Author: 1to90

Diversification is investing 101: Tips for expanding your portfolio  Yahoo
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XRP, the native token of Ripple’s payment network, jumped on Friday after Ripple said it had completed its acquisition of global prime broker Hidden Road, now rebranded as Ripple Prime.
XRP is trading around $2.50, up about 5% on the day and 8% over the past seven days, after suffering losses most of last week amid a broader market downturn, according to The Defiant’s price page. It is currently the fifth-largest digital asset with a market capitalization of over $148 billion.
Ripple said Ripple Prime’s business has already grown threefold since the $1.25 billion deal was announced earlier this year. The company also noted that RLUSD – Ripple’s stablecoin with a market cap near $899 million – will increasingly be used as collateral on the platform as more institutions adopt it.
The rebrand of Ripple Prime marks the first time a crypto company “owns and operates a global, multi-asset prime brokerage platform,” according to a company blog post.
The move underscores Ripple’s efforts to expand beyond payments and into broader institutional finance. The company says it believes this move will boost XRP’s real-world utility and make RLUSD more trusted by institutions.
“Ripple’s foundational digital asset infrastructure across payments, crypto custody and stablecoin, as well as the use of XRP, will complement the services offered within Ripple Prime,” the post reads. “In the future, Ripple Prime will look to leverage blockchain capabilities in its business to streamline operations and optimize costs.”
The deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions by Ripple, including treasury management system provider GTreasury last week, Rail in August 2025, Standard Custody in June 2024, and Metaco in May 2023.
Following the acquisition of GTreasury, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse reflected in a post on X that the past few years have “reminded this industry why payments, first and foremost, is THE primary use case for crypto and blockchain.”
He explained that payments are where Ripple first began for these reasons. “The infrastructure is complex, siloed and inefficient, but as we know, perfectly positioned to benefit from decentralized financial technologies,” he added.
In August, Ripple recorded another win when the company and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided to jointly drop their appeals, marking the end of a five-year long battle.
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Changpeng Zhao, co-founder of Binance Holdings Ltd., during an event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Zhao discussed the future of digital assets at the event today. Photographer: Samsul Said/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, the richest man in crypto, has been granted a pardon from President Donald Trump, marking a dramatic reversal of a yearslong federal crackdown on crypto.
Zhao, who founded cryptocurrency exchange Binance in 2017 and is worth an estimated $85 billion, pled guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws in 2023 and served four months in prison.
Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange in terms of daily trading volume, allows customers to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies on its platform. Trump signed the pardon Wednesday, which forgave Zhao’s conviction and could ease barriers to any future role at the company, though legal and compliance restrictions remain.
“President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday. “The Biden Administration’s war on crypto is over.”
Zhao lobbied the Trump Administration for a pardon, including via lawyer and lobbyist Ches McDowell, a longtime friend of Trump’s son Don Jr. 
Binance also has ties to the Trump family’s crypto start-up World Liberty Financial, prompting criticism from Democratic lawmakers who have called the pardon a form of corruption.
Zhao is the latest of a number of high-profile crypto businessmen to receive a pardon since Trump took office this year. Days after his second-term inauguration, Trump granted clemency to Ross Ulbricht, who operated Silk Road, a dark web drug marketplace powered by Bitcoin. And in March, Trump pardoned Arthur Hayes, co-founder of crypto exchange BitMEX who had pled guilty to money-laundering violations. Hayes was quick to congratulate Zhao on Thursday, posting on X: “Welcome to the club @cz_binance”.
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Trump has changed his tune on crypto over the years, from once calling Bitcoin “a scam against the dollar” to promising to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.” He has launched a Trump memecoin, while his family last year entered into a new crypto venture. The President has also issued an executive order establishing a U.S. crypto stockpile, and set up the White House position of “crypto czar.” After announcing that he would accept cryptocurrency donations to his 2024 presidential campaign, the crypto community embraced Trump, pouring donations into his campaign and turning to him to roll back what they saw as unfair targeting by the Biden Administration.
