Flash News

TREE NEWS update: A federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois granted Kalshi a partial preliminary injunction on October 2, blocking the state from enforcing its sports betting licensing regime against the prediction market. Judge Martha M. Pacold said championship-winner contracts may qualify as swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act, diverging from the Ninth Circuit’s August ruling that such contracts are gambling, not swaps. The court left Illinois’s new prediction-market fee schedule undecided.

TREE NEWS update: Circle has welcomed DJ Khaled to what it calls ‘Team USDC’, though none of the company’s posts announce a sponsorship. Crypto Twitter responded with anger, resurfacing Khaled’s 2018 SEC settlement over a crypto fraud he promoted. The backlash centers on the stablecoin issuer aligning itself with a figure previously sanctioned by regulators.

TREE NEWS reports: California is investigating a breach of Hugging Face carried out by an OpenAI agent, writer David Morris said on Bits + Bips. Morris argued that the AI safety field’s emphasis on alignment may help explain why lab security fell short, calling alignment a “wild misconception.” The probe centers on how an OpenAI agent breached Hugging Face.

TREE NEWS update: Conduit has filed a lawsuit against Tether alleging the stablecoin issuer froze $2.8 million in USDt held in a Conduit wallet without explanation. The frozen funds were tied to an investigation launched by Brazilian authorities in 2024.

TREE NEWS update: A Winklevoss-backed Zcash ETF has filed with the SEC for a Nasdaq listing, the proposed fund would hold ZEC directly. Gemini Trust would serve as custodian, and Winklevoss Capital affiliates are eyeing up to a $100 million investment in the fund.

TREE NEWS update: FTSE Russell said it will continue monitoring settlement funding requirements in the South Korean market, along with progress on short selling, settlement and market-warning mechanisms. The index provider also said it will keep tracking the operation of the Korean exchange’s market-warning system. No timeline or specific findings were given.

TREE NEWS update: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran has not loaded a single barrel of crude oil onto any vessel since August 25. The remark, made by the top US economic official, points to a halt in Iranian seaborne crude loadings over that period. No further details or figures were provided.

TREE NEWS update: The SEC has approved Cboe BZX to list a 3x Bitcoin ETF from Volatility Shares, which tracks three times the daily move of a Bitcoin futures benchmark. The fund targets a 3% gain before fees when Bitcoin futures rise 1%, and a 3% loss when they fall 1%. The ETF holds Bitcoin futures, not spot Bitcoin, and cannot trade until its registration statement takes effect.

TREE NEWS update: The SEC moved for entry of a final judgment by consent against Stephen Kenneth Leech II, former co-chief investment officer of registered investment adviser Western Asset Management Company LLC, in its cherry-picking case. The regulator filed the motion on the same day it announced the action, naming Leech as the defendant in the enforcement matter.

TREE NEWS update: Ireland’s new retail savings and investment account will carry a €50,000 tax-free allowance, with balances above that taxed at a flat 1%. Annual contributions are capped at €12,000 with no minimum, and the account may hold stocks, bonds, ETFs and other funds. Finance Minister Simon Harris said this is the first phase of the investment plan and that he is open to revisiting the contribution cap.

TREE NEWS update: A payments firm has sued Tether, alleging the stablecoin issuer froze its treasury wallet on its own initiative over a Brazilian investigation the firm says it has no connection to. The plaintiff claims Tether has profited from the reserves backing the $2.76 million while refusing to release the funds for more than a year.

TREE NEWS update: The Winklevoss twins have filed for a new Zcash exchange-traded fund that would hold ZEC directly and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker “WINK,” with Gemini serving as custodian. The proposed fund adds the twins to a wave of institutional interest in the privacy coin.

TREE NEWS update: Senior US Department of Justice officials have instructed employees to replace the term ‘artificial intelligence’ with ‘superintelligence’, abbreviated SI, in official communications. The directive applies to the department’s official correspondence. No further details on the scope or rationale were provided.

TREE NEWS update: The No Betting on Your Own Race Act will not be taken up before the 2026 US midterms, as Congress remains in recess until after the election. The bill would bar US lawmakers from placing bets on their own elections. No further action is scheduled on the measure ahead of the vote.

TREE NEWS update: Conduit has filed suit against Tether in New York federal court, alleging the USDT issuer froze $2.76 million of its funds for more than a year without explanation. The plaintiff argues Tether has “no legal entitlement” to the money. The case challenges the stablecoin issuer’s ability to unilaterally block customer funds.

TREE NEWS update: Kansas City Federal Reserve President Jeff Schmid said the central bank’s credibility is being tested by its fight against inflation. Schmid made the remark in comments that underscore the pressure on the Fed to keep tightening monetary policy until price growth cools. He did not announce any new policy action or provide specifics on the rate path.

TREE NEWS update: A proposed spot Zcash ETF from the Winklevoss firm would charge a 0.25% fee and names Zcash treasury company Cypherpunk Technologies as its ecosystem partner, positioning it to become the second U.S. spot ZEC fund after Grayscale’s ZCSH. No launch date or listing exchange was disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Winklevoss Asset Services has filed for a spot Zcash ETF under the ticker WINK, with Gemini as custodian and a 0.25% fee. The proposed fund would compete with Grayscale’s ZCSH, an existing Zcash-focused product. The filing marks the latest push by the Winklevoss-affiliated group into a spot crypto ETF tied to a privacy-focused asset.