| April 18, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Today we have the interview we did with Cboe Global Markets COO Chris Isaacson at FIA Boca50. Isaacson showcased the exchange group's sweeping global tech overhaul under the banner of "Cboe Titanium," a unified trading platform designed to scale across regions and asset classes. From time-stamping services to real-time data distribution via the cloud, Cboe is prioritizing precision, speed, and global consistency. It is now operating 27 markets worldwide and offering near 24/5 trading in products like SPX and VIX options.
Isaacson emphasized client-driven innovation, with the company focusing on post-integration growth, especially in derivatives and data services like Data Vantage. Cboe has also embraced AI with an internal "Center of Excellence" and ideation contests, training over 1,000 employees on productivity-enhancing tools. Cboe's expansion, including its Snowflake Marketplace partnership, aims to deliver data in more accessible formats, especially for global users. But beneath the tech, Isaacson stressed culture: a global team built on trust, accountability, and the ability to follow the sun-literally and operationally. You can watch the video HERE.
As a reminder, I am setting up interviews for the Options Conference in Palm Beach Gardens, FL on May 6 to 8 for Tuesday and Wednesday of the conference. If you are interested, please reach out to me at [email protected]
I will also be heading to London in June for FIA's IDX conference and will be shooting videos there with the UK version of Robbie Lothian. Email me if you are interested in an interview there too.
For those of you who observe, I wish you a wonderful Easter weekend.
Here is a headline from in front of FOW's paywall: ANALYSIS: Euronext has 'unique links' to Europe's growing retail trading community.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Wall Street Has a Wish List for the SEC's New Boss Barron's.
- With fear gauge echoing 2022 turmoil, here's a new theory on when Trump will change course from MarketWatch.
- Day Traders Refuse to Give Up Favorite Obsession: Leveraged Funds from Bloomberg. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Behind the Euronext Curtain, A Frenchman's Parisian Prescription for Europe's Markets JohnLothianNews.com BOCA RATON, Fla.-(JLN)-April 17, 2025-In the Grand Pre Assembly hallway outside the Grand Ballroom at the Boca Resort, with food carts clattering by in preparation for the conference's lunch in the next hallway, Stephane Boujnah, the CEO of Euronext, sat down with John Lothian News at FIABoca 50 for an interview. He launched into a disquisition on artificial intelligence, European integration, and the secret perils of "all-you-can-eat" technology pricing. Watch the Stéphane Boujnah Video » Bill Borden - Microsoft Watch the Bill Borden Video » Thomas Texier and Paolo Tonucci - Marex Group Watch the Thomas Texier and Paolo Tonucci Video »
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DraftKings Withdraws Application That Would Have Offered Entry Point to Prediction Markets
Bernard Goyder and Peyton Forte - Bloomberg
Bookmaker DraftKings Inc. has withdrawn an application for a license to sell derivatives in a sign of the gambling industry's hesitant approach to the rise of prediction markets. The application from DraftKings had been pending with the National Futures Association since July and was pulled in March, a review of regulatory filings shows. The license would have offered DraftKings an opportunity to participate in the new world of prediction markets, which rose to prominence during the 2024 US presidential election, when a handful of exchanges, most notably Kalshi, opened up betting on the election results. Since then, Kalshi and a few other financial firms have used so-called event contracts to open up betting on sports games nationwide, creating competition for DraftKings.
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***** Just because it was pulled doesn't mean it won't be resubmitted. It is easier to avoid taking fire if you are off the battlefield, if only temporarily.~JJL
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An Even Dumber Idea Than Tariffs; If import taxes don't rebalance the economy, will Trump try a partial default on Treasurys?
Joseph C. Sternberg - The Wall Street Journal (opinion)
This newspaper's editorial columns a couple of months ago branded President Trump's tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports "the dumbest trade war in history." Alas, my colleagues and I might have spoken too soon. A much, much dumber one is lurking just around the corner: an export tariff on U.S. Treasurys.
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***** I can definitely see Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels starring in the movie version of this.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top read story Thursday was The Wall Street Journal's Meet 'Captain Condor,' the Options Trader Whose Crew Can Move Markets, which was third on Wednesday. Second was the FIA's FIA Operations Americas Division Workshop on DLT & Tokenization, via LinkedIn. Third was a tie between CCP Global International Default Simulation (CIDS) 2025 Exercise Guidance Letter, from the CCP, and Your guide to the United Kingdom's Electronic Travel Authorization (UK ETA) information and the submission of UK ETA applications, from UK ETA.
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| Lead Stories | Editorial: Judge clears the way for a titanic trial pitting old-school traders
The Editorial Board - Chicago Tribune
Most Chicagoans remember the time when the city's famed exchanges each day featured manic hordes of traders yelling and frantically signaling as futures contracts for commodities and financial instruments changed hands. Documentaries on life in Chicago until the dawn of this century invariably included video of the controlled mayhem in the pits. But for the last 11 years, a bitter legal dispute has simmered in that famously colorful world. At the heart of the fight is the value of seats on the exchanges, which before electronic trading took hold more than two decades ago held substantial value and were bought, sold and leased to provide access to the trading floors. CME's acceptance of the inevitability of electronic trading over the more expensive, less efficient "open outcry" methods - made most visible in the company's 428,000-square-foot Aurora trading center, opened in 2012 - largely accounts for CME's continuing success, preserving Chicago's global centrality in the futures industry.
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Japan FSA Says Hacked Online Trading Reaches $700 Million
Hideyuki Sano and Ryo Horiuchi - Bloomberg
Japanese brokerages have reported at least 1,454 cases of hacked trading worth almost ¥100 billion ($700 million) since February, as phishing scams soar in the country, the nation's financial regulator said. The number of unauthorized trades reported by brokerages has climbed to 736 in the first 16 days of April, compared with 685 for all of March and 33 in February. So far this month six online brokerages have been affected, the Financial Services Agency said in a press release.
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The pretenders, and kingmakers, to the bond throne; Dealers are backing several new trading platforms who are fighting major incumbents for market share.
