Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger To Step Down In October

TL;DR

• Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger will step down on October 16 and remain as an adviser through the end of 2026.
• Founding leader Kristin Smith will return as interim CEO from October 17.
• The leadership change comes during an unusually active period for U.S. digital-asset legislation and regulation.

One of Washington’s most influential crypto trade groups is changing leadership.

Blockchain Association announced that CEO Summer Mersinger will step down on October 16, with former chief executive and founding leader Kristin Smith returning as interim CEO the following day.

Mersinger will remain as an adviser through the end of the year to assist with the transition.

Kristin Smith Is Going Back To The Organization She Built

Smith was Blockchain Association’s first employee when the group launched in 2018.

She subsequently served as chief executive until 2025, growing the organization into one of the crypto industry’s most visible lobbying and policy groups in Washington.

Mersinger took over in June 2025 after serving as a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Her tenure coincided with a period of rapid change in U.S. digital-asset policy, including new stablecoin legislation and increasingly detailed guidance from federal regulators.

Blockchain Association credited Mersinger with helping steer the organization through those developments and with increasing its engagement with lawmakers and agencies.

Smith currently also serves as president of the Solana Policy Institute.

The Association says she will take the interim role as it begins the process of identifying its next permanent chief executive.

Crypto Policy Has Moved From Defense To Rulemaking

The leadership change arrives at an interesting point for the industry.

For years, much of crypto lobbying in Washington was defensive.

Trade groups spent significant resources arguing against enforcement-led regulation and trying to persuade lawmakers that digital assets needed a bespoke framework.

That conversation has shifted.

Stablecoin legislation has moved forward, regulators are publishing increasingly granular guidance and Congress has spent much of the year debating broader market-structure legislation.

The industry is no longer only arguing about whether crypto should have rules.

It is fighting over what those rules should say.

That changes the job of a major trade association.

The next Blockchain Association CEO will inherit debates around securities classification, DeFi, tokenization, prediction markets, stablecoins and the dividing lines between the SEC and CFTC.

Mersinger is not leaving immediately, and Smith’s appointment is explicitly interim.

But the handover puts one of crypto’s longest-serving Washington policy figures back in charge at a moment when regulatory decisions are likely to shape the industry for years rather than months.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

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KelpDAO Sues LayerZero Over $292M rsETH Bridge Exploit

TL;DR

• Evercrest Technologies, the company behind KelpDAO, has filed a civil claim against LayerZero entities and co-founder Bryan Pellegrino.
• The lawsuit concerns the April exploit that drained 116,500 rsETH, worth about $292 million at the time.
• KelpDAO alleges LayerZero reviewed and endorsed the bridge configuration later blamed for the attack; those claims have not been proven in court.

The company behind KelpDAO has taken its dispute with LayerZero into court, filing a civil claim over the April bridge exploit that cost the restaking protocol roughly $292 million.

Evercrest Technologies filed the case in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against LayerZero Labs Ltd., LayerZero Labs Canada Inc. and co-founder Bryan Pellegrino.

The allegations include negligence, negligent misrepresentation and defamation.

The Dispute Centers On A 1-of-1 Security Configuration

The underlying exploit involved 116,500 rsETH moved through a bridge connecting KelpDAO infrastructure with Unichain.

At the time of the attack, the assets were worth approximately $292 million.

A major point of disagreement since then has been the bridge’s security configuration.

KelpDAO alleges LayerZero reviewed and endorsed a setup using a single Decentralized Verifier Network, or DVN, rather than warning the project that the configuration created a dangerous single point of failure.

The lawsuit further alleges that LayerZero later blamed KelpDAO for using that design.

Those are allegations from Evercrest’s court filing.

LayerZero has not been found liable, and the filing does not establish that its account of the events is correct.

That distinction is especially important in a dispute where the technical responsibility for a bridge failure is itself part of the case.

Bridge Security Is Becoming A Legal Question Too

Cross-chain security failures have typically been treated as technical incidents.

A bridge gets exploited, investigators trace the funds, developers patch the vulnerability and protocols argue over who configured what.

