Coinbase seeking SEC approval to offer blockchain-based equities

Cryptocurrency

Stocks

Summary:

The plan would enable Coinbase to offer digital tokens that represent ownership in publicly listed companies, effectively merging traditional equity markets with blockchain infrastructure.

Coinbase is seeking permission from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch blockchain-based equities, Reuters reported on June 17, citing the exchange’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal.

The plan would enable Coinbase to offer digital tokens that represent ownership in publicly listed companies, effectively merging traditional equity markets with blockchain infrastructure.

If greenlit, this step could place the exchange in direct competition with mainstream retail brokers such as Robinhood and Charles Schwab.

New product, familiar hurdles

Grewal told the newswire the initiative is a “huge priority” for the exchange, which aims to secure a “no action letter” or similar regulatory relief. This would signal the SEC’s intent not to challenge the launch under current securities laws.

Tokenized equities, digital representations of stocks traded on a blockchain, are often touted as a way to cut costs, accelerate settlement times, and enable around-the-clock trading.

Despite the promise, they remain largely experimental in the U.S. due to gaps in regulatory clarity and limited liquidity in secondary markets.

Grewal did not confirm whether Coinbase has formally submitted a request to the SEC or disclosed a timeline for rollout. He noted that greater certainty from regulators could finally unlock broader institutional interest in tokenized assets.

Shifting policy

Coinbase is not alone in chasing tokenized shares. Rival exchange Kraken unveiled its own version, dubbed xStocks, last month, but only for select jurisdictions outside the U.S. due to domestic regulatory roadblocks.

The push comes amid a friendlier environment for crypto firms under President Donald Trump’sadministration. This year, the SEC dropped multiple lawsuits against major exchanges, including Coinbase, and assembled a new task force to draft modern digital asset guidelines.

For Coinbase, branching into tokenized equities represents both a fresh source of revenue and a chance to blur the lines between traditional brokerage services and DeFi. Whether U.S. regulators will embrace that vision remains to be seen.

Source: Cryptoslate

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Manuel

Political

Economic

Some sad news for America’s motor sports enthusiasts: The GOP’s “one big, beautiful bill” might not give you a tax break on a new four-wheeler, after all.

Senate Republicans on Monday night unveiled their version of the legislation’s tax section, which includes a number of departures from the text passed by the House last month. Among them are several trims to the populist tax breaks advocated by President Trump: Cuts for workers who earn tips or work overtime get pared back some, as does a deduction for auto loan interest that lower-chamber lawmakers would have extended to ATV and RV purchases too.

Here’s a quick rundown of the Senate bill and some notable tweaks. One thing to keep in mind: All these breaks end after 2028 in order to reduce their cost on paper. Most experts assume there will be some pressure to renew them.

No taxes on $25,000 worth of tips

The Senate bill includes Trump’s signature campaign tax proposal, but reins it in slightly compared to the House version. It would shield up to $25,000 worth of tips from federal income taxes by letting filers deduct them from their returns. (They’d still owe Medicare and Social Security payroll taxes on those earnings). The break is available to itemizers and non-itemizers alike, but starts phasing out for individuals who earn at least $150,000 a year, or $300,000 for joint filers.

The House version is slightly more generous, placing no limit on how much tip income employees could deduct. It would bar “highly compensated” employees from receiving the break, currently defined as individuals making more than $160,000.

To keep Americans from abusing the measure by swapping their regular salary for gratuities, the new deduction will only be available to workers in jobs “which customarily and regularly received tips” prior to 2025, like waiters and Uber drivers. The Treasury secretary will also be required to create a list of eligible occupations.

No taxes on $12,500 worth of overtime

The Senate also gave this break a bit of a haircut. Under its version, workers can deduct up to $12,500 worth of overtime pay from their income taxes; the benefit begins phasing out for households making over $150,000. Under the House bill, there was no limit to how much overtime households can deduct, though highly compensated employees aren’t eligible.

One nuance here: Under the proposal, workers can only deduct the 50% bonus they are paid for overtime under federal labor law. In other words, the “half” in “time-and-a-half” would be tax-free.

