The American Arbitration Association, one of the world’s largest providers of private dispute-resolution services, has created a specialist panel to handle blockchain and digital-asset cases. The move, announced on Wednesday, gives companies access to arbitrators experienced in the technical and legal issues of crypto disputes.

The new Web3 Panel gathers specialists from law, technology, academia, litigation and digital-asset businesses. It is structured to resolve disagreements that arise from automated and decentralized commercial systems. These include questions of contract interpretation, governance, asset control, cybersecurity, transaction records and cross-border enforcement.

The panel also addresses disputes involving agentic commerce and autonomous transactions, in which software or artificial intelligence systems may start or complete agreements with limited human input.

Initial members include lawyers focused on digital-asset and technology disputes, University of Pennsylvania law professor David Hoffman and Rich Widmann, global head of Web3 strategy at Google Cloud.

Eric Dill, the association’s senior vice president and head of panel relations, noted that Web3 disputes present familiar commercial issues within a highly technical setting.

The panel does not confer any regulatory authority on the association over the cryptocurrency sector. Arbitration remains available only when the parties agree to submit their dispute to a private arbitrator.

The Ethereum Foundation has appointed Pascal Caversaccio, co-founder and lead of the crypto security response group SEAL 911, to its board. The addition, announced on Wednesday, expands the body’s focus on privacy and security within its protocol strategy.

Caversaccio joins for an initial voluntary one-year term. He takes a seat alongside president Aya Miyaguchi, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Swiss counsel Patrick Storchenegger on the four-member board.

A longtime Ethereum contributor, Caversaccio belongs to the Foundation’s Silviculture Society, an informal advisory group addressing censorship resistance, open-source development, privacy and security. He wrote The Ethereum Cypherpunk Manifesto in 2024 and Ethereum Privacy: The Road to Self-Sovereignty in 2025.

The board determines the Foundation’s overall vision. It also reviews whether management strategies and decisions remain consistent with the organization’s values. The Foundation characterizes the board as a security council charged with safeguarding its mission and ensuring compliance as a Swiss foundation.

The appointment coincides with a heightened emphasis on privacy and security in the Foundation’s organizational approach. In June the group identified both areas as non-negotiable protocol guarantees. Its protocol team is tasked with converting research on layer-1 privacy and post-quantum security into practical changes that maintain Ethereum’s self-sovereignty.

Japanese game developer Gumi will begin operating a 3 billion yen crypto asset fund on Saturday in partnership with SBI Financial Services. The vehicle has additional backing from Daiwa Securities Group and other investors and is valued at about $18.3 million.

The fund is managed by SBI Crypto Fund, a joint venture in which SBI Financial Services holds a 51 percent stake and Gumi subsidiary gC Labs holds 49 percent. It will focus primarily on Bitcoin and major alternative cryptocurrencies. Investment approaches include staking, portfolio rebalancing and hedging strategies.

Gumi aims to connect Japan’s corporate sector with the cryptocurrency market through the fund. The company also seeks to establish an operational record ahead of any potential removal of Japan’s ban on crypto exchange-traded funds.

The initiative expands Gumi’s existing cryptocurrency activities. These include management of its own holdings, which are centered on XRP, portfolio services offered through Hinode Technologies and other crypto investment funds.

Crypto assets have grown into a substantial portion of Gumi’s balance sheet. As of April 30 the company held 14.13 billion yen in such assets, nearly double the 7.58 billion yen recorded a year earlier.

Crypto exchange Luno is reducing its global workforce by about 20 percent as it restructures operations and directs more resources toward institutional clients, financial infrastructure and business-to-business services. The move forms part of a broader series of job cuts across the sector in July.

Chief executive James Lanigan said the company had invested in automation and operational improvements that altered the resources required to run the business. Luno will lower costs in response to market conditions while continuing to fund compliance, core infrastructure and retail products.

