2025-07-29 22:53
July 29 (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is set to raise $500 million in funding at a $15 billion valuation, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for Kraken declined to comment on the report. Sign up here. Cryptocurrency-focused companies have been attracting increased investor interest as the digital asset class benefits from regulatory clarity and growing institutional adoption. This trend has also prompted several crypto firms, including custody startup BitGo and asset manager Grayscale, to pursue U.S. listings. Kraken has been actively investing capital to expand into various asset classes and grow its user base. In March, Kraken said it would acquire futures trading platform NinjaTrader in a $1.5 billion deal. https://www.reuters.com/business/kraken-seeks-500-million-funding-15-billion-valuation-information-reports-2025-07-29/
2025-07-29 21:54
OTTAWA, July 29 (Reuters) - Australia has lifted a 22-year-old ban on the import of Canadian beef and beef products, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Tuesday, a move that brings relief to farmers but is unlikely to spur major new sales. Australia imposed import restrictions on Canadian beef in 2003, following the discovery of Canada's first domestic case of mad cow disease. It lifted a similar ban on U.S. beef imports last week. Sign up here. Canada's government celebrated the long-awaited resumption of access to the Australian market. "With restored access to Australia, a key market in the Indo-Pacific, we can unlock more opportunities for our producers to deliver the top-quality beef we're known for," said federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald. Analysts are skeptical about how much North American beef can be exported to Australia because the U.S. has a major deficit and is importing beef from Australia, Canada and other suppliers. "U.S. beef is still very highly priced compared to Australian beef," said Resilient Capital analyst Jerry Klassen. "North American beef is really the highest-priced in the world." The Canadian Cattle Association, which represents farmers and feedlots that raise cattle, celebrated the Australian market reopening, saying in a news release it was one of the last remaining countries to have maintained mad cow disease restrictions on Canadian beef. Canada's cattle ranchers were devastated by the 2003 restrictions placed upon Canadian beef exports because much of the country's beef production is exported, especially to the U.S. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/canada-says-australia-has-re-opened-market-access-beef-beef-products-2025-07-29/
2025-07-29 21:43
MEXICO CITY, July 29 (Reuters) - Mexican state company Pemex exported 39% less crude oil year-over-year in June, reaching the lowest level in decades, official data showed, as processing at local refineries and fuel production increased significantly. It exported 458,103 barrels per day (bpd) in June, compared to 753,539 bpd in the same month a year earlier, company data updated late on Monday showed. Sign up here. This was the lowest level since records started in 1990. In May, Pemex's international trading arm, PMI, forecast that the company would export less this year because more would be sent to local refineries, including to its new Olmeca refinery in the port of Dos Bocas. Pemex gave no explanation for the decline. However, in its quarterly earnings report on Monday it said it imported less gasoline and diesel because more was being refined locally. In June, it imported 475,047 bpd of refined products, a 38% year-over-year decrease. Pemex, which owes about $120 billion to both investors and suppliers, has also struggled with a sharp decline in production. Its seven local refineries processed 1.12 million bpd, helped by the new Olmeca refinery, which took in 191,585 bpd. In recent years, the Mexican government has sought to achieve what it calls "energy sovereignty" by drastically reducing exports of crude oil and refining it locally. Pemex executives reiterated to investors after the quarterly earnings report that the company was working towards achieving its production goal of 1.8 million bpd. Mexico is still far from reaching this goal. Production of crude oil and condensate has been declining, hovering around 1.6 million bpd. The government and Pemex executives have said that production will rebound with the help of partnerships with private companies, but have not shared details. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/mexico-exports-39-less-crude-oil-june-lowest-level-decades-2025-07-29/
2025-07-29 21:38
Trip, including U.S. transits, had been expected next month Trump trying to negotiate a deal on trade with China Source told Reuters trip not being canceled but postponed State Department says transits consistent longstanding policy GUATEMALA CITY/ASUNCION, July 29 (Reuters) - Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te will delay an expected trip to remaining allies in the Americas that would have taken place next month, embassy officials told Reuters on Tuesday, due to damages from a typhoon and as the island faces more torrential rains. Lai was expected to travel to the Americas next month, as his government seeks to shore up support in a region where many countries have cut diplomatic ties in favor of relations with China, which claims Taiwan as its territory. Sign up here. However, embassy officials in Guatemala and Paraguay said the visit had been postponed until further notice. "It had to be postponed because of the typhoon that caused many natural disasters. There is no new date to reschedule the visit," an embassy official in Guatemala City told Reuters. A spokesperson at Taiwan's embassy in Paraguay's capital Asuncion, where Lai had also been expected to visit, told Reuters the Taiwanese leader did not currently plan to travel abroad. Earlier on Tuesday, Paraguayan ruling party congressman Hugo Meza said that the country was "wasting time" maintaining diplomatic relations with the Taiwanese. Paraguay is the only