Good morning. Another change in the civil service? Simon Case is reported to be weighing up his future as the UK’s top civil servant. Some thoughts on our scoop in today’s note. Case, closed? The news that Sue Gray was set to join Keir Starmer’s team broke midway through the Conservative party’s away day. The
Chinese equities fell on Tuesday after disappointing trade data added to investors’ concerns that the country’s post-zero Covid recovery might prove less explosive than previously expected. China’s CSI 300 fell 1.4 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.4 per cent after imports in January and February declined 10.2 per cent compared with
Three Russians are going to spend time in high-security prison for stealing over a million U.S. dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency from another man. In addition, the court has also ordered them to fully compensate the victim for the damages, prosecutors announced. Robbers Get Prison Sentence for Cryptocurrency Theft in Russia A court in the Russian
Publicly-listed Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Argo Blockchain has increased its daily BTC production despite a significant spike in network difficulty. During February, Argo mined 162 Bitcoin or BTC equivalents, translating to 5.7 BTC per day, which the firm announced in an operational update on March 7. Argo’s daily Bitcoin production rate in February surged 7%
China’s foreign minister has warned of a clash with the US unless Washington ceases its attempts to contain Beijing, highlighting the Chinese Communist party’s concerns over escalating tension between the rival superpowers. “If the US doesn’t hit the brakes and continues to barrel down the wrong track, no amount of guardrails can prevent the carriage
The United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) won’t be allowed to fine executives involved in Voyager Digital should it end up issuing bankruptcy tokens to help repay impacted customers, bankruptcy judge Michael Wiles has said. The comments from Wiles came on Mar. 6, the third day of hearings regarding a plan by Voyager to issue
The writer is chief market strategist for Europe, Middle East and Africa at JPMorgan Asset Management A slew of economic data has recently surprised to the upside. According to the purchasing managers’ index for the eurozone, the bloc’s economy is growing again. The US had a bumper jobs and retail spending report for January. Investors
It was the sickly sweet scent lingering outside the school toilets that first alerted headteacher Dan Cleary to an emerging trend when pupils returned after the summer holiday last year. Since then, rarely does a fortnight go by when he does not have to discipline a student for stashing a “vape”, or electronic cigarette, in
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has hinted that the firm’s new layer-2 blockchain network Base may be subjected to transaction monitoring and Anti-Money Laundering measures at launch. In an interview with Joe Weisenthal on Bloomberg Radio on March 6, Armstrong acknowledged that Base has some centralized components today, adding that “it will be more and more
A recent study indicates that Spain is one of the hottest countries regarding real estate offerings that can be paid with cryptocurrency. The report, prepared by Forex Suggest, found that Spain is the country with the most properties available for crypto, followed by Thailand, Portugal, and the UAE. Spain Ranks First Among Countries With Properties
Commercial seafarers might be the workforce that people rely on the most but think about the least. The vast majority of goods traded around the world are transported on ships. Capitalism wouldn’t work without the almost 2mn people who work on them. But it seems to take a lot for them to get noticed. When
When Saudi Prince Khaled bin Sultan al-Saud went shopping for a private jet in 2016, his Swiss wealth advisers pulled together a list of assets to secure financing that included the crown jewel of his family fortune — a 40-room mansion they described as the “London Palace”. That 205-year-old house in Regent’s Park, also known
Private credit groups including Apollo, Ares and Blackstone are poised to write the largest direct loan on record as they continue to muscle in on a lucrative business traditionally dominated by Wall Street banks. The lenders are increasingly confident they can edge out investment banks including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs on a deal to fund
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an emergency action against Miami-based investment adviser Bkcoin and one of its principals, Kevin Kang. “The defendants disregarded the structure of the funds, commingled investor assets, and used more than $3.6 million to make Ponzi-like payments to fund investors,” the SEC alleged. SEC’s ‘Emergency Action’ Against
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s potential acquisition of Gunvor, the energy trading house, has reached an impasse due to disagreements over the deal’s size, people familiar with the negotiations said. While Adnoc had hoped to acquire all of Gunvor, or a majority stake, the commodity trader’s chief executive Torbjörn Törnqvist is unwilling to yield control
United States-based Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf has fired up a new crypto mining facility in Pennsylvania — solely running on nuclear power generated on-site. In March 6 statement, TeraWulf said the Nautilus Cryptomine facility is its first “behind the meter” Bitcoin (BTC) mining facility, meaning it uses energy directly at the generation site without traveling
A former Tornado Cash developer claims to be building a new crypto mixing service that aims to solve a “critical flaw” of the sanctioned crypto mixer — which he hopes will convince U.S. regulators to reconsider its position on privacy mixers. The code of a new Ethereum-based mixer, “Privacy Pools,” was launched on GitHub on
Billionaire Mark Mobius, founder of Mobius Capital Partners, says he cannot take his money out of HSBC in Shanghai, China. Citing severe capital control by the Chinese government, he stressed: “It’s crazy … They’re putting all kinds of barriers.” Mark Mobius Has Trouble Getting His Money Out of HSBC in China The founder of Mobius
When the UK suggested making board directors responsible for signing off internal controls over financial reporting, the reaction was furious. This was business unfriendly, City grandees thundered, it would deter good people from joining boards and bog down directors in bureaucracy. The proposal was modelled on the US Sarbanes-Oxley rules, which function perfectly well in
Thousands of developers, hackers, and crypto and blockchain enthusiasts descended upon Denver, Colorado in the United States for the ETHDenver conference from Feb. 24 to Mar. 5. With accommodation a limited resource in the Colorado capital city, many opted to seek refuge from the crowds and tight quarters at “hacker houses” — where sleep is
Latam merchants will be slower in adopting cryptocurrency payments compared to merchants in other regions, according to the latest payments survey conducted by Ripple and the Faster Payments Council. The survey, which polled close to 300 payment leaders at a worldwide level, suggests that massive crypto adoption for payments will solidify in three years. Ripple