Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: BlockTower Capital founder Ari Paul said on X that Coinbase concealed hundreds of millions of dollars in past hack losses and did not return client funds. Paul said Coinbase “lost” about $25 million of BlockTower’s money several years ago, and that his subsequent investigation led him to believe the move was meant to cover up repeated large-scale hacks. He said at least 12 firms were affected, with concealed losses totaling more than $1 billion, and that multiple legal cases are ongoing.

TREE NEWS reports: Binance founder CZ said in a Sept. 25 podcast that no company can be brought down by a competitor’s tweet, rejecting claims his Nov. 6, 2022 post about selling FTT caused FTX’s collapse. He said FTX misappropriated billions in customer funds and that most token projects fail, as with the internet. He also said Binance is investing heavily in decentralization and asset tokenization.

TREE NEWS update: Chocolate Battery Swap, the battery-swapping unit of Chinese battery giant CATL, has built more than 2,520 swap stations nationwide as of Sept. 29, covering 200 cities across 31 provinces. Nearly 20,000 new CATL-quality batteries have been deployed and warehoused across the network.

TREE NEWS update: Coinbase has received approval from the CFTC to operate as a derivatives clearing organization (DCO), completing its derivatives infrastructure. The approval lets the exchange list, broker and clear fully collateralized products in-house, rather than relying on third parties for any part of the chain. Coinbase now holds listing, brokerage and clearing capabilities across its derivatives business.

TREE NEWS update: NEAR Intents said it blocked $50 million tied to the hackers behind the Bitget incident, stating the cross-chain protocol actively prevents stolen funds from being laundered. The move draws a contrast with THORChain, which maintains it does not selectively censor transactions.

TREE NEWS update: A senior Financial Services Commission official said South Korea’s regulator will review whether to allow crypto market making, a practice currently restricted in the country. The official also cited a yen stablecoin’s price spike on Upbit as evidence that exchanges may need public oversight. No timeline or formal decision was given.

TREE NEWS reports: A research team led by UC San Diego impersonated a hardware security module without extracting its key, exploiting a flaw in the RSA signature process. The attack let the team pass as the vault device while its private key stayed inside, a result with direct implications for crypto custody hardware that relies on HSMs to sign transactions. No key extraction was required for the impersonation.

TREE NEWS reports: Binance recorded a net outflow of more than 13,800 bitcoin on September 22, the largest single-day outflow since 2023, worth about $1.15 billion at the time. The exchange’s bitcoin reserves fell from roughly 705,000 BTC to about 685,000 BTC in four days, a decline of some 20,000 BTC worth about $1.66 billion. On-chain analyst Darkfrost said the outflow reflects a broader accumulation trend, with some investors opting for self-custody, though it may also stem from institutional custody and internal wallet management.

TREE NEWS update: SEC staff revised its token buyback FAQ to make the absence of a centralized party an explicit condition, not just a reference to a system’s functionality. The original answer was published Sept. 25. The new wording adds the no-central-party test as a formal requirement for the guidance.

TREE NEWS update: Coinbase is teasing Pokémon card packs backed by physical collectibles, with buyers able to keep their pulls in a vault or have them shipped. The company has not set a launch date for the offering. The product would tie trading cards to a custody arrangement rather than a purely digital asset.

TREE NEWS update: Crypto exchange and wallet provider Blockchain.com plans to raise about $500 million through an initial public offering this year, targeting a valuation of $4 billion to $6 billion, and may scale back the offering if needed to complete the listing. The company, valued at $14 billion in 2022, confidentially filed IPO registration documents with the SEC in May. Recently listed Gemini, BitGo and eToro now trade roughly 50% to 80% below their post-listing highs.

TREE NEWS update: Aiden Pleterski, the Canadian figure dubbed the ‘crypto king’, will represent himself at his fraud trial, where he stands accused of running a crypto Ponzi scheme between 2021 and 2022. The alleged scheme resulted in a kidnapping and related criminal charges. Pleterski is set to appear without legal counsel.

TREE NEWS update: Sen. Richard Blumenthal is pressing the Treasury Department and the Justice Department to investigate Tether after Democratic staff on a Senate subcommittee found that 84% of 846 Iran-linked wallets flagged by the U.S. and Israel ran almost entirely on USDT. The report points to the stablecoin’s role in sanctions evasion.

TREE NEWS reports: Blockchain.com is seeking to raise about $500 million in an IPO at a valuation of up to $6 billion, well below its 2022 peak, as recently listed crypto stocks struggle to hold their gains. The crypto company’s listing plans come amid a thaw in crypto capital markets.

TREE NEWS reports: US stocks closed lower, with the Dow down 0.60%, the Nasdaq down 1.11% and the S&P 500 down 0.72%. Among notable names, Riot Platforms (RIOT) fell 6.04%, Intel (INTC) dropped 5.60%, SKHY lost 4.81%, Meta (META) declined 4.78%, Tesla (TSLA) fell 4.04% and Block (XYZ) slid 4.02%.

TREE NEWS update: Coinbase said on X that it will soon launch a mobile card-pack opening feature in which every card pulled corresponds to a real physical card. Users can choose to store the cards in a vault or have them shipped. The exchange did not give a launch date.