First Read

Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff

Cboe Global Markets is exploring the launch of perpetual futures tied to the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) to allow investors to directly trade the index’s cash level, a long-sought capability currently unavailable through existing VIX futures, options, or ETFs, Bernard Goyder reports for Bloomberg.. Speaking at a recent Bloomberg Intelligence conference, Cboe’s global head of derivatives, Rob Hocking, noted that while these highly leveraged instruments, which never expire and were popularized in cryptocurrency markets, could be an ideal solution for trading the VIX, the exchange requires clear regulatory guidance in the U.S. before moving forward. Even as the financial industry pushes to expand perpetual futures into traditional asset classes, Hocking emphasized that standard options still retain significant advantages over linear products, particularly regarding their asymmetric payouts and capped downside risk.

After a 17-year tenure at CME Group, Dr. Tina Hasenpusch stepped down at the end of September to transition away from full-time executive roles following the 2024 birth of her daughter, she announced on LinkedIn. She expressed deep gratitude for her time at the firm and said she plans to remain active in the financial industry by pursuing board and advisory positions. In her next career chapter, Hasenpusch aims to leverage her extensive background in derivatives, financial market infrastructure, risk management, and technology transformation to help organizations navigate growth and change.

Chrissy Somers shared on LinkedIn that she has been promoted to marketing manager for North American retail at CME Group. The former teacher joined CME in 2023 as a senior educational marketing specialist.

Bryony Bushnell shared on LinkedIn that she has been promoted to senior director of corporate communications for EMEA at CME Group.

Former CFTC Commissioner Sharon Bowen, chair of NYSE and a director of Intercontinental Exchange, Neuberger Berman, and Akamai, received the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award from Governance Intelligence.

ElectronX reported a 69% surge in its September trading volume, exceeding 75,000 contracts (75 GWh) with an average daily volume of more than 3,600 contracts, it shared on LinkedIn. The platform achieved record volumes and trade counts across all seven of its U.S. ISO suites, highlighted by substantial increases in MISO (99%), CAISO (75%), and PJM (52%). Additionally, BFUT100 volumes in PJM, ERCOT, and CAISO more than doubled, with a 114% increase, while overall binary options volume grew by 20%. MISO-Indiana emerged as the month’s most active hub, accounting for over 25,000 contracts across more than 1,000 trades.

Rapid enterprise adoption of autonomous AI agents is blowing through corporate technology budgets and prompting a major rethink of how computing is priced ahead of anticipated frontier lab IPOs, report Sam Learner, Nassos Stylianou, Irene de la Torre Arenas, and Rafe Rosner-Uddin of the Financial Times. Unlike conventional chatbots that respond to single prompts, agentic systems execute continuous, multi-step workflows. Because these systems recursively plan tasks, query tools, and review code, they can drive exponential and unpredictable token consumption without human oversight. Early adopters have faced severe budget overruns as a result: Uber exhausted its annual AI budget within four months, while an unmonitored project at Amazon ran 860% over budget, exceeding $1 million.

To rein in these volatile expenses, companies are imposing hard monthly spending limits, caching prompts, and routing suitable workloads to cheaper open-weight models from developers such as Alibaba and DeepSeek. Meanwhile, frontier labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic are facing pressure to overhaul token-metered pricing in favor of task- or outcome-based fee structures, particularly after Anthropic revealed an $8 billion annual operating loss and $518 billion in long-term infrastructure commitments. With forecasts projecting global token demand to increase 24-fold by 2030, aligning the cost of AI with measurable business value rather than raw computational cycles will be essential for the industry’s long-term commercial viability.

AI-related job postings at major Wall Street banks have surged 49% this year to nearly 140,000, driven primarily by a massive 1,721% increase in demand for “agent orchestration” skills. Citing data from hiring analytics firm Draup, institutions like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are moving beyond basic chatbots to deploy complex systems of specialized, collaborating AI agents, fueling complementary spikes in demand for tools like LangGraph and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and platforms such as LinkedIn,
Cris Tolomia reported for Quartz. To manage the risks of these advanced multi-agent setups, banks are concurrently prioritizing AI governance and cybersecurity roles, which are seeing equally sharp hiring increases. Despite generative AI managers commanding a median base salary of roughly $190,000, a persistent shortage of qualified talent is prompting major firms to invest heavily in internal reskilling initiatives to meet their technological goals.

Here are the headlines from in front of FOW’s paywall from some recent stories:

• StoneX to acquire Colombian coffee trader Integra
• CME September volumes rise 22% as Q3 hits record
• Basel Committee flags AI risks as cryptoasset review advances
• ISDA SIM margin model reaches $1trn as tokenization and crypto loom
• HPC wants perps regulated under MiFID II, not MiCA
• ISDA launches digital emissions transactions definitions
• CME Soybean futures hit new monthly open interest record
• SEC proposes crypto custody framework for registered investment advisers
• Marex launches OTC rolling spot crypto derivative
• Lagarde warns AI trading agents could distort market prices
• Appital eyes derivatives expansion as liquidity model grows
• OKX, BitGo expand off-exchange settlement to global institutions
• StoneX, Cotlook ink deal to launch OTC cotton derivatives

Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality, and justice.~JJL

*****

Our apologies for the delay in sending out The John Lothian Newsletter yesterday morning. Our email client, Constant Contact, had major issues that made it impossible to send it sooner. ~SR

Our most-read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:

• Trading Technologies Delivers Complete Multi-Asset Trading Engine With Trafix Acquisition from John Lothian News.
• JPMorgan Strategists See Higher Volatility Into US Midterm Vote from Bloomberg.
• What Was Revealed at Robinhood’s HOOD Summit from Yahoo Finance. ~JB

Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it’s free).

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Trump’s diesel threats could go very wrong — just look at the soyabean; Yes, Nixon’s export ban did briefly suppress domestic prices but it had a huge long-term cost
Gillian Tett – Financial Times
Cometh the hour, cometh the panic — and the performative politics. This autumn Chuck Grassley, the longest-serving Republican senator, has watched in dismay as his party’s polling numbers have wilted amid popular anger over inflation and the Iran war. So, with the midterm elections looming, he and other Republican leaders are urging President Donald Trump to ban exports of US diesel, in a bid to stop record-high prices squeezing voters.
/jlne.ws/4AJqETd

****** Using Nixon’s inflation tools is a fool’s game. Mr. Market will always find a way to bite you in the backside.~JJL

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Inside the Global Market for Elite $30,000 Sheepdogs; Britain’s well-bred border collies are attracting international buyers who see them as indispensable workers, not pampered pets.
Ben Stockton – Bloomberg
Del set off at a tear, turning on a dime as he corralled three sheep around the field. His white socks and the flash of white across his nose were nothing but a blur. Nearby, his trainer stood with a whistle between his pursed lips. The 5-year-old border collie stopped, sank low to the ground and waited. On cue, he took off again. This ballet between sheepdog and flock continued for a few minutes in front of the roughly 200 people who’d gathered on a mild July morning in Skipton, a town near Leeds in northern England. Several dozen others watched via webcam. Then the bidding began.
/jlne.ws/3TE2mcF

*****There is a really bad metaphor and lesson in here somewhere, but I can’t find it.~JJL

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Media outlets say White House will impose a ‘complete ban’ if Trump wins legal battle
Alex Woodward – The Independent
Donald Trump’s words and actions “leave little doubt” that the president will try to “immediately” impose a “complete ban” of three press outlets from White House unless a federal judge intervenes, according to their lawyers. Last week, a judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring the Trump administration to restore White House press passes for CNN, MS NOW and Politico after the president announced he was “banning” them from coverage and stripped their credentials.
/jlne.ws/4dfVGbo

***** You can’t have free markets without a free press. You can’t have free markets without free press. This keeps running in my head. We have been fighting this battle one way or another for a long time. ~JJL

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Thursday’s Top Three
Our most clicked story Thursday was the page to purchase tickets for Odd Lots Live Chicago on Thursday, October 15, 2026 at the City Winery, 1200 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607, presented by Barchart, from Bloomberg. Second was the CFTC’s DCO filings page. Third was Trading Technologies Wins Two Editors’ Choice Awards for Derivatives Solutions Excellence in GlobalCapital Derivatives Awards 2026.

Lead Stories

Cboe Eyes VIX Perpetual Futures as Exchanges Move Beyond Crypto
Bernard Goyder – Bloomberg
Cboe Global Markets Inc. is looking at listing perpetual futures based on the Cboe Volatility Index, as US exchanges race to bring the highly levered instruments that dominate the crypto market to new asset classes. The VIX is a measure of how volatile S&P 500 options traders think the next 30 days will be. Unusually for such a widely cited metric, there is currently no way to trade the level of the index directly. That could change. Once there is more clarity about how perpetual futures are regulated in the US, Cboe will explore listing VIX perps, said Rob Hocking, global head of derivatives at Cboe.
/jlne.ws/4xPCkRL

Opinion – Trump’s handling of Venezuela’s oil money threatens a constitutional crisis
Kim Wehle – The Hill
Buried inside President Trump’s takeover of Venezuela’s oil revenue is a ticking constitutional time-bomb. For months, congressional Democrats have been asking questions about Trump’s financial system for controlling Venezuelan assets. But despite repeated hearings, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will not give Congress a basic accounting of the billions in Venezuelan oil money and other assets that the Trump administration has been collecting and managing through a series of elusive bank accounts. Nor is there clear constitutional or congressional authority for any of this.
/jlne.ws/4yyJMSM

Polymarket’s Going All In on a Huge European Bet
Lionel Laurent – Bloomberg
Head over to Polymarket’s US website and you’ll be greeted with a panoply of crystal-ball trades on everything from the midterm elections to the likelihood of a fully reopened Strait of Hormuz. Try that in France, where I live, and you’ll see something very different: A sober page of black-on-white text under the words, “Illegal website.” That’s because in France and other European countries, regulators see the prediction markets run by Polymarket and its rival Kalshi Inc. as unregulated gambling that dodges the safeguards and oversight of licensed platforms. They also fret, justifiably, about the harm to people from losing money on an addictive, easily manipulated market that’s open all hours.
/jlne.ws/4y8g8Tm

SEC Chair Paul Atkins unveils major crypto proposal for U.S. investors
Arjun Parashar – Yahoo Finance
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules on Oct. 1, aimed at making it clearer how investment advisers and regulated funds can hold crypto assets for clients. The proposal would create a tailored custody framework for registered investment advisers, investment companies and business development companies.
/jlne.ws/4hEuW5G

Exclusive-US tells France and Germany to release diesel stocks or face US export ban, sources say
Kate Abnett, Jarrett Renshaw and John Irish – Reuters
The Trump administration has told Germany and France to draw down emergency diesel inventories to help ease soaring global fuel prices or face a potential US diesel export ban, according to three people close to the ‌discussions. The warning marks an escalation in pressure on Europe as US President Donald Trump considers a potential ban to help bring down US fuel ‌prices ahead of November’s midterm elections.
/jlne.ws/3U2MhgU

