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Arab News
29-05-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Pakistan's crypto and blockchain chief unveils country's first strategic bitcoin reserve
ISLAMABAD: Bilal Bin Saqib, Pakistan's minister for crypto and blockchain and the CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC), unveiled the country's first government-led strategic bitcoin reserve at Bitcoin Vegas 2025, his office said on Thursday. The strategic bitcoin reserve is a reserve asset, funded by the United States Treasury's forfeited bitcoin, announced by President Donald Trump in March 2025. The reserve will be capitalized with bitcoin already owned by the federal government. The United States is the largest known state holder of bitcoin in the world, estimated to hold about 200,000 BTC, as of March 2025. At Bitcoin 2025, the biggest bitcoin conference in the United States which is underway in Las Vegas, Saqib unveiled 'the country's first government-led Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and with it, a radically new vision of Pakistan on the global map,' his office said in a statement. 'Bilal announced the establishment of a national Bitcoin wallet, holding digital assets already in state custody — not for sale or speculation, but as a sovereign reserve signaling long-term belief in decentralized finance.' Pakistan set up the PCC in March, with Saqib, 34, as the CEO, to create a legal framework for cryptocurrency trading in a bid to lure international investment. Last month, Pakistan introduced its first-ever policy framework, created by a special government group under the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorism Financing (CTF) authority, to set rules for how digital money like cryptocurrencies and the companies that deal in it should operate in Pakistan. The policy has been formulated to align with compliance and financial integrity guidelines of the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Earlier this month, the government also approved setting up the Pakistan Digital Assets Authority (PDAA), a specialized regulatory body to oversee blockchain-based financial infrastructure. Speaking during his keynote at Bitcoin 2025, the PCC CEO highlighted that Pakistan had over 40 million crypto wallets, a median age of 23, and one of the largest and most active freelancer economies in the world. 'Saqib revealed that the government of Pakistan has allocated 2,000 megawatts of surplus electricity in Phase 1 for Bitcoin mining and AI data centers, opening doors to sovereign miners, tech firms, and clean energy partners around the world,' the statement said. Saqib is also leading the creation of the Pakistan Digital Assets Authority (PDAA) 'to empower builders, protect investors, and formalize digital finance frameworks for the future.' 'This wasn't just a policy moment, it was a rebranding of a nation,' Saqib said at Bitcoin 2025, which featured speakers including White House officials, US lawmakers and crypto industry executives. This year's keynote speaker was US Vice President JD Vance. Digital assets have enjoyed a resurgence under President Trump, who courted cash from the crypto industry on the campaign trail by pledging to be a 'crypto president.' In his first week in office, Trump ordered the creation of a cryptocurrency working group to propose digital asset regulations. In March, he hosted a group of crypto executives at the White House. Congress is considering legislation to create a regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar. The crypto industry has lobbied lawmakers to pass legislation creating new rules for digital assets and spent more than $119 million backing pro-crypto congressional candidates in last year's elections.
CNN
25-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
So what happens to America's 114 billion pennies once the US stops making them?
The American penny isn't going anywhere anytime soon. The US Treasury Department announced Thursday that it plans to start winding down production of the one-cent coin it has been minting for more than 230 years. But the penny will still remain legal tender, and will still be in use at thousands of retailers around the country for sometime to come. 'If we look at the experience in Canada, for the first year after they stopped making pennies, there's really no change in transactions,' Jeff Lenard, spokesperson for the National Association of Convenience Stores, told CNN. Convenience stores do more cash transactions than any other group, about 32 million a day, or about 20% of the total number of purchases by their customers, Lenard said. The National Retail Federation, which represents most major US store chains as well as thousands of small retailers, also said it anticipates its members will use pennies even after production stops at some point early next year, although it does anticipate that many will round cash transactions to the nearest nickel once the supply of pennies at banks starts to run short. 'Retailers' primary goal is serving customers and making this transition as seamless as possible,' said Dylan Jeon, senior director of government relations for NRF. There are an estimated 114 billion pennies currently in circulation, but they are 'severely underutilized' according to the Treasury department. Many are at home in coin jars or junk drawers, or some other forgotten location gathering dust. The math says that all those pennies could fill a cube roughly 13 stories high. Many people don't even take them as change, tossing them into the leave-a-penny-take-a-penny dishes at store checkouts. Lenard said the large number of pennies in circulation means that retailers won't necessary run out of them for a while. But eventually stores won't be able to get new rolls of pennies from their banks and will start rounding transactions up or down to the nearest nickel. The decision when to do that will rest with each retailer, not official government policy. Electronic transactions such as credit and debit card purchases, will continue to be down to the penny, Lenard said, with only cash transactions being rounded. Even in countries like Canada, where penny production has been discontinued, the penny remains legal tender today. Canada's finance ministry said pennies retain their value for transactions 'indefinitely' despite the fact that it stopped making the coin in 2012. If a customer wants to use pennies to complete a transaction, most retailers are likely to allow them, Lenard said. 'There's a saying in retail, 'Never lose a customer over a penny,'' he said. 'I never really thought of it in these terms, but it applies even more here. I think if someone wants to pay with pennies, most retailers will err on the side of making those customers happy.'
