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Crypto payments startup Mesh is planning to roll out Apple Pay support for crypto transactions, allowing shoppers to pay with digital assets while settling transactions in stablecoins for merchants. The feature, unveiled during Token2049 in Dubai, converts crypto to stablecoins at checkout using Mesh’s proprietary SmartFunding technology. The system sidesteps the need for merchants to handle crypto directly, offering what Mesh calls a “plug-and-play” payment option through Apple Pay’s interface. This way, brick-and-mortar retailers and webshops can accept crypto payments without the need for building out the necessary infrastructure. Mesh plans to launch the feature later in the second quarter…

Akos Stiller/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesGold returns are shining — but investors holding gold exchange-traded funds may get hit with an unexpectedly high tax bill on their profits.The Internal Revenue Service considers gold and other precious metals to be “collectibles,” similar to other physical property like art, antiques, stamps, coins, wine, cars and rare comic books.That’s also true of ETFs that are physically backed by precious metals, according to tax experts.Here’s why that matters: Collectibles generally carry a 28% top federal tax rate on long-term capital gains. (That rate applies to profits on assets held for longer than one year.)By comparison,…

Washington CNN  —  Americans are still dreading a recession and rising inflation, even after President Donald Trump paused his massive tariff hike on dozens of countries. Consumer sentiment plunged 8% in April from the prior month, to a final reading of 52.2, the University of Michigan said in its latest survey released Friday. That was a slightly smaller decline than a preliminary reading from earlier this month, which didn’t capture people’s reaction to Trump’s 90-day tariff delay announced on April 9. Sentiment in April was at its fourth-lowest level on records going back to 1952. “While this month’s deterioration was…

Cathie Wood of Ark Invest recently revised upward her 2030 Bitcoin price forecast from $1.5 million to $2.4 million. The updated forecast reflects new thinking about Bitcoin’s active coin supply. Institutional investment via the new spot Bitcoin ETFs is the single-largest driver of Bitcoin’s valuation, and needs to be monitored regularly. When it comes to Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price forecasts, the one investor who has my attention right now is Cathie Wood of Ark Invest. She is now predicting that Bitcoin will hit a price of $2.4 million by the year 2030. That’s an eye-popping prediction, especially given Bitcoin’s recent…

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon smiles during the signing event for an executive order to shut down the Department of Education next to U.S. President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 20, 2025. Carlos Barria | ReutersHouse Republicans have a plan to drastically change how millions of Americans repay their student debt.Under the GOP’s new proposal, known as the Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan, there would be just two repayment options for those with federal student loans. Currently, borrowers have about 12 ways to repay their student debt, according to higher…

CNN  —  A few weeks ago, Los Angeles real estate agent Scott Price got the kind of call that’s only happened once before in his two-decade-long career: His buyer was backing out — just two days before closing. To Price, the reason seemed to be a growing uneasiness with the economy. Price’s client, warned by his company that layoffs may be coming, no longer felt secure enough to make such a large purchase. Rather than take the risk, the buyer walked away from the home — and their 3% deposit. “This is not a common occurrence for me,” Price said…

(Bloomberg) — Morgan Stanley is working on a plan to add cryptocurrency trading to its E*Trade platform, in what would be the most significant move by a major US bank to help everyday customers buy into the asset class since the Trump administration began removing regulatory barriers. Most Read from Bloomberg The project is nascent and executives envision launching the service sometime next year, according to people familiar with the matter. The firm is considering partnering with one or multiple established crypto firms as it sets up the mechanics for the brokerage’s clients to buy and sell popular tokens including…

Background stock market and finance economic.getty A commonly heard quip of economists throughout the post-war era has been, “When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches cold.” This refrain also applied to the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, when the U.S. economy and stock market far outperformed its international peers (see chart below). This adage, however, does not apply to the current trade war. During the first 16 weeks of this year, the U.S. stock market underperformed international markets by the widest margin since 1993, according to the Financial Times. The MSCI USA index lost 11%, while…

Washington CNN  —  President Donald Trump’s major, abrupt policy shifts likely slowed the US economy sharply in the beginning of the year — for the worst quarter perhaps since the Covid-19 pandemic — as consumers and businesses fretted about massive new tariffs. The Commerce Department is set to release its initial estimate of first-quarter gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic output, on Wednesday at 8:30 am ET. It will give the clearest picture yet of how the US economy is responding to Trump’s sweeping economic agenda, just one day after the administration’s 100th day in power. Economists estimate…

Strategy is continuing to load up on Bitcoin. It’s able to do that because of a clever financing move that isn’t available to you. The drivers for its decision to invest are still relevant to your investment decision. Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) just bought more than $1.4 billion of Bitcoin on April 28 (CRYPTO: BTC), and it isn’t the first time. With such a purchase, the company is sending an unambiguous signal that it thinks the coin’s value is going to continue increasing. But that doesn’t mean you should follow in Strategy’s footsteps blindly. Let’s evaluate its approach and its rationale…