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Jim Caviezel starring in Bolsonaro biopic as son of jailed former president launches 2026 campaign

Politics 2 Mins Read

A biopic about Brazil’s jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro is in production, his son Carlos has confirmed.

In a post shared on X after his brother, Flavio, entered the country’s 2026 presidential race, Carlos lavished praise on American actor Jim Caviezel, who stars as the ex-president in the film.

‘Jim Caviezel, thank you for everything,’ Carlos wrote, describing the ‘Passion of the Christ’ actor as a figure whose legacy would be ‘admired by good people and envied by those who seek destruction.’

Carlos added that working with Caviezel had given him ‘one of the greatest gifts’ of his life, before closing with, ‘God, Jesus and Freedom.’

Caviezel has been linked to far-right conspiracy circles in the U.S. and has drawn scrutiny over the political messaging in some of his roles.

He also famously starred as Jesus in Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’ and ‘The Sound of Freedom.’

According to The Guardian, the biopic, ‘Dark Horse,’ presents a heroic vision of Jair Bolsonaro and is based on Bolsonaro’s successful 2018 campaign for the presidency.

It is directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and written by former Bolsonaro Culture Secretary Mário Frias.

Jair Bolsonaro remains in prison after receiving a 27-year sentence for attempting to overturn the 2022 election results.

Authorities said he orchestrated a plot to invalidate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory, leading to his imprisonment in September.

In addition to his sentence, a separate ruling has barred him from holding office until 2030, effectively ending his political career.

From prison, the former president issued a rare public endorsement naming Flávio as his preferred successor.

According to The Associated Press, Flávio, 44, has confirmed through his Senate office that he will run in the October 2026 presidential election against the candidate of the Liberal Party.

Flávio, who is the eldest of the brothers, described his decision to run as ‘irreversible,’ setting up a direct challenge to President Lula, who is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term.

‘It is with great responsibility that I confirm the decision of Brazil’s greatest political and moral leader, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, to entrust me with the mission of continuing our national project,’ Flávio wrote on X.

His office also confirmed he has visited his father in prison.

Production on ‘Dark Horse’ is expected to continue into 2026, with filming planned in both Brazil and Mexico.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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JOHN YOO: Supreme Court showdown exposes shaky case against birthright citizenship

Politics 6 Mins Read

On Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear challenges to President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment automatically makes all babies born on American territory citizens. Trump’s effort to overturn the traditional reading of the constitutional text and history should not succeed.

Ratified in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment provided a constitutional definition of citizenship for the first time. It declares that ‘all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.’ In antebellum America, states granted citizenship: they all followed the British rule of jus soli (citizenship determined by place of birth) rather than the European rule of jus sanguinis (citizenship determined by parental lineage). As the 18th-century English jurist William Blackstone explained: ‘the children of aliens, born here in England, are, generally speaking, natural-born subjects, and entitled to all the privileges of such.’ Upon independence, the American states incorporated the British rule into their own laws.

Congress did not draft the Fourteenth Amendment to change this practice, but to affirm it in the face of the most grievous travesty in American constitutional history: slavery. In Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), Chief Justice Roger Taney concluded that slaves — even those born in the United States — could never become American citizens. According to Taney, the Founders believed that Black Americans could never become equal, even though the Constitution did not exclude them from citizenship nor prevent Congress or the states from protecting their rights.

The Fourteenth Amendment directly overruled Dred Scott. It forever prevents the government from depriving any ethnic, religious or political group of citizenship.

The only way to avoid this clear reading of the constitutional text is to misread the phrase ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ Claremont Institute scholars (many of whom I count as friends) laid the intellectual foundations for the Trump executive order; they argue that this phrase created an exception to jus soli. Claremont scholars Edward Erler and John Eastman argue that ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ requires that a citizen not only be born on American territory, but that his parents also be legally present. Because aliens owe allegiance to another nation, they maintain, they are not ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States.

The Claremont Institute reading implausibly holds that the Reconstruction Congress simultaneously narrowed citizenship for aliens even as it dramatically expanded citizenship for freed slaves. There is little reason to understand Reconstruction — which was responsible for the greatest expansion of constitutional rights since the Bill of Rights — in this way.