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
See a penny, pick it up? In the future, probably not as often — and, some say, that matters
NEW YORK — Ask someone for their thoughts: Could it now cost you a nickel? If you want to call somebody stingy, would you say they're a quarter-pincher? And if they spend money unwisely, are they now dime-wise but pound-foolish? OK, maybe those are some minor, small-stakes, dare we say penny-ante concerns in the wake of the U.S. Treasury confirming Thursday that it will stop making shiny new penny coins after the current production run is complete.
CNA
22-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
Bond selloff rolls on as US House passes Trump's 'big beautiful' tax bill
LONDON : Bond vigilantes continued to stalk global debt markets on Thursday, also keeping the dollar and stocks subdued, as the U.S. House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump's "big beautiful" tax bill by a single vote. Wall Street looked set to open fractionally higher [.N]having tumbled on Wednesday after the previous day's limp U.S. and Japanese long-term debt sales had highlighted the unease about rising government debt burdens. This reinforced a "Sell America" narrative at the front of investors minds after Moody's last week became the last of the major credit rating agencies to strip the U.S. of its coveted triple-A status. Long-term 20- and 30-year U.S. Treasury yields were shuffling higher again as were those in Europe, where benchmark German 20-year yields reached their highest in two months as global yield curves steepened. Britain's government borrowed more than expected in April, figures showed, while euro zone business activity unexpectedly slipped back into contraction territory. Stock markets in London, Paris, Milan and Frankfurt were all down between 0.75 per cent and 1 per cent [EU.]. The dollar was at its weakest against the Japanese yen in two weeks, while bitcoin set an all-time high, partly as investors sought out alternatives to U.S. assets. [EU.] [GVD/EUR] The non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the U.S. bill, which will extend Trump's signature 2017 tax cuts as well as boost military and other spending, will increase the U.S.'s $36 trillion debt pile by $3.8 trillion over the next decade. "It should be good news that fiscal stimulus is coming given that markets have been worried about recession risk, but there is also the concern about fiscal sustainability," State Street Global Markets' Michael Metcalfe said. "I think the dollar is the bellwether to watch here. If it isn't reacting to higher yields, it shows that confidence in U.S. policymaking has perhaps been dented." The yields on 30-year Treasury bonds - a proxy for super long-term U.S. government borrowing costs - reached 5.13 per cent, their highest since October 2023 and the 20-year yield hit 5.14 per cent, its highest since November that year. The bond market in Japan has also been in focus given that it has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio of any major economy. The 30-year JGB yield hovered at 3.169 per cent, not far from the record high of 3.185 per cent hit in the previous session. Stocks in Asia also fell after Wall Street's Wednesday tumble. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ended 0.6 per cent lower, while Japan's Nikkei fell 0.8 per cent on the stronger yen. [FRX/] "The view is that, with this bill, Trump is playing with fire with the deficit," said Francesco Pesole, FX strategist at ING. "It's causing a coordinated sell-off in equities and Treasuries, and the 'Sell America' theme is obviously quite negative for the dollar," Pesole added. TRADE DEAL PROGRESS Oil prices were down more than 1.5 per cent following a report that countries in the OPEC+ group are discussing another sharp production increase for July. Brent futures fell $1, or 1.5 per cent, to $63.98 a barrel in Europe, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 97 cents, or 1.58 per cent, to $60.60. Modest progress to date on trade deals has also made investors nervous. Attention was also on a Group of Seven meeting in Canada, where finance ministers had put a positive spin on discussions to try to reach an agreement on a joint communique largely covering non-tariff issues. Investors have been looking for any hints that currency markets could be part of trade negotiations. But Thai and Japanese officials said currency markets were not part of their discussions. Bitcoin had no such worries. It climbed as high as $111,862.98, a new record peak and a 3.3 per cent increase from Wednesday's close. It comes amid hopes that soon-to-be-finalised U.S. stablecoin regulation will continue to bring cryptoassets into the mainstream. "My official forecasts for Bitcoin are 120k end Q2, 200k end 2025 and 500k end 2028," Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick said.
CNN
21-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Ukrainian ex-politician shot dead outside Madrid's American school, police source says
Former Ukrainian politician Andriy Portnov, who worked as an aide to pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych, has been shot dead in the Spanish capital Madrid, a Spanish national police source told CNN. Portnov, 51, was shot several times as he was getting into a car around 9:15 a.m. local time in Madrid (3:15 a.m. ET), the police source said. Various assailants shot him in the back and the head, and later fled into a wooded area, the source said. The former Ukrainian politician was sanctioned by the United States in 2021 for corruption and bribery under the Magnitsky Act. He was 'credibly accused of using his influence to buy access and decisions in Ukraine's courts and undermining reform effort,' according to the US Treasury Department. The Magnitsky Act, signed into law in December 2012, blocks entry into the US and freezes the assets of certain Russian and pro-Russian government officials and businessmen accused of human rights violations. Canada also froze his assets in 2014 as part of a crackdown on 'corrupt foreign officials,' in relation to his work as a former Adviser to ousted ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. This is a developing story. Please check back for further updates.
