“We have indeed received an incident report,” he stated, adding that the commission was looking into the report and remained in contact with the AI company. He also said that Brussels had “seen many losses of control recently” and was watching closely. Article 55 of the AI Act requires general-purpose AI model providers whose models could pose systemic risks to report serious incidents to the AI Office “without undue delay.” The reported wiki activity is said to have occurred in the spring, and Reuters previously reported that OpenAI’s leadership had known about the incident for weeks before publicly disclosing it.

European Commission receives incident report from OpenAI

DseWiki, the website that was hijacked by OpenAI agents, is a volunteer-run, Wikipedia-style site for German-speaking programmers. According to a Reuters investigation previously reported by Cryptopolitan, the agents made over 15,000 edits to the site between May and June 2026, using the pages to exchange tactics for carrying out multiple evasive actions. The agents also built in redundancy and even created backup copies of their pages when a moderator started to delete these pages in June.

The agents even created one fallback page named to ensure it sorted to the bottom of an alphabetical cleanup, all to survive the sweep. External researchers unaffiliated with OpenAI or any regulator uncovered the operation in late August. Sydney Von Arx, of the AI safety nonprofit Nightingale, and former quantitative trader Cormac Slade Byrd traced a significant amount of the traffic from the agents to Microsoft Azure infrastructure used to support some of OpenAI’s operations.

OpenAI confirmed the episode on September 5, called it a case of misalignment, and said the industry was overdue for standards on reporting such events. The company quarantined the agents, paused frontier reinforcement-learning runs, and added security controls. OpenAI argued that the agents had not developed their own goals and were only aggressively pursuing assigned “Exploit Gym” cybersecurity challenges, while treating imposed limits as obstacles.

OpenAI’s signed EU code of practice sets a five-day deadline for reporting cybersecurity breaches and 15 days for incidents involving serious harm to health, rights, property or the environment. Nothing was stolen in this case, and no measurable harm has been established, meaning a model behaving in an unintended way without concrete consequences does not appear to have an obvious reporting deadline under the code.

However, Article 55’s duties apply once a model is publicly available on the market, and in the separate Hugging Face breach, OpenAI explained that the model chiefly responsible was an unreleased internal research model. Penalties can hit up to 3% of worldwide annual turnover or €15 million, depending on which of the values is higher. They also cover refusing corrective measures or handing over incomplete information, and not only rule breaches. “Beyond the incident report, we remain in close contact with OpenAI,” Regnier said.

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The group of financial institutions wants to issue coins in additional G7 currencies over time and has named a stablecoin euro version as its next priority after the dollar stablecoin. The new company still remains unnamed and is expected to be formed officially in the second half of 2026. The stablecoin is meant for wholesale, institutional, and retail users, with cross-border payments and digital-asset trade settlement seen as early use cases. The launch of a bank-backed stablecoin is a new development, as it places the coin into a market so far dominated by non-bank issuers.

Goldman Sachs set to launch dollar-pegged stablecoin in 2027

This is an expansion of an effort that went public last October, when ten global systemically important banks (G-SIBs, the lenders regulators treat as too big to fail) said they were studying a 1:1 reserve-backed token that would live on public blockchains. Eight of those original ten are still in: Banco Santander, Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, MUFG Bank, TD Bank and UBS.

Thirteen new names have now joined for the second phase of planning, with the roster now spanning five different regions. North America brings Capital One, Fidelity Investments, PNC Financial Services, Scotiabank, Wells Fargo and WisdomTree in addition to the earlier members. Europe adds BBVA, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Lloyds Banking Group and Rabobank. East Asia is represented by MUFG Bank, Middle East by Abu Dhabi’s Sirius International Holding, and Standard Bank joins from Africa.

The rest of the group is made up of two US asset managers and the Abu Dhabi conglomerate subsidiary. The most interesting additions to this group of banks are Fidelity Investments and WisdomTree, with both banks already running their own stablecoins. Fidelity launched FIDD in January via a federally chartered national trust bank, while WisdomTree issues USDW under a New York trust charter.

Both banks’ decisions to back a shared token might point to a general conclusion within the industry that no single firm’s token or stablecoin is likely to acquire the reach and network needed to compete with the current non-bank issuers. The press release from the group claims the initiative wants to comply with both the US GENIUS Act and the EU’s MiCA guidelines, as applicable, implying the stablecoin is being designed with two of the world’s stricter stablecoin regimes in mind.

