Flash News

TREE NEWS update: US Senator Richard Blumenthal’s subcommittee released a report Monday calling Tether’s USDT a ‘superhighway’ for Iranian sanctions evasion and referred its findings to the Treasury Department and the Justice Department. The Connecticut senator’s panel flagged the stablecoin’s role in the alleged activity in the referral.

TREE NEWS reports: Standard Chartered has initiated coverage on Ethena’s ENA token with a forecast that it will reach $2 by the end of 2028, roughly a sevenfold gain from current levels. The bank’s first report on the token ties the projection to growth in the USDe stablecoin and a buyback schedule that has not yet been activated.

TREE NEWS update: Kalshi is ending its trader volume rewards program on Oct. 13, more than a year ahead of the original Oct. 1, 2027 end date. The filing gives no reason for moving the date up, and the change comes amid wash trading allegations against the prediction market.

TREE NEWS reports: Prediction market Kalshi is reportedly nearing a $1 billion fundraising round that would value it at about $40 billion, up from $22 billion in May. Tiger Global and Dragoneer are in talks to participate.

TREE NEWS update: A same-name asset error at Gate affected 200 accounts and triggered liquidations in its perpetual futures market, two self-identified Gate managers said. The exchange said balance displays are being restored. No loss figure or timeline was given.

TREE NEWS update: Kalshi moved the end date of its trading-volume incentive program to Oct. 13, 2026 from Oct. 1, 2027. 28 filing with the CFTC, which is investigating prediction-market reward programs over concerns they use misleading promotions to attract traders. A source said the CFTC could act by the end of the week. Polymarket, which has paid out about $128 million in rewards against $229 million in trading fees, is seen as a likely focus.

TREE NEWS update: Bitget has replenished its user protection fund to more than $300 million, with the latest on-chain balance at 3,705 BTC, the exchange said in an official announcement. The fund, established in 2022, runs as an additional safeguard for user assets and is managed transparently on-chain, with wallet addresses published on the fund’s page for independent verification.

TREE NEWS update: Coinbase Markets said the CT-USD trading pair has entered auction mode, letting users submit limit orders and view an indicative opening price. The order book will stay in auction for at least 10 minutes with no matching during that period; once the auction ends, matchable orders will execute at the opening price.

TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin ETFs have stretched their inflow streak to $3.1 billion, while Ether ETFs shed $3 million on Tuesday after seven straight days of inflows. The shift came after Zcash funds saw an $8 million outflow at the start of the week.

TREE NEWS reports: A new comparison guide evaluates hardware wallets for 2026 across security, connectivity, usability and recovery options. The roundup covers touchscreen and QR-code devices, NFC cards and Bitcoin-only models, aiming to help users match a device to their needs. No single product is named as a winner.

TREE NEWS update: Stable announced a Visa Direct integration to enable payouts to bank accounts and mobile wallets. Visa has previously announced stablecoin funding and payout pilots. Stable did not specify when the connection will be available or which markets it will cover.

TREE NEWS reports: SlowMist traced the Bitget theft to malicious activity that began weeks earlier, on Aug. 31, involving a zero-day vulnerability, two security products and a custom withdrawal tool. The blockchain security firm said the activity preceded the exchange hack, indicating attackers had established a foothold well before funds were taken.

TREE NEWS reports: A single address opened a 5x leveraged long position on 1.38 million ASTER tokens worth $1.05 million on Aster DEX. The position is showing an unrealized profit of more than $137,000, a return of 65.36%.

TREE NEWS update: HSBC has named its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin ‘RedCoin’, with a retail rollout planned for the second half of 2026. Initial distribution will be limited to PayMe and the HSBC HK Mobile App, the bank said.

TREE NEWS reports: Standard Chartered has initiated coverage on Ethena’s ENA token with a $2 price target, forecasting a roughly 7x gain by end-2028. The bank’s thesis rests on Ethena’s buyback program, which activates once USDe supply reaches $7.5 billion. USDe supply currently stands at $4.9 billion, leaving the buyback trigger about $2.6 billion away.

TREE NEWS reports: Everbright Photonics chairman Min Dayong said at the company’s half-year earnings briefing on Sept. 30 that AI computing buildout should push its optical communications revenue growth above industrial laser revenue over the next two years. He said optical chip prices are currently stable on tight supply and demand, but rising yields, capacity expansion and new entrants could bring prices down long-term. Ultra-high-power specialty laser demand is expected to accelerate in 2027–2028.

TREE NEWS update: Primus Labs, GenLayer and TermiX have each rolled out new on-chain points campaigns as of September 30. Primus Labs, a cryptography infrastructure project for privacy and verifiable computation, raised $6.5 million across Pre-seed and Seed rounds in February 2025 led by Dispersion Capital, Symbolic Capital and VanEck. GenLayer, an AI-native blockchain using Optimistic Democracy consensus, raised $7.5 million in a seed round on August 20, 2024 led by North Island Ventures. TermiX, a Binance MVB Season 9 winner, launched a TermiX × Custom AI 3D Holographic task worth 1,000 points.

TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin retail demand has evaporated during the current BTC rally, with the 30-day change rate for retail-sized transactions flipping from above 17% to minus 3.5%, analyst Darkfost said on September 30. The metric covers investors trading between $0 and $10,000.

TREE NEWS update: European stablecoin issuer AllUnity is launching USDAU, its fourth fiat-backed stablecoin and its first pegged to the US dollar, expanding a lineup that already includes euro, Swiss franc and Swedish krona tokens. The new token will be backed 1:1 by segregated reserves and debuts on Ethereum, Solana, Base, Tempo, Arc and Polygon. AllUnity said the product is compliant with the EU’s MiCA rules.

TREE NEWS update: Kalshi has filed to wind down its volume incentive program, with the reward pools excluding members that hold market-maker agreements. The exchange pointed to separate liquidity payments to explain clustered ether perpetual trades. The filing does not specify a date for the program’s termination.