U.S. regulators have also dismissed a major lawsuit against Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, while Trump has slashed regulations for cryptocurrency and issued new regulations that benefit the industry.
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The Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service, under the Biden Administration, placed Binance under investigation in 2021, although Seattle prosecutors reportedly began investigating the company in 2018, after cases of criminals using the platform to move illegal money. Zhao and Binance pled guilty in November 2023 to failing to comply with U.S. laws for preventing money laundering, which had allowed people in sanctioned countries, including terrorist groups, to move money on the platform.
“Binance turned a blind eye to its legal obligations in the pursuit of profit. Its willful failures allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers through its platform,” then-Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in 2023.
As part of the settlement, Binance agreed to pay more than $4 billion, remediate their anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs, and retain an independent compliance monitor for three years. That latter term has reportedly been up for consideration by prosecutors last month, even as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has urged the DOJ to ensure Binance is complying with the “ongoing requirements” of the settlement. Zhao served four months in prison—a relatively light sentence compared to his counterparts at other cryptocurrency firms—and stepped down as chief executive of Binance. He retained his majority stake in the company.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed charges against Binance and Zhao in June 2023, alleging that the platform had illegally served U.S. users and misused customer funds. The SEC formally dropped its lawsuit in May.
Zhao’s pardon could allow him to return to running Binance. Last month, Zhao changed his profile description on X from “ex-@Binance” to “@Binance”, fuelling speculation that he was planning to return to the company.
“Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice,” Zhao posted on X on Thursday. “Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.”
Binance posted on X, “Incredible news of CZ’s pardon today! Thank you, President Trump @POTUS for your leadership and for your commitment to make the US the crypto capital of the world!”
A Chinese-born Canadian businessman, Zhao has continued to be one of the most influential figures in the crypto world, even after his guilty plea. After his release in September last year, he has made appearances on several crypto podcasts. He became a dual citizen of the United Arab Emirates, where he now lives. Zhao is also known for having tweeted in 2022 that Binance would sell its holdings of then-rival FTX’s token, FTT, which led to a selloff and the collapse of FTX.
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The Trump Administration’s deregulation of the crypto industry and rollback of the previous Administration’s crackdown on crypto crime come as the Trump family has deepened its investments in crypto.
Last year, Trump’s sons co-founded World Liberty Financial, alongside the sons of Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Trump is listed as “co-founder emeritus” on the company’s website. The Trump family owns around 25% of World Liberty’s tokens, which earned them around $5 billion in paper wealth after the WLFI tokens became available to trade.
The company has developed close ties with Binance, which reportedly wrote the basic code to power World Liberty’s stablecoin, USD1. In May, MGX, an Abu Dhabi-led investment firm, used USD1 to invest $2 billion in Binance, which could net the Trumps tens of millions of dollars per year.
The ties between Binance and World Liberty have led some lawmakers and others to call Zhao’s pardon a form of corruption.
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“This is yet another example of the administration’s brazen flouting of the rule of law,” Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University, told the New York Times. “There is little justification for this pardon and highlights how far this administration will go to promote the cryptocurrency industry.”
Warren said in a statement, “First, Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge. Then he boosted one of Donald Trump’s crypto ventures and lobbied for a pardon. Today, Donald Trump did his part and pardoned him. If Congress does not stop this kind of corruption in pending market structure legislation, it owns this lawlessness.” Warren, alongside Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), called for a probe into the MGX-Binance deal in June.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R, N.C.) told reporters on Thursday that the pardon sends “a bad signal.” He added that Zhao “was convicted. He’s not innocent.”
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The pardon also comes as lawmakers work toward a bipartisan deal on a landmark bill that would establish new crypto regulations.
“The President and the White House have a very thorough examination of every pardon request that comes to the President’s desk,” Leavitt told reporters on Thursday.
