By Tyler Durden, Following a full-court press by western nations, the handful of European holdouts – those most reliant on Russian energy supplies and continued Russian capital flows, such as Germany, Hungary, Italy and Cyprus – who have been adverse to expelling Russia from the SWIFT electronic payment-messaging system, are one by one folding on […]

By Marlize van Romburgh, As Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine on Wednesday, it sent shockwaves around the world and threatened to undo decades of relative peace and stability in Europe. Ukraine’s fragile economy and small technology startup scene are also threatened by the turmoil. Ukraine’s startup industry is small, though a number of notable companies and […]

By Tyler Durden, Three buyers of Russian crude oil have been unable to open letters of credit from Western banks to cover their purchases, four Reuters trading sources said on Thursday following the Russian attack on Ukraine. As Julianne Geiger writes at OilPrice.com, banks are understandably hesitant to extend credit for purchases of Russian crude, given the current […]

By Tyler Durden, Mortgage applications collapsed 13.1% week-over-week, the worst drop since the heart of the COVID lockdown crisis in March 2020… As MBA reports, the Refinance Index plunged 16% from the previous week and was 56% lower than the same week one year ago. But most notably, the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index tumbled 10% from one […]

By Tyler Durden, Some quick thoughts from JPMorgan’s trading desk this morning. The Russia/Ukraine situation dominated weekend headlines and culminated with Putin declaring 2 regions in Ukraine as independent and then signing an order to move in troops. US sanctions were quick to follow but, so far, only apply to those regions in Ukraine and […]

By Tyler Durden,   While not directly impacted by the sharp crisis escalation in Ukraine or fears of multiple rate hikes by the Fed, Chinese tech shares suffered their worst two-day drop since July following renewed fears Beijing may roll out more restrictions for private enterprise. Shares of China’s tech giant, Tencent, sank 5.2% on […]

By Brian Newar, The investment fund will be the first offered by a bank in the country and is expected to include a type of crypto index and ETFs. Kookmin Bank is preparing to become the first bank in South Korea to offer crypto investment products to retail investors. KB announced on Feb. 21 that it had […]

By Tyler Durden, Earlier this week, we reported that Blackrock, America’s largest commercial and residential landlord, just got even bigger with the purchase of 12,000 apartments in the sunbelt (among other assets) when it acquired Preferred Apartment Communities for $5.8 billion. But Blackrock has not been alone in quietly swooping up US residential real estate. According to […]

By Jonathan Ponciano, The price of bitcoin tumbles below $40,000 for the first time in two weeks on Friday as the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine continued to drive a broad market selloff, leading some analysts to say the crypto market’s recent weakness won’t subside until the tensions are resolved and could even […]

By Tyler Durden, Authored by Mike Hobart via Bitcoin Magazine, Recent pro-Bitcoin developments from Russia could put the Eastern power in a lead position as inflation grows. How will other powers react? On February 15, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development signaled a bullish development around Bitcoin; reduced costs for bitcoin miners. But what can we […]