US pressures Europe to release diesel reserves as Trump threatens export ban
Oliver Smith, Simon Jack, Archie Mitchell – BBC
Donald Trump has said he may ask European countries to release some of their diesel reserves as he considers banning US exports of the fuel. The president’s comment comes after diesel prices hit record highs on UK forecourts this week, as the Iran war continues to put pressure on the supply of refined fuels.
/jlne.ws/4AQnBZQ

Dogecoin perpetual futures launch fully regulated in the US with capped leverage and tax benefits.
UToday – pluang
Kalshi has launched fully regulated perpetual futures contracts for Dogecoin in the US, allowing retail investors to trade within a CFTC-regulated framework. These contracts feature fractional sizes (10 DOGE per contract), limited leverage (up to 3.8x long, 2.8x short), and benefit from favorable Section 1256 tax treatment, which taxes profits with a 60/40 split between long-term and short-term rates. This offering provides a legal onshore alternative to offshore platforms and aims to expand Kalshi’s crypto futures market, with plans to add futures on metals and stock indices. The launch marks a significant step for Dogecoin’s presence in the US market and offers investors a safer, regulated trading environment.
/jlne.ws/4iWBPBK

White House Reviews CFTC Prediction Market Rule Changes
Johnny K. – World Casino News
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has taken a significant step in its ongoing effort to define the regulatory framework surrounding prediction markets, sending two proposed rule changes to the White House for review as disputes over federal and state authority continue to intensify. The measures were submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a branch of the Office of Management and Budget responsible for reviewing federal regulations before publication. Together, the proposals seek to clarify how prediction market products fit within the legal definition of a swap, a classification that carries major implications for oversight of platforms such as Kalshi, Polymarket, Rothera, and Novig.
/jlne.ws/4rFtmFf

OpenAI says rogue agents may have affected more than 100 organizations
Miriam Waldvogel – The Washington Post
Artificial intelligence agents from ChatGPT maker OpenAI may have tried to bypass security without authorization or negatively impacted systems at more than 100 organizations, the company said late Wednesday. The disclosure expands the extent of known rogue activity and raises further questions about the extent to which AI makers are maintaining control over their newest models during the testing and evaluation stages. OpenAI said it had notified more than 100 third-party organizations of “misaligned agent activity.” (The Washington Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.)
/jlne.ws/3TwRlKo

As Bond Yields Rise, the US Is Flirting With Disaster
The Editorial Board – Bloomberg
Rising long-term bond yields are a global phenomenon, rooted in growing concern about government finances. But the US has led the way in this collapse of fiscal responsibility. As such, it bears outsized responsibility for thinking about solutions. Higher yields aren’t just a sign of persistent budgetary excess. They could also be the start of a dramatic economic unraveling. In the US, net interest payments now amount to $1 trillion a year, accounting for roughly half of what the government borrows. As a result, rising yields could dramatically expand the federal deficit — which already stands at an extraordinary 6% of gross domestic product, even with the economy at full employment.
/jlne.ws/4AMncr9

CFTC Readies Action on Prediction Market Promos, Expected This Week
Luci Kelemen – Bitcoin News
The CFTC is sweeping incentive programs offered by prediction market platforms over concerns that some promotions are misleading, Front Office Sports reported on Sept. 29, citing sources. The review covers incentives for both traders and market makers, and could lead to targeted examinations or enforcement investigations. Chairman Michael Selig has not settled on an approach, but an “action” of some kind is expected by the end of this week, per the reporting. The CFTC declined to comment to FOS, and as of Wednesday, no announcement had appeared on its website.
/jlne.ws/4iT4gk1

No, AI is not similar to the Manhattan Project; What is singular and novel about the current threat is that it was born out of the private sector
Adam Tooze – Financial Times
To describe the current AI race, the historical analogy of the moment is the nuclear arms race. Trump’s White House has directly tied its Genesis Mission for AI to the precedent of the Manhattan Project — the effort during the second world war to develop the original atomic bombs. This historical association is intended to sound urgent, dramatic and reassuring all at the same time. And that is also why it is unhelpful. As serious as it may sound to invoke Los Alamos, the analogy in fact presents a sanitised image of the drama we find ourselves in.
/jlne.ws/4z9x10D

Trump Floats Intel-Style Government Equity Stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic: ‘I Have Many Deals Like That’ (UPDATED)
Radhika Anilkumar Nadig – Benzinga
President Donald Trump is reportedly ruling out nationalizing artificial intelligence labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, but is looking at taking an equity stake in them instead, modeled on the government’s stake in Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC). ‘I Might. Maybe I Could Do That.’ In an interview with Time earlier this week, Trump was asked why he wouldn’t do an Intel-kind deal with OpenAI and Anthropic, he responded, saying, “I might. Maybe I could do that. I have many deals like that — I do that.”
/jlne.ws/4j26FZJ

US Designates Russia’s A7 Network as Transnational Criminal Organization
Decrypt Agent – Yahoo Finance
The U.S. Treasury has moved against the A7 Network, a Russian shadow banking operation it says Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have used to evade sanctions, with a proposed rule that would cut its front companies off from American finance, including in crypto. The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the network a significant transnational criminal organization on Thursday, listing it with addresses in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network separately proposed prohibiting transfers involving what it calls the network’s Sub-Agents, the companies it uses to make sanctioned payments look like ordinary trade.
/jlne.ws/4AFDSAJ

NOVEL PRODUCTS

Prediction Markets

Kalshi to End Volume Rewards as CFTC Reviews $5 Billion in Ether Trades
BigGo Finance – BigGo Finance
Kalshi, the prediction market platform that has become a dominant force in event-contract trading, is discontinuing a program that rewarded users for trading volume, a move that arrives as regulators scrutinize billions of dollars in recurring Ether perpetual futures transactions on the exchange. The company informed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a filing dated Sept. 28 that it would terminate its Volume Incentive Program no earlier than Oct. 13. The submission offered no explanation for the decision and drew no connection to the questions that have emerged in recent weeks about the authenticity of trading patterns on its crypto perpetual markets.
/jlne.ws/4rJ1CQ1

Prediction markets are going mainstream. What does that mean for public health and democracy?
Noah Eliot Vanderhoeven – The Conversation
Polymarket, a U.S.-based prediction-market website, is taking wagers on who will be London, Ont.’s next mayor. There are also markets for Toronto, Windsor and even Stratford. The past two years have seen commercial prediction markets move from a niche forecasting tool into mainstream finance, allowing users to buy and sell contracts tied to the outcomes of real-world events ranging from elections to economic indicators. A 2024 U.S. federal court ruling allowing regulated prediction markets to offer contracts on political outcomes helped accelerate the growth of platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket. As these markets become more visible and their election forecasts reach wider audiences, questions are emerging about what their growth could mean for public health and democratic life.
/jlne.ws/4yrJcG1

Polymarket adds user safeguards as states step up prediction market challenges | Yogonet International
Yogonet
Polymarket is introducing deposit limits, voluntary self-exclusion and access to mental health resources as the prediction market platform faces increased scrutiny from lawmakers over consumer protections, state gambling laws and suspicious trading. The measures allow traders to set daily, weekly and monthly deposit limits. Any reduction will take effect immediately, while increasing or removing a limit will be subject to a “cooling-off period,” according to the company. Users can also voluntarily exclude themselves from Polymarket for 30 days, one year, or for life.
/jlne.ws/4ea901j

European Lotteries calls for clearer regulation of prediction markets
Kathryn Evans – iGB
European Lotteries (EL), the representative body for state and licensed national lotteries across Europe, is pushing for a harmonised regulatory framework for prediction markets. In a press release published on 30 September, EL highlighted the rapid expansion of these products and the potential risks they pose to consumers and existing regulatory structures.
/jlne.ws/4hBWuIR

The Trump administration’s strange affection for prediction markets | EDITORIAL
Baltimore Sun Editorial Board – Baltimore Sun
/jlne.ws/4AJQnet

Cathie Wood Calls Kalshi’s Leadership ‘Phenomenal’ As Ark Invest Takes Stake – ARK Innovation ETF (BATS:ARKK)
Radhika Anilkumar Nadig – Benzinga
Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood is praising Kalshi Inc.‘s (KLSH.PVT) leadership, calling the prediction-market platform positioned ahead of where the industry is headed — a bet Ark is now backing. Wood Hails Kalshi As Ark Builds a Direct Stake “Kalshi’s management team is phenomenal, as it is skating to where the prediction markets puck will be,” Wood said in a post on X. Her comments followed Ark’s Sept. 18 purchase of Kalshi shares across three of its actively managed ETFs, bought directly from private markets. The flagship ARK Innovation ETF (BATS:ARKK) picked up 90,024 shares, the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (BATS:ARKW) added 25,318 shares, and the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (BATS:ARKF) bought 11,252 shares — a combined 126,594 shares across the three funds.
/jlne.ws/4xVGQhG

Prediction markets dominate SBC Summit Lisbon’s final day
European Gaming Editorial – EuropeanGaming
/jlne.ws/3Vqelex

2026 Ford Lecture to address policy challenges, prediction markets
UKNow
/jlne.ws/4yscvIC

Do Media Outlets Need Sponsored Prediction Market Data Integrations? Probably Not.
Dustin Gouker and Eric Ramsey – The Event Horizon
/jlne.ws/3VnVT6s

Sydney Sweeney’s Nude Ad Sparked Fury—Now Novig Is Reportedly Worth $2B
Kurt Robson – CCN
/jlne.ws/4jB8i0A

Sports & Gaming

Caesars and MGM Chiefs Say They Will Stay Out of Prediction Markets
Marcus Chen – Northeast Times
Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International will not enter the prediction market business, their chief executives said this week at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, Casino.org reported. Caesars CEO Tom Reeg and MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle both said the move could endanger the gaming licenses their companies hold in several states. Casino.org financial reporter Todd Shriber wrote that regulators in some states, Nevada among them, have warned casino and sportsbook operators that event contracts could put their traditional licenses in jeopardy. Together the two companies run four of the nine casino hotels on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.
/jlne.ws/3TiPpoN

As private equity, politics and prediction markets reshape sports, is the press box up to the task?
Alex Volonte – The Conversation
It was around a year ago that the podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” released the first episode of what would become a 17-part series into alleged efforts by the Los Angeles Clippers to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap rules. Since then, the podcast team has netted a Pulitzer Prize, a National Magazine Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award for its independent investigative reporting on the story. On Sept. 2, 2026, the NBA released the findings of its own investigation into the scheme, concluding that the Clippers had helped star forward Kawhi Leonard secure endorsement deals with four companies that did business with the team – and had offered those companies business in return – in violation of the league’s salary cap rules.
/jlne.ws/4hxQCAs

‘Absolutely not’: Spurs star Victor Wembanyama rejects prediction market endorsements
Rebecca Salinas and RJ Marquez – KSAT San Antonio
San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama says he wants no part of endorsing prediction market platforms, drawing a clear line as sites such as Kalshi and Polymarket gain visibility among sports bettors. Wembanyama made the comments when asked about the platforms at practice Thursday. “Absolutely not. I will never do that,” he said. “Honestly, I think it’s very sad to see some players promote it, in my opinion. Everybody does whatever they want, but without me.”
/jlne.ws/4e9ydZI