Dan Barnes - Fi-Desk
In the bond market, the trading platform landscape has been well set for over a decade, with fierce competition in credit and rates between the incumbent trading venues, including MarketAxess and Tradeweb, platforms like Brokertec which have allowed non-dealers to enter the interdealer rates market, and the ubiquitous Bloomberg whose presence across data, messaging, news and trading has made it a successful participant throughout the trading workflow.
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Cboe Commemorates 40 Years of Options Education with The Options Institute
Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), the world's leading derivatives and securities exchange network, this year celebrates the 40th anniversary of The Options Institute, the company's educational division. To mark this milestone, Cboe is launching a year-long commemoration - beginning during National Financial Literacy Month - to honor The Options Institute's decades-long impact on options education and financial literacy worldwide, while looking ahead to its continued evolution in the years to come.
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SEC approves first US 'green' stock exchange
Lamar Johnson - ESG Dive
The Green Impact Exchange began seeking approval by submitting a Form 1 application to the SEC to register as a national securities exchange, which was published in the Federal Register in July. The SEC officially approved the exchange's registration form on April 11, following an extension of the review process in January and amendments filed by GIX. GIX said its exchange seeks to serve both sustainability-minded investors and companies focused on managing climate-related risks. The company focused on creating a sustainability-focused exchange due to their regulated nature, and investors will be able to rely that if a company is dual-listed on GIX, it has adopted the exchange's principles, according to the company's webpage.
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Four Reforms for Successful US Treasury Clearing
Scott O'Malia - ISDA
The US Treasury market is the world's biggest and most systemically important market. It's the oil that keeps the wheels of the global financial system turning and is the primary means by which the US government raises funding. It's therefore right that US policymakers focus on ensuring this market remains robust and resilient, and they've determined that mandatory clearing of US Treasury securities is part of the answer. We support clearing, but such a massive structural change to the US Treasury market can't be introduced in isolation - several other important regulatory reforms will be fundamental to its success. Last week, I had the opportunity to highlight the changes necessary in testimony to the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services. I drew attention to four key reforms that are required to ensure clearing is successful and the US Treasury market remains deep and liquid. Crucially, these issues must be resolved before the clearing mandates come into force, on December 31, 2026 for cash Treasury securities and June 30, 2027 for repos.
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Big Banks See a Trading Bonanza. Can It Last?
Rebecca Ungarino - Barron's
At the start of Morgan Stanley's first-quarter earnings call this month, CEO Ted Pick made two immediate points: He highlighted the $94 billion in assets the bank's wealth managers pulled in for the quarter, and record revenue notched by his equities traders. Pick embodies Morgan Stanley's equities business, which turned in $4.1 billion in revenue during the quarter. A veteran trader, Pick had at different points led equity capital markets, global sales and trading, and the wider institutional securities group at the bank.
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The Death Toll From Extreme Weather Is Becoming Clearer; Better modeling is starting to reveal the full global health impact of climate change, just as Trump steps up his war on science.
Paddy Manning - Bloomberg
In 2020, in the wake of Australia's Black Summer bushfires, Paddy Manning wrote Body Count: How Climate Change is Killing Us (Simon & Schuster, 2020). He spoke with the families and friends of victims of extreme weather events and told the human stories behind the statistics. In this Next Chapter, Manning looks at why the death toll attributed to climate change continues to be systemically underreported as well as the consequences of that disconnect. From wildfires to tornados, heat waves to hurricanes, there seems barely time to process the last climate disaster before the next one is upon us. The World Meteorological Organization estimates there were 151 unprecedented extreme weather events last year alone. The US Federal Emergency Management Agency responded to a major weather-related disaster on average every four days in 2024.
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History Shows How India Can Catch Up With China; India's trade routes and intra-Asian ties flourished long before Europeans arrived, William Dalrymple outlines in The Golden Road.
Kishore Mahbubani - Bloomberg
If the 19th century was defined by European power, and the 20th century by the rise of the US, the 21st century is increasingly understood to be the "Asian Century" - one in which the global enter of gravity is shifting yet again. And if you accept that assertion, the next logical question is: Who will lead the Asian Century? The two natural candidates are the region's historical powers, China and India, which were the world's largest economies from 1 A.D. to 1820, before the rise of the industrial west. They are once again among the planet's preeminent economies.
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Trump Officials to Slash Most Employees at Consumer-Finance Watchdog; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau emerged as an early target of the administration
Dylan Tokar and Brian Schwartz - The Wall Street Journal
The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to drastically curtail the work of the government's consumer-finance watchdog after a legal victory, including by slashing the vast majority of the agency's workforce. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to cut at least 1,500 employees, an agency spokeswoman said Thursday. The agency last year said it had 1,758 employees as of the end of September.
/jlne.ws/43UJFV1
DOGE Comes for Clean Energy, Putting Exxon and Occidental Projects at Risk; Thousands of Energy Department jobs are expected to be eliminated as Trump goes after a favorite target
Jennifer Hiller - The Wall Street Journal
The Energy Department is preparing dramatic cuts that could halt nearly $10 billion in federal funding for clean-energy projects-and some of its highest profile partnerships with Exxon Mobil and Occidental Petroleum are at stake. The proposed cuts would upend government contracts with energy companies working on hydrogen, carbon capture, long-duration energy storage and other technologies, according to department memos reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Thousands of DOE jobs are expected to be eliminated.
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| Trade War and Tariffs | | A roundup of today's trade war and tariff news and the global economic ripple effects shaping markets, industries, and investment strategies. | Now Trump Wants a Shipping Tax; 'If this happens, we're out of business,' says one shipping CEO.
The Editorial Board - The Wall Street Journal
As if President Trump's tariff blitz isn't causing enough heartburn. Now his Administration wants a shipping tax that would raise costs across the economy and make U.S. exports less competitive. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer recently proposed to charge fees on Chinese shipping companies and all carriers that use Chinese-built vessels. Fees would range between $500,000 and $1.5 million every time a Chinese-built ship stops at a U.S. port, plus a surcharge for operators with large orders from Chinese shipyards.
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U.S. Gas Exports to China Stopped After Beijing Imposed Tariffs; The United States accounted for only 3 percent of China's natural gas imports last year. Those purchases could now dry up entirely in the trade war.
