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Update Jan. 6, 12:57 p.m. UTC: This article has been updated to include a paragraph on Morgan Stanley’s prior involvement with cryptocurrency funds.US investment bank Morgan Stanley has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to launch two cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), one tied to Bitcoin and the other to Solana, as Wall Street firms push deeper into regulated digital-asset products.The proposed Morgan Stanley Bitcoin (BTC) Trust and the Morgan Stanley Solana (SOL) Trust will function as “passive investment” vehicles that hold and track the performance of the underlying tokens, according to Tuesday’s filings with the SEC.The two funds…

Key Takeaways Senator Cynthia Lummis said she was “deeply concerned” by reports that the U.S. government sold Bitcoin. The sale comes after an executive order from President Donald Trump directing that forfeited Bitcoin be preserved for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The reported sale has sparked debate, with critics questioning whether the transaction falls under the scope of the executive order. U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis, a longtime advocate of cryptocurrencies, said she was “deeply concerned” on Tuesday by reports that the U.S. government has sold Bitcoin obtained through a criminal case, despite an executive order from President Donald Trump directing that…

The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) on Monday closed up +0.64%, the Dow Jones Industrials Index ($DOWI) (DIA) closed up +1.23%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) closed up +0.77%.  March E-mini S&P futures (ESH26) rose +0.64%, and March E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQH26) rose +0.77%.Stock indexes settled higher on Monday, with the S&P 500 posting a 1-week high and the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting a new all-time high. Optimism about AI spending boosted chipmakers and data storage companies on Monday.  Also, energy companies rallied on Monday after President Trump said a team of US officials will “run” Venezuela after capturing Venezuelan President Maduro…

Crypto investors are being targeted by a new phishing campaign that impersonates MetaMask and tricks users into handing over their wallet recovery phrases, according to the blockchain security firm SlowMist.The attackers are impersonating a two-factor authentication (2FA) security verification flow, which redirects users to fraudulent domains through fake security warnings that request users’ seed phrases.When a user shares a wallet recovery phrase, the funds from the wallet are stolen, warned SlowMist’s chief security officer, 23pds, in a Monday X post.This new wave of scams serves as a reminder that decentralized wallet protocols would never ask users for their secret recovery…

The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) on Friday closed up +0.19%, the Dow Jones Industrials Index ($DOWI) (DIA) closed up +0.66%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) closed down -0.17%.  March E-mini S&P futures (ESH26) rose +0.17%, and March E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQH26) fell -0.19%.Stock indexes settled mixed on Friday.  The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered from 2-week lows and finished higher, driven by strength in chipmakers and AI-infrastructure stocks.  However, stock gains were limited, and the Nasdaq 100 fell to a 2-week low amid weakness in megacap technology stocks.  Also, weakness in cybersecurity stocks and insurance companies limited gains…

Crypto exchange Coinbase has paused its local fiat operations in Argentina less than a year after formally entering the market, scaling back peso-based services while keeping its crypto functionality.According to a report by Forbes Argentina, Coinbase informed users that it is temporarily stepping back from maintaining local services following a review of its operations. The company described the move as a “deliberate pause” aimed at reassessing its approach and returning with a more sustainable product offering.The change primarily affects fiat rails. From Jan. 31, 2026, users will no longer be able to buy or sell USDC (USDC) using Argentine pesos…

March NY world sugar #11 (SBH26) today is down -0.36 (-2.40%).  March London ICE white sugar #5 (SWH26) is down -8.00 (-1.87%).Sugar prices fell sharply today, posting 2-week lows.  Sugar prices retreated after the India Sugar Mill Association (ISMA) reported Thursday that Indian sugar production for 2025-26, from October 1 to December 31, jumped 25% y/y to 11.90 MMT from 9.54 MMT the same time last year.   Don’t Miss a Day: From crude oil to coffee, sign up free for Barchart’s best-in-class commodity analysis.  Signs of a larger sugar crop in India, the world’s second-largest producer, are undercutting prices…

BitMine Immersion Technologies has added another 82,560 Ether, worth roughly $259 million, to Ethereum’s staking system, intensifying congestion in the network’s validator entry queue as institutional demand for yield continues to build.Data from Arkham shows that the Ether (ETH) treasury firm sent multiple large deposits to Ethereum’s BatchDeposit contract within the past few hours. With the new stake, BitMine’s total staked ETH has climbed to 544,064 Ether, valued at approximately $1.62 billion at current prices, according to onchain analyst Lookonchain.BitMine first started staking ETH on Dec. 26, transferring nearly $219 million worth of ETH to staking-related contracts on the Ethereum…

The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) on Wednesday closed down -0.74%, the Dow Jones Industrials Index ($DOWI) (DIA) closed down -0.63%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) closed down -0.84%.  March E-mini S&P futures (ESH26) fell -0.71%, and March E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQH26) fell -0.89%.Stock indexes retreated on Wednesday, with the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq 100 sliding to 1.5-week lows.  The weakness in chip stocks and data storage companies led the broader market lower on the last trading day of the year. Also, mining stocks slid on Wednesday, with gold prices falling to a 2.5-week low and silver…

Crypto executive Kain Warwick is set to pay up $50,000 after betting that Ether would hit $25,000 in 2025, joining one of many market participants who overestimated the speed of Ether’s recovery after its dip in October. Ether (ETH) ended Dec. 31 trading at roughly $2,980, around 13.7% lower than where it started at the beginning of the year, according to CoinMarketCap.Part of it was due to a $19 billion crypto market liquidation on Oct. 10 that triggered a downtrend, pushing Ether as low as $2,767 before it slowly crept upward again.The bet came from an exchange between Warwick and…