Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Brevan Howard will use Ripple Prime for prime brokerage, clearing and financing, the two firms said. The tie-up deepens a relationship that began with Ripple’s investment in the hedge fund. Ripple Prime provides multi-asset brokerage and clearing services to institutional clients.

TREE NEWS update: Aptos Labs released MonoMove, described as the largest proposed upgrade to the Aptos blockchain’s execution engine, with internal tests showing smart contracts running up to 55x faster than the current system. Tests replayed real mainnet transactions. On Decibel, an Aptos Labs-incubated fully on-chain exchange, collateral withdrawals rose up to 55x, order placement up to 22x and end-to-end sequential throughput up to 11x.

TREE NEWS update: Polymarket has rolled out Protocol V2, replacing its legacy Gnosis-based architecture with a single ERC-1155 positions contract and pUSD collateral. The upgrade consolidates the prediction market’s position handling into one contract and switches its collateral asset to pUSD.

TREE NEWS update: Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade went live on the Sepolia testnet, with the first two upgraded epochs finalized. Early blocks began a gradual gas-limit climb from 60 million toward a 200 million client target.

TREE NEWS update: Binance co-founder Yi He said at the exchange’s Smart Product launch AMA that Binance’s strategy includes going All in on AI, aiming for financial and information equality. Three AI products were unveiled: Finance AI for beginners, AI Pro for advanced traders, and AgentOS for developers. Finance AI will open to all users within seven days; AI Pro generates trading strategies via natural-language dialogue, while AgentOS lets developers connect large models to Binance’s trading, wallet and liquidity infrastructure, with the platform promoting selected agents to all users.

TREE NEWS update: Circle and SC Ventures have backed crypto exchange OKX at a $25 billion valuation, with Ripple and hedge fund QRT also joining the financing. The investment is an extension of a March round that was backed by NYSE owner ICE. The amount raised was not disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Stablecoin issuer Rain is seeking a US trust bank charter for a proposed subsidiary that would issue stablecoins, hold client assets and manage stablecoin reserves. The unit would not accept deposits or make commercial loans. The application adds Rain to a growing list of crypto firms pursuing federally regulated banking status.

TREE NEWS update: Ether.fi announced a dollar stablecoin whose reserves, minting, redemptions and compliance will be managed by Ethena. The platform reports more than $300 million in existing stablecoin balances. The token marks Ether.fi’s move into issuing its own dollar-denominated asset.

TREE NEWS update: Bloomberg Terminal now carries round-the-clock Hyperliquid perpetuals pricing through its WSL HYPE worksheet, pairing those contracts with reference prices across commodities, indexes, equities, currencies and crypto. The addition gives terminal users continuous access to Hyperliquid’s perpetual futures alongside traditional asset benchmarks.

TREE NEWS reports: Hyperscale Data reported holding $56.4 million in bitcoin, cash and restricted cash, including nearly 220 BTC worth roughly $19 million, as of its latest disclosure. The AI data center company, formerly a bitcoin miner, said it is strengthening its balance sheet to support its business and develop its Michigan AI data center.

TREE NEWS update: Solana-based perpetual futures trading platform Imperial has raised $1.5 million in seed funding at a $15 million valuation, led by Foundation Capital with backing from Solana ecosystem angel investors. The capital will go toward expanding Imperial’s product suite, including a perpetuals aggregator, a lending platform and its flagship Armada. Armada is a Solana perpetuals AMM that sources liquidity from DeFi venues such as Hyperliquid, letting traders access deeper order books without leaving Solana.

TREE NEWS update: Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade has launched on the Sepolia testnet, marking one of the final major rehearsals before its activation on the Ethereum mainnet. The upgrade is aimed at bringing more efficiency and scalability to Ethereum’s main network.

TREE NEWS update: OKX raised an undisclosed amount at a $25 billion valuation, an extension of its March investment round led by the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. The crypto exchange did not disclose the size of the new capital raise. The March round was led by ICE’s parent, which also owns the NYSE.

TREE NEWS reports: Real Vision founder Raoul Pal said a pause in the AI stock rally could help crypto attract capital, with AI agents likely to boost Ethereum and Solana adoption. Pal framed the shift as capital starting to rotate back toward crypto from AI equities. He did not give a timeframe or specific figures for the expected flows.

TREE NEWS update: Crypto exchange OKX has drawn backing from Circle, Ripple and hedge fund QRT at a $25 billion valuation, with Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures also investing. The exchange did not disclose the size of the raise. OKX is preparing tokenized stock trading with NYSE owner ICE.

TREE NEWS update: Ether.fi is launching ether.fi USD, its own stablecoin, with Ethena handling reserves, minting, redemptions and compliance. The token targets the more than $300 million in stablecoins already held on ether.fi. Ethena will run the reserves backing the new asset.

TREE NEWS update: Fortitude has committed up to $100 million to Zcash mining equipment as it expands capacity and increases financing from DCG. The company also secured priority access to BITMAIN’s next-generation Zcash miners. The commitment marks a further build-out of Fortitude’s Zcash mining operations.

TREE NEWS update: Paxos’ USDG stablecoin is now live on Arbitrum, the Ethereum layer-2 network. Arbitrum has proposed 100 million ARB in incentives to support USDG adoption and liquidity. The stablecoin is backed by Paxos’ $3 billion issuance.

TREE NEWS update: Paxos’ stablecoin USDG went live on Arbitrum One, with Fluid, Morpho, GMX, Maple and Kraken supporting it. A proposal published the same day asks ArbitrumDAO to add 100 million ARB to an incentive program that still has about 63.7 million ARB unspent.

TREE NEWS update: Polymarket has begun rolling out Protocol V2, with a planned November transition for new prediction markets. Existing positions remain on the current system during the rollout. The overhaul replaces the platform’s smart contracts.