| May 30, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Today's lead story from Bloomberg is titled "What If Independent Regulators Are No Longer Independent?"
For nearly a century, U.S. independent regulatory agencies such as the Federal Reserve, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and others have operated with significant autonomy from the White House, protected by laws that limit presidential removal of their leaders and insulate their budgets from political influence. This structure was designed to ensure that regulatory decisions serve the public interest rather than shifting political priorities. Its origins trace back to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887, and it was reinforced by the Supreme Court's 1935 Humphrey's Executor decision, which limited the president's ability to fire agency commissioners for political reasons.
President Donald Trump has moved to challenge this longstanding independence by issuing executive orders to bring independent agencies under direct White House oversight, firing several Democratic commissioners from agencies like the National Labor Relations Board and Consumer Product Safety Commission, and seeking to require that all proposed regulations be approved by the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Policy. These actions have triggered lawsuits and raised constitutional questions, with the Supreme Court's conservative majority recently signaling support for expanded presidential authority, while carving out a unique exception for the Federal Reserve's monetary policy functions.
Here is what I am concerned about. Given that we have just had four CFTC commissioners resign, President Trump must fill those slots to ensure the CFTC can function and implement his cryptocurrency regulation plans. The normal procedure would be for him to send up paired nominations for a Republican and a Democrat together. He would need to do this twice to fill the complete commissioner slots.
However, Trump is all about breaking with tradition. He could easily nominate a Republican or two and have a Republican-dominated CFTC to push through his plans. Even if he nominated one or two Democrats, the first time one of them offered some dissent on a decision he did not like, he could dismiss them.
This brings up the question: Who would want to serve?
Yesterday, CME Group awarded 25 City Colleges of Chicago graduates with $5,000 scholarships each as part of the 2025 CME Group Star Partnership Mayoral Award, presented by CME Group President and CFO Lynne Cook Fitzpatrick, to support their bachelor's degree studies and future career opportunities.
CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson's keynote at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas's symposium on AI in financial markets highlighted the transformative impact of artificial intelligence, from generative models that automate regulatory reporting and compliance to agentic AI that autonomously adapts to changing conditions for tasks like fraud detection and risk management. She emphasized both the opportunities for enhanced efficiency and market integrity, as well as the risks posed by AI, including bias, data security vulnerabilities, and the potential for misuse by malicious actors. She urged regulators and industry to collaborate on responsible innovation and robust oversight to ensure resilient, secure, and fair financial markets.
Johnson's speech provided an éclaircissement on the complexities of the issues, shedding light on perspectives that were previously perhaps overlooked. This last sentence was added to use the word "éclaircissement" in a sentence. Eclaircissement was the word that won the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
WilmerHale and the Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center will host a discussion with U.S. Representative French Hill (R-AR-2), Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, on June 3, 2025, in Washington, DC, to explore the proposed regulatory framework for stablecoins and its implications for the financial sector. Representative Hill will share insights on digital asset regulation and its broader economic impact, with a virtual option available for remote participation.
Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who led the NYPD during the 9/11 attacks and later pleaded guilty to felony tax fraud, has died at age 69 after a private battle with illness, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Kerik was widely recognized for guiding the NYPD through one of the nation's darkest periods, but his legacy was complicated by his subsequent legal troubles and eventual federal pardon.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: ISDA calls for European firms to submit applications for new margin model, Coinbase to add Solana and XRP to 24/7 trading service, CFTC's Johnson calls for co-operation on cyber resilience, Cboe sets June 9 for crypto futures migration, ANALYSIS: Some crypto liquidity nearing daily levels of traditional assets - panel and ANALYSIS: EEX eyes new energy products amid Asian expansion.
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:
- Do Options Trading Strategies Make Sense Right Now? from Barchart.
- Cboe global president departs after three year tenure in US from The Trade.
- CME Group and CF Benchmarks to Launch Four New Cryptocurrency Reference Rates and Real-Time Indices on June 2 from CME Group. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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 OCC's Julie Bauer: Adapting to Change, From Tech to Regulators, With a Side of Education JohnLothianNews.com PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla.-(JLN)-May 29, 2025 -At this year's Options Industry Conference, Julie Bauer of the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) offered a candid look at how her organization is keeping pace with a financial world that seems to shift faster than a meme stock's price. "We think a lot about financial risk management-that's really at the core of what we do," Bauer said in an interview with John Lothian News. "So we look to the trends in the market, we look to adjust as best we can. We are, as you know, systemically important and very heavily regulated, so most of the adjustments that we make go through a very detailed review and comment process." Watch the Julie Bauer Video »
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Soaring Costs Expose a Trans-Atlantic Chocolate Divide; As cocoa prices surge, Europe's chocolate habit is proving more resilient than America's
David Wainer - The Wall Street Journal
Almost everyone loves chocolate, whether it's a Hershey's Kiss, a Toblerone or a dark Lindt bar. But a historic surge in cocoa prices is testing just how deep that love really runs. And it turns out Europeans may be a bit more committed to chocolate than their American counterparts. That gap in loyalty has real implications for global confectionary companies.
/jlne.ws/4dCdWup
***** Sounds like a macro-global KitKat commercial.~JJL
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Obscure Tax Item in Trump's Big Bill Stokes Wall Street Angst
Ye Xie and Liz Capo McCormick - Bloomberg
Buried deep in the more than 1,000-page tax-and-spending bill that President Donald Trump is muscling through Congress is an obscure tax measure that's setting off alarms on Wall Street and beyond. The item - introduced in legislation that passed the House last week as Section 899 and titled "Enforcement of Remedies Against Unfair Foreign Taxes" - calls for, among other things, increasing tax rates for individuals and companies from countries whose tax policies the US deems "discriminatory." This includes raising tax rates on passive income, such as interest and dividends, earned by investors who are potentially sitting on trillions in American assets. Cloaked in technicalities, the implication of the "revenge" measure, as it's quickly becoming known, is clear to analysts: If signed into law, it would further drive away foreign investors at a time when their once ironclad confidence in Treasury bonds and other US assets has already been shaken by Trump's erratic trade policies and the nation's deteriorating fiscal accounts.
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***** If there is one thing you can depend on with President Trump, it is "revenge." He might call it justice.~JJL
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This TACO Gives Trump Indigestion, So Watch Out; The acronym - Trump Always Chickens Out - bruises the president's ego and invites a chaotic response, mostly because it's on the money.
Timothy L. O'Brien - Bloomberg
Donald Trump relished his favorite versions of tacos during his first presidential term. "The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill," he tweeted in early 2016, sharing a photo of himself chowing down on a large serving at his desk. "I love Hispanics!" These days, tacos aren't Trump's thing. More precisely, the version cooked up by a Financial Times columnist, Robert Armstrong, isn't his thing. Armstrong, noting that Trump has repeatedly backed away from some of his fiercest tariff threats, dubbed this phenomenon "TACO" - Trump Always Chickens Out. TACO-savvy traders were making money embracing that reality, Armstrong observed.
/jlne.ws/3FinUoi
***** I thought "TACO Trade" was worthy of its own MarketsWiki page, so I built one for it yesterday. However, this TACO Trade is not to be confused with a TACO order, which is a Basis Trade at Cash Open. That is the nice thing about TACOs, there are all kinds of flavors.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top clicked story Thursday was our lead story, Prediction market with Trump ties threatens US sports bet sector, from the Financial Times. Second was The Wall Street Journal's story, The Best Coffee Makers, No Matter How You Take Your Cup. Haha - I guess a lot of our readers are "coffee snobs" (or, as I like to put it, coffee aficionados). Third was Desperately coining new Mexican-flavoured market acronyms in an attempt to go viral, about the TACO trade, from the Financial Times.
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| Lead Stories | What If Independent Regulators Are No Longer Independent? In a test of a 90-year-old court decision, Trump is attempting to rein in US agencies that oversee everything from securities to cigarette lighters.
