Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: Centralized exchanges added 517 new listings in the third quarter, a 47% increase from the previous quarter and an end to three straight quarters of decline, CryptoRank data show. OKX accounted for 100 of the new listings, making it the second-most active platform by listing count. CryptoRank attributed the growth mainly to tokenized assets, as exchanges ramp up listings of tokenized equities.

TREE NEWS update: Robinhood Wallet has integrated Arcus’s RFQ system as a routing provider for Stock Token swaps, giving eligible users access to more than 190 tokens. The integration adds Arcus to the wallet’s swap routing stack for tokenized equities.

TREE NEWS update: Gate has listed CTUSDT perpetual futures settled in USDT, offering up to 20x leverage. The contract is tied to Concrete, a full-stack institutional-grade operating system for on-chain finance that provides infrastructure spanning crypto assets to real-world assets (RWA), covering vaults, strategies, custody, accounting, risk management and distribution.

TREE NEWS reports: Tokenized asset markets trade differently from their traditional-market counterparts, which put the value of real-world assets on-chain at $34.5 billion. The on-chain data provider’s finding points to distinct trading patterns in tokenized markets rather than a direct mirror of conventional venues. No breakdown of the $34.5 billion figure by asset class was provided.

TREE NEWS update: South Korea’s Financial Services Commission issued a pre-announcement of amendments to subordinate regulations for token securities, expanding tokenizable assets to include stocks, bonds and funds alongside fractional investment securities. The rules would set distributed ledger requirements, mandating an electronic registration institution and at least two account management institutions, and bar direct fees for ledger use. Issuers could become account managers with 40 billion won in minimum capital.

TREE NEWS update: Base has completed its Cobalt upgrade, adding conditional trading and issuer control tools for tokenized assets. The upgrade extends the B20 token standard to let issuers set multiple compliance checks on a single asset, including identity verification, accredited-investor status and sanctions screening, and to preset corporate actions such as stock splits without minting, burning or changing underlying balances. Cobalt also introduces Validity Transactions, which let users submit trades that execute only if on-chain conditions are met.

TREE NEWS update: Base has completed its Cobalt upgrade, introducing features aimed at tokenized assets. The upgrade lets traders set transaction conditions, while giving issuers tools for compliance checks, stock splits and forced token transfers. The changes target asset issuers and trading venues building on the network.

TREE NEWS update: Lloyds and Visa settled $750,000 in USDC in a seven-day cross-border pilot that moved funds from Jersey to the US in under an hour, including over the weekend. Lloyds used the Canton blockchain while Visa ran a separate blockchain for the test.

TREE NEWS update: Open Standard’s dollar stablecoin OUSD went live on Base, Ethereum, Solana and Tempo, backed by more than 100 companies including Visa, Stripe and Mastercard. The token is issued by Stripe-owned Bridge, with reserves held by BlackRock, Lead Bank and BNY, and offers free 1:1 minting and redemption. Visa, Stripe, BVNK, Coinbase and Shopify committed to mint roughly $1 billion of OUSD, with Coinbase following on October 1.

TREE NEWS update: Swift CEO Javier Pérez-Tasso said at Sibos 2026 that the financial-messaging cooperative’s blockchain-based ledger is now live and in use by several large global financial institutions. At least 19 banks are expected to use the ledger by the end of the year, enabling round-the-clock payments via tokenized deposits in five major currencies. Swift announced development of the ledger at last year’s Sibos conference.

TREE NEWS reports: Tokenized real-world assets reached $34.5 billion at the end of August, a Dune report published Wednesday found. Tokenized Treasury funds account for half of that market but turned over just 0.006% of supply during the month. Equities, which make up 8% of the market, generated 93% of spot trading volume.

TREE NEWS update: Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank has agreed to acquire all shares in Japan Digital Asset Trust Preparation Co. (JADAT) held by crypto exchange bitbank, making JADAT a wholly owned subsidiary, with the deal expected to close on Oct. 1. The bank said it will push for JADAT to apply for a management-type trust business license and aims to start operations as soon as possible.

TREE NEWS update: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 1 proposed its first major overhaul of securities transfer agent rules since the late 1970s, aiming to modernize the framework for the shift from paper records to electronic data. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the rules should reflect how transfer agents actually operate today and in the future, including the use of blockchain technology in securities issuance and share transfers. Transfer agents keep official ownership records, process transfers and restrictive legends, and work with DTCC in the national clearing and settlement system.

TREE NEWS update: Former New York Governor and OKX director Andrew Cuomo said the crypto industry’s current regulatory progress could be reversed if Democrats win Congress in the midterm elections, arguing that agency rules are far more fragile than legislation. The Senate rejected the CLARITY Act on September 15 in a 49-50 vote, short of the 60-vote threshold, while the SEC granted a five-year exemption for tokenized stock trading on September 17. Cuomo expects the new Congress to scrutinize such agency rules and wants a bill passed by the lame-duck session or before January 1.

TREE NEWS update: Cboe Global Markets has secured exclusive rights to list S&P 500 index options through 2051 under a 25-year extension with S&P Dow Jones Indices. The two firms said they may also collaborate on new products such as tokenized options, though no specific product or timeline was named.

TREE NEWS update: Brazilian depository CSD BR, which holds $4.2 trillion in assets, is working with Ripple to place tokenized copies of BTG Pactual fund shares on the XRP Ledger. In the first phase, CSD BR’s own systems remain the official record of ownership, with the public blockchain serving as a mirror of the shares.

TREE NEWS update: Australia’s securities regulator ASIC is preparing to regulate digital and tokenized asset custody platforms under a framework set to begin in April 2027. The regulator said it will issue consultation papers, guidance and draft rules while monitoring market integrity and risk management.

TREE NEWS update: HSBC will call its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin ‘HSBC RedCoin’, the bank said on September 30. A survey of more than 1,000 local customers found 74% recognised at least one stablecoin use case, led by digital asset trading and tokenised investment at 57%, followed by P2P transfers (53%), cross-border remittances (52%) and merchant payments (52%). 60% correctly defined stablecoins as fiat-backed digital assets, though 26% wrongly believed they are government-issued and 10% expected yield, which Hong Kong’s current framework does not permit.