Tech Policy

FinCEN and OFAC jointly proposed anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance rules for stablecoin issuers on April 8, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Congress to advance the CLARITY Act to complete the federal digital asset regulatory framework.

Public Notice DA 26-314 invites industry comment on opening the 5030-5091 MHz, 960-1164 MHz, CBRS 3.5 GHz, 450 MHz, and 24 GHz bands to drone operations, creating innovation zones, and modernizing counter-UAS experimental licensing, with responses due May 1.

The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act expires September 30, 2026, threatening to slash highway, bridge, transit, and broadband funding to pre-2021 levels as Congress struggles to agree on reauthorization.

The EU and US are finalizing a non-binding agreement to coordinate critical minerals supply chains and challenge China's processing dominance, while the DOE launches a $69 million funding program for domestic extraction and refining.

Colorado, California, and Oregon are all enforcing or adopting wildfire-resistant construction standards in 2026, though municipal capacity and cost concerns threaten to slow the rollout.

A bipartisan Senate bill, a sweeping executive order on gain-of-function research, and a GAO report exposing transparency gaps converge to reshape how the United States governs biological risk.

The CFPB's landmark open banking rule missed its April 1 compliance deadline after a court injunction and agency reconsideration, but major banks are forging private data-sharing deals that may shape the market before regulators act.

ICANN will accept applications for new generic top-level domains from April 30 to August 12, 2026, the first such window since 2012, with a $227,000 evaluation fee per application.

One year after Liberation Day, the collision of Trump-era tariffs with hyperscaler memory hoarding has pushed PC prices up 15-20 percent, forced vendors to exit budget segments, and reshaped the consumer electronics supply chain.

A DOJ final rule requires state and local governments serving 50,000-plus residents to make all digital services WCAG 2.1 AA compliant by April 24, 2026.

China's Announcement 18 export controls on seven rare earth elements remain permanently active, disrupting defense supply chains and forcing the U.S. to accelerate a mine-to-magnet strategy still years from completion.

A presidential proclamation replaces flat-rate Section 232 duties with a five-tier framework imposing up to 50 percent tariffs on steel, aluminum, and copper imports, effective April 6.