“This was an overly prosecuted case by the Biden Administration,” she added. “The previous Administration was very hostile to the cryptocurrency industry. The President wants to correct this overreach of the Biden Administration’s misjustice.”
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Bitcoin price slides after brief CPI-driven rally, MYX, WLI lead altcoin with double-digit gains  Invezz
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Between AI-driven hiring systems, marathon interview processes, and fierce competition, landing a new job has never been more complicated. But according to Charlotte-based career and leadership coach Megan Spivey of Career Outfitters, every generation faces its own unique set of challenges… and strengths.
“Every generation feels the impact, in their own way,” Spivey told Charlotte Today. “But each generation also has tools they can lean into, and blind spots they need to watch out for.”
Spivey explained that while most job applications begin online, many resumes never even make it to a real person. And while digital networking has made it easier to “connect,” forging genuine professional relationships has become harder than ever.
During her appearance on Charlotte Today, Spivey broke down what each generation brings to the table:
Boomers bring deep experience and long-standing professional networks.
Gen X shines with adaptability and a blend of digital and in-person networking skills.
Millennials stand out for their tech fluency, purpose-driven values, and storytelling abilities.
Gen Z impresses with a digital-first mindset and openness to non-traditional career paths.
But every generation also faces hurdles. Spivey reminded viewers that “every generation has their own hurdles to overcome.” Here’s what to watch out for:
Boomers: Often have a weak online presence, making them less visible to recruiters.
Gen X: Tend to delay updating resumes and LinkedIn profiles — and sometimes start job searches too late.
Millennials: Frequently over-apply online without following up and may prioritize meaning over stability.
Gen Z: Can lack in-person polish and sometimes overshare online, especially about side hustles.
Spivey’s message was clear: no matter your generation, success in today’s job market takes self-awareness, strategy, and a willingness to evolve. You can find Megan on LinkedIn, and at career-outfitters.com

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1. After a lengthy wait, Jeffries to endorse Mamdani  Politico
2. Hakeem Jeffries Makes New York City Mayoral Endorsement: Report  Newsweek
3. Clinton campaign alum urges Jeffries, Schumer not to ‘take the bait,’ get ‘bullied’ into Mamdani endorsement  Fox News
4. Rep. Dan Goldman: ‘I am very concerned about some of the rhetoric coming from Zohran Mamdani’  Jewish Insider
5. Jeffries Teases New York Mayoral Endorsement, Praises Mamdani on NYPD  Bloomberg.com

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Egungun’s Wife Receives Backlash As Video Trends After Defending Him  gistlover.com
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Winning numbers drawn in Thursday’s Missouri Pick 4 Evening  San Antonio Express-News
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Starmer: Ukraine's Future Pivotal to UK Security
BBC News
This video can not be played
Keir Starmer is speaking to reporters following a meeting in London with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders – watch live above
"Your security is our security," Starmer tells his Ukrainian counterpart, before saying Russia's Vladimir Putin is "not serious about peace"
Zelensky, also speaking, says "pressure" on Moscow is the only way Kyiv can win the war – he also thanks the US for imposing fresh sanction on Russian oil
Earlier, the UK prime minister and Zelensky shared a warm embrace outside No 10 – a clear message to Zelensky that the UK wants to remain one of Ukraine's most dependable allies, writes our reporter
Zelensky also met King Charles today -their third meeting this year
"Life in Ukraine is really difficult," one woman in Kyiv tells the BBC, as other Ukrainians share their fears ahead of another winter at war
This video can not be played
Watch: King Charles greets Zelensky at Windsor earlier today
Edited by Emily Atkinson
The leaders are now taking questions. A Sky News journalist asks Starmer and Zelensky about the US's refusal to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
Starmer says the UK is pushing the case for long-range missiles and that "discussions are ongoing".
Zelensky says both the so-called coalition of the willing and the US will help Ukraine achieve clear security guarantees.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof is up next.
