WalletConnect Reports Global Crypto Regulation Enters Implementation Phase, DeFi as the Largest Unresolved Area

WalletConnect has released a 68-page report titled "Current Status of Policy, Compliance, and Regulation," analyzing global regulatory progress in areas such as payments, DeFi, trading, custody, and tokenization. The report indicates that discussions around crypto regulation have shifted from "whether to regulate" to "how to implement," with relevant frameworks moving from legislation to actual execution, although cross-border rules remain highly fragmented. The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) will be fully applicable by December 2024, with a national transition period ending on July 1, 2026; currently, there are about 330 authorized crypto asset service providers in the ESMA temporary register, while over 1,000 companies failed to obtain authorization by the deadline. Hong Kong plans to issue its first licenses for stablecoin issuers in April 2026, and Japan's revised Payment Services Act will come into effect in June of the same year. The U.S. GENIUS Act has become law, but the relevant system will not be fully effective until January 18, 2027, and legislative progress on market structure is still pending. The report emphasizes that jurisdictions are adopting a "regulated touchpoint responsibility" model, requiring issuers and service providers to fulfill anti-money laundering and sanctions screening obligations when interacting with self-custody addresses. Some businesses have already implemented tools such as sanctions screening and on-chain analysis, indicating that compliance and self-custody are not mutually exclusive; however, regulatory issues surrounding decentralized software and protocols remain unresolved, with DeFi still being a major frontier issue in global regulation.

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