NYSE Arca and NYSE American have scrapped the 25,000-contract position and exercise limits on options tied to spot Bitcoin ($BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs. This makes them the last major US options exchanges to complete the transition.
The SEC waived its standard 30-day review period on both filings, allowing the changes to take effect immediately.
What Changed and Why It Matters for Crypto ETF Options
The rule changes cover options on 11 crypto ETF products, including BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), and Grayscale’s Bitcoin and Ethereum trusts.
The filings also remove restrictions that prevented these products from trading as FLEX options, which allow customizable strike prices and expiration dates for institutional use.
Position limits will now follow each exchange’s standard framework, based on trading volume and shares outstanding. Options on large, liquid ETFs can qualify for limits of 250,000 contracts or more under those rules.
The 25,000-contract cap was introduced as a precaution when crypto ETF options first launched in November 2024. Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted at the time that IBIT generated nearly $1.9 billion in notional exposure on its first day of options trading despite the constraint.
$1.9b is unheard of for Day One. For context, $BITO did $363m and that’s been around for four years. And also this is with 25,000 contract position limits. That said, $1.9b isn’t quite big dog level yet tho, eg $GLD did $5b today, but give it a few more days/weeks. https://t.co/nAr2rracjb
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) November 19, 2024
How Every US Exchange Aligned on Crypto ETF Options
Nasdaq ISE and Nasdaq PHLX filed to lift their caps in January 2026. MIAX followed the same month. MEMX filed in February. Cboe filed in March. With NYSE Arca and NYSE American now in, the transition is complete.
The SEC noted the proposals raise no novel regulatory concerns, pointing to identical changes already operative at rival exchanges. Comment periods remain open until April 13, but the rules are effective now.
Separately, Nasdaq ISE has a pending proposal to raise IBIT-specific position limits to 1 million contracts, which the SEC is still reviewing. If approved, that would bring IBIT closer to parity with the largest equity ETFs in the country.
What This Unlocks for Institutional Crypto Derivatives
Removing position caps enables more efficient hedging strategies, basis trades, and overlay programs for institutional desks. Access to FLEX options allows institutions to negotiate bespoke contract terms for structured products, a feature that was already standard for comparable commodity ETFs like the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) and iShares Silver Trust (SLV).
The practical effect is that crypto ETF derivatives now operate under the same infrastructure framework that has supported gold and silver options for over a decade.
For institutional participants who previously faced constraints not imposed on any other commodity class, the playing field is now level.
The shift arrives during a period of heightened macro volatility driven by the US-Iran war, surging oil prices, and fading Fed rate cut expectations.
With $BTC ETFs holding nearly $91 billion in net assets and institutional flows increasingly driving crypto price discovery, removing artificial options caps gives large allocators the tools to manage risk at the same scale they already use for precious metals and equity indices.
Bitcoin ETF Net Assets. Source: SoSoValue
Whether this translates into higher options volume and deeper liquidity for crypto ETFs will become visible in Q2 2026 trading data. The infrastructure is now in place. The capital allocation question follows.
As the cryptocurrency market enters a new week, analysts continue to share projects that investors should keep an eye on. Analyst The DeFi Investor has published a watchlist featuring altcoins and projects expected to see significant developments in the coming days.
According to the analyst’s list, one of the most notable developments of the week will be from the forecasting platform Polymarket. The project is expected to make a major announcement on March 23rd, which is considered critical to the platform’s growth strategy.
In the DeFi ecosystem, Morpho stands out. The project is reportedly preparing to launch a new DeFi product targeting fixed-rate lending markets.
On the other hand, the launch date for the BP token, part of the Backpack ecosystem, has been announced as March 26th. Another notable development on the same date will be the launch of a new trading competition for the HOME token, a perpetual trading product that utilizes the Hyperliquid infrastructure of the DeFi App.
The Base ecosystem is also under close scrutiny by investors. The recent official establishment of the Base Foundation in the Cayman Islands is interpreted as a development that strengthens the possibility of an airdrop.
The Resolv project, which recently experienced a security issue, was also included in the list. According to the analyst, details regarding the project’s recovery plan following the exploit are expected to be announced in the coming days.
