Flash News

TREE NEWS update: The UK Financial Conduct Authority has begun accepting crypto authorization applications ahead of its new regime, with a deadline of Feb. 28, 2027. UK firms will face fresh vetting under the framework. The FCA opened the application window as the country prepares to bring crypto activity under formal oversight in 2027.

TREE NEWS reports: Singapore’s crypto economy grew 55.4% to $284 billion, driven by a 94% surge in institutional-platform activity, even as the wider region contracted. The Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam stood out for small-value peer-to-peer transfers.

TREE NEWS reports: Crypto projects that buy back their own tokens have faced US legal uncertainty for nearly a decade, and the SEC’s buyback guidance is narrower than it looks. A buyback funded by a project’s revenue can resemble a promise of profits from someone else’s work, which is part of what makes such programs legally risky. Projects are being urged to test whether their buyback passes the SEC’s standard.

TREE NEWS update: The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has opened its crypto authorization window ahead of the 2027 UK regime, with crypto businesses required to apply by Feb. 28, 2027. Existing money laundering registrations will not convert into FCA authorization, meaning registered firms must go through the full application process.

TREE NEWS reports: Standard Chartered forecasts Ethena’s ENA token will reach $2 by the end of 2028, implying more than 600% upside, as the protocol’s USDe synthetic dollar scales eightfold to $40 billion. The bank expects buybacks to reshape the token’s value. The call was published in a research note on the outlook for Ethena’s token and stablecoin.

TREE NEWS update: Crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto released its first round of Senate endorsements, weeks after the Clarity Act stalled in the Senate. The endorsements mark the group’s first foray into Senate races. No candidates or states were disclosed in the announcement.

TREE NEWS update: Robinhood is adding perpetual futures, weekend stock trading and AI-driven trading tools as it pushes further into crypto, part of its effort to build an “everything app.” The brokerage’s latest product expansion deepens its crypto offerings and extends equities trading beyond standard market hours.

TREE NEWS reports: The CFTC is investigating former congressman Adam Kinzinger over wagers he placed on Kalshi about his own pardon, he said. Kinzinger, who made $823 on the trades, said he had no inside information and had checked the platform’s rules before betting. The previously unreported inquiry was first disclosed in a report.

TREE NEWS reports: CryptoQuant flagged potential selling pressure after altcoin deposit transactions and depositing addresses on exchanges hit their highest counts since October 2025, with the deposit count climbing 160% over two weeks. The on-chain data provider said the surge points to a rise in coins being moved onto exchanges, a move typically associated with holders preparing to sell.

TREE NEWS update: Polymarket introduced deposit limits, temporary and permanent self-exclusion lists, and addiction-support measures, letting users set limits that cannot be immediately reversed. The prediction market is also partnering with gambling-addiction treatment provider Birches Health. Global head of safety Malea Otranto said the company will track usage of the tools and may adjust based on results. Sports and parlay trading accounted for over 98% of Polymarket’s US platform volume this month.

TREE NEWS update: GPU cloud provider GMI has raised $668 million in a funding round backed by Nvidia and other investors, The Information reported. The company sells cloud access to GPU compute capacity. No valuation or additional terms for the round were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: A wallet linked to the $387.5 million Bitget exploit moved 2,746 ZEC, worth about $3.9 million, into Zcash’s Ironwood privacy pool in three transactions on Wednesday. The funds represent roughly 15% of the ZEC stolen on September 24. Ironwood hides sender, receiver and amount, though investigators may still trace funds back to public addresses via transfer timing and amounts.

TREE NEWS update: The European Commission’s consultation on its review of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation has closed. Europe now must decide whether its crypto rulebook protects the market without making it too costly to build in. The review will determine whether MiCA strikes the right balance between market protection and the cost of building in Europe.

TREE NEWS update: Verona has launched verUSD, a US dollar stablecoin built for AI agents and machine-to-machine payments, going live on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and Arbitrum on day one with plans to expand to more networks. The company said it has secured more than $100 million in launch commitments from ecosystem investors and partners including Animoca Ventures and Figment Capital, noting the figure does not represent issued or circulating verUSD.

TREE NEWS reports: Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss said the current market buzz around privacy coin Zcash reminds him of the 2019 crypto market, when Bitcoin was emerging from its 2018 bear market and attention turned to institutional infrastructure and custody. ZEC rose from about $511 in January 2026 to $1,335.51 on September 16. Gemini has offered Zcash trading and custody since winning New York approval in 2018.

TREE NEWS reports: Over the past month, the combined average daily trading volume of Strategy’s MSTR and STRC was 1.3 times that of JPMorgan’s JPM and its largest preferred shares JPM-PJ combined. The comparison places the Bitcoin-linked securities’ trading activity above that of one of the largest US banks.

TREE NEWS update: Robinhood is preparing to launch 10x crypto perpetual futures for US traders, routing orders through Bitstamp at 0.01% per trade through year-end. The brokerage also unveiled AI trading agents in its app and plans weekend stock trading, pending regulatory review.

TREE NEWS update: The SEC has sued four firms over alleged crypto scams totaling $15 million, run through WhatsApp chats. Two SEC complaints allege the operations used fake AI trading tips, impersonated well-known finance professionals and forged SEC paperwork to steer retail investors’ crypto onto platforms where no trading took place.