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SINGAPORE, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Singapore's central bank released a regulatory framework on Tuesday intended to bolster the stability of single-currency stablecoins. The framework will apply to non-bank issuers of single-currency stablecoins pegged to the Singapore Dollar or any G10 currencies where their circulation exceeds S$5 million, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The central bank has to hold legislative consultations before Parliament passes amendments that would bring the framework into force. Single-currency stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency pegged to a traditional asset like national currencies. The reserve assets must be at least at 100% of the outstanding single-currency stablecoins that are in circulation.

Persons: Xinghui Kok, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Singapore, Monetary Authority of Singapore, MAS, UST, U.S . House Financial Services, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, Singapore, U.S

☆ Gazprom subsidiary files $472-million lawsuit against UniCredit in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Unicredit Bank logo is seen in this illustration taken March 12, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoMOSCOW, Aug 7 (Reuters) - RusKhimAlyans, 50%-owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM), has filed a lawsuit seeking 45.7 billion roubles ($472 million) from Italy's UniCredit [RIC:RIC:UCCDB.UL], a guarantor of a project held up by EU sanctions, Russian court documents show. The court documents were filed at the Court of Arbitration of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. In January, the same court ordered nearly $500 million of assets belonging to Linde , to be frozen at RusKhimAlyans's request. ($1 = 96.8150 roubles)Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Kevin LiffeyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Linde, Elena Fabrichnaya, Alexander Marrow, Kevin Liffey Organizations: REUTERS, Gazprom, Deutsche Bank, Linde, Industries, Ust, Thomson Locations: Petersburg, Leningrad Region, Baltic, Ust, Russia, Ukraine

NEW YORK, July 31 (Reuters) - Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon, must face fraud allegations brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a federal judge ruled on Monday. Kwon and Terraform Labs were behind two cryptocurrencies whose implosion roiled crypto markets around the world last year. A spokesperson for Terraform Labs said the company "will continue to fight the SEC's misguided and deeply flawed allegations and legal theories." SEC attorneys in the Terraform Labs case have said that part of the ruling by Torres was wrongly decided and that SEC staff are exploring ways to have it reviewed. The case is SEC v. Terraform Labs Pte Ltd. et al., No.

Persons: Do Kwon, Kwon, Jed Rakoff, TerraUSD, Rakoff, Analisa Torres, Torres, Jody Godoy, Will Dunham, Grant McCool, Leslie Adler Organizations: YORK, Terraform Labs, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, U.S, SEC, U.S ., UST, Labs, District, Court, Southern District of, York, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, U.S, Southern District, New York

☆ Some crypto assets are securities, Manhattan judge says, complicating Coinbase and Ripple cases
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A Manhattan federal judge said in an opinion that cryptocurrencies are considered securities regardless of how they are sold. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff's decision Monday complicates SEC's litigation with both Ripple and crypto exchange Coinbase. The Ripple ruling was considered a win by the industry because it said a cryptocurrency may or may not be a security depending on who's buying it. The SEC has argued in cases against Binance, Coinbase and Kraken that many cryptocurrencies listed on popular exchanges are securities. The SEC has pursued numerous other crypto firms over the alleged unregistered offer and sale of securities, including Coinbase , Gemini and Genesis.

Persons: Hon Chang, joon, Kwon, cryptocurrencies, Jed Rakoff's, Coinbase, Rakoff, — CNBC's Lora Kolodny Organizations: UST, Securities and Exchange Commission, Terraform Labs, U.S, SEC, Binance Locations: Podgorica, Montenegro, Manhattan

There is no suggestion the trades break sanctions, although they may make it difficult for sanctions enforcement agencies in Europe and the United States to track Russian oil transactions and prices. The new trading network and practices raise financial risks for Russian oil companies dealing with unknown entities with limited credit history. "We recognise that (sanctions on Russia are) going to change the shape and structure of the Russian oil markets," the official told reporters. In May, Russian seaborne oil supplies to India, which was a rare buyer of Russian oil before the war, reached a record of 1.95 million bpd while China imported 2.29 million bpd. A source with one major Russian oil company said his company was prepared to deal with higher credit risks from buyers for the sake of having stable and rising oil exports.

Persons: Russia's, Rosneft, Everest, Coral, Washington, Lukoil, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Nidhi Verma, Timothy Gardner, Laura Sanicola, Simon Webb, Frank Jack Daniel Our Organizations: NEW, Liberian, Reuters, Shell, Group, European Union, Bellatrix Energy, Leopard, Guron, SEA, Coral Energy, Everest Energy, U.S . Treasury, EU, UK, Treasury, UAE dirham, Shipping, Hindustan Petroleum, Gazprom Neft, Covart Energy, Orion Energy, Media, Rosneft, Nidhi, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine MOSCOW, NEW DELHI, Russia's Ust, Hong Kong, India, Moscow, Asia, Ukraine, Refinitiv, Europe, United States, Australia, China, U.S, UAE, Dubai, Visakhapatnam, Surgutneftegaz, Russian, Geneva, Singapore, Rosneft, Venezuela, MOSCOW, LONDON, Washington, New York