The KelpDAO case could push that discussion into a different arena.

If infrastructure providers review or recommend security configurations used by third-party applications, courts may eventually have to decide what responsibility comes with that advice.

That has implications well beyond KelpDAO and LayerZero.

Interoperability systems depend on protocols integrating software and trust assumptions they did not design entirely themselves.

When hundreds of millions of dollars move through those systems, disagreements about who understood the risk can quickly become more than engineering disputes.

For now, the lawsuit marks the beginning of that process rather than the conclusion.

The exploit happened in April.

The fight over who bears responsibility for it is only now moving into court.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

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Strategy Wants To Pay Preferred Stock Dividends Every Day

TL;DR

• Strategy is asking shareholders to approve daily dividend record dates for STRC, STRD, STRF and STRK.
• The proposed change would alter payment frequency without changing dividend rates or increasing total regular dividend obligations.
• Shareholders are expected to vote on the amendments at a special meeting on October 28.

Strategy is proposing an unusual change to the preferred stocks that sit alongside its enormous Bitcoin treasury: dividends calculated around daily record dates rather than monthly, semi-monthly or quarterly schedules.

The company’s board approved the proposal on September 24, with Strategy filing details with the SEC the following day.

Shareholder approval is still required.

Daily Payments Would Not Mean Higher Dividends

The proposal covers four U.S.-listed preferred securities: STRC, STRF, STRK and STRD.

If approved, every calendar day would become a dividend record date.

Any dividend declared for that date would then be paid on the following business day.

That includes weekends and holidays as record dates even though the cash payment itself would wait for the next business day.

The important detail is what does not change.

Strategy says the amendments would not increase or decrease the regular dividend rates on the four preferred stocks and would not increase the company’s overall regular dividend obligations.

This is a change in cadence, not a promise of extra income.

STRC would move first, with the initial daily record date expected on November 1 if shareholders approve the change.

STRF, STRK and STRD would transition from January 2027.

Strategy Is Trying To Make Its Preferred Shares Behave More Like Digital Credit

The company has increasingly described its preferred-stock products as “digital credit,” building different securities around fixed or variable distributions while using the proceeds to support its broader capital structure and Bitcoin strategy.

Dividend frequency is part of that experiment.

STRC only moved from monthly to semi-monthly distributions earlier this year.

Now Strategy wants to go much further.

More frequent distributions could make accrued income easier to price into the securities and reduce some of the friction around buying or selling shares between payment dates.

Strategy says the goal is to support liquidity, demand and price stability.

The change is not automatic.

The proposal will go to a special shareholder meeting expected on October 28, and the amended terms would only become effective after shareholder approval and the required corporate filings.

Strategy is best known for accumulating Bitcoin.

Its capital structure is becoming nearly as experimental as the asset sitting inside it.

If shareholders approve daily dividends, the company’s preferred shares will begin to look even less like conventional quarterly-income securities and more like continuously accruing financial instruments.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

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Ondo Puts BlackRock-Designed Portfolios Into Single Onchain Tokens

• Ondo has launched three tokenized portfolios based on investment strategies developed by BlackRock specifically for the platform.
• The products package baskets of tokenized assets into individual onchain tokens.
• BlackRock designed the model strategies, while Ondo Global Markets issues and operates the tokenized products.

**ID:** N25-04

**Site:** NewsBTC

**Status:** READY

**Author:** NewsBTC Editorial Team

**Focus Keyword:** Ondo

**Image Keyword:** Tokenization

**Category:** Altcoins

**Tags:** Ondo, BlackRock, Tokenization, Portfolios, RWA

**Primary Source:** https://ift.tt/eJTj3pA

One Token Can Represent An Entire Portfolio

The first three products cover different risk and return profiles: high income, diversified growth and high growth.

Rather than requiring an investor to assemble and rebalance a basket of individual tokenized assets, each portfolio wraps the strategy into one onchain instrument.

That changes what tokenization is being asked to do.

The first phase of real-world assets mostly focused on putting individual assets onto blockchains: a Treasury bill, a money-market fund or a share of a listed company.