Gregory Korte - Bloomberg
For decades, the US regulators who work to keep inflation down and economic growth up, ensure markets are competitive and transparent, safeguard elections, and protect workers, consumers and investors have operated largely free of political influence. The Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Election Commission, and more than a dozen other regulatory agencies have a remit to make and enforce rules under leaders who are protected from being removed by the president. Their independence is meant to guarantee that their decisions serve only one master: the public. President Donald Trump wants to upend that arrangement. The president and his allies are trying to exert control over these independent federal agencies, which they view as an extraconstitutional "fourth branch" of government. Trump has issued an order that aims to consolidate regulatory oversight in the White House and has fired several commissioners of independent agencies - moves with no precedent in modern history.
/jlne.ws/4mVSnJR
Two MIT Math Nerds Crack Open Legalized Gambling on Wall Street; Armed with a federal license and allies in Trumpworld, the tech start-up is pushing prediction markets across America into a legal gray zone: sports betting.
Justina Lee - Bloomberg
During its short existence, Kalshi has taken a battering ram to the regulatory establishment in its bid to give Americans the inalienable right to bet on just about everything. The US election, Taylor Swift's next hit, volcanic eruptions, and even the Rotten Tomatoes score for How to Train Your Dragon. Now, the seven-year old financial exchange is taking it to a whole new level by using its federal financial license to open up sports gambling nationwide, even in states where it is not legal.
/jlne.ws/43BVKg5
SEC Dismisses Lawsuit Against Binance; The agency has been winding down Biden-era enforcement actions against crypto firms
Alexander Osipovich - The Wall Street Journal
The Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed its lawsuit against Binance and its billionaire founder Changpeng Zhao, the agency's latest move to wind down Biden-era enforcement actions against the crypto industry.In a Thursday court filing, attorneys for the SEC, Binance and Zhao signed on to the agency's decision to dismiss the 2023 lawsuit. The filing noted that the SEC recently created a "crypto task force" aimed at crafting a new regulatory framework for digital assets, part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to create a friendlier environment for the industry. "We're deeply grateful to Chairman Paul Atkins and the Trump administration for recognizing that innovation can't thrive under regulation by enforcement," a Binance spokeswoman said in a statement, referring to the SEC's new leader.
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AI deepfakes pose 'significant' risk to 'identity systems upon which our entire economy relies,' warns fintech CEO
Steve Mollman - Fortune
With one new AI capability after another entering the mainstream, it's tempting to give each one the same cursory consideration. But some merit more attention than others. Consider AI deepfakes. Scammers can now use generative-AI tools to create voices, or even live video fakes, that sound or look like specific people-and request money transfers. As such, there's a "significant" risk of such capabilities "breaking the trust and identity systems upon which our entire economy relies," said Emily Chiu, CEO of Miami-based fintech startup Novo, at Fortune's Most Powerful Women summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last week.
/jlne.ws/451CBqe
25 Star Scholars Graduating from City Colleges of Chicago to Pursue Four-Year Degrees
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, is awarding 25 City Colleges of Chicago graduates with $5,000 scholarships as they move on to earn Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degrees. Since 2017, CME Group has partnered with the Mayor's office to support the Star Scholars program, contributing over $1 million to help graduates who have earned an associates degree at a Chicago City College achieve their higher education goals at four-year institutions. The program evolved from the CME Group Mayoral Award for Student Achievement, which began in 1986, providing millions in financial support to high-achieving Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students to pursue college degrees
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California Kalshi Crisis: Tribal Gaming Threatened By Prediction Markets
Igamingfuture.com
In an exclusive interview with top California Tribal gaming leader James Siva, iGamingFuture's U.S. correspondent Lauren Harrison explores the explosive issue of Trump family sanctioned prediction market sites busting the state's gambling model wide open.
EXCLUSIVE: Prediction market sports contracts-branded an existential "California Kalshi Crisis"-have now come to the Golden State in flagrant violation of constitutional Native American betting compacts, warn Tribal gaming leaders. To catch-up on the latest events in the fast-unfolding controversy, named after Kalshi, one of the leading prediction market players, iGF spoke with James Siva, Chair of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) and Vice Chair of the state's Morongo Band of Mission Indians. Through CNIGA, Siva represents 52 federally-recognised Tribes in California - over 70 percent of the gaming tribes. Nominated for the 2024 "40 Under 40âEUR³ awards for Tribal gaming leaders, Siva is one of the most visible and powerful advocates for Tribal sovereignty in gaming.
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During the First Half of 2025, Robin Hood Increases Overall Grantmaking by 40%,; Funding fuels direct service work at 114 nonprofits serving the most vulnerable New Yorkers amid threats to federal safety net programs
Robin Hood
Robin Hood, New York City's largest local poverty-fighting philanthropy, announced a 40% increase in grantmaking during the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The organization awarded $49 million in grants to 114 local nonprofits across all five boroughs - up from $35 million during the first two quarters of the last year. These investments aim to stabilize households living in poverty and promote economic mobility for lower-income New Yorkers amid rising poverty levels, a deepening affordability crisis, a destabilized funding environment for human service nonprofits, and mounting threats to vital federal safety net programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, and housing assistance.
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The Billionaire Odd Couple Whose Hedge Fund Is Killing It; Paul Marshall and Ian Wace have almost nothing in common-except a $70 billion fund with a top-secret algorithm. Says Wace: 'I don't think I have really ever agreed with anything that Paul has ever said.'
Caitlin McCabe - The Wall Street Journal
London investment duo Paul Marshall and Ian Wace outran competitors during the recent market turmoil with an unconventional trading strategy: a top-secret algorithm that analyzes tips from rival hedge funds and investment banks. It's Wall Street meets fantasy football. Stock salespeople and others across Wall Street submit trading recommendations to the duo's hedge-fund firm, Marshall Wace. The firm analyzes the ideas and rewards firms of top contributors with millions of dollars of commissions each year.
/jlne.ws/4kHhyxy
How Trump's Regulatory Rollbacks Are Increasing Costs on Americans; A new DOGE tally claims that erasing rules on credit card fees, appliance standards and health insurance "saves the American people" money. Data show the opposite.
Coral Davenport and Stacy Cowley - The New York Times
When the Biden administration enacted regulations last year slashing credit card late fees, government analysts calculated that the rule would save millions of customers an average of $220 per year. Overall, they found that the new limit would save American households about $10 billion annually, mostly in avoided bank penalties. But now that the Trump administration has abandoned the rule, the Department of Government Efficiency, the cost-cutting initiative spearheaded by Elon Musk, claims the opposite - that the reversal will save Americans $9.5 billion.
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ECB's Panetta warns crypto losses can harm confidence in banks
Valentina Za - Reuters
European Central Bank policymaker and Bank of Italy Governor Fabio Panetta called on Friday for close monitoring of the reputational risks banks face in providing crypto-asset services, warning that losses could harm the trust of customers. Presenting the Bank of Italy's annual report, Panetta warned about the growing links between the world of crypto-assets and the traditional financial system, pointing to the rising number of accords between banks and digital asset providers.
/jlne.ws/3SpsVOL
Nomura Sees Big Opportunities to Grow in US Despite Turmoil
Takashi Nakamichi and Ryo Horiuchi - Bloomberg
Nomura Holdings Inc. is setting its sights on the US for growth despite the current turmoil surrounding the world's biggest economy. Japan's largest brokerage said it's strengthening its focus on the Americas through "strategic resource allocation," according to an investor day presentation, which touted the "big opportunities" there. The firm plans to advance targets for its investment management and wholesale banking businesses by pursuing long-term growth in the Americas, it said.
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Wall Street Giant Cantor Fitzgerald to Launch Gold-Backed Bitcoin Fund
Krisztian Sandor - CoinDesk
Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald Asset Management said it plans to launch a new fund that blends bitcoin BTC gains with a fallback anchored to gold. The Cantor Fitzgerald Gold Protected Bitcoin Fund, which the firm said will be its first BTC-focused investment vehicle, is structured to provide investors uncapped exposure to bitcoin's price rise while offering one-to-one downside protection based on the price of gold, according to the firm's Thursday press release.
