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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned artificial intelligence executives who have highlighted the technology’s dangers not to stoke excessive fear and instead offer solutions.
In an interview with political news outlet Axios published on October 4, Bessent said the U.S. should be prepared for every scenario. But he added that it is not leadership for parts of the AI industry to offer only crisis narratives without solutions.
Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and xAI Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk argued last month that the risks AI poses to humanity are increasing and that development of cutting-edge AI models should be slowed. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates also recently called for tighter regulation, saying AI could become powerful enough to cause mass casualties.
President Donald Trump, however, immediately characterized those arguments as a false crisis narrative. Trump’s position is that the U.S. must continue developing AI to preserve its technological edge over China. Bessent likewise said the U.S. must not cede its lead to China.
Bessent said responsibility for risks stemming from AI should rest first with developers and research labs rather than the government. “The people in the labs need to accept responsibility,” he said, adding that AI labs are beginning to adopt that mindset.
He emphasized that the U.S. government is pursuing “safe acceleration” in AI development. As for the industry’s calls for regulation, Bessent said companies can slow development themselves first.

A string of breaches, including personal data leaks, across South Korea’s financial sector has prompted authorities to urgently convene association heads from across the industry and chief executives of affected financial companies.
According to industry officials on October 3, the Financial Services Commission will hold an emergency inspection meeting at the Government Complex Seoul on the afternoon of October 4. Attendees will include the heads of associations representing banking, financial investment, insurance, credit finance, savings banks, mutual finance, digital assets and fintech, along with the CEOs of financial companies where breaches occurred.
FSC Chairman Kim Byoung-hwan will chair the meeting.
The FSC had initially planned to have each financial company conduct its own security check through October 5 and submit the results on October 7. But it decided to call an emergency meeting after additional damage was confirmed at Hyundai Capital and Yegaram Savings Bank.
Following recent breaches at Shinhan Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, Hana Bank and BNK Busan Bank, authorities also found that personal information on about 40,000 customers was leaked at Yegaram Savings Bank. At Hyundai Capital, some personal information of 146 mortgage loan solicitors was also leaked.
Financial authorities said further verification is needed to determine whether the recent breaches were carried out by the same hacking group.

Bitcoin has run into resistance again near $87,000, and a pullback to $82,500 could present a new buying opportunity, according to analyst Ali Martinez.
On October 3, Martinez said Bitcoin recently climbed toward $87,000, but the move lost momentum before the uptrend could fully take hold. After failing once again to break above $87,000, Bitcoin could fall in the short term to $82,500, the lower end of the channel.
Martinez added that whale investors sold more than 30,000 Bitcoin during the recent advance to take profits, limiting further gains. He also said $87,000 has been a key price level that has capped Bitcoin's rise for more than two weeks.
If Bitcoin drops to $82,500 and whales start accumulating again, that could signal a buy-the-dip opportunity, Martinez said. In that case, a rebound toward $87,000 could follow.

The market capitalization of stablecoins, a gauge of liquidity in the digital-asset market, has recently rebounded. But the scale of inflows is still too small to drive Bitcoin to a new record high, according to an analysis.
CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost wrote on Oct. 3 that stablecoin market capitalization has increased by about $4 billion since September, recovering to roughly $270 billion.
Still, that rebound is modest compared with the liquidity that had previously left the market. Stablecoin market capitalization has fallen by about $14 billion since its peak in May. The increase since September amounts to about 29% of that decline.
Darkfost wrote that stablecoin market capitalization is struggling to recover, meaning liquidity flowing into the crypto market remains insufficient.
While recent trends show signs of reversing, the recovery is still weak, he added. More liquidity needs to enter the market for Bitcoin to reach a new high.