This argument also misreads the text of ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ Everyone on our territory, even aliens, falls under the jurisdiction of the United States. Imagine reading the rule differently. If aliens did not fall within our jurisdiction while on our territory, they could violate the law and claim that the government had no jurisdiction to arrest, try and punish them.

Critics, however, respond that ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ must refer to citizen parents or risk being redundant when being born on U.S. territory. But at the time of the Fourteenth Amendment’s ratification, domestic and international law recognized that narrow categories of people could be within American territory but not under its laws. Foreign diplomats and enemy soldiers occupying U.S. territory, for example, are immune from our domestic laws even when present on our soil. A third important category demonstrates that ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ was no mere surplusage. At the time of Reconstruction, American Indians residing on tribal lands were not considered subject to U.S. jurisdiction. Once the federal government reduced tribal sovereignty in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it extended birthright citizenship to Indians in 1924.

The Fourteenth Amendment’s drafting supports this straightforward reading. The 1866 Civil Rights Act, passed just two years before ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, extended birthright citizenship to those born in the U.S. except those ‘subject to any foreign power’ and ‘Indians not taxed.’ The Reconstruction Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment because of uncertainty over federal power to enact the 1866 Act. If the Amendment’s drafters had wanted ‘jurisdiction’ to exclude children of aliens, they could have simply borrowed the exact language from the 1866 Act to extend citizenship only to those born to parents with no ‘allegiance to a foreign power.’

We have few records of the Fourteenth Amendment’s ratification debates in state legislatures, which is why constitutional practice and common-law history are of such central importance. But the few instances in which Congress addressed the issue appear to support birthright citizenship. When the Fourteenth Amendment came to the floor, for example, congressional critics recognized the broad sweep of the birthright citizenship language. Pennsylvania Sen. Edgar Cowan asked supporters of the amendment: ‘Is the child of the Chinese immigrant in California a citizen? Is the child born of a Gypsy born in Pennsylvania a citizen?’ California Sen. John Conness responded in the affirmative. Conness would lose re-election due to anti-Chinese sentiment in California.

Courts have never questioned this understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment. In United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), the Supreme Court upheld the citizenship of a child born in San Francisco to Chinese parents. The Chinese Exclusion Acts barred the parents from citizenship, but the government could not deny citizenship to the child. The Court declared that ‘the Fourteenth Amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and protection of the country, including all children here born of resident aliens.’ The Court rejected the claim that aliens are not within ‘the jurisdiction’ of the United States. Critics respond that Wong Kim Ark does not apply to illegal aliens because the parents were in the United States legally. But at the time, the federal government had yet to pass comprehensive immigration laws that distinguished between legal and illegal aliens. The parents’ legal status made no difference.

President Trump is entitled to ask the Court to overturn Wong Kim Ark. But his administration must persuade the justices to disregard the plain text of the Constitution, the weight of the historical evidence from the time of the Fourteenth Amendment’s ratification and more than 140 years of unbroken government practice and judicial interpretation. 

A conservative, originalist Supreme Court is unlikely to reject the traditional American understanding of citizenship held from the time of the Founding through Reconstruction to today.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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Senate Republicans land on Obamacare fix, tee up dueling vote with Dems

Politics 4 Mins Read

Senate Republicans have finally landed on a plan to tackle expiring Obamacare subsidies to counter Senate Democrats, but both are likely to fail in a vote set for later this week. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., announced Tuesday that Republicans had coalesced around a proposal from Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who chairs the Senate health panel, and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, to counter Democrats’ legislation. 

The Senate is set to vote on the dueling proposals on Thursday. 

Cassidy and Crapo’s plan was given the thumbs up by the majority of Republicans during the conference’s closed-door meeting Tuesday afternoon, Thune said. 

Their proposal, which was unveiled Monday night but has been in the works for weeks, would abandon the enhanced premium subsidies in favor of health savings accounts (HSAs), funneling the money that has gone directly to insurers through the program to consumers instead.

Thune argued that Senate Democrats’ plan, which was unveiled by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., last week and would extend the subsidies for three years, would do little to curb the cost of healthcare in the country, and instead benefit affluent Americans and insurance companies. 