The exchange previously reduced its headcount by 35 percent in January 2023, affecting nearly 330 employees amid sector-wide turbulence. Founded in South Africa and owned by Digital Currency Group, Luno serves roughly 16 million users across Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. It has expanded beyond retail trading into infrastructure services for banks and fintech firms.

At least 12 crypto and crypto-adjacent companies reported layoffs or restructurings in July, with disclosed figures totaling 894 jobs. Across 2026 more than 7,254 positions have been cut at 47 companies, with market conditions the reason most frequently given. The totals include adjacent financial technology firms and are heavily influenced by a single large reduction of 4,000 roles at Block earlier in the year.

Earlier in July, wallet provider Exodus said it would cut 25 percent of its staff and reorganize around a full-stack card-issuance and stablecoin-payments platform. The company projected annual operating savings of between $10 million and $13 million.

On Tuesday, blockchain infrastructure firm Gnosis invited potential employers in engineering, product, design, marketing, developer relations and customer relations to contact it about staff affected by a recent restructuring. Gnosis announced the workforce reduction on July 17 after reviewing its consumer-facing application.

The US Treasury on Wednesday sanctioned two Iranian maritime companies it said formed part of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed insurance network and accepted Bitcoin along with other digital assets to circumvent restrictions. The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority for operating in Iran’s financial sector.

Authorities stated the firms required commercial vessels to purchase approved coverage before transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The network allegedly generated revenue for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps while expanding Iranian control over shipping in the waterway. HormuzSafe was specifically cited for taking Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment in efforts to evade sanctions.

The Treasury also targeted eight companies connected to Iran’s shadow fleet and identified eight vessels as blocked property. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States would not permit Iran to hold global commerce hostage and accused the government of using international shipping to fund the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Screenshots from May 18 had shown a HormuzSafe website offering digital maritime cargo insurance with policies payable in Bitcoin. Iranian state-linked media reported that the proposed platform could issue marine policies and certificates of financial responsibility and might generate more than $10 billion in revenue. The site later became inaccessible.

The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly one-fifth of global oil trade. Earlier accounts indicated Iran had accepted oil transit payments in Chinese yuan, the stablecoin USDt and Bitcoin, though no on-chain evidence of Bitcoin transfers had been confirmed. In April, US authorities froze $344 million in USDt linked to Iran.

A policy report released Wednesday recommends that South Korea introduce interim licensing guidance, grant greater flexibility to stablecoin issuers and phase in stablecoin regulation before finalizing its Digital Asset Basic Act. The document was prepared by Hashed Open Research and the Solana Policy Institute.

The recommendations stem from a June 23 symposium that brought together lawmakers, legal specialists and industry representatives. The Digital Asset Basic Act is intended to create the country’s first comprehensive framework for digital assets. It would address stablecoin issuance, disclosure requirements and broader market rules.

Multiple legislative proposals remain unreconciled. Disagreements over stablecoin issuance have delayed progress on the measure.

Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Dogeol indicated that policymakers are examining a possible compromise. Under the approach, banks would keep majority ownership while fintech firms and other non-bank entities handle day-to-day operations.

Kim Hyobong, a partner at Bae, Kim & Lee, called for clearer rules on the crypto activities permitted for financial institutions. He also pressed for resolution of licensing uncertainty surrounding stablecoin payments and the establishment of standards for foreign-issued stablecoins.

Kim further recommended that South Korea adopt a phased approach similar to the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. Stablecoin issuance rules, he said, should be put in place ahead of the full Digital Asset Basic Act.

US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $32.1 million in net inflows on Wednesday. The figure ended a four-session streak of outflows and arrived even as Bitcoin briefly traded near $63,300 during US hours.

The funds had registered more than $500 million in combined outflows across the prior four trading days. Net flows for the week to date stand at a $29.29 million outflow. Monthly net inflows have reached $204.7 million. Cumulative net inflows across the products total $51.36 billion.

