virtual

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a post on social media outlining the Ethereum execution layer roadmap, focusing on two major changes: the state tree and the virtual machine.Regarding the state tree, Vitalik supports upgrading the current hexadecimal Merkle Patricia tree to a binary tree based on a more efficient hash function through EIP-7864. This change can shorten the Merkle branch by four times, reducing the bandwidth cost for client data verification; at the same time, the hash function can be replaced with the Blake3 or Poseidon series, significantly improving proof efficiency.The binary tree design will also group storage slots into "pages," lowering the access cost for adjacent storage, allowing many DeFi applications to save over 10,000 Gas per transaction. Additionally, the binary tree structure is simpler and can reserve metadata bits for future state expiration features.On the virtual machine front, Vitalik proposed that the long-term direction is to replace the EVM, potentially adopting the RISC-V architecture. The new VM needs to meet four goals: higher raw execution efficiency, making most precompiles unnecessary; proof efficiency superior to the EVM; support for client-side generation of ZK proofs; and maximum simplification of code implementation.He pointed out that if Ethereum only stays at the "EVM + GPU" level, it may be "sufficient," but a better VM can make the protocol stronger. The deployment roadmap is divided into three steps: the new VM will first be used to replace precompiles; then users will be allowed to deploy contracts based on the new VM; finally, the EVM will be retired, transitioning to smart contracts written with the new VM, achieving full backward compatibility.

According to the Hong Kong Economic Times, the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council (AFRC) submitted a proposed budget for the next fiscal year to the Hong Kong Legislative Council, suggesting a salary increase of 3.5% to support regulatory work in key and emerging areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual assets, and recommending the addition of 15 positions. It is reported that the AFRC previously released a report stating that companies involved in virtual asset trading belong to emerging industry projects and will be one of the targets for inspection. In addition, auditors currently face challenges including verifying the ownership and existence of virtual assets, the complexity of valuations, increased fraud risks, and the lack of unified accounting standards for virtual assets.

The Hong Kong virtual currency trading platform AAX ceased operations in mid-November 2022 under the pretext of system maintenance and updates, leaving over 300 customers unable to retrieve nearly 100 million Hong Kong dollars in assets. After an investigation, Hong Kong law enforcement discovered that the platform's shutdown was allegedly caused by false information and illegal means, with the person in charge fleeing Hong Kong with a virtual currency wallet and private keys, and later being arrested upon returning.Hong Kong police stated that after a thorough investigation, 191 victims reported losses totaling approximately 81 million Hong Kong dollars, while the AAX person in charge withdrew virtual currency worth about 633 million Hong Kong dollars after the platform ceased operations. He has currently been charged with 3 counts of theft and 1 count of fraud.

According to the Shanghai Securities Journal, Wang Bin, the head of the Third Criminal Division of the Supreme People's Court, stated at a press conference on "The People's Court's Work on Punishing Telecom and Network Fraud and Property Crimes According to Law" that the next step will focus on cracking down on key figures and core members of criminal groups, "financial backers" of telecom fraud, "snakeheads" organizing illegal immigration, and organizations providing armed protection for cross-border fraud crimes, as well as violent crimes such as intentional homicide, intentional injury, and kidnapping committed during telecom fraud, and related crimes such as "money laundering" using virtual currencies and underground banks.Wang Bin also stated that the people's courts will legally strengthen the application of property penalties against telecom fraud criminals, preventing them from benefiting economically. They will guide those involved in "two-card" assistance and concealment of criminals to voluntarily compensate victims, consider the return of stolen goods and compensation as mitigating factors in sentencing for confession and remorse, and impose strict penalties according to law on criminals who have the ability but refuse to return stolen goods or compensate victims.

The founder of 360 Group, Zhou Hongyi, stated in an interview with the Global Times that the United States, under the banner of "protecting the rights of victims," has directly transformed the virtual currency assets involved in the case into strategic financial reserves under its control, completing a magnificent and legitimate transfer from the end of the criminal chain to national assets.This unilateral harvesting behavior by the U.S. not only undermines the law enforcement activities of other countries, leading to secondary losses for victims, but also disrupts the global flow of virtual currency assets, destabilizing the financial stability of emerging market countries. The ultimate goal is to consolidate the dominance of the U.S. dollar in the digital financial sector.

