Seeds of Wisdom RV and Economic Updates Friday Afternoon 3-21-25
Good Afternoon Dinar Recaps,
UAE COMMITS TO $1.4 TRILLION US INVESTMENT, WHITE HOUSE SAYS
WASHINGTON/DUBAI, March 21 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has committed to a 10-year, $1.4 trillion investment framework in the United States after top UAE officials met President Donald Trump this week, the White House said on Friday.
The framework will "substantially increase the UAE's existing investments in the U.S. economy" in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, and manufacturing, the White House said in a statement.
The White House did not outline how UAE investments would reach $1.4 trillion, with some of the deals unveiled as part of the framework having already been announced.
The only fully new deal appeared to be an investment by Emirates Global Aluminium in what would be the first new aluminum smelter in the United States in 35 years, the White House said, adding the plant "would nearly double U.S. domestic aluminum production".
"Developing a primary aluminium smelter in the U.S. has been part of EGA's ambitions for several years," a spokesperson for the firm said in a statement.
The UAE, an oil producer and longtime security partner of the U.S., is looking to deepen investment ties with Washington and is emerging as a global leader in AI, one of the sectors it is betting on to diversify its economy away from energy.
In September, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met former U.S. President Joe Biden, in the first visit of a UAE president to the White House, as the two leaders discussed deepening cooperation in areas such as AI, investments and space exploration.
Gulf sovereign wealth funds, including Abu Dhabi's $330-billion Mubadala, are already big U.S. investors, and Trump and his family have business ties to the region.
OVAL OFFICE MEETING
Trump in January asked Saudi Arabia to spend upwards of $1 trillion in the U.S. economy, over four years, including purchases of military equipment, and said this month he likely would make his first trip abroad to the Gulf country to seal an investment agreement.
The deal, which could happen between this month or the next, would come at a time when Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's biggest economy, has been taking a more prominent role in U.S. foreign policy. The Gulf country is set to host diplomatic talks around Ukraine involving the United States and Russia next week.
The White House said on Friday the UAE agreement resulted from a meeting that Trump held on Tuesday with national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the Oval Office and a dinner that Vice President JD Vance and several cabinet members held with the UAE delegation, which included the heads of major UAE sovereign wealth funds and corporations.
Among the tie-ups highlighted on Friday was a partnership between UAE sovereign wealth fund ADQ, which is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon, and U.S. private equity firm Energy Capital Partners, for a $25 billion U.S.-focused initiative to invest in energy infrastructure and data centers. That had been previously announced two days ago.
A commitment by XRG, the international investment arm of UAE state oil company ADNOC launched in November, to support U.S. natural gas production and exports with an investment in the NextDecade liquefied natural gas export facility in Texas, had previously been made public last year by ADNOC, under Biden.
https://www.reuters.com/world/after-trump-meeting-uae-commits-10-year-14-trillion-investment-framework-us-2025-03-21/
@ Newshounds News™
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AUSTRALIA OUTLINES CRYPTO REGULATION PLAN, PROMISES ACTION ON DEBANKING
The Albanese-led government intends to release draft legislation in 2025 for public consultation and promised to work with Australia’s four largest banks to better understand de-banking.
Australia’s government, under its ruling center-left Labor Party, has proposed a new crypto framework regulating exchanges under existing financial services laws and has promised to tackle debanking.
It comes ahead of a federal election slated to be held on or before May 17, which current polling shows is shaping up to a dead heat between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor and the opposing Coalition led by Peter Dutton.
The Treasury Department said in a March 21 statement that crypto exchanges, custody services and some brokerage firms that trade or store crypto will come under the new laws.
The regime imposes similar compliance requirements as other financial services in the country, such as following rules safeguarding customer assets, obtaining an Australian Financial Services Licence and meeting minimum capital requirements.
In August 2022, the government initiated a series of industry consultations to draft a crypto regulatory framework.
“Our legislative reforms will extend existing financial services laws to key digital asset platforms, but not to all of the digital asset ecosystem,” the Treasury said in its statement.
Small-scale and startup platforms that don’t meet specific size thresholds will be exempt, along with firms that develop blockchain-related software or create digital assets that aren’t financial products.
Payment stablecoins will be treated as a type of stored-value facility under the Government’s Payments Licensing Reforms; however, some stablecoins and wrapped tokens will be exempt.
“Dealing or secondary market trading in these products will be not treated as a dealing activity, and platforms where they are traded will not be treated as operating a market simply because of that trading activity,” the Treasury said.
As part of its crypto agenda, Albanese’s government has also promised to work with Australia’s four largest banks to better understand the extent and nature of de-banking.
There will also be a review into a central bank digital currency and an Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox in 2025, allowing businesses to test new financial products without needing a license.
Albanese’s government intends to release a draft of the legislation for public consultation. However, a change of government could be on the horizon with a looming federal election, a date for which is yet to be called.
Dutton’s center-right Coalition had earlier promised to prioritize crypto regulation if it wins the election.
The latest YouGov poll published on March 20 shows the Coalition and Labor neck in neck for a two-party preferred vote.
Caroline Bowler, the CEO of local crypto exchange BTC Markets, said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph that the areas of reform are sensible and would keep Australia competitive with global peers.
However, she thinks there “will be additional detail required on capital adequacy and custody requirements.”
“We need to ensure that these requirements aren’t overly burdensome for business investment in Australia,” Bowler said.
Kraken Australia’s managing director, Jonathon Miller, said there is an “urgent need for bespoke crypto legislation” to address the existing confusion and uncertainty in the country’s industry.
“We believe that by establishing a clear crypto regulatory framework and mitigating problems like debanking, government can remove the barriers hampering growth in the Australian economy,” he said.
@ Newshounds News™
Source: CoinTelegraph
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