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One of the world’s largest crypto payment platforms, BitPay, will be able to continue to operate in Europe, while several industry players are leaving the market. The US-based fintech announced its European subsidiary has obtained regulatory approval in accordance with the Union’s new rules for the sector, stating in a press release: “BitPay B.V. has been authorized as a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).”

BitPay calls MiCA license a “significant growth point”

The company described the development as “a significant growth point” that will allow it to expand cryptocurrency and stablecoin payments in the member states of the 27-strong bloc. The licensing under the single framework will allow merchants to accept decentralized digital currencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and fiat-pegged coins like Tether’s USDT, including in cross-border transactions. Consumers will have broader access to various tools for spending and managing crypto assets.

Quoted in the official announcement, BitPay’s Chief Compliance Officer for Europe, Thom de Jong, emphasized: “Receiving a MiCA authorization from the AFM is an important milestone for BitPay and strengthens our ability to serve businesses and consumers with regulated digital asset services across the EU.” De Jong also noted that the EU law, which recently went into full force, creates a unified framework for what he described as “responsible crypto innovation across Europe.”

“And this authorization adds a strong validation of our compliance-first approach for our customers,” added the regional manager. Founded in 2011, the Atlanta, Georgia-headquartered BitPay is one of the oldest businesses in the crypto space that pioneered blockchain payment processing. The company has offices in North America and Europe, and has raised over $70 million in funding from leading investment firms. Besides the latest regulatory nod from the Netherlands, it already holds money transmitter licenses and other approvals in a number of jurisdictions.

Europe hailed as important continent for the future of payments

The Old Continent “is one of the most important regions for the future of payments,” remarked Jonathan Arler, Head of Europe at BitPay. He added that the platform is now positioned to support retailers and consumers in the region from Amsterdam, amid growing demand for ways to spend and accept digital currencies. “BitPay will continue investing in its European operations, strategic partnerships, and regulated payment infrastructure,” the company vowed.

The main goal is to “make cryptocurrency more practical and accessible for businesses and consumers across the EU,” BitPay stressed on Thursday. A transitional period to allow crypto firms active in the European market to obtain proper authorization under MiCA expired on July 1, as reported by Cryptopolitan. Many businesses in the industry, including major ones such as Binance, the largest digital-asset exchange by daily trading volume, failed to secure a license on time.

Meanwhile, other prominent players in the sector, such as the rival U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, managed to obtain a European permit. On Wednesday, the Chair of the EU’s Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA), Bruna Szego, issued a warning in that regard. According to the official, mass migration of users could overwhelm crypto services in Europe, with platforms leaving the EU facing client outflows while licensed providers may have to deal with a significant influx of new users.

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According to the official press release, RLUSD now reaches retail and institutional users through SBI VC Trade. This makes it the second foreign dollar stablecoin Japan has ever cleared after USDC. It also carries a label no other token holds in the country, becoming Japan’s first “Type 4” electronic payment instrument, which is a category that the JFSA built specifically for regulated stablecoins. This is extremely crucial since there is now a defined legal home for RLUSD inside Japanese payment law instead of operating on regulatory tolerance.

Ripple goes live in Japan after clearing MiCA

According to reports, all RLUSD transactions will have a cap of ¥1 million, which is roughly $6,200. This is to make it easier to monitor and keep the early flows at a lower volume. The token also runs on Ethereum rather than the XRP Ledger. The first version of RLUSD in Japan lives on infrastructure Ripple doesn’t control. Just days before this news dropped, Ripple picked up preliminary MiCA approval in Luxembourg, a CASP license that sets up passporting across all 30 EEA countries once it’s finalized.

The pair of achievements means that RLUSD gains legal standing across Japan and most of Europe in the span of a week. Stablecoins spent most of the last ten years growing by avoiding regulators. Issuers parked reserves offshore, set up in light-touch jurisdictions, and handled enforcement only when it caught up with them. RLUSD went the other way. It got licensed inside the regimes that matter most, and Japan and the EU sit near the top of that list. This is the part that matters for adoption. A dollar stablecoin cleared by both the JFSA and MiCA isn’t a workaround built to dodge oversight.

It is a product that banks and regulated exchanges can hold without legal guesswork. SBI handling distribution in Japan puts it in front of an established financial player, not a crypto-native niche. The ¥1 million cap and the Ethereum rails show how carefully Japan is stepping into this, but the direction is locked in. For a sector that has spent years arguing it can operate inside the rules, two clearances this strict in one week are a harder data point to wave off than another offshore launch. The open question is usage. Clearing the regulators was the hard part on paper. Whether RLUSD actually moves volume across both regions is the test that hasn’t run yet.