Keith Bradsher, Reporting from Beijing - The New York Times
China has stopped buying liquefied natural gas from the United States after imposing a 15 percent tariff on these shipments on Feb. 10, ship tracking data shows, in the latest sign that Beijing continues to decouple from the U.S. economy. China's imports of L.N.G. from the United States had already slumped to low levels from November through January, data from China's customs agency shows. China instead expanded its purchases from Russia, which supplied China with four times as much L.N.G. last year as the United States did.
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Out of the Tariff Turmoil, a Few Winners Emerge; Some small U.S. companies are seeing a boost in business from new trade barriers
Rolfe Winkler and Ruth Simon - The Wall Street Journal
Most businesses are struggling to respond to President Trump's tariff blitz, but higher trade barriers are creating opportunities for some small U.S. companies. Ellwood Group, a maker of forged steel, nickel and aluminum products, saw sales jump 35% from the fourth quarter to the first, driven in part by tariffs that only came into effect in mid-March. One reason: Large construction projects that use finished steel are diversifying away from Asian suppliers to U.S. companies that buy Ellwood's raw materials.
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China Pledges to Help Tariff-Hit Exporters Find Local Buyers
Bloomberg News
China vowed to use its big market to help companies cope with "external shocks" - a sign officials are eager to ensure exporters navigate the trade conflict with the US. "The domestic market offers strong backing for enterprises involved in foreign trade," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Friday, citing a meeting in Beijing attended by Vice Minister Sheng Qiuping.
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Trump administration set to impose steep fees on Chinese ships docked in US ports; Plan alarms farmers and other exporters while Beijing warns of higher shipping costs and supply chain disruption
Aime Williams and Joe Leahy - Financial Times
The Trump administration will begin imposing fees on Chinese-built ships docking in US ports as it tries to spur US shipbuilding, in a move likely to escalate trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. The US presented plans in a filing late on Thursday to phase in steep charges on Chinese-owned or built ships carrying cargo to US ports over several years.
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| World Conflicts | | News about various conflicts and their military, economic, political and humanitarian impact. | Ukraine Invasion
Rubio Says US to Move on If War in Ukraine Can't Be Ended
Valentine Baldassari and Ros Krasny - Bloomberg
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US would "move on" if a way to end the war in Ukraine can't be found soon - as Russia said a one-month pause on targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure had ended. "We need to figure out here now, within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term. Because if it's not, then I think we're just going to move on," Rubio told reporters at Le Bourget airport outside of Paris on Friday morning, according to a transcript provided by the State Department.
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US Offers to Ease Sanctions on Russia in Ukraine Peace Proposal
Alberto Nardelli, Alex Wickham, and Daryna Krasnolutska - Bloomberg
The US presented allies with proposals to enable a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, including an outline of terms to end the fighting and ease sanctions on Moscow in the event of a lasting ceasefire. The push comes even as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested on Friday that the Trump administration is prepared to "move on" from its peace efforts unless progress is made quickly. US Vice President JD Vance, though, said in Rome on Friday he was "optimistic" about the chances of bringing the war to a close.
/jlne.ws/4ixLQ4E
Ukraine says pact signed with US is first step towards minerals deal
Reuters
Ukraine said on Thursday Kyiv and Washington had signed a memorandum as an initial step towards clinching an agreement on developing mineral resources in Ukraine, a deal promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump. Although both had been poised in February to sign a deal for cooperation on natural resources, it was delayed after an Oval Office meeting between Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy turned into a shouting match.
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Middle East Conflict
US says Chinese company is helping Houthis target American warships; Satellite group linked to People's Liberation Army has supplied images to Iran-backed group in Yemen, say officials
Demetri Sevastopulo - Financial Times
A Chinese satellite company linked to the country's military is supplying Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen with imagery to target US warships and international vessels in the Red Sea, according to American officials. The Trump administration has repeatedly warned Beijing that Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co Ltd, a commercial group with ties to the People's Liberation Army, is providing the Houthis with the intelligence, according to the US officials.
/jlne.ws/3Y48jid
74 killed in deadliest US attack on Yemen, Huthis say
AFP via RFI
Hodeida (Yemen) - US strikes on a Yemeni fuel port killed at least 74 people, Huthi rebels said Friday, in the deadliest attack of Washington's campaign against the Iran-backed group. The strikes also wounded more than 170 people, a Huthi official said. The US military said its attack on the Ras Issa fuel terminal on the Red Sea aimed to cut off a source of supplies and funds for the Huthis, who control large swathes of the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country. The strikes on Thursday, the latest in an intense wave of attacks under President Donald Trump, came just before the US resumes on Saturday negotiations in Rome with Iran over its nuclear programme.
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Cboe Commemorates 40 Years of Options Education with The Options Institute
Cboe
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), the world's leading derivatives and securities exchange network, this year celebrates the 40th anniversary of The Options Institute, the company's educational division. To mark this milestone, Cboe is launching a year-long commemoration - beginning during National Financial Literacy Month - to honor The Options Institute's decades-long impact on options education and financial literacy worldwide, while looking ahead to its continued evolution in the years to come.
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CME Globex Notices: April 14, 2025
CME Group
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CME STP Notices: April 14, 2025
CME Group
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Indicative Average Prices of MSCI China A 50 Connect (USD) Index Futures Contracts
HKEX
At the request of Exchange Participants ("EPs") which may require an Indicative Average Price ("IAP") of certain futures contracts to facilitate their internal operational process, the Exchange may in its absolute discretion publish the IAP of selected futures contracts from time to time for EPs' reference only. The Exchange may decline future requests for IAP at any time.
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Montreal Exchange's Markets Closed Today, April 18, 2025
Montreal Exchange via Mondovisione
The Exchange's markets are closed today, April 18, 2025.
