Authored by Stacy Robinson & Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The world awoke on April 21 to news that Pope Francis, the 266th leader of the Roman Catholic Church, had died at 7:35 a.m. local time.

The 88-year-old pontiff had recently suffered a bout of double pneumonia, complicated by the chronic bronchial infections that had plagued him over the past decade. The Vatican has revealed that Francis died after suffering a stroke and heart failure not long after getting out of bed on April 21.

Behind the scenes, preparations for the next conclave—the papal election—have begun.

The papal account on social media platform X, previously bearing the name of Pope Francis, has been changed to Apostolica Sedes Vacans, Latin for “the apostolic seat is empty.”

While Catholics around the world mourn the late pontiff ahead of his funeral on April 26, speculation has begun about a possible successor. However, the process has historically often ended with an unexpected outcome. When the most recent conclave convened to replace resigning Pope Benedict XVI, few predicted that Francis, then Jorge Mario Bergoglio, would be elected.

An old Italian saying riffs on the historical difficulties that observers have had in predicting the new pope.

“He who enters the conclave as pope, leaves it as a cardinal,” it states.

Nevertheless, there are some expected frontrunners in the race to become the leader of the 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.

A few months ago, Vatican journalists Edward Pentin and Diane Montagna assembled a website examining some potential candidates—and their viewpoints on different issues facing the church.

Whoever is chosen will face the heavy task of guiding the Catholic Church during one of the most tumultuous times in its history, in which multiple wars and cultural clashes loom daily.

Here is a brief look at a few of the top contenders.

Cardinal Sarah

Cardinal Robert Sarah, a native of Guinea, is viewed as a conservative and champion of orthodoxy in Catholic teaching. Author of the book “The Power of Silence,” Sarah is the former head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship, which regulated the liturgical norms of the church. In 2019, he co-authored another book with Pope Benedict XVI defending priestly celibacy.

Cardinal Pizzaballa

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa first came to public attention shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Gaza, when he offered himself to Hamas in exchange for the release of children being held hostage. The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, he is viewed as conservative-leaning and may appeal to centrists.

Cardinal Erdo

Cardinal Peter Erdo is the archbishop of Budapest, Hungary, and is also considered as leaning conservative. At a speech before the 2015 Synod on the Family, he quoted the church teaching that “there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family” but also noted that such individuals should be treated with respect and dignity.

Cardinal Parolin

Cardinal Pietro Parolin is the Vatican secretary of state and was one of the nine cardinals who made up Pope Francis’s inner circle of advisers. Parolin is the architect of the 2018 China–Vatican agreement, which gave the Chinese regime wider control over the Catholic Church in China, although the details are still unpublicized.

Cardinal Tagle

Cardinal Luis Tagle, archbishop of Manila, Philippines, has long been considered a possible successor to Francis and is known for his progressive, informal approach, including singing and dancing in church. Tagle has also been supportive of the Vatican’s agreement with China, which he said is meant to “safeguard” the Catholic Church in that country.

Cardinal Zuppi

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna, Italy, is viewed as another possible candidate. Aligned with the more liberal wing of the church, Zuppi is seen as likely to continue Francis’s legacy if elected pope. Zuppi’s family has ties with the Vatican, while Zuppi himself has strong credentials within the church. Under Benedict, Zuppi was appointed auxiliary bishop of Rome, while under Francis, he was appointed as archbishop of Bologna, where he has served since.

Russia has issued a fresh nuclear warning aimed at the West at an ultra-sensitive moment that diplomatic engagement with the US on efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine are stalling.

Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shoigu laid out in fresh comments that Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if under direct aggression from Western nations, which includes close ally Belarus coming under threat.

Shoigu reminded the world that new amendments made to Russia’s nuclear doctrine back in November means Russian leaders can “use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against it or the Republic of Belarus, including with the use of conventional weapons.”

He further warned nuclear doctrine can be activated “in the event of foreign states committing unfriendly actions that pose a threat to the sovereignty and territory integrity of the Russian Federation, our country considers it legitimate to take symmetric and asymmetric measures necessary to suppress such actions and prevent their recurrence.”

There was a carrot-and-stick aspect to the fresh warning, given that Shoigu pivoted to saying Russia is ready to forge a new nuclear pact with Washington, despite soaring tensions centered on Ukraine.

“Russia is prepared to resume talks on nuclear arms control with the US, two years after suspending the last accord limiting their atomic arsenals,” he has been further quoted in international reports as saying.