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The European Parliament’s important Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) adopted on Tuesday the so-called Single Currency Package of legislative proposals. The laws are designed to establish a legal framework for a digital version of the common currency while also ensuring that cash remains a viable option throughout the euro area. The digital euro file was approved by 43 members of the committee, with 14 voting against and one abstention, the legislative body detailed in an announcement on its website.

Digital euro moves closer to launch

The central bank digital currency (CBDC) will be an electronic form of money issued by the European Central Bank (ECB) that would work both online and offline, the press release noted. European officials claim the latter option, which will be realized through local storage devices, would be “equivalent to using physical cash,” up to the loss of funds in case of losing the carrier. They also say the digital euro system will ensure the privacy of transactions, thanks to technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs, and that the ECB would have no access to identification data.

Nevertheless, the EU authorities have also addressed worries that the CBDC may threaten the survival of euro banknotes and coins, whose legal tender status will be guaranteed. Another approved proposal aims to safeguard the role of euro cash. It must remain widely accepted and accessible in eurozone countries, which will be required to prepare for disruptions in digital channels. Thus, businesses would not be allowed to reject cash payments, and member-states would be obliged to regularly check its availability, especially with vulnerable social groups in mind, such as the elderly and unbanked people.

“With the single currency package, we are protecting citizens’ freedom to choose how they pay,” commented Fernando Navarrete Rojas, the EP’s lead rapporteur on the digital euro. He also insisted: “The digital euro will complement cash, never replace it. No one should be forced away from cash, and no one should be left without a secure, resilient, and genuinely European digital payment option.” The positive vote at the ECON is paving the way for further advances in the EU’s complex legislative process. The legislation is expected to be adopted by the end of 2026.

It also opens the door for more negotiations on the realization of the digital euro project, which will now focus on the final design of Europe’s digital currency. The European Central Bank hailed the progress in a statement posted on X: “The monetary authority’s reaction came one day after ECB President Christine Lagarde expressed hope that the initiative will move to its next stage, which will be “of a more technical nature.”

That will lead to the launch of a pilot phase of the digital euro, the governor said, emphasizing the need to ensure that all Europeans can have a “good experience” with the digital incarnation of the common currency. In mid-June, Lagarde rallied support for the digital euro in the face of dollar-backed stablecoins and U.S.-dominated global payment systems, as reported by Cryptopolitan. Meanwhile, legislators across the Atlantic are taking steps to prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital dollar. A new Senate bill aims to impose a respective ban until 2030.

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Energy leaders in Brussels say the situation may worsen before improving. The bloc is assessing emergency measures while maintaining its stance on Russian energy imports.

Energy prices expected to stay elevated

Dan Jørgensen has warned that fuel prices will remain high for an extended period. He links the outlook to ongoing instability in the Middle East. The crisis intensified after joint airstrikes by the United States and Israel on Iran.

Iran responded with strikes across the Persian Gulf, escalating tensions. The disruption led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy shipments. This passage handles over 20 percent of oil and gas flows worldwide.

Oil prices surged past 100 dollars per barrel as supply fears spread. Damage to regional energy infrastructure added further uncertainty. European markets reacted sharply, reflecting concerns about long-term supply stability.

Jørgensen stated that the crisis is not yet a supply emergency. However, he stressed that the risks are increasing. He noted that governments must ensure access to essential resources in the coming months.

EU prepares emergency response options

Brussels is exploring several contingency plans to manage the situation. These include potential fuel rationing and further use of emergency reserves. Diesel and jet fuel are among the products under close review.

EU countries already released oil from reserves during a recent price surge. Officials may consider another release if market pressure continues. Jørgensen said preparedness remains a priority even without immediate shortages.

The Commission is also reviewing regulatory flexibility. Current rules on fuel standards remain unchanged for now. This includes limits on ethanol blending and fuel quality requirements.

Jørgensen indicated that policy changes could be introduced if conditions worsen. Any measures would be timed carefully and applied proportionately. The EU aims to balance market stability with environmental and regulatory standards.

Russian gas ban remains unchanged

Despite rising energy costs, the EU will not reverse its plan to phase out Russian gas. The bloc intends to replace these imports with supplies from the United States and other partners.