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Position Limits - Equity Listed Products
Montreal Exchange
The applicable position limits for share futures and options on stocks, exchange-traded funds,
and trust units have been updated and are reflected in the attached position limits file. The
position limits will apply as follows:
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | How Nvidia Plays Export Whack-a-Mole; As U.S. steps up chip-export restrictions, Nvidia maintains a China presence by making versions of its powerful processors that qualify for sale there
Drew An-Pham and Bradley Olson - The Wall Street Journal
The Trump administration's new restrictions on sales of artificial-intelligence chips to China come with a familiar feeling for Nvidia. The chip maker has spent years finding new ways to continue doing business with a huge market while staying on the correct side of U.S. regulations. The regulations generally limit the speed and capabilities of advanced AI processors that can be sold to China. Each time the U.S. has announced new restrictions, Nvidia launched updated versions of its processors that fell below the performance limitations.
/jlne.ws/3G9UsAW
FIS strikes deal worth billions to sell Worldpay to Global Payments in a 'home run' for the most powerful woman in fintech
Luisa Beltran - Fortune
Global Payments agreed to buy Worldpay for $24.25 billion from GTCR (a private equity firm with a long history of investing in fintech) and Fidelity National Information Services, or FIS, in what is easily the biggest, and most complicated, payments transaction this year. The deal is a major exit for GTCR, which is selling Worldpay after a roughly one-year hold. It also represents a big win for FIS CEO Stephanie Ferris, who is widely regarded as the most powerful woman in fintech.
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Is Chinese AI All It's Cracked Up to Be?; Beijing is pushing a tech challenge to the U.S., but Washington can counter it with smart policies.
Thomas J. Duesterberg - The Wall Street Journal (opinion)
Is DeepSeek an avatar of revived innovation in China or a Beijing-coordinated deepfake? The surge on Chinese stock exchanges at the artificial-intelligence company's market entry pushed the idea that China could pose a serious challenge to U.S. tech. But early evidence suggests that challenge has a shoddy foundation, which Washington could undermine with effective policy.
/jlne.ws/4cGxa1x
OpenAI and start-ups race to generate code and transform software industry; Artificial intelligence groups are releasing models for computer programming that are reshaping coding jobs
Cristina Criddle and Melissa Heikkila - Financial Times
Artificial intelligence is poised to outperform humans in writing code as leading groups, including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, race to release systems that are reshaping the software industry. San Francisco-based OpenAI released a suite of new models this week that independent benchmarks suggest are among the best yet for computer programming.
/jlne.ws/43UHhO3
The Chip Industry Has Too Many Eggs in the AI Basket; TSMC struck an upbeat note after posting strong earnings, but tariffs and the trade war loom large
Asa Fitch - The Wall Street Journal
The chip industry has cashed in on the artificial-intelligence bonanza, sending the profits and stocks of companies like Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to unprecedented heights. With President Trump's tariff threats and rising potential for a global economic slowdown, it is becoming harder to ignore how everything other than AI isn't doing all that well.
/jlne.ws/3EsO2fK
Helium Wars Token Secures Top Spot in 2025 Token Rankings
Antier Solutions
Helium Wars, the innovative Web3 shooter game powered by its native HELM token, has been recognized as one of 2025's most promising token presales. Developed with Antier, the project merges AAA game development with true digital asset ownership through its advanced token economy.
/jlne.ws/3Eh1wLw
GTCR set to reap handsome windfall from Worldpay's $24.25 billion sale
David French and Milana Vinn - Reuters
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MoneyGram and Plaid Partnership Drives Seamless Global Payments
MoneyGram
/jlne.ws/4cAjNQu
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | CISA warns companies to secure credentials amid Oracle Cloud breach claims; The agency is asking organizations to come forward if they detect suspicious activity or other evidence of a compromise.
David Jones - CyberSecurity Dive
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Wednesday said organizations and individuals should take steps to protect their environments from a potential compromise of a legacy Oracle cloud environment. CISA's alert acknowledged public reporting of alleged threat activity targeting Oracle customers but said the scope and impact of that activity was unconfirmed. The FBI earlier this month declined to comment on the reported attacks.
/jlne.ws/3Ghafhb
US issues warning over new Zambian cyber-security law
AFP
The US embassy in Zambia has warned its citizens to be wary of a new "intrusive" cyber-security law introduced in the southern African country. The embassy issued an alert telling Americans "in or planning to visit Zambia of a new law that requires the interception and surveillance of all electronic communications in the country". This includes calls, emails, texts and streamed content "in-country to assess if they include any transmission of 'critical information,' a term the law defines so broadly that it could apply to almost any activity", the embassy says.
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken cuts redundant roles amid traditional finance push
Pritam Biswas and Ateev Bhandari - Reuters
Kraken, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is reorganizing its workforce by reducing some positions and consolidating teams where redundancies exist, while continuing to hire in key areas, a company spokesperson said on Thursday. "We continuously evaluate our workforce to ensure it aligns with our strategic priorities," the spokesperson said.
/jlne.ws/44sUZb1
More Financial Advisors Warm Up to Crypto in Client Portfolios. Here's Why; The SEC's approval of Bitcoin ETFs, the Trump administration's crypto friendliness, and a crypto advocate at the SEC are creating positive momentum for the controversial asset class.
Lawrence C. Strauss - Barron's
Chad Warmbein, a financial advisor with Park Avenue Investment Advisory in Pittsburgh, recalls that crypto wasn't an option for his clients five years ago. "It was too risky of an asset to work in the portfolio," he says. Today, however, crypto is an important part of his toolbox: "We are using the crypto ETFs in our client accounts," he says. Across the world of wealth management, crypto is starting to become a bigger part of the conversation, even if it isn't widely adopted amid concerns about transparency, volatility, and valuation methods. In some ways, it's still baby steps.
/jlne.ws/4lDctaK
Bybit launches Crypto Surf: Copy Traders and Bots Battle for 250K USDT
Bybit
Bybit, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is making waves with its latest trading showdown: Crypto Surf: Ride the Waves with Trailing Stops. This high-octane competition invites traders to rally behind either copy trading or trading bots, battling it out for their share of a prize pool worth up to $250,000 in USDT. Running from April 18 to May 19, 2025, at 12 a.m. UTC, the event introduces a squad-based structure where users choose their camp, trade strategically, and compete across PnL, ROI and trading volume leaderboards. With a dynamic reward structure, participants can also win by predicting which squad will come out on top.
