Crypto Industry Enters Era of Regulated Maturity

The crypto industry is entering its era of regulated maturity, according to Sumsub's State of the Crypto Industry 2026 report. This shift is driven by new frameworks such as the CLARITY and GENIUS Acts in the US.

Danielle Labarbera, Sumsub VP North America, notes that these frameworks give businesses a clearer indication of the standards shaping the US digital-asset market. The CLARITY Act addresses market structure and regulatory oversight, while the GENIUS Act establishes requirements for payment stablecoins.

The report highlights the importance of compliance and fraud resilience in this new era. Only 23% of crypto businesses are fully Travel Rule-compliant, while 43% don't know whether they comply with the requirement. The difficulty lies in operationalizing the rule consistently across jurisdictions, data security, regulatory fragmentation, and interoperability.

Fraud strategies are also evolving, becoming increasingly sophisticated. AI-powered attacks combine deepfakes, synthetic identities, social engineering, account takeovers, and mule networks across multiple stages of the customer journey. Businesses must move beyond point-in-time checks to continuous monitoring and behavioral analytics to understand how risk evolves throughout the customer lifecycle.