When Crypto.com stamped its name on Los Angeles’ main sports arena, the crypto exchange’s boss Kris Marszalek said the $700mn deal marked “the moment that cryptocurrencies . . . crossed the chasm into the mainstream”. Renaming the home of the LA Lakers National Basketball Association team in November opened the floodgates to a series of multimillion-dollar marketing deals and partnerships between digital asset companies flush with cash and sports franchises that can deliver millions of potential customers.   Rival exchanges Coinbase, Crypto.com, and FTX bought Super Bowl ads this year, which cost a reported $7mn for just 30 seconds of airtime. The home of the NBA team the Miami Heat is now the FTX Arena — part of a 19-year deal for the exchange led by Sam Bankman-Fried, and Coinbase became the “exclusive cryptocurrency platform partner” for the NBA and WNBA in October.   “It’s almost like buying real estate in California,” said Haider Rafique, chief marketing officer a...

  (Reuters) - Bearish bets on emerging  Asian currencies  eased on hopes that monetary tightening will cool red-hot inflation, with short bets on the Thai baht falling sharply after the first rate hike in the country in nearly four years, a Reuters poll found. Short positions on all emerging Asian currencies fell, with bets on China's yuan at their lowest since late-April, according to the fortnightly poll of 12 analysts. Short bets on the  Philippine peso , the  Singapore dollar  and the  Indonesian rupiah  also fell to multi-month lows. An unchanged U.S. inflation print for July, the first notable sign of relief after persistently rising prices, also helped improve the sentiment in the region. Short bets on the  Thai baht  slipped to their lowest since early June after the Bank of Thailand (BoT) on Wednesday raised its interest rate by 25 basis points, kick-starting its tightening cycle after lagging regional peers. Keep Pushing Your ...

   Asian stock markets were mixed Friday ahead of U.S. jobs data that might influence Federal Reserve plans for more interest rate hikes to cool surging inflation. Shanghai and Seoul advanced while Tokyo and Hong Kong retreated. Oil prices rose more than $1.50 per barrel. Investors looked ahead to U.S. data on August hiring to see how the economy is responding to four earlier hikes to cool inflation that is at a four-decade high. A strong reading would give ammunition to Fed officials who say higher interest rates are needed to slow economic activity and reduce upward pressure on consumer prices. If the figures show more than 300,000 jobs were added in August, it “could likely reinforce further lean towards” a rate hike as big as 0.75 percentage points at this month's Fed meeting, said Yeap Jun Rong of IG in a report.   The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.1% to 3,189.09 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 0.2% to 27,604.37. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong sank 0.8% to 19,443....

  "It's like the Wild West," describe metaverse laborers. You make the call. Is it a new frontier for those seeking fortune? Anarchy? A strange, secluded location? Maybe all of them. People in the Wild West were not paying $650,000 in cryptocurrency on a digital watercraft.   The metaverse, a growing number of virtual online worlds where individuals may live and play, has become a hotbed for real estate speculation. Investors think it will be part of a paradigm shift in how we use the internet — a decentralized version called Web3 that will take control of the internet away from major computer businesses and give people power, privacy, and security.   Companies, venture capitalists, and private equity invested $120 billion in the metaverse between January and May 2022, according to McKinsey. Property values have declined. WeMeta CEO and co-founder Winston Robson claims that land prices in The Sandbox, Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, and Somnium Space have dropped by 50 to 80...

  No expense spared when it comes to showing the people of Russia quite how big and shiny their navy and armed forces are. Think back to April though and the loss of the Moskva - the flagship warship of Russia's Black Sea fleet. A direct hit Ukraine's defence ministry said; a fire onboard according to Russia. A significant blow both to Russia's prestige and its Black Sea capabilities. Nor is it the only loss for the Black Sea fleet, against a Ukrainian navy massively diminished since the annexation of Crimea and largely barricaded inside its ports, just like its commercial shipping. The Black Sea blockade has been a major strategic win for Russia, forcing Ukraine to mine itself in.   Stasis at Ukraine's ports has left huge swathes of the world without grain, most significantly, but also fertiliser, sunflower oil and a host of other exports which would have brought much-needed cash into the Ukrainian economy. Despite the grain deal struck in Istanbul, still no ship has ...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan bitterly denounced the May 16 trip by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Washington. Declaring that Mitsotakis “no longer exists” for him, Erdoğan made clear that he viewed the trip by Mitsotakis as a breach of trust with far-reaching implications for the NATO alliance.   Erdoğan denounced Mitsotakis for involving the United States in Greece’s conflict with Turkey in the Aegean Sea. “We had agreed with him not to include third countries in our dispute. Despite this, he visited the US and spoke to the Congress, warning them not to give F-16 [fighter jets] to us,” Erdoğan said. He also accused Greece of harboring supporters of the failed NATO-backed military coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016 that nearly succeeded in assassinating Erdoğan.   Erdoğan also let it be known that he viewed the US building of NATO bases in Greece, targeting Russia and growing Chinese economic influence in the region, as a threat to his government. He said:...

  North Korea imported more than 1 million facial masks and 15,000 pairs of rubber gloves from China in July, shortly before declaring victory over Covid-19, Chinese trade figures show. Pyongyang last week declared victory over the coronavirus, ending a little-detailed fight against “fever” cases that had risen to 4.77 million in the country of around 26 million people. It has registered no new such cases since July 29. Still, China exported 1.23 million facial masks to North Korea in July, worth $44,307, surging from 17,000 the previous month, according to data released by Chinese customs at the weekend. Keep Pushing Your Profitable Trading With ✅ AssetsFX ✅ From January to July, the last month for which data is available, the North bought more than 11.93 million masks from China, data showed. North Korea did not import any Covid-19 prevention and control products from China in May, the data showed.   China’s overall exports to North Korea surged to $59.74 million in July fr...

  According to a new CBC story, five luxurious automobiles, including two BMWs, two McLarens, and a Lamborghini, have been confiscated from 23-year-old Aiden Pleterski, the self-described "crypto king" of Canada, during bankruptcy proceedings.   But those automobiles are only worth a fraction of the $35 million Pleterski reportedly stole from investors who hoped he'd make them rich in the cryptocurrency market, and it's unclear whether they'll ever see their money back.   Pleterski and his business, AP Private Equity Limited, are facing at least two legal lawsuits after 140 people claimed to have deposited a total of $35 million with Pleterski. Those people thought they were investing in Bitcoin, and Pleterski's online presence, which included photographs of the 23-year-old on private jets and next to fancy automobiles, contributed to the impression that he understood what he was doing.   Pleterski's YouTube channel and Instagram account have been deactiv...