Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Hunter Biden plans to launch a meme coin named LAPTOP, themed around his controversial laptop, as a political statement against Trump. Details are undisclosed. Separately, Blockstream has notified a white-hat hacker that a vulnerability is fixed, enabling the safe return of about 4,000 BTC. The hacker, who holds 3,998.5 BTC, demanded a patch before returning funds.

TREE NEWS reports: Meme tokens on Robinhood Chain, BNB Chain, and Solana saw sharp rallies in the past week, with several exceeding $100M market cap. CASHCAT peaked at $320M, now $190M; MARSCOIN jumped to $265M after Binance listing, now $150M; USELESS hit $320M, now $230M. Traders eye further gains as community interest spreads.

TREE NEWS update: OpenAI researchers released a video showing GPT-6 Astra flawlessly completing all 48 levels of the ‘I’m not a robot’ CAPTCHA game, raising doubts about the effectiveness of such verification methods. The AI model passed the entire verification process, not just a single stage.

TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin fell 0.9% in the last 24 hours to $79,202.62, continuing a downward trend. Ethereum dropped 0.3% to $2,491.67. Meanwhile, the MarketVector Digital Asset 100 Small Cap Index rose 0.51%, the Mid Cap Index gained 1.24%, and the broad Digital Asset 100 Index declined 0.51%.

TREE NEWS reports: Brazil’s crypto market reached 505.5 billion reais ($98.7 billion) in transaction volume in 2025, up fivefold from 2020, with corporate deals accounting for 98.3%. Major banks like Itaú, Nubank, and Banco do Brasil have expanded crypto offerings, though the central bank reports no proprietary holdings. New regulations require licensing by October 2026.

TREE NEWS update: Itaú, Nubank, and Banco do Brasil now sell more than a dozen tokens each to retail clients, even as none of them touch crypto with their own balance sheet. The expansion comes as Brazil’s regulatory framework for digital assets solidifies.

TREE NEWS update: The Ethereum Foundation has named FOCIL and Frame Transactions as the two ‘must ship’ EIPs for the upcoming Hegotá upgrade, with dozens of other proposed changes still under consideration. The selection centers the network’s next hard fork on these core improvements, signaling priorities for scalability and transaction efficiency.

TREE NEWS reports: Hong Kong-listed Boyaa Interactive added 115 bitcoins, bringing its total holdings to 4,316 BTC. The company now ranks 22nd among corporate bitcoin holders.NET.

TREE NEWS update: Hackers behind the $320 million Bitcoin theft from Blockstream’s Liquid network have returned approximately $270 million, leaving nearly 600 BTC outstanding. Blockstream informed the actors via an on-chain message that Liquid’s bridge nodes had been patched. The return was confirmed by Blockstream, which had issued a recovery bounty.

TREE NEWS reports: Hunter Biden will reportedly launch a memecoin called LAPTOP and distribute 200 million tokens to his Substack subscribers, mailing list members, and investors in President Donald Trump’s memecoin. The token’s launch follows the trend of political memecoins, with details still emerging.

TREE NEWS reports: At 9:09 AM PT, the Liquid white hat hacker returned 3,400 BTC to the Liquid Federation, but communication continues. By 11:07 AM, the hacker had spent 1,000 satoshis attached to a new PGP-signed message from Blockstream, confirming the exchange. The hacker still holds approximately 598.5 BTC.

TREE NEWS reports: Crypto activity in the Middle East tripled to $350 billion amid ongoing conflict, driven by demand for digital assets to preserve and transfer wealth. Gulf crypto businesses have continued operating through the disruption, the report found.

TREE NEWS update: Polish prosecutors have charged Romana Ż. with organized crime and misappropriation offenses involving $2.1 million in Zondacrypto user funds, and are seeking pretrial detention. The charges stem from an investigation into the cryptocurrency exchange.

TREE NEWS update: A plea agreement hearing for Malone Lam, accused in the $245 million bitcoin theft, is scheduled for Tuesday in Washington, nearly two years after his arrest in Miami. The hearing marks a key step in the high-profile cryptocurrency case.

TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin’s failure to break $80,000 coincides with markets pricing in a higher chance of a September rate hike. Fund flow data indicates investors are adjusting positions based on the Fed’s rate path rather than exiting the market. Monetary conditions remain a key focus for crypto investors.

TREE NEWS reports: A study published by Renmin University’s FinTech Institute, based on LLM agents analyzing stablecoin depeg risks, finds that depegs exhibit nonlinear and threshold characteristics. Arbitrage absorbs information pressure until narrative severity reaches a critical threshold, after which the system may rapidly enter a sustained depeg state. The crisis unfolds through a self-reinforcing process: severe narrative shock, fear, liquidity deterioration, retail selling, arbitrageur retreat, order imbalance, and sustained depeg.

TREE NEWS update: The U.S. CFTC has asked a Washington D.C. court to dismiss CME’s lawsuit against Kalshi’s bitcoin perpetual futures contract, calling it ‘much ado about nothing.’ Kalshi’s cash-settled BTCPERP, approved May 29, has no expiration and uses a funding rate. CME argues it should be classified as a swap, not a future. CFTC notes CME could list similar products and its bitcoin futures volumes were unaffected.

TREE NEWS update: French company Capital B purchased 376 Bitcoin for $29 million, its largest buy in nearly a year, boosting its total holdings to 3,521 BTC. The acquisition moves Capital B ahead of H100 Group among publicly traded Bitcoin holders.

TREE NEWS update: Hunter Biden’s upcoming meme coin LAPTOP warned the community on September 8 to beware of fake tokens and malicious links, stating that the project never contacts users or requests private keys, seed phrases, or personal information. Following the announcement, numerous same-name LAPTOP tokens have emerged on popular meme coin blockchains, most of which have spiked and then fallen. Investors are advised to exercise caution.

TREE NEWS update: The LAPTOP meme coin, tied to Hunter Biden, warned the community to beware of counterfeit tokens and malicious links, stating it will never contact users directly or request private keys or personal information. Following the announcement, numerous same-name tokens appeared across meme coin blockchains, most of which have already spiked and declined. The project urged trust in official channels only.