Portfolio tokens take the next step by tokenizing the investment strategy itself.

Ondo says the first three models were developed by BlackRock for the platform.

BlackRock is not issuing the tokens or managing them on behalf of holders.

Ondo Global Markets handles issuance and operation.

That distinction is important because the “powered by BlackRock” label could otherwise make the products sound like BlackRock funds.

They are Ondo products built around BlackRock-designed allocation models.

Tokenized Finance Is Starting To Recreate The Asset-Management Layer

The launch fits a wider pattern.

Once individual securities exist onchain, the next logical products begin to look familiar: diversified portfolios, managed allocations, collateralized lending and structured exposure.

Traditional finance spent decades building those layers above individual stocks and bonds.

Tokenized markets are beginning to rebuild them with blockchain settlement underneath.

Ondo has already pushed into tokenized Treasuries, stocks and derivatives.

Intelligent Portfolios bring asset allocation into the same ecosystem.

Access remains restricted to eligible investors outside the United States in permitted jurisdictions, so the products should not be confused with unrestricted retail crypto tokens.

Still, the direction is clear.

Tokenization is moving from “put this asset onchain” toward “build an investment product entirely onchain.”

The more that happens, the less the category looks like a blockchain novelty and the more it starts looking like an alternative distribution and settlement layer for asset management itself.

*This article was written by the News Desk and edited by [Samuel Rae](https://ift.tt/P2f0Xt9

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New York Sues Polymarket Over Alleged Illegal Gambling Operation

• New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul have announced a lawsuit against Polymarket US.
• The state alleges the prediction platform is operating illegal, unlicensed gambling in New York.
• The lawsuit seeks to stop the activity and asks for fines, forfeiture of alleged illegal gains and restitution for users.

**ID:** N25-03

**Site:** NewsBTC

**Status:** READY

**Author:** NewsBTC Editorial Team

**Focus Keyword:** Polymarket

**Image Keyword:** Regulation

**Category:** Regulation

**Tags:** Polymarket, New York, Prediction Markets, Regulation, Kalshi

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New York Says The Federal Structure Does Not Override State Gambling Law

Polymarket returned to the U.S. market after acquiring regulated exchange infrastructure and operating under the federal commodities framework.

New York is arguing that this does not give the platform a free pass under state gambling rules.

According to the Attorney General’s office, an investigation found that Polymarket offered users the ability to wager on sporting events without a New York gambling license.

The state also alleges the platform exposes users below New York’s legal gambling age of 21 to those markets.

The lawsuit asks a court to block Polymarket from continuing to operate what the state describes as an unlicensed gambling business.

It also seeks financial penalties, forfeiture of alleged illegal proceeds and restitution.

Prediction Markets Are Running Into A Jurisdiction Problem

The dispute highlights a structural problem that has followed prediction markets as they expand.

At the federal level, event contracts can fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

At the state level, regulators can look at exactly the same product and see a wager.

Sports contracts make that conflict particularly sharp.

A market on inflation or an election may be framed as a forecasting or hedging instrument.

A contract paying out on the result of a basketball game can look much closer to conventional sports betting.

The New York lawsuit does not establish that Polymarket has broken the law; those allegations now have to be tested in court.

But it raises the stakes considerably.

Prediction markets have grown from a crypto curiosity into a substantial consumer product.

As that happens, the industry’s biggest challenge may not be finding users.

It may be convincing federal and state regulators that everyone agrees on what these markets actually are.

*This article was written by the News Desk and edited by [Samuel Rae](https://ift.tt/P2f0Xt9

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ARK Brings $1.3B Venture Fund Onchain Through Securitize

• ARK Invest is tokenizing its ARK Venture Fund through Securitize.
• The fund has roughly $1.3 billion in assets and invests across private and public technology companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe and Databricks.
• The move tokenizes ownership and administration of the existing fund rather than creating a new crypto fund.