‘This program desperately needs to be reformed,’ Thune said. ‘The Democrats have decided we’re not going to do anything to reform it. And so we’ll see where the votes are on Thursday. But we will have an alternative that we will put up that reflects the views of the Republicans here in the United States Senate about how to make health insurance more affordable in this country, how to ensure that it’s not the insurance companies that are getting enriched, that it’s actually benefiting the patient.’

Republicans’ decision comes as more and more proposals were pitched among their ranks, reaching nearly half a dozen plans on the table for lawmakers to choose from. 

Cassidy and Crapo’s plan would seed HSAs with $1,000 for people ages 18 to 49 and $1,500 for those 50 to 65 for people earning up to 700% of the poverty level. In order to get the pre-funded HSA, people would have to buy a bronze or catastrophic plan on an Obamacare exchange.

The bill also includes provisions reducing federal Medicaid funding to states that cover illegal immigrants, requirements that states verify citizenship or eligible immigration status before someone can get Medicaid, a ban on federal Medicaid funding for gender transition services and nixing those services from ‘essential health benefits’ for ACA exchange plans, and inclusion of Hyde Amendment provisions to prevent taxpayer dollars from funding abortions through the new HSAs.

Both plans are likely to fail, however, given that Senate Democrats have rejected doing away with the subsidies in favor of HSAs, and Republicans contend that reforms to the credits — like income caps and more stringent enforcement on taxpayer dollars funding abortions — are must-haves for their support. 

Schumer argued that the ‘only realist path’ to preventing premiums from hiking ahead of the end of the year deadline to extend the subsidies would be for Republicans to cross the aisle and vote for their plan. He charged that the GOP’s plan was a ‘phony proposal’ that did nothing to extend the sunsetting subsidies. 

‘That’s what’s driving the price up, and they’re doing nothing about it,’ Schumer said. ‘The bill not only fails to extend the tax credits, it increases costs, adds tons of new abortion restrictions for women, expands junk fees, and permanently funds the cost-sharing reductions. Their bill is junk insurance. It’s been repudiated in the past.’

Both sides face a math problem in mustering bipartisan support for their respective proposals. And it’s unlikely that lawmakers break ranks from their party’s position, meaning both bills are doomed to fail. For some, the debate has devolved into a finger-pointing contest on which side was actually serious about addressing the growing healthcare affordability issue. 

‘It’s not a realistic plan that the Democrats have,’ Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said. ‘If the Democrats were actually coming to the table, I’d say, yes, we need to, but what they’re doing isn’t realistic.’ 

Before Thune’s announcement, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said that Republicans were in charge, not Democrats. 

‘They’re in charge of putting together the votes to pass something,’ Murphy said. ‘And so far, they have done zero outreach on this issue of any significance to Democrats, as far as I can tell.’ 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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South Korean K-pop stars BTS hit the right note of how to wield cultural power

Politics 5 Mins Read

When the South Korean boy band/K-pop sensation BTS takes the stage in Seoul this June, ending a four-year touring hiatus, it will mark more than just a comeback — it will validate one of the shrewdest soft-power decisions in recent memory.  

In 2022, at the absolute apex of their global dominance, the group’s seven members chose to fulfill their mandatory military service rather than seek exemptions, which would almost certainly been granted. Their management company, HYBE, supported the decision. The world got a masterclass in how cultural power is created. 

The cynics predicted career suicide. Instead, BTS demonstrated that soft power isn’t built on avoiding obligations — it’s built on embracing them. When they reunite on stage, they’ll do so with enhanced credibility, having proven their success didn’t exempt them from the responsibilities of ordinary citizens. Americans remember Elvis taking a similar course at the height of his fame.  

The great thing about soft power is that, while generated by creative individuals and companies, it’s to the entire nation’s benefit. Like economic and martial power, soft power generates influence that can be used to bolster a nation’s standing. Examples of soft power abound from Britain’s cricket legacy and rock ’n’ roll ‘invasion’ of the 1960s to French and Italian cinema to America’s NBA, jazz music and Hollywood’s entertainment machine. Now, South Korea is stepping up.

Thus, it is almost tragic that while BTS was serving in the military, the ecosystem that made the band possible faces mounting scrutiny. South Korea has become expert at creating cultural phenomena that captivate the world — and equally expert at treating the architects of that success with suspicion once they achieve scale. This is a pattern South Korea cannot afford.   