New York’s gambling tax revenue faces prediction market growth
Juliana Kaplan – Business Insider
New York has turned mobile sports betting via apps like DraftKings and FanDuel into a lucrative source of state revenue. This raises a question for lawmakers and state finances: Can platforms that offer sports-related contracts compete with sportbooks — and avoid the state’s 51% tax rate? In the first quarter of 2026, mobile sports betting brought in around $328 million in tax receipts for the state, according to a report from the state comptroller’s office. Nationwide, New York accounts for a third of all state tax collections on sports betting revenues.
/jlne.ws/46WkoKu

Building a better sports prediction market: Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago
Sports betting is ballooning across sports industries, evolving into betting and prediction markets through companies such as Polymarket Kalshi. At the Quinlan School of Business, Noah Henderson, clinical assistant professor and director of Sport Management, is teaching one of the nation’s first courses on the risks and ethical responsibilities of the sports gambling industry. Below, he outlines how gambling became part of the sports experience and how Quinlan is equipping students with the tools to build a better and more ethical version of the industry.
/jlne.ws/3THmbQv

He was banned by betting sites, and filed for bankruptcy. Then he relapsed on Kalshi
Bobby Allyn – NPR
During the pandemic, Thomas thought he would give DraftKings and FanDuel a try. Before long, he formed a habit. “I could have ten drinks one night and then be fine with not drinking again for a year,” said Thomas, 35, who asked to be identified by his middle name fearing his problem gambling history could affect his career. “But sports gambling was different. It really got me.”
/jlne.ws/47tSgyn

Perpetual Futures

Hyperliquid Policy Center, Circle press EU on perps and stablecoin reserves in MiCA review
Zack Abrams – The Block
The Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) wants the European Commission to treat crypto perpetual futures as derivatives under MiFID II, the EU’s existing rulebook for financial instruments first passed in 2014, rather than bring them under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, or MiCA. HPC urged the Commission as such in its response to the Commission’s MiCA review, which opened on May 20. The EU’s executive body later pushed the deadline from Aug. 31 to Sept. 30, and several crypto and banking firms filed responses in the last few days of the submission period.
/jlne.ws/47go1Lv

Chain-based perpetual DEX volume rises to 12.33%
kucoin
According to a report from Castle Labs, the share of on-chain perpetual contracts in global perpetual contract trading volume has risen from 0.11% in January 2023 to 12.33% in September 2026. Meanwhile, on-chain RWA perpetual contracts have grown rapidly, covering traditional assets such as stocks, commodities, and pre-IPO securities, with monthly trading volume reaching approximately $147.5 billion in July 2026, accounting for 19.6% of total on-chain perpetual contract trading volume that month.
/jlne.ws/4hXWMeu

Hyperliquid Policy Center Urges EU to Regulate Perpetual Futures as Derivatives
CryptoNews
Hyperliquid Policy Center has urged European regulators to keep perpetual futures under existing derivatives rules. The group wants product features, rather than blockchain technology, to determine their regulatory treatment.
/jlne.ws/47AAFEU

PERPTools Raises $5 Million Seed Round At $80 Million Valuation For Decentralized Perpetual Futures Trading Platform
Amit Chowdhry – Pulse 2.0
PERPTools has raised a $5 million seed round at an $80 million fully diluted valuation, bringing the AI-native perpetuals trading platform’s total funding to $8 million across two token rounds. The seed round brought in BigBrain Holdings, NEAR, Animoca Brands, Sfermion and Shima Capital as key stakeholders. It followed a $3 million pre-seed round completed at a $30 million fully diluted valuation and led by DEXTools Ventures and Orderly Network. Fundraising began in November 2025, with the pre-seed closing the following month and the seed round following in early 2026.
/jlne.ws/4rNrN8y

World Conflicts

Ukraine Invasion

Putin has told military leaders to abandon rules of war, Zelenskyy says; Ukrainian leader tells FT his Russian counterpart has given the order that ‘there are no rules now’
Financial Times
Vladimir Putin has instructed his military leaders to abandon the rules of war, prompting a steep increase in strikes on civilian targets amid a major push to regain the advantage in the conflict, according to intelligence intercepted by Kyiv. Speaking in a bomb shelter inside a school that had just been hit by a Russian jet-powered drone, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the FT on Thursday that Ukrainian spy agencies had obtained information that the Russian president had scrapped the constraints that governed earlier air campaigns.
/jlne.ws/4z99lte

Ukraine captures 250 Russians in ‘zombie car’ offensive
Memphis Barker – The Telegraph
Ukraine captured 250 Russian soldiers in a sweeping counter-attack using “zombie cars” on the front line for the first time. Brig Gen Andriy Biletsky, the commander of the 3rd Army Corps, said his troops had seized back 68 sq miles of land north of the city of Lyman in Operation Vivaldi.
/jlne.ws/4hYrggv

US Further Targets Iran-Linked Russian A7 Financial Network
Yash Roy and Magdalena Del Valle – Bloomberg
The US imposed a new round of sanctions on Russia’s A7, a financial services firm accused of using a global network of shell companies to move funds for sanctioned businesses, including in Iran. The Treasury Department announced the action Thursday as part of its effort to cut off Iran’s economy, though the measures primarily target a Russian-built financial network. Numerous news reports have also put A7 at the center of a Russian effort to circumvent sanctions imposed for its invasion of Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/4AL3Gev

Ukraine deploys FP-7 tactical ballistic missile in combat for first time, Zelenskiy says
Reuters
Ukraine deployed its FP-7 tactical ballistic missile in combat for the first time, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday. “Ukrainian tactical ballistic missile ‌FP-7. First combat use,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. “Thank you for the result. Next – ‌production.”
/jlne.ws/4dMVi4m

Ukraine Attacks Key Russian Refinery and Oil Pipeline Hub
Bloomberg
Ukraine said it attacked one of Russia’s biggest oil refineries and a key hub in the country’s crude-pipeline network, intensifying its campaign against crucial infrastructure to limit Moscow’s ability to finance the war. Drones hit Lukoil PJSC’s Volgograd refinery overnight, as well as a major oil-pumping complex in the Samara region, according to Ukraine’s General Staff. Fires were recorded at both sites, it said on Telegram, adding that the extent of the damage was still being assessed.
/jlne.ws/3W2fzga

Ukraine Fires Hard-to-Stop Ballistic Missile for First Time; Zelensky says the focus now is to increase production of the Ukrainian-made weapon
Alistair MacDonald – The Wall Street Journal
Ukraine said Thursday that it had launched a ballistic missile at a Russian target for the first time in combat, introducing a hard-to-stop weapon that Moscow already uses regularly to deadly effect. The FP-7 ballistic missile brings Ukraine into a small group of nations that can manufacture the weapons, though it is unclear how successful the first attack was.
/jlne.ws/47wajUz

Russia Is Planning Its Most Powerful Blow Yet to Try to Freeze Ukraine; Ukraine showed European partners what it said were intercepted Russian plans to cut off major cities from power, heat and water this winter.
Constant Meheut and Jedrzej Nowicki – The New York Times
/jlne.ws/47tZXEL

Middle East Conflict

Third aircraft carrier and thousands of troops head to Mideast as Trump weighs new Iran strikes
Konstantin Toropin, Michelle L. Price and Aamer Madhani – Associated Press
The U.S. military is dispatching roughly 9,000 troops aboard a group of ships to the Middle East, a U.S. official said Thursday. The bolstering of the American military presence comes as President Donald Trump warned anew that new strikes against Iran could be on the horizon. The troop movement, which includes a third aircraft carrier, underscores the rapidly evolving dynamic of Trump’s war against Iran as he ponders his next move, with midterm elections in the United States looming large and new signs that the nature of the conflict may be becoming more complex.
/jlne.ws/4iUrVAC

Other Conflicts

Britain leads Faroe Islands exercise to combat Russian shadow fleet
Rozina Sabur – The Telegraph
British forces have held the first land exercise in the Faroe Islands since the Second World War, in response to rising Russian threats in the High North. Royal Marines joined Danish forces for a series of drills which involved rehearsing boarding Russian shadow fleet vessels and defending against hostile activity over critical subsea cables. Wes Streeting told The Telegraph that Moscow was “becoming more reckless and less discreet” in its “hostile action”, including suspiciously mapping the undersea network of cables Britain and Europe rely on for energy and data.
/jlne.ws/4hoRQPN

EXCHANGES OTC CLEARING

Cboe Explores Listing Perpetual Futures on ‘Fear Gauge’ VIX
BigGo Finance
Cboe Global Markets, the largest U.S. derivatives exchange, is exploring the listing of perpetual futures tied to the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), widely known as the “fear gauge.” If introduced, these products with no expiration date would open the door for investors to bet directly on the spot level of VIX for the first time. Rob Hocking, head of Cboe’s global derivatives business, said during a perpetual futures panel discussion at the Bloomberg Intelligence derivatives market structure conference in New York on the 1st (local time), “One of the things that we’re looking at, for example, is VIX.” He indicated that the exchange would move forward with a listing once the U.S. regulatory framework for perpetual futures becomes clearer.
/jlne.ws/4jAEuBl

CME Group to migrate CME STP Trade View front-end UI to Google Cloud
Maria Nikolova – FX News Group
Effective Sunday, November 1 (trade date Monday, November 2), international derivatives marketplace CME Group will migrate the CME STP Trade View front-end UI to Google Cloud. Users accessing CME STP Trade View via the CME Customer Center will experience a seamless transition. This backend system change introduces no functional or visual updates to the user interface.
/jlne.ws/4ys0sv7

CME Group Sets New Open Interest Record in Soybean Futures
CME Group – Cision PR Newswire
CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, today announced that its Soybean futures reached a new monthly open interest record of 1,118,872 contracts in September, surpassing the previous record of 1,063,108 contracts traded in April 2026. “We’re seeing record participation in Soybean futures because the market is facing a unique combination of forces all at once: trade talks are fueling demand, buyers are hedging the incoming U.S. harvest amid rain delays, and Brazil’s planting season is starting just as Super El Nino threatens yields,” said John Ricci, Global Head of Agricultural Products at CME Group. “These events draw participants and have pushed trading activity to new highs. We remain committed to providing the risk management tools clients need to navigate ongoing market volatility.”
/jlne.ws/4rGQe7k

Cboe Global Market’s New KPI Contracts Could Open a New Growth Avenue
Zacks Investment Research
/jlne.ws/4hBwDRh

SIX Exchanges Figures: September 2026
BME Bolsas y Mercados Espanoles
In September 2026, combined trading turnover for SIX Swiss Exchange and BME Exchange rose by a third (33.8%) compared to August, reaching CHF 168.5 bn while the number of transactions rose by 17.6% to 8,190,386. Equities reported the strongest performance on SIX Swiss Exchange, rising 33.8% month-on-month (MOM) and 30.3% year-on-year (YOY). This contributed to an overall increase in trading turnover on the Swiss market to reach CHF 111.9 bn, constituting growth of 28.2% compared to the previous month.
/jlne.ws/4xZz7PU