/jlne.ws/3SuOfT4
The VC industry needs a geopolitical reboot; AI is rewriting the rules of the technological and investment game
John Thornhill - Financial Times
There is no doubting the phenomenal impact that venture capital has had on the US - and global - economy over the past few decades. A tiny number of VC investors have helped create some of the most dynamic companies in history and generated astonishing returns. But past performance is no guide to future results, as they say, and the world is changing fast. Is the VC industry - like Elon Musk's latest rocket launches - about to flame out in a "rapid unscheduled disassembly"?
/jlne.ws/3FAIJv9
Crypto wins a champion in the White House; Trump family's enthusiasm for digital assets creates a glaring conflict of interest
The editorial board - Financial Times
Donald Trump has been on quite a journey since the days when he said bitcoin "seems like a scam". This week, the Trump family media company said it was raising $2.5bn from investors to buy up the cryptocurrency. His sons Eric and Donald Jr promised thousands of orange-clad bitcoin investors in Las Vegas a bonanza, in part because, as his vice-president JD Vance told the same conference, "crypto finally has a champion and an ally in the White House". Bitcoin has hit a recent record high on optimism that US lawmakers will soon agree their first crypto regulations - for stablecoins, or digital tokens pegged to the dollar or another currency.
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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. | President Trump Isn't a Tariff King; A sweeping trade court ruling puts the executive in his proper constitutional place.
The Editorial Board - The Wall Street Journal
In a ruling heard 'round the world, the U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday blocked President Trump's sweeping tariffs. This is an important moment for the rule of law as much as for the economy, proving again that America doesn't have a king who can rule by decree. The Trump tariffs have created enormous costs and uncertainty, but now we know they're illegal. As the three-judge panel explains in its detailed 52-page ruling, the President exceeded his emergency powers and bypassed discrete tariff authorities delegated to him by Congress. The ruling erases his April 2 tariffs as well as those on Canada and Mexico.
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Appeals Court Allows Trump Tariffs to Stay in Effect for Now
Erik Larson - Bloomberg
A federal appeals court temporarily paused a sweeping ruling against President Donald Trump's global tariffs while it takes more time to consider the administration's request for a longer-lasting hold. A brief order granting a so-called administrative stay was issued Thursday by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the latest twist in a case that has upended a pillar of Trump's economic agenda. It pauses an order that had blocked the tariffs and given the administration 10 days to unwind the levies.
/jlne.ws/4kb0xMq
'High tariffs will not bring economic prosperity': Japan criticizes protectionism as it returns to U.S. trade negotiations
The Associated Press via Fortune
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed determination Thursday to defend rules-based, free and multilateral trade systems and work on expanding the main Asia-Pacific trade group at a time of tension over U.S. tariffs. "High tariffs will not bring economic prosperity," Ishiba told a global forum in Tokyo. "A prosperity built on sacrifices by someone or another country will not make a strong economy." Japan seeks to work with the U.S. on investment, job creation and manufacturing high quality products for the prosperity of America and the rest of the world, he said.
/jlne.ws/4mzGj0F
Deere's Plans for Offsetting $500 Million in Tariff Costs; The farm equipment maker looks into tweaking its supply chain and raising prices as it navigates new levies
Mark Maurer - The Wall Street Journal
Deere & Co. is considering a reshuffle of its production among existing factories globally and weighing price increases as it aims to offset more than $500 million in expected costs from the Trump administration's new tariffs. The Moline, Ill.-based farm equipment manufacturer on May 15 said it incurred about $100 million in tariff expenses in the latest quarter and expects more than $400 million in additional expenses through the end of its fiscal year in October. The company booked $7.1 billion in net income for the year ended last October, down 30% from a year earlier, and roughly $45 billion in net sales, down 19%.
/jlne.ws/3Hj6yYT
Global airlines to address trade war, net-zero uncertainties at annual summit
Lisa Barrington and Abhijith Ganapavaram - Reuters
An unpredictable trade war and daunting environmental targets are on the agenda for global airline bosses at an annual summit in India, as the industry addresses concerns that geopolitical uncertainty will dent strong travel demand and raise costs. More people are flying than ever before after a full post-pandemic passenger market recovery, but airlines globally are facing rising cost pressures, extended plane delivery delays, supply chain bottlenecks and a setback in recently strong fares.
/jlne.ws/43QgIZM
Trump Says China 'Totally Violated' Trade Agreement With US
Jennifer A Dlouhy - Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump accused China of violating an agreement with the US to ease tariffs, ratcheting up tensions between the world's two largest economies. "China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!," Trump wrote on his social media platform Friday.
/jlne.ws/3Fpy06P
Trump Makes a New Push to 'Decouple' U.S. From China; Trump administration officials are getting a second chance to try to sever ties with China by starting a trade war, imposing export controls and revoking student visas.
Edward Wong - The New York Times
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| World Conflicts | | News about various conflicts and their military, economic, political and humanitarian impact. | Ukraine Invasion
Ukrainian drones damage hospital, homes in Russia's Kursk, official says
Reuters
Ukrainian drones launched a night-time attack on Russia's western Kursk region, damaging a hospital and apartment buildings and injuring at least one person, the regional governor said early on Friday. Across the border in Ukraine's Sumy region, the regional governor reported fresh fighting in villages near the border where Russia has been seizing territory. He said various areas in his region were constantly changing hands.
/jlne.ws/4dHLTd5
IMF Approves $500 Million Ukraine Payment as Peace Talks Stall
Volodymyr Verbianyi - Bloomberg
The International Monetary Fund reached a deal with Ukraine to disburse the next portion of a $15.5 billion loan package for the war-battered nation. The IMF's staff approved a fresh tranche of about $500 million after wrapping up a review during a visit to Kyiv this week, the Washington-based lender said in a statement Thursday. The agreement must be approved by the institution's board, which is often just a formality.
/jlne.ws/3ZaqhQJ
Middle East Conflict
Exclusive: Saudi warned Iran to reach nuclear deal with Trump or risk Israeli strike
Samia Nakhoul and Parisa Hafezi - Reuters
Saudi Arabia's defence minister delivered a blunt message to Iranian officials in Tehran last month: take President Donald Trump's offer to negotiate a nuclear agreement seriously because it presents a way to avoid the risk of war with Israel. Alarmed at the prospect of further instability in the region, Saudi Arabia's 89-year-old King Salman bin Abdulaziz dispatched his son, Prince Khalid bin Salman, with the warning destined for Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to two Gulf sources close to government circles and two Iranian officials.
/jlne.ws/3FBkzR6
Exclusive: US proposes 60-day ceasefire for Gaza; hostage-prisoner swap, plan shows
Samia Nakhoul and Hatem Maher - Reuters
The U.S. plan for Gaza, seen by Reuters on Friday, proposes a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 28 Israeli hostages - alive and dead - in the first week, in exchange for the release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians. The document, which says the plan is guaranteed by U.S. President Donald Trump and mediators Egypt and Qatar, includes sending humanitarian aid to Gaza as soon as Hamas signs off on the ceasefire agreement.
/jlne.ws/3Hyyt76
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | CME Group Awards $125,000 to 25 Star Scholars Graduating from City Colleges of Chicago to Pursue Four-Year Degrees
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, is awarding 25 City Colleges of Chicago graduates with $5,000 scholarships as they move on to earn Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degrees. Since 2017, CME Group has partnered with the Mayor's office to support the Star Scholars program, contributing over $1 million to help graduates who have earned an associates degree at a Chicago City College achieve their higher education goals at four-year institutions. The program evolved from the CME Group Mayoral Award for Student Achievement, which began in 1986, providing millions in financial support to high-achieving Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students to pursue college degrees.
/jlne.ws/3Hij8aX
ASX enhances transparency in new pricing policy for cash equities clearing, settlement and issuer services
ASX
ASX has today released a response to consultation on the proposed pricing policy for cash equities clearing, settlement and issuer services (CS services) that aims to enhance transparency for the market. The new policy is due to be finalised and take effect from 1 July 2025, and an updated draft was released as part of ASX's response to feedback on a comprehensive consultation process that began in 2024. These documents can be found on ASX's website.
