2025-03-25 19:59

NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - Ripple Labs agreed to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil lawsuit over the alleged sale of unregistered securities and pay just $50 million of a previously imposed $125 million fine, the cryptocurrency company's chief legal officer said on Tuesday. The accord would end one of the SEC's highest-profile cryptocurrency cases, as the regulator eases oversight of the industry. Sign up here. Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said in a post on X that the SEC would keep $50 million of the $125 million fine imposed in August by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan and now in escrow earning interest. Alderoty said a settlement requires approval by the SEC and the judge. Ripple said there is no admission of wrongdoing. The SEC declined to comment. Ripple said last week that the SEC had ended its appeal of Torres' July 2023 decision that the XRP token sold by Ripple on public exchanges did not meet the legal definition of a security. Ripple appealed another part of Torres' decision, which said that $728 million of XRP sales to institutional investors should have complied with securities laws. Alderoty said Ripple will end that appeal. XRP is the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market value, trailing bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether, the market service CoinMarketCap said on Tuesday. Since U.S. President Donald Trump's return to the White House, the SEC ended civil lawsuits against crypto exchanges Coinbase (COIN.O) , opens new tab and Kraken. The regulator also said it may resolve a civil fraud case against Chinese entrepreneur Justin Sun, an adviser to a Trump-backed crypto project. Trump nominated Paul Atkins, a Washington lawyer considered supportive of the crypto industry, to chair the SEC. Atklns' U.S. Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday. https://www.reuters.com/legal/ripple-labs-says-it-settles-with-us-sec-will-pay-reduced-50-million-fine-2025-03-25/

2025-03-25 19:20

LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - BlackRock (BLK.N) , opens new tab has launched its first bitcoin exchange-traded product in Europe, in a bid to tap growing demand for cryptocurrency exposure in new markets after attracting more than $50 billion into similar products in the United States. The world's largest asset manager has launched its 'iShares Bitcoin ETP', according to a BlackRock product page online, which is domiciled in Switzerland and listed in Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Sign up here. Reuters previously reported on the planned launch last month. BlackRock declined to comment. BlackRock was one of the first institutional investors to offer exchange-traded products in the U.S. to track the spot price of bitcoin after the Securities and Exchange Commission first approved them in January 2024. It has partnered with Coinbase as custodian and Bank of New York Mellon as administrator on the latest product, the page said. https://www.reuters.com/technology/blackrock-launches-first-bitcoin-product-europe-2025-03-25/