/jlne.ws/42l3N1i
MEXC Announces Listing of Initia (INIT) with a 115,000 INIT and 50,000 USDT Prize Pool
MEXC
MEXC, a leading global cryptocurrency exchange, announced the listing of Initia (INIT) on April 24, 2025 (UTC), accompanied by a celebratory event featuring a 115,000 INIT and 50,000 USDT prize pool for new and existing users. Initia is the first interwoven optimistic-rollup network, reconstructing multichain architecture with native interoperability and shared liquidity. As a full-stack Layer 1+2 platform, Initia supports both EVM & Move VM, enabling seamless cross-ecosystem collaboration. Developed by veterans from top DeFi and blockchain security teams and backed by YZi Labs(Binance Labs), Hack VC, Delphi Digital, and Theory Ventures.
/jlne.ws/3GtHyxx
Magnolia Financial Selects Amboss Technologies' Reflex as Compliance Provider for Lightning Operations
Magnolia Financial
Magnolia Financial, the Bitcoin-native financial services company focused on simplifying onramp and custody for Bitcoin businesses, today announced its partnership with Amboss Technologies. Through this collaboration, Magnolia will integrate Reflex, Amboss's advanced compliance and risk management platform, into its Lightning Network operations.
/jlne.ws/3YAM1Vm
Trace Finance Joins Borderless.xyz Network, Enhancing FX Liquidity and Stablecoin Payments in Brazil
Borderless.xyz
Borderless.xyz, a global payments infrastructure company that enables transactions using stablecoins and real-world assets (RWAs), is pleased to welcome Trace Finance, a leading provider of digital asset infrastructure in Brazil, to its growing network. Through this partnership, Trace Finance's robust bare-metal FX liquidity and deep local payment rails will be seamlessly integrated into the Borderless.xyz stablecoin orchestration platform.
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Trump Officials Weigh Earth Day Move Against Green Groups
Jennifer A Dlouhy and Akshat Rathi - Bloomberg
White House officials are preparing executive orders that would strip some environmental nonprofits of their tax-exempt status, setting up a possible Earth Day strike against organizations seen as standing in the way of President Donald Trump's push for more domestic oil, gas and coal production. The effort, described by people familiar with the matter, comes alongside other administration moves to use the US tax code or government funding to single out groups that oppose the president's agenda. It also follows years of scrutiny by congressional Republicans who have accused prominent green groups and other advocacy organizations of having ties to foreign governments and drawing funding from China.
/jlne.ws/3Ga2U38
CFPB Workers Receive Layoff Notices in New Bid to Shutter Agency
Lydia Beyoud - Bloomberg
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued another round of termination notices to staff on Thursday, the latest effort to dismantle a regulatory agency that has long been a target of Republicans. "This RIF action is necessary to restructure the Bureau's operations to better reflect the agency's priorities and mission," Acting CFPB Director Russ Vought said in reduction-in-force notices sent to employees and seen by Bloomberg News.
/jlne.ws/3RkJSt8
Number of Americans who consider Russia an 'enemy' has fallen dramatically, new poll shows; Republicans have been softening their view on Russia, though not so much on President Vladimir Putin
Graig Graziosi - The Independent
The number of Americans who consider Russia an "enemy" to the U.S. has fallen to its lowest point since the nation's president, Vladimir Putin, launched an expansionist war against Ukraine in 2022, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.
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GOP Accused Democrats of Politicizing IRS. Now Trump Wants It to Punish Harvard.; The president this week publicly raised the prospect of Harvard losing its tax-exempt status
Richard Rubin - The Wall Street Journal
Republicans have contended for years that the Internal Revenue Service has been weaponized against conservatives. This week, it was President Trump who publicly raised the prospect of the agency removing a valuable tax benefit from a perceived opponent. The Trump administration's attempt to revoke Harvard University's tax-exempt status could undercut the agency's attempts to assure the public that politics isn't part of tax enforcement.
/jlne.ws/42G8bH7
With Harvard Threat, Trump Tries to Bend the I.R.S. to His Will; Since the post-Nixon era, the Internal Revenue Service has had a degree of independence from the White House. President Trump is seeking to change that.
Andrew Duehren, Alan Rappeport and Russ Buettner - The New York Times
In the years after President Richard Nixon enlisted the Internal Revenue Service to investigate his political opponents, Congress passed a series of laws to make sure the agency would focus on collecting taxes and not use its vast powers to carry out political vendettas.
/jlne.ws/42Dvqlc
American doctor receives email from immigration officials telling her to leave the country immediately; Dr. Lisa Anderson, 58, was born in Pennsylvania and is a U.S. citizen.
Matt Lavietes - NBC News
A doctor born in the United States says she received an email from federal immigration authorities demanding that she leave the country immediately. Lisa Anderson, a physician from Cromwell, Connecticut, told NBC Connecticut on Wednesday that she recently received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security telling her, "It is time for you to leave the United States." Immigration authorities have been pushing noncitizens to leave of their own volition, or "self-deport," as the number of deportations remains at similar levels to last year. But Anderson, 58, was born in Pennsylvania and is a U.S. citizen.
/jlne.ws/4cHuv7S
Polish President Backs Push For Access to French Nuclear Shield
Natalia Ojewska and Piotr Skolimowski - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3Gem5J3
Trump's trade policies threaten to strengthen China, not weaken it; International economic integration will continue, with or without the U.S. - and China will benefit most.
Nicholas Grossman, political science professor at the University of Illinois - MSNBC (opinion)
/jlne.ws/4lxCZm9
India edges closer to China, hedging against Trump's unpredictability; Despite decades of distrust, India has become increasingly receptive to overtures from China.
Karishma Mehrotra - The Washington Post
/jlne.ws/4iggWNL
Vietnam PM Hails 'Unique Bond' With US Days After Hosting Xi
John Boudreau and Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen - Bloomberg
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Judge Rules Google Operates Illegal Ad Monopoly; Tech giant faces multiple legal threats related to how it wields market power
Jan Wolfe and Patience Haggin - The Wall Street Journal
Google acquired and maintained monopoly power in digital advertising in violation of antitrust law, a federal judge ruled Thursday. Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that Google had unlawfully tied its publisher ad server together with its exchange, where ads are bought and sold. The court says it will start the process to determine remedies for Google.