Aave, one of the established projects in DeFi, has given signals regarding new lending products. The innovative lending products developed on the platform called “Tempo” are expected to be introduced soon.
In addition, Daniele Sesta’s project ANON is preparing to announce a new launchpad for AI-focused agents and a comprehensive token update next week.
Finally, the token generation event (TGE) for the USDai project, which is linked to the CHIP token, is scheduled to take place this month.
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission.
Ahead of the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special (streaming on Disney+ on March 24), brands are teaming up with Disney on official merchandise to mark the milestone. Major collectible manufacturers like Funko are joined by a selection of popular fashion and lifestyle brands, including Stoney Clover Lane, Adidas and Hollister. Last month, Zara dropped a Hannah Montana rhinestoned tee, and while the shirt sold out almost instantly upon initial release, fans can expect a restock as evidenced by the “coming soon” banner on Zara.com.
Unveiled on March 22, Stoney Clover Lane’s assortment of popstar-inspired bags, pouches, charms and patches has to be the buzziest of the bunch. And if the limited-edition Disney Princess x Stoney Clover Lane collection is any indication, the newest exclusive drop from the cult-favorite accessories brand is sure to sell out quickly.
Stoney Clover Lane x Hannah Montana Part Time Pop Star Reversible Large Everything Tote
The reversible nature of this bag delivers two totes in one. See here for the alternate print.
“Working with Stoney Clover Lane on the merch for Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary was a no brainer,” said Miley Cyrus’s mom Tish Cyrus of the partnership. Bags are currently available for pre-order on StoneyCloverLane.com and will ship in August, while patches and bag charms are ready to ship at time of publish.
The United Kingdom has slammed “reckless Iranian threats” after missiles targeted a joint United States-UK military base located on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.
Iran, however, has denied the allegations that it was behind the launch of what US media outlets said were two ballistic missiles.
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The US has not officially commented on the firing of the missiles at Diego Garcia, which is 4,000km (2,500 miles) from Iran.
The incident was reported after the US and Israel launched a war on Iran on February 28, one of whose goals, they said, was to degrade Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes.
Tehran has maintained its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes. The United Nations nuclear watchdog and US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard said Iran was not on the verge of making nuclear bombs. Contrary assertions were invoked to launch the current war.
Here is what we know about the alleged missile launch and what it means for the war:
Six US B-2 bombers and six Stratotanker refuelling planes are seen from a satellite on Diego Garcia island on April 2, 2025 [Handout/Planet Labs via AFP)
Was Diego Garcia airbase targeted by Iran?
An attempted targeting of the Diego Garcia joint military base by ballistic missiles reportedly happened between Thursday night and Friday morning, according to US media.
The Wall Street Journal and CNN reported that one of the missiles failed mid-flight while the other was hit by a US interceptor fired from a warship.
It is said to have happened just hours before UK ministers were to assemble in London to discuss the Iran war. At the meeting, the UK agreed to let the US use its military bases for collective self-defence, such as hitting Iranian missile sites used in attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
UK officials did not provide any details of the attempted Diego Garcia strikes.
Muhanad Seloom, lecturer at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that the reported Iranian attack “changes the calculus” of the war for the US.
“These missiles to Diego Garcia mean Iran has 4,000km-plus ballistic missiles, and that hasn’t been revealed before. All reports before that said Iran had a 2,000km [1,240-mile] range and not beyond that,” Seloom said.
“If you reverse the direction of these missiles, then they could reach London, so that changes the calculus not only for the US and its justification for the war but also for a reluctant London and European Union to join the war.”
A senior Iranian official told Al Jazeera that Tehran is not responsible for the alleged missile launch.
Earlier this month in an interview with the US broadcaster NBC, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected US President Donald Trump’s assertion that Tehran had developed missiles capable of reaching US territory.
“You know, we have capability to produce missiles, but we have intentionally limited ourselves to below 2,000km of range because we don’t want to be felt as a threat by anybody else in the world,” Araghchi said on March 8.
Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, an associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, said Iranian denials regarding attacks depend on their nature and their aftermath.
“I think the denial is different from the steps that Iran is taking on other fronts. Only a couple of instances when Iran denied an attack is when the strikes hit civilian infrastructure or some gas plants rather,” he told Al Jazeera.