The head of the Civil Division II of the Supreme People's Court, Wang Chuang, stated during a press conference on "The Situation of People's Courts in Civil and Commercial Trials Supporting High-Quality Economic and Social Development" in response to a question, "In the future, we will focus on advancing the formulation of judicial interpretations for civil compensation related to insider trading and market manipulation in the securities market, conduct in-depth research on judicial responses to new financial cases such as private equity funds and virtual currencies, and improve the financial judicial protection system."

According to a report by Hong Kong media Orange News, the President of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Professionals Association, Chen Zhi-hua, disclosed that the Hong Kong virtual asset industry is facing a sudden "compliance storm." Practitioners in related businesses have reported encountering bewildering regulatory requirements during the application process for virtual asset-related business qualifications. The existing written policy requires an additional 5 hours of Continuing Professional Training (CPT).However, the latest requirements were not issued through formal written documents or public guidelines, but were communicated "quietly" to license upgrade applicants in the form of verbal notifications or individual emails, stating that all responsible officers (RO) for relevant license upgrades, including those who have already obtained upgrade qualifications, must pass a virtual asset regulation exam conducted by a designated single institution. This nearly "invisible" directive undermines the transparency and fairness that regulatory agencies should uphold.Chen Zhi-hua suggested maintaining the original requirement of an additional 5 hours of Continuing Professional Training (CPT) and urged regulatory agencies to immediately suspend the enforcement of exam requirements through invisible policies.

Animoca Brands announced that it has obtained a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license issued by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, authorizing Animoca Brands to operate in the Emirate of Dubai (excluding the Dubai International Financial Centre) and to provide virtual asset (VA) brokerage trading services, VA management, and investment services to global institutional and qualified investors.

According to the updated information from the official website of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Victory Digital Technology Limited's digital asset trading platform VDX has obtained a license to operate a virtual asset trading platform. The institution is authorized to conduct regulated activities under Type 1 (Securities Trading) and Type 7 (Providing Automated Trading Services). At the same time, its subsidiary VDX Custody Limited has also been licensed under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance to provide digital asset custody services. As of now, the number of licensed virtual asset trading platforms in Hong Kong has increased to 12.

According to the Hong Kong Economic Journal, the newly appointed president of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Lo Chok-kin, stated that guidelines are being developed to help the accounting and business sectors understand how to handle virtual assets in accounting. The first part of the guidelines, which involves virtual currencies and stablecoins, has been issued, while the second part, which has not yet been announced, relates to the auditing requirements for stablecoins set by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. The Institute is currently in discussions with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on this matter, and it is expected to be released within six months. The third part of the virtual asset accounting guidelines aims to be launched by the end of the year at the earliest, but it will still require communication and consensus with regulatory bodies and the industry before it can be released.

According to Ember Monitoring, half an hour ago, two addresses from the Virtuals Protocol project transferred 13.05 million VIRTUAL (worth approximately 7.51 million) to Binance.

According to Arkham data, at 18:12, 13.0524 million VIRTUAL (worth approximately 7.5075 million USD) was transferred from an anonymous address (starting with 0x95e6...) to Binance.

According to Arkham data, at 18:05, 131 million VIRTUAL (worth approximately $7.512 million) was transferred from Virtuals Protocol to an anonymous address (starting with 0x95e6...). Subsequently, that address transferred part of the VIRTUAL to another anonymous address.

