Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: The GENIUS Act, the stablecoin law Congress passed in July 2025, prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying interest to holders, yet some exchanges continue to offer rewards. Coinbase pays 3.75% a year to customers who hold USDC, the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle, subject to conditions. The arrangement raises questions about how such rewards fit within the new legal framework.

TREE NEWS update: A political action committee launched by Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss has made its first foray into the Texas Senate race with an $81,000 ad buy. The move comes as crypto-aligned PACs ramp up spending in states including Ohio ahead of the 2026 midterms. The committee’s entry into Texas signals widening crypto political engagement beyond traditional battlegrounds.

TREE NEWS update: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo barring personnel from using nonpublic information to place bets on prediction markets, naming Polymarket and Kalshi in the directive. The order, reported by CBS, prohibits wagering on platforms where such information could give an unfair advantage. No further details on enforcement or scope were disclosed.

TREE NEWS reports: JPMorgan said actions by U.S. regulators have partly offset the failure of the Clarity Act, but longer-lasting rules are still needed. The bank cautioned that risks remain without durable legislative clarity for the crypto industry.

TREE NEWS update: The Blockchain Association is urging Congress to pass legislation resolving tax uncertainty for crypto, as progress on a broader crypto bill stalls. The industry group is pressing lawmakers to act on tax rules even as the wider legislative effort loses momentum.

TREE NEWS update: The Central Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase Ireland €3,252,618 for relying too heavily on its U.S. parent and leaving its safeguarding account underfunded, the regulator said. It is the second penalty against the exchange’s European arm in the past year. The fine concerns the underfunding of the account used to safeguard client funds.

TREE NEWS update: The US Treasury proposed a rule that would bar large institutional investors holding substantial housing portfolios from buying more single-family homes. Under the bipartisan housing law passed this summer, investors owning at least 350 homes may no longer purchase single-family residences, with the ban taking effect January 7. Treasury acknowledged in the 96-page proposed rule that the preparation time left for market participants is very limited.

TREE NEWS update: Rhode Island filed suit against Meta Platforms in state court on Thursday, alleging the company profited from billions of dollars in scam advertising across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Attorney General Peter Neronha accused Meta of participating in the creation and placement of the ads while assuring users it was protecting them. It is the first state-level suit against Meta over scam ads; Santa Clara County, California, filed a similar case in May.

TREE NEWS reports: RBC Capital Markets strategists Blake Gwinn and Izaac Brook said in a Thursday report that U.S. government debt could rise if Democrats win both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, as tighter AI regulation may accelerate a flight to safety. They have low confidence in the yield-curve move under that scenario, however, because safe-haven buying could be offset by fiscal concerns under a Democratic majority.

TREE NEWS update: The Central Bank of Ireland has fined Coinbase Ireland $3.6 million for oversight and safeguard failures, the regulator said. Coinbase Ireland has agreed with the facts of the enforcement action and will be subject to the fines and sanctions upon approval by a high court.

TREE NEWS update: Epic Games said its shooter game Fortnite will return to Apple’s Australian App Store on Thursday, after a federal court ruled Apple violated antitrust law and ordered the iPhone maker to open up its iOS operating system. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney called the remedies in the Australian Epic v. Apple antitrust case “a massive win for consumers and developers” in a post on X.

TREE NEWS update: Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the city welcomes infrastructure projects from APEC economies to raise financing in Hong Kong, following the 33rd APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting held in the city on October 20-21. Chan said Hong Kong’s experience in fiscal consolidation, financial inclusion and corporate listing can help APEC economies ease public finance pressure, and that the city can offer listing and other financing solutions for the region’s large infrastructure investment needs.

TREE NEWS update: European Central Bank Governing Council member Santos Pereira said Europe must deepen its single market. The remark was delivered as a call for further integration of the bloc’s internal market, with no additional policy details disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Digital advertisers and publishers have asked EU and UK antitrust regulators to suspend Meta Platforms’ new commercial terms, set to take effect on Oct. 30, arguing the terms give Meta unlimited rights to use their content for AI services. The Open Web Movement, whose members include advertisers and publishers, said it filed complaints with the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority and requested interim measures.

TREE NEWS update: Coinbase’s Irish e-money unit admitted holding 30 institutional clients’ dollars in Coinbase Inc. accounts for 19 months and falling short on safeguarded cash every day for at least a year and a half. The unit accepted a $3.64 million penalty over the breaches. Coinbase said no customer lost money.

TREE NEWS update: DeepSeek and MiniMax have completed registration procedures and finished open-sourcing and overseas licensing under China’s revised technology export catalogue, state-affiliated commentator Yuyuantan Tian reported. The Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology opened public comment on the revised catalogue on Oct. 16, adding 23 AI-related technologies including large models, AI agents and computing clusters.

TREE NEWS update: Israel announced sanctions on Coral Oil Co. Ltd./United Kingdom, accusing the company of supplying fuel to Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The designation targets a UK-registered entity over its alleged role in the group’s fuel supply chain. No further details on the scope of the sanctions were provided.

TREE NEWS update: US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the United States has not yet established rules for flying cars, indicating that a federal regulatory framework for the emerging vehicle category remains absent. The statement leaves unresolved how such aircraft would be certified and overseen as developers push toward commercial launch.

TREE NEWS update: Senior Russian political and energy officials urged the EU to reconsider its planned ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas, warning that low European gas inventories, rising prices and deepening reliance on the global LNG market are accumulating energy risks for Europe. President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Dmitry Medvedev said the Nord Stream gas pipeline will resume operations in the future, calling the restoration of Russian energy supplies “absolutely inevitable.”