Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on September 17 that Moscow regards the US sanctions bill against Russia as an unfriendly act. He warned that once the new sanctions take effect they will further complicate efforts to find a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, adding that Russia is monitoring the situation around the bill.

TREE NEWS update: A US House committee advanced a bill to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, passing it on a party-line split. A substitute text adopted before the vote stripped out Federal Reserve funding routes and thinned the transparency rules. The measure now moves forward with narrower financing and disclosure provisions.

TREE NEWS update: The House Financial Services Committee voted 28-21 to advance the American Reserve Modernization Act, a bill that would write President Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into law. The legislation mandates a 20-year bitcoin lockup and places custody of the reserve with the Treasury. It now heads to the House floor.

TREE NEWS reports: Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan has revised his outlook on the Clarity Act, saying the crypto bull market may continue even without the legislation passing. Hougan noted bitcoin climbed above $80,000 in early September despite declining odds of the bill passing this year.

TREE NEWS update: People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Xuan Changneng met PayPal Global Executive Vice President Allen on September 15, the central bank said. The two sides exchanged views on global financial markets, payment systems and PayPal’s business operations in China.

TREE NEWS update: Revolut said it has received no direct contact from hackers despite competing breach claimants issuing separate ransom demands of $3 million in Monero and 10,000 Bitcoin. The fintech’s statement follows the public demands, which it said did not come through direct channels. No further details on the claims were provided.

TREE NEWS update: The World Data Organization set up five specialized committees on Sept. 17 covering healthcare, shipping and trade digitalization, open-source data communities, China-ASEAN data cooperation and energy. Its secretariat will follow the council’s resolution and charter procedures to accelerate their formation. The body, headquartered in Beijing, was formed on March 30 as the first international professional organization dedicated to data development and governance.

TREE NEWS update: The UK Financial Conduct Authority, working with HM Revenue & Customs and the Metropolitan Police, raided three suspected illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading venues across London and issued cease-and-desist notices ordering the operators to stop unregistered crypto activity immediately. The FCA said anyone conducting commercial P2P crypto buying and selling in the UK must complete anti-money-laundering registration, and that no P2P crypto trading business is currently FCA-registered.

TREE NEWS reports: South Korean police referred 18 Polymarket users to prosecutors as part of a gambling probe covering 26 people and $12.7 million in bets. The referral escalates a case testing how prediction-market platforms are treated under the country’s gambling laws.

TREE NEWS update: China published three cybersecurity standard practice guides on September 15 covering block erasure for semiconductor storage media, information erasure in electronics recycling, and data erasure on mobile smart terminals. The guides support implementation of mandatory national standard GB 46864-2025 on data security technical requirements for electronics information erasure. Under the guidance of the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the national cybersecurity standards committee secretariat organized more than 30 storage chip makers, electronics manufacturers, recyclers and third-party institutions to draft them.

TREE NEWS update: The Moscow Exchange will list five crypto index perpetual futures on Sept 22, 2026, covering BTCUSDF, ETHUSDF, SOLUSDF, XRPUSDF and TRXUSDF. The contracts are cash-settled with no physical delivery, priced in US dollars and settled in rubles, and open only to qualified investors. More than 72,000 qualified investors have traded its crypto futures since the first batch launched last summer, with cumulative volume above 600 billion rubles.

TREE NEWS update: Shanghai added 12 generative AI services to its registration list as of September 17, bringing the city’s cumulative total of registered generative AI services to 236. The figures were disclosed by the Cyberspace Administration of Shanghai. China requires generative AI services offered to the public to complete registration with local cyberspace authorities.

TREE NEWS update: Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao held a video meeting with European Commission Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič to discuss China-EU economic and trade issues. The talks took place at the EU side’s request. No further details of the discussion were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Turkey’s Capital Markets Board has ordered the liquidation of funds managed by Tera, Pusula, Hedef, Atlas, A1, Pardus and Bulls, halting all buying and selling in those funds. The funds will be wound down under the regulator’s rules. The board also cut the minimum equity maintenance ratio for margin trading from 35% to 20%.

TREE NEWS reports: North Korean hackers have upgraded their infiltration playbook by recruiting third-country IT workers — including from Iran and Lebanon — via LinkedIn and paying them about $500 a month in cryptocurrency to sit interviews on their behalf, then taking over the hired remote roles themselves. The tactic, detailed in a July 31 joint advisory by the US State Department and FBI with 11 allied nations, lets them steal crypto assets, code and sensitive data while routing salaries back to Pyongyang.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Commerce said it will not engage in megaphone diplomacy or a war of words in response to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s promotion of the “China Shock 2.0” narrative. Spokesperson He Yadong told a regular press conference in Beijing on Thursday afternoon that China has noted the situation and that its position remains consistent and clear.

TREE NEWS update: China’s foreign ministry pushed back on September 17 after the US Congress passed a bill authorizing President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil products. Spokesman Guo Jiakun said China conducts normal trade and economic cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and that such cooperation targets no third party and is not subject to third-party interference or coercion. He said China consistently opposes long-arm jurisdiction without a basis in international law or UN Security Council authorization.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Commerce said on the 17th that it is highly concerned about the European Commission’s draft Public Procurement Law, which includes a ‘Europe First’ clause and requires security-related non-market factors in bid evaluation, excluding or restricting non-compliant third-country firms. Spokesperson He Yadong urged the EU to follow WTO rules, keep markets open and revise the discriminatory provisions, saying Beijing will monitor the legislative process and assess the impact.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Commerce said on the 17th that Chinese and US trade teams remain in close communication on issues including a $30 billion mutual tariff reduction arrangement. Spokesperson He Yadong told a regular press briefing that further progress will be released in due course.

TREE NEWS update: The Moscow Exchange, Russia’s largest stock exchange, will launch perpetual futures contracts tied to indexes of BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP and TRX on September 22. The contracts will be available only to qualified investors, the exchange said.