Flash News

TREE NEWS update: More than 20 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange have disclosed their 2026 “quality improvement, efficiency enhancement and heavy return” 2.0 action plans since the bourse launched the initiative in June, the latest batch including COSCO Shipping Holdings, Huayin Electric Power, Ningbo Ocean Shipping and Huaqin Technology. The plans set out quantifiable and practical measures on operational quality, shareholder returns and governance standards.

TREE NEWS update: A court in Kazakhstan has ordered restrictions on Coinbase, BingX and four other cryptocurrency platforms, while nine other crypto platforms voluntarily restricted app access in the country, prompting the regulator to withdraw its claims against them. The ruling targets six platforms in total, with the remaining nine avoiding action by complying voluntarily.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) announced the establishment of National Data Group Co., Ltd., approved by the State Council, with SASAC acting as the investor on the State Council’s behalf. The new entity has been added to the list of enterprises under SASAC’s investor responsibilities.

TREE NEWS update: China Data Group Co., Ltd. was established in Xiongan on Thursday, a member of the National Data Expert Advisory Committee. The state-level group will develop, integrate and operate national data resources, promote cross-industry and cross-region data sharing, and help break down “data silos” to accelerate building a unified national data market. Zhang said the move is a global first that will strengthen China’s position in global data resource competition.

TREE NEWS update: China held the founding conference of National Data Group Co., Ltd. on the 20th in Xiong’an New Area, Hebei. Politburo Standing Committee member and Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang attended and unveiled the company. The new state-owned entity is established to operate in the data sector.

TREE NEWS update: Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has approved the country’s first retail bitcoin ETF, granting an exemption from diversification rules. The approval requires custody safeguards and clear warnings to investors about volatility and potential losses. The decision opens bitcoin exchange-traded product access to Swiss retail investors under the regulator’s conditions.

TREE NEWS update: Bitget plans to acquire Bangkok-based digital asset exchange and broker GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics (Thailand) Co., Ltd. through its affiliated entity BTGT Management (Thailand) Ltd., the companies disclosed on October 20. The deal would bring a Thai-licensed crypto trading venue under the Bitget umbrella. Financial terms were not disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: The China Securities Regulatory Commission will study adding a revision of the Securities Law to the legislative agenda of the next National People’s Congress, CSRC chief lawyer Cheng Hehong said on October 20 at the 2026 Financial Street Forum. The law was last amended in 2019, and capital markets have since undergone profound changes, he said. The CSRC has also submitted a legislative proposal to revise the Securities Investment Fund Law.

TREE NEWS update: The Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) imposed restrictions on opening new positions for a group of accounts under actual control after their combined intraday opening volume exceeded the exchange’s handling threshold on Oct. 20, 2026. The exchange said the trading behavior violated Article 16 of its abnormal trading behavior management rules, and the restriction applies to the relevant product.

TREE NEWS update: People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Xuan Changneng met Brazilian Treasury Secretary Daniel Leal in Beijing on Oct. 19, 2026. The two sides discussed bilateral financial cooperation, including Brazil’s issuance of sovereign panda bonds and connectivity between the Chinese and Brazilian financial markets.

TREE NEWS update: Yang Xiaowei, former deputy director of the Education, Science, Culture, Health and Sports Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for bribery by the Xiangyang Intermediate People’s Court in Hubei on October 20, 2026. The court also fined him 3 million yuan and ordered that confiscated bribe proceeds and interest be turned over to the state treasury.

TREE NEWS update: China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Wu Qing said on Oct. 19 the regulator will keep to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability and further improve a capital market that balances investment and financing, speaking at the opening of the 2026 Financial Street Forum. Ye Fan, chief economist at Southwest Securities, said the emphasis on stability combines vigilance over cross-border, cross-market and cross-industry risk transmission with measures such as active ETFs and long-cycle assessment to draw in medium- and long-term capital.

TREE NEWS update: The CFTC argued in an Oct. 16 court filing that CME’s crypto futures volume grew by 621,570 contracts between May and September, using the exchange’s own data to rebut claims that perpetual futures cause market harm. The regulator also cited CME’s CEO telling investors that customers have not asked for perps, as the agency defends its approach to crypto derivatives regulation.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Oct. 20 published draft rules banning vehicles without L3 or higher autonomous driving systems from installing ADS marker lights. The draft requires ADS lights to use a dedicated blue-green color, whereas most L2 assisted-driving signal lights have used blue. Automakers began receiving word of the L2 ban in July.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) held a meeting on October 19 on ‘AI plus drug regulation,’ chaired by party secretary and commissioner Huang Guo. The agency said AI is penetrating the entire drug R&D, production, distribution and use chain, and pledged to set rules, stabilize expectations and create a regulation environment that encourages innovation. It will draft a special plan to support breakthroughs in key tracks and move review services earlier to the source of innovation.

TREE NEWS update: BlackRock has filed for a new Bitcoin ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF, which would use options on IBIT to limit each tranche’s starting loss to about 10% while capping potential gains. The proposed structure offers downside protection at the cost of a ceiling on upside.

TREE NEWS update: BlackRock has filed for a third Bitcoin exchange-traded fund that would use options to limit potential losses and gains, adding a new strategy to its existing Bitcoin and Ether ETF lineup. The proposed fund does not include Solana or XRP exposure. The filing marks BlackRock’s latest expansion of its crypto ETF offerings.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will keep improving its capacity monitoring and early-warning mechanism for solar and new-type energy storage, MIIT spokesperson Tao Qing said at a State Council Information Office briefing on Oct. 20. The ministry will also step up construction of next-generation communications and computing-power networks and deploy a batch of landmark engineering projects as part of efforts to hit annual growth targets for key industrial sectors.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will accelerate the drafting and issuance of a notice and speed up the revision of relevant standards to keep unreasonably designed or insufficiently tested vehicle products out of the market. The ministry said it will strengthen production consistency supervision and inspections of testing institutions, using pre-market access and post-market oversight to safeguard automotive safety and consumer rights.