Home / Policy Tracker / Policy Event
Policy Event · Medium impact

India Moves Toward MDR Fees For Large UPI Merchant Payments

India moved to introduce a merchant discount rate on UPI person-to-merchant transactions above INR 2,000, ending the assumption that high-volume digital payments can remain fully free for merchants. The policy gives stablecoin wallets and fiat-crypto payment providers a benchmark for merchant settlement costs, subsidy design and fee disclosure.

Medium impact🇮🇳 IndiaRegulationBankingINRRBI

APAC FINSTAB analysis

For APAC operators, this creates a medium-impact signal around regulation, banking in India. Protocols/assets in scope: INR. Named institutions or platforms: RBI. Teams should monitor the original source, map the change to licensing, custody, disclosure, and market-access obligations, and update their jurisdiction playbooks before the next compliance review.

Compliance read-through: map this event to entity licensing, market-access, custody, disclosure, token listing, and operational-risk obligations before expanding or marketing in the affected jurisdiction.

View related Regulation tracker page →

Related policy events

Coinbase Financial Markets Lists Fed Rate Decision Event Contracts

Coinbase Markets displayed Federal Reserve rate-decision event contracts offered through Coinbase Financial Markets, a CFTC/NFA member, with state restrictions and total-loss risk disclosure. The launch brings macro event contracts into a regulated crypto brokerage context and sharpens questions around prediction markets, derivatives disclosures and state eligibility controls.

Medium impact🇺🇸 United StatesRegulationExchangeBanking
APAC FINSTAB analysis → Original source ↗

Jiangsu CSRC Warns Domestic RWA Financing Is Illegal Financial Activity

Jiangsu's securities regulator warned that fundraising in mainland China under the RWA label is illegal financial activity and may involve illegal fundraising, fraud and money-laundering risk. The notice raises geofencing, marketing and investor-access pressure for tokenization projects that reference mainland Chinese assets or users.

High impact🇨🇳 ChinaRegulationTokenizationAMLRWA
APAC FINSTAB analysis → Original source ↗

Senate Clarity Act Vote Fails, Leaving SEC And CFTC Rulemaking As Fallback

The U.S. Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in a 49-50 procedural vote, missing the 60-vote threshold and effectively closing the 2026 legislative window. Exchanges, custodians and token issuers will continue to rely on SEC and CFTC rulemaking, enforcement and state-level constraints rather than a federal market-structure statute.

High impact🇺🇸 United StatesRegulationLicensingExchange
APAC FINSTAB analysis → Original source ↗

Bank Of Russia Draft Flags Stablecoins As Monetary Substitution Risk

The Bank of Russia submitted its 2027-2029 financial-market development draft, warning that digital currencies and stablecoins can be used as substitutes for the national currency and can increase illicit-finance risks. The framing points to continued scrutiny of stablecoin payments, exchange fiat rails and cross-border settlement flows.

Medium impact🇷🇺 RussiaRegulationStablecoinAMLUSDTUSDC
APAC FINSTAB analysis → Original source ↗