TREE NEWS update: Shanghai added four generative artificial intelligence services to its registry as of Oct. 27, bringing the city’s total number of registered generative AI services to 259. The registrations were disclosed by the Shanghai Cyberspace Administration.
TREE NEWS update: WORPT, a crypto payment app, launched in Thailand under the Tourist DigiPay regulatory sandbox, letting foreign tourists convert USDT and USDC into Thai baht and pay via Thai QR PromptPay, with merchants receiving baht. The app was developed jointly by SEC-approved digital asset exchange Waan Exchange (Waanx) and Bank of Thailand-regulated e-money provider Wipay, with partners including Tether, The Mall Group and Visa. A physical Visa prepaid card is planned for mid-November, with a virtual card due in early 2027.
TREE NEWS reports: A DeFi Education Fund and Ipsos survey found that 13% of U.S. respondents said political candidates should support blockchain, cryptocurrency and DeFi, down from 35% when asked about support for next-generation fintech in general. 74% said the financial system needs change to give individuals more control over assets, but only 9% said they are very or extremely familiar with crypto and 5% highly trust decentralized platforms.
TREE NEWS update: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is inviting community banks and their subsidiaries to apply to issue payment stablecoins under the GENIUS Act. The agency cannot accept applications until the White House budget office approves its forms. The move signals the OCC’s preparation for a stablecoin licensing regime under the new law.
TREE NEWS update: Polymarket has investigated “dozens” of trades tied to the U.S. midterm elections, with at least two cases referred to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the platform’s global intelligence and investigations head, Shana Bautista, said. Bautista, a former FBI official who joined in June, leads a 16-person team using a new election-monitoring system that aggregates social media, Federal Election Commission data and partner information from crypto firms and banks, triggering hundreds of alerts daily ahead of the Nov. 3 vote.
TREE NEWS update: Wang Huimin, a former member of the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s Party Committee and former head of its disciplinary inspection group, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery by the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court on Oct. 27, 2026. The court found he illegally accepted property worth more than 436 million yuan. His sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment after the reprieve, with no possibility of reduction or parole, and all personal assets confiscated.
TREE NEWS update: Binance is applying for a crypto license in Brazil, with lending and margin restrictions set to take effect Oct. 27. The exchange is also delisting 22 tokens. An application filed on time would allow existing providers to keep operating while the central bank reviews it.
TREE NEWS update: Binance has filed for a crypto license in Brazil ahead of a Friday deadline, as it seeks to keep operating in the country. The exchange is delisting 22 crypto assets for Brazilian users and hopes talks with the central bank will allow it to restore some services.
TREE NEWS update: Macau’s Executive Council completed discussion on the administrative regulation draft for the organization and operation of the Culture and Sports Bureau on the 27th. The government is setting up the new bureau by merging and restructuring the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Cultural Development Fund, the Sports Bureau and the Sports Fund. The move is part of its push to deepen public administration reform, improve governance efficiency and support Macau’s development positioning.
TREE NEWS update: China’s Foreign Ministry said the EU should respect market economy and fair competition principles and avoid abusing trade remedy tools, after Bloomberg reported the bloc plans trade measures to cut imports of Chinese chemicals, furniture and machinery, possibly in the first quarter of next year. Spokesman Guo Jiakun said the two sides can resolve trade differences through dialogue, citing progress at the second meeting of the China-EU trade and investment consultation mechanism.
TREE NEWS update: China’s National Radio and Television Administration issued the Cable Broadcasting Operation Service Management Regulations, effective November 27, 2026. The rules require cable operators to prioritize live broadcasts, enable full-screen live TV on startup, provide a channel replay entry point and prohibit startup advertisements. Smart TVs must also support prioritizing live channels with an accessible settings entry point.
TREE NEWS update: Hackers targeted a Japanese forex trading platform and threatened to leak customer data unless paid a $50 million ransom. GMO Internet Group, the operator, said it will not meet the attackers’ demands and told clients to scan computers for viruses, back up files, disconnect from networks and power down devices before a Tuesday noon deadline set by the hackers. Some customers had already found unauthorized trades in their accounts.
TREE NEWS update: Bank of Japan board member Kenji Nakajima said he is concerned about cyber risk to the financial system and that the central bank has taken multiple security measures for its own financial network systems. Nakajima made the remarks in comments reported on the BOJ’s stance on financial-system cybersecurity.
TREE NEWS update: Japan’s finance minister Satsuki Katayama said cyberattacks are expanding in scale and the threat is rising rapidly, and that the government will require financial institutions to respond promptly. The remarks, reported on Wednesday, signal heightened official pressure on Japan’s financial sector to strengthen cybersecurity defenses.
TREE NEWS update: Ripple has received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to launch a national trust bank, bringing its RLUSD stablecoin under federal oversight. The structure places reserve management and custody under federal supervision, while issuance remains with the New York-regulated entity. The approval follows Ripple’s earlier conditional OCC nod.
TREE NEWS update: The US Justice Department has filed new criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey, accusing him of leaking sensitive national security information. Prosecutors allege Comey disclosed sensitive national security material to a New York Times reporter through an intermediary in October 2016. Comey responded on social media the same day, saying “they’re at it again” and that he remains innocent.
TREE NEWS update: Ripple has secured final approval to operate a national trust bank in the US. The approval clears the way for the company to manage reserves backing its RLUSD stablecoin and to provide digital asset custody services. The decision marks a regulatory green light for the crypto firm’s banking and stablecoin operations.
TREE NEWS update: Japan’s finance minister, Satsuki Katayama, said she will respond with a sense of urgency to losses from foreign exchange trading. No new reports of unauthorized FX trading cases have been received. She also said the international community shares a common sense of urgency regarding cyberattacks.
TREE NEWS reports: Postal Savings Bank of China researcher Lou Feipeng said in a Securities Times column that the People’s Bank of China is encouraging a dual “LPR+DR001” loan pricing benchmark. The PBOC will study switching the tenor of its main open market operations to overnight, making the overnight repo rate the main policy rate, and will issue policy guidance on diversified loan pricing benchmark reform, Lou wrote.
TREE NEWS update: The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s merger review committee will on Oct. 29 review Orient Securities’ plan to buy 100% of Shanghai Securities via A-share issuance and cash, a deal valued at about 25.1 billion yuan ($3.5 billion). The transaction is one of the year’s landmark industrial consolidation projects, as A-share M&A shifts toward industrial synergy.