US-listed spot Ether exchange-traded funds moved in the opposite direction, posting $18.65 million in net outflows on the same day. Ether funds have still attracted $342.9 million in net inflows so far this month, exceeding the monthly total for Bitcoin products.

Bitcoin traded at $63,990 at the time of publication, down 0.2 percent over the past 24 hours and 2.5 percent over the past seven days. Ether stood at $1,902, down 1.1 percent over the previous week.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index registered a reading of 28 on Thursday, placing sentiment in fear territory and one point lower than the prior day. The score has risen from extreme fear levels recorded a month earlier.

China Business Journal, a state-affiliated business newspaper, issued a formal warning on Thursday that fraudsters are impersonating the publication to extort companies through demands for Bitcoin payments. The scheme involves contacting firms with false claims of damaging investigative findings and threats to publish the material unless cryptocurrency is transferred to suppress the reports.

Scammers have used a Proton Mail address to approach businesses. They assert that undercover inquiries have uncovered negative information about the targeted companies and demand Bitcoin as the price for withholding publication. The newspaper stated that the emails lack any authorization and that the activity appears to constitute fraud.

The publication is gathering evidence in the matter and has reserved the right to initiate both civil and criminal proceedings against those responsible.

China Business Journal was established in 1985 and is issued by the Institute of Industrial Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government academic body. The newspaper maintains a market-oriented approach to coverage while operating under state supervision.

A United States federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction preventing Minnesota from enforcing its forthcoming ban on prediction markets against the CFTC-regulated platforms Kalshi and Polymarket US. The order allows the companies to continue operating in the state while the legal challenge proceeds.

US District Judge Katherine Menendez granted the plaintiffs’ motions on Monday. She determined that the platforms were likely to succeed, at least in part, on arguments that the Commodity Exchange Act preempts the Minnesota statute. Several event contracts offered by the platforms appear to meet the definition of swaps, placing transactions involving those contracts on designated contract markets under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The Minnesota law, scheduled to take effect on Saturday, would prohibit the creation, operation and advertising of prediction markets and impose criminal penalties for providing support to them. The preliminary injunction preserves the existing operating environment until the case can be decided on its merits.

The judge noted that the injunction may later be narrowed. The plaintiffs have not demonstrated that every event contract listed by the two platforms satisfies the legal definition of a swap.

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao has endorsed a system of regulatory passporting for cryptocurrency licenses across ASEAN, under which firms approved in one member state could enter others through a simplified process rather than submitting full new applications. He spoke on Tuesday during a fireside discussion at the ASEAN Tech Summit in Manila.

Zhao supported a proposal for license portability raised by the founding chair of FinTech Alliance PH. Under such an arrangement regulators would retain the ability to examine applicants but would not demand an entirely new licensing procedure. A regional framework could lower compliance expenses, promote competition and ease the operation of crypto and stablecoin services across markets that currently regulate digital assets independently.

Cross-border coordination was described as primarily a political challenge rather than a technical one. Greater competition among licensed platforms could improve service quality and reduce costs for users.

ASEAN already operates limited mutual-recognition arrangements in other areas of finance. The ASEAN Capital Markets Forum’s Collective Investment Schemes Framework permits a fund authorized in its home jurisdiction to be offered in participating host markets through a streamlined authorization process. The arrangement began in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in 2014, with the Philippines joining in 2021. A separate Professional Mobility Framework allows eligible investment advisers licensed in one jurisdiction to obtain fast-track registration in another without securing a fresh license.

These mechanisms are narrower in scope than a full crypto passport and remain subject to host-market conditions. They demonstrate prior use of mutual recognition to advance regional integration. In the European Union, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation grants authorized crypto-asset service providers the right to operate across member states after notifying their home regulator of the intended countries and services.

Differences in national policies and regulatory approaches complicate alignment more than the construction of shared technical infrastructure. Firms already licensed in one ASEAN market should nevertheless face a lighter application process when expanding into another.