The stablecoin economy has bipartisan support, with the backing of significant leaders from both parties. It seems the only question now is how tight regulation is going to be.
Why it matters: Stablecoins power trillions of dollars worth of transaction volume annually on blockchains, which has made the U.S. dollar the universal coin of the realm.
NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and soccer legend Alex Morgan are used to making highlights — but now they're funding highlights, too.
State of play: The sports icons are among the investors in an AI-powered sports clip service called ScorePlay, CNBC reports.
The service, whose 200+ clients include NBA and NHL teams, fetched $13 million in a Series A funding round that included Antetokounmpo, Morgan and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six VC firm.
How it works: "ScorePlay's service, created in 2021 by Victorien Tixier and Xavier Green, automatically tags and organizes content, allowing teams to speed up the delivery to everyone from broadcasters and sponsors to the athletes themselves," CNBC reports.
Why it matters: Approximately 15,000 store closures are expected this year, more than double the 7,325 stores that closed in 2024, according to Coresight Research.
The SEC is calling for a truce in its case against Binance.
The regulator asked the court for a 60-day stay in a joint motion filed last night.
The reason: The SEC's new crypto task force headed by Commissioner Hester Peirce, which was launched by acting chair Mark Uyeda a day after former chair Gary Gensler stepped down.
"The work of this task force may impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this case," the motion said.
Catch up quick: The SEC charged Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao in 2023 with a number of securities violations.
Brady's thought bubble: The No. 1 thing I'm curious about with the new Trump-era SEC: whether it drops or settles some of its cases against the biggest companies in the industry (most notably, Coinbase and Binance).
One move to keep an eye on in the coming months: Whether or not more crypto-based ETFs hit the market.
Why it matters: These products would put many more cryptocurrencies at the fingertips of more traditional investors who want to make trades in their brokerage accounts.
The latest: Grayscale (the firm that won the fight for the bitcoin ETF) has proposed an ETF for the Cardano blockchain coin, ADA.
Zoom out: Lots of these have been proposed. Here are a few others, as examples.
President Biden and a Democratic Congress took power in 2021 with a bold plan to propel the nation out of the pandemic, revitalize American industry and bolster the working class.
It was a complete flop with voters.
Why it matters: In a scathing new essay on what went wrong with Biden-era economic policy, longtime Democratic economic adviser Jason Furman argues that the last administration was too quick to toss aside traditional economic orthodoxy around fiscal policy and other issues.
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said he believes the Treasury Department's critical payments system is safe and that the Fed is committed to carrying out its role in the system with integrity.
Why it matters: The system disburses trillions of dollars each year on behalf of America's government, including payouts for Social Security and tax refunds.
Bain Capital disclosed that it is considering the "option of withdrawing" its hostile $4.2 billion takeover bid for Japanese tech group Fuji Soft, after KKR raised its own offer to $4.3 billion.
The big picture: It wasn't too long ago that U.S. private equity firms were steering clear of Japan, to the point of closing offices.
President Trump on Monday imposed blanket 25% tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, an escalation of trade tensions with ripple effects that might be felt by American consumers.
Why it matters: The metals are critical inputs for cars, electric appliances, homebuilding materials and more. Manufacturers will face higher costs that might ultimately be passed to shoppers.