2025-03-25 18:27

Consumer confidence index tumbles to four-year low in March Future expectations measure lowest in 12 years Inflation still a major concern; fears about tariffs mounting WASHINGTON, March 25 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence plunged to the lowest level in more than four years in March, with households fearing a recession in the future and higher inflation because of tariffs. The Conference Board said on Tuesday that write-in responses to the survey showed "worries about the impact of trade policies and tariffs in particular are on the rise," adding "there were also more references than usual to economic and policy uncertainty." Sign up here. The survey's measure of future expectations hit a 12-year low and breached a level associated with an economic downturn. President Donald Trump's on-and-off again tariffs have been panned by economists for sowing confusion and uncertainty that they said was making it challenging for businesses to plan ahead, to the detriment of the economy. Trump on Monday indicated that not all of his threatened duties would be imposed on April 2 and some countries may get breaks, but at the same time said tariffs on imported automobiles were coming soon. "Consumers are rattled," said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. "At great personal risk, we will opine that the chaos in Washington has something to do with this. The decline in consumer sentiment since the November election can no longer be written off as a coincidence." The Conference Board's consumer confidence index tumbled 7.2 points to 92.9 this month, the lowest level since January 2021. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index sliding to 94.0. The fourth straight monthly decline in confidence mirrored a similar deterioration in the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment measure, which has also erased all the gains notched in the aftermath of Trump's election victory in November. The drop in confidence was driven by consumers over 55 years old. Morale in the 35-55 year age cohort also worsened. But confidence rose slightly among consumers under 35 years. Confidence slumped across income groups, with the exception of households earning more than $125,000 a year. Consumers had over the past few months been generally upbeat about future income. "Consumers' optimism about future income ... largely vanished, suggesting worries about the economy and labor market have started to spread into consumers' assessments of their personal situations," said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist, Global Indicators, at the Conference Board. RISING RECESSION WORRIES The survey's expectations index, based on consumers' short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, dropped 9.6 points to 65.2 - the lowest level since March 2013 and well below the threshold of 80 that usually signals a recession ahead. The share of consumers anticipating a recession over the next 12 months held steady at a nine-month high. Despite the gloom, consumers showed little sign they planned to dramatically curtail spending for now. There was a slight decline in the share planning to buy automobiles over the next six months. Many intended to purchase television sets and household appliances like refrigerators, microwaves and washing machines, which the Conference Board said was likely pre-emptive buying before tariffs lead to price increases. There was also a rise in the share planning to go on vacation and an uptick in those planning to buy a home. Mortgage rates have declined in tandem with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield amid the economic uncertainty. That is helping to stimulate home sales, though the darkening clouds over the economy could sideline potential buyers. New home sales rebounded 1.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000 units in February, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said. "Headwinds like weak homebuying sentiment and heightened economic uncertainty from tariffs could limit any growth in coming months," said Alice Zheng, an economist at Citigroup. Stocks on Wall Street were mixed. The dollar eased against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury yields fell. Consumers' median 12-month inflation expectations jumped to 5.1%, the highest since May 2023, from 4.7% last month. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last week shrugged off the recent surge in inflation expectations. "No doubt this will be dismissed as a short-term inflation expectations indicator by the Fed, but the long run is formed from a sequence of short runs and the sharp move higher since December is looking troubling," said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital. "It did well in April and May of 2020 in predicting higher inflation even as core inflation on a year-over-year basis was falling." While the relationship between confidence and spending is weak, economists said the continued deterioration should not be ignored, adding that it aligned with their forecasts for slow economic growth and high inflation this year. The U.S. central bank left interest rates unchanged last week, though policymakers indicated they expected to reduce borrowing costs twice this year. Fed officials downgraded their 2025 gross domestic product growth estimate to 1.7% from the 2.1% projected in December. They forecast core inflation at 2.8% at year-end, revised up from 2.5% previously. The Conference Board survey's so-called labor market differential, derived from data on respondents' views on whether jobs are plentiful or hard to get, climbed to 17.9 from 17.6 in February. This measure correlates to the unemployment rate in the Labor Department's monthly employment report. Economists viewed the labor market differential as consistent with the jobless rate holding steady at 4.1% in March. "Consumers were already due for a cool down in early 2025 after a steamy end to last year, but these figures raise the risk of a more significant pause in outlays," said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander U.S. Capital Markets. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-consumer-confidence-deteriorates-further-march-2025-03-25/

2025-03-25 16:25

Canadian dollar gains 0.1% against the greenback Touches its strongest since March 18 at 1.4272 Price of oil falls 0.6% Bond yields ease across the curve TORONTO, March 25 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday but gains were kept in check by uncertainty around both a tightly contested Canadian general election and expected new U.S. trade tariffs on April 2. The loonie was trading 0.1% higher at 1.4305 per U.S. dollar, or 69.91 U.S. cents, after earlier touching its strongest intraday level since March 18 at 1.4272. Sign up here. "I'd say the market is thinking about two things. One, is the tariff announcement and two, is the Canadian election," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex LLC. It appears that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is "shifting to a more pro-business stance and the market seems to like that and will be watching the polls closely," Chandler said. The ruling Liberal Party and the official opposition Conservatives were effectively tied in polls conducted just before the campaign started on Sunday. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday automobile tariffs are coming soon even as he indicated that not all of his threatened levies would be imposed on April 2 and some countries may get breaks, a move Wall Street took as a sign of flexibility on a matter that has roiled markets for weeks. Canada is a major exporter of autos and other goods, such as oil, to the United States. The price of oil fell 0.6% to $68.72 a barrel, pulling back from an earlier three-week high. Canadian bond yields eased across the curve, tracking moves in U.S. Treasuries after weaker-than-expected American consumer confidence data. The 10-year was down 1.2 basis points at 3.052%. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/canadian-dollar-pares-gains-amid-tariff-election-uncertainty-2025-03-25/