South Korea’s cultural preeminence did not emerge from a government plan. It sprang from creative ambition, commercial ruthlessness, and just enough regulatory space for experimentation. The K-pop system requires massive capital investment, sophisticated global distribution and executives willing to bet nine figures on whether teenagers in Jakarta and São Paulo will stream the same songs. 

Yet, there’s a reflex in South Korean public life that treats popularity itself as evidence of wrongdoing. Bang Si-hyuk, the producer who built HYBE and shaped BTS into a global phenomenon, now faces legal scrutiny over stock transactions — the kind of corporate governance questions that seem to emerge almost inevitably once South Korean companies achieve sufficient scale.   

The particulars matter less than the pattern: bold risk-taking generates soft power, then invites investigation once it succeeds. 

Executives who might build the next BTS or international TV steaming sensation like, ‘Crash Landing on You,’ watch what happens to those who came before and recalibrate their ambition accordingly. In cultural soft power, this reflex is potentially fatal. 

South Korea’s competitors are watching. China has spent billions trying to manufacture soft power through state-directed enterprises. The PRC has largely failed — because audiences smell propaganda. South Korean free enterprise is succeeding in creating cultural exports that are simultaneously local and universal, specific enough to feel authentic in Seoul and accessible enough to travel across the globe.  

This is South Korea’s opportunity. Japan was given a similar window in the 1990s with anime and video games, but largely failed to capitalize on the trend because of governmental missteps. South Korea could easily repeat that mistake and lose the global influence that comes with serious national soft power. 

South Korea needs to recognize soft-power assets as strategic resources. France protects its luxury brands because Paris recognizes these companies project French taste globally in ways no government agency could. South Korea should ask: What institutional arrangements allow us to maintain standards while protecting our champions? 

South Korea’s cultural preeminence did not emerge from a government plan. It sprang from creative ambition, commercial ruthlessness, and just enough regulatory space for experimentation. 

BTS’s decision to fulfill their national military service obligations demonstrates what’s possible when artists, companies and national interest align voluntarily. HYBE supported that choice. But South Korea can’t count on such choices being made repeatedly if the system treats success as inherently suspect.

In June 2026, when BTS embarks on a global tour generating billions in economic impact and incalculable goodwill toward South Korea, remember this moment almost didn’t happen. The members could have sought exemptions. Instead, they chose service and came back stronger. 

But South Korea can’t count on such choices if the message to cultural entrepreneurs is that success invites scrutiny. The next generation is watching, deciding whether to aim for global impact or settle for domestic safety.

South Korea stumbled into becoming a cultural superpower. It doesn’t have to stumble out of it. But that requires recognizing that the bold, imperfect figures who build global cultural enterprises are assets to be protected, not problems to be managed. 

BTS made their choice — they bet on their country. Now, South Korea needs to decide if it’s going to bet on the people who create the next BTS, or put them under investigation instead. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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Investing

Prismo Metals Announces Continuance into British Columbia

Investing 2 Mins Read

(TheNewswire)

Vancouver, British Columbia, December 8, 2025 TheNewswire – Prismo Metals Inc. (‘ Prismo ‘ or the ‘ Company ‘) (CSE: PRIZ,OTC:PMOMF) (OTCQB: PMOMF) is pleased to announce that it has continued out of the jurisdiction of Canada under the Canada Business Corporations Act into the provincial jurisdiction of British Columbia under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) (the ‘ BCBCA ‘). Shareholders approved the continuance at the Company’s annual general and special meeting of shareholders held on October 2, 2025.

In connection with the continuance, the Company has replaced its articles and bylaws with new notice of articles and articles, respectively, under the BCBCA. The CUSIP / ISIN numbers for the Company’s common shares and the stock symbol for the Company’s common shares remain unchanged.

About Prismo Metals Inc.

Prismo (CSE: PRIZ,OTC:PMOMF) is mining exploration company focused on advancing its Silver King, Ripsey and Hot Breccia projects in Arizona and its Palos Verdes silver project in Mexico.

Please follow @ PrismoMetals on , , , Instagram , and

Prismo Metals Inc.

1100 – 1111 Melville St., Vancouver, British Columbia V6E 3V6

Phone: (416) 361-0737

Contact:

Alain Lambert, Chief Executive Officer alain.lambert@prismometals.com

Gordon Aldcorn, President gordon.aldcorn@prismometals.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Copyright (c) 2025 TheNewswire – All rights reserved.