DeFi and over-the-counter, or OTC, support providers should be classified as unlicensed digital-asset operators, and South Korean users’ access to and trading with them should be restricted, according to a research report commissioned by the country’s financial authorities.
The Korea Institute of Finance made the recommendation in a report submitted to the Financial Services Commission titled "Report on Supplementing Second-Stage Legislation and Anti-Money Laundering Rules Related to Stablecoins," Digital Asset reported on Oct. 2.
The institute said DeFi and OTC support providers should not necessarily be explicitly designated as direct regulatory targets. Instead, it said, authorities should actively interpret virtual-asset business activities subject to anti-money laundering, or AML, and counter-terrorism financing, or CFT, rules and impose related obligations.
Most DeFi and OTC support providers fall under unclear regulatory jurisdictions, making it difficult for any one country to exercise supervisory authority, the institute said. It added that authorities need to actively use measures such as classifying them as unlicensed virtual-asset businesses, restricting access by Korean nationals and limiting transactions by local operators.
The report also proposed setting standards for determining whether offshore operators have failed to register. The institute said authorities should draw up guidelines so domestic users and businesses can determine whether a provider is unregistered, and make clear that offshore operators serving Korean users are subject to South Korea’s registration requirements.
It also cited the need for regulation of stablecoin transactions conducted through personal wallets. The institute said the existing AML and CFT framework is difficult to apply to cold wallets and peer-to-peer wallet transactions, and recommended a mid- to long-term review of requiring platform and software providers that support wallet-to-wallet stablecoin transfers to report or register.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the listing of leveraged exchange-traded funds designed to deliver three times the daily return of six assets, including Bitcoin and Ether. The lineup also includes products tied to gold, silver, crude oil and natural gas.
Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg Intelligence's senior ETF analyst, wrote in a post on X on Oct. 2 that the SEC appears to have approved 3x leveraged ETFs on Bitcoin, Ether, gold, silver, crude oil and natural gas under the Securities Act of 1933.
According to a published filing, the SEC approved a proposed rule change submitted by Cboe BZX Exchange to list and trade the products. The funds are part of the VS Trust managed by Volatility Shares. BZX submitted the proposal on Aug. 10, and the SEC published it in the Federal Register on Aug. 19 for public comment.
Under the previously disclosed fund structure, the ETFs use futures contracts and other instruments to seek returns equal to three times the daily performance of indexes tied to the underlying assets, before fees and expenses. The Bitcoin and Ether products are based on Chicago Mercantile Exchange futures prices.

September Payrolls Rise by 29,000, Far Below Market Forecast of 90,000
Tesla Jumps 4.7%, Nvidia Rises 1.3%; Nike Falls 3.6%
Major US stock indexes ended higher across the board. Investor sentiment improved after US job growth in September came in far below market expectations, bolstering hopes that the Federal Reserve is less likely to raise interest rates again this month.
On October 2, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 250.40 points, or 0.49%, to 51,176.96 on the New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 gained 56.27 points, or 0.73%, to 7,722.72, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 319.27 points, or 1.19%, to 27,190.86. The small-cap Russell 2000 also rose 0.9%, its biggest one-day gain in a month.
The jobs data drove the rally. The US Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls increased by just 29,000 in September, less than one-third of the market forecast for 90,000. August payroll growth was also revised down to 133,000 from 162,000.
The unemployment rate rose to 4.2% in September from 4.1% in August. Average hourly earnings increased 3.0% from a year earlier, easing from 3.1% the previous month. The cooling in both hiring and wage growth reinforced the view that the need for another rate increase has diminished.
The CME FedWatch tool showed the probability of a 0.25-percentage-point rate hike this month fell to 22.7% from 64.2% a week earlier. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell below 5.17% immediately after the jobs report, then rebounded to 5.28% as oil prices pared losses.
Among large-cap technology stocks, Nvidia rose 1.3%, helping lead the S&P 500 higher. Tesla jumped 4.7% after third-quarter vehicle deliveries of 486,532 topped market expectations. The consumer discretionary sector gained 1.4%, the biggest advance among the S&P 500's 11 sectors, aided by Tesla's rally.
Nike, by contrast, fell 3.6% on weak demand in China and a forecast for an annual sales decline. Western Digital and Seagate Technology each tumbled about 10% after news that Japan's Toshiba would expand hard-disk production capacity for artificial intelligence data centers.
For the week, the major indexes were mixed. The S&P 500 fell 0.27% and the Dow lost 1.26%, while the Nasdaq gained 0.45%. The Dow and the S&P 500 have each posted weekly declines in four of the past five weeks.
Lee Song-ryeol, Hankyung.com reporter yisr0203@hankyung.com