“The administration of Donald Trump is currently demonstrating a readiness to resume dialogue on the issue of strategic stability,” Shoigu told TASS in an interview published Thursday. “We are ready for such work.”

The hope is that some kind of new strategic pact could come out of recent efforts of US and Russian delegations to normalize diplomatic relations during bilateral talks.

Both sides have by now recognized that the conflict in Ukraine is a proxy war pitting NATO against nuclear-armed Russia. Russia increasingly has international backers too, and is reportedly using Iranian and North Korean advanced weapons.

Prior to the war’s start, one activist group and nuclear monitor, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), estimated that a nuclear war between the US and Russia would see nearly 100 million casualties in just the first few hours of nuclear warhead exchanges alone. 

#Russia Ready for Talks on New Nuclear Pact With US, Shoigu Says https://t.co/0dfWKwk9DT

— Giovanni Staunovo🛢 (@staunovo) April 24, 2025

“34.1 million people could die, and another 57.4 million could be injured, within the first few hours of the start of a nuclear war between Russia and the United States triggered by one low-yield nuclear weapon, according to a new simulation by researcher’s at Princeton‘s Science and Global Security program,” the group said.

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

Two alleged intelligence community leakers have been referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for prosecution, according to Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard.

Gabbard said in an April 23 post on the social media platform X that besides the two already referred for prosecution, a third referral is on its way.

Gabbard wrote that “politicization of our intelligence and leaking classified information puts our nation’s security at risk and must end” and that “those who leak classified information will be found and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

“These deep-state criminals leaked classified information for partisan political purposes to undermine POTUS’ agenda. I look forward to working with [the Justice Department and FBI] to investigate, terminate and prosecute these criminals,” she said.

Gabbard’s office did not respond to a request for more information, and the DOJ did not return an inquiry.

Gabbard said that the unidentified officials leaked information to The Washington Post, which had reported recently on a classified assessment of the Tren de Aragua gang that allegedly found Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is not directing the invasion of the United States.

President Donald Trump in March invoked the Alien Enemies Act, finding that Tren de Aragua, at the direction of the Venezuelan government, was invading the United States.

“The weaponization of intelligence to undermine the President’s agenda is an assault on democracy. Those behind this illegal leak of classified intelligence, twisted and manipulated to convey the exact opposite finding, will be held accountable under the full force of the law,” Gabbard said on April 21.

She said that her office “fully supports the assessment that the foreign terrorist organization, Tren De Aragua, is acting with the support of the Maduro Regime, and thus subject to arrest, detention and removal as alien enemies of the United States.”

Gabbard also said that “rooting out this politicization of intelligence is exactly what President Trump campaigned on and what Americans overwhelmingly voted for.”

Federal law states that a person who communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available classified information to an unauthorized person can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

The DOJ announced in March that it was probing the disclosure of other intelligence concerning Tren de Aragua.

“The Justice Department is opening a criminal investigation relating to the selective leak of inaccurate, but nevertheless classified, information from the Intelligence Community relating to Tren de Aragua,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said at the time.

“We will not tolerate politically motivated efforts by the Deep State to undercut President Trump’s agenda by leaking false information onto the pages of their allies at The New York Times.”

Update (1538ET): And moments later, a second federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from withholding funds from schools with DEI initiatives. 

Shortly after US District Court Judge Landya McCafferty, an Obama appointee, issued a similar order – U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher of Maryland, a Trump appointee, issued a broader ruling that prohibits the Department of Education from using federal funding to end DEI initiatives in public schools.

“This Court takes no view as to whether the policies at issue here are good or bad, prudent or foolish, fair or unfair,” wrote Gallagher. “But this Court is constitutionally required to closely scrutinize whether the government went about creating and implementing them in the manner the law requires. The government did not.“

Siding with the groups that brought the lawsuit, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Sociological Association and a public school in Oregon, Gallagher determined that they had successfully argued that they would be irreparably harmed, and that an Education Department letter at issue likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

“This Court ends where it began—this case is about procedure,” the judge continued. “Plaintiffs have shown that the government likely did not follow the procedures it should have, and those procedural failures have tangibly and concretely harmed the Plaintiffs. This case, especially, underscores why following the proper procedures, even when it is burdensome, is so important.”

*  *  *

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Department of Education’s push to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) from K-12 schools. Raise your hand if you’re shocked.

