qfx Ripple President Monica Long shared opening remarks at the conference. In a conversation that set the stage for the Swell 2025 event, Nasdaq Chair and CEO Adena Friedman joined the Ripple president to discuss the transformative potential of digital finance, assets, and blockchain. 📈✨ (Because nothing says “transformative” like a spreadsheet with a fancy name.)
The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court in Guangdong convicts leaders of the Bai family criminal syndicate-linked to “pig‑butchering” romance scams-and sentences Bai Suocheng, Bai Yingcang, Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang and Chen Guangyi to death, with additional defendants receiving death with two‑year reprieves, life terms, and fixed‑term sentences; the court orders fines, asset forfeiture and deportation where applicable. The verdict follows findings that the group used influence in Myanmar’s Kokang region to operate 41 sites facilitating telecom fraud, casinos, kidnapping, extortion and forced prostitution, causing six Chinese nationals’ deaths and generating over RMB 29 billion ($4B) in proceeds. 🕵️♂️💣
In a recent missive, Pal likened the U.S. government shutdown to a miser hoarding coins, draining liquidity from the system as the Treasury General Account swells like a greedy ogre. The Federal Reserve’s quantitative tightening, he opines, is but a child’s game compared to the coming storm, while the reverse repo facility lies barren, a desert in a world aching for rain.
Crypto, that multi-trillion-dollar carnival of speculation, promises 10x, 100x, or even 1000x returns-a siren’s call to the gullible and the greedy alike. 🤑
The schism between traditional finance (TradFi) and crypto’s upstarts is now a full-blown pissing contest, with both sides clamoring for regulatory clarity while secretly hoping to drown each other in red tape.
Ah, how swiftly the mighty fall! Bitcoin, that golden idol of the modern age, crumbled beneath the weight of its own hubris, tumbling below $99,000-a blow unseen in five long months. Ethereum, too, succumbed, its year-to-date gains vanishing like smoke upon the wind. And all this-despite the Federal Reserve’s gentle hand, the whispered promises of trade peace between empires, and inflation’s muted growl. What cruel irony!
On the fateful day of November 4, Franklin Templeton filed an updated S-1 for its XRP ETF, giving the 8(a) clause the old heave-ho. This rule, which previously gave the SEC carte blanche to delay approvals, is now history. With this change, the ETF could become automatically effective after the 20-day waiting period, even if the SEC decides to nap through a government shutdown 🛌. Talk about efficiency!
This analyst, Melikatrader – lovely name, very chic – reckons there’s a ‘structure of recovery’ happening. Which basically means it dipped down to $3,700 to see if anyone cared (a ‘liquidity sweep’, apparently – so polite), and now might bob back up. It’s consolidating between $3,700 and $3,800, because even crypto needs a little thinking time. If the ‘bulls’, whatever they are, can hold things together, it could go to $4,080 – $4,180. But – and this is a big ‘but’ – it’s still looking a bit grumpy. If it hits $4,100 and gets a firm ‘no’ from the bears, it’s back down the rabbit hole.
So, Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by those guys who looked really determined in The Social Network (but for Bitcoin), is trying to get into… betting? Apparently, trading Dogecoin wasn’t enough of a gamble for them. They want to launch “regulated prediction markets,” which I think is a fancy way of saying “people will put money on whether it will rain on Tuesday.” ☔️
Bitcoin, that peculiar obsession of the modern age, continues to vex and fascinate. It climbs, it crashes, and the debates rage on. Having briefly grazed the heavens, the price has experienced a, shall we say, correction. Despite this, our two prophets, Saylor and Kiyosaki, step forward, radiating an almost unsettling level of conviction. They believe the cryptocurrency will, naturally, continue its ascent. New peaks are, of course, inevitable.