Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Sam Altman-backed World has launched biometric verification badges for Zoom enterprise users, aiming to combat AI deepfake impersonation and fraud. The badges confirm a participant is a real person rather than a deepfake. The rollout is targeted at enterprise customers of the video-conferencing platform.

TREE NEWS reports: South Korean finance officials are set to meet major crypto exchanges on Tuesday, days after a lawmaker introduced legislation that could delay the start of the crypto tax by two years. The meeting comes as the industry pushes for more time before the tax takes effect.

TREE NEWS update: The “Jidi” vessel, on China’s 16th Arctic Ocean expedition, has completed quasi-operational testing of a domestically built satellite internet service on the Arctic route. The voyage carried out the first successful connectivity verification across the Arctic, Antarctic and the Tibetan Plateau, closing what was described as the “last blind spot” in global communications.

TREE NEWS update: Tencent Cloud will begin providing a free tier of “standard bandwidth” per instance for its distributed cache database bandwidth service on January 1, 2027, the company said. Usage above the standard allowance will be billed elastically based on actual consumption. The change applies at the instance level.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Commerce and eight other departments issued an opinion on accelerating technology-driven commerce, calling for coordinated efforts to upgrade goods consumption, expand services consumption, improve circulation efficiency and integrate new application scenarios. The document urges higher adoption of AI, big data, IoT, cloud computing, blockchain, digital twins and embodied intelligence to make the commerce chain smarter, greener and more integrated, supporting a strong domestic market.

TREE NEWS reports: A wallet opened 10 hours ago shorted 13,826 ETH with 25x leverage, a position worth $33.5 million, and was partially liquidated as ETH price rebounded. The address still holds a short of 8,849 ETH worth $21.4 million, with a new liquidation price of $2,430.28.

TREE NEWS reports: Crypto attacks caused $1.18 billion in losses in the third quarter, with about 77% of the damage linked to issues including insufficient audit coverage. The figure underscores persistent security weaknesses as losses mount across the sector. Separately, 10x Research said the altcoin rebound has faded, with tracked tokens falling an average of 14% last week.

TREE NEWS update: World, the identity project co-founded by Sam Altman, launched a World ID suite for banks and financial institutions, its first industry-specific product. Co-founder Alex Blania announced the suite at the Money20/20 conference; it integrates the World ID app, World ID for Zoom and World ID for Agents (AgentKit) to counter deepfake fraud and AI impersonation. Zoom’s deepfake detection, in testing since April, is now fully available.

TREE NEWS reports: The crypto industry suffered 107 security incidents and $1.18 billion in losses in the third quarter of 2026, up 55% quarter over quarter. About $906.8 million of the losses stemmed from compromised vendors or developer tools, unpatched known vulnerabilities and components left outside the scope of the latest audits. The largest single incident was an attack on Bitget that cost at least $352 million.

TREE NEWS reports: An address that withdrew 1,417.77 ETH worth $3.78 million from Binance between Sept. 19 and Sept. 23 deposited all of it back to an exchange eight hours ago at a price of $2,364.18. The address had accumulated the ETH at an average price of $2,667.77, implying an estimated loss of $430,000, or an 11.38% drawdown, if sold.

TREE NEWS reports: Strive CEO Matt Cole said on X that bitcoin’s long-term performance could surpass gold as monetary debasement continues, citing gold’s compound annual growth outpacing US M2 growth across multiple periods — 9.0% vs 6.7% since 1970, 9.5% vs 6.3% since the global financial crisis, and 18.3% vs 6.5% since the pandemic. Cole said Strive’s edge lies in maintaining high bitcoin exposure multiples and ample liquidity rather than lowering financing costs.

TREE NEWS update: Identity network World is packaging its video-call deepfake detection, identity wallet and AI-agent tools for financial institutions, the company said, with four design partners already exploring uses. The bundle is aimed at banks seeking to verify that customers are human as AI-generated impersonation grows. World did not disclose pricing or a launch date for the offering.

TREE NEWS update: World released a World ID suite aimed at banks and made its World ID for Zoom feature generally available after a beta that began in April. The Zoom tool is designed to spot deepfaked participants on video calls. The bank-focused suite extends World ID verification to financial institutions.

TREE NEWS update: Qubic froze its blockchain after an attacker drained 1,400 wallets by exploiting weak seed phrases, the project said. 87.1% of the stolen funds remain onchain and the rest were frozen at crypto exchange MEXC, it added, as network validators prepare to vote on a recovery plan.

TREE NEWS reports: Silver climbed 1.12% to $57.317 an ounce, while gold rose 0.25% to $4,173.63 an ounce. WTI crude fell 1.21% to $98.87 a barrel and Brent slipped 0.15% to $109.65, while Europe’s EUSTX50 dropped 0.82% to 6,159.27. Gate offers in-app trading of precious metals, FX, global equity CFDs and commodities alongside crypto assets.

TREE NEWS reports: An address shorted 13,830 ETH at $2,366 late Tuesday, a position worth $32.72 million. When ETH rebounded to $2,409 at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, 2,765 ETH of the position was liquidated at a value of $6.66 million. The remaining 11,061 ETH short, worth $26.64 million, carries a liquidation price of $2,419, just $9 above the current price.

TREE NEWS reports: The 141 tokens tracked by 10x Research fell 14% on average last week, versus a 3% decline for bitcoin, as the altcoin rebound lost momentum. The firm said trading volumes are down, stablecoin supply is contracting and ETF flows have turned net negative, pointing to tighter liquidity. Options markets still price low stress and CME futures speculative positioning sits near highs, suggesting derivatives have yet to reflect spot-market weakness.

TREE NEWS update: HEX founder Richard Heart was detained in an early morning raid in Istanbul, catching him off-guard. In the same period, Starknet’s token plunged almost 50% as the network votes to become an L1, and Bitwise said all signs point to Crypto Spring.

TREE NEWS update: Crypto.com and Novig have filed lawsuits against Missouri over sports event contracts, while Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood and Underdog have not filed suits in the state, court records show. The four platforms also received cease-and-desist orders but have yet to challenge them in court.

TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin fell below the $81,000 mark, trading at $80,960.00 per coin. The move represents a 0.26% decline within the day. The price slip comes as the largest cryptocurrency briefly dipped under the round-number threshold.