Month: May 2023

South African Currency Plunges to New Low Versus the Dollar a Day After the US Accused Country of Secretly Supplying Ammunition to Russia

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The South African currency’s exchange rate versus the U.S. dollar plunged to a new all-time low of ZAR19.51:US$1 on May 12. The rand’s latest fall came a day after the U.S. ambassador to South Africa accused the country of secretly supplying weapons to Russia. Banking giant JP Morgan said it now projects South Africa’s gross … Read more

10 Southeast Asian Nations Challenge Dollar Dominance With Push for Local Currencies

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The leaders of 10 Southeast Asian nations, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), have agreed to “encourage the use of local currencies for economic and financial transactions.” The group comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This move will help them reduce their reliance on the U.S. … Read more

US Government Faces ‘Significant Risk’ of Default in June, Congressional Budget Office Warns

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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has stressed that “there is a significant risk that the Treasury will run out of funds at some point in the first two weeks of June” if the debt ceiling is not raised or suspended. The CBO’s projection is in line with the estimate by the Treasury Department that a … Read more

G7 Nations Discuss Countering China’s ‘Economic Coercion’

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The Group of Seven (G7) countries are discussing ways to counter China’s “economic coercion” against other nations, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has shared. Noting that Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the European Union share similar concerns, she emphasized that any action by the U.S. will be “narrowly scoped and targeted at … Read more

Ethereum Patch Set to Fix Transaction Finality Challenges After Second Bout Disrupts Network

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On Friday, Ethereum’s Beacon chain encountered yet another bout of transaction finality challenges, reminiscent of the glitch experienced on May 11, 2023. For over an hour, the blockchain stopped the process of finalizing blocks. However, Superphiz, an Ethereum developer, emphasized that despite this setback, “No transactions were halted” and the incident had “zero impact on … Read more