News Provided by TheNewsWire via QuoteMedia

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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Crypto Market Update: Strategy Adds to Bitcoin Treasury, SEC Ends Ondo Finance Probe

Investing 4 Mins Read

Here’s a quick recap of the crypto landscape for Monday (December 8) as of 9:00 p.m. UTC.

Get the latest insights on Bitcoin, Ether and altcoins, along with a round-up of key cryptocurrency market news.

Bitcoin and Ether price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$90,672.01, down by 0.9 percent over 24 hours.

Bitcoin price performance, December 8, 2025.

Chart via TradingView.

Cryptocurrencies traded choppily, but were ultimately directionless over the weekend.

Bitcoin briefly slipped toward the high US$87,000s on Sunday (December 7) ahead of this week’s US Federal Reserve meeting, with both short and long positions liquidated.

Markets are pricing in a 25 basis point interest rate cut from the Fed on Wednesday (December 10), but labor weakness and sticky inflation will make Chair Jerome Powell’s tone pivotal.

Linh Tran, senior market analyst at XS.com, believes Bitcoin “will likely continue oscillating within the US$84,000 to US$100,000 range until the Fed delivers a clear message,” adding that a 0.25 percentage point cut and dovish signals “would be favorable for risk assets, particularly Bitcoin,” while a hawkish stance risks downward pressure.

On Monday, Bitcoin briefly traded at around US$92,000, but failed to retest US$92,000 to US$93,500 resistance, dropping below US$90,000 as the US market opened.

Crypto analyst Daan Crypto Trades said bulls must defend the 0.382 Fibonacci retracement zone, which serves as a key area of support and resistance during market cycles. Failure to do so could result in a fall to April lows. Fellow analyst van de Poppe is eyeing US$86,000 as key support before potential lows retest.

Liquidity stayed thin, and derivatives positioning showed waning momentum rather than clear trend conviction, setting up a cautious, data‑dependent start to the new week.

Last week, US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced net outflows of US$87.77 million, while spot Ether ETFs recorded US$65.59 million in outflows.

Cycle data mirroring 2022’s market suggests Bitcoin’s long-term bottom is in or imminent, according to investment manager Timothy Peterson. Derivatives data analyzed by CryptoQuant indicates trader apathy, signaled by low OI and leverage, paving the way for a potential rally.

Ether (ETH) is currently priced at US$3,129.54, down 0.4 percent over 24 hours.

Altcoin price update

  • XRP (XRP) was priced at US$2.09, a decrease of 0.2 percent over 24 hours.
  • Solana (SOL) was trading at US$134.23, down by 1.3 percent over 24 hours.

Crypto derivatives and market indicators

Bitcoin futures open interest rose 0.53 percent to US$58.18 billion in the last four hours of trading, alongside US$4.88 million in liquidations that hit mostly long positions, while Ether open interest climbed 0.49 percent to US$37.84 billion, with US$8.76 million liquidated.

Bitcoin’s relative strength index sits neutral at 51.67 with a mildly negative funding rate of -0.001 percent, signaling balanced momentum and slight short bias, whereas Ether’s positive 0.006 percent funding rate points to lingering long interest despite the downside pressure.

These metrics reflect cautious positioning amid recent Bitcoin consolidation, with rising open interest indicating fresh capital entering despite liquidation flushes that targeted longs more aggressively. The neutral-to-bearish Bitcoin funding and RSI suggest limited upside conviction short-term, potentially capping rallies until macro catalysts provide direction, while Ether’s funding tilt hints at relative resilience in alt positioning.

Today’s crypto news to know

StableChain launches mainnet

StableChain has launched its mainnet, introducing USDT as the gas fee token alongside a new dedicated governance token for network participants.

Tether’s USDT regulatory win

Tether’s USDT stablecoin received key regulatory status in Abu Dhabi, enhancing its legitimacy for institutional use.

BlackRock files for staked Ether ETF

BlackRock filed to list a staked Ether ETF, signaling growing institutional appetite for Ether-based yield products.

SEC closes Ondo probe

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ended its investigation into tokenized equity platform Ondo Finance, clearing a major regulatory hurdle.

