JUST IN: 🇺🇸🇪🇸 Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is emerging as a leading voice opposing escalation with Iran, positioning himself as one of the most vocal critics of U.S. policy under Donald Trump.
Reports suggest Madrid was already preparing to resist war plans over concerns about Europe’s energy security and economic fallout, signaling a widening political divide across the West.
JUST IN: UBS Bank has stopped withdrawals from its nearly $500 million real estate fund for up to 3 years
UBS Bank now joins other asset managers such as BlackRock, Ares Management, Apollo, Blackstone, BlueOwl, and the Carlyle Group they all under water and their stock is collapsing
Back in June of 2007, Bear Stearns did the same thing at two of their hedge funds. One year later, Lehman Brothers collapsed and the global financial crisis happened.
UBS looked at their real estate portfolio, realized the buildings are not worth what they paid for them and they cannot sell them without admitting HUGE losses.
Commercial real estate office vacancies are at record highs. Buildings are worth a fraction of what they were. Everyone has been trying to avoid marking their portfolios down to actual current value. But they cannot ignore it any longer.
JUST IN: 🇷🇺🇺🇦 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy directly told Reuters that the United States has made finalizing high-level security guarantees for Ukraine conditional on Kyiv withdrawing from the entire Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhansk) and ceding it to Russia as part of a peace deal.
Zelenskiy's “The Americans are ready to finalise these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas.” He warned that such a withdrawal would hand Russia Ukraine’s strongest remaining defensive lines, compromising Ukraine’s (and Europe’s) long-term security. The document on U.S. security guarantees was described as “100% ready” back in January 2026, but it now needs reworking. Zelenskiy linked the delay to Trump’s push to wrap up the war quickly (possibly tied to other priorities like Iran).
He expressed gratitude for recent U.S. Patriot deliveries but said they remain insufficient for Ukraine’s needs.
JUST IN: TETHER ENGAGES BIG FOUR FIRM FOR FIRST FULL FINANCIAL AUDIT
The company says this will be the largest inaugural audit in financial history, covering a $184B+ USDT supply and a complex mix of digital assets, traditional reserves, and tokenized liabilities.
This marks a major shift beyond industry-standard attestations toward full, institutional-grade transparency.
Tether says the audit will provide deep verification that USDT is fully backed, highly liquid, and managed under rigorous risk controls.
The engagement follows a competitive selection process, with audit firms reviewing Tether’s systems, controls, and reporting in recent weeks.
CEO Paolo Ardoino called it a “defining moment” for both Tether and the broader digital asset industry.
Tether also noted it will be moving listed securities in the coming days as part of ongoing reserve optimization, with full visibility expected through the audit process.
With over 550M users globally, Tether is positioning this as a new benchmark for transparency and accountability in digital finance.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸🇮🇷 The US is preparing options for military escalation in Iran, including potential boots on the ground in the case peace talks fail, per Axios.
A White House official says the situation is "fluid" and Trump wants to see if Iran will make a deal, but "if not we will go back to bombing them."
The 15-point plan the US will propose to Iran, according to Israeli Channel 12:
1. Removal of all sanctions on Iran.
2. US assistance in advancing and developing a civilian nuclear project (electricity generation).
3. Removal of the threat of sanctions being reimposed.
4. Iran’s nuclear programme is frozen under a defined framework.
5. Enriched uranium to remain, but under supervision and agreed limits.
6. Missile programme to be addressed at a later stage, with limits on quantity and range.
7. Use of nuclear programmes restricted to civilian/defensive purposes only.
8. Development of existing nuclear capabilities halted.
9. No further expansion of enrichment capabilities.
10. No production of weapons-grade nuclear material on Iranian soil.
11. All enriched material to be handed over to the IAEA within an agreed timeline.
12. Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow to be taken out of use (destroyed).
13. International monitoring and verification mechanisms enforced.
14. Gradual implementation tied to compliance.
15.Additional regional and security understandings between the parties.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Trump White House confirms meetings with BIG BANKS and Bitcoin firms this week to discuss market structure compromise.
Wall Street and Bitcoin are being brought to the same table inside the White House.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong warned that if Congress fails to rein in the US deficit and rising debt, Bitcoin could end up being adopted as a global reserve currency as confidence in the dollar declines, though he also stressed the need to support a strong US economy.
Central banks will not give up control without a fight, a significant shift in reserve currency status would require a catastrophic loss of faith in fiat. Institutional flows into bitcoin are increasing but still pale in comparison to traditional reserve assets.
HE ONCE HELD $500M IN CRYPTO - NOW HE’S BUYING BACK
Ethereum OG thomasg_eth held $538M in ETH, WBTC and DAI at the top of the market in 2021. Now, he’s buying back. He just bought $3M of ETH, and he’s bought a total of $19.5M this week.