BOX Exchange sets Q4 2026 short-term options qualifying securities list
TU News
BOX Exchange has published the securities eligible for its short-term option series program for the fourth quarter of 2026, setting out the stocks and exchange-traded funds that meet its quarterly thresholds. The framework ties eligibility to market capitalization or assets under management, options trading volume, position limits and participation in the Penny Interval Program.
/jlne.ws/3VfaT6y

Cboe wants to turn VIX into a never-ending trade: Crypto Daily
Omkar Godbole – CoinDesk
Perpetual futures, proposed by economist Robert Shiller in 1993 and commercialized by the crypto industry, are now being considered by Wall Street for products like the VIX, the stock market’s so-called fear gauge. Cboe is exploring perpetual futures on the VIX, still early, with no contract specs or filing, according to Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/4hWQrjw

CME Group Reports Record Average Daily Volume for September and Q3, Driven by Growth Across Asset Classes
CME Group
Record September ADV of 31.8 million contracts Record Q3 ADV of 29.4 million contracts Record September and Q3 ADV for interest rate and agricultural products CHICAGO, Oct. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, today reported its average daily volume (ADV) reached new records for September, with 31.8 million contracts, up 22% year-over-year, and Q3 with 29.4 million contracts, up 16% year-over-year. Both September and Q3 volumes exceeded prior records set in 2024. Market statistics are available in greater detail at https://cmegroupinc.gcs-web.com/monthly-volume.
/jlne.ws/4hHO42U

DTCC, iCapital partner on private markets infrastructure
Piyasi Mitra – Funds Europe
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the post-trade market infrastructure provider for the financial services industry, and global fintech iCapital have partnered to improve private markets infrastructure, alongside an investment by DTCC in iCapital. The partnership aims to connect data, operations and industry participants across the private investment lifecycle to reduce operational complexity for wealth advisors and asset managers. It aims to support more automated workflows across the private investment lifecycle, shared the firms.
/jlne.ws/3W2AKyI

DTCC Appoints Samir Pandiri As Chief Client Officer
Amit Chowdhry – Pulse 2.0
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation has appointed Samir Pandiri as Managing Director and Chief Client Officer, adding an executive with more than three decades of global financial services experience to its leadership team. Pandiri’s appointment became effective September 28, 2026. He has also joined DTCC’s Executive Committee and reports to President and CEO Frank LaSalla.
/jlne.ws/3THq3B1

JPX Monthly Headlines – September 2026
Japan Exchange Group
JPX group companies undertake various initiatives and disseminate information with the aim of providing the most attractive markets to all users.
/jlne.ws/3VpJ3EH

Korean court overturns KRX delisting rules
Choi Yeon-jae – The Korea Herald
A Seoul court has suspended the delisting of KM Pharmaceutical, ruling that the Korea Exchange’s minimum market capitalization rules were unlawful and invalid. The Seoul Southern District Court on Friday granted the company’s request to suspend the effect of its Sept. 14 delisting decision until a final ruling in the main case. It also barred the exchange from proceeding with liquidation trading.
/jlne.ws/3VM5LXA

LSEG Board Appointment
LSEG
London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSEG) today announces that Amit Zavery will join the Board as a Non-Executive Director on 1 December 2026. He will also join the Risk, Remuneration and Nomination Committees.
/jlne.ws/46ZxiY2

LuxSE unveils the European Safe Asset Gateway to strengthen Europe’s capital markets
LuxSE
In its latest move to contribute to the objectives of the Savings and Investments Union and help foster an investment culture in Europe, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange has developed the European Safe Asset Gateway, especially designed for retail investors.
/jlne.ws/4hBTegS

MEMX Group Completes Rollout of MX2 Options
Business Wire – Yahoo Finance
MEMX Group, a technology-driven exchange operator founded by members to benefit all investors, today announced the successful completion of the MX2 Options rollout. MX2 Options launched with an initial 10 symbols on September 14, 2026. Over the following two weeks, the exchange continued to scale operations until all symbols went live on September 30.
/jlne.ws/4rLaW6e

Miami International Holdings Announces Date of Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Release and Conference Call
MIAX
Miami International Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MIAX), a technology-driven leader in building and operating regulated financial markets across multiple asset classes, will release its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026 after the close of market trading on Thursday, October 29, 2026. A conference call with remarks by the company’s senior management will begin at 5:00 p.m. ET.
/jlne.ws/3VdH2LN

Nasdaq to Hold Third Quarter 2026 Investor Conference Call
Nasdaq
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) has scheduled its third quarter 2026 financial results announcement.
/jlne.ws/3U4oDAH

B1G Numbers September 2026: Key Figures from Exchanges
SIX Group
In September, the combined turnover of SIX Swiss Exchange and BME Exchange was up by a third compared to August, reaching CHF 168.5 bn, while the number of transactions rose by 17.6% to over 8.1 mn. Over the course of the month, the SMI fell by 3.2% and the IBEX35 by 2.7%, resulting in year-to-date performances of 4.2% and 12.2% respectively.
/jlne.ws/4e8ini0

SGX Group named World’s Best FX Exchange by Euromoney for second consecutive year
SGX Group
SGX Group (Singapore Exchange) has again been named the “World’s Best FX Exchange” at the Euromoney Foreign Exchange Awards 2026, reinforcing its position as a leading global marketplace for managing currency risk. As Asia plays an increasingly influential role in global capital flows and currency markets, SGX has become the exchange where market participants worldwide come to manage Asian FX risk. Amid heightened market volatility, investors turned to SGX round the clock, concentrating liquidity and driving record trading activity.
/jlne.ws/4xZus0a

FinTech

Artificial Intelligence

AI agents are rewriting the economics of computing
Sam Learner, Nassos Stylianou, Irene de la Torre Arenas and Rafe Rosner-Uddin – Financial Times
Barely four months into 2026, Uber had already hit its annual AI spending limit. “We budget based on what we know, but things are changing fast in this space,” said Praveen Neppalli Naga, Uber’s chief technology officer. “Every week there’s a tectonic shift.”
/jlne.ws/4xZiTWP

Ethereum Foundation launches zkAPI to let users pay for AI models without revealing identity
Zack Abrams – The Block
The Ethereum Foundation on Thursday launched zkAPI, a system that lets users pay for AI models and other metered APIs without revealing who they are, according to a blog post published Thursday. The Foundation built zkAPI with the Open Anonymity (OA) Project, an open-source AI privacy effort, and it is live on Ethereum mainnet, the Foundation said in a blog post.
/jlne.ws/4xTYJh3

Anthropic Targets Mega-IPO Before Thanksgiving Holiday
Bailey Lipschultz – Bloomberg
Anthropic PBC is seeking to go public as soon as the middle of November, according to people familiar with the matter, after the artificial intelligence model maker pushed back plans to list. The firm behind Claude could start formal marketing for its IPO as soon as the week of Nov. 9, putting it in line to begin trading before Thanksgiving, the people said. Dealmaking typically grinds to a halt in the days around the holiday, which is on Nov. 26.
/jlne.ws/4j0XLMc

Robinhood Gave AI Agents a Trading Account and a Credit Card. The Liability Gap Just Got Wider.
Tessa Vaughn – Forkast
The structural integrity of financial markets relies on a clear chain of accountability. When a human trader executes an order, the legal and financial consequences are well-defined. As agentic commerce moves from experimental pilots into high-frequency retail investment, that chain is being intentionally severed. The launch of agentic trading accounts at the Robinhood HOOD Summit on September 29, 2026, marks a shift where the liability gap previously identified in automated payments has now migrated into the core of equity and crypto markets.
/jlne.ws/4xTS2LJ

The volunteer internet sleuths hunting down rogue AI agents
Gerrit De Vynck and Miriam Waldvogel – The Washington Post
Selena Zhang had a hunch. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, had recently disclosed astonishing details about how its artificial intelligence agents had broken out of their systems, hacked into another company and tried to cover their tracks. Other researchers were hunting the agents online and finding traces of them on obscure message boards. Get concise answers to your questions. Try Ask The Post AI. Zhang, a 23-year-old researcher at nonprofit AI lab Transluce, thought there had to be more evidence to find. She imagined how the agents might act, and she set out one weekend in September to find where else they had left an online trail.
/jlne.ws/4xVHCLK

Microprocessors

Amazon seeks to offload $8bn of Nvidia chips to investors; The move aims to improve the tech group’s balance sheet health as AI spending soars
Rafe Rosner-Uddin and Michelle Chan – Financial Times
Amazon is seeking to offload about $8bn of advanced Nvidia chips to external investors through a new vehicle aimed at strengthening its balance sheet, according to people familiar with the matter. The Seattle-based cloud giant has held talks with investors in recent weeks to gauge interest in the deal, which would allow the company to spin off thousands of Grace Blackwell chips it is deploying in data centres across the US into a special-purpose vehicle.
/jlne.ws/4hpmrg3

Man Charged by US With Illegally Shipping Nvidia Chips to China
Michael Shepard – Bloomberg
Federal prosecutors arrested a California man on Thursday on charges of smuggling computer servers containing $300 million worth of Nvidia Corp. artificial intelligence chips to China in violation of US export controls. Authorities said that Greg Lui, the owner of privately held Earthmade Computer Inc., worked with other unidentified co-conspirators from 2023 to 2024 to ship servers containing the restricted chips to buyers in China without the required US licenses.
/jlne.ws/4rLGDMP

Chinese State-Backed Firm Disclosed Nvidia Blackwell Chips Deal
Andy Lin – Bloomberg
A Chinese financing company owned by several local government entities has funded the purchase of restricted Nvidia Corp. chips, according to documents filed with Beijing regulators, suggesting state support for an illicit trade that Washington worries is fueling China’s AI progress. Over the past year, Semi-Tech Leasing Group Co. has provided capital to another company called Glory View Technology Co. for the purchase of more than 700 servers, the documents show. One contract identifies funding for 32 units of Asustek Computer Inc. servers equipped with Nvidia’s B300 chips, bought from a separate Chinese company about which little public information is available.
/jlne.ws/4rIpIdG

China Chip Smuggling Cases Expose Nvidia’s Blind Spots; Nvidia’s AI chips keep making their way to China despite US curbs. Officials are asking why the company missed red flags.
Mackenzie Hawkins – Bloomberg
In a blurry surveillance photo released by US prosecutors in March, a woman in a sleeveless dress and a messy bun stands in an unidentified warehouse in Southeast Asia, wielding a red hair dryer. Now the defining image of AI chip smuggling, the frame shows her using the hot air to peel serial stickers off computer server packages — part of a brazen scheme to bypass export controls and sneak Nvidia processors to China.
/jlne.ws/4ymYGLv

Kevin Mandia’s new ‘agent swarm’ security startup Armadin raises $255.5M at $2.5B valuation
Julie Bort – TechCrunch
Kevin Mandia, best known as the founder of cybersecurity startup Mandiant, which sold to Google for $5.4 billion in 2022, has raised $255.5 million for his latest startup, Armadin, at a valuation of more than $2.5 billion, the company announced on Thursday. The Series B round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and Accel, with Bain Capital Ventures, Redpoint, 8VC, Ballistic Ventures, Google Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Kleiner Perkins, and Menlo Ventures joining in.
/jlne.ws/4rP3kje