US District Court Judge Landya McCafferty, an Obama appointee who last year blocked a law in New Hampshire that would have kept transgender biological men out of women’s sports in public schools, sided with the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in their lawsuit against the Trump administration to block the effort, arguing that the directive violated teachers’ due process and First Amendment rights.

In her order, McCafferty said that the Trump administration’s argument is “unconstitutionally vague.”

“The letter does not even define what a ‘DEI program’ is,” she wrote.

🚨 NEW: Obama-appointed Judge Landya McCafferty (2013) strikes again!

Her ruling BLOCKS Trump’s defunding of K-12 schools with DEI programs, calling it “viewpoint discrimination.”

She also allowed trans athletes in girls’ sports (2024)

Another Left-Wing Activist Judge… pic.twitter.com/motwIkq9Lv

— Publius (@OcrazioCornPop) April 24, 2025

The Trump administration has until Thursday to comply with her directive, including a prohibition on enforcing use of its “End DEI Portal” and a certification requirement it had imposed, Axios reports.

In January, Trump ordered the end of DEI in public schools and federal contractors in an executive order.

On April 3, the Department of Education sent letters to K-12 agencies ordering them to comply with the administration’s anti-DEI policies, a move which followed a February warning that they may lose federal funding for schools that refuse to get rid of DEI.

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Consumer sentiment is plummeting, delinquency rates are rising, and nearly three-quarters of all U.S. consumers admit that they are “financially stressed”.  If U.S. consumers are experiencing this much pain now, what will things look like six months from today if there are empty shelves and widespread shortages? 

 We witnessed a brief period of severe financial stress during the early days of the last pandemic, but we would have to go all the way back to the Great Recession to find a time that is truly comparable to what we are enduring now.  U.S consumers have been getting hammered for years, and now it appears that our problems are about to go to an entirely new level.  The following are 12 signs that U.S. consumers are experiencing far more financial stress than most people realize…

#1 According to the University of Michigan, consumer sentiment in the United States has fallen to the second-lowest reading ever recorded…

Americans are rarely this pessimistic about the economy.

Consumer sentiment plunged 11% this month to a preliminary reading of 50.8, the University of Michigan said in its latest survey released Friday, the second-lowest reading on records going back to 1952.

#2 According to a new CNBC/SurveyMonkey poll, a whopping 73 percent of U.S. consumers admit that they are “financially stressed”…

Americans are growing increasingly uneasy about the state of the U.S. economy and their own personal financial situation in the face of stubborn inflation and tariff wars.

To that point, 73% of respondents said they are “financially stressed,” with 66% of that group pointing to the tariff wars as a main source, according to a new CNBC/SurveyMonkey online poll.

The survey of 4,200 U.S. adults was conducted April 3 to 7.

#3 Approximately two-thirds of U.S. adults feel like they are “behind on their savings goals”, and half of U.S. adults believe that they will never reach their savings goals at all…

67% of Americans feel behind on their savings goals, with nearly half (47%) believing they’ll never reach their targets

#4 More than 60 percent of U.S. adults that currently have savings accounts have taken money out of them since the start of this year…

63% of people with savings accounts have withdrawn money since the beginning of 2025, primarily for unexpected expenses (48%) and everyday necessities (36%)

#5 The percentage of U.S. credit card accounts that are at least 90 days past due has reached the highest level in 12 years…

The percentage of credit card accounts that were at least 90 days past due hit a 12-year high in the fourth quarter of 2024.

According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, 0.90% of accounts were delinquent, the most since the Fed bank began its report.

#6 5 million student loan borrowers in the United States have not made a single payment in the last year, and 4 million other student loan borrowers will soon reach that status…

Of the more than 42.7 million student loan borrowers in the U.S., who owe a collective $1.6 trillion, the department says that more than 5 million have not made a payment in the past year. That number is expected to grow as an additional 4 million borrowers are approaching default status.

#7 For the first time in about 5 years, the Department of Eduction “will resume collections of its defaulted federal student loan portfolio”.  This is going to put additional financial stress on millions of U.S. households…

The U.S. Department of Education today announced its Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) will resume collections of its defaulted federal student loan portfolio on Monday, May 5th. The Department has not collected on defaulted loans since March 2020. Resuming collections protects taxpayers from shouldering the cost of federal student loans that borrowers willingly undertook to finance their postsecondary education. This initiative will be paired with a comprehensive communications and outreach campaign to ensure borrowers understand how to return to repayment or get out of default.

