On 28 January 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced a long-term review into the use of artificial intelligence in retail financial services. The FCA delivered the announcement through a speech by a senior official, framing the review as a multi-year programme to assess how AI deployment by regulated firms affects consumer outcomes, firm risk management, and systemic stability. The review is at an early stage; the FCA has not yet issued a call for input, consul

On 18 February 2026, Spain's Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) published a non-binding guide titled "Agentic Artificial Intelligence from the perspective of Data Protection." The guide addresses data protection obligations that apply when organizations deploy autonomous AI agent systems capable of planning, executing multi-step tasks, and acting without continuous human direction. The AEPD issued the guide in its capacity as Spain's national supervisory authority

On 18 February 2026, SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins and Commissioner Hester M. Peirce delivered remarks at the ETHDenver conference in Denver, Colorado. The speech — delivered in the form of a public dialogue — constituted an official statement by Chairman Atkins in his capacity as the 34th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Chairman Atkins confirmed that the SEC has ended regulation by enforcement of crypto assets and described a detailed 2026 regulatory agenda

On 5 March 2026, the Scottish Parliament passed the Digital Assets (Scotland) Bill by 114 votes to 0, with 15 members not voting. The Bill, a Government Bill introduced on 30 September 2025, completed all three parliamentary stages and now awaits Royal Assent before becoming an Act of the Scottish Parliament. Stage 1 (general principles) was agreed on 22 January 2026, Stage 2 amendments were decided on 18 February 2026, and Stage 3 final debate and vote took place on 5 March

On 12 February 2026, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published an Opinion addressed to national competent authorities (NCAs) under the Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The Opinion advises NCAs on how to proceed once the nine-month transition period set in the EBA's No-Action Letter of 2 June 2025 (EBA/Op/2025/08) expired on 2 March 2026. That transition period permitted crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) authorised under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulat

The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) announced on March 4, 2026 that it has opened a formal investigation into suspected violations of the Act on Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade (Antimonopoly Act) by Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd., and Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited. The JFTC simultaneously issued a public call for information and comments from third parties to support the investigation. The controlling authority i

The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari in Thaler v. Perlmutter, No. 25-449, on March 2, 2026. The denial leaves intact the D.C. Circuit's ruling in Thaler v. Vidal (No. 23-5233), which held that copyright registration requires human authorship and that a work generated entirely by an AI system without human creative contribution does not qualify for copyright protection under the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 102(a). The controlling statutory authority is 17 U.S.C. §

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed SB24-205 (Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence) on May 17, 2024. The act's operative obligations for developers and deployers of high-risk AI systems took effect on February 1, 2026. Colorado is the first U.S. state to enact a broadly applicable consumer protection statute governing high-risk AI systems. The controlling authority is Colorado Revised Statutes §§ 6-1-1701 through 6-1-1711, as enacted by SB24-205, Colo. Session La

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Consultation Paper CP25/41, titled "Regulating Cryptoassets: Admissions & Disclosures and Market Abuse Regime for Cryptoassets," on 15 December 2025. The consultation period closed on 20 February 2026. CP25/41 proposes a complete Admissions and Disclosures (A&D) regime and a Market Abuse Regime for Cryptoassets (MARC), both at the proposed stage as of the closing date, with final rules and guidance expected in policy statements

On 11 February 2026, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) published a policy statement titled "A high-level framework for virtual asset perpetual contracts offering by virtual asset trading platforms" (the Framework). The Framework is issued under the SFC's ASPIRe Roadmap, Pillar P (Products), and establishes the SFC's approach for SFC-licensed virtual asset trading platform operators (Platform Operators) seeking to offer virtual asset perpetual contracts

On 19 February 2025, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) published a policy statement titled "A-S-P-I-Re for a brighter future: SFC's regulatory roadmap for Hong Kong's virtual asset market." The Roadmap sets out 12 concrete initiatives organized under five pillars: Access (A), Safeguards (S), Products (P), Infrastructure (I), and Relationships (Re). It is an active regulatory commitment at the policy statement stage, not a binding rule or final regulatio

Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (the EU AI Act) entered into force on 1 August 2024 and applies through a phased schedule. Deployers and providers of AI systems classified as high-risk under Annex III of the Regulation must satisfy all operational requirements — including risk management, data governance, technical documentation, transparency, human oversight, accuracy, and cybersecurity — by 2 August 2026. That date marks the end of the 24-month transition period under Article 113

On February 19, 2026, the SEC Division of Trading and Markets issued a staff FAQ providing that a broker-dealer may apply a 2% haircut on proprietary positions in qualifying payment stablecoins when calculating net capital under Exchange Act Rule 15c3-1. The FAQ is a staff-level interpretive position; it is not a final rule or Commission order, and it is not binding on courts or the Commission itself. Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a concurrent statement expressing supp

On January 29, 2026, SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins delivered opening remarks at the CFTC's Washington D.C. headquarters, formally launching "Project Crypto" as a joint interagency initiative between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The initiative is at the active coordination stage; no statute or rulemaking has been adopted, but both agencies have committed to joint staff engagement, harmonized standards, and preparatory imple

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board published a proposed rulemaking on 12 February 2026 to implement portions of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) regarding the licensing and supervision of payment stablecoin issuers that operate as subsidiaries of federally insured credit unions (FICUs). The proposed rule is at the notice-and-comment stage; no final rule has been adopted. The controlling authority is the

The United States Department of the Treasury published two documents on 19 February 2026: a Financial Services AI Risk Management Framework and an AI Lexicon. The Framework provides voluntary guidance for financial institutions on managing risks arising from artificial intelligence deployment in financial services. The AI Lexicon establishes standardised terminology for AI-related concepts in the financial sector. Neither document is a binding regulation or final rule; both a

The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) published its 2026 Regulatory and Supervisory Outlook (RSO) on 26 February 2026. The RSO identifies the CBI's supervisory priorities for the year across all regulated sectors, including crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) authorised or registered under the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. The document is the CBI's annual supervisory guidance publication; it is not a legislative instrum

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) extended the public comment period on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) establishing application procedures for FDIC-supervised institutions seeking to issue payment stablecoins under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act). The FDIC announced the extension on 6 February 2026. The NPR remains at the proposed rule stage; no final rule has been adopted. The GENIUS Act authorises

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) amended its Crypto Token Regime, effective 12 January 2026, extending the scope of regulated activities within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) to additional categories of crypto tokens. The DFSA published a set of Frequently Asked Questions on 12 February 2026 to support market participants in applying the updated rules. The amended regime is final and in force; no further consultation period is open. The DFSA Cryp

On 12 February 2026, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published an Opinion advising national competent authorities (NCAs) under the Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) on how to proceed once the nine-month transition period set in the EBA's No-Action Letter of 2 June 2025 (EBA/Op/2025/08) expired on 2 March 2026. The Opinion is a final supervisory guidance instrument, addressed to NCAs across all EU Member States. Its legal basis is Article 29(1)(a) of Regulation (E