Bitcoin could face increased selling pressure from mid- and long-term holders as it approaches the $88,000 to $89,000 range, according to an on-chain analysis.
On October 2, on-chain analyst Darkfost wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the average cost basis for holders who have held Bitcoin for 18 months to two years is about $88,350, while the average for six- to 12-month holders is about $89,200. As Bitcoin approaches the $88,000 to $89,000 range, selling pressure from mid- and long-term holders could increase, he wrote.
The idea is that as Bitcoin nears that range, the reaction of investors reaching their break-even point could influence market direction. Darkfost added that the six- to 12-month holder group, in particular, has been in a loss position on average for about a year, and some may have bought Bitcoin near the market peak.
Still, he said the range should not be definitively treated as a technical resistance level. Average cost basis is not in itself a support or resistance line, and should instead be seen as a risk zone where investor reactions can be observed, he wrote.
He added that less patient investors may exit near break-even, while others may buy more to lower their average purchase price. Such moves could shake Bitcoin's recent upward momentum.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, has lifted its share of the crypto market to nearly 60%.
CoinDesk reported on October 2 that Bitcoin dominance, or Bitcoin’s share of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization, was approaching 60%. In contrast, the market share of Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin, fell to about 6.3%.
CoinDesk said the drop in Tether’s share can be interpreted as a sign that market participants are moving funds out of cash-like stablecoins and into cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. That points to a broader increase in investors’ willingness to take on risk.
There is also a view that the market will move in response to the U.S. September nonfarm payrolls report due later in the day. Markets expect 90,000 new jobs, slowing from 162,000 in the previous month, while the unemployment rate is projected to hold at 4.1%.
Oliver Caddick, head of marketing at Tesseract Group, said he is watching the 10-year real yield at about 3%. If it remains consistently above that level, Bitcoin will be more likely to retest $80,000 to $82,000 than move toward $90,000.

Key Economic Events This Week
▶︎ Friday, Oct. 2: △U.S. September nonfarm payrolls report (10:30 p.m. Korea Standard Time) △U.S. September unemployment rate (10:30 p.m. Korea Standard Time) △Speech by Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan (12 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, Korea Standard Time)
Key Cryptocurrency Events This Week
▶︎ Friday, Oct. 2: △DoubleZero (2Z) token unlock

Tether, issuer of the world's largest stablecoin USDT, is poised to return to the Bitcoin network this month.
Utexo, a digital-asset infrastructure project, plans to start issuing USDT on the Bitcoin network this month, CoinDesk reported on October 2. The company secured a commercial license from Tether to issue Bitcoin-based USDT.
USDT was first issued on the Bitcoin network in 2014, but later circulated mainly on Ethereum and Tron. In August 2023, Tether halted new USDT issuance on Bitcoin's Omni Layer.
Paolo Ardoino, Tether's chief executive officer, said USDT was "coming home" in its return to Bitcoin.
Utexo plans to enable users to send and receive USDT on the Bitcoin network while minimizing the amount of transaction information exposed externally. It will also support direct swaps between Bitcoin and USDT without using a separate exchange, as well as borrowing funds against Bitcoin as collateral.
The project also plans to extend USDT support to the Lightning Network, which is designed for faster and cheaper Bitcoin transfers.

Buying pressure in the Bitcoin futures market has jumped to its highest level in about six weeks. Open interest is also rising quickly, indicating that market participants are building positions again.
On Oct. 2, on-chain analyst Axel Adler Jr. wrote that Bitcoin’s Positioning Pressure indicator had risen to 4.9. Over the past 90 days, the only higher reading was 5.1 on Aug. 19.
Open interest is also increasing rapidly. Bitcoin open interest rose about 3% over the past 24 hours, to 310,800 contracts from 301,900. Over the same period, Bitcoin climbed to $85,300 from $83,400. Compared with Sept. 30, open interest has increased by more than 15,000 contracts.
Still, rising open interest does not necessarily lead to further price gains. On Sept. 21, open interest also climbed to 347,300, but then fell by 52,000 over the following nine days.
Adler Jr. identified $85,000 and $83,000 as the next key price levels. Even if buying pressure weakens, Bitcoin holding above $85,000 could signal that it is preserving its recent gains.
By contrast, long positions opened above $83,000 could face larger losses if Bitcoin falls below that level. If those positions are liquidated, the decline could steepen further.