#8 The average credit score in the United States just dropped at the fastest pace since the Great Recession…

America’s credit score just took its biggest hit since the 2008 crash.

The average FICO score in the US has dropped to 715 from 717 — the largest one-year drop since the Great Recession, according to new data from the credit-rating giant FICO.

#9 U.S. consumers are eating out less, and as a result restaurant chains all over the country are in financial distress…

Once rapidly growing commercial marvels, casual dining chains — sit-down restaurants where middle-class families can walk in without a reservation, order from another human and share a meal — have been in decline for most of the 21st century. Last year, TGI Fridays and Red Lobster both filed for bankruptcy. Outback and Applebee’s have closed dozens of locations. Pizza Hut locations with actual dining rooms are vanishingly rare, with hundreds closing since 2019.

According to a February survey by the market research firm Datassential, 24 percent of Americans say they are having dinner at casual restaurants less often, and 29 percent are dining out less with groups of friends and family.

#10 U.S. consumers are visiting shopping malls a lot less than they once did, and as a result many mall retailers are going belly up…

Merry Go Round, Bon-Ton, Lord & Taylor, The Limited, Loehmann’s, Bonwit Teller, Chess King, and Anchor Blue are just a few once-successful clothing retailers that no longer exist.

Now, a once-trendy fashion/clothing retailer finds itself having to make massive cuts and shut down 100s of stores in a fight to avoid bankruptcy.

#11 U.S. consumers are not spending as much money at hair salons, and Bloomberg is telling us that this is an indicator that a recession is coming…

Stylists from Manhattan to rural New Hampshire are seeing regular clients start to skip cuts and blowouts. In from the Maine town of Brewer, hairstylist Alyssa Dow said customers are choosing cheaper, “more low-maintenance” looks—and tipping less. In affluent Longmeadow, Massachusetts, where “people don’t like to walk around with roots” showing, clients who previously got color every two or three weeks are stretching it to four or five, citing the “political situation” and implying they’ve lost money in the stock market, said Michelle LaValley. “They’re cutting back in other areas as well, so it’s not just us,” said the salon owner, who has 28 years in the business. The wider pullback in spending seems to go beyond the general grumpiness that accompanied the so-called vibecession that started years ago when inflation rose, interest rates spiked and yet the US kept growing.

#12 According to the Fed, U.S. consumers are becoming more concerned about inflation and unemployment…

The central bank’s monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations showed that respondents saw inflation a year from now at 3.6%, an increase of half a percentage point from February and the highest reading since October 2023.

Along with concerns over a higher cost of living came a surge in worries over the labor market: The probability that the unemployment rate would be higher a year from now surged to 44%, a move up of 4.6 percentage points and the highest level going back to the early Covid pandemic days of April 2020.

Right now, economists all over the country are arguing about whether a recession is ahead of us or not.

But to millions of hard working Americans, it feels like a recession has already begun.

If you are currently experiencing financial stress, I want you to know that you aren’t alone.

Countless others are in the exact same boat, and the outlook for the months ahead is not promising at all.

*  *  *

Michael’s new  book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

A Ukrainian official speaking to Reuters Thursday has claimed that the missile that killed at least nine people in a major Russian aerial attack on Kiev overnight was a North Korean KN-23 (KN-23A) ballistic missile.

A residential building, factory, and cars were set on fire in the wake of the attack, which included a number of missiles and drones. Emergency crews were digging through rubble looking for victims throughout Thursday. At least one building was simply obliterated, suffering a direct hit by a powerful warhead. 

Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, offered as ‘proof’ footage which shows a fast-moving, large missile falling on the city. However, it remains anything but clear from the video precisely what kind of missile it was, much less who produced it.

Kyiv last night during a combined Russian attack.

Reuters reports that a North Korean KN-23 ballistic missile hit the residential building in Kyiv, citing its own sources. https://t.co/28TlH03X3E pic.twitter.com/D3jxURielQ

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) April 24, 2025

“The weapon that killed at least eight people in a major Russian aerial attack on Kyiv overnight was a North Korean KN-23 (KN-23A) ballistic missile, a Ukrainian military source told Reuters on Thursday,” Reuters cited.

“The missile struck a residential building in the Sviatoshynskyi district west of Kyiv’s center,” the unnamed source described. While it’s anything but clear from mere video or photographic evidence what kind of missiles were use on Kiev overnight, Russia and North Korea’s deepening defense relations have been on full display since last summer.

