Lowenstein Crypto advises leading digital asset and cryptocurrency projects, exchanges, and trading firms. Our practice covers regulatory advice, transactions and structuring advice, investigations, and adversarial matters including commercial disputes, bankruptcy, and related litigation. As these markets continue their rapid growth and market participants continue to evolve and mature their businesses, we are providing this weekly digest as a resource that highlights and summarizes a selection of key recent legal regulatory developments.

SEC Seeks Comment on Novel ETFs

On June 30, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a formal Request for Comment on “Novel ETFs,” which are described as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that seek exposure to innovative asset classes and strategies, including crypto assets, commodity-focused instruments, single-stock strategies, heightened leverage, blockchain-enabled opportunities, private assets, and event contracts. Among other things, the SEC asks whether its existing framework can keep pace with the wave of novel filings while still maintaining orderly markets and protecting investors. Key open questions include whether a crypto-focused ETF whose principal strategy invests in non-securities even qualifies as an “investment company,” whether Rule 6c-11 should be amended to impose portfolio requirements or exclude certain assets or strategies, and whether the 75- and 60-day automatic effectiveness windows under Rule 485 should be lengthened, tolled, or made subject to SEC-initiated delay. See the request for comment here and the SEC’s press release here. 

UK FCA Publishes Final Crypto Asset Regime Rules and Guidance

On June 30, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published final rules and guidance (Final Rules) for crypto asset firms that will be permitted under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) on or after Oct. 25, 2027. Notable inclusions in the Final Rules include a £350,000 (approximately $465,256) minimum net capital requirement for stablecoin issuers, a K-SII coefficient of 1 percent, a statutory trust over segregated backing assets with at least 5 percent in on-demand deposits, a par redemption right on a T+1 basis, and a prohibition on paying backing-asset yield to holders (distinct from issuer-funded rewards). The Final Rules also provide admissions and disclosures, market abuse, crypto asset trading platforms, intermediaries, safeguarding, lending, borrowing, staking, qualifying stablecoins, and related firm standards. Crypto asset firms may apply for registration under the FSMA on or after Sept. 30, 2026. See the final rules and guidance here. 

Open Standard Announces New Stablecoin: Open USD 

On June 30, Open Standard announced Open USD (OUSD), a new stablecoin that aims to provide a stablecoin and infrastructure to support global payments. OUSD is planned to be built for scale and allow businesses to mint and redeem OUSD at no cost and with no artificial limits on volume, enable earnings from OUSD reserves, and establish a collaborative governance framework. While OUSD will be governed and operated by Open Standard, over 140 financial institutions and market participants joined the consortium that will participate in the governance and economics of OUSD. See Open Standard’s announcement here.

Taiwan Parliament Passes Virtual Asset Service Act 

On June 30, Taiwan’s parliament passed the Virtual Asset Service Act (VAS Act) establishing a regulatory framework that would require digital asset exchanges and stablecoin issuers to register with the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC). The VAS Act also introduces stricter requirements for cybersecurity, asset segregation, and internal controls. Historically, digital asset firms have been required to complete anti-money-laundering (AML) procedures and register under the AML framework. If passed by President Lai Ching-te, digital asset firms will have 12 months to apply for a license and 21 months to secure FSC approval. Stablecoin issuers will need to obtain approval from both the central bank and FSC. See the related press release here (Chinese).

Robinhood Launches Public Mainnet for Robinhood Chain 

On June 30, Robinhood announced the launch of the public mainnet for Robinhood Chain, a permissionless AI-native layer-2 network built on Arbitrum. According to Robinhood, the network is designed to support tokenized real-world assets, decentralized finance applications, lending protocols, and perpetual futures exchanges. The company also introduced Stock Tokens, which are debt securities issued by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) that are limited to provide eligible users economic exposure to the underlying securities. Stock Tokens are tradable on a 24/7 basis and are built on the Robinhood Chain. See Robinhood’s website here for additional information.