According to the Huaxia Times, the People's Court of Jing'an District in Shanghai recently heard a dispute case regarding virtual currency investment. Investor Ms. Wu invested 1.05 million yuan to purchase USDT under the inducement of a live-streaming host, but later was unable to withdraw her funds due to the trading platform being inaccessible.Both the first and second instance of the court dismissed Ms. Wu's claims, determining that virtual currency does not have the same legal status as legal tender, and that related trading activities are considered illegal financial activities, violating public order and good morals, thus constituting invalid civil actions, with losses to be borne by the investor herself. This case echoes the notice issued on February 6 by the People's Bank of China and eight other departments regarding "further prevention and handling of risks related to virtual currencies," reaffirming China's prohibitive policy stance on virtual currencies.

According to on-site reports from Foresight News, the Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Ashley Alder, stated at the Consensus 2026 conference that the SFC is committed to establishing a comprehensive regulatory ecosystem for virtual assets and announced three new initiatives:Guaranteed Financing: Allow brokers to provide financing services to clients with good credit backgrounds, with collateral that may include securities and virtual assets. Initially, this will only be open to Bitcoin and Ethereum, and a prudent haircut will be required in accordance with traditional financial standards.Perpetual Contracts: A high-level regulatory framework will be announced, allowing licensed platforms to offer perpetual contract products. This service is currently limited to "professional investors" and requires platforms to have extremely high transparency and the ability to manage volatility fees and automatic liquidation risks.Associated Market Makers: Regulations will be relaxed to allow licensed platforms to provide liquidity through their affiliated market-making units, provided they can demonstrate functional independence and strict management of conflicts of interest.Alder pointed out that tokenized assets have developed rapidly over the past year, with the asset management scale of tokenized gold reaching $400 million, doubling in the past six months. Currently, the SFC has authorized 11 tokenized money market funds. In addition, Project Ensemble is piloting the use of tokenized deposit settlement money market funds. Regarding the regulatory roadmap, the SFC has published a consultation summary on virtual asset trading and custody and plans to collaborate with the SAR government to submit relevant legislative proposals within this year.

According to reports from Zhong'an Online, the Hefei Xinzhan Public Security Bureau discovered that a virtual currency exchanger was providing money laundering services for a fraud gang while handling a telecom network fraud case involving 260,000 yuan. On January 15, 2026, the police arrested the suspect Liu in Sichuan.Investigation revealed that Liu had been engaged in virtual currency trading since 2020, contacting upstream buyers through overseas chat software and conducting transactions with fraudsters on illegal trading platforms. In June 2025, after selling virtual currency on an illegal platform, Liu withdrew the illicit funds that were transferred to his account to his personal WeChat account, which is suspected of concealing and disguising criminal proceeds. The case is currently under further investigation.

According to the disclosure by the WeChat public account of the Internet Information Office of Jiangmen, the Kaiping City Procuratorate is handling a "money laundering" case involving virtual currency. The criminal gang received funds from telecom network fraud and other criminal proceeds, which were then arranged to be withdrawn from the bank and exchanged for virtual currency to be transferred to upstream fraudsters. In just two months, the amount of fraud-related funds transferred exceeded 2 million yuan.Currently, 19 individuals involved in the case have been sentenced by the Kaiping City Court for the crime of concealing and disguising criminal proceeds.

The heads of the People's Bank of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission stated that the background for the release of the "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with Risks Related to Virtual Currencies" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") is: based on summarizing previous work experiences and in conjunction with the new risk situation, the original document has been revised to form the "Notice."In addition, this notice continues the policy stance of recent years, reiterating that virtual currencies do not have the same legal status as legal tender, and that conducting virtual currency-related business activities within the country is considered illegal financial activity. Foreign entities and individuals are not allowed to illegally provide virtual currency-related services to domestic entities in any form.In response to the rapid development of real-world asset tokenization in recent years, the "Notice" emphasizes that conducting real-world asset tokenization activities within the country, as well as providing related intermediary and information technology services, which may involve illegal issuance of token vouchers, unauthorized public issuance of securities, illegal operation of securities and futures businesses, and illegal fundraising, should be prohibited; except for related business activities conducted based on specific financial infrastructure with the approval of the competent business authorities in accordance with laws and regulations. Foreign entities and individuals are not allowed to illegally provide real-world asset tokenization-related services to domestic entities in any form.