Source: Yahoo Finance

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Owen Li

Economic

U.S. retail sales dropped more than expected in May, weighed down by a decline in motor vehicle purchases as a rush to beat potential tariff-related price hikes ebbed, but consumer spending remains supported by solid wage growth for now.

The largest decline in sales in four months reported by the Commerce Department on Tuesday added to moderate job growth last month in suggesting that domestic demand was softening. That was reinforced by other data showing production at factories, outside motor vehicle assembly, decreased in May.

President Donald Trump's aggressive and often shifting tariff position has heightened economic uncertainty, making it difficult for businesses to plan ahead. Federal Reserve officials meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to leave the U.S. central bank's benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in the 4.25%-4.50% range while monitoring the fallout from the import duties and rising tensions in the Middle East.

"Tariff announcements have had a clear impact on the timing of large-ticket purchases, notably autos, but there are few signs yet that tariffs are leading to a general pullback in consumer spending," said Michael Pearce, deputy chief economist at Oxford Economics. "We expect a more marked slowdown to take hold in the second half of the year, as tariffs begin to weigh on real disposable incomes."

Retail sales fell 0.9% last month, the largest decrease since January, after a downwardly revised 0.1% dip in April, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said. The second straight monthly decline unwound the bulk of the tariff-driven surge in March. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales, which are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation, decreasing 0.7% after a previously reported 0.1% gain in April.

They increased 3.3% year-on-year in May.

Sales last month were also held down by lower receipts at service stations because of cheaper gasoline as the White House's protectionist trade policy has raised fears over global growth, restraining oil prices. But hostilities between Israel and Iran have boosted oil prices. A 25% duty on imported motor vehicles and trucks came into effect in April. Unseasonably cooler weather likely also hurt sales.

A column chart titled "Monthly change in US retail sales" that tracks the metric over the last year.

Receipts at auto and parts dealerships tumbled 3.5%. Sales at building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers dropped 2.7%. Receipts at service stations fell 2.0%, while those at electronics and appliance stores slipped 0.6%.

Sales at food services and drinking places, the only services component in the report, declined 0.9%. Economists view dining out as a key indicator of household finances.

But online sales jumped 0.9%, while those at clothing retailers increased 0.8%. Furniture store sales soared 1.2%. Sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book store sales advanced 1.3%.

Retail sales excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services increased 0.4% in May after an upwardly revised 0.1% fall in April.

These so-called core retail sales, which correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product, were previously reported to have dropped 0.2% in April.

A column chart titled "Monthly change in US core retail sales" that tracks the metric over the last year.

DOWNSIDE RISKS MOUNTING

Economists estimated that growth in consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, was so far this quarter tracking at least a 2.0% annualized rate after slowing to a 1.2% pace in the first quarter.

The Atlanta Fed is forecasting GDP rebounding at a 3.5% annualized rate in the second quarter. The anticipated surge will largely reflect a reversal in imports, which have fallen sharply as the frontloading of goods fizzled. The economy contracted at a 0.2% pace in the January-March quarter.

Downside risks to consumer spending are, however, rising. The labor market is slowing, student loan repayments have resumed for millions of Americans and household wealth has been eroded amid tariff-induced stock market volatility. Economic uncertainty could lead to precautionary saving.

"The outlook for consumer spending is cloudy," said Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank.

Stocks on Wall Street fell. The dollar rose against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury yields fell.

Economists said retailers likely offered discounts last month, adding that could explain part of the benign consumer price data in May. They, however, expected price pressures to build up in the month ahead.

That thesis was supported by a separate report from the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics showing import prices, excluding fuels and food, increased 0.4% in May after advancing 0.5% in April. In the 12 months through May, the so-called core import prices increased 1.3%.

Core import prices are being driven by dollar weakness, with the greenback down about 6.2% this year on a trade-weighted basis. Trump's aggressive trade posture has shaken investors' confidence in the dollar, eroding the appeal of U.S. assets.

"This is another sign that inflation will pick up this summer and into the fall as prices start to reflect the higher costs for goods from enacted tariffs," said Ben Ayers, senior economist at Nationwide.

