itsskin | Getty High interest rates have pushed many would-be home sellers and buyers to the sidelines in 2023. Yet there are signs both sides may be more willing to take on a high-rate mortgage if other key factors aligned. More than half — 54% — of homeowners said they would move if they found
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The UK began the 20th century as Rome and the 21st as Italy. The latter comparison should not be taken very far: any fool can see that there are many differences between the UK and
The Swiss city of Lugano is enhancing the local adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) by enabling citizens and companies to pay for municipal services and taxes with cryptocurrency. The city of Lugano officially announced on Dec. 5 that the local administration now accepts cryptocurrency payments for taxes and all other community fees. Starting immediately, Lugano will
Bitcoin infrastructure developer Nostr Assets has paused deposits following record-high user activity. According to a Dec. 5 announcement posted on Telegram, Nostr Assets developers warned, “Please await further announcements and do not attempt to deposit into NostrAssets for the time being.” The service, which allows users to transact Satoshis, or or 1/100 millionth of a
The former president of FTX US dishes the dirt on his falling out with former Jane Street colleague Sam Bankman-Fried and predicts the spot Bitcoin ETF will far outshine the record-breaking success of the Bitcoin Futures ETF. Who is this guy anyway? The ex-president of FTX US, Brett Harrison, tells Magazine that he didn’t say
PayPal’s introduction of its native stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), has sparked heated debates within the crypto industry regarding its possible sway on payments and wider crypto adoption. While this step seems to be a big jump toward accepting cryptocurrencies in regular finance, some industry observers advise caution. They underline the hurdles and limitations that could
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Politics myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Brits, and not just leftwing ones, have a romantic view of political protests across the Channel. “The French don’t take things lying down!” someone will say, without knowing, much less having to live with, the extreme
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the World myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The Financial Times’ award-winning podcast series Hot Money is back. In this series our reporter Miles Johnson investigates a mysterious murder in a small town that leads to a web of drugs, money laundering and state-sponsored
If any one country had schools that were designed to cope with the Covid pandemic, it would be Finland, which already had a highly digital education system that made the logistics of distance learning surprisingly easy. Yet even in Finland, the impact has been stark. At Kulosaari Secondary School, it took a year and a
Bitcoin (BTC) has seen a mass profit-taking event which rivals its $69,000 all-time highs, new analysis reveals. In a post on Dec. 5, James Van Straten, research and data analyst at crypto insights firm CryptoSlate, flagged billions of dollars heading to exchanges. Bitcoin speculators sell as if all-time highs are back BTC price gains have
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Rating agency Moody’s Investors Service cut its outlook on China’s sovereign credit rating to negative on Tuesday, citing growing risks of persistently lower mid-term economic growth and the overhang from a crisis in the property
Cryptocurrency mining firm Phoenix Group has debuted trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), becoming one of the Middle East’s first publicly listed industry firms. The Phoenix Group stock (PHX) opened at 2.25 dirhams (AED) — or $0.6 — on Dec. 5, according to data from the ADX exchange. The PHX stock has soared
The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, received $100,000 in seed funding from an unknown investor for its spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) in October 2023, according to its latest United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. The SEC filing revealed that the investor agreed to purchase 4,000 shares for $100,000 on Oct. 27, 2023,
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Thames Water has embarked on a new three-year turnaround plan and acknowledged its “performance was not where it needed to be”, as the UK’s biggest water company reported a drop in first-half profits. The utility,
Close up of Chinese Yuan notes, with Mao Tse-tung Peter Dazeley | The Image Bank | Getty Images China’s recent policy support is aimed at fixing its system and shouldn’t be seen as economic stimulus, according to Societe Generale’s Asia chief economist and head of research. “Actually, to be frank, I don’t think anything [that]
Shipowners have called for more military protection on maritime routes in the Middle East after attacks by Iran-backed rebels in the Red Sea sparked fears of new disruptions to global trade, including of energy supplies. On Sunday, the Pentagon said a US warship and three commercial vessels had come under attack off the Yemeni coast,
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The head of Airbus has said the group “might need some support” from European governments for a new, multibillion-dollar commercial aircraft programme as it gears up for a successor to its best-selling A320 family of
Hashdex, one of the 13 asset managers vying for spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, expects to see the first spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States land by the second quarter of 2024, followed by a spot Ether (ETH) ETF. “The exact timing of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. remains unclear, but in
Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms is buying 66,560 Bitcoin mining rigs from manufacturer MicroBT, in one of its largest orders of hash-rate in the firm’s history — ahead of the Bitcoin halving scheduled for April 2024. The additional purchase agreement totaled $290.5 million, Riot stated in a Dec. 4 statement — meaning it paid an average
Crypto-friendly trading platform Robinhood has reported a 75% month-on-month increase in digital asset trading volume in November. In an 8-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 4, Robinhood noted that “November Crypto Notional Trading Volumes were roughly 75% above October 2023 levels.” The activity however equity trading volumes and options contracts traded
If you buy a house now, it can take up to 13.5 years to make a profit on your purchase, according to new data from Zillow. “The combination of rising home prices and high mortgage rates is leading to a longer period between purchase and sale before a profit can be made,” says Nicole Bachaud,