Flash News

TREE NEWS update: The US House of Representatives passed a small business bankruptcy bill that raises the debt ceiling for eligibility for bankruptcy relief. The legislation now moves forward after clearing the chamber. The bill’s passage marks a step in expanding access to bankruptcy protection for smaller firms.

TREE NEWS update: The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority published guidance setting out which crypto activities may require authorization, as firms prepare for the country’s incoming digital asset regulatory regime. The guidance lands ahead of a September application window, when crypto firms will be able to seek permission under the new framework.

TREE NEWS update: The Federal Open Market Committee voted 12-0 to raise the federal funds rate target range by 25 basis points to 3.75%-4%, the Fed said in its September 16 policy statement. The committee said economic activity is expanding at a solid pace, job gains have kept pace with the labor force and inflation remains elevated. The move is intended to support a more timely return to the committee’s 2% inflation goal.

TREE NEWS update: SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said Wednesday they will proceed with writing crypto rules without the CLARITY Act, after the Senate blocked the bill. Selig said the CFTC is “locked in and ready to ship its rules for the new frontier of finance,” while Atkins said the SEC will “act decisively within the SEC’s statutory authority.” Both posted the statements to X within two hours of each other.

TREE NEWS update: Federal Reserve Chair Warsh said the Fed is currently not providing forward guidance and will not pre-judge any future FOMC monetary policy decisions. The remark signals the central bank will keep its options open rather than signal its next rate move in advance.

TREE NEWS update: CFTC Chair Mike Selig said the agency is “locked in and ready to ship its rules for the new frontier of finance,” as the SEC and CFTC prepare to advance crypto rules while the Clarity Act stalls in the Senate. Selig framed the push as “go time” for the regulators.

TREE NEWS update: A bipartisan House committee advanced legislation to reshape federal tax rules for digital assets, voting 38-5. The bill would rewrite treatment of stablecoins, staking, crypto lending and digital asset transactions. The measure now moves forward in the House legislative process.

TREE NEWS update: The House Ways and Means Committee voted to advance crypto tax legislation, sending the first federal crypto tax framework to the full House for consideration. The vote came one day after the Senate’s Clarity Act stumbled. The bill now heads to the House floor.

TREE NEWS update: CFTC Chairman Michael Selig and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins pledged to use their agencies’ existing powers to deliver crypto regulatory certainty after the Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act. The two regulators said they would act under current authority rather than wait for new legislation.

TREE NEWS reports: Aave founder Stani Kulechov said DeFi could follow an ‘Uber path’ if U.S. crypto legislation stalls, after the Clarity Act failed a Senate vote. Kulechov outlined the view in comments to The Starting Block, arguing the sector can advance without a federal framework.

TREE NEWS reports: JPMorgan said the Clarity Act is “not fully dead,” but the window for passing the crypto bill this year is now “extremely narrow.” The bank’s assessment leaves open the possibility of the market-structure legislation advancing, while flagging limited time on the legislative calendar.

TREE NEWS update: Iran secured a seat on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Committee this week despite US opposition, a diplomatic win for Tehran. Middle Eastern states had nominated Iran for the body, prompting US representative Preston Wells Griffith III to call the move an “affront” to the IAEA and its work. The IAEA General Conference has been deadlocked for three days on key nuclear safety and security issues, with the US and Iran at war since late February.

TREE NEWS update: SEC Chair Atkins said the agency will take action to provide certainty for cryptocurrency. The statement signals the regulator’s intent to clarify rules for digital assets. No specific timeline or measures were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Hugging Face CEO said existing internet laws are probably sufficient to regulate advanced AI, adding that he does not think there is a need to reinvent the wheel. The remarks address how advanced AI should be governed as regulators worldwide weigh new rules for the technology.

TREE NEWS reports: Coinbase faces greater fallout than other firms from the CLARITY Act setback, a strategist at Danish bank Saxo said, because its trading business is directly exposed to US market-structure rules. The bank’s strategist said the exchange has more at stake in the legislative reversal than peers.

TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP ETFs shed roughly $593 million combined on Tuesday, their heaviest single-day drawdown since June, following the failed Clarity Act vote. The combined outflow marks the largest one-day retreat for the three crypto ETF complexes in months.

TREE NEWS update: Some Swiss upper-house lawmakers want the government, not parliament, to decide on new capital requirements for UBS Group AG. The executive branch is pushing to require UBS to fully back its foreign subsidiaries with domestic capital, a measure UBS calls “extreme” and says would make it uncompetitive. Lawmakers will decide Thursday how to proceed, when the upper house debates the new rules and considers a motion to send the bill back to the Federal Council.

TREE NEWS update: US Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wants to resume consideration of the Clarity crypto legislative draft. The bill would set out rules for digital assets, and Thune’s push signals an effort to bring it back onto the Senate’s agenda.

TREE NEWS update: UK Chancellor John Healey appointed TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak as a non-executive director of the Bank of England’s board for a four-year term. Financial markets and data technology executive David Craig was also named a non-executive director, serving until August 2030, while veteran investment management executive Hanneke Smits begins a four-year term on January 1.

TREE NEWS update: The Senate blocked the CLARITY Act, prompting crypto trade groups and executives to urge the SEC and CFTC to press ahead with crypto rulemaking without the bill. Several framed the legislative loss as one of permanence, noting that a future agency chair can rewrite a rule and that repealing a rule is easier than undoing a statute.