A third report from the Fed showed manufacturing output edged up 0.1% in May, lifted by a 4.9% jump in motor vehicle and 1.1% rise in aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment production. That followed a 0.5% decline in April.

But excluding motor vehicles, factory output fell 0.3% amid declines in fabricated metal products, machinery and nonmetallic mineral products. There was also a steep decrease in energy nondurable consumer goods production.

Manufacturing, which accounts for 10.2% of the economy, relies heavily on imported raw materials.

Trump has defended the duties as necessary to revive a long-declining U.S. industrial base, but economists say that cannot be accomplished in a short period of time, citing high production and labor costs as among the challenges.

"Continued uncertainty around where trade policy will ultimately land is preventing many businesses from taking on new capital expenditures, unsure of the policy and underlying demand environment," said Shannon Grein, an economist at Wells Fargo. "We expect manufacturing to continue to tread water in the months ahead."

Source: Reuters

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Adam

Commodity

Gold is expected to sink back below $3,000 an ounce in the coming quarters as a record-setting run peters out, according to Citigroup Inc., calling time on one of the standout rallies in commodities.

“Our work suggests that gold returns to about $2,500 to $2,700 an ounce by the second half of 2026,” analysts including Max Layton said in a report. The slump may be driven by weaker investment demand, improving global growth prospects, and rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, they said.

Bullion has soared almost 30% this year, setting a record in April, as US President Donald Trump’s disruptive trade policies and the crisis in the Middle East spurred haven demand. The metal’s ascent has also been underpinned by concerns about the US deficit and assets, as well as by consistent buying by central banks as they sought to diversify reserves.

Declining investment demand for gold from the fourth quarter of 2025 may come from “any modest improvement in global growth confidence” as a stimulatory US budget takes effect, and Trump’s trade and other policies become less bearish, the Citi analysts said. Further, “we see a lot of scope for the Fed to cut from restrictive policy to neutral,” they added.

In the bank’s base case — which carried a 60% probability — gold was expected to consolidate above $3,000 an ounce over the next quarter, then head lower. Its bull case — with 20% odds — flagged scope for a fresh record in the third quarter on concerns about tariffs, geopolitics and stagflation. The bear case — also at a 20% chance — saw a selloff, in part on speedy tariff resolutions.

Spot gold last traded near $3,388 an ounce. Prices fluctuated on Tuesday, after Trump first called for an evacuation of Tehran amid the conflict between Israel and Iran, then departed from a Group of Seven summit early.

In outlooks for other metals, Citi said it was very bullish on both aluminum and copper. The lightweight metal “is highly leveraged to an uptick in global growth and sentiment,” the analysts said.

Source: Bloomberg

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Adam

In a year of shocks, turmoil, and tariffs, investor sentiment has been whipped to and fro as the crowd struggles to assess the outlook for risk and reward. But as 2025 approaches its mid-point, stocks in the industrial sector have found their footing and are now the performance leader, based on a set of ETFs through Monday’s close (June 16).

The Industrial Select Sector SPDR® Fund (NYSE:XLI) is up 9.3% year to date, modestly ahead of communications (XLC), the second-best performer. The premium is considerably higher compared with the broad stock market (SPY), which is up 3.1% so far this year.

Most of the equity sectors are posting gains in 2025, with two exceptions: healthcare (XLV) and consumer discretionary (XLY)), the latter falling 4.3% year to date.

The current debate is how the market will navigate the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, which threatens to pull the US into a new phase of Middle East fighting. A key macro concern: oil prices will remain elevated because of the attacks, raising inflation and lowering economic growth.

Torsten Sløk, chief economist at Apollo, advised that the Federal Reserve’s model of the US economy estimates that a $10-a-barrel-increase in oil translates to an increase in inflation by 0.4% and lower GDP by 0.4%.

Crude oil has rallied sharply in recent weeks, and traded above $70 a barrel for a second day on Monday, based on the US benchmark WTI. That compares with the recent low in the mid-$50 range.

Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial, notes that his analysis of 25 geopolitical shocks since the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 indicate that stocks have been mostly resilient during those events. Total drawdowns around these events have averaged 4.6% over an average of roughly 19 days, he reports.

The US stock market (S&P 500) was up yesterday, and remains close to its record high, which was set in February. For the moment, the Israel-Iran conflict has had limited, if any, effect on American shares. Analysts predict more of the same if the fighting remains contained between the two countries with minimal US involvement.

Source: investing

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Olivia Brooks

Economic

Central Bank

The Federal Reserve will consider plans to ease leverage requirements on larger banks at a meeting later this month, kicking off what is expected to be a broad effort to reconsider bank rules.

The U.S. central bank announced the board meeting, scheduled for June 25, to discuss changes to the so-called "supplementary leverage ratio," which requires banks to set aside capital against assets regardless of their risk.

The meeting will be the first following Fed Governor Michelle Bowman's confirmation as the central bank's top regulatory official. It could be the first of several rule-easing projects at the Fed as Bowman, a Republican tapped by President Donald Trump, has charted an ambitious plan for overhauling how the central bank regulates and monitors some of the nation's largest and most complex banks.

The Fed did not provide any details on the proposal under consideration, but banks have clamored for years for changes to the supplementary leverage ratio, potentially by exempting traditionally safe assets or revising the formula used to calculate the requirement.

The industry has argued the requirement was meant to serve as a baseline, requiring banks to hold capital against even very safe assets, but has grown over time to become a binding constraint on lending, and can actually hinder their abilities to intermediate Treasury markets during times of stress.

Source: Yahoo Finance

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Adam

Economic

Global oil demand will keep growing until around the end of this decade despite peaking in top importer China in 2027, as cheaper gasoline and slower electric vehicle adoption in the United States support consumption, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

Despite seeing an earlier demand peak for China, the IEA, which advises industrialised countries, stuck to its prediction that global demand will peak by 2029. This view sharply contrasts with that of producer group OPEC, which says consumption will keep growing for much longer.

Oil demand will peak at 105.6 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2029 and then fall slightly in 2030, a table in the Paris-based IEA's annual report shows. At the same time, global production capacity is forecast to rise by more than 5 million bpd to 114.7 million bpd by 2030.

A conflict between Israel and Iran has highlighted the risk to Middle East supplies, helping send oil prices up 5% to above $74 a barrel on Friday. Still, the latest forecasts suggest ample supplies through 2030 if there are no major disruptions, the IEA said.

"Based on the fundamentals, oil markets look set to be well-supplied in the years ahead," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol in a statement. "But recent events sharply highlight the significant geopolitical risks to oil supply security," Birol said.

In a separate report on Tuesday, which included a commentary on the market impact of the Israel-Iran conflict, the IEA said the world market looks well supplied this year in the absence of a major disruption as growth in supply exceeds that of demand.

Global supply in 2025 will rise by 1.8 million bpd, up 200,000 bpd from last month, the IEA said. This is partly because OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus Russia and other allies, is raising output.

World demand in 2025 will rise by a much lower 720,000 bpd, the IEA said, down 20,000 bpd from last month's forecast.

CHINA PEAK

After decades of leading global oil demand growth, China's contribution is sputtering as it faces economic challenges as well as making a big shift to EVs.

The world's second-largest economy is set to see its oil consumption peak in 2027, following a surge in EV sales and the deployment of high-speed rail and trucks running on natural gas, the IEA said. In February, it predicted China's demand for road and air transport fuels may have already peaked.

China's total oil consumption in 2030 is now set to be only marginally higher than in 2024, the IEA said, compared with growth of around 1 million bpd forecast in last year's report.

By contrast, lower gasoline prices and slower EV adoption in the United States, the world's largest oil consumer, have boosted the 2030 oil demand forecast by 1.1 million bpd compared with the previous prediction, the IEA said.

U.S. electric vehicles are now expected to account for 20% of U.S. total car sales in 2030, down from 55% assumed last year, the report said.

Since returning to office, U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded OPEC lower oil prices and has taken aim at EVs through steps such as signing resolutions approved by lawmakers barring California's EV sales mandates.