/jlne.ws/4kNzOWl
The Medcap Forum closes its XXI edition after more than 1,000 meetings between small and medium-sized companies and investors
BME-X
The XXI edition of the Medcap Forum has come to an end today, after more than 1,000 meetings between 107 small and medium-sized listed companies and 150 investors, a quarter of whom come from outside Spain. The event, which had more than 750 total attendees, developed an extensive program of public panels on various current issues. One of the highlight topics of the event was the recent BME Easy Access, the new modality of going public, as an innovative measure to boost and make IPOs more flexible. Throughout the three days of the Medcap Forum, issues such as the macroeconomic situation and the role of capital markets in accelerating business growth were also discussed.
/jlne.ws/3Fr3CJe
LSEG Board Appointment
LSEG
London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSEG) today announces that Dame Elizabeth Corley, CBE will join the Board as a Non-Executive Director in Q4 2025. She will also join the Risk and Nomination Committees.
/jlne.ws/4kswC2r
Tradeweb Appoints Sherry Marcus as Head of AI
Tradeweb
Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today announced the appointment of Sherry Marcus as Head of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Building on Tradeweb's strong foundation utilizing AI to enhance price discovery, dealer selection and analytics, Ms. Marcus will lead the next generation of Tradeweb's AI strategy serving more than 3,000 institutional, wholesale, retail advisory and corporate clients around the world. In this newly-created global role, she will report to Tradeweb Chief Technology Officer Justin Peterson.
/jlne.ws/440SqLN
Novaprime Utilizes Tradeweb's Electronic Trading Solutions to Enhance Mortgage Trading Platforms
Tradeweb
Novaprime, a mortgage technology company dedicated to making homeownership more affordable, today announced a collaboration with Tradeweb, a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets. The collaboration leverages Novaprime's lender-focused Loan Intelligence and Marketplace products and Tradeweb's electronic trading execution platform, to offer a new solution for hedging mortgage-related risk for the mortgage industry. Built on the Canton Network, the solution aims to assist mutual clients of Novaprime and Tradeweb with reducing risk and hedging costs by offering automated hedging tools and integrated trading connectivity to Tradeweb.
/jlne.ws/43vPg3D
Performance Bond Requirements: Agriculture, FX, and Interest Rate Margins - Effective May 30, 2025
CME Clearing
As per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Clearing House Risk Management staff approved the performance bond requirements for the following products listed in the advisory at the link below.
/jlne.ws/3T0MYDg
Approved Application for Hard Red Spring Wheat Regularity
CME Group
/jlne.ws/3FBgT1K
Application for Copper Regularity
CME Group
/jlne.ws/3ZaYcJ4
Application for Spot Call Dry Whey and Spot Call Nonfat Dry Milk Regularity
CME Group
/jlne.ws/4mB4tYm
CME Globex Notices: May 26, 2025
CME Group
/jlne.ws/4ksw2Sj
CME STP Notices: May 26, 2025
CME Group
/jlne.ws/3ZAF47m
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Google and DOJ to make final push in US search antitrust case
Jody Godoy - Reuters
Alphabet's Google and U.S. antitrust enforcers will make their final arguments on whether the tech giant should be forced to sell its Chrome browser or adopt other measures to restore competition in online search, as the blockbuster antitrust trial concludes on Friday. The U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of states are pressing to make Google not only sell Chrome, but also share search data and cease multibillion-dollar payments to Apple and other smartphone makers and wireless carriers that set Google as the default search engine on new devices.
/jlne.ws/45ATxnB
Exclusive-Thoma Bravo explores $3 billion-plus sale of software firm Apryse, sources say
Milana Vinn - Reuters
Buyout firm Thoma Bravo is exploring a $3 billion-plus sale of Apryse, after receiving interest from potential buyers of the document processing software provider, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Thoma Bravo is working with investment bankers at Lazard on the sale process, said the sources, noting interest had already come from other private equity firms.
/jlne.ws/43zYtqe
White House MAHA Report may have garbled science by using AI, experts say; The report, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was intended to address the reasons for the decline in Americans' life expectancy.
Lauren Weber and Caitlin Gilbert - The Washington Post
Some of the citations that underpin the science in the White House's sweeping "MAHA Report" appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence, resulting in numerous garbled scientific references and invented studies, AI experts said Thursday. Of the 522 footnotes to scientific research in an initial version of the report sent to The Washington Post, at least 37 appear multiple times, according to a review of the report by The Post. Other citations include the wrong author, and several studies cited by the extensive health report do not exist at all, a fact first reported by the online news outlet NOTUS on Thursday morning.
/jlne.ws/4jtO4Cm
A Musk-Telegram AI Pact Sets the Stage for More Drama; Conspiracy theories and extremism on Pavel Durov's freewheeling app could be supercharged by a deep integration with AI chatbot Grok.
Parmy Olson - Bloomberg
It's hard to find a pair of tech billionaires more alike than Elon Musk and Pavel Durov. Both are staunch libertarians who run large social media platforms with minimal content moderation, and both champion themselves as defenders of free speech. Both are also pro-natalists, with Durov claiming to have fathered more than 100 biological children through sperm donation.
/jlne.ws/3Zb45WG
Microsoft Touts AI Sales at Town Hall, Reveals Barclays Contract
Brody Ford - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4jvgFHF
OpenAI risks being undercut by cheaper rivals, says star investor Mary Meeker; Competition from groups including China's DeepSeek suggest big AI models will be 'commoditised'
George Hammond - Financial Times
US groups such as OpenAI that are racing to develop artificial intelligence are at risk of being undercut by cheaper rivals such as China's DeepSeek, according to star investor and analyst Mary Meeker whose presentations on tech trends are followed across Silicon Valley. Meeker, an early backer of companies including Meta, Spotify and Airbnb, told the Financial Times that new AI advances will mint "multiple companies worth $10tn and they probably will not all be based in North America".
/jlne.ws/3ZvLogD
Tokenization Platform BPX Exchange Lands on UK Crypto Register
Camomile Shumba - CoinDesk
Tokenization platform the BPX Exchange was added to the U.K.'s crypto register on Thursday, the first new addition since April and only the third this year, according to the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) website. The company, a digital securities exchange for investment funds, will now be able to reach out and offer its services to clients in the country as well as approve the promotions of "members of its wider group," the regulator's website said. It won't be able to operate a crypto exchange or offer any services to retail clients.
/jlne.ws/4dBFO1O
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans; The Trump administration has expanded Palantir's work with the government, spreading the company's technology - which could easily merge data on Americans - throughout agencies.
Sheera Frenkel and Aaron Krolik - The New York Times
In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies, raising questions over whether he might compile a master list of personal information on Americans that could give him untold surveillance power. Mr. Trump has not publicly talked about the effort since. But behind the scenes, officials have quietly put technological building blocks into place to enable his plan. In particular, they have turned to one company: Palantir, the data analysis and technology firm.
/jlne.ws/4507wDi
Welcome to the age of cyber insecurity in business; The hacking attack on Marks and Spencer shows breaches are inevitable and firms must focus on resilience
John Gapper - Financial Times
My first inkling of the damaging cyber attack on Marks and Spencer was when I entered a store at the Easter weekend and was told that contactless payments were not working. It threatened to ruin the trip until I realised I could scan food items on the M&S app on my phone and use Apple Pay instead.
/jlne.ws/3Z83TaJ
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Donald Trump Jr. Reveals How Getting 'De-Banked,' 'De-Insured' Led Him And Eric Trump To 'Orange Pill' Their Father On Crypto
Namrata Sen - Benzinga
Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of U.S. President Donald Trump, disclosed how he and his brother, Eric Trump, influenced their father's views on Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and cryptocurrency. What Happened: Speaking at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Trump Jr. revealed that the Trump family's experience with widespread de-banking during Trump's first presidential term led them to explore blockchain technology.
/jlne.ws/43QE0P7
Ripple's Hidden Road Launches Crypto OTC Brokerage in U.S.
Shaurya Malwa - CoinDesk
Hidden Road, the prime brokerage platform recently acquired by Ripple, has officially launched a digital assets prime brokerage for the U.S. market, giving institutional investors access to over-the-counter (OTC) crypto swaps. The new offering will allow U.S.-based institutional clients to execute cash-settled OTC swaps across several tokens. The product will be operated through Hidden Road's UK-based, FCA-regulated entity, Hidden Road Partners CIV UK Ltd. The expansion also includes cross-margining and financing services for digital assets. "The United States digital asset market has long been under-served from a product standpoint," said Michael Higgins, International CEO and Global Head of Corporate Development at Hidden Road, in a Thursday release.
