The Russia-Ukraine War Rages On

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Recently, I was asked to comment on the Russia-Ukraine War its current status on the battlefield and which side had the upper hand. And my response was that I simply didn’t know. I’ve heard the narrative that Ukraine is reeling and that Russia may soon “win” [.].

AMINA Receives License to Offer Crypto Services in Hong Kong

The post AMINA Receives License to Offer Crypto Services com. Swiss crypto bank AMINA Bank AG said it has secured regulatory approval in Hong Kong to offer crypto trading and custody services to institutional clients in the region, adding its the first international bank to receive such permission. AMINA said the “Type 1 license uplift” received from the Securities and Futures Commission would help it address a gap in the Hong Kong institutional crypto market, which has faced limited access to bank-grade crypto services due to the region’s high regulatory compliance standards. The license will allow AMINA’s Hong Kong subsidiary to offer 13 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), USDC (USDC), Tether (USDT) and major decentralized finance tokens. 📢 Crypto trading and custody now available at AMINA Hong Kong! Today, AMINA becomes the first international banking group to launch comprehensive crypto trading and custody services in Hong Kong. What this means for institutions, corporates, family offices, and UHNWI. pic. twitter. com/74EtwDV9Bs AMINA Bank (@AMINABankGlobal) November 18, 2025 It comes as AMINA reported a 233% increase in trading volume on Hong Kong crypto exchanges in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, indicating that both retail and institutional traders are increasingly embracing the asset class. Michael Benz, head of AMINA for Hong Kong, stated that the license would enable the company to expand into private fund management, structured products, derivatives and tokenized real-world assets, thereby providing a wider range of crypto offerings for its client base. Hong Kong courts international crypto firms Hong Kong has been positioning itself as a global crypto hub, and the latest approval could encourage other foreign firms to consider the market. While AMINA claims to be the first international firm to win a Type 1 license upgrade, it is entering a market already serviced by local players such as Tiger Brokers, HashKey, and others. Hong Kong launched new stablecoin rules in.

AI Coding Startup Loveable Sees Rapid Growth

Swedish artificial intelligence coding startup Lovable says it has reached $200 million in annual recurring revenue. Lovable CEO Anton Osika discusses what’s driving the company’s growth and its plans to open new offices in the US with Caroline Hyde on “Bloomberg Tech.” (Source: Bloomberg)

BoE’s Pill: Policymakers should be cautious

The post BoE’s Pill: Policymakers should be cautious appeared com. Bank of England (BoE) Chief Economist Huw Pill spoke at an interview with Reuters in the Bank of England in London on Tuesday. He said that underlying inflation dynamics in the UK are lower than headline inflation suggests and that policymakers should be cautious about over-interpreting. latest changes in key data Key takeaways Underlying inflation dynamics in the UK are lower than headline inflation suggests. Policymakers should be cautious about over-interpreting latest changes in key data. We haven’t seen the moderation in key nominal data that we would have expected in the past. Recent private-sector surveys have presented a less bearish picture of the economy than official figures. I expect the QE portfolio held for monetary policy purposes to be wound down to a very low level.” Pound Sterling FAQs The Pound Sterling (GBP) is the oldest currency in the world (886 AD) and the official currency of the United Kingdom. It is the fourth most traded unit for foreign exchange (FX) in the world, accounting for 12% of all transactions, averaging $630 billion a day, according to 2022 data. Its key trading pairs are GBP/USD, also known as ‘Cable’, which accounts for 11% of FX, GBP/JPY, or the ‘Dragon’ as it is known by traders (3%), and EUR/GBP (2%). The Pound Sterling is issued by the Bank of England (BoE). The single most important factor influencing the value of the Pound Sterling is monetary policy decided by the Bank of England. The BoE bases its decisions on whether it has achieved its primary goal of “price stability” a steady inflation rate of around 2%. Its primary tool for achieving this is the adjustment of interest rates. When inflation is too high, the BoE will try to rein it in by raising interest rates, making it more expensive for people.