Kraken bails on IPO… again
After confidentially filing with the SEC in November for an IPO, sources indicate the crypto exchange is putting the listing on pause and may revisit a listing when market conditions improve. With rough current market conditions, marked by declining asset prices and weaker trading volumes, companies are acting more cautious. Kraken's own $800 million raise at a $20 billion valuation occurred just before the market downturn and should allow them to weather the storm. Read more →
Regulators Finally Draw the Lines
The SEC and CFTC just issued a formal crypto token taxonomy laying out which digital assets fall under securities law and which do not. Under Chair Paul Atkins, the agencies said four broad categories – digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, and payment stablecoins – are not securities, while only tokenized traditional securities remain squarely in SEC territory. Just as important, they also clarified how activities like staking, mining, airdrops, and wrapping fit under existing law. Atkins summed up the shift with a line the industry will remember: “We’re not the securities and everything commission anymore.”
Bigger picture, this is the clearest sign yet that U.S. regulators are trying to replace enforcement-by-ambiguity with an actual rulebook, even before the Clarity Act is passed. Read more →
Stripe led Tempo launches blockchain for AI agent payments
Tempo activated its mainnet Wednesday alongside the Machine Payments Protocol, an open standard co-authored with Stripe that lets AI agents pay for services automatically. The launch includes a directory of over 100 integrated providers (including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Shopify) and supports continuous micropayments that settle in batches rather than individually. Major payment networks including Visa, Stripe, and Lightspark have already extended the protocol to their own systems. Watch more →
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