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US Crypto Regulators Move Toward a Unified Rulebook
Plus: 🪙 Ripple launches $750 million buyback, 🏦 Wells Fargo files WFUSD trademark.
Juan Aranovich
March 12, 2026
Hi! In today’s edition:
🏛️ SEC and CFTC sign agreement to coordinate crypto regulation
🪙 Ripple launches a $750 million share buyback at a $50 billion valuation
🏦 Wells Fargo files trademark for potential WFUSD stablecoin or deposit token
🎙️ Why Iranian citizens may not revolt despite a weakened IRGC
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SEC and CFTC Move Toward Unified Crypto Rules
Two of the most powerful financial regulators in the United States are finally working together on crypto.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission signed a memorandum of understanding this week aimed at coordinating oversight of digital assets and other emerging technologies. The agreement lays out plans for the agencies to share information, align definitions, and jointly review new crypto products.
Both regulators said one of the main goals is building a “fit for purpose” federal framework for crypto assets, an area that has long been slowed by overlapping rules and jurisdiction disputes. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said that for years “regulatory turf wars” and duplicate registration requirements pushed companies to operate outside the United States.
Under the agreement, the agencies will hold joint meetings with firms, coordinate enforcement actions, and consult each other when cases overlap.
The move does not create binding rules on its own, but it signals a shift toward more unified crypto oversight in Washington. Supporters hope that clearer coordination between the two regulators could make it easier to launch new digital asset products in the United States.
Ripple is launching a $750 million share buyback that values the company at $50 billion, a notable jump from the $40 billion valuation it secured in a $500 million funding round last November.
The tender offer, which is expected to run through April, will let investors and employees sell shares back to the company. The move suggests Ripple has both the balance sheet and the confidence to support a higher valuation without relying on public markets. The company has already said it is not pursuing an IPO for now.
That confidence is tied to expansion. Ripple has been spending aggressively to broaden its business beyond payments, including deals for Hidden Road, GTreasury, and other infrastructure assets. It also now issues the RLUSD stablecoin and recently said its payments network has processed more than $100 billion in volume.
Wells Fargo Files ‘WFUSD’ Trademark as Big Banks Expand Crypto Plans
Wells Fargo is signaling a deeper move into digital assets after filing a U.S. trademark for “WFUSD.” The application, submitted March 9 to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, covers software for crypto trading, payments, digital wallets, and tokenization platforms.
The filing spans several areas of crypto infrastructure. It includes tools for processing stablecoin transactions, operating digital asset exchanges, and offering software-as-a-service for tokenizing assets and running blockchain-based payment systems. The name WFUSD resembles the ticker style used for dollar-pegged stablecoins, leading some analysts to speculate it could eventually represent a tokenized deposit or stablecoin product.
The move fits into a broader trend among major banks exploring blockchain-based finance. JPMorgan previously filed a similar trademark before launching its JPMD tokenized deposit product.
Wells Fargo has already been quietly building exposure to the sector. Its venture arm invested $5 million in blockchain analytics firm Elliptic in 2020 and joined a $105 million funding round for crypto trading infrastructure firm Talos in 2022.
The bank has also described digital assets as “viable investments” and potential portfolio diversifiers, signaling that traditional finance continues to build crypto infrastructure despite volatile markets.
The IRGC Is Weakened, but the Iranian People Still Won't Revolt, Says Major-General
General Spider Marks has a brother-in-law who's Iranian — and what he says about why 93 million Persians won't rise up should reframe how investors are reading this war.
📰 Binance sued Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, for defamation after the newspaper reported that the U.S. Justice Department is examining Iran-linked transactions tied to the exchange, adding fresh legal strain to a company already operating under a compliance monitor after its $4.3 billion sanctions and anti-money-laundering settlement in 2023.
🪙 Across Protocol, a blockchain-bridging project backed by investment firm Paradigm, is considering replacing its token-and-DAO structure with a traditional U.S. company, giving ACX holders the choice to swap tokens for equity ownership or cash out in USDC, in a bid to simplify governance and commercial growth while keeping the protocol itself open.
⚖️ U.S. prosecutors moved to block Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for a new trial, arguing that the former FTX chief’s proposed witnesses were already known before his 2023 conviction and would not outweigh the broader evidence that customer money was diverted to Alameda.
🎣 Hackers hijacked the Bonk.fun domain — a Solana-based token launch platform — and pushed a fake wallet-signing prompt that drained some users’ funds, though the attack appears limited to people who approved the malicious message after the breach was discovered and browser warnings began flagging the site.
✂️ OP Labs, the main development company behind Ethereum scaling network Optimism, cut about 20% of its staff during a transition period marked by Base moving away from its shared tech stack, as the firm narrowed its focus to fewer priorities despite saying the layoffs were not driven by a cash shortage.
💸 Pump.fun became the first Solana platform to cross $1 billion in cumulative revenue, and signs such as new subdomains for Ethereum, Base, BSC and Monad suggest the memecoin launchpad may be preparing to expand beyond Solana after building one of crypto’s most profitable fee engines.
💳 Mastercard launched a global “Crypto Partner Program” bringing together more than 85 companies — including Binance, Ripple, Circle, PayPal, and Gemini — to develop real-world blockchain payment tools, focusing on enterprise uses such as cross-border remittances, business-to-business transfers, payouts, and settlement by combining digital assets with Mastercard’s traditional payment network.
💼 Cryptio, a digital-asset accounting software company that helps firms turn blockchain activity into audit-ready financial records, raised $45 million in Series B funding to expand tools for loans and treasury management as more regulated institutions move into stablecoins and tokenized securities.