Iran has denied attacks that Tabrizi believes would likely “provoke further action or retaliation potentially”. “It also constitutes a new crossing of a red line that it hasn’t crossed until now,” he said.
The targeting of the Diego Garcia airbase “is particularly sensitive because we know the distance of the missiles shot was more, much more than the 2,000km which Iran has previously said it kept its missiles to”.
“It signals the Iranian capability to reach far beyond 2,000km, and therefore, is something that is likely to provoke further concern and, therefore, response particularly from the UK but also from other countries,” he said.
US President Donald Trump, left, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meet during a state visit by Trump on September 18, 2025, in Aylesbury, Britain [Leon Neal/Pool via Reuters]
What has the UK said?
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper condemned “reckless” attacks by Iran after London insisted it would not be drawn into a wider conflict in the Middle East.
“Our approach to this conflict has been the same throughout. We were not and continue not to be involved in offensive action, and we’ve taken a different view from the US and Israel on this,” she said.
Cooper said Royal Air Force jets and other military assets were defending “our people and personnel in the region”. She added that any action to protect the Strait of Hormuz would amount to “collective self-defence”.
The strategic strait in effect has been blocked by Tehran, leading to a rise in global oil prices.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Keir Starmer noted on Saturday that the UK would not use a base on Cyprus for Iran-related operations after a call with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides to discuss the base’s future.
Chief of the Israeli military’s General Staff, Eyal Zamir, visits commanders and troops in Gaza [Handout/Israel’s army]
How has Israel reacted to this?
Israel’s military chief, Eyal Zamir, claimed that Iran used “a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 4,000km” to target the US-UK base in Diego Garcia.
In a video statement, Zamir said: “These missiles were not intended to hit Israel. Their range reaches the capitals of Europe. Berlin, Paris and Rome are all within direct threat range.”
Israel, a close US ally, has long said Iran’s missile and nuclear programmes pose a threat and has for decades lobbied the US to intervene militarily. But successive US administrations had resisted the pressure to launch military strikes on Iran. Instead, Washington imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Tehran to deter it from developing nuclear weapons.
Washington and Tehran have not had diplomatic relations since shortly after Iranian students took over the US embassy in Iran in 1979 and held 66 Americans hostage in the wake of the Iranian Revolution that same year.
In 2015, then-President Barack Obama signed a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief. But the landmark agreement was opposed by Israel. Trump, who succeeded Obama, withdrew unilaterally from the nuclear deal and slapped sanctions back on Iran.
In June, the US joined Israel in carrying out attacks on Iran during Israel’s 12-day war. The US hit key nuclear sites, and Trump claimed Iranian nuclear facilities were obliterated.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued his war rhetoric against Iran, even as Tehran and Washington started talks over the nuclear issue late last year. Netanyahu had lambasted Obama for failing to include Tehran’s ballistic missile programme under the 2015 deal. Tehran has ruled out bringing the missile programme to the negotiating table.
As the next round of talks was scheduled, the US and Israel attacked Iran three weeks ago, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Oman, the mediator of the recent talks, said a deal had been “within reach”.
Analysts said Netanyahu convinced Trump to start the war, which legal experts said appears to breach the UN Charter’s prohibition on aggression.
They said Israel has been emboldened after its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza because it has not been held accountable for its war crimes. Israel’s military has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and destroyed vast swaths of Gaza – home to more than two million Palestinians.
Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant for war crimes, but that has not stopped him from travelling repeatedly to the US.
Several senior members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have openly called for a “Greater Israel”, which envisions Israeli territory stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates River in Iraq.
A US B-1B Lancer awaits its next mission at a forward location in support of the US war in Afghanistan [File: Handout/US Air Force via AFP]
Why could Diego Garcia be a target?
The UK-US military airbase is home to nearly 2,500 mostly American personnel and has supported US military operations from Vietnam to Iraq, Afghanistan and strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The airbase is part of the Chagos Islands, a remote archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean, south of the tip of India, and has been under British control since 1814.
The airbase has been at the centre of a dispute between Trump and Starmer over Britain’s plans to hand sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius in the wake of a ruling by the International Court of Justice.
Trump has lashed out at European allies for not joining the war on Iran, which has expanded across the Middle East. Trump also called Western allies “cowards” after NATO nations refused to join the war, which has caused a global spike in energy costs.
