On October 15, a federal judge denied the CFTC and Gemini’s joint request to vacate their January 2025 settlement. The $5 million penalty had already been paid, and the permanent injunction remains in place. On October 14, the OCC reported that all nine banks in its review had maintained policies that could restrict services to lawful businesses, including digital-asset firms; the report does not require banks to accept customers or prevent refusals based on legitimate risks.
On October 13, industry groups and Illinois jointly sought a faster schedule for lawsuits challenging the state’s proposed 0.2% digital-asset transaction tax. The court has not approved that schedule or ruled on the tax’s legality, and enforcement is stayed until July 1, 2027. On October 14, the European Banking Authority classified USDC as the EU’s first significant e-money token, bringing it under dual supervision beginning November 12; the decision did not find USDC noncompliant. On October 12, London’s High Court ruled that Chinese law governs ownership claims to about 61,000 seized bitcoin, but did not decide who owns them.
