Trump threatens extra 10% tariff on nations that side with Brics
Last year, the list of Brics members expanded beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).The bloc is said to represent more than half of the world's population. Brics leaders, who started a meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this weekend, have called for reforms to global institutions and positioned the alliance as a platform for diplomacy amid escalating trade conflicts and geopolitical tensions.
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Coin Geek
31 minutes ago
- Coin Geek
Blockchain: The most expensive vaporware in history?
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... When Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin white paper in 2008, he envisioned an electronic cash system for the world. Satoshi talked about micropayments, peer-to-peer transactions, and how Bitcoin 'never really hits a scaling ceiling.' He envisioned small casual transactions, making new types of commerce possible. He even included a poker client in the original Bitcoin code. Yet, in 2025, Bitcoin is nothing more than a Wall Street plaything for reckless gamblers like Michael Saylor to bet on, and the wider blockchain industry is a mess. Companies like Blackrock (NASDAQ: BLK) are in the game, and the small, casual transactions Satoshi envisioned have to go through a layer two 'solution' called the Lightning Network controlled by corporations like Blockstream and Strike. Bitcoin has become unrecognizable in almost two decades, and blockchain tech has failed to deliver on its potential. A dismal failure to deliver on the promise of blockchain tech It's not just what Bitcoin has become—Ethereum and the thousands of other chains haven't fared much better. Despite endless updates, Ethereum is still a tangled mess of side chains, layer twos, and bridges, and no single application has been a mainstream success. What about enterprise blockchain? Remember IBM's (NASDAQ: IBM) Hyperledger and Corda's R3? These days, they're hardly mentioned, and they've seen almost no adoption. Tens of billions and a decade of time have been spent, and there's no sign that any of these systems will be used seriously. Why has it gone down this way? There are a few key reasons. First, the greedfest that saw speculation replace utility and building set the industry back by a decade or more. There isn't an application anyone could have built that would have outperformed the financial returns on simply holding BTC or Ethereum for 10 years. Capital goes where it is incentivized to go, and with no killer apps, the blockchains that were supposed to host them suffer. Ironically, the technical limitations of many of these blockchains have killed the once promising apps built on them. Second, everything is fragmented. Instead of apps making each other more valuable due to interoperability and unified liquidity on one scalable chain and coin, DeFi, gaming, and other apps exist on hundreds of different blockchains, none of which can scale well enough to host the others even if they migrate. Even on Ethereum, popular apps exist on different layer twos like Polygon, so moving funds from one to another necessitates fees, bridges, and the associated security risks. That brings us nicely to the last point—the user experience on almost every blockchain sucks. Every good VC knows that the best tech doesn't necessarily win—the one with the best UX stands the greatest chance of success. Yet, even seasoned professionals struggle to understand the complex web of wallets, bridges, and different standards on this blockchain. With retail out, no mainstream apps on any chain, increasing concern about the environmental and societal costs, and dead chains that never delivered on their promises scattered all over the battlefield, it's little wonder that the blockchain economy today can best be described as a slow-motion collapse of credibility and hope. It's sad to see, but it didn't have to be this way. BSV could serve as the base layer for everything in blockchain Every blockchain proponent promises their favorite chain is the solution to all of this nonsense, but unlike the others, BSV fans like me can back it up with demonstrable proof. This blockchain, which follows Satoshi Nakamoto's original design, can already do one million transactions per second for fees of fractions of a penny. It has a growing list of applications in cybersecurity, supply chain management, Web3 gaming, and more. While BSV is by no means a boom town, it has been gaining ground steadily, and unlike Ethereum, Polkadot, or any of the others, it can scale unboundedly and is attracting interest from all over. Polkadot is $500M. Promised a No users. No devs. No future. Here's how one of crypto's biggest bets faded into a ghost chain 👇🧵 Once again, these aren't unfounded claims; they're provable. The Teranode update has shown that BSV can consistently process millions of transactions per second. Furthermore, fees don't increase when transaction capacity is pushed to its limits. Check out WhatsOnChain for the latest BSV stats, including daily transactions and average fees. Just like Satoshi said, it never really hits a scaling ceiling, and the fees are low all the time. Let's unite and build a blockchain-powered world together If the blockchain industry will amount to anything, we've got to set aside petty politics, tribal affiliations, and wishful thinking and embrace the solution that works today. BSV's architects have already achieved these technical milestones with only a few hundred key players; imagine what could be achieved if all the time, energy, brainpower, and money in the industry decided to circle the wagons and push the limits even further. In 2025, most blockchains are vaporware, and the industry is widely considered a joke. However, there's still time to turn the corner, and in five years, those of us who staked our names to promote blockchains' virtues can be smiling as everything we told the critics it was capable of comes true, or we can still be spinning in circles hoping for a miracle from the same teams that have consistently failed to deliver in the past. It's time to set the past aside, embrace the one scalable protocol that can serve as the backbone of everything, and build on BSV. Check out some of the developer tools and resources on the BSV Association website to get started! Watch | Decoding Prosperity: How Blockchain Drives Inclusive Growth