Elijah Magnier, a Brussels-based military and political analyst, said the missile launch on Diego Garcia reflects a deepening of Iran’s response to the war started by the US and Israel.
“The battlefield is expanding geographically, and if that happens, the control of escalation, which the Americans want, becomes much more difficult because new elements, new locations are becoming vulnerable,” Magnier told Al Jazeera.
“This is why the Americans will have to rethink all the strategy because Iran is not trying to win a conventional war – it can’t because the Americans are much more powerful – but it’s trying to change the cost of the equation,” he said.
“By threatening a distant target, it’s a signal that any continuation of the war will come with increasingly high risk.”
Iran’s parliament speaker warns country could ‘irreversibly destroy’ vital infrastructure across the region after Trump threatens to attack power plants if Strait of Hormuz is not opened.
Published On 22 Mar 202622 Mar 2026
Iran has threatened to hit energy sites in the Middle East after United States President Donald Trump threatened to attack its power plants if Tehran does not open the Strait of Hormuz.
Critical infrastructure and energy facilities in the region could be “irreversibly destroyed” should Iranian power plants be targeted, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in comments posted on X on Sunday.
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“Immediately after power plants and infrastructure in our country are targeted, vital infrastructure as well as energy and oil infrastructure across the entire region will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed,” Ghalibaf posted.
Ghalibaf’s comments came after Trump on Saturday said the US will “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.
Qalibaf said regional infrastructure would become “legitimate targets” should Iran’s facilities be hit, and that its retaliation would increase the price of oil “for a long time”.
Earlier, a spokesman for the Iranian armed forces had said there would be retaliatory attacks on all US-linked energy and desalination facilities in the region if Iran’s power plants are hit.
Iran, which has effectively blockaded the Strait of Hormuz since the US and Israel attacked the country on February 28, says the key waterway is already open – except to the US and its allies.
The strait remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies”, Iran’s representative to the International Maritime Organization was quoted as saying in Iranian media reports published on Sunday.
The closure of the strait, a narrow choke point that carries around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, has caused the worst oil crisis since the 1970s.
Iran has also retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq, and several Gulf countries, which it says are targeting “US military assets”, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.
But the latest developments signal the war in the Middle East, now in its fourth week, could be moving in a dangerous new direction.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on world leaders to join the US-Israel war on Iran.
Speaking from the site of the Iranian attack in the southern Israeli city of Arad, he claimed some countries were already moving in that direction, as he urged broader international involvement.
Netanyahu accused Iran of targeting civilians and claimed it had the capability to strike long-range targets deep into Europe.
Meanwhile, a Turkish diplomatic source told the Reuters news agency that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held separate calls with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, and US officials to discuss steps to end the war.
Axel Adler, an analyst at the cryptocurrency analysis platform CryptoQuant, stated that although there are signs of recovery in the Coinbase Premium Index, a key indicator of investor demand in the US, a strong bullish momentum in the market has not yet been confirmed.
According to Adler’s analysis shared on the X platform, the Coinbase Premium Index recovered from its previous negative territory to neutral-weak levels during February-March 2026. This negative territory previously indicated a significant weakening in US investor demand. However, the index has not yet permanently moved into positive territory. Currently at -0.0195%, the indicator has remained negative for three consecutive days. This suggests that widespread buying appetite originating from the US has not yet materialized, and market sentiment remains cautious.
On the other hand, Adler also pointed to a notable development in the stablecoin market. He stated that the total market capitalization of USDT and USDC had rebounded from -$8.1 billion to +$4.5 billion, signaling renewed growth and indicating that liquidity was beginning to return to the market. However, he added that inflows to exchanges were still below normal levels, approximately 0.68 times.
Trump threatens to hit Iranian energy sites if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened within 48 hours; Tehran vows to retaliate.
Published On 22 Mar 202622 Mar 2026
United States President Donald Trump has threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran does not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days, as Israel launched new attacks on Tehran, with explosions reported in the east of the city.
Meanwhile, Iranian retaliatory attacks on Israel and regional countries have continued, with nearly 100 people injured in Iranian missile strikes on towns near an Israeli nuclear facility.