**ID:** N25-02

**Site:** NewsBTC

**Status:** READY

**Author:** NewsBTC Editorial Team

**Focus Keyword:** Tokenization

**Image Keyword:** Tokenization

**Category:** Technology

**Tags:** ARK Invest, Securitize, Tokenization, ARKVX, Venture Capital

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A Venture Fund Becomes A Tokenized Security

ARKVX is an actively managed closed-end interval fund focused on disruptive innovation.

Its portfolio includes exposure to companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe and Databricks alongside public-market investments.

Securitize will provide the tokenization infrastructure.

That means fund interests can be represented and administered onchain while the underlying investment strategy remains the same.

This is not ARK launching a cryptocurrency or turning the underlying private companies themselves into freely tradeable tokens.

The asset being tokenized is the fund interest.

That distinction matters because tokenization can change how an investment product is issued, held and transferred without changing the legal nature of the securities inside it.

ARK And Securitize Are Deepening An Existing Relationship

The launch follows ARK’s strategic investment in Securitize in 2025.

It also arrives as large asset managers increasingly experiment with blockchain infrastructure for products that already exist in traditional finance.

BlackRock’s BUIDL fund has become one of the best-known examples, while firms including Franklin Templeton and WisdomTree have also expanded tokenized-fund offerings.

ARKVX pushes that trend further into venture investing.

Private-market products have historically been operationally awkward compared with listed securities. Ownership records, subscriptions and transfers can involve slower and more fragmented systems.

Tokenized fund interests do not automatically solve liquidity or investor-eligibility restrictions.

They can, however, make the administrative rails more programmable.

For ARK, this is its first fund to move onchain through Securitize.

That makes the launch more significant than another blockchain experiment.

A $1.3 billion venture strategy is now being used to test whether tokenization can become part of the normal infrastructure underneath mainstream investment products.

*This article was written by the News Desk and edited by [Samuel Rae](https://ift.tt/P2f0Xt9

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Fed Proposes Full Reserve And Capital Rules For US Stablecoin Issuers

• The Federal Reserve has proposed two new rulemaking packages for payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act.
• Board-supervised issuers would have to fully back tokens with permitted reserve assets and meet standardized capital and risk-management requirements.
• The proposals are not final rules yet, with a 60-day public comment period ahead.

**ID:** N25-01

**Site:** NewsBTC

**Status:** READY

**Author:** NewsBTC Editorial Team

**Focus Keyword:** Stablecoin

**Image Keyword:** Regulation

**Category:** Regulation

**Tags:** Federal Reserve, Stablecoins, GENIUS Act, Banking, Regulation

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Stablecoins Would Need Full Reserve Backing

Under the first proposal, Board-supervised payment stablecoin issuers would have to back their outstanding tokens fully with permitted reserve assets.

The Fed specifically points to short-term Treasury bills and other high-quality liquid assets as the sort of reserves that could qualify.

It also wants standardized capital requirements aimed at covering credit and operational risks, alongside broader risk-management standards and rules for firms safeguarding stablecoin reserve assets.

For banks already under Federal Reserve supervision, the proposal would also clarify which stablecoin-related activities are permissible.

That is important because the legal framework created by Congress still needs to become something institutions can actually operate under.

A law can establish the broad permission to issue regulated stablecoins. Banks still need detailed answers about reserve composition, capital, custody and supervision before launching products at scale.

Banks Would Get A Dedicated Application Process

The Fed’s second proposal deals with that entry point.

Board-supervised banks seeking to issue payment stablecoins would have to submit an application including a business plan and financial information.

The framework would also create formal processes for decisions, hearings and appeals.

None of this is final yet.

The Federal Reserve is seeking public comment, with the comment period closing 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Governor Michael Barr backed the direction of the proposal while emphasizing the need for clear redemption rights and strong safeguards.

That debate is likely to become one of the important details.

A stablecoin only behaves like dependable digital cash if holders believe they can get their dollars back at par even during stress.

The GENIUS Act created the statutory framework.

The Fed is now starting the much harder work of deciding what regulated stablecoin issuance actually looks like in practice.

*This article was written by the News Desk and edited by [Samuel Rae](https://ift.tt/P2f0Xt9

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