Crypto Market Update: SEC Proposes First Transfer Agent Overhaul in 40 Years

Bitcoin price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$77,155.36, trading 0.1 percent higher over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin has spent the last few days giving back ground from the US$80,000 area it hit during August’s short-squeeze rally.

Over the weekend and into this week, Bitcoin has drifted from the low US$80,000s down into the high US$70,000s, pressured by growing bets that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its meeting later this month, as well as a renewed flare in the US-Iran conflict; these events have boosted bond yields and added to inflation worries.

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) pulled in US$3.52 billion in August, their best month of 2026, while the Bitcoin price gained about 25 percent; however, roughly 80 percent of those inflows landed in the two weeks following the US Department of the Treasury's August 19 bond buyback announcement. Those same ETFs saw US$236.46 million in net outflows on September 1, per SoSo Value, the largest single-day withdrawal since July 31.

Glassnode analyst Frederik Theissen describes the market as rangebound, noting that sentiment has cooled from euphoria to neutral, and flagging rising bond yields as the main headwind going forward.

Bitcoin is currently capped below the US$83,000 to US$86,000 zone, while support holds near US$62,000 to US$65,000.

Bitcoin price chart

Ether and altcoin price update

• Ethereum (ETH) was priced at US$2,386.77, trading 1 percent lower over the last 24 hours.

• XRP (XRP) was priced at US$1.34, down 1.5 percent over the past 24 hours.

• Solana (SOL) was trading at US$99.18, 1.1 percent lower over the past 24 hours.

Today's crypto news to know

Read on for a round-up of the biggest crypto market news:

• SEC proposes first transfer agent rule overhaul in 40 years
• Strategy resumes Bitcoin purchases with US$369.7 million acquisition
• Hyperliquid reportedly planning US market entry
• International financial institutions to establish stablecoin enterprise
• Treasury releases G20 chair's statement
• Robinhood Chain daily DEX volume surges past US$1.5 billion

SEC proposes first transfer agent rule overhaul in 40 years

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a 421 page proposal on Tuesday (September 1), marking its first substantive rewrite of transfer agent rules since the early 1980s.

The updated regulations directly address market participants building blockchain-native transfer agents for tokenized fund administration and distributed ledger recordkeeping. Under proposed changes to Form TA-2, transfer agents must report issues that maintain master securityholder files on distributed ledgers.

The proposal also rescinds an older exemption rule, sets a single record retention period and redefines safeguarding rules around cybersecurity risk management.

SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins confirmed that the overhaul ensures that regulations reflect agents' adoption of "electronic communications and blockchain technology."

The commission set a 60 day comment period following Federal Register publication and separately scheduled a September 17 roundtable on 24 hour trading.

Strategy resumes Bitcoin purchases with US$369.7 million acquisition

Michael Saylor's Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) ended a two month Bitcoin-buying pause by acquiring 4,603 BTC for US$369.7 million at an average price of US$80,318 per coin.

The company raised funds by selling US$602.8 million worth of common stock and allocated US$369.7 million of those proceeds directly to the Bitcoin purchase. Executive leadership used US$151.8 million of the remaining proceeds to repurchase STRC preferred stock while adding the balance to corporate cash reserves.

The latest acquisition brings Strategy's total holdings to 845,050 BTC, with a total purchase cost of US$63.73 billion. This updates the firm's all-time average acquisition price to roughly US$75,412 per coin.

Hyperliquid reportedly planning US market entry

Bloomberg reported that decentralized exchange Hyperliquid is in advanced talks with Payward, the parent company of Kraken, to get crypto perpetual futures in front of US retail traders legally.

According to unidentified sources, Bitnomial, a derivatives firm licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that Payward acquired earlier this year, will provide the regulated infrastructure — the exchange, the clearing and the brokerage accounts — needed to offer Hyperliquid’s contracts to US customers legally.

Hyperliquid itself operates offshore and has no direct US regulatory standing, so it needs a licensed US partner to reach American customers. Ashley Ebersole, former SEC senior counsel and current co-founder and chief legal officer at real-world assets platform tx, told the Block that both the SEC and the CFTC may need to be involved in writing revised interpretive rules involving custody and mechanics for current routing standards in order for Hyperliquid to operate in the US. That's a process that could take at least 10 to 12 months.

Payward has reportedly shown the CFTC an outline of the structure, but nothing is approved yet. The CFTC approved Kalshi and Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) to list crypto perpetual futures in May of this year, so there is regulatory momentum in this direction.

International financial institutions to establish stablecoin enterprise

A group of 21 major banks and financial firms, including Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB), UBS Group (NYSE:UBS), Santander and others across the world, have agreed to set up a new stablecoin company.

While crypto-native firms such as Tether and Circle currently dominate the stablecoin market, traditional, regulated banks are pushing to introduce their own alternative as a more compliant and reliable option.

A press release detailing the initiative states:

“The initiative will draw on the expertise of the participant institutions to offer a safe, robust and trusted solution that combines bank-grade compliance, strong governance, distribution and institutional risk management.”

The new, unnamed company would be formally established in H2 2026, subject to closing conditions, with the stablecoin itself expected to launch in the first half of 2027. It would be pegged to the US dollar, and aimed at institutional and retail use for cross-border payments and settling digital asset trades. There are plans to eventually expand into other major currencies down the line, with the euro mentioned as the next priority.

Treasury releases G20 chair's statement

The US Department of the Treasury, which is chairing the G20 this year, released its chair’s statement on Tuesday from the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting, held in Asheville, North Carolina. It covers five priority areas: promoting global economic growth, addressing global imbalances, advancing financial literacy, improving how countries restructure sovereign debt and modernizing financial sector regulation around innovation.

The statement also references coordination with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Financial Stability Board and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In addition, it notes several upcoming dates: the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok this October, an OECD interim report due by the end of the year and an FATF forum later in 2026 in Dallas.

A footnote in the statement says China objected to specific paragraphs covering economic growth concerns, global imbalances and sovereign debt treatment, including language about disruptions to energy trade and a debt-restructuring mechanism known as the Common Framework.

Robinhood Chain daily DEX volume surges past US$1.5 billion

Daily trading volume on Robinhood Chain's decentralized exchanges jumped 61 percent between August 28 and Tuesday, climbing from US$989 million to US$1.595 billion. The network held US$738.11 million in DeFi deposits and nearly US$797 million in stablecoin balances as of September 1. DeFiLlama also recorded US$353.96 million in daily perpetual futures volume and US$2.52 billion in total assets bridged onto the chain.

Robinhood Chain launched its mainnet on July 1 to enable round-the-clock trading, lending and collateral usage for tokenized equities. Total value locked in DeFi protocols on the network now sits nearly eight times higher than July levels, while stablecoin capitalization has roughly tripled.