Israel had a “very difficult evening in the battle for our future”, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Iranian strikes hit the towns of Arad and Dimona.
Here is what you should know as the US-Israeli war on Iran enters day 23:
People look at a destroyed building in Tehran following an attack on March 21, 2026 [Alaa al-Marjani/Reuters]
In Iran
Israel launched new attacks on Tehran on Sunday, with explosions reported in the east of the city, following Iranian missile attacks on southern Israel.
Iran’s military threatened to attack all energy infrastructure linked to the US and Israel in the Middle East if its power plants are targeted, after Trump threatened new attacks.
The Iranian military announced intercepting a US-Israeli armed drone in the skies over Tehran before it could carry out any combat operations, according to the Tasnim news agency.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed on Saturday its air defences shot down an Israeli fighter in Iranian airspace, the third such incident reported during the war. Israel did not confirm this.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said Israel and the US targeted the country’s Natanz nuclear site on Saturday in “criminal attacks”. Tehran also informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about the attack, which confirmed no unusual radiation leak.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian called on the BRICS alliance, currently chaired by India, to “play an independent role in halting aggressions against Iran”. He also proposed establishing a regional security framework of West Asian countries.
Iran’s state broadcaster noted the death toll from the US-Israeli attacks has now topped 1,500, according to the Ministry of Health, and at least 20,984 people were injured, with seven hospitals evacuated and 36 ambulances damaged.
In the Gulf
Saudi Arabia intercepted nearly 60 drones from Iran, officials said, a majority of them targeting the country’s Eastern province, which houses the country’s energy facilities and resources.
The Ministry of Defence also said three ballistic missiles were launched towards Riyadh province. It said it intercepted one of those, while the others fell in an uninhabited area.
Saudi Arabia declared many of the Iranian diplomatic staff, including its military attache, persona non grata, ordering them to leave the country within 24 hours, after Qatar did the same on Wednesday.
In Bahrain, Iranian missiles targeted US bases after Iran’s state broadcaster claimed earlier attacks on al-Minhad base in the United Arab Emirates and Ali al-Salem airbase in Kuwait, which host US and British forces.
Bahrain’s military said its air defences shot down 143 missiles and 242 drones fired by Iran during the war.
Qatar’s Ministry of Defence noted a search operation after one of its helicopters suffered a technical malfunction during a routine duty and crashed in the regional waters.
US President Donald Trump waves while boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on March 20, 2026 [AFP]
In the US
Trump threatened to attack Iran’s energy sites in a post on Truth Social. “If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” he wrote.
Trump claimed that the US is “weeks ahead of schedule” in its war on Iran and reiterated that Washington is not looking to make a deal with Iran, because “their leadership is gone, their navy and air force are dead, they have absolutely no defense”.
Trump repeated that Iran wants “to make a deal”; however, Iranian leaders have denied such earlier assertions.
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the US Central Command, says the US military has dropped multiple 5,000-pound (2,270kg) bombs on an underground facility along Iran’s coast that it used to store antiship cruise missiles, mobile missile launchers and other equipment, thus undermining its ability to threaten the Strait of Hormuz.
An Israeli Orthodox Jew inspects the site of an Iranian missile attack in Arad on March 22, 2026 [AFP]
In Israel
Iranian missile attacks broke through Israeli defences in the south of the country, making direct impacts in the cities of Dimona and Arad, wounding some 100 people. The IRGC said it targeted Israeli military installations and security centres in the cities of Arad, Dimona, Eilat, Beersheba and Kiryat Gat in its most recent missile salvo. Tehran claimed more than 200 people were killed in the attacks; Israel reported no deaths.
PM Netanyahu said he is “strengthening the emergency and rescue forces currently operating in the field” after the Iranian attack in southern Israel.
The IAEA said it is aware of reports of a missile impact in the Israeli city of Dimona, adding that there are no indications of damage to the nuclear research centre in Negev.
Israel’s Ministry of Education cancelled all in-person classes across the country for Sunday and Monday. Israel’s Home Front Command banned gatherings of more than 50 people in the country’s south until Tuesday.
Israel’s military says it struck more than 200 sites in Iran and Lebanon over the weekend, targeting missile launchers, air defence systems and military bases.
