TREE NEWS update: South Korea is considering imposing an education tax on cryptocurrency exchanges. The plan would apply the levy to digital-asset trading platforms, extending a tax used to fund local education. No rate, timeline or scope for the measure was specified.
TREE NEWS update: The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on October 26 rejected a federal government request to bar California from counting mail ballots cast by people on a list of more than 20,000 registered voters. The federal government claimed those individuals may not be US citizens. The Justice Department said 28 people on the list face criminal charges for alleged illegal voting, but the government did not state how many mail ballots those on the list had actually submitted.
TREE NEWS update: Canada opened a 60-day consultation on draft stablecoin rules that would require issuers to hold one-to-one reserves and allow fast redemption, with redemption fees capped at 1%. The draft also keeps a ban on paying interest to stablecoin holders. The consultation gives industry participants until the end of the comment period to weigh in on the proposed regime.
TREE NEWS update: Spain has relaxed its energy and electricity policy for data centers in a bid to attract investment from major technology companies. The policy change is aimed at drawing large-scale data center projects to the country. No specific companies, investment figures or effective dates were disclosed.
TREE NEWS update: The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is calling on community banks to become payment stablecoin issuers, following the regulator’s finalization of rules for the GENIUS Act. The stablecoin law is set to be implemented in January. The OCC’s announcement positions community banks as potential participants in the federal stablecoin framework.
TREE NEWS update: The NBA has agreed an information-sharing arrangement with the CFTC to guard against insider trading as sports betting moves onto CFTC-regulated prediction markets, following similar deals by MLB and NHL. The agreement comes as the NFL challenges the regulator in court over the same issue.
TREE NEWS update: South Korean police arrested seven people in the country’s first major AI-assisted hacking case, including a 32-year-old with no IT background who used AI tools to break into about 90 hospitals, schools and companies. The group then pressed victims for roughly $270,000 combined, Seoul police said.
TREE NEWS update: Canada has opened a public consultation on a proposed framework for stablecoins issued by non-financial institutions, as part of the potential implementation of its Stablecoin Act. The government is seeking public input on the rules and cited the US GENIUS Act in its announcement. The consultation marks a step toward formalizing how non-bank stablecoin issuers would be regulated in Canada.
TREE NEWS update: A federal appeals court ruled that the Federal Reserve must rewrite its rule capping debit card transaction processing fees, finding the current rule violates congressional intent. The rule allows banks to include certain costs, such as fraud prevention, when calculating swipe fees, which the court said does not meet the requirements of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. The decision upholds a lower court’s ruling that vacated the Fed’s debit card interchange fee cap.
TREE NEWS reports: Brazil’s ban on prediction markets left election odds in the hands of traders with little knowledge about the race, experts said, explaining why the markets got the Brazilian election so wrong. The restriction pushed activity onto venues and participants lacking the information needed to price the contest accurately.
TREE NEWS update: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has ordered Anthropic executives to testify in its consumer harm investigation, an FTC spokesperson said on Monday. The agency had already issued civil investigative demands for documents on safety incidents, security measures, marketing materials and privacy policies. Staff at other AI companies have also received testimony requests, and the FTC plans to probe more AI firms. The escalation came on the same day Anthropic pitched investors on an IPO.
TREE NEWS update: Hyperliquid plans to make Payward, the parent company of Kraken, its first CFTC-regulated HIP-3 deployer, the platform said. The move marks a step toward regulated U.S. perpetual futures. No timeline or further terms were disclosed.
TREE NEWS update: Kraken parent company Payward plans to become the first CFTC-regulated deployer of a HIP-3* market, using Hyperliquid to launch perpetual futures markets for U.S. customers. Hyperliquid said HIP-3* will support optional on-chain whitelists for permissioned markets in a future network upgrade, leaving existing markets unaffected. A first version is live on testnet, and the specifications remain preliminary.
TREE NEWS update: The NBA has designated Kalshi and Polymarket as its preferred prediction-market exchanges and signed a cooperation agreement with the CFTC, the league said. The deals include official data agreements and safeguards against insider trading. The move marks the US professional basketball league’s formal expansion into prediction markets.
TREE NEWS update: Hyperliquid is testing optional on-chain allowlists for permissioned markets, a mechanism that would leave its existing markets unchanged, as part of Payward’s plan to offer US perpetual futures. The proposed US contracts still require regulatory approval before they can launch. The allowlist design would let the platform restrict participation in specific markets without altering the open, permissionless structure of its current offerings.
TREE NEWS update: Canada’s Department of Finance has proposed stablecoin regulations that allow usage rewards but bar issuers from paying yield through third parties, with the draft open for comment until Dec. 23. The proposal also caps redemption fees at 1% and targets a fall 2027 start.
TREE NEWS update: Canada’s government published draft Stablecoin Regulations and opened a 60-day public consultation running until Dec. 23. The draft bars issuers from paying interest or yield to holders directly or through third parties, though usage-based rewards are permitted. Non-bank issuers must hold reserves at least equal to circulation with qualified Canadian custodians, and redemptions must be completed within three business days with no minimum amount and fees capped at 1%. The rules implement the Stablecoin Act and are slated to take effect in autumn 2027.
TREE NEWS update: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the National Basketball Association signed a memorandum of understanding to share information and establish a communication channel aimed at keeping prediction-market trading fair and preventing insider trading and market manipulation. The NBA also named Kalshi and Polymarket as its preferred prediction-market platforms. The NBA is the third U.S. professional sports league to sign such an agreement with the CFTC, after the NHL and MLB.
TREE NEWS update: The NBA designated Kalshi and Polymarket as its “preferred prediction market exchanges,” granting both access to NBA intellectual property, U.S. marketing rights and official Sportradar data for operating and settling NBA-related markets. DraftKings expanded its partnership to become an “authorized prediction market operator.” The league also signed a memorandum of understanding with the CFTC covering cooperation and information sharing, alongside an integrity framework barring league and team personnel from trading NBA event contracts.
TREE NEWS update: The CFTC and the NBA have agreed on standards to protect the integrity of the game in relation to prediction markets, making the NBA the third league to sign such a pact with the regulator. The agreement involves Kalshi and Polymarket. No further terms or effective date were disclosed.