Flash News

TREE NEWS update: South Africa needs an additional 650 billion rand ($39 billion) in fixed investment, including machinery and infrastructure, to reach its goal of 3.5% economic growth by the end of the decade. Rudi Dicks, head of the Presidency’s Project Management Office, said fixed investment is currently about 14% of GDP, far below the 18%-20% needed by 2030. He spoke Wednesday at a Standard Bank Group Ltd. conference.

TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin is heading toward its first consecutive losing years, breaking an 18-year pattern, with the data carrying some nuance. The move would mark the first back-to-back annual declines since the cryptocurrency began trading.

TREE NEWS reports: ADI PredictStreet, the official World Cup prediction-market partner, has removed references to operating with World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin from its website and replaced them with USDC, calling the earlier information outdated. On-chain analysis found no evidence the platform used USD1 for transactions, indicating it actually uses USDC issued by Circle.

TREE NEWS reports: LME copper rose $138 to close at $13,817 per tonne, with the exchange’s other base metals mostly higher. Aluminium gained $58 to $3,068/t, zinc added $44 to $3,756/t, nickel climbed $171 to $16,201/t and tin advanced $215 to $46,528/t. Lead edged up $5 to $1,882/t, while cobalt was unchanged at $33,525/t.

TREE NEWS reports: The new Huanggang Port processed 3.44 million inbound and outbound travelers in its first month of operation, averaging 114,000 per day, Shenzhen border inspection authorities said. The figure marks a 120% increase from the same period in 2025, alongside 280,000 vehicle crossings. Single-day traffic set records three times, peaking at 161,000 on Oct. 31, the highest since 2019.

TREE NEWS update: Brazil central bank governor Gabriel Galipolo said the current international environment is unfavorable, without elaborating on specific risks or policy implications. The remark was made as a standalone comment, with no further details provided on how it might affect monetary policy or the currency.

TREE NEWS update: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Ireland and plans to meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the US president’s son-in-law. No further details on the agenda or timing of the meetings were given. The visit comes as diplomatic contacts between Kyiv and Washington continue.

TREE NEWS reports: Stablecoin supply shrank by $14.2 billion, the largest contraction since the 2022 bear market, with USDT and USDC supply falling nearly $11 billion over the past month. Gold-backed tokens held steady during the same period.

TREE NEWS reports: The U.S. dollar rose 1.0% against the Swiss franc in intraday trading, reaching 0.8334. The move marks a sharp single-session gain for the greenback versus the Swiss currency, with the pair touching that level during the session.

TREE NEWS update: Elon Musk said Tesla will extend Cybertruck production until the end of summer 2027, reversing his earlier position on the vehicle’s manufacturing timeline. The change means the pickup will stay in production longer than previously indicated. No further details or figures were given.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump said Iran will never possess nuclear weapons. No further details, timing or policy specifics accompanied the remark. The comment comes amid ongoing international attention on Iran’s nuclear program.

TREE NEWS update: Google said it will roll out its Gemini Live feature to Apple CarPlay worldwide, extending the AI assistant to iPhone users in cars. The announcement gives no timeline or list of supported regions. Gemini Live is Google’s conversational AI voice interface, and CarPlay is Apple’s in-vehicle system for iPhone apps.

TREE NEWS update: UK Chancellor John Healey said Britain will not allow the kind of data center “uncontrolled expansion” that has triggered public and political backlash in the United States, to avoid threatening AI investment. Healey told members of Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee that the budget he disclosed in October included a new “data center covenant” because he does not want the US data center debate repeated in the UK.

TREE NEWS update: Helius has introduced Solana Privacy Rings, a protocol that encrypts balances and transfer amounts while keeping transactions on the Solana network. The design allows users to conceal on-chain financial data without moving to a separate chain. The protocol is presented alongside comparisons to existing privacy approaches on Solana.

TREE NEWS update: LlamaRisk has proposed borrowing speed limits for Aave V3, pairing timed borrowing buffers with a steward-run route for large clients. The parameters remain provisional and governance votes are still ahead. The plan would slow borrowing during set windows while giving large clients a managed path through a steward.

TREE NEWS reports: International copper closed up 0.05% in the night session, while Shanghai copper gained 0.31%, Shanghai aluminum rose 1.1%, Shanghai zinc added 0.4% and Shanghai nickel climbed 0.58%. Shanghai lead was the outlier, falling 0.47%, while Shanghai tin rose 0.74%. Alumina edged up 0.04%, aluminum alloy gained 0.44% and stainless steel rose 0.25%.

TREE NEWS update: Iran’s South Pars gas production remains stable following a fire on one of the platform, with output continuing without disruption. The incident occurred at the offshore field in southern Iran, and production levels have held steady despite the fire. No further details on the cause or damage were provided.

TREE NEWS update: Across Protocol said its website is back under its control after an attacker obtained its domain through social engineering at Namecheap, and that affected users will be made whole. A security firm’s loss estimate for the incident has not been confirmed by the protocol.