Israeli military spokesman said Israel’s air defence systems were activated during the attacks, but failed to intercept some of the missiles, even though they were not “special or unfamiliar”. The spokesman said the military would investigate and “learn from” the incidents.
Israel’s Ministry of Health said at least 4,292 injured people have been brought to hospitals since the start of the war.
In Iraq and Lebanon
Hezbollah said it fired a barrage of rockets at Israeli soldiers patrolling in southern Lebanon. Two Israeli reservists were wounded in another Hezbollah mortar attack in northern Israel.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it carried out 21 attacks against US bases across the country and the region in the past 24 hours.
Three drones were intercepted near Erbil airport, resulting in a fire in the vicinity. Another drone crashed in the al-Sayyidah area, southwest of the capital, Baghdad, with four people injured.
A satellite view of Qeshm Island in Hormozgan province, Iran, within the Strait of Hormuz region on January 17, 2026 [Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2026]
On the Strait of Hormuz
The UAE, Bahrain, the United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a joint statement, condemning what they described as Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels and civilian infrastructure in the Gulf.
The statement accused Iran of the “de facto closure” of the Strait of Hormuz and called for an immediate halt to threats, mine-laying, and drone and missile attacks.
Joint US-UK Diego Garcia base
The UK accused Iran of launching ballistic missiles at the joint US-UK Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean, but said the attack was unsuccessful.
A senior Iranian official told Al Jazeera that Iran was not responsible for the missile attacks on Diego Garcia.
Diego Garcia, which is about 4,000km (2,500 miles) from Iranian territory, is one of the two bases the UK has allowed the US to use for “defensive operations” in the war against Iran.
The White House proposed federal AI standards while preserving key state enforcement powers.
The framework aims to avoid creating a new AI regulator, relying instead on existing agencies and courts.
The plan also focuses on child safety, free speech, infrastructure, and copyright disputes.
The White House on Friday released a sweeping national policy framework for artificial intelligence, outlining recommendations to Congress that would set national standards for AI while relying on existing federal agencies—rather than creating a new regulator.
The proposal comes as states move ahead with their own AI laws, which the Trump administration has criticized as a burdensome “patchwork” of requirements for companies.
“The Trump Administration is committed to winning the AI race to usher in a new era of human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security for the American people,” the White House said in a statement. “Achieving these goals requires a commonsense national policy framework that both enables American industry to innovate and thrive and ensures that all Americans benefit from this technological revolution.”
The framework urges Congress to set national AI rules that address child safety, innovation, free speech, and intellectual property, while preempting state laws it views as burdensome. It also says those federal standards should not override states’ existing authority to enforce laws on issues like fraud, consumer protection, and child sexual abuse material.
While some praised the framework for urging Congress to pass federal regulations, advocacy groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation questioned the details.
“The framework proposes a few ideas that would be disastrous, such as barring states from enacting protections for their residents, imposing age-verification requirements on AI platforms and services, and creating a new federal publicity right,” EFF Legal Director Corynne McSherry told Decrypt. “Given the high level of the framework, the devil will be in the details.”
The Center for Democracy and Technology said the proposal includes “some sound statements of principles,” but does not resolve competing priorities.
“Its usefulness to lawmakers is limited by its internal contradictions and failure to grapple with key tensions between various approaches to important topics like kids’ online safety,” CDT Vice President of Policy Samir Jain said in a statement shared with Decrypt.
Jain also said the framework contradicted the White House’s own position on government influence over AI platforms.
“It rightly says that the government should not coerce AI companies to ban or alter content based on ‘partisan or ideological agendas,’ yet the administration’s ‘woke AI’ executive order does exactly that,” he said.
The framework follows earlier efforts by the Trump administration to curb state-level AI regulation. In November, a draft executive order outlined steps to challenge state laws and restrict funding to those that enacted laws that were seen as contradictory to the order.
Despite the administration’s attempts to set a federal standard, states have continued to pass their own measures. In October, California enacted SB 243, which would require AI companion chatbots to identify themselves and restrict certain interactions with minors while imposing disclosure rules on large developers.
The White House’s framework also said parents should be given more control over how children interact with AI systems, and that Congress should enact better protections against abuse.
