Macro, money, and the forces reshaping the financial system. The stories behind the headlines.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng opened all-day ministerial talks at JPMorgan's Manhattan headquarters on Sunday, four days before President Trum…
BlackRock's head of U.S. equity ETFs says Bitcoin's annualized volatility has dropped from roughly 80 to the 35-40 range, crediting IBIT and the options market it spawned for a str…
Cuba's national power grid went dark for the sixth time in 2026 after U.S. sanctions cut Venezuelan and Iranian oil supply lines. The island's Energy Minister has already confirmed…
OFAC designated Iranian crypto exchange BitBank on September 17, 2026, alleging it transferred hundreds of millions in Bitcoin to the IRGC between June and July. The action is part…
The Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to 1.25% on September 18, 2026, the highest since 1995. A 7-2 dissent sent the yen lower and put the entire tightening cycle in question. T…
ECB President Christine Lagarde allegedly intervened to block Binance's MiCA license in Greece, despite holding no formal authority under the regulation. The application was deemed…
The IRGC struck the Togolese-flagged tanker Trend in the Strait of Hormuz on September 17, the same day Trump told Axios he faces a 'big decision' on whether to annihilate the Iran…
Netanyahu pledged two Knesset bills after NAZA's Venice win: strip citizenship from anyone who 'defames' IDF soldiers abroad, and multiply defamation damages 20-fold. The bills are…
JPMorgan analysts say IBIT's near-record short interest and elevated put-to-call ratios give Bitcoin a mechanical edge over gold, if that defensive positioning unwinds. Bloomberg's…
The Senate's 49-50 cloture vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on September 15 fell eleven votes short of passage. CFTC Chair Michael Selig and SEC Chair Paul Atkins immed…
The CFTC's Market Participants Division issued Staff Letter 26-25 on September 17, extending the no-action framework first granted to Phantom Technologies to all similarly situated…
The institutional Bitcoin adoption story has a structural flaw: roughly 1.26 million BTC now sits in custodial structures subject to OFAC's strict liability sanctions regime, makin…
Italian NATO Eurofighters destroyed an explosive-laden drone over Lithuanian territory on September 15, 2026, the first such shootdown in the country's history, after the drone ent…
The Bank of England is set to announce Thursday that it will halt active sales of 20- and 30-year gilts after long-dated yields hit their highest levels since 1998. The move defers…
Ethiopian Electric Power slashed Bitcoin miner electricity to 23% of contracted supply after El Niño cut reservoir inflows by at least 20%, exposing the structural fragility of sov…
The House Financial Services Committee marks up H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act, on September 16 at 10 a.m. ET, the first time a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve moves t…
CFTC Traders in Financial Futures data for the week ending Sept. 8 shows leveraged funds rebuilt ~1,669 BTC of net short across four Bitcoin futures markets. The headline reads bea…
The New Delhi Declaration commits BRICS to local-currency trade settlement and BRICS Pay interoperability. Iran, already routing trade outside SWIFT via bilateral deals with Russia…
The FOMC votes on interest rates September 16. The BEA revises the PCE price index, the Fed's own inflation target, back to 2021 just 14 days later. Governor Christopher Waller has…
The Treasury's August Monthly Treasury Statement shows the FY2026 deficit at $1.97 trillion through eleven months and gross interest expense at a record $1.4 trillion on a last-twe…
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Independent writing by Marty Bent at TFTC since 2017. Money, markets, AI, energy and privacy, delivered free to your inbox.
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