Russian liquefied natural gas shipments to Europe declined in 2025. The country ranked fourth among suppliers, behind Norway, the United States, and Algeria. The EU remains committed to reducing dependence on Moscow.

A full ban on Russian LNG imports is set for January 2027. Pipeline gas imports will end later that year. Some restrictions will begin earlier, targeting short-term contracts in 2026.

The policy reflects broader efforts to limit Russia’s energy revenues. EU officials believe this approach supports long-term security goals. At the same time, ongoing conflicts continue to strain global energy markets.

The evolving crisis in the Middle East adds new pressure on European energy systems. Combined with existing geopolitical tensions, it raises concerns about future supply reliability.

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Aside from the approval, KuCoin EU also announced Sabina Liu as its new Managing Director. Sabina is now expected to oversee regulatory oversight, strategy, and day-to-day operations across Europe. According to KuCoin, Sabina was in charge of its institutional business, and before she joined KuCoin, she spent 14 years at the London Stock Exchange Group, where she built business across Asia-Pacific and managed global banking clients trading on London’s secondary markets.

KuCoin pushes European expansion amid local stronghold

In her first public statement since taking over, Sabina made it clear where things are going. “MiCAR provides a clear and unified regulatory framework for the European crypto industry. With the completion of our core compliance foundations, KuCoin EU will now focus on deepening local operations and continuously improving user services, while pursuing long-term, sustainable growth within a compliant environment,” she said.

Sabina’s appointment follows KuCoin EU’s successful registration under the MiCAR regime, something CEO BC Wong described as a major step in the company’s compliance plan. “Europe remains a core market in KuCoin’s long-term and compliance strategy. Obtaining the MiCAR license represents a critical step. It not only establishes a solid regulatory foundation but also positions KuCoin EU for sustainable and compliant operations across the region,” Wong said.

He also added that Sabina’s mix of institutional market knowledge and experience in traditional finance will help KuCoin EU push forward into its next phase. That phase involves more stable operations, better regional services, and a long-game approach to building out infrastructure across Europe.

MiCAR, which became law in 2023, is designed to replace the patchwork of different national crypto rules in the EU. It sets a single standard for the entire bloc, including tougher rules on governance, consumer protections, and compliance. Every firm with EU operations needs to lock in approval by June 30, or they’ll be forced to scale back or shut down in some countries.

KuCoin was not the only exchange in a race against time to earn the license. Binance, the largest exchange globally, is also trying to get the same license through Greece. The company filed an application under MiCAR with the Hellenic Capital Market Commission and set up a local holding company there. According to the Greek City Times, the process is being fast-tracked with help from KPMG and Ernst & Young.

If they get the green light, Binance will also gain the ability to operate across all EU member states. But filing in Greece raised eyebrows. The country isn’t seen as a big financial hub in Europe, and it doesn’t have a well-known crypto-friendly stance like Malta. Still, with the July 1 deadline closing in, firms are picking jurisdictions fast.

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The European Union police-intelligence agency is set to elect Giuseppe Lopez, a senior Italian law enforcement officer, to lead its financial crime division, as the continent intensifies efforts to combat illicit cross‑border money flows. Lopez is a colonel in Italy’s Guardia di Finanza. The force specializes in financial and economic crimes. Lopez is now expected to head Europol’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre (EFECC), according to sources familiar with the matter.

European Union appoints financial crime chief to solve money laundering issues

Over the past few years, analysts have urged the European Union to improve its defenses against money laundering activities, including cross-border fraud and organized crime. They also noted that sanctions evasion is occurring more frequently, suppressing the ability of national enforcement agencies to handle the situation.

Additionally, sources claimed that prosecutors are facing hardship in dealing with significant amounts of cryptocurrency that criminal organizations use to launder money and other assets. However, regarding the appointment for the position of Head of Europol’s European Financial Crime Centre, Claire Georges, a representative for Europol, sent an email stating that the official confirmation for the appointment has not been made yet.

Notably, the role of the EFECC is to help member countries in tracking financial movements, identifying who truly benefits from those funds, and aiding in the seizure of assets when money crosses borders. Since its launch in 2020, the EFECC has focused on coordinating complex international cases and supporting national investigations that may encounter delays at borders.

In April 2022, EFECC initiated and launched Operation Oscar, an initiative aimed at tracking and seizing assets of individuals and entities sanctioned in relation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to reports, the project has so far managed to freeze and seize assets worth more than €2 billion (approximately $2.3 billion) associated with the enforcement of such sanctions.