The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Donald Trump calls Elon Musk's new political party ‘ridiculous' and says Tesla owner is ‘off the rails'
Update: Date: 2025-07-07T08:50:10.000Z Title: Trump calls Musk's new political party 'ridiculous' and says Tesla owner is 'off the rails' Content: Welcome to our live coverage of US politics and the second Trump administration. Donald Trump has hit out at Elon Musk's decision to start and bankroll a new US political party that the tech billionaire believes can offer a viable alternative to the Democrats and Republicans. Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One yesterday, the US president said: I think it's ridiculous to start a third party. It's always been a two-party system and I think starting a third party just adds to the confusion. Shortly after speaking about his former ally, Trump posted further comments on his Truth Social platform, writing: I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. Trump and Musk were formerly close allies, with the Tesla boss and X owner appointed to slash federal spending through the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) from January through May. Musk fell out with the Republican president over his sprawling tax and spending plan, signed into law on Friday, which is expected to add at least $3 trillion (£2.2 trillion) to the US's already huge $37tn (£27tn) debt pile. Musk has argued that the bill, which he has described as 'utterly insane and destructive', would irresponsibly add to the US national debt. Musk, the world's richest person, posted on X over the weekend that he had set up the America Party to challenge the Republican and Democratic 'Uniparty'. The details of the structure of the new venture or a timeline for its creation are still unclear. But some of his social media posts suggests the new political party would focus on two or three Senate seats, and eight to 10 House districts. We will have more on this and other US politics stories throughout the day so stick with us.
Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Is China uninvestable or misunderstood? The INVESTING ANALYST
After years plagued with economic issues, escalating geopolitical tensions and weak investor sentiment, is China's recent recovery an indication of brighter years ahead? In this column, Josef Licsauer, Investment trust research analyst at Kepler Partners, explains why China could offer an opportunity for investors. There was a time when China felt unstoppable. After joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, it quickly became the world's factory floor, driving globalisation, ramping up exports, and fuelling a commodities supercycle with massive investment in infrastructure and real estate. Between 2000 and 2010, its GDP grew by an average of 10.6 per cent, enriching emerging markets and powering global growth. But that once-compelling growth story has since lost its shine. In the decade that followed, momentum cooled as China tried to rebalance its economy away from exports and infrastructure toward domestic consumption. Rising debt, industrial overcapacity and an ageing population began to weigh on the long-term outlook, even as headline GDP remained relatively strong. A brief rally in 2021 offered some hope, but it was short-lived. Strict lockdowns, a spiralling property crisis, tech crackdowns, and rising tensions with the West reasserted themselves, knocking investor confidence and sending sentiment into retreat. Since then, Chinese equity valuations have slumped to near historic lows and the country's index weighting has fallen from a peak of around 40 per cent to the low 20s. But amid the disruption, opportunity is stirring. Valuations remain deeply discounted, stimulus is gaining traction, and internal growth drivers – from tech innovation and AI to rising healthcare demand and a push for self-sufficiency – are beginning to reassert themselves. For investors willing to look again, investment trusts may offer one of the most effective routes back into China. Return of the King (Consumer) Just as The Return of the King brought Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings trilogy to a triumphant close, and found a surprisingly devoted fanbase in China during its 2021 re-release, the consumer may now be stepping back into the spotlight in China's economic narrative. While confidence remains fragile, early signs of recovery are visible in rising footfall, discretionary spending, and experience-led consumption. A key driver? The $10trillion surge in household savings since 2020, a staggering sum exceeding the GDP of Japan or Germany. As confidence continues to improve, that pool of capital could fuel a powerful cycle of consumption, hiring and reinvestment. We're already seeing early evidence. Guming, a fast-growing teahouse chain, has seen its share price surge over 160 per cent since listing earlier this year on the back of consumers returning to the city and spending again. Similarly, Haidilao, the hotpot giant, is benefitting from renewed appetite for social dining post-Covid, Luckin Coffee continues to dominate value-focused caffeine and for affluent consumers, and