/jlne.ws/3ZE4Wza
SEC Drops Binance Lawsuit Days After Crypto Exchange Lists Trump's Stablecoin
Zach Everson - Forbes
The Securities and Exchange Commission dropped a lawsuit against Binance on Thursday, days after the crypto exchange began listing a stablecoin created by World Liberty Financial, one of President Donald Trump's blockchain ventures. Trump and his family control about 60% of World Liberty Financial through an LLC, and he is listed as both the decentralized finance platform's chief crypto advocate and inspiration, according to its website.
/jlne.ws/3SoSdMX
**** Here is the story from Reuters, and here is the New York Times' version.
Hong Kong Firm Plots U.S. Crypto Service; Cantor Equity Partners Adds Funds For Bitcoin Venture
Harrison Miller - Investor Business Daily
Futu Holdings attempted a breakout Thursday after the broker and wealth management provider reported Q1 results. Futu's subsidiary Moomoo earlier this week announced plans to expand into the crypto space. Cantor is also loading up on crypto for its new bitcoin venture, Twenty One Capital. Hong Kong-based Futu Holdings (FUTU) on Thursday reported a 90% increase in earnings to $1.96 per share. Sales jumped 81% to $603.4 million.
/jlne.ws/4mVP9WL
Russia Says Financial Institutions Can Offer Crypto-Linked Instruments to Qualified Investors
Camomile Shumba - CoinDesk
The Bank of Russia said that financial institutions may offer crypto-linked instruments to qualified investors as the nation continues to explore crypto offerings. "Financial institutions may offer qualified investors financial derivatives, securities, and digital financial assets whose yields are linked to cryptocurrency prices," the Bank of Russia said in a post on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/43AUQ3h
Matador Technologies to Acquire Stake in Indian Firm HODL Systems
Tom Carreras - CoinDesk
Matador Technologies, a Toronto-based digital asset firm, has entered a binding letter of intent to invest up to $3.2 million in HODL Systems, a publicly listed Indian company that integrates crypto into its treasury strategy. If fully exercised, the investment would give Matador up to a 24.95% ownership stake. The agreement also outlines plans for HODL to license and distribute Matador's blockchain-based digital gold and Ordinals products in India - one of the world's most gold-obsessed and mobile-savvy markets. India's households hold over 25,000 tonnes of gold, according to the World Gold Council, while more than 65% of the population is under 35, presenting a large potential user base for digital investment platforms.
/jlne.ws/4jsjh9a
Michael Saylor Outlines Strategy's Bear Market Playbook at Bitcoin Vegas
James Van Straten - CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/3SX1pZ4
Bitcoin Treasury Firm Twenty One Capital Brings Total Fundraise to $685M
Krisztian Sandor - CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/4jun7yq
BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Draws Record Inflows During May's Rally
Sidhartha Shukla - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3HgDnpo
SEC removes key hurdle for Ethereum ETFs by exempting staking from securities rules; The staking clarity from SEC could reshape ETF landscape despite one of the commissioner's backlash.
Oluwapelumi Adejumo - CryptoSlate
/jlne.ws/43Qmlam
Tether, Tron Dominate Fast-Growing Stablecoin Payments Arena, Survey Shows
Ian Allison - CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/4mF4ue2
Payment Firm Stripe in Early Talks With Banks About Stablecoins
Aisha S Gani and Emily Mason - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3HbQqZk
Sam Altman's Worldcoin Raises $135M, WLD Token Surges 25%
Hina Nainani - Benzinga
/jlne.ws/3SZdgFX
Mark Zuckerberg Finally Found a Use for His Metaverse - War; Meta is crossing a former hard red line in Silicon Valley to develop tech for military uses.
Dave Lee - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4jwQJvd
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | U.S. House Republicans Officially Introduce Crypto Market Structure Bill
Jesse Hamilton - CoinDesk
Leading Republicans in the House of Representatives have formally introduced their latest version of the bill to establish a regulatory structure for digital assets markets, something the industry has clamored for for years. The successor to the previous session's Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), the new bill called the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is being pushed by top Republicans in the House Financial Services and the House Agriculture committees. Stablecoin legislation is still the frontrunner to be the first major piece of U.S. crypto law, but Thursday's introduction pushes the ball forward on the more important and complex of the two companion efforts.
/jlne.ws/3FvLBcJ
Targeting Chinese Students Threatens the Bottom Line at American Universities; Trump administration's move to revoke visas could poke holes in university finances and U.S. talent pipeline
Shen Lu, Liyan Qi and Ming Li - The Wall Street Journal
A Trump administration announcement Wednesday that it would "aggressively" begin revoking visas for Chinese students confronts universities across the U.S. with the prospect of a hit to their finances and talent pool. The move comes on top of a push to bar Harvard University from enrolling international students as part of the president's battle with the school. The Trump administration has also paused new student-visa interviews while it prepares new measures to vet applicants' social-media accounts, according to a State Department cable.
/jlne.ws/43JjMFZ
Wall Street fears foreign tax in budget bill may reduce allure of US assets
Carolina Mandl - Reuters
Wall Street analysts are cautioning that a tax targeting foreign investors in the U.S. budget bill progressing through Congress could end up weighing on demand for U.S. Treasuries and the dollar. The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a sweeping tax and spending bill that includes the possibility of imposing a progressive tax burden of up to 20% on foreign investors' passive income, such as dividends and royalties.
/jlne.ws/4jrKCrY
Elon Musk Didn't Blow Up Washington, but He Left Plenty of Damage Behind; The obits for the tech mogul's time at the Department of Government Efficiency are, justifiably, vicious.
Susan B. Glasser - The New Yorker
It ended, of course, with a tweet. Late on Wednesday evening, Elon Musk announced the official end of his short, traumatic tenure as the head of a made-up agency called the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk's post on X, the social-media network he owns and had sought to weaponize in service of a radical cost-costing assault on the federal government, was brief. After thanking Donald Trump for "the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending," the world's richest man, deflated but still defiant, added, "The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government."
/jlne.ws/4dBMqx7
Trump's sweeping tax-cut bill includes provision to weaken court powers
Tom Hals - Reuters
The sweeping tax-and-spending bill that would enact President Donald Trump's policy agenda includes a provision that critics said would weaken the power of U.S. judges to enforce contempt when the government defies court orders. The one-sentence provision in the 1,100-page bill prevents federal courts, including the Supreme Court, from enforcing contempt orders unless the plaintiffs have posted a monetary bond, which rarely happens in cases against the government.
/jlne.ws/4mCp9PO
US will not tolerate Chinese 'exploitation' of universities, theft of research, says State Dept
Daphne Psaledakis - Reuters
The United States will not tolerate "exploitation" of American universities by the Chinese Communist Party or theft of U.S. research and intellectual property, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said on Thursday. In a briefing at the State Department, Bruce declined to provide numbers for how many Chinese students would be affected by a new plan to "aggressively" revoke visas announced on Wednesday, but said officials would scrutinize anyone "deemed to be a threat to the country or a problem."
/jlne.ws/43RZhbd
Why Trump's 'Golden Share' in US Steel May Lack Some Luster
Yiqin Shen
/jlne.ws/43nhi0Y
Trump Administration Publishes List of Sanctuary Cities and Counties to Target; Administration has threatened to pull funding from jurisdictions that don't cooperate with immigration enforcement
Tali Arbel - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/4kfLXDf
Reform UK Chair Dismisses Worries About Cost of Tax, Spend Plans
Lucy White and William Selway - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3HjrdvU
South Korea battles deepfake surge ahead of presidential election; Removal efforts fall behind as takedown requests spike tenfold from 2024 levels
Tetsuya Fujita - Nikkei Asia
/jlne.ws/4dIi2Bx
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | US SEC dismisses lawsuit against Binance crypto exchange
Jonathan Stempel - Reuters
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday voluntarily dismissed its civil lawsuit against Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, extending the regulator's new approach to cryptocurrencies since President Donald Trump reentered the White House. A joint stipulation of dismissal signed by lawyers for the SEC, Binance and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was filed in the Washington, D.C., federal court.