The International Monetary Fund granted El Salvador a waiver after the country breached a condition limiting additional Bitcoin purchases, and approved a $139 million disbursement.
Bloomberg reported on October 1 that the IMF’s executive board completed the second and third reviews of El Salvador’s $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility program, clearing the payout.
The IMF said El Salvador failed to meet some performance criteria related to Bitcoin accumulation, but granted the waiver based on corrective measures and renewed policy commitments. It also reaffirmed that any further Bitcoin accumulation beyond officially confirmed donated amounts must stop.
El Salvador has continued to buy Bitcoin at the government level since adopting the token as legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar in 2021. The IMF has sought as part of the program to reduce the government’s involvement in the cryptocurrency market and cut Bitcoin-related exposure.
The IMF also cited El Salvador’s transfer of the controlling stake and operating rights in the state-run cryptocurrency wallet Chivo to a private operator. The government’s remaining related exposure should also be unwound gradually, it said.
The IMF also gave a positive assessment of El Salvador’s economy, saying activity was stronger than expected thanks to improved public security and a recovery in investor sentiment. It projects growth of 4.5% this year and 4% in 2027.
The fund said it plans to keep using the program to strengthen fiscal health, build external buffers, bolster financial-system stability and improve governance and transparency.

Federal Reserve officials are increasingly signaling there is no need to rush into another interest-rate increase. U.S. Treasury yields, which had surged, also showed signs of easing as markets put more weight on a December move than an October hike.
On October 1, Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said in a speech at the University of Virginia that future policy decisions should fully take into account incoming data, the outlook and the balance of risks. "It may take more time to make that judgment," he said. Markets interpreted the remarks as leaving open the possibility that the Federal Open Market Committee will hold rates steady in October.
John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, delivered a similar message on September 29. He said one additional rate increase this year could be appropriate, but that further action was not urgent.
Evercore said Williams's remarks were most consistent with a scenario in which the Fed leaves rates unchanged in October and raises them once more in December. Jefferson and Williams both hold voting rights on the FOMC.
Markets reacted quickly. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, which had risen above 5.34% during the session, later fell back to about 5.25%. According to CME FedWatch, the probability of an October rate increase dropped to 24.9%.
Earlier, markets had begun pricing in not only one more increase this year after the September FOMC meeting, but also hikes in both October and December, as well as the possibility of another increase next year. That was driven by strong economic data, including a U.S. composite purchasing managers' index for September that reached its highest level in 62 months.
Still, some say it is difficult to conclude that upward pressure on Treasury yields has fully broken. A resilient economy, elevated inflation, concerns over fiscal health and the war in the Middle East remain factors pushing up long-term yields.
"For now, it is more important to check whether the pace of the rise is easing than to look for a reversal in the direction of rates," said Kim Yu-mi, head of investment strategy at Kiwoom Securities. "If FOMC members step back from additional hikes and international oil prices also stabilize, the recent steep rise in Treasury yields could ease as well."