premium names like Kweichow Moutai remain in high-demand. JPMorgan China Growth & Income (JCGI) has tapped into these trends with a portfolio tilted toward domestic-facing names. The managers added Guming at IPO and have recently increased positions in other domestic-facing names they believe will benefit from experience-led recovery. The opportunity, they argue, lies not in exports, but in China's internal engine. Baillie Gifford China Growth Trust (BGCG) shares this domestic tilt and a focus that has supported its outperformance of the MSCI China All-Share Index over the past year. Managers Sophie Earnshaw and Linda Lin are targeting areas supported by stimulus and policy, alongside firms driving innovation in manufacturing and high-end tech. On the consumer front, core holdings like Luckin Coffee and Kweichow Moutai reflect their belief these businesses are central to China's long-term transformation. Policy support and stimulus The Chinese government unveiled a wave of targeted support in September 2024, aimed at stabilising the property sector, boosting consumption and accelerating high-priority industries like AI, semiconductors and green tech. The stimulus package was worth up to 7.5trillion yuan (around $1.07trillion), potentially the largest in the country's history in nominal terms, according to Deutsche Bank. The measures, designed to shore up confidence in key areas of the economy, included mortgage relief, stock market support, local government bond issuance, and capital injections into state-owned banks. The message is clear: policymakers are committed to restoring confidence and lifting domestic growth. Fidelity Asian Values (FAS) is one trust with exposure here. Managers Nitin Bajaj and Ajinkya Dhavale have reduced exposure to India, where they now see stretched valuations and reallocated capital into undervalued Chinese companies tied to domestic demand. Despite ongoing geopolitical and macro risks, they see 'caged upside': long-term growth potential yet to be realised in undervalued, well-capitalised, well-run businesses with limited exposure to global trade volatility. One example is Full Truck Alliance, China's leading digital freight broker, which plays a pivotal role in modernising the country's logistics network. FAS remains overweight China and the managers believe that the brief sentiment rally of late 2024, triggered by stimulus, could repeat. With substantial capital still on the sidelines, a sustained improvement in earnings could spark a meaningful rebound. For those after a more balanced approach, JPMorgan Global Emerging Markets (JMG) maintains a neutral China weighting but within that holds select domestic-facing stocks that could benefit from stimulus tailwinds. It's another way to stay exposed to China's upside potential while remaining diversified across the broader EM landscape. Innovation and independence China's drive for technological self-sufficiency is another area drawing investor interest. With geopolitical tensions rising, the country is accelerating efforts in AI, software, advanced manufacturing and supply chain independence, all backed by targeted policy support. It's a long game, but one that could help reduce reliance on foreign tech and reshape the country's economic future. The launch of DeepSeek's AI model – viewed by many as China's answer to ChatGPT – reignited interest in alternative, homegrown productivity-enhancing technologies. These companies may not yet rival US giants, but they're evolving fast, and often trade at a fraction of the price. Some are even partnering with or supporting global leaders like Nvidia, reinforcing their growing relevance. JCGI has recently increased exposure to names aligned with this theme, including Kingsoft, a leader in office software and cloud computing. Baillie Gifford China Growth (BGCG) is following a similar path, uncovering value in firms like Horizon Robotics, which develops AI chips for autonomous vehicles and smart cities, and industrial champions like CATL and BYD, leaders in the EVs and battery tech. For long-term investors, China's innovation drive could offer a multi-year growth runway. And with valuations near historic lows, it's fertile ground for active investors to uncover pricing anomalies and compelling entry points. The trusts highlighted in this piece are all trading on discounts wider than their five-year averages, except for JMG, which is slightly narrower than its historical average but still wider than the Global Emerging Markets sector overall. For investors, that could represent a double discount opportunity: accessing undervalued Chinese companies via investment trusts that are themselves trading at wider discounts relative to their long-term norms. The playbook has changed China's potential comes with caveats. Sentiment is fragile, and risks – from regulatory shifts to US trade restrictions – loom large. Confidence, especially among global investors, won't return overnight. But that's precisely why I think valuations look attractive. Many high-quality businesses with strong fundamentals are trading at multi-year lows. Some deserve their discounts, but others have been swept up in broad-based pessimism and macro-driven sell-offs. China continues to divide opinion. Some see structural decline; others, temporary growing pains. The reality is likely somewhere in between. What is clear is that yesterday's playbook no longer fits, but for selective, long-term investors willing to look past the short-term noise, the long-term case is quietly rebuilding. I'm not advocating a full-scale pivot. But with the world's second-largest economy priced for pessimism, having no exposure at all could prove just as risky, especially if sentiment quickly turns. Sometimes, the most compelling opportunities are the ones that feel the most uncomfortable.