/jlne.ws/3FyOlWG
ECB Intensifies Scrutiny of Banks' Exposure to Private Markets
Claudia Cohen, Jorge Zuloaga, and Nicholas Comfort - Bloomberg
The European Central Bank is escalating its scrutiny of lenders' exposures to private markets amid concerns that the fast ascent of related asset classes raises substantial new risks. The watchdog has signaled that it's sending letters to executives at certain banks cautioning them on their practices in financing private funds, according to people familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/3Z8jl6E
Keynote Remarks of Commissioner Kristin Johnson at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Exploring AI Risks and Opportunities Across the Digital and Cyber Landscape
CFTC
Good afternoon. Thank you to President Lorie Logan, Senior Vice President and Senior Advisor to the President Sam Schulhofer-Wohl, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas for hosting us. Consistent with the title selected for the Symposium, today's discussion will explore AI Risks and Opportunities Across the Digital and Cyber Landscape, including a broad range of topics focused on fostering responsible innovation, as well as topics focused on proactively addressing potential risks. As always allow me to share a standard disclaimer. My views are my own and not necessarily the views of the Commission, Commission staff or my fellow Commissioners.
/jlne.ws/3FqOQlM
CFTC Awards Approximately $700,000 to Whistleblower
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced a whistleblower award of approximately $700,000. The whistleblower information prompted the CFTC to open the investigation and described the misconduct that ultimately appeared in the order. The whistleblower also provided substantial assistance and helped the Commission conserve resources during the investigation. The award was reduced because of an unreasonable delay in reporting the violations and the whistleblower's culpability.
(#Whistleblower)
/jlne.ws/45vy4fF
CFTC Adds 43 Unregistered Foreign Entities to RED List
CFTC
As part of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's ongoing efforts to help protect Americans from fraud, today the CFTC added 43 unregistered foreign entities to its Red List, a tool that provides information to U.S. market participants about foreign entities that are acting in an unregistered capacity and to help them make more informed decisions about trading. The Red List, which stands for Registration Deficient List, launched in 2015 [See CFTC Press Release No. 7224-15], and now contains almost 300 entities.
/jlne.ws/43kwfRy
NFA Orders New York, N.Y. Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer OANDA Corporation To Pay A $600,000 Fine
Jason Mongiello - Shipkevich PLLC
NFA has ordered OANDA Corporation (OANDA), an NFA Member retail foreign exchange (forex) dealer and futures commission merchant headquartered in New York, N.Y. to pay a $600,000 fine.
/jlne.ws/4kKRd1O
NFA orders Chicago, Ill. futures commission merchant NinjaTrader Clearing LLC to pay a $250,000 fine
NFA
NFA has ordered NinjaTrader Clearing LLC (NinjaTrader) to pay a $250,000 fine. NinjaTrader is an NFA Member futures commission merchant in Chicago, Ill. The Decision, issued by an NFA Hearing Panel, is based on a Complaint issued by NFA's Business Conduct Committee (BCC) and a settlement offer submitted by NinjaTrader, in which the firm neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the Complaint. The BCC alleged that NinjaTrader failed to implement an adequate anti-money laundering program, in violation of NFA Compliance Rule 2-9(c), and failed to supervise, in violation of NFA Compliance Rule 2-9(a).
/jlne.ws/4kkPkck
SEC Investor Advisory Committee to Examine Pass-Through Voting and Other Means of; Reaching the Ultimate Beneficial Owner; Discuss Market Perspectives on Non-GAAP Financial Disclosures at June 5 Meeting
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Investor Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting at the SEC Headquarters in Washington D.C. on June 5, 2025, at 10 a.m. ET. The meeting will also be webcast on the SEC website.
/jlne.ws/4kANV0S
Providing Security is not a "Security" - Division of Corporation Finance's Statement on Protocol Staking
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce - SEC
Today, the Division of Corporation Finance clarified its view that certain proof-of-stake blockchain protocol "staking" activities are not securities transactions within the scope of the federal securities laws. Proof-of-stake network protocols are designed to encourage users to voluntarily coordinate and cooperate to secure the network. But uncertainty about regulatory views on staking discouraged Americans from doing so for fear of violating the securities laws. This artificially constrained participation in network consensus and undermined the decentralization, censorship resistance, and credible neutrality of proof-of-stake blockchains.
/jlne.ws/4mJoaxq
Statement on Certain Protocol Staking Activities
Division of Corporation Finance - SEC
As part of an effort to provide greater clarity on the application of the federal securities laws to crypto assets,[1] the Division of Corporation Finance is providing its views[2] on certain activities known as "staking" on networks that use proof-of-stake ("PoS") as a consensus mechanism ("PoS Networks"). Specifically, this statement addresses the staking of crypto assets that are intrinsically linked to the programmatic functioning of a public, permissionless network, and are used to participate in and/or earned for participating in such network's consensus mechanism or otherwise used to maintain and/or earned for maintaining the technological operation and security of such network. We refer in this statement to these crypto assets as "Covered Crypto Assets"[3] and their staking on PoS Networks as "Protocol Staking."
/jlne.ws/4mSzuaC
Response to Staff Statement on Protocol Staking Activities: Stake it 'Till You Make It?
Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw - SEC
Channeling the old adage of "fake it 'till you make it," today's statement from the Division of Corporation Finance declares that "protocol staking" - locking up crypto tokens in a blockchain protocol to earn rewards - does not involve an investment contract. Therefore, staff concludes, protocol staking activities, whether performed by an individual or a third-party service on behalf of customers, are not securities subject to SEC jurisdiction.
/jlne.ws/4jt6e7c
SEC Announces Dismissal of Civil Enforcement Action Against Binance Entities and Founder Changpeng Zhao
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed a joint stipulation with Defendants Binance Holdings Limited, BAM Trading Services Inc., BAM Management US Holdings Inc., and Changpeng Zhao to dismiss, with prejudice, the Commission's ongoing civil enforcement action against them.
/jlne.ws/3SsQlTu
SEC Charges Investment Advisers and Their Principal with Defrauding Clients and Misappropriating Over $17 Million
SEC
On May 28, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Kronus Financial Corporation and Finser International Corporation, along with their principal, Andrew H. Jacobus, with misappropriating over $17 million from 40 advisory clients, most of whom are Venezuelan nationals and include Catholic dioceses and elderly individuals.
/jlne.ws/3FfWVd3
Australian Retirement Trust pays infringement notice over allegedly misleading performance data
ASIC
Australia's second-largest superannuation fund, Australian Retirement Trust Pty Ltd (ART), has paid $18,780 to comply with an infringement notice issued by ASIC over allegedly misleading performance data published on ART's website. Between July 2023 and July 2024, ART published out-of-date performance data about the performance of its default MySuper product, the Lifecycle Investment Strategy.
/jlne.ws/45AUs7x
Full Federal Court finds in favour of ASIC appeal concerning BPS Financial's use of 'authorised representative' exemption
ASIC
The Full Federal Court has found that BPS Financial Pty Ltd (BPS) could not rely on the 'authorised representative' exemption under the Corporations Act when issuing the 'Qoin Wallet', a non-cash payment facility, on its own behalf. ASIC appealed an aspect of the Federal Court's decision delivered on 3 May 2024, which found BPS was exempt from the requirement to hold an Australian financial services (AFS) licence while it was an authorised representative of PNI Financial Services Pty Ltd (PNI) between 5 November 2020 and 30 August 2021.
/jlne.ws/4jrLa10
AML/CFT guidance for Financial Institutions on risk ratings for new customers
FMA
This guide is for all FMA AML/CFT reporting entities. It explains how to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009.
/jlne.ws/4jopkeM
FMA issues infringement notice to Pharmazen Limited
FMA
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) - Te Mana TÄtai Hokohoko - has issued an infringement notice to Pharmazen Limited for failing to file financial statements on time. Pharmazen has not yet filed audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 that were due by 30 April 2025, as required under section 461H of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (FMC Act). It was also late to file financial statements in 2024 and 2023.
