Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Alipay, JD.com and Meituan customer service said their monthly-pay products such as Huabei, JD Baitiao and Meituan Monthly Pay remain usable, after a claim that platforms would drop the payment option trended on Weibo. The platforms said they will adjust how the checkout page displays the options in line with regulatory requirements. A reporter’s test found the checkout page layout is being split.

TREE NEWS update: China’s rules on online marketing of financial products, issued by eight departments including the People’s Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, take effect on September 30. As of September 17, internet platforms and licensed financial institutions were accelerating self-inspections and rectification against unlicensed marketing, misleading marketing and incomplete disclosure.

TREE NEWS update: CFTC staff said any provider of “passive software” meeting the conditions of the relief Phantom won in March can now offer regulated perpetual futures without a broker license. One condition requires every registered venue or broker the software plugs into to sign an undertaking accepting joint liability for what the software does.

TREE NEWS update: Disney has asked a US judge to block the Federal Communications Commission from conducting an early review of its broadcast licenses. The company argues the move is necessary because President Donald Trump has continued to issue threats. The filing does not specify further details of the requested relief or a hearing date.

TREE NEWS update: Police in Gangwon, South Korea, booked 26 people on suspicion of illegal gambling and referred 18 of them to prosecutors, tracing their wallets through public blockchain records because the platform holds no list of Korean users. The 26 users staked crypto worth about 17.6 billion won on Polymarket.

TREE NEWS update: Crypto.com’s Nadex exchange registered by written notice to list single-stock futures in the US, an effective-on-filing step that required no SEC approval and names no specific product in the SEC release. Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek has said the single-stock perpetuals the company wants next would need both SEC and CFTC sign-off.

TREE NEWS update: Rebecca Burch, US Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs, said her role in OECD digital tax discussions is not to negotiate a solution but to assess whether an answer exists that benefits the United States. She made the remarks at an online meeting of the International Fiscal Association’s US branch.

TREE NEWS update: The Clarity Act failed in the Senate on Tuesday, with a 49-50 vote falling short of the 60 needed to begin debate; no Democrats voted to proceed. The collapse came after a year of negotiations and 126 changes aimed at winning Democratic support for the industry’s largest regulatory push. Crypto stocks including Coinbase reacted immediately.

TREE NEWS update: The CFTC issued a no-action letter allowing certain software providers to connect users to regulated derivatives markets without registering as brokers. The relief covers crypto apps whose software routes users to CFTC-regulated venues, removing a registration hurdle that had deterred such offerings. The agency did not specify which providers qualify.

TREE NEWS update: The US Treasury sanctioned Iranian crypto exchange BitBank over alleged bitcoin transfers to the IRGC. Treasury said the previously sanctioned Hormuz Safe platform used BitBank to transfer payments collected since June. The action targets a channel the US says moved funds to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

TREE NEWS update: European Commission official Benjamin Angel said the EU aims to complete a full overhaul of its tax reporting rules by the end of this year and pass a separate bill simplifying EU tax rules by the end of 2027. Speaking at an online meeting of the International Fiscal Association’s US branch, the Commission’s director for direct taxation said the omnibus simplification proposal would exempt large multinational groups from some EU anti-avoidance rules.

TREE NEWS update: China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Fu Cong, voted against a Security Council draft resolution extending the mandate of the Iran Sanctions Committee’s expert panel, speaking after the vote on 17th. Fu said China opposed pushing through the restoration of sanctions on Iran in the Security Council, citing the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and the stalled political process on the Iranian nuclear issue. He said the Council must avoid double standards, political manipulation and pressure tactics.

TREE NEWS update: The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has expanded regulatory relief for passive trading software providers, a move that could let crypto wallets and other apps offer access to regulated derivatives and prediction markets without registering as introducing brokers. The agency’s action eases registration requirements for software that routes orders but does not handle customer funds or exercise discretion.

TREE NEWS reports: The final Clarity Act text removed all references to the federal unlicensed money transmitting statute, leaving developers with civil protection but no criminal shield, Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone said on Unchained. Carbone said he cannot say how much further the industry should be willing to give, signaling the sector may be done conceding on the bill.

TREE NEWS update: The United States is sanctioning eight entities and three individuals as part of the Trump administration’s push to end what it calls the Cuban regime’s malign activities, the State Department said in a fact sheet. The action targets Cuba’s nickel mining system and its military-industrial complex, and lists state-owned mining company Pinares SA among the sanctioned organizations. Treasury described some of the sanctioned entities as state-owned research and experimental development institutions.

TREE NEWS update: Newly unsealed court documents show that executives at OpenAI and Microsoft acknowledged their AI tools can substitute for articles published by outlets such as The New York Times, and conceded the technology poses a threat to journalism. The filings emerged in the ongoing litigation over AI training on news content.

TREE NEWS update: Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang called for lawmakers to impose liability rules and waiting periods on frontier AI firms, and floated an AI kill switch, citing new cyber and labor concerns raised by autonomous agents. Yang said the measures should apply to companies developing the most advanced AI models. He has not introduced legislation or announced a formal policy proposal.

TREE NEWS update: The US Federal Aviation Administration will roll out an AI-supported air traffic management tool, with the release expected as soon as next Monday. The agency has not disclosed further details of the system or the scope of its deployment.

TREE NEWS reports: The CLARITY Act is not dead after failing a key Senate vote, but its path forward is narrowing with time running short and Democrats still demanding changes. The crypto market structure bill now faces a shrinking window to secure the support needed to advance.