Echoing the remarks of the other leaders, he says "we need to keep Ukraine in the fight" and "maximise support" to the country.
The only way to persuade Putin to negotiate is to increase economic pressure on Russia, he says.
The Netherlands will also "step up our energy assistance" to help Ukrainians through the winter, he adds, in light of Russia's attacks on energy infrastructure.
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is up next.
Putin "doesn't want to stop the killing", she tells the news conference in London, adding there's no indication the Russian leader wants peace.
She says the leaders from the so-called coalition of the willing have agreed to increase pressure, commit to long-term financing and boost Ukraine's defence industry.
"We have taken significant steps with the EU's new sanctions package," she says, adding that the new US sanctions are also an important measure.
"Our promise to you, dear Volodymyr – and to Ukraine and to all Europeans – is that we are willing to continue," she says, rounding off her remarks.
Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte is now speaking.
He says new US sanctions against Russia's largest oil companies will "significantly increase the pressure on Putin" to negotiate.
They also show that Trump is "absolutely committed" to ending the war and bringing lasting peace to Ukraine.
Putin is "gaining little ground" on the battlefield in Ukraine, Rutte says. These "marginal gains" are coming at a "huge price", with hundreds of thousands of Russians dying "for Putin's deluded aggression".
The Russian president is "running out of money, troops and ideas", he adds. Now is the right time to increase the pressure, he says.
Zelensky says sanctions on Russian oil are a "big step", and thanks Trump and other allies for implementing them.
He adds pressure must be applied to all Russian oil companies, as well as its "shadow fleet" and oil terminals.
He adds that Ukraine is carrying out its own drone campaign of pressure, saying long-range capability directly strengthens diplomacy.
"Peace is born from pressure on the aggressor," says Zelensky. "That is what we must continue to do" he says, concluding his remarks.
Zelensky says Russia is carrying out a "campaign of terror against our energy system" and wants to use the winter to "torment" the people of Ukraine.
"Their goal hasn't changed: they want to break us," he says. "They want to break Ukraine and they're doing everything to achieve that."
The Ukrainian president says there is a need to reinforce air defence, put "substantial attention" on the front line.
Sanctions are still crucial in pressuring Russia into ending the war, he adds.
Starmer hands over to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who starts by thanking his fellow leaders for their help.
He says today's meeting of the "coalition of the willing" and yesterday's meeting of EU leaders were "very important".
Today, all the partners have confirmed that they will continue to support Ukraine next year, he says, including with "crucial" financial support.
Japan's new prime minister has joined the coalition for the first time, he adds.
Starmer continues to outline aspects of the discussions had this afternoon by leaders in the so-called coalition of the willing.
"We are strengthening Ukraine's air defence," he says, announcing the acceleration of a missile-building programme to deliver 140 ahead of schedule.
"We will keep up the military pressure on Putin.. through continued provision of long-range capabilities," he adds.
The group will continue to work on security guarantees to uphold "a just and lasting peace" will also stay in focus, he says.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "is the only person who does not want to stop this war", Starmer tells the assembled press in Westminster.
He cites Russia's latest attacks on civilian targets as a "crystal clear" example of Putin's rejection of peace.
"Time after time, he rejects the chance to end the war," he says, showing "yet again he's not serious about peace".
He also says leaders must push Putin back to the negotiating table and will act to take Russian gas off the market.
Continuing his address, Starmer says the so-called coalition of the willing is united behind Ukraine and US President Donald Trump in calling for the fighting to stop now and for negotiations to begin "from the current line of contact".
Trump was right to impose new sanctions on Russian oil firms, Starmer says, adding that the UK and EU have also imposed sanctions recently.
"We must now maintain this pressure," he says.
Five leaders in the so-called coalition of the willing leaders just walked out for a joint news conference in London.
Keir Starmer speaks first. We are "fighting, not just for Ukraine but for the freedom and security" of all British and European people, he says.
"Your security is our security," he says.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is speaking at a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after talks with European leaders.