New York stocks closed slightly higher on October 1 after U.S. Treasury yields pulled back from an intraday surge to their highest level since 2002. Semiconductor shares showed relative strength after upbeat results from Micron.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20.51 points, or 0.04%, to 50,926.56 on the New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 gained 14.91 points, or 0.19%, to 7,666.45, while the Nasdaq Composite added 10.53 points, or 0.04%, to 26,871.60.
The key driver for the market was the Treasury market. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield climbed as high as 5.342% during the session, reaching its highest level since 2002. Yields on government bonds in major European markets, including the U.K. and France, also rose, adding to selling pressure on risk assets earlier in the day.
The tone shifted in the afternoon as buying returned to the bond market. Growing views that the recent rise in yields had been excessive in the short term, along with a U.S. Treasury buyback, helped calm market nerves.
The U.S. Treasury said it received $46.39 billion in offers in a buyback operation for bonds with maturities of 10 to 20 years. It purchased $6 billion of that amount.
Worries about additional Federal Reserve rate hikes also eased somewhat. CME FedWatch showed that the federal funds futures market priced in a 74.0% chance the Fed would keep rates unchanged in October, up from 62.4% a day earlier.
Semiconductor stocks were among the strongest performers, led by Micron. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 1.59%. Micron gained 3.03%, SanDisk climbed 2.75%, Nvidia advanced 1.09%, and TSMC added 0.66%. American depositary receipts of SK Hynix also jumped more than 5%.
Micron's second-quarter revenue and its revenue outlook for the next quarter both topped market expectations, helping fuel buying across the broader chip sector.
International oil prices surged on supply concerns. News that China had halted exports of petroleum products and the possibility of additional U.S. troop deployments to the Middle East lifted prices.
On ICE Futures Europe, December Brent crude settled at $102.31 a barrel, up 4.37% from the previous session. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, November West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.71% to $92.87 a barrel.

South Korea's manufacturing data seen as an AI training asset
Lighter targets the local market with a simpler user experience
Global blockchain companies are identifying South Korea's manufacturing data and crypto trading market as new business opportunities. They say manufacturing and robotics data could become a new source of revenue if it is used to train AI models. They also argue that decentralized exchanges, or DEXs, need not only trade-verification technology but also the ease of use of mainstream financial apps to attract more users in South Korea.
Andrea Muttoni, chief executive officer of the DATA Foundation, and Vladimir Novakovski, chief executive officer of Lighter, outlined that view at the a16z Crypto Korea Summit held on October 1 at Josun Palace in Seoul's Gangnam district. As AI adoption grows, they said, systems that verify the origin of training data and the way transactions are processed will become increasingly important.
"South Korea's manufacturing data can be a new revenue stream in the AI era"
Muttoni said South Korea's strengths in manufacturing and robotics give it an advantage in the market for AI training data. Robots need large volumes of real-world data showing how people and machines move on factory floors to learn physical tasks. Data gathered online alone cannot easily meet that demand.
"US AI companies can keep scraping the internet, but that will not give them LG factory production processes or Hyundai Motor manufacturing data," he said. "If Korean companies organize that data into a usable format and provide usage rights, it can become a new revenue source." He added that the same data could also be used to develop in-house AI models and robots at domestic companies.
The key issue, he said, is building a system that can verify where data came from and how it was used. AI companies obtain data through brokers and other channels, but it remains unclear what data came from where and how it was used in training.
The DATA Foundation is building infrastructure to track that process. Muttoni said the Data Network has recorded more than 250 million "data receipts." Rather than storing the underlying data on the blockchain, the system logs when it was created, how it was collected and how it was used. Large datasets remain on conventional storage services, while records needed for verification are managed on the blockchain.
He also stressed that data providers should ultimately be compensated. "When AI produces a specific output, we need to be able to determine which data contributed and by how much, and reward those contributors," he said. "That is how the data economy can become sustainable."
Muttoni also pushed back on the idea that synthetic data will fully replace real-world data. AI-generated data is useful, but weather, market conditions, language and human behavior keep changing. AI will need a continuous flow of up-to-date real-world data, he said, adding that distinguishing collected data from synthetic data will become increasingly important.
Lighter says DEXs must be easy to use to win more users
Novakovski said user experience will determine whether decentralized exchanges win broader adoption. South Korean users accustomed to centralized exchanges will not choose a new service if it adds friction to the trading process.
"Users should not feel like they are using a DEX," he said. "It should feel like using a modern trading app or a neobank app." Complex technology, he said, should operate in the background while users benefit from lower costs and faster execution.
Lighter is an Ethereum-based DEX that uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify whether orders were processed according to predetermined rules. Novakovski said Lighter handles about 500 million orders a day while proving the outcome of each order. The platform is designed so users can verify that the system worked properly rather than simply trust the exchange's explanation.
He said that kind of verification will become more important as AI-driven trading expands. If something goes wrong when AI executes an order, users need a way to review the trading process and how the system operated. He added that it is also possible to prove whether preset risk limits were followed without disclosing the investment strategy itself.
Still, Novakovski was skeptical that AI will fully replace human investment decisions. Asset allocation and trading based on fixed rules can be automated, but even the top specialist trading firms already use advanced AI and massive computing power. AI is more likely to lift trading capabilities by one or two levels than eliminate traders altogether, he said.
In South Korea, Lighter is broadening its reach with local users. Novakovski said the platform added Korean-language support about a week after launch. The number of Korean-language users rose from about 30 initially to the thousands afterward. He added that the company has formed an Asia team and is meeting Korean traders directly.
Over the longer term, he said, computing resources, data and financial products will be connected through blockchain-based financial systems. Before a future in which AI makes every decision for people, a shift toward helping users make better judgments through better access to information and products is more likely to come first.