Blockchain

TRON DAO Leads the Conversation on Real World Assets at Korea Blockchain Week 2026
Sponsored – The Block
TRON DAO, the community-governed DAO dedicated to accelerating the decentralization of the internet through blockchain technology and decentralized applications (dApps), moderated a panel at Korea Blockchain Week 2026 in Seoul on the growth of Real World Assets. The conference, hosted by FACTBLOCK from September 30 to October 1, is one of Asia’s largest digital asset gatherings, bringing together founders, investors, institutions and policymakers. Held on the BitGo Stage, the panel “More Assets, More Geos: How RWAs Are Eating the World” was moderated by TRON DAO Research Manager Sam Reynolds and featured Francesco Fabracci, Head of Tokenization Expansion at Tether; Chef Kids, CEO of Pancake Swap; and Brian Smith, President of the Jito Foundation.
/jlne.ws/4xT42x3

Tokenization

Report Finds Onchain Investors Trade Tokenised Stocks While Tokenised Treasuries Sit Idle
Blockhead
Tokenised real-world assets have grown more than 140% in a year to about $34 billion, but the way investors use them onchain bears little resemblance to how the same assets behave in traditional markets, according to a new report from blockchain analytics firm Dune. The report, titled After Issuance: Reading the Onchain RWA Market, uses data through August 31 covering 21 chains, more than 250 issuers and over 2,600 products.
/jlne.ws/4hDDBW7

Connectivity/Data Centers

Data Centers Are a $6 Trillion Time Bomb, Analysts Warn
Joe Wilkins – Futurism
Last year, hedge fund whisperer and founder of the firm Praetorian Capital, Harris Kupperman, issued a blistering financial analysis on the data center frenzy sweeping across the United States. Kupperman’s diagnosis was blunt: because data center components break down so quickly, the industry would need to see some $1 trillion in revenue across 2025 and 2026 just to cover the costs of their hyperscale facilities, let alone start turning a profit. With AI revenue today accounting for only a small fraction of that total, Kupperman’s argument is that the financial logic behind the data center buildout simply doesn’t hold up.
/jlne.ws/4deRqJf

Amazon’s Latest Response to AI Data Center Backlash: $1 Billion
Matt Day – Bloomberg
Amazon.com Inc.’s latest attempt to address the intensifying blowback to an unprecedented buildout of computing infrastructure: a commitment to spend more than $1 billion over the next five years on initiatives for the communities near its server farms. Matt Garman, chief executive of the Amazon Web Services cloud unit, announced the commitment on Friday in a 3,100-word essay that mounts a broad defense of data center construction, comparing it to the establishment of the US interstate highway system. Garman said AI, which requires massive levels of computing power from data centers to run, is already transforming how businesses and governments work.
/jlne.ws/4dggMqf

NZ National Party Wants Data Centers to Bring Extra Power Supply
Tracy Withers – Bloomberg
New Zealand data-center developers will need to provide their own electricity generation to prevent new projects straining the power system and driving up prices, under a policy announced by the center-right National Party. The party, part of the governing coalition, will seek re-election on Nov. 7. It made the data center commitment as part of an energy policy package released Friday in Wellington.
/jlne.ws/3U5nTv4

Nvidia-Backed Firmus Eyes $30 Billion Valuation in Australia IPO
Richard Henderson, Sangmi Cha and Julia Fioretti – Bloomberg
Data center operator Firmus Grid Ltd. has priced its initial public offering at A$11 a share, seeking to raise at least A$50 billion reported by local media. The bookbuild will open on Oct. 6 and close Oct. 9, unless accelerated. The company is targeting an ASX debut on Oct. 23.
/jlne.ws/4hplJ2n

Payments

US sanctions Kremlin-backed fintech A7 for allegedly assisting Iran; Payments group that moved almost $7bn through global banks is designated a transnational criminal organisation
Amy Mackinnon and Chris Cook – Financial Times
The US Treasury has designated Kremlin-backed fintech company A7 a transnational criminal organisation, accusing it of enabling Iran and its proxy groups to evade western sanctions. The measures announced on Thursday would freeze any assets held by the cross-border payments company in the US and prohibit Americans from doing business with A7 or any subagents acting on its behalf.
/jlne.ws/4zgBoXX

Cybersecurity

CFPB Cuts May Leave Personal Financial Data at Risk, Report Says
J.J. McCorvey – Bloomberg
US government databases containing sensitive financial information for millions of Americans may have been placed at risk after the Trump administration gutted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last year, according to a watchdog report. The CFPB — under orders from then-director Russell Vought — terminated leases of four regional offices in early 2025, abandoned technology assets at those locations, and still “cannot validate the security” of the equipment or information it stored, according to an audit by the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and CFPB.
/jlne.ws/4dkxLYu

New Mexico wants Meta to pay up to $40 billion in penalties after data privacy trial
Diana Novak Jones – Reuters
The state of New Mexico asked a judge on Thursday to order Meta Platforms to pay between $35 billion and $40 billion in penalties after a jury found the company had misled consumers about the privacy of their data ‌on Facebook in a case that came out of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Attorneys for New Mexico made the request at a hearing in ‌a lawsuit brought following revelations that the British political consulting firm, which worked on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, harvested personal data from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a ​third-party app without their consent.
/jlne.ws/4z95mge

CRYPTO

Evernorth shareholders approve $1 billion XRP treasury deal, clearing path to Nasdaq debut
Jason Shubnell – The Block
Armada Acquisition Corp. II shareholders have approved its business combination with Evernorth, clearing a key step for the XRP treasury company to go public on Nasdaq. The transaction is expected to raise about $300 million in gross cash proceeds, while investors have contributed XRP in kind, leaving Evernorth expected to hold roughly 473 million XRP at closing. Evernorth joins spot XRP ETFs as a regulated route to XRP exposure. The deal is expected to close Oct. 7, with the combined company set to trade under the ticker XRPN beginning Oct. 8.
/jlne.ws/4rGSRpI

Cryptocurrency’s Regulation Revolution
OneSafe Content Team – OneSafe
The world of cryptocurrency is in the midst of seismic shifts, as discussions surrounding the regulation of perpetual futures catapult to the forefront. With decentralized finance (DeFi) inching its way into conventional financial paradigms, a crash course on regulation has become essential. Entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers must grasp how these fluid frameworks adjust in real-time to keep pace with cutting-edge innovations. For anyone with an eye on the exhilarating, yet intricate, landscape of digital assets, understanding these changes is not just beneficial — it’s imperative.
/jlne.ws/3W2bQzc

Bitget freezes $1.1M of $388M stolen in crypto hack
Cris Tolomia – Quartz
Bitget has frozen approximately $1.1 million of the nearly $388 million stolen from the exchange in a cyberattack last week, CEO Gracy Chen told CNBC. Chen said the frozen assets had not necessarily been returned to the exchange and declined to disclose how much had been recovered. In a Wednesday appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe,” Chen expressed pessimism about recouping much of the stolen sum, noting that past cryptocurrency exchange hacks have yielded little in the way of recovered assets. “Exchanges have a responsibility to demonstrate how they protect users, particularly when something goes wrong,” she said.
/jlne.ws/4eaelFT

South Korea’s Crypto Market Is Getting Older, Quieter, and Smaller
Kamina Bashir – BeInCrypto
South Korea’s crypto market is getting older, quieter, and smaller, according to a half-yearly survey released on October 1 by the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) and the Financial Supervisory Service. Users in their 40s are now the largest age group, daily trading volume fell 44%, and the value of crypto on domestic exchanges shrank by a third in the first half of 2026.
/jlne.ws/4ylMM4C

Two Safe Wallets Lose $305,000 in FlashLoopAdapter Attack
Ahmed Barakat – Cryptonews
A custom FlashLoopAdapter used to manage leveraged Aave V3 positions was exploited in a hack on Ethereum, leaving two Safe wallets with an estimated net loss of 114.09 ETH, or about $305,000. The attacker spoofed a Safe authentication check, then used a Morpho WETH flash loan to repay debt and unlock collateral. The roughly 1,306 weETH withdrawn from one wallet was a gross transaction flow, not the attacker’s net proceeds.
/jlne.ws/4AMo1jJ

Bitcoin

El Salvador Agrees to Halt Further Bitcoin Accumulation Under IMF Deal
Ahmed Barakat – Cryptonews
The International Monetary Fund completed El Salvador’s second and third reviews last night, authorizing an immediate disbursement of SDR 101.96 million, or about $138 million. The release followed a waiver for a missed Bitcoin accumulation performance criterion, while El Salvador program states that no further accumulation is envisaged beyond documented donations.
/jlne.ws/4i02c8M

Robinhood Will Trade Stocks 24/7 Like Crypto. Does Bitcoin Lose Its Weekend Edge?
Sam Daodu – 24/7 Wall St.
Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) has announced plans to offer 24/7 trading for certain U.S. stocks and ETFs, including on weekends. This move could take away one of Bitcoin’s (CRYPTO:BTC) unique selling points: its ability to trade every hour of every day, while traditional stocks stop trading on Friday evening. Robinhood shared these plans at its HOOD Summit in Houston on September 29, 2026, with weekend trading expected to launch soon, pending regulatory approval. This raises the question: what happens to Bitcoin’s status as the “market that never sleeps” once stocks can also be traded on Saturday nights?
/jlne.ws/4hoi1pL

Memecoins

Robinhood Stock Tokens Fueled a $440 Million Memecoin Frenzy
Muyao Shen and Sidhartha Shukla – Bloomberg
Low Ze Sheng has spent the past two years trading memecoins, chasing the jokes and bursts of attention that can send a token soaring before the crowd moves on. Usually, he buys them with cryptocurrencies such as Ether or Solana. Robinhood Markets Inc. has thrown a different kind of asset into the mix: Stock Tokens, digital securities designed to track individual stocks and backed 1:1 by the corresponding shares. Because they can circulate on the same open crypto markets as memecoins, traders can pair the two in a liquidity pool and swap one directly for the other.
/jlne.ws/4rI399b

Trump Memecoin Dinner Returns as Democrats Threaten Scrutiny
Olga Kharif – Bloomberg
The promoter of Donald Trump’s memecoin is marketing another chance for top holders to attend an event with the president, just as Democratic lawmakers threaten fresh scrutiny of his crypto business dealings. The Nov. 22 gathering is touted as a gala dinner for the top 185 holders of the $TRUMP token, with certain participants offered additional access. It is set to be held at Trump National Golf Club and Trump, who has attended previous events for memecoin holders, is advertised as the featured guest.
/jlne.ws/4iVwef1

Stablecoins

The ‘Largest Pure-Play’ XRP Treasury Is About to Go Public
Decrypt Agent
Evernorth, a treasury company built around XRP, has cleared the last major obstacle to going public, with shareholders approving its merger and setting the stage for a Nasdaq listing next week. The company said Wednesday that shareholders of Armada Acquisition Corp. II, the blank-check company Evernorth is merging with, voted to approve the business combination at a meeting Sept. 30.
/jlne.ws/3U4ejZp

