incidents of funds being transferred out, three of which were carried out by external attackers, resulting in approximately 16 million ADA being transferred from 374 addresses. To reduce further losses during the ongoing attacks, SecondFi initiated an emergency transfer, moving approximately 129 million ADA to an independent third-party custodian for safekeeping, and hired an external accounting firm for a special audit to verify and return assets to affected addresses. SecondFi advised affected users to submit compensation applications through the official website support page and not to import their mnemonic phrases into other Cardano wallets, as the security risk occurs at the address and signature level.

Data: Hyperliquid HIP-3 market has generated a total of $44 million in revenue, half used for HYPE buybacks

According to ChainCatcher, on-chain data shows that as of now, the HIP-3 market has generated a total of $44 million in revenue. Of this, $22 million has been allocated to HIP-3 developers, and the remaining $22 million is used for buying back HYPE tokens. HIP-3 is a market creation and incentive mechanism within the Hyperliquid ecosystem, allowing developers to create and operate trading markets and earn protocol revenue shares based on market performance. The disclosed data indicates that HIP-3 has become an important source of revenue for the Hyperliquid ecosystem while continuously providing funding support for HYPE token buybacks.

Reuters: Binance says it will not exit Europe and will seek other EU operating licenses

According to ChainCatcher, Reuters reported that Binance's head of Europe and the UK, Gillian Lynch, stated that despite setbacks in its attempt to apply for an EU crypto operating license in Greece, Binance still plans to remain in the EU and will seek local operating permits again.

Lynch stated, "Binance will not leave Europe." She mentioned that Binance may just need to obtain authorization through different paths, and if not Greece, the company will look for other alternatives. Binance currently has only one week left until its existing European operating license expires, and if it cannot obtain a new license, it may need to gradually shut down its EU operations.

Two insiders stated that Binance had communicated with regulators in Ireland, Latvia, and Greece, but encountered resistance in all three countries. The insiders indicated that regulatory officials were concerned about Binance's past penalties related to money laundering issues, its complex international structure, and what they perceive as a risk-prone culture. Lynch stated that Binance is unclear why it was not approved, as it previously believed that the Greek regulatory authority planned to issue the license.

She also stated that Binance has contacted four or five regulatory agencies but only submitted a formal application to Greece. Regarding Binance's past issues, Lynch stated that the company has invested in compliance and internal controls, hiring about 1,500 compliance personnel, and claimed that there are no unresolved issues with its license application.

Binance withdraws MiCA license application in Greece and will seek authorization from other EU member states

According to ChainCatcher, Binance announced that it has decided to withdraw its MiCA license application submitted in Greece and will seek authorization in another EU member state. The company stated that this decision is based on a prudent assessment of the current approval progress and timeline in Greece, emphasizing that user interests are at the core of the decision.

Binance stated that Europe remains an important market for it, and its commitment to operate in compliance with the EU MiCA unified regulatory framework remains unchanged, and it expects to obtain relevant licenses in new member states in the coming months, but the specific countries will be announced "when ready."

Meme Popularity Rankings

According to the meme token tracking and analysis platform GMGN market data, as of June 25, 09:00,

The top five popular ETH tokens in the past 24 hours are: ETHLABS, STARMIND, AAVE, SPRLINKLESsato,

The top five popular Solana tokens in the past 24 hours are: WEN, HARU, WEN, world, CATWIF

The top five popular Base tokens in the past 24 hours are: Surplus, RIZE, SOSO, msUSD, RECALL

What are some interesting articles worth reading in the past 24 hours?

Crypto unicorn Blockstream embroiled in serious fraud

Although there are significant divisions in the community regarding this incident, it has not dispelled the doubts surrounding BMN itself. There are still several key pieces of information missing regarding this mining note.

First, what are the actual issuance scale, outstanding obligations, and liability boundaries of BMN? The authorized issuance scale, actual issuance scale, outstanding scale, maturity structure, and associated guarantees are not the same thing. The market needs to know where the risks of this mining note actually lie, and whether they could spill over to Blockstream or other affiliated companies.

Second, is the mining farm's computing power sufficient to support the expected payouts? If the publicly visible mining farm locations, power contracts, mining machine scale, mining pool revenues, and historical outputs cannot match the issuance scale and payout arrangements, outsiders will naturally question whether the revenues come from real mining or other funding sources.

Third, where does the nearly 20% fixed return actually come from? High returns do not equate to fraud, but in a cyclical industry, they certainly require higher transparency.

Fourth, can the BTC or L-BTC that investors receive be verified? If BMN's payouts involve L-BTC on the Liquid network, then on-chain transparency, peg-out risks, and reserve proofs will become real concerns for investors.

Fifth, what are Cook's actual powers and benefits in BMN and Exacore? If he is in a core position regarding fund usage, mining farm assets, or note design, the importance of disclosure will increase.

These questions do not directly prove that Blockstream is engaged in fraudulent behavior, but objectively speaking, as a mining note product aimed at investors, its premium yield carries significant risks. This leaves BMN with considerable room for further explanation regarding its actual scale, fund usage, revenue sources, and governance disclosures.

Dragonfly partner Haseeb: The fastest-growing companies in the future may all be stuck at 149 people

No one intentionally designed all of this. No committee decided to subsidize innovation for startups and tax established companies. All of this directly stems from those tried-and-true traditional corporate pricing strategies.

But tax laws have always been like this: a bunch of accompanying rules ultimately determine which companies can be built and how these companies distort themselves to minimize tax burdens.

You might argue that this is temporary, and large model companies will eventually charge everyone. Github Copilot has already made this transition. Maybe, but maybe not. But before pricing returns to normal, companies with 149 people and this new AI-first management style may have already exploded, capturing a large market share and writing the script for the next generation of startups.

Tax policy is crucial. The entire concept of the "gig economy" exists because of the legal boundaries between W-2 (formal employees) and 1099 (independent contractors). As more and more labor is eaten away by AI, token pricing may become the most influential tax policy in the next decade. However, no one will ever vote on this.