/jlne.ws/3Y36DFE
Crypto Casino Founder Richard Kim Arrested After Gambling Away Investor Funds
Sam Kessler - CoinDesk
Richard Kim, the founder of crypto casino Zero Edge, was arrested on Tuesday following allegations that he had gambled away investors' funds. According to an FBI complaint filed on Tuesday in the Southern District of New York, Kim "fraudulently induced investors to invest in Zero Edge, a cryptocurrency technology company he founded, and then misappropriated millions of dollars in those investors' funds."
/jlne.ws/3Y24OZF
The CFPB says it will 'deprioritize' protecting student borrowers, people with medical debt; A new memo says the agency will return to its original purpose of overseeing big banks.
Jordan Weissmann - Yahoo Finance
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will "deprioritize" efforts to protect student borrowers and people with medical debt, as well as oversight of popular digital payment platforms such as Venmo and Zelle, its leadership announced in a memo Wednesday night. The note outlining the agency's new enforcement and supervision priorities under the Trump administration was written by Chief Legal Officer Mark Paoletta and first reported by The Wall Street Journal. It details plans to broadly dial back regulatory efforts and focus most of its remaining energy on large banks instead of tech firms, student loan servicers, and other financial companies that had consumed much of its attention during Joe Biden's presidency.
/jlne.ws/3EsEVLU
The Trade Desk, Inc. (TTD) Investors Who Lost Money Have Opportunity to Lead Securities Fraud Lawsuit
Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP
Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP announces that investors with losses have opportunity to lead the securities fraud class action lawsuit against The Trade Desk, Inc. ("Trade Desk" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: TTD).
/jlne.ws/3RpWfUL
CFTC Staff Issues Advisory on Referrals to the Division of Enforcement
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Market Participants Division, the Division of Clearing and Risk, and the Division of Market Oversight (Operating Divisions) and the Division of Enforcement (DOE) today issued a staff advisory providing guidance on the materiality or other criteria that the Operating Divisions will use to determine whether to make a referral to DOE for self-reported violations, or supervision or non-compliance issues.
/jlne.ws/4jmOJqa
SEC Small Business Advisory Committee to Explore Regulation A
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee announced that its meeting on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, will focus on the practical market considerations and regulatory challenges of Regulation A. Members of the public can watch the live meeting via webcast on www.sec.gov. The meeting will begin with SEC staff giving an overview of Regulation A and how companies have used it to raise capital. The committee will then discuss the advantages and limits of Regulation A, and explore whether there are regulatory changes that could help facilitate capital formation pursuant to it. The committee will also consider exit opportunities for investors in Regulation A deals and secondary market liquidity challenges. To facilitate discussion, committee members will hear from Daniel Forman, partner at Lowenstein Sandler LLP.
/jlne.ws/3Es2vIJ
SEC Wins Partial Summary Judgment Against Minnesota Individual in Pump-And-Dump Investment Scheme
SEC
On April 9, 2025, Judge David S. Doty of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota granted the SEC's motion for partial summary judgment against Saied Jaberian of Hopkins, Minnesota in connection with an alleged pump-and-dump investment scheme. According to the SEC's amended complaint, filed on November 1, 2021, Jaberian and two co-defendants engaged in a scheme to hijack or assume control of at least five defunct public issuers between September 2017 and April 2019, and then pump and dump the publicly traded stock of those companies as well as two other public issuers.
/jlne.ws/4lJwJrB
SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against So-Called Market Maker Based in the United Arab Emirates
SEC
On April 7, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered final judgment against United Arab Emirates entity CLS Global FZC LLC, a self-proclaimed crypto asset market maker, in a case where the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that CLS Global engaged in a scheme to manipulate the market for "NexFundAI," a crypto asset the SEC previously alleged was being offered and sold as a security to retail investors. The alleged scheme was intended to induce investor victims to purchase NexFundAI by creating the false appearance of an active trading market for it.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Gold starts coming back to Switzerland from US after exclusion from Trump's tariffs
Reuters
Gold, which traders have been flying to New York since December as a precaution against the possibility of broad U.S. tariffs hitting bullion imports, is being shipped back to Switzerland, where it came from, official data shows. Swiss customs data on Thursday showed that the country's gold imports from the U.S. rose to a thirteen-month high of 25.5 metric tons in March, from 12.1 tons in February. Gold exports from Switzerland to the U.S. fell 32% month-on-month to 103.2 tons.
/jlne.ws/3Y5c7Qq
Private Equity World Engulfed by Perfect Storm; Tariff turmoil dashes investors' hopes for payouts; dealmaking grinds to near standstill
Matt Wirz and Miriam Gottfried - The Wall Street Journal
One of Wall Street's most consistent profit engines is close to breaking down. Even before President Trump's tariff chaos, buyout firms had been struggling to sell their portfolio companies and return money to anxious investors. Now recession fears and market turmoil have brought dealmaking to a near standstill. Shares of Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, KKR and other private-equity fund managers are down 20% or more this year, far worse than the S&P 500's sharp losses.
/jlne.ws/3GdRAmu
It's Gotten Riskier to Be a Long-Term Investor; President Trump's policies have shaken the markets. Protect yourself first, and, only then, take advantage of investment bargains, our columnist says.
Jeff Sommer - The New York Times
Uncertainty has defined financial markets this year. It's not going away because the source of the problem is the Trump administration. Tariffs are the main financial issue. President Trump has sometimes backpedaled when the markets have plunged. But he and other members of his administration have made it clear that higher tariffs of some sort are here, even though they are unpopular and most economists say they are a mistake. The risk of higher inflation and slower economic growth, along with strained relations with China and with many erstwhile allies, now appears to be a fact of life.
/jlne.ws/4cHcM0v
Moody's Boosts Default Forecasts as Global Trade War Heats Up
Ethan M Steinberg - Bloomberg
Moody's Ratings is boosting its forecast for defaults this year as escalating trade wars globally are increasingly likely to weigh on economic growth and make financing harder to get. The credit-grading firm said it now sees the default rate for speculative-grade companies reaching 3.1% by the end of the year, compared with its prior expectation of 2.5%. If that forecast materializes, it would still amount to a decline in the default rate from the year prior, but Moody's says it wouldn't take a major negative shock for the rate to rise instead, possibly to as high as 6%.