USDT Is Returning to Bitcoin After 10 Years. Should Users Care?
Lockridge Okoth – BeInCrypto
Tether’s USDT, a $184 billion digital dollar, is coming back to Bitcoin this month, more than a decade after it first launched there. The new version promises private payments, with most details kept off Bitcoin’s public record. USDT is the largest stablecoin, a crypto token pegged to the US dollar. It returns just as Washington asks whether Tether can police the coins it already has.
/jlne.ws/3VmGovr

NFTs

What Happens to Porsche NFT Holders Now That the Project Is Over?
Phil Haunhorst – BeInCrypto
Luxury carmaker Porsche is winding down its Web3 project, ending support for the Porsche NFT collection and its PIONΞERS CIRCLE holder club. The decision closes a venture that stumbled from launch. However, the tokens themselves survive. Holders keep their PORSCHΞ 911 NFTs, while the brand steps away from a community it spent nearly four years building.
/jlne.ws/4y2JX7J

Politics

Exclusive | Homeland Security Money Financed Pro-Trump Television Ads
Tarini Parti, Marianne LeVine and Michelle Hackman – The Wall Street Journal
The Trump administration used federal funds from the Department of Homeland Security to finance a set of controversial pro-Trump advertisements that recently began airing on television, according to people familiar with the matter. The taxpayer money used to fund the ads that started airing last week came from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an arm of DHS that oversees the Border Patrol and customs and immigration at airports, the people said.
/jlne.ws/4zw8S4P

UK cut out of European diesel crisis talks
Hans van Leeuwen and Joe Barnes – The Telegraph
Britain has been sidelined from European talks about tapping diesel stockpiles to head off an American export ban. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, spoke to Donald Trump and Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, on Thursday night about the White House’s demands for a massive European drawdown of its diesel reserves. EU countries then met to discuss a proposal drawn up by Mr Macron to release 50 million barrels of diesel and 50 million of crude oil.
/jlne.ws/4AKTiDy

Exclusive | Decades After Watergate, Justice Department Reviews Whether Nixon Got a Raw Deal
Philip Wegmann and Sadie Gurman – The Wall Street Journal
For nearly two years, the Justice Department has made it a priority to investigate people who previously investigated President Trump. Now it is reaching back in history to consider whether prosecutors mistreated an earlier Republican president: Richard Nixon. The department is reviewing whether the special prosecutor’s office that investigated the famed Watergate break-in committed misconduct, according to people familiar with the matter, more than half a century after that scandal led to Nixon’s resignation. Geoff Shepard, a former Nixon aide turned Watergate historian and revisionist, recently gave a two-hour presentation at Justice Department headquarters that laid out his theory that the deep state took Nixon down. The title of his 78-page slide deck: “Watergate As Lawfare.”
/jlne.ws/4xWDBqm

Trump defies Democrats, diverts aid for Europe to Latin America instead
John Hudson – The Washington Post
The Trump administration, acting in defiance of top Democrats on the House and Senate foreign affairs committees, has stripped tens of millions of dollars in U.S. military assistance from European and Middle Eastern countries and will give those funds instead to conservative-leaning governments in Latin America, three U.S. officials told The Washington Post.
/jlne.ws/4dkYrbA

Trump mocked for embarrassing spelling error on ‘super intelligence’ pact
Brendan Rascius – YThe Independent
President Donald Trump’s freshly inked pact on artificial intelligence contained a glaring spelling error, triggering mockery online. Signed Tuesday by Trump and the leaders of major tech companies, the “morally binding” pact is designed to put controls on the advancement of AI — which the president renamed “super intelligence” via executive order.
/jlne.ws/4hHO4zW

U.S. Administration

Trump administration is paying $1.6 million a week to keep Voice of America staff on leave
Scott Nover – The Washington Post
More than a year after the Trump administration attempted to dismantle Voice of America, it is paying an estimated $1.6 million a week to keep 420 of its staffers on administrative leave, according to July numbers revealed in a State Department inspector general report published earlier this week.
/jlne.ws/3TFsoMO

Outrage spreads over Hegseth plan for Religious Affairs office at the Pentagon
Alex Woodward – The Independent
Pete Hegseth is opening an “Office of Religious Affairs” at the Pentagon under his direction, drawing alarms that the defense secretary is further eroding the church and state firewall and violating First Amendment protections. Hegseth, who has explicitly framed the U.S. war with Iran through the lens of his faith, has repeatedly invoked scripture and Christian prayer while promising violence against his enemies. President Donald Trump’s defense secretary has also rejected the founding principle of the separation of church and state and believes there is a “spiritual battle” waging between Christianity and America. The newly created office will serve as “a direct line to the secretary” and give military chaplains “an advocate at the highest levels,” Hegseth told troops and officials Wednesday in remarks from Quantico, Virginia.
/jlne.ws/4rFvxsu

Trump says Secret Service wants him to ‘take down’ Oval Office
Dan Diamond – The Washington Post
President Donald Trump said that Secret Service officials have encouraged him to replace the current Oval Office, according to a new interview with Time magazine. “‘Sir, we think the Oval Office should be taken down, and we’ll build a new one, sir,’” said Trump, quoting a Secret Service official. “I said, ‘My ass, you can’t build a new one. This is a special place.’”
/jlne.ws/4rGNQxD

U.S. Congress

Ocasio-Cortez’s Anti-AI Populism Is Over the Top
David M. Drucker – Bloomberg Opinion
Like all effective populists, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez long ago found a bogeyman to blame for voters’ problems: rich people and the corporate engines fueling their wealth. Now, the New York Democrat is staying current with the times by updating the age-old political scaremonger’s playbook to focus on AI.
/jlne.ws/4j27Zf9

Other U.S. Politics

Kalshi is betting big on election markets as states push back
Keely Doll – Louisville Courier Journal
Everyone from Marshawn Lynch to LeBron James to Timothee Chalamet are pushing prediction markets, inviting you to trade on everything. And they mean everything: the weather in San Francisco, the Monday night NFL game, key words in CarMax’s next earnings call, Dancing with the Stars winners.
/jlne.ws/4hImK4t

The Other Threat to Fed Independence; Democrats are trying to politicize a process that has been apolitical: supervisory oversight of bank holding companies.
Todd Zywicki – The Wall Street Journal
Democrats applauded when the Supreme Court reaffirmed the Federal Reserve Board’s independence to conduct monetary policy by blocking President Trump’s efforts to remove Gov. Lisa Cook this summer. Yet Democrats are happily working to politicize the central bank’s other primary task: supervisory oversight of bank holding companies. While monetary policy has long been a political football, decisions about regulatory supervision and mergers have largely remained technocratic and apolitical. Regulators have focused on bank solvency, management capabilities and community banking needs—all concrete, factual criteria. Beginning this summer, 20 Democratic state attorneys general and a mass of left-wing consumer activists have worked to politicize this process by pressuring the Fed to reject charter applications from innovative providers whose products those Democrats and activists don’t like.
/jlne.ws/4hrEHFx

Trade_War and Tariffs

Carney accuses US steelmaker of betraying Canadian workers after layoffs tied to Trump tariffs
Rob Gillies – Associated Press
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney accused the U.S. owner of steelmaker Stelco, a subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs, of betraying Canadian workers Tuesday after it announced layoffs it attributed in part to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs — tariffs Cleveland-Cliffs’ chief executive has publicly championed. Carney singled out Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves, noting that he had applauded Trump’s steel tariffs. Goncalves has called the 50% tariffs “a necessary step” to protect U.S. steelmakers.
/jlne.ws/46SxUPc

Regulation & Enforcement

SEC proposes framework allowing investment advisers, funds to self-custody crypto
Jason Shubnell – The Block
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday proposed a new regulatory framework for the custody of crypto assets by investment advisers and regulated funds. The framework aims to provide a “compliant pathway” for holding digital assets under rules that largely predate the internet. “Since the advent of Bitcoin in 2008, the crypto asset market has grown from a niche curiosity into a multi-trillion-dollar asset class to which investors actively seek exposure,” SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said in a release. “Unfortunately, our rules and regulations have not kept pace.”
/jlne.ws/4juJSpC

SEC proposes crypto custody rules for investment advisers, funds
Cris Tolomia – Quartz
The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules Thursday that would establish a framework governing how registered investment advisers and regulated funds hold crypto assets in custody on behalf of clients. The proposal would update custody requirements under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the SEC said. Among the changes: advisers and funds could store crypto through self-custody arrangements in limited situations, and state trust companies would be eligible to take on custodial roles for client and fund holdings. The SEC said the proposal would also update financial statement audit requirements for registered investment advisers and broker-dealer custodial services for regulated funds.
/jlne.ws/3TBtM32

Microsoft, Amazon Cloud Arms Set to Face Deeper Scrutiny Under EU’s Tech Rules
Samuel Stolton and Gian Volpicelli – Bloomberg
Microsoft Corp.’s Azure and Amazon Web Services are set to be designated under the European Union’s strict rulebook for Big Tech. Regulators are putting the final touches to a Digital Markets Act investigation into the two firms that will conclude that Azure and AWS meet the requirements to fall under the scope of its rules, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision is set to be issued in November but still in draft form and timing could slip, they said asking not to be identified because the process is private.
/jlne.ws/46SxRD1

Singaporean Insider Trading Suspect Loses Extradition Fight
Andrea Tan – Bloomberg
Zhi Ge, the alleged leader of an international insider trading ring, lost his court challenge against a US extradition request. Every legal requirement under the extradition act had been satisfied and he would be surrendered to the US, Singapore District Judge Cheng Yuxi said in a written ruling on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3TioI3z

CFTC Staff Extends Brexit-Related No-Action Positions
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Participants Division and Division of Market Oversight announced today they are extending temporary no-action positions in connection with the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, known as Brexit. [See CFTC Staff Letter No. 26-28]
/jlne.ws/4hBmELV

SEC Proposal Would Address How Investment Advisers and Funds Can Custody Crypto Assets Under the Federal Securities Laws
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed new rules and amendments to provide a tailored framework for the custody of crypto assets for registered investment advisers and regulated funds, i.e. registered investment companies and business development companies.
/jlne.ws/3VM86Sm

SEC’s Division of Examinations Announces New Exam Handbook
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations today published its new handbook, “The SEC Exam Handbook: A Practical Guide on Process and Engagement,” which replaces and expands upon the previous examination brochure by providing registrants with more insight and detail about what to expect during an examination.
/jlne.ws/4xVOxo4

Statement on Departure of Commissioner Hester Peirce
SEC
Commissioner Peirce has served two remarkable tours at the SEC, first as a distinguished member of the staff from 2000 to 2008, and most recently as Commissioner since 2018. We are deeply grateful for her principled leadership and significant contributions to the Commission over the years. As colleagues and friends of hers for two decades, we have seen firsthand the influence of her expertise, tenacity, and quiet strength—an influence that reaches beyond the Commission to our capital markets.
/jlne.ws/4djrHzo

Statement on Proposed Amendments to the Custody Rules
Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda – SEC
Safeguarding client assets is one of the fundamental investor protections in our regulatory framework against the potential misuse, misappropriation, or loss of client assets. At the same time, our regulations must provide both robust investor protection and operational practicality. Rules that are unworkable in practice will not protect investors but merely provide the illusion of protection.
/jlne.ws/4hFlQFY

