Seems like we keep adding companies getting charters and more of them applying for charters every week. Last week we finally heard from community banks and how they’re starting to move towards the digital world.

The finance world is dealing with incoming AI agents: some blocked them, some integrated them, some are setting up frameworks for them.

We’ll see what’s the right approach is sooner rather than later.

Here’s the Rundown:

Community banks urged collaboration to issue shared stablecoins and counter fintech charters.
The world’s banking regulators and commercial lenders erected guardrails around autonomous AI agents.
Attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia sued the Treasury Department to restore beneficial ownership reporting.
Hackers siphoned $6.3 billion from Binance in the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged two Colorado corporations over an alleged $130 million crypto scheme using routine regulatory filings.
Senator Elizabeth Warren asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Bank of America.
A senior interagency delegation descended on Minnesota to escalate a multi-agency benefits fraud crackdown.
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The world’s banks and regulators set up guardrails around autonomous AI agents

On Monday, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the world’s first banking governance framework for agentic finance. The initiative proposes mandatory Know Your Agent identity credentials, a central supervisory registry for material software agents, and regulatory kill-switch powers to halt rogue automated systems before transactions cascade into systemic instability or trigger algorithmic bank runs.

In Canada, the nation’s largest lenders—Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce—moved in coordination to block third-party software agents from logging into digital banking portals with customer credentials, citing uncontrolled dispute liability and authentication risks.

In Britain, the Financial Conduct Authority published a proposed overhaul of its Financial Crime Guide enforcing anti-money laundering controls over AI tools and outlined supervisory expectations for agent accountability, delegated authority limits, and machine-readable compliance.

Community bankers urge collaboration to counter nonbank stablecoins and fintech charters

At American Banker’s Small Business Banking conference last week, Vantage Bank executive Shawn Main said that community and regional banks should work together. Vantage is one of the banks that worked on The Hazel Network, a platform launched in June to allow regional lenders and credit unions to work with emerging financial products. Those include Avit, a collaborative stablecoin that retains commercial payments and supports programmable corporate treasury workflows.

Last week, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted final charter approval to Ripple, allowing the firm to custody digital assets and manage reserves for its dollar-pegged stablecoin, Ripple USD. Also last week, Galaxy Digital formally applied for its own charter and the week before that corporate card platform Ramp and buy now, pay later provider Sezzle filed charter applications.

Don’t forget, we also have the Independent Community Bankers of America suing the OCC, challenging the agency’s chartering authority in federal court.

State attorneys general sue Treasury Department over beneficial ownership rollback

Attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia sued the Treasury Department over its decision to exempt domestic entities from reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act. The coalition argued that FinCEN exceeded its statutory authority by finalizing a rule that excuses more than 99% of domestic companies from reporting beneficial ownership information.

State prosecutors asserted that dismantling domestic disclosures blinds law enforcement and tax authorities to anonymous shell companies used in commercial fraud, tax evasion, and illicit financial networks. The legal challenge follows the Supreme Court’s decision declining to review a constitutional challenge brought by the National Small Business Association, leaving the statutory framework intact.

Hackers siphon $6.3B from Binance in record crypto heist

Attackers compromised administrative key management systems at Binance, draining roughly $6.36 billion in digital assets—the largest cyber heist in financial history. Forensic transaction analyses published by blockchain intelligence firms Elliptic and TRM Labs attributed the operation with high confidence to TraderTraitor, a cyber-theft unit linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The breach forced the exchange to temporarily suspend user withdrawals while attackers moved stolen tokens through decentralized liquidity pools and cross-chain bridges.

The aftermath revealed the central role played by private stablecoin issuers as emergency clearing circuit-breakers. Working with law enforcement, Tether and Circle moved within hours to freeze more than $2.3 billion in stolen assets across their smart contracts to prevent laundering through offshore markets. Binance resumed withdrawal rails in phases over the weekend and committed corporate treasury reserves to cover remaining customer balances.

Securities and Exchange Commission charges Colorado corporations over fabricated regulatory filings

The SEC charged two Colorado corporations over an alleged $130 million crypto trading scheme involving fabricated federal regulatory credentials. The complaint said foreign operators of BG Wealth Sharing and DSJ Exchange used virtual mailboxes in Denver and temporary office spaces to file routine Form ADV and Form D notices—disclosures required to raise money privately and manage other people’s money. The promoters then used those filings, alongside fake certificates bearing the SEC’s seal and real SEC filing identifiers, to convince investors the platform was federally licensed.

Warren urges Justice Department to open criminal probe into Bank of America executives

Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren sent a formal referral letter urging the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Bank of America and its senior executives following the bank’s $1.21 billion anti-money laundering settlement. Last month, banking regulators assessed penalties against the bank for systemic transaction-monitoring failures that allowed trillions of dollars to move without required review. Warren argued that recurring civil money penalties are seen as an ordinary cost of doing business. The senator pointed to prior supervisory sanctions against American Express National Bank and UBS Financial Services.

Here’s what those OCC penalties look like:

Bessent leads multi-agency delegation to Minnesota in benefits fraud crackdown

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Minnesota with FBI Director Kash Patel, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson to announce an escalated interagency offensive against organized benefits fraud. Operating under the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, the coalition paired criminal indictments with specialized banking surveillance tools, targeting organized networks that established sham provider entities to siphon funds from Medicaid and federal nutrition programs. FinCEN renewed a Geographic Targeting Order requiring depository institutions and money transmitters in Hennepin and Ramsey counties to report international funds transfers of $3,000 or more. Prosecutors announced enforcement actions against 13 defendants tied to nearly $83 million in intended program losses.

The Rundown: Global AI agent guardrails…