☆ Russia's crude price exceeds G7 price cap as market braces for supply crunch
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Spot prices of Russia's crude oil this week surpassed the $60-per-barrel threshold of the Group of Seven's oil price cap scheme, as Moscow and Riyadh tighten supplies. The G7 introduced its oil price cap mechanism on Dec. 5 to retain Russian flows in the market while also limiting revenue for the Kremlin's war coffers. Under the G7 scheme, Western shipping and insurance providers can offer services to non-G7 buyers of Russian crude if the crude oil is acquired at a price below $60 per barrel. Spot assessments from commodities pricing agency Argus show that Urals prices on July 12 reached $60.18 and $60.78 per barrel for Primorsk and Novorossiysk-loaded cargoes, respectively. S&P Global Platts meanwhile valued Primorsk cargoes at $60.32 per barrel on July 11 and Novorossiysk Urals crude at $60.26 per barrel on July 12.

Persons: P Global Platts, —, Giovanni Staunovo, they're, David Fyfe Organizations: Argus, P Global, CNBC, Ice Brent, of, Petroleum, International Energy Agency, UBS, P, Commodity Insights Locations: Moscow, Riyadh, Ust, Luga, Novorossiysk, —, Libya, OPEC, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Lower U.S

☆ Exclusive: Russia sets plans for oil export cuts in August - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Moscow this month pledged to cut exports by 500,000 bpd in August, while Saudi Arabia extended its 1 million bpd output cuts. Russia exports oil and products via the Pacific and a direct pipeline to China as well as its European ports. Three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Russia had instructed oil companies to reduce supply plans for the next month. Russian offline primary oil refining capacity is seen rising by 40% in August from July, making additional oil export cuts next month even tougher for many. If Russia wants to cut oil exports in August from July, companies may postpone some planned works to autumn months to increase domestic oil consumption, or cut oil production, traders said.

Persons: Alexander Novak, Novak, Igor Sechin, Rosneft, Jan Harvey Organizations: Pacific, Reuters, OPEC, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, MOSCOW, Moscow, Saudi Arabia, OPEC, Ust, Luga, Baltic, China

☆ Gazprom subsidiary files lawsuits against Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, July 4 (Reuters) - RusKhimAlyans, a subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM), has filed lawsuits seeking a total of 31 billion roubles ($348 million) from Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Commerzbank (CBKG.DE), Russian court documents show. RusKhimAlyans, in which Gazprom has a 50% stake, is seeking more than 22 billion roubles from Deutsche Bank and over 8 billion roubles from Commerzbank, according to the documents filed at the Court of Arbitration of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. In 2021, Linde and Renaissance Heavy Industries signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Gazprom and its partners for the Ust-Luga gas complex. Linde notified the customer in May and June 2022 that it had suspended work under the contract due to European Union sanctions imposed after Russia sent thousands of its troops into neighbouring Ukraine. ($1 = 89.0585 roubles)Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by David Goodman and Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Linde, Vladimir Soldatkin, David Goodman, Emelia Organizations: Gazprom, Deutsche Bank, Linde, Renaissance Heavy Industries, Ust, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Commerzbank, Petersburg, Leningrad Region, Baltic, Ust, Luga, Russia, Ukraine

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) fell 5 cents or 0.1% to $69.81. While it would be Brent's first monthly gain for 2023, it would mark a second for WTI after a gain in April. Despite the probable monthly gain, on a quarterly basis, Brent looks set for a loss of about 6% while WTI appears headed for a decline of about 7%. The oil price gains on Friday were, however, capped by weak Chinese economic data and fears of higher interest rates. U.S. oil rig count data, an indicator of future supply, will be released later in the day.

Persons: Brent, WTI, Yeap, Rong, Novorossiisk, Robert Carnell, Jerome Powell, Arathy Somasekhar, Muyu Xu, Edwina Gibbs, Robert Birsel Organizations: Brent, . West Texas, U.S . Energy Information Administration, IG, ING, Federal Reserve, Thomson Locations: U.S, Saudi Arabia, That's, OPEC, Primorsk, Ust, Houston, Singapore

June 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge considered whether the digital assets created by Terraform Labs were securities at a hearing on Thursday, a question central to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s fraud case against the company and its founder Do Kwon. Kwon and Terraform Labs were behind two cryptocurrencies whose implosion roiled crypto markets around the world last year. According to the SEC's complaint, Terraform Labs and Kwon misled investors about the stability of UST, and claimed that the firm's crypto tokens would increase in value. Terraform Labs and Kwon argue the case should be dismissed because its digital assets do not fit the definition of securities and the SEC lacks authority over the industry. The case is SEC v. Terraform Labs Pte Ltd. et al., No.