“The administration is calling on Congress to give parents tools to effectively do that, such as account controls to protect their children’s privacy and manage their device use,” the White House said. “The administration also believes that AI platforms likely to be accessed by minors should implement features to reduce potential sexual exploitation of children or encouragement of self-harm.”
The administration also said that while it views AI training on copyrighted material as lawful, it believes courts should decide the issue, adding that Congress “should not take any actions that would impact the judiciary’s resolution of whether training on copyrighted material constitutes fair use.”
The proposal also calls for a federal law to protect individuals from unauthorized AI-generated deepfakes, expanding on a bipartisan law signed by Trump last year that made non-consensual intimate images and deepfake porn a federal crime. The new framework, however, comes with exceptions for parody, satire, news reporting, and “other expressive works protected by the First Amendment.”
The plan ties AI policy to infrastructure and economic goals, including faster permitting for data centers and ensuring residential electricity costs do not rise as a result of AI infrastructure buildout under a proposed “Ratepayer Protection Pledge.” It also calls for expanded use of on-site and behind-the-meter power generation to support data center development and improve grid reliability, along with incentives to expand AI adoption and access to federal datasets.
Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen called the proposal “a national framework to protect Big Tech at the expense of everyday Americans.”
“It is an extraordinary payback to the Big Tech companies that have lined up to throw pocket change at Trump’s inauguration, and for his ballroom, and for the Melania movie, and to settle bad faith lawsuits and more,” co-president Robert Weissman said in a statement shared with Decrypt.
Weissman said the focus on preempting state laws could leave gaps in oversight, arguing that without new federal standards, limiting state action would reduce regulation. He pointed to ongoing state efforts addressing issues such as deepfakes, AI companions, and algorithmic decision-making.
“This is a disgraceful proposal that, happily, will be dead on arrival in Congress,” Weissman said. “It does, however, show yet again that Donald Trump aligns his interests with the biggest corporations and the billionaire class, not those of the American people.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication to include comment from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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It is rare to see British sketch comedy on television. In fact, British comedy on television is so rare that the genre has been deemed “at risk” in recent years. So, naturally, you would have thought that the launch of “Saturday Night Live U.K.” — overseen by legendary executive producer Lorne Michaels, with a heavy investment in a new generation of acting and writing talent — would be welcomed by Brits with open arms. Right? Right?!
Question. Have you met the British?
In reality, there was so much cynicism shared by British viewers online in the run up to Sky One’s first episode on Saturday that it felt like it needed Danny Boyle Opening Ceremony level of turnaround to make it work. The promos ahead certainly did not do “SNL U.K.” any favors. An unremarkable skit with host Tina Fey pretending to be Mary Poppins. A photoshoot of the new players posing next to a London bus stop. An underground advert with the show written out in baked beans on toast. All of this together gave the impression that “SNL U.K.” was going to be made by American tourists making assumptions on British comedy rather than a reflection of what it currently is; its eight-episode run the TV equivalent of taking a photo in a phonebox next to Big Ben before dining in an Angus Steakhouse.
Thankfully, “Saturday Night Live U.K.” largely took the basics of what makes the U.S. version successful — sketch comedy, rotating guest hosts and the unpredictability of live television — and left the Brits to it. That’s where it works. Overseen by former “Late Late Show With James Corden” producer James Longman, the sketches are darker and more surreal than its U.S. counterpart, the comedy much more deadpan. Even if all the sketch itself doesn’t work (hey, they kept that feature too) there’s enough one-liners to keep you going and try out the next.
“I’m David Attenborough… and it can’t be long now,” quipped George Fouracres as the legendary British broadcaster. This was only minutes after he was a spineless Keir Starmer, saying “I’ll do anything, I’ll try anything, except take a stand.” On Weekend Update, the legendary spoof headlines segment, Paddy Young and Ania Magliano did a pitch-perfect bit on influencers fleeing Dubai, with Young joking “but I must stress though, it isn’t all good news.”Hammed Animashaun also delivered a cutting take on film junkets with agonizingly enthusiastic influencer interviewers.
With the U.S. version launching the careers of Bill Murray, Maya Rudolph and Will Ferrell, the U.K. iteration also has the potential to turn the cast into household names. Player Jack Shep seems one to look out for, pulling off a Diana impression so good that when the sketch itself didn’t land you didn’t care. Within minutes, he was in another as a dancing baby fetus. No idea what that was about either, but because of Jack I didn’t mind.
