Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin developer Paul Sztorc says Bitcoiners are lying to themselves about the Lightning Network. While developers claim usability has improved, Sztorc argues questions remain over everyday adoption of the layer-2 payments network. The criticism reopens debate over whether Lightning can scale bitcoin payments for mainstream use.

TREE NEWS reports: The Bank for International Settlements said digital cash can achieve “cash-like privacy,” but the technology is not yet production-ready. The BIS flagged risks including bank data breaches as an obstacle to deployment. The assessment covers central bank and retail digital cash designs aimed at replicating the privacy of physical currency.

TREE NEWS update: Stepfun Terminal unveiled the STEPX Neo, described as the first large-model-native agent phone, at a launch event where it announced a deep AI partnership with Alipay. The phone’s built-in Amoo personal agent can call more than 300 Alipay Abao services — including food delivery, transport, logistics, housekeeping and government services — after user authorization, completing search-for-deals, payment and fulfillment within the chat interface.

TREE NEWS update: Apple has released a new Apple TV 4K set-top box and introduced a line of smart home accessories. The company announced both the updated streaming device and the new accessory family together. No pricing, availability date or technical specifications were disclosed in the announcement.

TREE NEWS update: The Bank of Russia on Oct. 12 granted Sberbank an exchange registration under the country’s new crypto law, six days after the lender received digital depository status. Sberbank now appears on both of Russia’s crypto registers. The central bank’s decision clears the state-controlled lender to operate as a registered crypto exchange alongside its depository role.

TREE NEWS update: Mysten Labs chief cryptographer Kostas Chalkias said Sui’s devnet has completed testing of native post-quantum signature transactions, with the latest version supporting ML-DSA-65 verification for ordinary account transaction authorization. Sui also plans to add SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s signatures via Move smart contracts to protect high-value asset vaults, and aims to deploy post-quantum vaults to mainnet by end-2026 and bring native ML-DSA-65 accounts to testnet, targeting mainnet native account authentication in Q1 2027, subject to security audits and test results.

TREE NEWS update: Ledger said it has coordinated with German electronics retailer MediaMarkt Saturn Retail Group to suspend sales of its devices in stores and online from October 13 while it investigates a device-implant incident reported by a German user. The hardware wallet maker said no user funds have been lost and there is no evidence its infrastructure, systems or services were compromised. Ledger’s Donjon cybersecurity team will examine suspect devices; some claims and loss figures circulating online remain unverified.

TREE NEWS reports: US spot BTC ETFs saw $679 million in net outflows last week, including a record $485 million single-day outflow on Wednesday, the largest since June, CoinShares said in its biweekly market report. ETH ETFs bled $542 million over nine straight sessions, nearly $700 million cumulatively. Bitcoin briefly neared $87,000 on October 5 before falling to about $80,300 and rebounding to roughly $83,500. CoinShares said BTC’s correlation with the Nasdaq has recovered to its long-term average of about 40%, and flagged this week’s US CPI print as a key variable.

TREE NEWS update: Binance Pool will stop accepting mining shares at 7 a.m. UTC on Nov. 10, and miners have until Nov. 24 to view their records and payout status before the pool’s pages disappear. The closure ends Binance’s mining pool and cloud mining services, giving miners four weeks to move their hashrate elsewhere.

TREE NEWS update: Ledger said an unauthorized add-on component found in hardware wallets sold by Southeast Asian reseller CryptoBilis leaked recovery phrases over cellular networks. The company said its Secure Element and operating system were untouched, and that every confirmed drain so far involves a CryptoBilis-sold signer.

TREE NEWS reports: Defiance CEO Matt Bielski said Yamo Pharma’s L1-79 has been “life-changing” for his 4-year-old son Lev, who has severe autism. The drug is in Phase II clinical trials and could become the first FDA-approved autism treatment. About 1 in 31 US children is diagnosed with autism, including Bielski’s youngest son.

TREE NEWS update: Nasdaq-listed Cipher Digital plans to raise $850 million through a private placement of zero-coupon convertible bonds to fund its Barber Lake project and high-performance computing data center expansion. The offering can be upsized to $1 billion if initial purchasers exercise an option for an additional $150 million. The company also plans to convert part of its 1.75% convertible notes due 2030 into common stock.

TREE NEWS update: Sberbank has secured authorization to operate a crypto exchange, clearing Russia’s largest bank to offer trading in Bitcoin, Ether and Tether USDt ahead of a December launch. The approval makes Sberbank one of the first major Russian banks licensed to run digital-asset trading under the country’s crypto framework.

TREE NEWS reports: A wallet linked to BlackRock’s ETFs transferred $203 million in Bitcoin and Ether to Coinbase Prime within the past hour. The deposit comprised 860.393 BTC worth $71.54 million and 52,488 ETH worth $131 million. The transfers occurred on the date reported by the on-chain tracker.

TREE NEWS reports: If Democrats win a majority in either chamber of the US Congress in the midterm elections, they would gain subpoena power and stronger investigative tools, potentially increasing scrutiny of Wall Street banks, prediction markets and crypto firms. Crypto industry figures are watching whether Representative Sean Casten could gain influence if Democrats retake the House Financial Services Committee. Casten has pushed for tougher crypto regulation and opposed the industry-backed CLARITY Act.

TREE NEWS update: Sui has processed its first native quantum-safe transaction on devnet, adding ML-DSA-65 account signatures to the network. Native mainnet support is targeted for Q1 2027, subject to audits and testnet feedback.

TREE NEWS update: London Stock Exchange Group is in talks to acquire Octus, a company owned by private equity firm Permira. No financial terms of the potential deal were disclosed. Octus is a portfolio company of Permira.

TREE NEWS update: Ledger said it discovered a hidden LTE implant that reads the 24-word recovery phrase off the screen during wallet setup, leaving the Secure Element and its software untouched. The hardware wallet maker linked the implant to a suspected $86 million drain.

TREE NEWS update: Binance said it will shut down its mining pool, cloud mining and Pool Savings services on Nov. 10. The exchange announced the closure of the three business lines in a single notice, without giving a reason for the decision. Binance has not disclosed what will happen to users’ funds or hashrate held in the services.