UAE's VARA releases DeFi regulatory guidelines requiring code audits; March 18: UK brings NFTs under financial regulation to combat money laundering; Canada approves spot ETFs for SOL, AVAX, and DOT.

Binance adjusts its global strategy, focusing on deepening its presence in the US and Asian compliant markets; May 30: Kraken obtains crypto custody license from a US bank, expanding its institutional client base.

May: Energy consumption decreased by 88.9% after the ETH 2.0 merger, the green narrative was strengthened, the public chain's daily transaction volume exceeded 50 million, and the infrastructure matured.

May 12, 2026: RWA's total tokenized market capitalization reaches $50 billion, with US Treasury bonds accounting for 57%; decentralized lending protocol Aave V4 launches; institutional funds enter the market.

Euro stablecoins: MiCA drives the market share of euro stablecoins to 22%; Global debt: RWA tokenization becomes a new tool for resolving debt liquidity crises.

July: The crypto market's Fear & Greed Index rose to 68, entering the greed zone. Institutional funds saw a net inflow of over $2.2 billion into the crypto market in a single week. Retail investor participation rebounded, and exchanges saw a 30% increase in new users.

The integration of AI and blockchain faces challenges in practical application, with more concepts than real-world applications. Quantum computing is progressing faster than expected, threatening the obsolescence of traditional encryption algorithms. MPC technology is costly, has low wallet adoption rates, and offers a poor security experience.

The regulators also required licensed platforms to deposit risk reserve funds for user asset compensation, which significantly reduced the number of trading platforms available to local retail investors, while demand for cross-border over-the-counter trading increased slightly.

In early June, US-listed crypto giant Strategy released its financial report, revealing that it had sold its Bitcoin holdings for the first time since its large-scale accumulation strategy, realizing approximately $2.5 million in Bitcoin assets. The company had previously been a benchmark for bullish investors due to its extreme accumulation strategy; this slight reduction in holdings was interpreted by the market as a sign of weakening institutional long-term conviction. Following the news, Bitcoin prices fell sharply in the short term, triggering stop-loss liquidations in numerous long positions in the derivatives market.

In the second quarter, numerous fraudulent DeFi projects used short videos and social media marketing to lure retail investors with promises of extremely high annualized returns. After users deposited their crypto assets, the project teams absconded with the funds. Over 130 similar fraudulent projects were exposed domestically and internationally throughout the month, involving a total amount exceeding US$53 million. Anti-fraud agencies in various countries intensified their crackdown on cryptocurrency trading through social media, removed high-yield DeFi promotional content from social media platforms, and disseminated information about the high risks of crypto investments. Retail investors' willingness to participate in unknown new projects significantly decreased.