Author: Steven Sahiounie

China has a new foreign minister. This is his warning to the US Sri Lanka expects final approval from the International Monetary Fund for a $2.9 billion loan in the third or fourth week of this month, the president said on Tuesday, adding that new support from China means all funding requirements had been met. The country of 22 million people is struggling with its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948. President Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament there were signs the economy was improving but there was still insufficient foreign currency for all imports, making the IMF deal…

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), two of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the world, have been unable to halt their losses and are still trading in the red below the $23,000 and $1,600 marks, respectively.  Traders are hesitant to place any strong bids ahead of a critical week of economic developments in the United States. This week will see the release of nonfarm payroll statistics and remarks by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, making it a crucial moment for the market. BTC has faced difficulties in rising above the $22,800 level, and if the bears succeed in pushing the price below its…

The XRP price has risen by 2% in the past 24 hours, reaching $0.369805 after the cryptocurrency market barely moved overnight. The coin has fallen by 2.5% in the past week and by 10% in the last 30 days, caught up in the negative market sentiment that has arisen out of the news of Silvergate Bank’s financial difficulties. However, the ongoing Ripple-SEC case looks as though it could end up having a positive outcome for XRP. Judge Analisa Torres has granted Ripple’s motion to exclude testimony from a so-called expert witness called by the SEC, while she has also denied the…

Singapore authorities have launched a probe into Do Kwon’s Terraform Labs, the entity that developed the now-collapsed TerraUSD stablecoin. According to a Monday report by Bloomberg, Singaporean police sent an emailed statement announcing that “investigations have commenced in relation to Terraform Labs.” It added that the inquiries are “ongoing,” and Kwon is not currently in the city-state. The announcement comes less than a month after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Terra founder Do Kwon and his organization Terraform Labs for securities fraud. “[The SEC] today charged Singapore-based Terraform Labs PTE Ltd and Do Hyeong Kwon with orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto…

Meta is expected, as soon as this week, to begin a second round of job cuts in four months Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is planning a new series of layoffs affecting thousands of employees as soon as this week, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. In November, the social networking giant announced a major cost-cutting plan that included sacking nearly 11,000 people, or some 13% of its workforce. The upcoming dismissals would be in addition to those. The staff reductions are being driven by the company’s financial targets, according to people familiar with the matter, as cited…

Moscow says it has halted deliveries to via the “Druzhba” pipeline due to nonpayment Poland will demand compensation from Russia over the ongoing halt in crude supplies to its refineries, Daniel Obajtek, CEO of the country’s leading oil refiner and retailer Orlen, announced on Monday. Russian state-owned pipeline operator Transneft, which runs the a section of the “Druzhba” (“Friendship”) connector explained that in late February, Moscow suspended crude supplies after Poland stopped paying for deliveries. Company spokesman Igor Demin noted that “routing orders with confirmed resource and transit payments were not processed,” and that “operational changes were made to the schedule, excluding supplies for…

India and Sri Lanka are discussing shifting away from the US dollar to settlements using the Indian rupee, as the two countries look to strengthen their partnership through trade and investments. Rupee settlements are expected to derive benefits like shorter timelines, lower exchange costs and easier availability of trade credits for participating financial institutions. The initiative may also have a beneficial impact on the nations’ respective tourism and hospitality industries. A discussion of the issue, arranged by the High Commission of India, was held in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo last week. “Representatives from the Bank of Ceylon, State Bank…

The rate of price growth in the country is higher than the central bank is prepared to tolerate, the regulator says Inflation in Switzerland unexpectedly accelerated in February largely due to soaring airfares, rent and energy costs, figures from the Federal Statistical Office showed on Monday. Consumer prices surged 3.4% last month year-on-year and were higher than the median estimate by Bloomberg, which predicted a slower rate of 3.1%. The February jump reflected rising prices for air transport, package holidays, rents and gasoline, indicating that the country’s central bank will have to tighten its monetary policy, the media outlet said.…

Denouncing the schoolgirl poisoning incidents across Iran as a “crime and an inhumane act” committed by the enemies, President Ebrahim Raisi called for accurate and timely information on the incidents In comments at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Raisi referred to the report from the Minister of Intelligence on the investigation into the issue of poisoning of a number of schools across the country, saying, “The new conspiracy of the enemy to create fear in the hearts of students, our dear children and their parents is a crime and it is an anti-human act.” He also emphasized the need to…

While bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) remain the top coins, altcoins are still drawing significant interest from institutional investors, argued David Duong, Head of Institutional Research at major crypto exchange Coinbase. Duong participated in a discussion with popular crypto analyst Scott Melker on March 2, as part of an interview panel that also featured the Founder of crypto options trading platform Hxro Dan Gunsberg and the Founder of investment adviser Morgan Creek Capital Mark Yusko.  Discussing the crypto market performance over the past year, Duong noted that what he is currently seeing in terms of flows on the exchange from Coinbase’s institutional clients is that, “55% of this is still on bitcoin and…