Strategy boosts BTC holdings

Strategy’s (NASDAQ:MSTR) Bitcoin treasury has surpassed 660,000 BTC after a US$962 million purchase, underscoring aggressive accumulation by major players.

Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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Clem Chambers: Silver Can “Easily” Hit US$100, Retail Juggernaut in Play

Investing 1 Min Read

Clem Chambers, CEO of aNewFN.com, shares his outlook for silver in 2026.

In his view, the white metal could rise as high as US$150 to US$160 per ounce.

Chambers also discusses his other areas of focus right now, including gold, as well as the defense industry and tech stocks like Intel (NASDAQ:INTC).

Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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Crypto Price Forecast: Top Trends for Crypto in 2026

Investing 6 Mins Read

After 2025’s volatile end, 2026 is poised to be a watershed moment for the cryptocurrency sector, marking a transition from a speculative asset class to essential global financial infrastructure.

Further regulatory clarity, artificial intelligence (AI) integration, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and sustained institutional inflows could propel DeFi and crypto markets in 2026. According to experts, this is no longer a conversation about crypto versus TradFi; it’s about a hybrid financial system where digital assets are simply better tools.

Crypto market maturity and resilience

According to Elkaleh, Bitcoin’s resilience during its recent pullback, which brought a 37 percent drawdown from its October all-time high, was telling. While such severity was surprising, he observed that long-term holders and institutions continued to accumulate rather than unwind exposure, which he sees as an indicator of health.

“Q4 was defined by a major leverage reset, with BTC’s sharp pullback forcing a broader reassessment of risk,” he said.

At the time of this writing, analysts were split on where Bitcoin could go next. A further crash risk lingers if the US Federal Reserve delays interest rate cuts; however, a post-purge rally to US$135,000 to US$150,000 is in sight mid-year if institutions return, exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows flip positive and futures premiums stabilize above 5 percent.

As Bitcoin dropped, Elkaleh observed other segments of the market tied to practical use cases and diversification strategies — such as privacy assets, decentralized AI and stablecoin ecosystems — weather the storm.

“The market (has shown) growing maturity: capital and developer attention shifted toward utility-driven sectors such as tokenization, stablecoins and real-world integrations.”

Tokenization: The on-chain first institutional default

Mersch sees tokenization accelerating in 2026, eventually becoming the default for new institutional financial products.

He sees the foundation of this shift being built, with tokenized treasuries and money-market funds serving as a core yield sleeve for institutional investors who demand liquidity, standardized reporting and programmable settlement.

“If current growth holds, tokenized assets could be a multi-trillion dollar market by 2030, with government bonds and cash-like instruments as the anchor,” he said. “Over the next five years, the key shift is likely that new institutional products are designed as on-chain first, and only secondarily wrapped in legacy wrappers.”

He anticipates that stablecoins will be solidified as the liquidity backbone for a growing tokenized market, acting as the new cash layer. The most likely end state, according to Mersch, will be a hybrid digital cash stack, where bank-issued stablecoins, private stablecoins and central bank digital currenciesco-exist and interoperate.

Mersch predicts that tokenized real estate and private credit will now start to see expansion.

For real estate, tokenization converts a traditionally illiquid market into tradable, divisible assets, lowering the barrier to entry for global investors and providing recurring revenue streams.

Rupena, whose company, Milo, pioneered the crypto-backed mortgage, asserts that lenders will be expected to recognize digital assets as a core part of a client’s real balance sheet, just like cash or securities.

Elkaleh also expects to see strong expansion in RWA tokenization in 2026, alongside stablecoin-based payouts and small-business payment rails. “The most accelerated growth will occur in emerging markets, where mobile-first users turn to crypto as a practical financial alternative,” he wrote in an email.

“The rise of RWA markets, L2 scalability and more accessible DeFi will allow onchain credit and savings to scale meaningfully. Combined with steady institutional inflows, these economies will become the strongest demand engines of 2026, driving both user growth and real economic activity onchain.”

DeFi: An institutional derivatives and credit layer

The final pillar of the 2026 crypto outlook is the maturation of DeFi. Mersch asserted that DeFi is poised to emerge as a compliance-ready core platform for credit and risk management in 2026.

Real-world structural resilience supports Mersch’s forecast.