Not only has Pyongyang sent some 10,000 of its troops to help liberate Kursk region, but huge amounts of artillery ammo has reportedly been shipped, based on a 2024 treaty.

And last year the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) produced a report which said, “Analysis confirms that Russia used ballistic missiles produced in North Korea in its war against Ukraine. North Korean missile debris was found throughout Ukraine, according to an unclassified report released today by the Defense Intelligence Agency.”

“Through careful analysis of open-source imagery, DIA analysts confirms the debris found in Kharkiv on Jan. 2, 2024 is missile debris from a DPRK short-range missile,” the DIA continued in May of 2024. “The report provides a comparative analysis of publicly available images of North Korean missile debris and known North Korean missiles. The report shows that the missile debris in Ukraine is almost certainly of a North Korean ballistic missile.”

BBC has picked up on the allegations that a North Korean missile was used to attack a European capital:

BBC News: “according to the Reuters news agency, the missile that killed at least 8 people in that aerial attack on Kyiv was a North Korean ballistic missile”

Are you going to start reporting the origin of all the bombs & missiles that Israel uses to kill Palestinians in Gaza? pic.twitter.com/upciY6pAdd

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) April 24, 2025

So US intelligence has strongly suggested that it is indeed possible Russia is using North Korean-made ballistic missiles on the Ukrainian capital. Zelensky has meanwhile used this information to say that there is an ‘axis’ of hostile forces and enemies of the West warring against Ukraine.

Authored by Yohan Yun via CoinTelegraph.com,

Ethereum is entering one of its most precarious periods since its inception. Usage on the base layer is plummeting, core metrics are nearing multi-year lows, and even co-founder Vitalik Buterin is proposing a radical architectural overhaul. 

Institutions aren’t waiting to see how it plays out. Blockchain data shows that long-time supporters such as Galaxy Digital and Paradigm have been slashing their Ether holdings in recent weeks. 

So far in April, Ethereum’s base-layer activity has continued to collapse. Ethereum’s network fees are dropping, and inflation has been rising. Though layer-2 networks continue to develop, they’re cannibalizing the base layer’s value capture.

But the story isn’t entirely about Ethereum’s collapse. Some whales are treating this downturn as a rare buying opportunity. Even those who are selling Ether can’t fully let it go.

Ethereum gets dumped by institutions, but for how long?

Institutions are dumping Ethereum, but it’s the ex they keep checking on. It’s not entirely out of the picture — just benched while they explore options like Solana.

In recent weeks, blockchain analysts on the lookout for large crypto movements spotted several institutions moving ETH out of their tagged wallets, likely to sell. Lookonchain reported that Galaxy Digital deposited 65,600 ETH ($105.5 million) to Binance. The investment firm’s Ether exposure rose to as high as around 98,000 coins in February, but that has dropped to almost 68,000 ETH at the time of writing, Arkham data shows.

Galaxy dumps Ether, but not all of it. Source: Arkham

Galaxy’s holdings may have declined in recent weeks, but they’re still higher compared to the start of the year. Its Ether holdings reflect a broader trend seen in Ethereum-based investment products. According to CoinShares, ETH funds saw $26.7 million in outflows over the past week, bringing total outflows to $772 million over eight weeks. However, year-to-date flows remain positive, with $215 million in net inflows. 

As Galaxy trimmed its Ether holdings, it also withdrew 752,240 SOL ($98.37 million), Lookonchain reported. Ethereum lost considerable momentum to Solana, which became the chain of choice during the memecoin casino frenzy that dominated much of 2024 and early 2025. While that eventually cooled amid rampant scams, bots and low-quality tokens, it also served as a technical showcase for Solana — proving its ability to process massive transaction volumes without major fee spikes or outages.

Paradigm is another investor that has cut back on Ether. On April 21, it moved 5,500 ETH ($8.66 million) to Anchorage Digital. Paradigm transferred around 97,000 ETH (around $301.57 million) to Anchorage from January 2024, which was then moved to centralized exchanges, as onchain analyst EmberCN pointed out.

Paradigm Capital held about 236,000 ETH in 2019 but holds 2,873 ETH on April 23. Source: Arkham

“While institutional investors initially bought into the ‘ultra-sound money’ narrative, they’re now facing a reality where decreasing protocol revenue and weakening tokenomics create legitimate concerns,” Jayendra Jog, co-founder of Sei Labs, told Cointelegraph.