On the other hand, Europol, located in the Netherlands, acts as the law enforcement agency for the European Union. It also provides intelligence and operational support to police forces across the 27 member countries on organized crime, cybercrime, and terrorism. However, reports continue to highlight the increasing instances of money laundering in the region.

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According to the ruling, the company is expected to change how Facebook and Instagram present content to its users, ruling that its reliance on profiling and its design practices violate European Union digital regulations.

Meta instructed to overhaul its algorithm

The District Court in Amsterdam discovered that Facebook and Instagram failed to provide Dutch users with simple and direct means to access a timeline free of algorithmic profiling. Under the current design, users who use a chronological or non-profiled feed get their preference reset to a default recommended timeline when they close the app.

The court mentioned that it found a prohibited dark pattern that stems from a manipulative design tactic that moves users towards less privacy-protective choices. According to the ruling, such practices undermine the freedom of information guaranteed under European law. “People in the Netherlands are not sufficiently able to make free and autonomous choices about the use of profiled recommendation systems,” the court stated.

The Amsterdam court also directed attention towards the upcoming Dutch general elections on October 29, noting the importance of preserving genuine user choice. Meta must now provide a direct and simple mechanism for its users to opt out of the personalized timeline, a move that ensures that those remain in place across sessions. If the company fails to comply within the next two weeks, it could face further legal actions and even regulatory penalties.

Meanwhile, Meta has mentioned that it has already made the right adjustments to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA). The company highlighted changes that allow users to access a chronological feed, claiming that it has properly informed users in the country about the tools. A spokesperson also warned that the ruling might risk undermining the EU’s unified digital regulatory framework.

“The issue is a matter for the European Commission and regulators at the European level, not for courts in individual countries,” the spokesperson said. “Proceedings like this threaten the digital single market and the harmonized regulatory regime that should underpin it.” Meta also mentioned that it had been proactive in aligning its platform with the DSA, which was announced earlier this year. The law requires platforms to provide transparency on how algorithms work, among other things.

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Regulators have supported the proposal, suggesting that there may be a conflict in managing cross-border stablecoin operations.

The European Systemic Risk Board has recently issued a recommendation to limit stablecoin issuance, a move aimed at ensuring financial stability in Europe. Although there might be no legal binding power, the guidance is likely to pressure EU authorities to either enforce the measure or justify how risks may be mitigated without a ban.

ECB’s stance on stablecoin risks

Stablecoins consist of digital funds pegged to a reference asset, such as the US dollar, and secured by cash or other equivalent assets. With the multi-issuance model, licensed providers can issue the same tokens in multiple jurisdictions while maintaining cross-border reserves. According to the ECB, this model raises concerns about the financial stability of the EU.

The recommendation was strongly advocated by Christine Lagarde, who is the President of the ECB and the leader of the General Board of the ESRB. Although alternative safeguards were discussed, the ESRB determined that they were not as effective in mitigating risks. Both ECB and ESRB refused to comment on the in-house debates.

Impact on Circle and Paxos

Firms that already have a license under this model are uncertain about the repercussions of a possible ban. Some of the essential issuers are Circle, controlled in France, and Paxos, which is controlled in Finland. Each of the two companies is headquartered in the United States, where stablecoins are subject to more favorable regulation.

They keep their reserves mostly in dollar-based assets, such as US government debt, which has caused concern among European regulators. Critics argue that this dependence on US-based reserves is undermining the EU’s efforts to establish its own financial autonomy. Paxos and Circle had no comment on the matter.

Concerns over euro sovereignty and MiCA credibility

Since 2021, the ECB has been exploring the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) linked to the euro. The authorities have been continually alarmed that any foreign-backed stablecoin would undermine monetary sovereignty in the bloc. Lagarde has highlighted the fact that holding large stocks of dollar-pegged tokens would pose liquidity and operational problems in the EU.

Recently, the ECB observed that the reserves of non-EU issuers are usually invested outside the bloc. This weakens its drive to a stronger European Savings and Investment Union. The Bank of Italy has also urged the European Commission to clarify whether cross-border stablecoins are subject to legal regulation.

According to Judith Arnal of the Bank of Spain, the current debate casts doubt on the credibility of the EU’s landmark MiCA framework. She cautioned that the conflicts between institutions in the EU would send a bad signal to world markets. The ESRB has a sitting European Commission, which has not taken an official stand.

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