/jlne.ws/43HQGH2
FCA announces new chair of Financial Services Consumer Panel
FCA UK
We have appointed Chris Pond as chair of our Financial Services Consumer Panel. Starting his role as chair from 2 June 2025, Chris Pond will lead the independent panel in providing advice and representing the interests of consumers to help us deliver our strategic priorities. Welcoming the appointment, FCA chair Ashley Alder said: 'The Financial Services Consumer Panel plays a vital role in bringing the consumer viewpoint into our decisions, particularly as we advance our new 5-year strategy to build trust, drive innovation, and support consumers in managing their financial lives.
/jlne.ws/43RWZc7
Upper Tribunal ruling in the cases of Toni Fox and David Brian Price ; The Upper Tribunal has made a further ruling in the cases of 2 financial services directors.
FCA
The Upper Tribunal has upheld the FCA's decision to ban Toni Fox and David Brian Price from working in financial services and revoke their senior management approvals. The Tribunal also agreed that they should pay substantial financial penalties.
/jlne.ws/3FBlb9m
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Germany stores 1,200 tons of gold at the Fed-now Trump fears are sparking repatriation demands
Ryan Hogg - Fortune
Ever since the end of the Second World War in 1945, a rehabilitated Germany has built close ties to the U.S. and committed to Western democratic values. The country has put its money-or rather, its gold-where its mouth is. That financial commitment to the U.S. is now being put to the test, as calls from within Germany grow louder to pull the country's vast stock of gold reserves out of the Federal Reserve.
/jlne.ws/451cbor
Odd Lots: Krishna Memani on Wall Street's Very Expensive 'Free Lunch'; Why international diversification has been a flop.
Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal - Bloomberg
We're told over and over again that the one "free lunch" in investing is diversification, and that you can improve your returns over time simply by investing in a wider range of assets. This is textbook modern finance. And yet over the past several years this hasn't been the case. An investor would have done great (with the occasional hiccups) just by investing in US stocks. What's more, even within US stocks, investors should have concentrated on big tech stocks. Going long US tech has been identified as the most crowded trade by investors for years, and yet most of the time it has outperformed almost everything else. So what are the lessons from this story?
/jlne.ws/3SX1lIO
Harvard, MIT Lead Elite Colleges' $4 Billion Debt Spree After Trump Threat
Amanda Albright and Elizabeth Rembert - Bloomberg
Elite American universities have taken on more than $4 billion in additional debt since March that will help protect their finances as the Trump administration takes aim at their budgets. Harvard University, the face of the fight, has boosted its debt load 16% after a bond sale in April. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology just ramped up its liabilities 18% to $5.2 billion. Top-tier schools have sold taxable bonds, taken out private loans, and increased capacity for commercial paper, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/4kIgZUn
Analysis-German Bund anchor can shield euro area from excessive curve steepening
Stefano Rebaudo - Reuters
A global selloff in government bonds due to concerns over high debt and bond sales has not left the euro zone unscathed, but Germany's growing safe-haven status should shield the bloc from an excessive rise in long-term borrowing costs. Major bond markets from the United States to Japan and Europe have seen their bond curves steepen sharply - meaning long-term bond yields have risen faster than short-term yields - a challenging environment for issuers.
/jlne.ws/43levp7
US Tax Cuts Risk Sparking New Market Bubble, BofA Says
Michael Msika - Bloomberg
The latest turn by the Trump administration to favor tax cuts and lower tariffs has the potential to kick off another speculative frenzy in markets, according to Bank of America Corp. strategists. The flip in US economic strategy could incentivize traders to ditch bonds and pile back into artificial intelligence and crypto trades, which would risk inflating a market "bubble," wrote the team led Michael Hartnett.
/jlne.ws/4kA5qP0
Forget Everything You Know About Money; Author and economist Felix Martin tells Merryn Somerset Webb why the typical conception of what constitutes cash may be inaccurate.
Mohsis Andam and Merryn Somerset Webb - Bloomberg
Economist Felix Martin joins host Merryn Somerset Webb for this week's episode of Merryn Talks Money to discuss the common understanding of, well, money. Specifically, why the typical conception of what constitutes it may be inaccurate.
/jlne.ws/452Q7tK
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | US green energy firms brace for federal funding cuts
Zoe Corbyn - BBC
US green fuel company HIF Global has a big vision for Texas's Matagorda County: a $7bn (£5.2bn) commercial scale e-methanol factory to supply the world market. The plant, which it claims would be the largest to date anywhere, would make e-methanol from captured carbon dioxide and green hydrogen produced on site using renewable energy. Its construction would create thousands of jobs and the product would power ships and planes in a far cleaner way. But the company has yet to make its final investment decision. It is waiting to see what the Republican-led Congress does to clean energy tax credits, in particular the one for clean hydrogen production.
/jlne.ws/3ZIcNf9
Trump Extension of Old Coal Plant Stirs Debate Over 'Emergency' Move
Will Wade, Ari Natter, and Naureen S Malik - Bloomberg
The Trump administration's emergency order last week to extend the life of an aging coal plant that faced permanent closure this weekend is baffling experts and enraging clean-power advocates. The decree thrust the J.H. Campbell power plant on the shores of Lake Michigan to the fore of President Donald Trump's push to revive the country's struggling coal industry. Conservative lawmakers who called for the extension hailed the move as a way to help a Midwest electric system facing occasional stress - and to counteract a years-long shift away from the dirtiest fossil fuel. The regional grid's operator, however, said it did not ask for the action to be taken, raising questions on why it was deemed to be so urgent by the Trump administration.
/jlne.ws/43myGmG
Nippon Steel to Invest $6 Billion to Cut Carbon Emissions; The Japanese steelmaker says the investment in electric arc furnaces will also increase production capacity
Kosaku Narioka - The Wall Street Journal
Nippon Steel plans to invest $6 billion to increase production of steel using electric arc furnaces in a bid to reduce carbon emissions. The Japanese steelmaker said Friday that it would invest 868.7 billion yen, equivalent to $6.02 billion, to establish three electric furnaces in Japan and that it expects the Japanese government to provide up to ¥251.4 billion in support. Nippon Steel said the investment will increase production capacity by about 2.9 million tons a year, with operations scheduled to commence by the fiscal year starting April 2029.
/jlne.ws/4dYDIcN
Microsoft Feels the Heat as 'Carbon Negative' Goal Looms Nearer; In 2020, the tech giant set itself a target of drastically cutting its emissions by the end of the decade. With five years to go, the pressure is mounting.
Perry Cleveland-Peck - The Wall Street Journal
Back in 2020, many companies set lofty climate goals for the end of the decade. Now, midway to that deadline, some are rolling back their environmental targets. But not Microsoft. Despite a general retreat from all things green in the corporate world and amid a global rollout in artificial-intelligence infrastructure that wasn't anticipated in 2020, the tech giant is sticking to its climate guns. On Thursday, Microsoft published its latest sustainability report and while its carbon footprint is up 23.4%, its core ambition of being "carbon negative by 2030" remains front and center.
/jlne.ws/43Ck4yl
How Trump and Williams reviving the Constitution Pipeline may result in another New York gas project proceeding instead
Jordan Blum - Fortune
President Trump's fixation with reviving a long-dead natural gas pipeline to New York is now resulting in action-for not one but two New York gas pipeline projects. Trump's focus on the 124-mile Constitution Pipeline that was canceled in 2020 may instead result in pipeline developer Williams Cos. reviving its more practical Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project in New York instead, according to energy analysts.
/jlne.ws/3FrruMS
Sliding Oil Prices Have Reopened the Door to Russian Crude; Greek shipping magnates are ferrying Russian oil after a fall in crude prices and signs of a rapprochement between Washington and Moscow
Joe Wallace and Costas Paris - The Wall Street Journal
Earlier this year, the Western energy industry began to calculate how it might tiptoe back into Russia if there is peace in Ukraine. One group isn't hanging around. A cadre of Greek shipping magnates has sent a stream of ships to Russian ports in recent months, stepping back into the fold as the go-to distributors of Moscow's crude to the world.