Rupena noted that market ups and downs are expected in the digital asset ecosystem, and that conservative LTVs, real-time monitoring and clear margining frameworks are designed to cope with volatility.

“Lower forced liquidation activity, even during big market moves, is a very healthy signal,” he explained, adding that customers are purposely keeping collateral cushions so they can stay calm during market swings.

This focus on prudence and durability validates the market’s readiness for institutional-grade credit and risk products.

“If successful, this creates a liquid, 24/7 derivatives layer that sits on top of both tokenized and traditional markets,” Mersch said. “By 2026 and beyond, the most interesting innovation may not be crypto versus TradFi, but portfolio and product designs that blend tokenized assets, stablecoin liquidity and DeFi-based synthetic exposure into a single stack.”

This institutional leap is fundamentally enabled by regulatory clarity.

“You can already see this through partnerships like Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) with Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) and Morpho (TSE:3653), where yield is embedded at the platform level without requiring users to interact directly with on-chain protocols. Regulation will accelerate that model,’ he added.

Elkaleh noted that clearer rules will allow users to adopt on-chain tools for cross-border payments, tokenized savings and AI-driven bill pay with the same confidence they have in regulated fintech apps. He expects the most transformational impact will come from next-generation L2 scalability paired with AI-agent execution.

“These shifts will bring down transaction costs, compress settlement times, and enable autonomous payments, subscriptions and cross-chain operations,” the expert explained.

“We also expect prediction-market aggregation to emerge as a breakout consumer interface and RWA perpetuals to bring macro assets, including commodities, credit and inflation onchain through synthetic markets. These developments collectively move crypto into a more comprehensive, high-velocity financial system.”

Upcoming crypto market catalysts

The pivot to a hybrid financial system will be driven by several concurrent catalysts.

The US Market Structure Bill is targeted for a Senate floor vote in early 2026, aiming to create the first federal framework for digital assets. North of the border, Canada’s Stablecoin Act, which provides C$10 million for Bank of Canada oversight starting in 2026, signals official endorsement of the digital cash layer.

Globally, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is set to implement new capital standards for banks’ crypto exposures, crucial for encouraging institutional momentum, by January 1, 2026.

The technological engine supporting this adoption is fueled by scalability and intelligence.

On the blockchain side, Ethereum’s aggressive roadmap, including the Glamsterdam upgrade targeted for 2026, continues to refine Layer-2 (L2) systems. This focus on L2 efficiency, combined with the integration of AI agent execution, is key for supporting the millions of transactions needed for a comprehensive, high-velocity financial system.

Investor takeaway

In 2026, the crypto market is set to deliver meaningful gains and stable, sustained growth as this new, highly efficient, and globally interoperable financial system moves from the laboratory into production scale.

Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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Trump unleashes $12B farm rescue as China trade reset hits US growers

Politics 3 Mins Read

President Donald Trump rolled out a $12 billion farm aid package to support farmers, according to the White House. 

The aid package will provide up to $11 billion toward the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) new Farmer Bridge Assistance Program, which is designed to provide single payments to row crop farmers, while the remaining $1 billion will go to farmers whose crops do not qualify for the program. 

Further details will be hashed out as the USDA continues to evaluate market conditions, according to the White House. 

The president unveiled the new aid package at a Monday roundtable at the White House. Those who appeared at the event included Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, as well as corn, soybean, rice and other types of farmers. 

The announcement comes as the U.S. and China have gone head-to-head on trade negotiations in 2025, and after China reined in its soybean purchases from the U.S. amid ongoing tariff negotiations between Beijing and Washington, D.C. 

However, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in South Korea in October, where the two hashed out a series of agreements concerning trade. Specifically, Trump said he agreed to cut tariffs on Chinese imports by 10% — reducing the rate from 57% to 47% — because China said it would cooperate with the U.S. on addressing the U.S. fentanyl crisis.

Since those talks, China has started to boost its purchases of soybeans again. China purchased at least 840,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery in December and January, Reuters reported in November. That purchase marked the largest shipment since at least January, Reuters reported. 

Meanwhile, Bessent said that China so far is upholding its end of the bargain on the trade deal, including provisions to buy 12 million tons of soybeans by the end of February 2026.

‘China is on track to ‍keep every ⁠part of the deal,’ Bessent said at The New ‍York Times Dealbook Summit Wednesday. 