Ethereum returns to net inflationary state

Ether deflation has been an attractive selling point to Ethereum investors. It was integrated into the network through two major upgrades. First, the London hard fork of August 2021 introduced Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559, which partially burns transaction fees. Then in the Merge upgrade of September 2022, Ethereum became a proof-of-stake network and drastically cut new token issuance.

Ether’s supply consistently decreased following the Merge until April 2024, when Ether’s inflation began to accelerate. By early February 2025, the total ETH supply had surpassed its Merge level.

Ether’s total supply is approximately 186,705 ETH higher than it was at the time of the Merge. Source: Ultra Sound Money

Part of Ether’s inflation has been due to dropping fees, which results in less Ether burned. According to data from IntoTheBlock, Ethereum collected 1,873.52 ETH in fees from April 14 to April 21. That’s slightly higher than the 1,697.61 ETH in fees from the week starting on March 17, which was the lowest amount of fees collected (measured in ETH) since July 31, 2017.

Ethereum base layer’s fees drop to 2017 levels. Source: IntoTheBlock

Buterin’s radical RISC-V proposal for Ethereum

On April 20, Buterin proposed the RISC-V instruction set to substitute the current Ethereum Virtual Machine contract language, aiming to improve the speed and efficiency of the network’s execution layer. Some view the proposal as a white flag on the existing architecture.

Source: Rooter

“Vitalik’s RISC-V proposal is essentially an acknowledgment that the EVM’s fundamental architecture has reached its limits. When Ethereum’s founder proposes replacing the core VM that underpins the entire ecosystem, it signals not evolution but recognition of a design limitation that can’t be incrementally improved,” Jog said.

Cointelegraph has reached out to the Ethereum Foundation and will update this article when it answers.

The proposal follows a leadership shuffling in the Ethereum Foundation following rising complaints on the project’s direction. 

Could Ethereum be the one that got away?

Part of Ethereum’s struggles has been attributed to its rollup-centric approach to scaling its network. The idea was to build layer-2 scaling networks that would offload the transactions from the base chain but still utilize its security. That has alleviated congestion issues during times of high network demand but has also created new problems of its own, such as dropping Ether burns and fragmentation of the Ethereum ecosystem.

But there is an increased focus on layer-1 scaling, according to Tomasz Stańczak, the new co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation. Stańczak said on X that the Ethereum Foundation will shift its focus to near-term goals, such as layer-1 scaling and layer-2 scaling support.

Source: Tomasz Stańczak

Some whales have taken advantage of Ethereum’s cheaper price tag. On April 23, Lookonchain identified two wallets accumulating millions of dollars worth of ETH. The blockchain monitor identified another wallet on April 22 that has accumulated over $100 million in ETH since Feb. 15. Ether is currently down from the plus-$4,000 it reached in December but rose over 10% on April 23 to over $1,800. 

In a recent client letter, Standard Chartered Bank slashed its 2025 price estimate for Ether from $10,000. However, for whales accumulating at current levels, upside potential remains, as the bank still predicts a year-end target of $4,000.

Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s head of digital assets research, attributed the more cautious outlook to Ethereum’s structural decline, noting that the layer-2 networks designed to improve scalability are now extracting much of the fee revenue once captured by the base layer.

President Donald Trump has said he could meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin shortly after his upcoming trip to the Middle East in May, where’s he expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The Gulf tour, set for May 13 through the 16th, will be the first such Mideast trip of Trump’s second term. TASS reported this week, “In March, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet in Saudi Arabia at some point.”

While there are no clear, concrete plans for this, Trump was asked by reporters Wednesday about the possibility of talks with Putin while in Saudi Arabia. 

That’s when Trump responded, “It’s possible, but most likely not. I think we’ll meet with him shortly thereafter.” But he didn’t offer any details of when or where this could happen.

US special envoy Steven Witkoff has also recently suggested Saudi Arabia as a venue for a potential future Trump-Putin meeting.

The Kremlin has welcomed Trump administration suggestions that Ukraine finally give up claims to Crimea. Trump addressed Zelensky in a Wednesday social media statement and said “Crimea was lost years ago” and that he should face reality and give it up for the sake of peace.

Putin’s office responded by saying, “This fully corresponds with our understanding and with what we have been saying for a long time.”

But Trump had some strong words for Moscow on Thursday, following a deadly overnight Russian ballistic missile and drone attack on Kiev, which killed at least ten people.

“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”

The Kremlin has laid out that it is willing to stop the finding, and that peace can be achieved if Ukrainian forces exit the four annexed territories of the East. 

