Every member of the five-seat panel who had been serving at the CFTC in January could depart before 2026. Kristin Johnson of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced that she plans to depart the agency before 2026. In a May 21 notice, Johnson said she planned to step down from the CFTC “later this year,” having completed her term, which ended in April. The commissioner filling a Democratic seat at the financial regulator had served since March 2022 after being nominated by former President Joe Biden. In her farewell message, Johnson cited her work as a sponsor of the Market Risk Advisory Committee, which dealt with “nascent issues that arise with the introduction of decentralized financial products such as digital assets or cryptocurrency and other emerging markets.” Read more
Solana Mobile stands to gross at least $67.5 million in pre-sales of its Seeker device. Solana Mobile, a subsidiary of blockchain technology company Solana Labs, has revealed the next steps for its soon-to-be-shipped Seeker device and the overall ecosystem. The steps include a new, trustless architecture, a native token, and the Seeker ship date. According to the announcement, Solana Mobile will ship the device starting Aug. 4. Seeker is the company’s second-generation device, after the Saga Web3 phone that launched in April 2023. The company unveiled the Seeker phone in September 2024, saying it wouldn’t just be a “memecoin phone.” So far, it has pre-sold 150,000 units. Read more
The digital identification project faces regulatory headwinds in the form of bans and legal scrutiny in several countries. World, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s digital identification project, raised $135 million from venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto, the company said in an announcement. The capital will be used to expand World's network of iris-scanning orbs and infrastructure in the United States, where the company said in April it would operate in six cities, and increase coverage around the globe, according to the announcement. More than 12.5 million individuals in over 160 jurisdictions have been issued a World ID, the company said. Read more