The weakest part of “SNL U.K.” is, well, the “Saturday Night Live” part. Fey promised at the top to not get in the way of the new British cast, but then was in nearly every sketch. She’s great, I mean she’s literally Tina Fey, but with such a presence and having so many lines it resulted in fewer opportunities for us to get to know the new British players, who are the reason why we’re supposed to be tuning into this in the first place.
The monologue at the top of the show also consisted of the typical American shock that on British television you can say swears such as “shitbird” and “bollocks,” when on the U.S. version you can’t even though it airs late. This was then followed by Michael Cera making a surprise cameo just to say “shitbird” and “bollocks.” Hardly revolutionary. Have you met us? By the time Graham Norton came on stage followed by Fey and Norton reciting British catchphrases, ending with them both yelling the advert “Autoglass repair” “AUTOGLASS REPLACE,” you were left wondering why Norton has not been confirmed to be a guest host, considering he’s such a familiar presence here.
I think this gets to the heart of an issue “SNL U.K.” has: who is this exactly for? The set looks American, the pacing of some of the sketches feel American, and the fact it lasted nearly 75 minutes (when British audiences usually love their comedy no longer than 60 cos we’re tired) feels awfully American. At times, watching this feels like visiting a branch of Five Guys. It’s fine, but it’s not like eating in America. If this show is just to celebrate a U.S. institution that a large proportion of Brits have never tuned into and won’t apart from a few viral clips, after the initial hype dies down it’ll fall flat on its face. Yet, if it is left to confidently find its own feet, leaning into something more British and inherently surreal — such as Cilla Black impressions and William Shakespeare turning up on a beeping, stolen lime bike before saying “cunty little earring” — it’ll have a hope.
And, market it as one of the only places you can watch live comedy and music at a time on British TV when there’s shockingly little of both, and they might be onto a winner.
The first-ever edition of “Saturday Night Live U.K.,” which aired from 10 p.m. on pay TV channel Sky One, drew a solid 226,000 viewers.
The show, which starred Tina Fey, and also featured Graham Norton, and was overseen by executive producer Lorne Michaels, had a 3.2% share of the TV audience at the time, according to official BARB figures supplied by overnights.tv.
It beat Channel 4 in the same slot, which had screened “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” with 215,000 viewing. The “SNL U.K.” performance was almost four times that achieved by “A League of Their Own,” Sky’s biggest entertainment show, and surpassed the U.S. version of “SNL” on Sky Comedy channel, which took 5,000 last week.
The news on BBC One led the 10 p.m. time period with almost 2 million viewers and a 25% share.
Variety reviewer Scott Bryan was generally upbeat when assessing the show.
“Thankfully, ‘Saturday Night Live U.K.’ largely took the basics of what makes the U.S. version successful — sketch comedy, rotating guest hosts and the unpredictability of live television — and left the Brits to it. That’s where it works,” he wrote, adding “the sketches are darker and more surreal than its U.S. counterpart, the comedy much more deadpan.”
He concluded, “Market it as one of the only places you can watch live comedy and music at a time on British TV when there’s shockingly little of both, and they might be onto a winner.”
Critical reaction elsewhere was also (tentatively) positive. The Independent’s Nick Hilton gave it three stars out of five, commenting it had “some hits, some misses, and a bang-on Princess Di impression.”
Hilton applauded the show’s “willingness to push the envelope, to risk bad taste.”
He added, “Borrowing a beloved American format might feel a bit stale, but there are notes of new ingredients that could offer something fresh.”
The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan gave it the same score. “The general feeling, I think, will be that the inaugural episode of ‘Saturday Night Live U.K.’ […] did work,” she said.
“It could have been a lot, lot worse,” she added. “And it could have been a lot better… honestly – it felt refreshing to see an ambition/piece of madness like retooling a legacy U.S. brand for this septic isle even being attempted.”
Charlotte Ivers in the Sunday Times welcomed the edgier humor. “There’s something quite refreshing about seeing TV comedians really push close to the line,” she said, before adding, “Sadly, in many cases the jokes don’t live up to the risk.”