country in South America that still recognizes Taiwan. Lai had also been expected to make stops in Belize and the United States. Sources told Reuters earlier this week Lai would delay the diplomatically sensitive trip his team had floated to the Trump administration for August. The United States has traditionally facilitated transits by Taiwanese leaders, but Lai's trip was bound to infuriate Beijing at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to negotiate a deal on trade with China. Beijing regularly denounces any shows of support for Taipei from Washington. One of the sources who spoke to Reuters earlier this week said Lai is set to delay the trip until at least later this year for a handful of reasons, including the need to organize his government's response to extreme weather in Taiwan. A person with direct knowledge of the matter said the trip was not being canceled, and eventual U.S. stopovers were likely to include Texas and another city in the U.S. mainland. Lai had considered stopping in New York and Dallas on the way to and from Latin America. Asked about a delay, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told a regular news briefing no travel plans had been announced so the issue was "hypothetical." "At this point, there have been no ... travel plans for the president (Lai). There has been, as a result, nothing canceled," she said, while reiterating that U.S. transits by high-level Taiwanese officials "were fully consistent with our longstanding policy and practice." "This has not changed," she said. Taiwan is still recovering from Typhoon Danas, which struck its densely populated west coast this month with record winds and brought widespread damage to its electricity grid and some houses. More recent flooding has submerged streets and buildings in several towns across southern Taiwan this week, and its weather administration has warned that more intense rain could trigger more landslides. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/taiwans-president-lai-postpones-americas-visit-after-typhoon-2025-07-29/
2025-07-29 21:27
WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - The women-only U.S. dating advice app Tea has suspended direct messaging following a series of security breaches that exposed its users' personal details and sensitive communications, the company said on Tuesday. In a series of posts to TikTok, Tea Dating Advice said it had taken messaging offline "out of an abundance of caution" after discovering the breach. The announcement followed a report last week in tech publication 404media that the company had inadvertently exposed the names, selfies, and identity documents of thousands of women, and a second report earlier on Tuesday that direct messages - including sensitive conversations around abortions and infidelity - had similarly been exposed , opens new tab. Sign up here. The app - which boasts 4.6 million users - is pitched as a "dating safety platform" that women can use to steer clear of men who are adulterous, dishonest, or worse. As a TikTok video put out by the company last year put it, the app "makes the FBI work for us girlies so much easier." Women on Tea are encouraged to share details about prospective dates, create alerts against men's names, and put red flags against men who are alleged to be unscrupulous and green flags against those who are not. "Everything is anonymous," the app promises users on sign-up. Reuters could not establish why the selfies and ID card data had lingered online. Tea did not respond to requests seeking further comment. In its TikTok message, the app said the FBI was investigating the circumstances around the breach. The FBI declined to comment. Eva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity at San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the premise behind the app - creating a kind of massive whisper network powered by anonymous users - was already "a little bit sketchy." She said the app's makers had made it worse by being "honestly negligent" about their security and that the disaster was compounded because "women are encouraged to share extremely sensitive information about themselves and others." https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/women-only-us-dating-advice-app-tea-suspends-messaging-following-breaches-2025-07-29/
2025-07-29 21:27
NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) - The head of Americas gasoline for French energy major TotalEnergies' trading arm, Atlantic Trading & Marketing Inc, has left the firm to join a hedge fund, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. Gregory Galimberti, a veteran U.S. gasoline trader who spent nearly eight years at ATMI, resigned from his position in recent days to join Verition Fund Management, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund, two of the sources said. Sign up here. The sources requested anonymity to discuss confidential personnel moves. Galimberti did not immediately respond to a request on LinkedIn for comment. TotalEnergies, ATMI, and Verition also did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Galimberti had been manager of light fuels such as gasoline and naphtha for the Americas at ATMI since January 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to joining ATMI, he worked at rival trading firms Mercuria Energy and Glencore, his profile showed. Commodities traders have reaped record profits in recent years, riding a wave of volatility injected into the markets by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. That has renewed interest in the sector from hedge funds and other financial speculators. Verition, founded in 2008, has grown rapidly in recent years and bolstered its ranks by adding senior traders across its various focus areas, like equities, credit, and fixed income. The hedge fund had around $12.5 billion in assets under management as of April, according to public records. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/head-americas-gasoline-totalenergies-trading-arm-departs-hedge-fund-sources-say-2025-07-29/