Citigroup has sharply raised its price targets for Bitcoin and Ether.
Reuters reported on Oct. 1 that Citigroup increased its 12-month target for Bitcoin to $113,000 from $82,000, a gain of about 38%. It also lifted its 12-month target for Ether to $3,028 from $2,240, up about 35%.
Citigroup expects institutional investors to gradually increase their Bitcoin allocations, allowing capital inflows into the crypto market to resume at a steady pace. It projected about $5 billion of inflows over the next 12 months.
On the regulatory front, Citigroup cited the failure of the U.S. crypto market structure bill, known as the Clarity Act, to clear the U.S. Senate as a factor limiting further upside. The bank said the failed vote narrowed the path for the bill's passage. Still, it said the setback prompted the Securities and Exchange Commission to move more directly on rulemaking, helping ease negative investor sentiment.
Bitcoin and Ether prices have risen 40% and 68%, respectively, over the past three months. Citigroup said a weaker dollar following expanded purchases of long-term Treasuries by the U.S. Treasury, along with a recovery in exchange-traded fund inflows, improved sentiment and provided momentum for the rally.

Blockchain technology can make bank operations more efficient, speakers said at an industry event in Seoul.
Shin Joong-hyun, head of future growth at SBI Savings Bank, said at the "Bridging Finance Onchain" event at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul's Jongno district on October 1 that banking has clearly operated on systems built over centuries. New technology, however, can make those operations more efficient.
He outlined ways blockchain could reduce inefficiencies. Applying the technology to repurchase agreements, or repos, and tokenized assets could reduce the liquidity required and make atomic settlement possible. That could generate additional returns from idle funds and allow institutions to offer customers better terms.
Shin also stressed that blockchain should first be applied to areas of the existing financial system where change is most urgent. Not every legacy process is problematic, he said, adding that firms need to understand existing systems and apply blockchain in ways that fit.
Takuya Sugiyama, deputy head of digital space at SBI Holdings, echoed that view. The goal is not simply to tokenize existing assets, but to build market infrastructure for institutions using blockchain. The ultimate aim, he added, is to create a programmable financial network in which capital moves as smoothly as information.
The digital-asset industry also said interoperability between traditional finance and digital-asset infrastructure is needed to commercialize blockchain in finance.
David Katz, Circle's head of strategy and policy for Asia-Pacific, said the technology is already fairly mature, while regulation and infrastructure are being put in place quickly. What matters now is integrating those elements to achieve true interoperability and institutional-grade infrastructure. Many financial institutions, he added, want ready-made platforms from trusted service providers rather than building systems themselves.
Speakers also said the speed gap between on-chain assets and existing payment infrastructure needs to be resolved. Kim Tak-jong, co-founder and chief strategy officer at BDACS, said assets such as bonds and securities move at on-chain speed, but settlement funds still pass through traditional banking networks. As a result, final settlement often takes place a day or two later.
Kim added that technology is advancing faster than institutions and rules. For institutions to participate in on-chain finance, the legal framework for digital assets needs to be developed to the same standard as traditional finance.
In response, Shin said the expansion of on-chain finance will require institutional participation. Because the market is still not sufficiently developed, the industry, including competitors, needs to work together to build the ecosystem.