/jlne.ws/3Es2HaV
Few US CEOs bought the dip as tariffs rattled markets; Some insiders unloaded stock before Trump's 'liberation day' announcement but many more were restricted from doing so
Patrick Temple-West - Financial Times
Only a handful of US chief executives made well-timed stock buys during the tariff-induced market panic this month, as trading restrictions forced them on to the sidelines. Two chief executives at companies worth more than $5bn 'bought the dip' when the market fell, according to data provider VerityData. But a larger group of executives had sold shares before President Donald Trump's so-called "liberation day" announcements, including the bosses of PepsiCo and Jazz Pharmaceuticals.
/jlne.ws/4iqUVfx
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | BP hit by investor revolt after slashing net zero plans
Jonathan Leake - The Telegraph
BP has been hit by an investor revolt after slashing its net zero plans, with 24pc of shareholders voting to sack chairman Helge Lund at the energy giant's AGM on Thursday. The Norwegian had angered two opposing sets of investors: those who wanted BP to stick to its 2020 commitment to move away from fossil fuels, and others who wanted a tougher focus on profits from oil and gas. Both sides have criticised Mr Lund, who led the company's ill-fated 2020 attempts to shift to green energies and then oversaw the reversal of that policy in February.
/jlne.ws/4jiESS8
COP30 President Expects China to Set 'Ambitious' Climate Targets
Bloomberg News
After a week of meetings in Beijing, the man running global climate negotiations this year says he expects China to set ambitious targets and help contribute to a successful summit even after the US abandoned the process. Andre Correa do Lago, the president of this year's United Nations Conference of Parties, said he believes China is developing "very ambitious" nationally determined contributions that it will publish in the months ahead. China and most other nations missed a February deadline to file the NDCs, which will set climate-related goals through 2035, shortly after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the international effort to slow planetary warming.
/jlne.ws/3YFySuf
JPMorgan and BofA should stop work on IPO for China's CATL, lawmaker says
Karen Freifeld - Reuters
JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America should withdraw from working on the initial public offering of Chinese electric vehicle battery giant CATL, a Republican lawmaker said on Thursday. John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, said he sent letters to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, urging them to pull out of underwriting the upcoming Hong Kong IPO
/jlne.ws/42QsAug
China Solar Cell Makers Set Record Output Despite Vows to Cut
Bloomberg News
China's solar cell output soared to a record in March as policy-driven, rush installations boosted demand along the supply chain, a development that goes against the sector's vows to curb output. The total output of solar cells was 78.44 gigawatts in March, up 24% from a year ago, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. The monthly figure is the highest on record since the government agency started compiling the data in 2010.
/jlne.ws/4lCwxdq
China stops buying liquefied gas from US; Standstill shows how Sino-American trade war has spilled into energy sector
Malcolm Moore in London - Financial Times
China's imports of US liquefied natural gas have completely stopped for more than 10 weeks, according to shipping data showing how the Sino-American trade war has spread to energy co-operation. Since a 69,000-tonne LNG tanker from Corpus Christi in Texas arrived in the southern province of Fujian on February 6 there have been no further shipments between the two countries.
/jlne.ws/42sdZnm
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | U.S. House Committee Urges Two U.S. Banks to Withdraw From CATL's Listing; CATL supplies batteries to automakers such as Tesla and Volkswagen
Sherry Qin - The Wall Street Journal
A U.S. congressional committee has urged two U.S. banks to pull out of working on Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology's planned listing in Hong Kong, expressing "significant concerns" over their involvement in the process. By underwriting CATL's initial public offering, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase are exposing themselves to "serious regulatory, financial, and reputational risks," Rep. John Moolenaar (R., Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, wrote in letters addressed to the lenders' chief executives on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4jJChk5
Deutsche Bank Sees More China Clients Sell US Assets for Europe
Bloomberg News
Chinese clients have reduced some of their Treasuries holdings in favor of European debt as President Donald Trump's tariff deluge fuels an exodus from US assets, according to Deutsche Bank AG. "We have observed some diversification away from US dollar in Chinese investors' portfolios," while their interest in other markets picked up, particularly in Europe, Lillian Tao, head of China macro and global emerging market sales, said in an interview.
/jlne.ws/4iqLLPP
U.S. Bank's new CEO Gunjan Kedia says she's 'not happy' with its stock price: Urgency, discipline, and growth will be key to her tenure
Eleanor Pringle - Fortune
Gunjan Kedia, newly appointed CEO of U.S. Bank, emphasized urgency, discipline, and growth in her first earnings call, aiming to restore investor confidence amid a challenging financial climate and lackluster stock performance. Despite surpassing Q1 expectations, Kedia acknowledged the need for swift action, outlining priorities like cost control, organic growth, and transforming the company's payments business to drive long-term value. Gunjan Kedia is taking over U.S. Bank at a tough time for the finance industry, but the pillars of her leadership were made clear in her first earnings call as CEO this week: Urgency, discipline, and growth.
/jlne.ws/4jjBfLN
Apollo Taps Gary Cohn as Lead Director, Names Rowan Chair
Laura Benitez - Bloomberg
Apollo Global Management Inc. tapped ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. President Gary Cohn as lead independent director and gave Chief Executive Officer Marc Rowan the additional title of board chair. Rowan, 62, is taking on the expanded role following the resignation of Jay Clayton, who will become interim US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Apollo said in a statement Thursday.
/jlne.ws/42HTMu7
Fund for struggling biotechs takes aim at 'tragedy' for shareholders; Alis Biosciences then plans to list and offer big investors an easy way to spread their bets
Hannah Kuchler - Financial Times
A veteran banker and former pharma R&D chief are launching a fund that will buy up some of the nearly 300 listed biotechs that have had disappointing clinical trials, returning cash to shareholders and acquiring any valuable intellectual property. Alis Biosciences then plans to list, hoping to attract big investors such as Fidelity and Wellington by offering them an easy way to spread their bets across the industry. It estimates that listed biotechs have a total of about $30bn in cash on their balance sheets. Nick Johnston, a former biotech banker and entrepreneur, said the fallout from a prolonged market rout in the sector since the pandemic has been a "tragedy" for shareholders.
