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PESHAWAR: Fraudsters have been found using a forged sponsor letter from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa director general of sports in order to secure New Zealand’s visas for seven people posing as squash players and support staff. The issue came to light after the New Zealand consulate general took it up with the Pakistan Squash Federation, which formally reported it to the sports department, according to official sources. Details available with Dawn show that on Feb 7, a sponsorship letter on the letterhead of the KP directorate general of sports was sent to the New Zealand consulate general. The letter said that…

The Open Network (TON), a blockchain that facilitates payments on the messaging app Toncoin. Following the announcement the Toncoin jumped 6%. “I’ve been a long-time believer in the potential of blockchain to disrupt traditional industries and systems,” Tim Draper, founder of Draper Associates—one of the VCs participating in this round—said in a statement. “TON’s technology is highly impressive, and its integration with Telegram provides it with a distribution that no other blockchain can match.” The investors who participated received “token-based investments” instead of equity like a traditional funding raise, a TON spokesperson told Fortune. “These VCs are placing their bets…

Solana’s most profitable protocol Pump.fun is gunning for an even greater share of the chain’s DeFi economy. The massively popular memecoin launchpad on Thursday unveiled a token swaps service powered by the protocol’s liquidity pools. Called PumpSwap, it puts the project in direct competition with Solana’s coterie of automated market makers (AMMs) that facilitate on-chain token trades. Instead of “graduating” highly-traded memecoins to Raydium, a longtime hub for Solana DeFi pools, Pump.fun will now seed promising tokens’ launch liquidity in PumpSwap. This fully in-house setup will cut down on launch costs, the founders told CoinDesk, and alter the way Pump.Fun…

The U.S. Department of Education is seen on March 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order to abolish the Department of Education. Win Mcnamee | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.The Education Department oversees the country’s $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio, provides funding to low-income students and enforces civil rights across the country.Only Congress can unilaterally eliminate the Education Department. But the Trump administration can starve the agency of resources.Earlier this month, the department laid…

Another company has elected to add bitcoin (BTC) to its balance sheet. Christian Angermayer, the chairman of Germany-based biopharmaceutical company atai Life Sciences (ATAI) announced today that the firm would develop its own bitcoin treasury strategy. “In an era of persistent inflation and volatile markets, I find myself asking an important question for biotech companies looking to preserve and optimize the capital they have: Could allocating a portion of treasury cash to bitcoin help preserve, optimize, and even extend a company’s runway and hence contribute to its success,” Angermayer wrote on Substack. The company will initially invest $5 million in…

Canary Capital has submitted the paperwork for potentially the first ETF to list its name under the alternative crypto assets of its kind using the PENGU token and NFT featured by Pudgy Penguins, which previously was a toy on Walmart. This is part of a series of attempts by financial firms to introduce a new avenue of investment to suit the regulated space. The institutional crypto trading and management firm filed the registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday on March 20. The proposed fund would mostly invest in PENGU, the native token of the Pudgy Penguins…

David Madison | Stone | Getty ImagesYou could face a 25% penaltyGenerally, you calculate RMDs for each account by dividing the prior Dec. 31 balance by a “life expectancy factor,” according to the IRS. Some companies calculate RMDs for you, but you’re ultimately responsible for withdrawing the correct amount.  There’s a 25% penalty for skipping the RMD or not withdrawing enough, said certified financial planner Scott Bishop, partner and managing director of Presidio Wealth Partners, based in Houston.But the IRS could reduce the fee to 10% if you correct the mistake, withdraw the proper amount within two years and file…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced on March 20 that Bitcoin mining does not fall under securities and does not require registration. In a statement, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance stated that “Protocol Mining” on proof-of-work (PoW) networks does not meet the criteria of an “investment contract” under the Howey Test, a legal standard for determining securities. The announcement cleared the fog for miners and mining companies, stating that mining operations would not be subject to securities laws. According to the SEC, Bitcoin miners, whether solo or part of a mining pool, are not engaging in investment activities…

Fang Dongxu/VCG via Getty ImagesThere was an oft-repeated message in Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s press conference on Wednesday: Tariffs will raise consumer prices.The U.S. central bank raised its inflation forecast for 2025, as have many economists, due to the expected impact of a trade war initiated by the Trump administration.”A good part of it is coming from tariffs,” Powell said of the Fed’s elevated inflation estimate.”I do think with the arrival of the tariff inflation, further progress may be delayed,” Powell said.His statement comes at a time when pandemic-era inflation has gradually declined but hasn’t yet been fully tamed…

Fed Holds Interest Rates at 4.25%-4.50%, Bitcoin Surges 4% to $85,648 as Stocks Rebound The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, holding the benchmark rate between 4.25% and 4.50%. The decision extends a months-long pause on rate cuts, with officials projecting only two cuts this year instead of the four or five previously expected. Fed Chair Jerome Powell downplayed concerns about inflationary pressures from President Donald Trump’s tariffs, calling their effect “transitory.” Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies reacted positively, with Bitcoin rising more than 4% in 24 hours to $85,648, hitting a high of $85,890—its highest price since March…