Flash News

TREE NEWS update: China’s Foreign Ministry declined to confirm whether it has fully resumed rare earth supplies to the United States, after a US official said last week the commitment made during earlier talks had not been fully implemented. Spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular briefing that specific questions should be directed to Chinese competent authorities, adding that Beijing is committed to the stability and security of global critical minerals supply chains. He did not say whether China would extend the November 10 deadline for expanded rare earth export restrictions.

TREE NEWS update: Liu Liehong, Party secretary and director of China’s National Data Administration, inspected Gansu province from September 16 to 17, 2026, visiting PetroChina Lanzhou Petrochemical, Yongcheng Hengyi, China Electronics Wanwei and Silk Road Information Port (Gansu Data Group). A symposium in Lanzhou drew participation from Lanzhou and Qingyang municipal authorities, the provincial development and reform commission, Kingsoft Cloud, China Mobile Gansu, Beijing Qinhuai Data, China Energy Engineering Green Digital Technology and Zhichuang Lantu (Gansu), which briefed on their work.

TREE NEWS update: Canada’s International Trade Tribunal terminated its second sunset review of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and laminates originating in or imported from China on Sept. 17, revoking the duty orders. The Canada Border Services Agency will no longer collect the anti-dumping and countervailing duties on the products covered.

TREE NEWS update: The Bank of Korea has launched a pilot network that lets foreign investors settle won transactions during business hours in their home countries, moving beyond the current window tied to Korean trading hours. The system is aimed at cross-border securities settlement for overseas investors.

TREE NEWS reports: The Federal Reserve and the Bank of England have stepped up scrutiny of banks’ exposure to trading firms following huge losses at Wall Street quantitative trading giant Jane Street. The two central banks are examining how lenders manage counterparty risk tied to such trading companies.

TREE NEWS update: Kalshi’s crypto lead IcoBeast.eth rejected claims that the exchange fabricated perpetuals trading volume, saying the Artemis chart cited was prediction market share, not perpetuals. Kalshi pays no rebates on crypto prediction markets, and its notional contract calculation matches Polymarket’s, making the two directly comparable. Self-clearing members are not appointed by Kalshi, but open to anyone meeting CFTC requirements, he said.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with the Supreme People’s Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, Ministry of Public Security and State Administration for Market Regulation, issued a notice to intensify supervision of environmental technology service institutions and crack down on data falsification. The notice calls for stricter, normalized oversight and tighter market order in environmental monitoring and related services.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Data Administration has begun issuing its first batch of data property rights registration certificates, with 56 companies and institutions receiving proof of their data holding, use and operating rights. The move follows the 15th Five-Year Plan’s call to build a unified national data property rights registration system. The certificates were reported on 21st.

TREE NEWS update: Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, the Chinese lead on economic and trade talks, met US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in New York on September 20 local time. The two sides discussed implementing consensus from previous rounds of trade consultations and promoting bilateral trade and investment, and held a dialogue on artificial intelligence-related issues.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Commerce announced that the 5th Global Digital Trade Expo will be held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, from September 23 to 27, 2026. Premier Li Qiang will attend the opening ceremony and related events and deliver a speech, ministry spokesperson He Yadong said.

TREE NEWS reports: North Korean cyber group WaterPlum targeted developers with fake job offers at crypto, AI and NFT companies, infecting at least 30,000 devices across more than 100 countries and stealing $10.7 million in crypto. The campaign used fraudulent recruiters to compromise developer machines.

TREE NEWS update: The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said the People’s Bank of China will issue 60 billion yuan of six-month central bank bills in Hong Kong. The HKMA announced the planned issuance, which adds to the PBOC’s regular offshore yuan bill sales in the city. No pricing or settlement date was given in the statement.

TREE NEWS update: Economists at the 2026 Tsinghua PBCSF Chief Economist Forum on September 19 called for deeper reform and opening of China’s capital markets under the 15th Five-Year Plan. They cited rising resilience in the A-share market and continued inflows of long-term capital as key supports, and urged better rules to attract foreign entities to use the renminbi for cross-border investment and financing.

TREE NEWS update: Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will lead a delegation to the United States for economic and trade consultations from September 19 to 23, China’s Commerce Ministry said. The announcement came as China’s loan prime rate stayed unchanged for a 16th straight month, and Warren Buffett formally stepped down as Berkshire Hathaway chairman, completing the handover of the company’s top governance roles after ceding the CEO post earlier this year.

TREE NEWS update: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang accused Ray Dalio and Sam Altman of using ‘runaway AI’ narratives to avoid massive litigation risk under current laws. Huang said: ‘Don’t let this doomer narrative allow them to be exempt from existing laws. Read between the lines: they’re not actually asking for new laws, they want to escape the legal constraints we already have.’

TREE NEWS update: The US Treasury’s OFAC sanctioned Tehran-based crypto exchange BitBank, saying it moved hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. OFAC said BitBank is controlled by Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, designated in January, who used the platform for transfers between June and July under Executive Order 13902. The action also covers Pishtaz Simorgh, BitBank’s software developer, and three executives of its parent Dot One. OFAC did not publish wallet addresses.

TREE NEWS update: Visa is shutting down a checkout loophole, supported by crypto payment infrastructure firm Crossmint, that let users buy meme coins with credit cards while transactions were classified under merchant category codes for digital media such as ebooks, films and music. Visa has told processors including Checkout.com to stop using the code for meme coin purchases, with a grace period expected to end next week. Meme coin buys must then be treated as crypto transactions under Visa’s rules.

TREE NEWS update: Visa is moving to stop meme coin purchases from being coded as ordinary “digital media” and earning credit card rewards. The change follows banks’ failed push for tighter stablecoin rules under the Clarity Act, and marks a narrower win for JPMorgan. The reclassification would cut off rewards on meme coin transactions processed through card networks.

TREE NEWS update: US Senator Cynthia Lummis said Democrats had demanded audited financial statements from crypto projects raising more than $25 million from the public, a requirement written into the CLARITY Act — yet Democrats ultimately voted against advancing the bill. The Senate held a procedural vote on September 15 to move the CLARITY Act forward, which failed.