TREE NEWS update: A Circle Internet Group shareholder sued President Donald Trump and World Liberty Financial, the crypto firm he co-founded with his family, in U.S. federal court on Thursday, alleging Trump used the presidency to profit personally through two UAE-linked transactions in violation of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause. The suit says Trump sold a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million before his second term began, with funds reportedly from the UAE, and that a UAE government investment fund bought $2 billion of the Trump family’s digital currency.
TREE NEWS update: S&P Global Ratings on Thursday assigned Revolut a BBB+ investment-grade rating for the first time, and expects the UK digital bank to issue senior unsecured bonds in 2027 to build a debt buffer that can absorb potential losses and meet regulatory requirements. Revolut’s balance sheet now exceeds £40 billion ($53.5 billion), and the Bank of England could push for a restructuring in which investors bear losses if the bank fails.
TREE NEWS update: The Blockchain Association, representing more than 100 members, sent a letter to U.S. congressional leaders calling for bipartisan digital asset tax legislation. The group proposed a de minimis exemption for small transactions, treating stablecoins as cash with reduced Form 1099-DA reporting, taxing mining and staking rewards only on disposal, limiting broker reporting to intermediaries that custody or control client assets, and clarifying that wallet-to-wallet transfers, smart contract interactions and cross-chain moves are not taxable when economic ownership does not change.
TREE NEWS update: The Blockchain Association has sent a letter to U.S. House and Senate leadership urging Congress to advance prudent, bipartisan digital asset tax legislation. The group said about 67 million Americans hold and use digital assets, and that the current tax regime creates uncertainty and heavy compliance burdens while pushing innovation offshore. Its proposed principles include a meaningful de minimis exemption and taxing mining and staking rewards as newly created property at disposition.
TREE NEWS update: Coinbase Ireland has been fined $3.6 million for safeguarding breaches that left customer funds underfunded and mixed with group accounts. The penalty follows oversight failures at the Irish unit of the U.S. crypto exchange. The regulator found that client assets were not properly segregated from corporate funds.
TREE NEWS reports: Blockchain investigator ZachXBT urged users to withdraw all funds from Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX, accusing its co-founders of denying an asset theft before later disclosing a roughly $16 million loss. He said the exchange failed to promptly and transparently inform the public, called the co-founders “a bunch of clowns” running the exchange like a circus, and noted this is not CoinDCX’s first such incident, also criticizing Indian centralized exchanges WazirX and BitBNS.
TREE NEWS update: Fireblocks said reports that Visa was in late-stage talks to acquire the crypto custody firm for about $2.5 billion were unexpected and not true. Visa declined to comment on the report, saying it does not comment on rumors or speculation. The denial follows earlier reports of a potential $2.5 billion deal.
TREE NEWS reports: Onchain Lens has challenged CoinDCX’s account of a hacking incident, saying user deposits flowed into a wallet excluded from the exchange’s fund accounting before nearly equal amounts were moved out. Some funds were routed through uncommon cross-chain bridge entry points and services, the on-chain analyst said. It added that funds possibly linked to CoinDCX hot wallets passed through OTC services and mixing platforms, and questioned the team’s continued denial of a security incident despite evidence from researchers and on-chain investigators.
TREE NEWS update: Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission said multiple asset managers have consulted on launching spot cryptocurrency ETFs, but no firm has yet submitted an application for approval. The regulator did not name the companies and said it cannot confirm whether the first products will be approved by the end of 2026, with timing depending on applicant readiness, regulatory review and investor protection requirements. New Thai crypto ETF rules took effect Friday, allowing asset managers to set up locally listed spot bitcoin and ether ETFs.
TREE NEWS update: The Shanghai Stock Exchange issued a regulatory letter to Shandong Daye Co. regarding recent volatility in the company’s share price. The letter names the listed company as the subject and cites share price fluctuations as the reason for the regulatory action. No further details of the letter’s contents or any potential consequences were disclosed.
TREE NEWS update: Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission said several asset managers have held consultations on spot crypto ETFs, but no firm has submitted an application. The regulator also said it cannot confirm whether the first such funds will launch in 2026. The disclosure leaves the timeline for Thailand’s first spot crypto ETFs unresolved.
TREE NEWS update: Robinhood MENA Limited has been granted a Dubai retail license by the DFSA, effective July 20, permitting the firm to arrange crypto deals and provide custody services to retail clients. The license is part of Robinhood’s plan to launch in the UAE in 2027, as indicated by the DFSA register.
TREE NEWS update: Ireland’s central bank has fined Coinbase Ireland €3.25 million over failures in safeguarding customer funds, with the shortfall reaching €5.2 million in 2024. The sanctions require High Court confirmation before they take effect. The penalty targets gaps in how the exchange’s Irish entity protected client assets.
TREE NEWS reports: Coinbase’s European policy head Katie Harries warned that the UK’s planned 2027 crypto rules risk creating a de facto ban on regulated firms offering access to DeFi. The rules, as currently framed, could leave regulated providers unable to route clients into decentralized finance, she argued, calling for a workable route to regulated DeFi access.
TREE NEWS update: Shanghai’s financial regulator issued 17 measures to advance digital finance in the city’s banking and insurance sectors, including plans to build a digital finance evaluation system to monitor development levels and outcomes. The regulator said it will strengthen oversight, correcting poor or deviating policy implementation and responding to related risks and violations with risk warnings, regulatory talks, notices and administrative penalties.
TREE NEWS update: CoinDCX said users will not bear losses tied to $16 million in transfers it linked to wallets compromised in July 2025. Investigators said the addresses involved remained connected to CoinDCX’s operations, raising questions about the exchange’s account of the transfers.
TREE NEWS update: Italian police dismantled a mafia-run underground bank operating out of a car-rental firm near Milan and seized $24 million, authorities said. The operation served ‘Ndrangheta and Camorra figures, moving money abroad and into cryptocurrency. The car-rental business functioned as a secret bank for organized crime groups.
TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has drafted a decision to amend six administrative regulations, including the measures governing road motor vehicle manufacturers and product access and the provisions on new energy vehicle manufacturer and product access. The draft, prepared by the ministry’s industrial policy and regulations department, is now open for public comment. Other rules covered include telecom construction quality supervision, monitored chemicals implementation details, radio frequency licensing and amateur radio station management.
TREE NEWS update: Chinese prosecutors have applied to confiscate $5.1 billion in Bitcoin seized by UK authorities in the Qian case, with a Tianjin court set to hear the application after a six-month notice period. A parallel legal dispute over the same coins is ongoing in London.
TREE NEWS update: CoinDCX said user funds are safe and that wallet addresses and transaction data circulating on X are misleading, in a statement on Oct. 22. The Indian exchange said the activity involves old wallet addresses created in January 2025 and compromised in July 2025, after which the platform stopped using them. It said the reported on-chain activity is unrelated to its current operations and urged users to rely on official announcements.