We'll bring you the key lines here – tap watch live at the top of the page to follow along.
Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring
Russia's key negotiator Kirill Dmitriev has criticised recent sanctions imposed by Donald Trump's administration, calling them "unfriendly".
Speaking after arriving in the US for more talks with American representatives, he says: "Sanctions and unfriendly measures will have absolutely no impact on Russia's economy".
"Potential for economic cooperation between Russia and the US is still there, but it will be realised only if Russia's interests are respected," Dmitriev says.
Meanwhile, BBC'S US partner CBS is reporting that Dmitriev will meet Trump Envoy Steve Witkoff in Miami.
The meeting was planned weeks prior to Trump announcing sanctions on Russian oil and gas companies, it adds.
We can bring you some more now from the meeting of the so-called coalition of the willing.
Addressing leaders, President Zelensky urges them not to "give Russia any reason to think they can finish this war with any outcome that is unfair to us".
"We must all remember that the issues of territorial integrity as well as any alleged trade of lands must not reward the aggressor or reward any future aggression" he says.
"Only a strong and fair solution to end the war will really work. Please support us in this."
As fighting rages in Ukrainian, Russian forces have slowly expanded the amount of territory they control – mostly in the east of Ukraine – and have continued their recent barrage of air strikes on Kyiv and other cities.
One of Moscow's points of focus is the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, together known as the Donbas. Russia has been trying to gain full control of the area along with two more regions to the west – Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
After Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia held referenda to try to annexe all these regions – in the same way it had annexed Crimea in 2014 – but it has never taken full control.
Earlier, we reported on Russian shelling in Kherson – a city in southern Ukraine – in which two people were killed and 17 others injured, according to the head of the city's military administration.
We can now bring you more images of the damage, distributed by local officials:
The group of leaders from the so-called coalition of the willing leaders are currently inside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for talks with Zelensky.
Here's what else is on the agenda:
Anastasiia Levchenko
BBC News
Residents inspect cars destroyed during an overnight Russian strike in Kyiv
Over in Ukraine, most people I speak to say they are more focused on their everyday problems, rather than following President Volodymyr Zelensky's trip to the UK.
Yana Kolomiets, from Odesa, says there's a lack of electricity, heating and water but this isn't the the most "scary" aspect of the conflict.
"The more scary thing is that the Russians started launching guided bombs on our region," she says.
"This is new for our region. I don't know about others but I got used to everything already. I just live in a way I lived before. I keep working."
Tetiana Dankevych, from Kyiv, says power outages and a lack of water and heating has made life "very difficult".
Dankevych hopes that the winter will not be as bad as previous ones. "I hope our energy facilities will be repaired and this winter will not be too hard.
"I don't have a feeling this war will end soon. But I really hope it will, because life in Ukraine is really difficult now.
Anastasiia Zarechenskova, who also lives in Kyiv, says she's not afraid of the difficult winter – and is prepared to relocate to her work place "if things get really bad at home".
"Although some people I know are not ready to get through this and they are planning to leave Ukraine. I understand them," she says.
"And also I feel responsible. We have to unite now. We have to help our armed forces."
We can bring you a little bit more now from the talks between the leaders in the so-called coalition of the willing.
After Emmanuel Marcon, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers brief remarks, which he begins by accusing Russia's Vladimir Putin of rejecting opportunities for talks in the last few days.
"Instead he's making ludicrous demands for Ukrainian land which he could not take by force," he adds.
Starmer says that's a "non-starter", adding that Putin is targeting civilians and energy infrastructure.
"This is the time for pressure," he says.
Continuing, Macron next says that the so-called coalition of the willing has a "defined a strategy to support Ukraine's future security so that it can deter and defend itself against a future attack".
He reiterates "plans in place to deploy a multinational force in Ukraine once hostilities have ceased".
The force will help secure Ukraine's skies, seas and help it regenerate its armed forces.
He adds that this force will have "support and input from 25 participating countries".
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