The U.S. Senate is moving to introduce legislation that would allow developers to face civil and criminal liability for hacking incidents caused by artificial intelligence agents.
Axios reported on October 1 that Republican Senator Josh Hawley and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy plan to soon introduce the AI Agent Accountability Act.
At the heart of the bill is the creation of a legal basis for imposing civil and criminal liability on companies when hacking incidents involving AI agents occur. Hawley and Murphy believe current law makes it difficult to determine who is responsible when an AI agent hacks a specific system.
The full text of the bill, including the scope of liability and who would be covered, has not yet been released.
The Senate's move stands in contrast to the Trump administration's preference for self-regulation in the AI industry. Axios said the administration believes existing laws are sufficient to address harm caused by AI.
In Congress, there is growing recognition that the pace of AI development is too rapid to rely solely on voluntary industry safeguards. Separately, the House of Representatives is pursuing legislation that would require developers to build mechanisms to forcibly shut down AI systems that could pose lethal risks.
Congress has also recently seen a series of bipartisan bills addressing AI model testing, risk management and transparency.

Kyobo Life Group is expanding its digital-asset business across its financial affiliates, centered on insurance and securities. The group said it plans to proactively test business models spanning on-chain finance, from premium payments and insurance payouts to the issuance and distribution of real-world assets, or RWAs, and tokenized securities.
Park Jin-ho, a vice president at Kyobo Life Insurance, outlined the plan at the "Bridging Finance Onchain" event held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul's Jongno district on October 1.
"Kyobo Group sees the shift to on-chain finance not as a simple technology trend, but as a mid- to long-term business task," Park said. "The key question is no longer whether to participate in on-chain finance, but which financial functions should move on-chain, when and how."
Kyobo Life is preparing to adopt on-chain finance in two areas first: asset management and insurance. On the asset side, it is reviewing ways to use tokenized government bonds, funds and RWAs in its portfolio. On the customer side, it is testing how to link premium collection and insurance payouts to on-chain infrastructure.
Kyobo Life has already conducted 10 proof-of-concept projects with domestic and overseas partners. The projects include purchases of overseas stocks and bonds using dollar stablecoins, the tokenization of real assets such as real estate and wine, and on-chain processing of premium payments and death-benefit payouts.
Park said insurance is not a payments business and requires accident verification, reviews of payout eligibility and customer-protection procedures. Rather than moving all operations at once, the company plans to connect functions in stages, starting with areas it can validate first.
"Kyobo chose verification over observation," he added. The group plans to start with proof-of-concept work, move to pilots in actual operating environments and turn those efforts into business models if commercial viability is confirmed.
Kyobo Securities is focused on building an "asset layer" to create digital assets for end investors. Shin Hee-jin, a director at Kyobo Securities, described the role of securities firms across four areas: underwriting, brokerage, distribution and trust.
He said securities firms must source and structure assets, turn them into securities and connect them with investors. They also need to handle liquidity and price discovery, along with disclosure, suitability checks and investor protection.
Kyobo Securities has also been running pilot projects involving various digital assets since 2024. It has tested the securitization of new asset classes such as premium wine and concert intellectual property, or IP, while also reviewing the tokenization of traditional financial assets including money market funds, or MMFs, and unlisted shares.
The brokerage is also studying ways to use tokenized MMFs as on-chain cash-equivalent assets, including as collateral for repurchase agreements, or repos, and as margin.
Shin said the company concluded from those cases that it could not simply wait for regulation to be put in place. It needs to be ready to respond immediately once rules are established and the market opens.
Kyobo Life Group said it eventually plans to connect its insurance and securities units to on-chain infrastructure and develop that into an operating financial business.
"Finance in the future will not move forward by choosing either traditional finance or on-chain finance," Park said. "The core issue is not which one replaces the other, but how to connect the strengths of both."