Trump also voiced optimism about China’s soybean purchases, and signaled Beijing may purchase more than the original 12 million tons by February 2026. 

‘I spoke with President Xi recently, very recently,’ Trump said Monday. ‘And I think he’s going to do even more than he promised to do. So I think the relationship is a very good one. I think he’s going to do more than he promised to do. And what he promised to do is a lot. So we’re very happy with that.’

China is the primary foreign purchaser of U.S. soybeans, and bought approximately half of U.S. soybean exports in 2024, totaling approximately $12.6 billion out of $25.8 billion in total U.S. exports, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and USDA. China also imported nearly 27 metric tons of soybeans that year. 

Trump is helping the agriculture industry by ‘negotiating new trade deals to open new export markets for our farmers and boosting the farm safety net for the first time in a decade,’ White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a Monday statement to Fox News Digital.

Trump has previously issued an aid package to farmers. When Trump’s first administration rolled out tariffs, China issued their own retaliatory tariffs that cost the federal government billions of dollars in government aid to farmers.

Bloomberg News first reported the aid package Sunday. 

Fox News’ Olivianna Calmes contributed to this report. 

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Politics

Senate Republicans unveil plan to replace Obamacare subsidies with health savings accounts

Politics 4 Mins Read

Senate Republicans appear to be closing in on a plan to counter Senate Democrats’ proposal to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies as a vote on credits at the end of the week draws closer.

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, unveiled their proposal to tackle the Obamacare issue that would abandon the subsidies for Healthcare Savings Accounts (HSAs).

The lawmakers have been leading Senate Republicans’ planning for a counter-proposal to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats’ legislation, which would extend the Biden-era subsidies for three years.

Cassidy and Crapo pitched the legislation as ‘an alternative to Democrats’ temporary COVID bonuses, which send billions of tax dollars to giant insurance companies without lowering insurance premiums.’

The long-awaited proposal would funnel the subsidy money directly to HSAs rather than to insurance companies, an idea that has the backing of President Donald Trump and is largely popular among Senate Republicans.

‘Instead of 100% of this money going to insurance companies, let’s give it to patients. By giving them an account that they control, we give them the power,’ Cassidy said in a statement. ‘We make health care affordable again.’

Crapo contended that the legislation would build off of Trump’s marquee legislative package, the ‘big beautiful bill,’ from earlier this year and would ‘help Americans manage the rising cost of health care without driving costs even higher.’

‘Giving billions of taxpayer dollars to insurers is not working to reduce health insurance premiums for patients,’ he said in a statement.

Whether the bill gets a vote in the upper chamber this week remains in the air, given the growing number of Obamacare subsidy plans floated by Senate Republicans. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., signaled that he thought their plan could work.

‘It represents an approach that actually does something on affordability and lowers costs,’ Thune said.

‘But there are other ideas out there, as you know, but I think if there is going to be some meeting of minds on this, it is going to require that Democrats sort of come off a position they know is an untenable one, and sit down in a serious way,’ he continued.

Cassidy and Crapo’s plan would seed HSAs with $1,000 for people ages 18 to 49 and $1,500 for those 50 to 65 for people earning up to 700% of the poverty level. In order to get the pre-funded HSA, people would have to buy a bronze or catastrophic plan on an Obamacare exchange.

The legislation also ticks off several demands from Senate Republicans in their back and forth with Senate Democrats over the subsidies that are unlikely to gain any favor from Schumer and his caucus.

Shortly after the legislation was unveiled, Schumer charged in a post on X that ‘Republicans are nowhere on healthcare, and the clock is ticking.’

Included in Cassidy and Crapo’s bill are provisions reducing federal Medicaid funding to states that cover undocumented immigrants, Requirements that states verify citizenship or eligible immigration status before someone can get Medicaid, a ban on federal Medicaid funding for gender transition services and nixing those services from ‘essential health benefits’ for ACA exchange plans, and inclusion Hyde Amendment provisions to prevent taxpayer dollars from funding abortions through the new HSAs.

Senate Republicans are expected to discuss the several options on the table, including newly-released plans from Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., respectively, during their closed-door conference meeting Tuesday afternoon.

When asked if there could be a compromise solution found among the proposals, Cassidy said, ‘That’s going to be the will of the conference, if you will.’

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