Flash News

TREE NEWS update: VanEck has asked the U.S. SEC to withdraw the registration statement for its proposed VanEck Lido Staked ETH ETF, saying it no longer intends to proceed with the offering. The registration never took effect and no shares were issued or sold. The fund was designed to hold Lido’s liquid staking token stETH; VanEck filed its S-1 in October 2025 and was the first issuer to seek a U.S. ETF tied to stETH. VanEck did not disclose a reason for the withdrawal.

TREE NEWS update: The US SEC has approved Cboe to list binary options contracts tied to listed companies’ key performance indicators, covering more than 100 metrics across 23 companies, including Coinbase trading volume, MARA bitcoin production and Robinhood customer counts and revenue. Robinhood expects to be the first broker to offer the product to retail investors and said it will waive commissions through year-end. Cboe and Robinhood had planned an October launch; no specific date has been announced.

TREE NEWS reports: A US index tracking crypto and crypto-related equities closed down 8.06% at 59.99 points. Over the past 24 hours, spot bitcoin fell 2.04% to $81,658.81, turning lower after US CPI inflation data was released. Spot ether dropped 3.81% to $2,412.308.

TREE NEWS update: Marc Vanlerberghe has resigned as Algorand’s marketing chief, following the departures of the blockchain network’s CEO and CTO. The exit comes as new CEO William Herkelrath reviews initiatives and partnerships with the aim of making Algorand self-sustaining.

TREE NEWS update: Industry-aligned organizations are pushing for summary judgment on the merits against Illinois’ 0.2% tax on crypto assets, after state officials already agreed to a six-month pause on implementation. The groups argue the merits of the case rather than the delay. No ruling date was given.

TREE NEWS update: Patrick Witt has left his position as the White House’s top crypto adviser, ending his tenure in the administration’s digital-asset policy role. The departure comes as the Clarity Act, a market-structure bill for digital assets, remains stalled. No successor or effective date was disclosed in the material.

TREE NEWS update: Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has agreed to acquire Lithuania’s Saldo Bank, which reported €196.9 million in assets at the end of June. The deal is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approval. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

TREE NEWS reports: Payments through Coinbase’s x402 protocol surged from about 1,500 in mid-2025 to more than 138 million by Q3 2026. U.S. wallets dominated spending on AI models, and most transactions were tiny. The data marks a sharp jump in machine-to-machine payments settled on-chain.

TREE NEWS update: Stellar announced native Chainlink data services for DeFi applications, giving developers on the network access to Chainlink’s oracle feeds. The news did not lift the token: XLM dropped 4% and its seven-day loss reached 7.85%, lagging both Bitcoin and Ether.

TREE NEWS reports: US stocks closed lower on October 15, with the Dow down 0.13%, the Nasdaq down 1.85% and the S&P 500 down 1.07%. Crypto-linked names led the decline: MARA fell 10.16%, Riot Platforms (RIOT) 10.05%, Robinhood (HOOD) 8.76%, SKHY 6.01%, Strategy (MSTR) 5.92% and AMD 5.73%.

TREE NEWS update: Patrick Witt has left his role as executive director of the White House crypto council after his secondment term expired, the White House confirmed by email. An official thanked Witt for his contributions to the Trump administration and wished him well. The confirmation followed three unanswered inquiries over the past week about whether Witt still held the post.

TREE NEWS update: Sberbank has won approval to trade Bitcoin under Russia’s new crypto law, holding both custody and exchange status. The state-owned lender plans to bring Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT to apps used by 110 million retail clients.

TREE NEWS update: Solana will activate its Alpenglow upgrade on October 21, replacing the network’s TowerBFT voting system. The change targets finality of 150 milliseconds, down from 12.8 seconds, and removes vote transactions from blocks entirely. The upgrade marks a major overhaul of Solana’s consensus mechanics.

TREE NEWS reports: On-chain analysis firm Specter has linked ETH inflows received by ProveX in January to funds previously tied to Heart. The receiving address was published by Heart for a campaign that warned participants their coins could be sold and they would receive no benefit. Specter’s findings connect the January transfers to those earlier Heart-linked funds.

TREE NEWS update: The EU has classified Circle’s USDC as a “significant” e-money token under MiCA, placing the second-largest stablecoin by market cap under the oversight of French and EU authorities. The designation triggers stricter supervisory requirements for the issuer. Circle has not commented on the classification.

TREE NEWS reports: Bastion Trading, a major shareholder in SkyAI, is pressing the company over its Solana holdings after its SOL treasury shrank 70% in under a month, with 400,000 SOL unexplained. The investor said it will not tender its shares at $3 and is seeking $3.50 a share.

TREE NEWS update: Brooklyn prosecutors and the FBI seized 112 servers and shut down 241 websites tied to crypto investment scams targeting Russian-speaking Americans, authorities said. The network stole tens of millions of dollars from victims. The operation dismantled the infrastructure behind the fraudulent investment schemes.

TREE NEWS update: Kalshi CEO said prediction markets make it easier to identify bad actors, defending the platform as insider trading concerns mount. The head of one of the largest prediction market platforms characterized such conduct as committing a crime in broad daylight. The remarks come as scrutiny of trading activity on prediction markets intensifies.

TREE NEWS update: Standard Chartered has received regulatory approval in Dubai to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum trading to affluent clients, letting them buy BTC and ETH directly from their bank accounts. Custody and settlement will be handled in-house by the British bank.

TREE NEWS reports: Moody’s Ratings said US private credit borrowers are avoiding defaults by deferring interest payments and extending maturities, potentially masking the extent of credit stress. The default rate among private credit borrowers Moody’s assessed was 4% in the 12 months to June, but rises to 5.8% when payment-in-kind amendments and maturity extensions are included. Recent financial statements show 17% of borrowers are using payment-in-kind, which lets companies add interest to outstanding debt instead of paying cash.