Moments of Russian missile strikes on Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/hfStanvH92

— Clash Report (@clashreport) April 24, 2025

Zelensky has shown no signs that he’s willing to do this, also as he’s citing the national constitution to say that not even Crimea can legally be given up. At this point, any earlier progression toward peace appears stalled. Can a Putin-Trump face to face meeting lead to a breakthrough?

By Michael Every of Rabobank

Fake it till Trump makes it

Markets were thrilled this week as Bloomberg reported US Treasury Secretary Bessent saying 145% US tariffs on China were “unsustainable” and a trade deal would be done soon; yet people *in the room* say that didn’t capture his real message – that China would see *it* needed to move first. Markets were just as excited by President Trump saying those tariffs would come down “substantially” but missed the context that this was *after a deal*, not as a unilateral US step.    

The Wall Street Journal caused another market surge in reporting ‘White House Considers Slashing China Tariffs to De-Escalate Trade War: Levies could be cut by more than half in some cases although Trump hasn’t yet made final decision’. Within hours, one of the authors tweeted: “UPDATE: Admin official said Trump wouldn’t act unilaterally and would need to see action from China. People close to admin said Trump has plenty of room to cut tariffs without changing overall picture. “It would be kind of a pressure valve release without actually doing anything.”” The original headline was still up at time of writing over 12 hours later.

The Financial Times claims Trump’s “latest retreat” is on auto tariffs. An hour later, the president denied it. Again, the story was still up unchanged at time of writing.

Bloomberg this morning has the top headline “New Rate – Trump: China May Get New Tariff Rate Soon.” If you listen to what he said, he’s negotiating with 90 countries, and those that strike deals in the next 2-3 weeks will get a lower rate, while those that don’t will get one imposed… and China could be in either camp, the implication being it depends on what *it* does.

Moreover, not being reported prominently at all in the financial press, Bessent gave a speech at the IIF yesterday in which he stated, “Everywhere we look across the international system today, we see imbalance… My goal… is to outline a blueprint to restore equilibrium to the global financial system and the institutions designed to uphold it.” While he stressed, “America First does not mean America alone”, he made clear the US seeks “expanded leadership in international institutions like the IMF and the World Bank… to restore fairness to the international economic system [which faces] the stark reality of large and persistent US deficits as a result of an unfair trading system,” a status quo which is, “not sustainable for the US, and ultimately,… not sustainable for other economies.” 

He said the US is eager to work with the IMF and World Bank, “so long as they can stay true to their missions. And under the status quo, they are falling short… We must make the IMF the IMF again… [It] must be a brutal truth-teller and not just to some members. Today, the IMF has been whistling past the graveyard. Its 2024 external sector report was entitled, “Imbalances Receding.” This Pollyannaish outlook is symptomatic of an institution more dedicated to preserving the status quo than answering the hard questions. Here in the US, we know we need to get our fiscal house in order… but we will not abide the IMF failing to critique the countries that most need it, principally surplus countries… the IMF needs to call out countries like China that have pursued globally distorted policies and opaque currency practices for many decades.” 

Bessent also said the World Bank “should no longer expect blank cheques for vapid, buzzword-centric marketing accompanied by half-hearted commitments to reform… Treating China, the second-largest economy in the world, as a developing country is absurd.”

In Q&A, he underlined the US wants to work with China to help it shift to consumption as it moves back to manufacturing: but if China won’t … join, or decouple, the dots. He welcomed European defence spending but laughed at the Euro being a global reserve currency, wishing them well with the consequences that would come with it on top of the appreciation just seen. He also stressed, “I think Wall Street can continue doing well. But I think it’s Main Street’s turn to share in the prosperity,” implying he wants more lending by smaller banks to make the latter happen.

Elsewhere, Secretary of State Rubio was singing the same tune, the Defence Secretary from his, as the US Trade Representative has just done too, hammering home the US point from all sides.

In short, as central bank “Think of the asset prices!” control of markets is replaced by economic statecraft “Think of the national security!” control of the economy, we are seeing normative financial journalism determined to fake-it-till-Trump-makes-it what they want it to be – “because markets again.” 

Yes, the White House worries about markets. If things get ugly enough, they offer a verbal carrot. No, Trump is not faking it, and he did not just fold. The US grand macro strategy is not changing. As wiser heads at the Wall Street Journal note, ‘Markets Think They Hold All the Cards Over Trump’, before adding, “The plunge in stocks, bonds, and the dollar matter to Trump. But there’s no assurance that he will be ruled by them.”