/jlne.ws/3SsfZHW
Trump Is Canceling $3.7 Billion in Clean Energy Projects
Ari Natter - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4dFeVdx
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Japan's Nomura committed to growth of US business, CEO says
Anton Bridge - Reuters
Nomura Holdings, Japan's largest investment bank and brokerage, is committed to growing its business in the United States despite recent market volatility, its chief executive said on Friday. The announcement of sweeping tariffs in April triggered market turbulence and led some investors to sell down U.S. assets as they question U.S. financial dominance and safety.
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Credit Agricole Brings Back Floating Samurai Bonds After Decade
Takahiko Hyuga - Bloomberg
Credit Agricole SA is issuing floating-rate Samurai bonds for the first time in about a decade, as it draws strong demand from investors worried about rising Japanese government bond yields. The French bank priced a seven-tranche Samurai bond deal totaling ¥85 billion ($591 million) including a five-year floating-rate tranche that raised ¥26.9 billion, exceeding the ¥16.3 billion offered in the five-year fixed-rate tranche.
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O'Connor investment team to transfer to Cantor Fitzgerald AM following UBS offload; UBS' sale of O'Connor to Cantor Fitzgerald is expected to close in Q4 2025.
Natasha Cocksedge - The Trade
UBS Asset Management has agreed to sell its single manager hedge fund, private credit and commodities platform, O'Connor to Cantor Fitzgerald. The move will see O'Connor's investment and support teams transferring to Cantor Fitzgerald's Asset Management (CFAM) division upon closing. Moreover, the sale will also see O'Connor's six investment strategies coming under Cantor Fitzgerald's platform, which equate to approximately $11 billion in assets under management.
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The next wave of ETFs: fund hybrids, alternatives and the rise of active management
Christopher Edmonds - ICE via LinkedIn
Market uncertainty has a way of crystalizing what investors value. When equities logged one of their worst two-day streaks in April, we saw investors pile into bond exchange traded funds (ETFs) as a liquid, transparent haven, while many mutual bond funds saw outflows. This popularity reflects a longer-term trend: assets under management for bond ETFs have swelled fivefold since 2010 to $2 trillion today, and BlackRock expects the sector to hit $6 trillion by 2030.
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China Hedge Fund Buying April Dip Extends Decade Gain to 1,485%
Bloomberg
A Chinese hedge fund that bought the dip in April when the nation's stocks plunged on fresh US tariffs has jumped 20% this year, extending its total return since inception a decade ago to 1,485%. Evolution Asset Management founder and Chief Executive Officer Wang Yiping pledged on social media in early April to bottom-fish China assets, even as investor angst grew over the escalating trade war. The move paid off, underscoring the advantages of combining human judgment with computer algorithms during wild market swings.
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Ackman, Druckenmiller-Tracking ETFs Are Latest Industry Gambit
Vildana Hajric - Bloomberg
In a crowded ETF market obsessed with attention-grabbing pitches, one idea keeps coming back: Track the trades of star investors and sell them to the masses. The latest entrant comes from VistaShares, which filed this week for a suite of ETFs designed to replicate the holdings of famed money managers like Bill Ackman, Stanley Druckenmiller and Michael Burry. By combing through regulatory disclosures, the firm aims to build funds that echo the moves of these high-profile investors - a fresh spin on the long-running effort to bottle hedge-fund mystique for retail buyers.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Consultants are Taking Over the World's Corner Offices; Longtime "CEO Factories" like General Electric and IBM have been supplanted by Accenture and other professional-services firms.
Matthew Boyle - Bloomberg
General Electric. Procter & Gamble. IBM. For years, those companies and a handful of others were held aloft as "CEO Factories," admired for their ability to recruit and mold corporate chiefs. Over a 20-year span, just three dozen companies produced one-fifth of the chief executives in the entire S&P 1500 index. Those factories, many of them sprawling global conglomerates, were leadership proving grounds where promising young recruits got shuttled from one challenging role to the next, and where running a business unit or geographic region inside of them was equal to steering a full-sized firm. The companies invested millions in training programs like GE's famed Crotonville campus, which schooled up-and-coming executives on leadership, finance and industry-specific skills. Boards preferred to hire CEOs from these leadership factories, and investors rewarded companies that did so, creating a virtuous C-suite cycle.
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Don't Call It a Side Hustle. These Americans Are 'Polyworking.'; The number of people in the United States with multiple full- or part-time jobs climbed to over 8.9 million in March for the first time since 1994.
Elizabeth Lazarowitz - The New York Times
This article is part of Shop Talk, a regular feature that explores the idioms of the business world: the insider jargon, the newly coined terms, the unfortunate or overused phrases. For a growing number of Americans, juggling more than one job, or "polyworking," has become just another day at the office. The number of people with multiple full- or part-time jobs climbed to over 8.9 million in March for the first time since 1994, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the phenomenon, before ticking down slightly in April. As a practice, it's not so new. Think "moonlighting."
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Nvidia CEO reveals the person who will replace you thanks to AI-he warns, 'every job will be affected, and immediately'
Preston Fore - Fortune
If you're worried about generative AI replacing your job, get in line. Even tech CEOs like Nvidia's Jensen Huang are sounding the alarm bells about the technology's impending impact on the job market. But the thing that workers fear most could also be their saving grace. "Every job will be affected, and immediately. It is unquestionable," Huang said at the Milken Institute's Global Conference earlier this month. "You're not going to lose your job to an AI, but you're going to lose your job to someone who uses AI."
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AI means more thought leadership, whether we want it or not; Large language models can produce endless gobbets of workplace wisdom. What value does this offer business?
Andrew Hill - Financial Times
The food pill, which provides a full meal in a capsule, has long been a staple of science fiction. Now, mass producers of food for thought have an equivalent: myriad tiny gobbets of thought leadership, tailored by artificial intelligence to your interests and directed to inboxes everywhere. Thought leadership was already "a great river of swill" in 2017, when I last complained about its remorseless expansion. Ah, those heady, innocent days! With the help of generative AI, it is now a roaring, malodorous, torrent.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | U.S. Cancels Contract With Moderna to Develop Bird Flu Vaccine; Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly questioned the safety of mRNA technology, which is used in the company's shot.
Apoorva Mandavilli, Global health reporter - The New York Times
The Trump administration has delivered its latest blow to vaccines, canceling a nearly $600-million contract to the drugmaker Moderna that was intended to develop a shot for humans against bird flu. The decision also forfeited the U.S. government's right to purchase doses ahead of a pandemic, and canceled an agreement set up by the Biden administration in January to prepare the nation for a potential bird flu pandemic. The Moderna contract built on a previous government investment of $175 million last year.
/jlne.ws/4dFDs24
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Smoke to pour into the US as Canada wildfires force province's largest evacuation in 'living memory'
Andrew Freedman - CNN
Massive wildfires burning out of control in western and central Canada are forcing thousands to flee as dire forecasts for the country's fire season come to fruition. The intensifying blazes are also beginning to send hazardous smoke toward major cities in the United States. The premiers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan have declared states of emergency, and much of Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Ontario, are at "extreme" risk of wildfires on Friday - the highest level on Environment Canada's fire risk scale.
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Division between US and China is the biggest risk confronting world now, France's Macron says
Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that division between the two superpowers, the United States and China, is the main risk currently confronting the world as he emphasized the need for building new coalitions between Paris and partners in the Indo-Pacific. Macron is visiting the region as France and the European Union aim to strengthen their commercial ties in Asia to offset uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff measures.
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Exclusive: How Russian fortunes stranded by US sanctions rocked Liechtenstein
John O'Donnell and Oliver Hirt - Reuters
VADUZ, Liechtenstein, May 30 - Liechtenstein is examining tightening control of scores of Russian-linked trusts abandoned by their managers under pressure from Washington, according to several people familiar with the matter. The country, one of the world's smallest and richest, is home to thousands of low-tax trusts, hundreds of which have links to Russians, two of the people with direct knowledge of the matter said, putting it in the crosshairs of Western efforts to sanction Moscow.
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