Roller Coaster Ride: Statement on Proposed Adviser and Regulated Fund Custody Rules; Crypto Custody Rules
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce – SEC
Last summer, two friends goaded me into riding a roller coaster for the first time in decades. The terrifying sense of dread that gripped me as we whipped around the curves and dropped down irrationally steep hills on a ride that was totally out of my control made me think, of course, of investment advisers’ wild ride with crypto custody over the years.
/jlne.ws/3VrcCWm

Statement on Proposal to Address the Custody of Crypto Assets Under the Investment Advisers Act and the Investment Company Act
Paul S. Atkins, Chairman – SEC
Today, the Commission proposed to close a gap that has left investment advisers and funds guessing how to effect lawful custody of an asset class that their clients increasingly demand. This is another significant step toward bringing our regulatory frameworks into the modern era and fulfilling our commitment to cement the United States as the crypto capital of the world.
/jlne.ws/4xYfZli

SEC Charges Mississippi Man with Fraud in Alleged Marijuana Company Investment Scheme
SEC
On September 30, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Thomas J. Moore, III, a resident of D’Iberville, Mississippi, with misappropriating approximately $1.94 million from approximately 20 individuals in connection with a medical marijuana business Moore primarily owned and controlled.
/jlne.ws/4AKRVVA

ESMA calls for MiCA changes in response to European Commission consultation
Zara Richardson – The TRADE
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has proposed amendments to the markets in crypto-assets regulation (MiCA) in response to the European Commission’s consultation on the framework. The recommendations aim to simplify MiCA, strengthen investor protection and address services including decentralised finance (DeFi), staking, lending and borrowing. ESMA has proposed a new regulated service for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) that give clients access to DeFi protocols. It has also called for clearer criteria for when a service counts as fully decentralised, to stop operators using DeFi structures to avoid MiCA.
/jlne.ws/4hBztpp

Firms’ confidence, satisfaction and trust in the FCA rise
FCA
The latest FCA and Practitioner Panel survey shows rising levels of satisfaction, confidence and trust in the FCA among firms, alongside a strong understanding of Consumer Duty expectations.
/jlne.ws/47AFHkM

MAS Announces Senior Leadership Changes
MAS
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced changes to its senior management team, which will take effect on 1 November 2026.
/jlne.ws/4jw1ZLN

Key Enforcement Actions Taken by MAS in Q3 2026
MAS
The table below provides an overview of the key public enforcement actions taken by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) from July to September 2026.
/jlne.ws/47uV4LD

Investing & Trading

The Amazing Stat That’s a Red Flag for Investors
Spencer Jakab – The Wall Street Journal
This newsletter’s readership is growing enough to keep your faithful writer employed—thank you—but why am I thinking so small? The TAM, or “total addressable market,” of news publications globally is $125.7 billion, according to the World Association of News Publishers. If it were possible to buy a share of Market A.M.’s future revenue then that’s the sort of statistic a smart investment banker might mention. A smart investor, on the other hand, would hang on to their wallet. There’s nothing inherently wrong with guesstimating economic opportunities, but the more prominent, inflated, or specific they are, the worse of a sign it can be.
/jlne.ws/4yCHn9t

UK Still Pays a Heavy Bond Market Price for Its Tarnished Image
Alice Gledhill – Bloomberg
The UK government is battling entrenched skepticism about its finances that is adding billions to borrowing costs and amplifying the pain of a global bond selloff. The 30-year gilt yield hit 6% for the first time since 1998 this week, while 10-year debt at 5.4% is also among the costliest in developed markets. That partly reflects historically higher interest rates and sticky inflation. But a Bloomberg Economics gauge implies that the benchmark bond carries an extra “credibility premium” of around 30 basis points to compensate for past policy missteps, shocks and profligate spending, a markup that alone will add £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) to annual UK debt costs by 2029—2030, when the government has promised to balance its current budget.
/jlne.ws/3W4eOmP

French Debt Jitters Fuel Rush to Swiss Franc
Naomi Tajitsu – Bloomberg
The Swiss franc is grabbing the spotlight as a haven against European risk after concerns about France’s debt situation hit the region’s markets. The currency is poised for its best week since April last year versus the euro, in a surprise turnaround after struggling in recent months. Its fortunes have been changed by a flight to safety on doubts about France’s ability to reign in its debt ahead of elections next year.
/jlne.ws/4zbLzgh

Wall Street Loads Up on Derivatives Ahead of Toss-Up Brazil Vote
Vinicius Andrade and Barbara Nascimento – Bloomberg
Investors eager to trade on a Brazilian election that’s too close to call are prioritizing derivatives over outright bets after market favorite Flavio Bolsonaro gained ground on President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Markets are bracing for big swings in the Brazilian real, while options trading on the largest exchange-traded fund tracking the nation’s stocks has taken off. Neither candidate is expected to earn enough votes to prevail in Sunday’s first-round vote, but it will likely provide insight into how Lula — a leftist seeking a fourth term — will fare in a runoff against the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who has seen a recent rise in the polls, shrinking the incumbent’s lead.
/jlne.ws/4ynA3yh

How Airlines Actually Hedge Higher Fuel Prices
Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway – Bloomberg
Fuel is a huge expense for airlines, and even on a good day, jet fuel prices are pretty volatile. Throw in two major wars now effecting energy infrastructure, and fuel prices across the board are higher and higher. Airlines have long tried to manage this expense through fuel hedging, using things like swaps and options to hedge against future increases in the price of jet fuel. David Kang, former group treasurer at Qatar Airways, has firsthand experience hedging for a large carrier, and he tells us exactly how it all works. He also explains why airlines use heating oil as a proxy for jet fuel, how much they can make by raising ticket prices and fuel surcharges, and why airlines and oil refineries aren’t so different.
/jlne.ws/4jA5px8

Gold Trader Alain Goetz’s Network Continues to Prosper Despite Sanctions
Simon Marks, Jinshan Hong, Michael J Kavanagh, Hayley Warren and William Clowes – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3TAeOdq

IG Group Shares Plunge After Surprise Slump in Revenue
Bella Farr and Paul Jarvis – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4hE8IAK

IRS notifies Americans they could get up to $2,000 in free retirement contributions under new Saver’s Match program
Vawn Himmelsbach – Moneywise
/jlne.ws/4yzgBPu

AT1 Niche Turns Into Acute Painpoint of Global Bond Selloff
Tasos Vossos – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4hDG42P

ESG

States sue to stop Trump’s retreat on power plant emissions
Evan Halper – The Washington Post
The Trump administration’s abandonment of climate rules at the nation’s most polluting power plants is being challenged by 21 states, the District of Columbia and three major cities in a federal lawsuit that accuses the Environmental Protection Agency of brazenly shirking a legal obligation. The coalition of Democratic attorneys general, governors and mayors argues in its petition to the court and an intent-to-sue letter to the EPA on Thursday that the administration’s recent repeal of rules that require coal- and gas-fired power plants to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions is illegal.
/jlne.ws/4AKnGxY

World’s first enhanced geothermal power plant completed in just 23 months
Tim De Chant – TechCrunch
Geothermal company Fervo Energy announced Thursday morning that it had started selling electricity from its Cape Station power plant to the grid on September 30, one day ahead of schedule. With it, Fervo becomes the first enhanced geothermal company to reach a key commercial milestone. The power plant synchronized with the grid about a week ago, bringing online the first third of what will soon become a 100-megawatt power plant. The entire site could be much larger, though, with the potential to generate as much as 4 gigawatts of electricity, Fervo previously told TechCrunch. “No team has ever built a project like this anywhere in the world, and we did it ahead of schedule,” Fervo co-founder and CEO Tim Latimer said in a statement.
/jlne.ws/4xS3Y0x

World’s Top LNG Buyer Doesn’t See Qatar Supply Coming Back Soon
Shery Ahn and Stephen Stapczynski – Bloomberg
The head of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas buyer expects disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz to persist, further curtailing flows from a region that accounted for about a fifth of global supply before the Middle East war. “We don’t expect Qatar LNG coming back to the market soon,” Yukio Kani, chairman and global chief executive officer of Japan’s Jera Co., said on Bloomberg TV on Friday. LNG spot prices are double this time last year, and “market participants worry about this coming winter,” he said.
/jlne.ws/4difPxC

US refiners reap windfall profits as wars push up fuel prices for consumers; Oil producer income has drawn scrutiny but lower-profile refiners have posted a fourfold increase in margins
Peter Wells and Jamie Smyth – Financial Times
US refiners are on course to report a more than fourfold increase in profits due to surging diesel and petrol prices caused by Donald Trump’s Iran war and Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities. Eight listed independent US refiners are expected to report combined profits worth $32.4bn in the two quarters since the war began, compared with $6.8bn in the same period last year.
/jlne.ws/4jC3Ezr

UK’s South East Water Asks to Curb Non-Essential Use Due to Drought
Jess Shankleman – Bloomberg
The UK’s South East Water Ltd. applied for permission to restrict non-essential water use by businesses in Sussex as drought conditions deepen in the region. The utility, which supplies more than 2 million customers across southeast England, said Friday that it asked the government for a drought order that would allow it to introduce a ban on non-essential use, targeting commercial and other non-household customers. The measure would need approval from Environment Secretary Angela Eagle before it could take effect.
/jlne.ws/4AQt7vw

Galp Said to Weigh Sale, Partner for Renewable Energy Assets
Thomas Gualtieri and Andres Gonzalez Estebaran – Bloomberg
Portuguese oil company Galp Energia SGPS SA is exploring options to monetize its renewable energy operations, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Among the alternatives under considerations is divesting only part of the assets or selling a stake to an investor, said the people, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. The assets have a total 2.7 gigawatts of power generation capacity.
/jlne.ws/4eaizNL

What the Senate Permitting Deal Means for US Climate Emissions
Zahra Hirji and Leslie Kaufman – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4zwepID

Saudi Arabia Hikes Oil Flow on Key Pipeline to Over 80% Capacity
Salma El Wardany – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3U5ZCoG

BANKS BROKERS MANAGED FUNDS

Asia Bankers Hope Japan, Australia Can Lift M&A From Doldrums
Elffie Chew, Baiju Kalesh and Manuel Baigorri – Bloomberg
Market gyrations, rising prices, military conflicts and artificial intelligence worries have posed challenges for dealmaking in Asia and elsewhere. But pockets of activity in places like Australia, Japan and China have managed to keep transactions humming along. The region’s resilience bodes well heading into the final three months of the year, with advisers hopeful of progress in mergers and acquisitions — provided there aren’t major missteps. The fourth quarter “will be defined by discipline, not dealmaking volume,” said Sarah Su, a partner at law firm Freshfields. “Clients remain focused on certainty of execution over scale.”
/jlne.ws/4xW2wu0

APG Asset Management names new quant fixed income trader
Zara Richardson – The TRADE
Christos Saltapidas has been appointed quantitative fixed income trader at APG Asset Management after 6 years with the firm. APG Asset Management confirmed the appointment to The TRADE. Saltapidas will be based in Amsterdam in his new role, where he will focus on trading government bonds and interest rate derivatives. He initially joined APG in 2020 as a junior asset management professional, with rotations across its quant, research and portfolio management departments.
/jlne.ws/4htY7Iw