2025-03-25 15:55

IPO market hopes for 2025 revival Retail investors return in force eToro's commissions, profit surge in 2024 March 25 (Reuters) - Israel's eToro reported a 46% surge in commissions for 2024 as the retail trading platform filed for a U.S. initial public offering late on Monday, joining a wave of firms seeking to test investor appetite for fresh listings. After years of sluggish activity, the IPO market is expected to see a long-awaited revival in 2025, with a pipeline of high-growth companies aiming to go public. Sign up here. Easing interest rates and renewed risk-taking have increased optimism, but analysts say the market's rebound hinges on the success of marquee listings. "Management and owners are clearly seeing a 'window of opportunity' to take their companies public now," said Josef Schuster, CEO of IPO-focused investment indexes, IPOX. Retail trading surged in 2024 as equity markets hit record highs, fueled by a resurgence in risk appetite among investors. Enthusiasm for stocks and cryptocurrencies was amplified by easing recession fears, strong corporate earnings and expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts. Online brokerage firms reported a sharp uptick in trading volumes, with options and speculative bets gaining traction as individual investors returned to the market in force. Founded in 2007, eToro operates a trading platform that allows users to invest in stocks, cryptocurrencies and other assets while mirroring the strategies of top investors. Its total commission jumped to $931 million in the year ended December 31, compared with $639 million a year earlier. Profit was $192.4 million versus $15.3 million in the year-ago period. "The IPO will provide the company with the flexibility to potentially expand beyond crypto to capture the generational opportunities opening up from the rise of the retail investor globally," Schuster said. The trading platform had scrapped plans to go public in 2022, after eToro and Betsy Cohen-backed FinTech Acquisition mutually agreed to terminate their merger deal through a special purpose acquisition company. Strong debuts from buzzy tech and consumer-facing firms could reignite broader dealmaking, while a lukewarm reception may keep issuers on the sidelines. In March 2023, eToro raised $250 million in a funding round that valued the online brokerage at $3.5 billion. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "ETOR". Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, UBS and Citigroup are the lead underwriters of the offering. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trading-platform-etoro-reports-revenue-surge-long-awaited-us-ipo-filing-2025-03-25/

2025-03-25 15:46

World Liberty's USD1 to be backed by U.S. Treasuries, dollars Trump venture raised $550 million from $WLFI token sales Will face competition from major stablecoins, payments exec says LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto venture will launch a dollar-pegged stablecoin, it said in a statement on Tuesday, after raising more than half a billion dollars from selling a separate digital token. The stablecoin, called USD1, will be fully backed by U.S. Treasuries, dollars and other cash equivalents and is designed to keep a value of $1, World Liberty said in the statement. Sign up here. Dollar-pegged stablecoins such as Tether and USDC have ballooned in recent years and now act as a key cog in the multi-trillion dollar crypto trading industry, helping move funds between different cryptocurrencies or into regular cash. Stablecoins in circulation currently total over $237 billion, according to data provider CoinGecko. The tokens have become lucrative for their issuers in recent years as interest rates spiked. Tether, the issuer of the world's biggest stablecoin, made over $13 billion in profits last year. Zach Witkoff, World Liberty's co-founder, said "sovereign investors and major institutions" would be able to integrate USD1 "into their strategies for seamless, secure cross-border transactions." USD1 will be "fully backed by a reserve portfolio audited regularly by a third-party accounting firm," World Liberty said, without giving details of the accounting firm, or the date of its launch. Founded two months before his victory in the U.S. presidential election, World Liberty's creation was announced by Trump, his three sons and the wealthy real estate businessman Steve Witkoff, who is the father of Zach and now Trump's Middle East envoy. Trump, who campaigned on promises to be a "crypto president," has pledged to overhaul U.S. rules on crypto and reverse a crackdown on the sector that took place under former President Joe Biden. His crypto business interests, which include a so-called meme coin launched in January, have drawn criticism from government ethics experts and political opponents over potential conflicts of interest. BITGO AND BINANCE The World Liberty venture, which aims to allow people to access financial services without intermediaries like banks, said last week it has raised $550 million selling a crypto coin known as $WLFI. Kevin Lehtiniitty, CEO of New York payments infrastructure firm Borderless.xyz said USD1 would face stiff competition from incumbents such as Tether and U.S. firm Circle, the issuer of USDC. "While launching a stablecoin is easy, building an ecosystem that adopts it is a far harder task," he said. "Is the President competing with other American businesses or will they find ways to partner?" USD1's reserves will be held in custody by California-based BitGo, World Liberty said. BitGo's prime brokerage service will support USD1 by "providing institutional clients with access to deep liquidity and trading," it added. USD1 will be launched on the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain blockchains - digital ledgers that underpin the movement of crypto coins. World Liberty plans to launch USD1 on other blockchains in the future, it added. Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange, launched its so-called Smart Chain in 2020. It is the world's fourth-largest blockchain by the value of assets held on it, according to CoinGecko. Binance's founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao was last year sentenced to four months in a U.S. prison, after pleading guilty to violating U.S. laws against money laundering. Binance paid a $4.3 billion fine after U.S. prosecutors said it had welcomed criminals and failed to report over 100,000 suspicious transactions with designated terrorist groups. A spokesperson for Binance did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment about how the partnership came about. https://www.reuters.com/technology/trumps-world-liberty-financial-crypto-venture-says-it-will-launch-stablecoin-2025-03-25/