February 13th — Michael S. Selig, Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced the launch of an Innovation Advisory Committee (IAC), appointing 35 members to advise on regulating groundbreaking technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain. Members include representatives from blockchain projects: Vivek Raman of Etherealize, Anatoly Yakovenko of Solana Labs, and Brad Garlinghouse of Ripple; executives from major crypto exchanges Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Gemini; founders of prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi; and reps from notable venture capital (VC) firms a16z crypto and Framework Ventures. Selig stated the committee will help the CFTC craft rules aligned with market realities, laying the groundwork for a “golden age of U.S. financial markets.”

Thursday, February 13 – U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins told the Senate Banking Committee during a hearing Thursday that while the SEC has called for establishing transitional rules, permanent cryptocurrency policy requires legislation. “We need a solid legal foundation to prevent any future backsliding,” he said. Despite intermittent progress on the Senate’s “Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act” (aka the CLARITY Act), key Democratic negotiator Senator Mark Warner expressed hope the bill can advance.

On February 13, the Ethereum Foundation announced its official institutional-focused Ethereum website is now live in Chinese. The launch aims to boost deeper engagement from global builders and institutional leaders in the Ethereum ecosystem. Users can access institutional use cases, on-chain data analysis, and community research findings via the site.

On February 13, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a landmark case: Ramil Ventura Palafox, CEO of Praetorian Group International (PGI), was sentenced to 20 years in prison for operating a $200 million Bitcoin Ponzi scheme. Palafox, 61, a dual U.S.-Philippine citizen, served as PGI’s chairman and CEO. He was convicted of wire fraud and money laundering for defrauding more than 90,000 investors worldwide. The scheme ran from December 2019 to October 2021: Palafox falsely claimed PGI traded Bitcoin, promising daily returns of 0.5% to 3%. But PGI’s actual Bitcoin trading volume was far too low to deliver those returns—confirming it was a classic Ponzi scheme. Global investors poured over $201 million into PGI: $30.295289 million in fiat currency and 8,198 Bitcoins (valued at $171.498528 million). Total investor losses topped at least $62.692007 million.

On February 13th, Pump.fun launched its GitHub Creator Fee Sharing feature, which now lets users allocate creator fees to any GitHub account through the Pump.fun mobile app. More social features are coming soon.

February 13th: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins told lawmakers Thursday that prediction markets are a "huge issue" of concern for regulators. The sector is rapidly evolving, and he and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Michael Selig share that concern. Over the past year, prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have seen explosive growth—particularly in the wake of the 2024 U.S. election. Regulation of the space has emerged as a focal point of debate between state and federal governments.