Flash News

TREE NEWS update: FinCEN withdrew its 2020 proposal to require banks and money services businesses to report on unhosted crypto wallets, and rescinded its 2023 finding that crypto mixing is a primary money laundering concern. The agency said it will continue monitoring mixers and may take action again in the future.

TREE NEWS update: OpenAI will introduce text watermarking, or identification, features for ChatGPT users in the European Union market. The move adds a labeling mechanism to ChatGPT-generated text for EU users, marking AI output as such. No timeline or technical details of the rollout were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Safe investor Greenfield has filed a regulatory complaint in Switzerland over the governance of the Safe Ecosystem Foundation. Greenfield said it asked the foundation to remove Gnosis co-founder Stefan George from its board and add independent members, and that every request was rejected. The complaint is the latest escalation in a dispute over board composition at the entity behind the Safe multisig wallet.

TREE NEWS update: Former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry said the CLARITY Act could pass during the lame-duck period after the midterm elections, once the political cycle winds down. “They can hand over one last finished product here at the midterms,” McHenry said. The remarks point to a possible window for the crypto market-structure bill before the congressional session ends.

TREE NEWS update: The US Treasury has withdrawn its proposed crypto monitoring rules targeting unhosted wallets and cryptocurrency mixing. The proposal would have imposed additional reporting and recordkeeping requirements on transactions involving self-custodied wallets and mixing services. The withdrawal removes, for now, a planned compliance burden on crypto firms and users.

TREE NEWS reports: Unique wallets sending peer-to-peer stablecoin transactions in China grew 43-fold between Q1 2024 and Q2 2026, Chainalysis data shows. The growth reflects a shift in Chinese crypto activity toward direct wallet-to-wallet transfers rather than centralized platforms, even as the country’s crypto restrictions remain in place.

TREE NEWS update: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, working with other U.S. and global financial regulators, issued a joint investor bulletin as part of World Investor Week. The bulletin urges investors to stay resilient amid changing market conditions. The joint release marks the SEC’s latest coordination with international counterparts on investor protection.

TREE NEWS reports: Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has avoided making crypto a central campaign issue, in contrast to his presidential bid. He holds a stake in a digital asset manager and has received donations from many in the industry. The shift marks a change in emphasis for the candidate, who previously courted crypto voters.

TREE NEWS update: The Independent Community Bankers of America has sued a federal bank regulator to overturn its March chartering rule allowing non-fiduciary crypto firms to become national trust banks, arguing the regulator lacks legal authority. The trade group is also seeking to vacate Protego’s conditional charter. The lawsuit asks a court to strike down both the rule and the charter.

TREE NEWS update: OKXICE filed notice under the SEC’s new innovation exemption listing Nvidia, Tesla, Apple and 60 other stock tokens, to trade around the clock against stablecoins in Uniswap pools on OKX’s X Layer. The venture is tied to the owner of the New York Stock Exchange. The tokens would give round-the-clock onchain exposure to major US equities.

TREE NEWS update: The SEC has cleared Cboe to list Volatility Shares’ 3x Bitcoin and Ether funds, covering six products structured as commodity trusts registered under the 1933 Act. The approval follows SEC staff pushback in December 2025 on 3x funds governed by the 1940 Act.

TREE NEWS update: LeBron James has signed a $15 million annual endorsement deal with prediction market Polymarket, with no evidence the arrangement violates NBA rules. James is an endorser rather than an investor, and the partnership will focus on non-NBA markets such as soccer. The deal differs from the Kawhi Leonard case, where the Clippers were fined $30 million and stripped of draft picks over salary-cap violations.

TREE NEWS reports: Injective CEO Eric Chen said he expects a US ETF tied to INJ to launch before 2027, calling the year “a bit too far” out. Speaking to The Block during Korea Blockchain Week, Chen declined to comment on a specific timeline. 21Shares and Canary have already filed INJ ETF applications with the SEC.

TREE NEWS update: Kraken’s parent company has added round-the-clock US dollar settlement through a partnership with Singapore Gulf Bank, the bank said. Select institutions in Asia and the Gulf region will be able to settle dollar transactions instantly via the bank’s SGB Net. No financial terms or launch date were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: A US class action over the LIBRA memecoin saw most claims against Hayden Davis and Kelsier dismissed because a New York court lacked jurisdiction, Bubblemaps said. The ruling did not address the merits of the allegations, and plaintiffs can still appeal or refile in a court with jurisdiction. The suit involves LIBRA and M3M3 token investors, while Argentina’s criminal probe continues.

TREE NEWS update: Injective CEO Eric Chen said US spot INJ ETFs could launch sooner than 2027. Two ETF applications tied to INJ are currently pending: the 21Shares Injective ETF and the Canary Staked INJ ETF.

TREE NEWS update: FTX creditors registered in mainland China and Macau face a Jan. 31, 2027 deadline to connect a distribution service provider or risk losing all repayments. FTX works with BitGo, Kraken and Payoneer, but none appear as options for residents of those regions, leaving claims stuck at step 8 of the payout process even after KYC and tax forms are approved. Five distribution rounds have already run since the plan took effect in January 2025, with no payout reaching those creditors.