Citadel Securities Buys Stake in Wolfe Research for Trading Flow
Katherine Doherty and Sridhar Natarajan – Bloomberg
Citadel Securities is taking a minority stake in Wolfe Research to help win new trading business and add a research capability for its equities unit. The market-maker founded by Ken Griffin will execute trades on behalf of Wolfe’s clients and disseminate its research for a fee to its own customers. Citadel Securities is Wolfe’s first outside investor, according to its founder and managing partner, Ed Wolfe, who declined to disclose the terms of the deal.
/jlne.ws/46YQ5mf

Commerzbank Edging Toward Merger With UniCredit’s HVB, RBC Says
Macarena Munoz Montijano – Bloomberg
Commerzbank AG could be closer than expected to merging with UniCredit SpA’s German banking business HVB after the Italian lender held talks with the rival and the German government, an RBC analyst said. HVB could be valued between €22 billion ($24.8 billion) and €28 billion in an all-share deal with Commerzbank, analyst Pablo de la Torre said in a note Friday. Should this reverse merger go ahead, UniCredit’s stake in Commerzbank would be boosted to about 70% from just under 50%, he wrote.
/jlne.ws/4hIGnJN

Hedge Funds

Millennium Saw Zero Return in Volatile September for Hedge Funds
Nishant Kumar and Liza Tetley – Bloomberg
Hedge fund titan Millennium Management saw zero return amid volatility last month, when inflation concerns pushed bond yields to multidecade highs and hit fixed-income wagers. The $97 billion multistrategy hedge fund ended flat during the period and was up 8.1% through September this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
/jlne.ws/4hZljzS

Quant hedge funds reap big gains from global bond sell-off; Trend-following portfolios have latched on to sharp rise in yields this year as Iran war and strong US economic data fuel inflation fears
Ian Smith and Costas Mourselas – Financial Times
Computer-driven hedge funds are making big profits out of a rout in global government bonds that has pushed US and European borrowing costs to multi-decade highs. Funds using computer models to find and latch on to market trends have been running big bets against fixed income this year and have benefited as the Iran war and, more recently, strong US economic data have fuelled investors’ inflation fears.
/jlne.ws/4dghDXZ

Private Markets

Nuveen completes £10 billion Schroders acquisition
Zara Richardson – The TRADE
Nuveen has completed its acquisition of Schroders. The deal was confirmed to be worth around £9.9 billion by the firms back in February 2026 when the transaction was announced. The deal was first confirmed in February and closed on 1 October, in line with the Q4 2026 timeline set at the time. Schroders shares were suspended and delisted from the London Stock Exchange earlier that day.
/jlne.ws/3TlGjYm

Private Equity

Investcorp Raises $1.22 Billion for US Middle-Market Push
Swetha Gopinath – Bloomberg
Investcorp secured $1.22 billion from institutional investors for its latest North American private equity fund, a shade above its target in a difficult environment for alternative asset managers seeking fresh capital. The Bahrain-based firm attracted commitments from around the world for its fund, which targets middle-market companies in the business, professional and commercial services sectors, according to a statement seen by Bloomberg News. The fund typically targets firms with earnings of between $10 million and $50 million.
/jlne.ws/3VpN7Vn

Partners Group splits flagship private equity fund as clients demand cash; Swiss firm had already capped redemptions at 5% in June
Alexandra Heal – Financial Times
Partners Group is overhauling a flagship private equity fund months after it capped redemptions and is considering doing the same on its other vehicles as investors clamour to withdraw cash. The Swiss firm plans to split the holdings in its €6.6bn European fund for wealthy individuals into a portfolio of older, worse-performing assets and a separate pool of newer investments that it hopes will deliver higher returns, according to a statement by the group and a person familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/4y2qGTD

WORK MGMT

Employers Added 29,000 Jobs in September, and Unemployment Rose Slightly
Konrad Putzier – The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. added 29,000 jobs in September, far short of expectations, in a sign that the labor market remains steady but may not be able to deliver consistent and sizable employment gains like it did in the past. The numbers The jobs number missed analysts’ expectations for 84,000 jobs. Monthly employment numbers can be volatile, so investors and policymakers tend to focus on the unemployment rate, which has remained low all year. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate edged up to 4.2%. That was up from 4.1% the previous month but still at a historically low level that indicates that the labor market remains generally healthy. Economists had expected 4.1%.
/jlne.ws/4ys3bVn

Wall Street AI hiring surges 49% on demand for agent skills
Cris Tolomia – Quartz
AI-related job postings at major banks including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Capital One surged 49% this year compared with 2025, totaling 139,819 listings, based on data from enterprise hiring analytics firm Draup that was shared with CNBC. Leading that surge is a set of skills centered on AI agents. Chief among them is agent orchestration — coordinating multiple agents to collaborate on a shared objective — which appeared in job postings 1,721% more often this year, per Draup, whose methodology draws on public listings and platforms such as LinkedIn.
/jlne.ws/4j27X71

Wellness Exchange

I improved my grip strength in six weeks (and can now open jam jars)
Kate Mulvey – The Telegraph
When it comes to my health, I’d always thought I was bobbing along quite nicely. After all, I was active and always got in my 10,000 steps each day. But my bubble burst over breakfast earlier this summer when I failed to open a jar of strawberry jam. Being rendered red-faced and spluttering over my morning toast caught me completely off guard, and over the next few weeks I realised that everyday chores had become more of a strain. Lugging heavy groceries home from the supermarket was exhausting – my hands simply didn’t have the strength.
/jlne.ws/4z5rhF5

Scientists Are Learning How to Control HIV Without Drugs; Doctors have shown the immune system can be primed to keep the virus in check — a promising advance just as US funding cuts threaten future research.
Jason Gale – Bloomberg
When Steven Deeks first walked into Ward 86 at San Francisco General Hospital in 1993, it didn’t look like one of the world’s leading AIDS clinics. It was crowded, grimy and squeezed into an aging red-brick building. Visitors came from around the world to see how San Francisco was confronting the epidemic, only to stare in disbelief at the cramped facilities. Outside its walls, AIDS was nearing its deadliest point in the city, killing more than three people a day and devastating the gay community. Most of those dying were men younger than 45. Only a handful of HIV drugs had been approved. They were often toxic and could slow the disease, but none could reliably suppress the virus or prevent AIDS from progressing.
/jlne.ws/4iW6CP6

This common sleep disorder can be mistaken for cognitive decline
Kathleen Felton – The Washington Post
It’s not unusual to be a little forgetful or have trouble concentrating as you get older. But writing off those symptoms as “normal” signs of aging could mean missing another possible cause: obstructive sleep apnea. The common condition causes you to briefly stop breathing throughout the night, sometimes 30 or more times an hour in severe cases. For many people with sleep apnea, feeling unusually tired during the day is what tips them off that something isn’t quite right with their sleep. But it doesn’t happen to everyone. “There are a fair number of people who just don’t seem to get as sleepy,” said David Rapoport, an internist and director of research in integrative sleep medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
/jlne.ws/4zaXGKD

Regions

Chloe Cornish and Arash Massoudi – Financial Times
Khaldoon al-Mubarak rarely appears ruffled. One of Abu Dhabi’s most powerful non-royals, he straddles global finance, diplomacy and football with a polished assurance that mirrors the emirate’s meticulously managed image. But Mubarak has never hidden his frustration over the Premier League’s probe into Manchester City’s finances, an eight-year saga that has cast a shadow over the club’s transformation from mid-table laggards to a trophy-winning machine since Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan bought it in 2008.
/jlne.ws/4jC3zvD

ANZ to Drop Scandal-Hit KPMG Australia as Auditor After 57 Years
Richard Henderson – Bloomberg
ANZ Group Holdings Ltd. will part ways with KPMG Australia as its longtime external auditor, adding pressure on the accounting giant that has been grappling with the fallout from allegations it improperly used confidential client information to win business. The Melbourne-based bank “will commence a competitive tender process,” to replace KPMG as its external auditor, the lender said in a statement on Friday. ANZ has used KPMG’s external audit service since 1969 and “this length is no longer considered appropriate and has been under consideration by the Board for some time,” according to the statement.
/jlne.ws/4xSvpax

Derek vs Derek: ‘Most family farms will be gone in the next 30 years’
Guy Kelly – The Telegraph
At its narrowest point, no more than a metre of hedge separates Derek Banbury’s west Devon land from that of his next-door neighbour, Derek Gow. They are both farmers, both stout men with a certain vintage and runaway hairline, and both love their country – or at least love the country. They should, in theory, see eye to eye. And they do, just not on matters related to farming. On that score, the metre of hedge separating them can seem like an endless chasm. “He says everything I do is wrong…” Gow sighs, shortly after the three of us start a conference call. Banbury murmurs in agreement. “Well, yeah. It’s rubbish.”
/jlne.ws/4jzZKHo

Germany Explores Ways to Avoid Other UniCredit-Style Takeovers
Arno Schuetze and Kamil Kowalcze – Bloomberg
Germany is studying legal changes to avoid a repeat of UniCredit SpA‘s takeover of Commerzbank AG, where the Italian suitor was able to discreetly build large derivatives positions and surprise the bank as well as the government. Lawmakers are looking at options such as raising disclosure requirements when investors use derivatives to build stakes, people familiar with the matter said. They’re also studying whether a potential acquirer should be forced to make another mandatory offer when their stake exceeds 50%, they added, asking for anonymity because the discussions aren’t public. Under current rules, such a bid is only required once, after their stake reaches 30%.
/jlne.ws/3TEz5yx

Bolivia arrests attorney-general after US accuses him of protecting drug traffickers; Move comes as the country deepens ties with Washington following the election of centre-right president Rodrigo Paz
Joe Daniels – Financial Times
Bolivia arrested attorney-general Roger Mariaca and 13 others in a series of overnight raids on Wednesday, days after the US accused him of protecting drug traffickers. Bolivia’s interior minister Marco Antonio Oviedo said on Thursday that four senior officials from the attorney-general’s office were among those arrested and that Mariaca would face charges of money laundering and drug trafficking.
/jlne.ws/46XFRm8

MISC

What the Man City Cheating Scandal Means for the Premier League
Julia Press, David Fox and David Gura – Bloomberg
The Premier League has found its top-ranked club, the star-studded and highly decorated Manchester City, guilty of artificially boosting financial results by more than £900 million over nine years. The franchise used “sham” contracts to build an unprecedented competitive advantage. The team has until Oct. 2 to respond to the charges.
/jlne.ws/4zg1Xwp

“We’re not asking for charity”: Wikimedia CEO calls out AI for unpaid data use
Ina Fried – Yahoo Finance
how people find information, with page views falling 8% in the latest year, new Wikimedia Foundation CEO Bernadette Meehan told Axios. Why it matters: Wikipedia is a crucial source of information for AI models, but those same models increasingly allow people to get Wikipedia-derived information without ever visiting the site — potentially threatening the ecosystem that keeps the online encyclopedia running.
/jlne.ws/4ALCzzZ