/jlne.ws/3RJVKoR
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Tariffs Are a Test of This Crisis Leadership Skill
Gautam Mukunda - Bloomberg
President Donald Trump's announcement, abeyance and (in the case of China) escalation of tariffs has thrown markets into turmoil, creating levels of uncertainty approaching those produced by Covid and even threatening the bond market. Yet in the days since the administration declared a 90-day pause on many of the duties, markets appear to have stabilized. This surface calm risks luring leaders into perhaps the biggest mistake one can make when navigating a crisis: failing to update your mental models to properly account for the new world you're now living in.
/jlne.ws/4jB6dOW
7 Goldman Sachs insiders explain how the bank's new AI sidekick is helping them crush it at work
Bianca Chan and Reed Alexander - Business Insider
A few years ago, what excited one of Wall Street's top tech bosses about artificial intelligence was its potential to serve as an infinite repository of facts. He even likened its advent to the printing press. Now, Marco Argenti, the chief information officer at Goldman Sachs, is bullish about the tech's growing analytical and reasoning powers, too.
/jlne.ws/44ity3V
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Drug Development Is Slowing Down After Cuts at the FDA; Agency is missing deadlines and not responding to biotech companies, forcing some to push back clinical trials
Jared S. Hopkins - The Wall Street Journal
Biotech companies developing drugs for hard-to-treat diseases and other ailments are being forced to push back clinical trials and drug testing in the wake of mass layoffs at the Food and Drug Administration. Significant delays in the FDA's core functions-such as approving amendments to clinical trials and guiding companies through processes for drug approval-are hindering the ability to develop drugs, say industry officials. Those setbacks are contributing to drugs taking longer to get through clinical trials and ultimately reach patients-and straining dollars for testing new possible treatments, say people familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/4cWWX61
Eating Disorders Are on the Rise. Scientists Still Don't Know How to Treat Them.; I recovered from my yearslong bout with anorexia and bulimia. Many others aren't so lucky.
Ericka Andersen - The Wall Street Journal
Eighteen years ago, Steve and Linda Znachko dropped their 14-year-old daughter Anna off at a private, inpatient eating disorder facility for the first time. The sign at the facility's entrance read, "Expect a miracle." As devout Christians with resources, they expected nothing less. This it turned out was just the beginning of what would be a long and grueling battle with anorexia. Anna spent nearly two decades cycling between therapists, treatment centers and psychiatric medications at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was a battle she ultimately lost: Anna Znachko died of anorexia in August 2024.
/jlne.ws/3RVchGh
RFK Jr. warns seed oils are poisoning Americans, and a new study shows a possible link to cancer
Alexa Mikhail - Fortune
In the ongoing war over the health of seed oils, Robert F. Kennedy may have just scored a point. That's because the Health and Human Services secretary has made a push for beef tallow over seed oils, by which he claims Americans are being "unknowingly poisoned"-and a new study has linked the oils, including safflower, canola, corn, soybean, and sunflower oils, to an aggressive form of breast cancer. In the Weill Cornell Medicine study published last month in Science, researchers found that linoleic acid-the omega-6 fatty acid found in the oils-promoted growth of triple-negative breast cancer tumors in mice (though it's important to note that the same results and treatments do not always translate to human clinical trials).
/jlne.ws/3Gh6Hvn
The Bitter Pill of Reliance on China; Nearly half of generic active pharmaceutical ingredients consumed in the U.S. originate there.
Shyam Sankar and Julia Dimon - The Wall Street Journal
A supply chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In America's supply-chain network, a particularly dangerous weak point is our dependence on an adversary for medications. Once a world leader in pharmaceutical manufacturing, the U.S. now relies heavily on drugs from overseas, increasingly from China. But that won't be an option much longer. As President Trump weighs tariffs on pharmaceuticals and China turns the screws with export controls, the carefree days of dependence on imports are over. The U.S. must boost domestic drug production before China snaps the link.
/jlne.ws/3Y6Ks1l
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | How DeepSeek, deep pockets, and data centers are giving Asia an AI edge
Clay Chandler - Fortune
In January, as business and government leaders descended on Davos, Switzerland, for this year's meeting of the World Economic Forum, the prevailing wisdom was that American tech giants were winning the race for dominance in artificial intelligence while China, and indeed the whole of Asia, lagged behind.
/jlne.ws/3RX1Hyw
Malaysia aspires to provide the backbone of the global AI boom. Will the bet pay off?
Clay Chandler - Fortune
The jungles of Johor, the Malaysian state across the Johor Strait from Singapore, were first cleared in the 1840s by Chinese clans from Singapore seeking more space to grow black pepper. In the next century, under British rule, those pepper farms gave way to vast plantations of rubber and oil palm trees. On many of those same sites today, Johor is cultivating a new kind of cash crop: data centers meant to feed the world's voracious appetite for artificial intelligence.
/jlne.ws/42ic7Pq
Japan's record rice price surge pushes up core inflation; Cost of staple grain nearly doubles in year, despite stockpile releases
Yurika Yoneda - Nikkei Asia
TOKYO -- Core consumer prices in Japan rose 3.2% in March from a year earlier, as the cost of rice increased at its fastest pace in more than 50 years. Rice prices rose 92.1% in March, versus last year, according to figures released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The increase, the largest since comparable records began in 1971, underlines the challenges facing the government as it tries to check inflation by releasing stockpiled rice.
/jlne.ws/4lCtYIk
Ivory Coast Seizes 594 Tons of Smuggled Cocoa Beans
Baudelaire Mieu - Bloomberg
Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cocoa grower, seized 594 tons of smuggled cocoa beans as part of its efforts to curb illegal trade of the crop. Security operations initiated at the start of the cocoa harvest in October also led to the arrest of 34 people and the confiscation of "heavy machinery," Executive Secretary of the National Security Council Fidèle Sarassoro said late Thursday.
/jlne.ws/42HPWkH
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