Yet with a de facto US-China trade embargo in place, the US economy could see shortages on shelves within weeks and/or of price rises; and even if there is a tariff U-turn, logistics would then be overwhelmed, true even if the Fed’s Beige Book overnight was typically beige in capturing those emergent risks. That’s as fake-it-till-Trump-makes-it MAGA thinking that a stronger US dollar would provide offset to any tariffs falls far short of reality. That might see some movement.

However, even a 60% tariff for China would mean the maximalist US position previously seen as unthinkable would be celebrated with relief. Moreover, those sneering at US assets as ‘uninvestable’ don’t see that these scarring experiences also mean real economy firms are scrambling to set up new supply chains in the US or outside China and will continue to do so even if tariffs go to 60% – when markets will be rallying while missing the longer-term big picture. Nobody in manufacturing assumes this goes away via a debunked Bloomberg, WSJ, or Financial Times headline. Where supply chains sit 3 to 5 years from now is open to question. Wheeling and dealing is thus underway:

• 12 US states have sued Trump, saying tariffs have “brought chaos to the American economy.” They may bring chaos to a US constitution that only exists due to unity over the need for tariffs.
• As allegations of China’s support for Russia emerge, the European Parliament is in the ‘final stages’ of talks with China to remove sanctions on it: apparently “free trade” trumps all for some. Good luck with that, as Bessent would likely say with a smile.
• The US has made a final peace offer to Ukraine –which gets security guarantees from Europe only, and the potential ability to join the EU, not NATO– and to Russia –which gets to keep most of what it’s taken for sanctions relief and US energy cooperation– or it will walk away. Ukraine, supposedly to sign a minerals deal today again, has perhaps has already rejected it.
• The US is reportedly telling Iran it will process nuclear fuel for it under a new deal, again bringing it in from the cold on sanctions. If it doesn’t agree, does the US opt for JCPOA 2.0, and then expanded Abraham Accords and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, or war?
• In response to a terror attack in Kashmir, India has cancelled visas for all Pakistanis; closed the border crossing; suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, which Pakistan has in the past stated could amount to an act of war; and rumours fly of possible Indian military action.
• The ex-head of the WEF allegedly fiddled with the organisation’s Global Competitiveness Index ratings — the data were faked by Schwab while the WEF were making it — as well as engaging in financial and moral impropriety; and
• The UK has decided to approve attempts to dim the sun to control climate change within weeks: it’s called British summer. Really – on both fronts. 

What a year 2025 is proving to be.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has filled in a little bit more of the details in the wake of a Financial Times report issued Tuesday which said President Putin is offering to freeze the current battle lines for the sake of a peace deal.

The significant concession came as a surprise to many, who asked what’s the catch. Peskov in Wednesday comments filled in the missing information, stressing that peace can be achieved if Ukrainian forces fully withdraw from territory in the four oblasts Moscow annexed in 2022.

Financial Times wrote that “The proposal is the first formal indication Putin has given since the war’s early months three years ago that Russia could step back from its maximalist demands to end the invasion.”

Peskov in the fresh statement emphasized that Russia’s claim to the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia remain enshrined in its constitution.

He was asked directly whether a Ukrainian withdrawal would end the war, to which he responded, “If Ukraine withdraws its troops from these four regions, then yes.”

“According to the results of the referendums, these territories have entered the administrative borders of Russia. From our point of view, this is a de jure and de facto situation,” Peskov said.

But so far Zelensky hasn’t even been willing to cede Crimea, despite the Russian-speaking population of the strategic peninsula long being firmly in Russian hands, also with its naval Black Sea fleet being stationed there since Soviet Times and throughout recent history.

President Trump said Wednesday that Ukraine “lost” Crimea years ago, and so it is “not even a point of discussion”. But Washington’s demands that Ukraine finally compromise on the issue has been rejected by Zelensky.

Peskov commented on this too, expressing total agreement with Trump. “This completely corresponds with our understanding, which we have been saying for a long time,” he said.

If the Ukrainian government did finally accede to Russia’s demands, it would lose 20% of its total territory, given this is about how much Russian forces currently occupy.

The US is also said to currently be offering Ukrainian neutrality vis-a-vis NATO, alongside international recognition of Crimea as Russian territory. But talks have still not gotten off the ground, and the Trump admin is ramping up the pressure on Zelensky especially.