Persons: Kwon, Jed Rakoff, TerraUSD, Rakoff, shouldn’t, ”, “ We’re, Devon Staren, Jody Godoy, Lincoln Organizations: Terraform Labs, U.S . Securities, Exchange, U.S, U.S ., UST, SEC, Court, Southern District of, Thomson Locations: U.S, Manhattan, TerraUSD, Southern District, Southern District of New York, New York

☆ Oil exports from Russia's western ports hit 4-yr high in April
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Russian crude exports and transit from the ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk in April will rise above 10 million tonnes, up from 9.7 million tonnes in March, which is a day longer. It was unclear if Russia's high exports mean it has lowered its output cuts. Seasonal maintenance on Russian refineries in April could explain the high crude exports as the state's domestic market needs less oil, the sources added. Urals crude exports from Primorsk in April will reach some 4.4 million tonnes, while Ust-Luga will load 3.0 million tonnes of Russia's Urals and Kazakstan's KEBCO crude oil grades, the three sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Russia's Urals oil keeps flowing to Asia in April, while softer freight rates help the grade's sellers to reach far-away costumers, accoding to Reuters souces.

☆ Clover Health, which bet its technology would disrupt health insurance, will outsource health-plan operations and cut jobs to help it turn a profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Clover Health bet its technology would disrupt health insurance, but it's struggled with losses. Now it's cutting jobs and it plans to outsource some health-plan operations to lower its costs. Clover Health, an insurance upstart that bet its technology could transform healthcare for seniors, now plans to outsource basic functions like paying medical claims. The Tennessee-based health insurer said Monday that it will shift the responsibility of its core operations to UST HealthProof, a company that handles administrative operations for health plans. It's not unusual for small health insurers to outsource some health-plan operations.

☆ Russian volcano erupts, spewing out a vast cloud of ash
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Summary Shiveluch erupts in Russian far eastAsh shoots up 20 km into the skyVast ash cloud in Russian far eastAviation warning issuedResidents trudge through ash driftsVLADIVOSTOK, Russia, April 11 (Reuters) - One of Russia's most active volcanoes erupted on Tuesday shooting a vast cloud of ash far up into the sky and smothering villages in drifts of grey volcanic dust, triggering an aviation warning around Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. The Shiveluch volcano erupted just after midnight reaching a crescendo about six hours later, spewing out a ash cloud over an area of 108,000 square kilometres, according to the Kamchatka Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geophysical Survey. "The ash reached 20 kilometres high, the ash cloud moved westwards and there was a very strong fall of ash on nearby villages," said Danila Chebrov, director of the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey. He said the volcano would probably calm now, but that further major ash clouds could not be excluded. Scientists posted pictures of the ash cloud billowing swiftly over the forests and rivers of the far east and of villages covered in ash.

☆ Eruption in Russia's Kamchatka threatens aviation -response team
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 11 (Reuters) - The Shiveluch volcano in Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula erupted early on Tuesday and sent up an ash plume 10 kilometers (six miles) high, posing an increased threat to air traffic, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) said. The team issued a code red Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation, noting that a "large ash cloud" was drifting west of the volcano and that ash explosions up to 15 kilometers high could occur at any time. Bondarenko said the volcano erupted at 6:31 a.m. local time and that the cloud spread over Klyuchi and Kozyrevsk, villages more than 70 kilometers apart. Ash had started to fall on Klyuchi and Mayskoye, which lies about halfway between the two. "Residents are advised to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel," he added.

☆ Energy trader Gunvor posts record $2.36 bln net profit in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Ahmad Ghaddar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Gunvor Group Ltd FollowLONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - Gunvor Group posted a record net profit of $2.36 billion in 2022 with a strong performance across all trading desks, the energy trader said in a statement on Wednesday. Gunvor's rivals also had a bumper year amid high price volatility and as Russia's war in Ukraine reshaped global commodity flows, with Vitol and Mercuria previously posting record net profits of $15 billion and $2.98 billion, respectively. Gunvor said its trading volumes fell to 165 million tonnes in 2022 from 240 million tonnes the previous year, due primarily to reduced trading in natural gas, but expected volumes to rebound in the coming year. "The performance was broad-based across all geographies and all desks, including refining and shipping," Gunvor said. Last month, CEO Torbjorn Tornqvist told Reuters that it was considering whether to book a provision in the 2022 year.

☆ Russia's Sibur exports LPG to Africa, Middle East and Asia as EU cuts buying
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, April 5 (Reuters) - Sibur, the largest producer and exporter of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Russia, redirected exports to Africa, the Middle East and Asia in the past three months, industry sources said. In the first quarter of last year, countries outside EU and UK accounted for only 18%, or 43,000 tonnes, of LPG shipped from Ust-Luga. Redirecting quite a few of Sibur's LPG cargoes from the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) trading hub outside Europe has significantly increased the round trip for gas carriers, ship-tracking data shows. To avoid higher freight costs Sibur and trader Trafigura have engaged larger vessels to ship LPG outside the EU, three LPG traders told Reuters. Sibur LPG cargoes arriving from Ust-Luga are being sold to Trafigura, which reloads them at Paldiski to MGC (medium gas carriers, about 22,000 tonnes) or LGC (large gas carriers, 44,000 tonnes) vessels, the LPG traders said.

☆ Exclusive: Russia shifts to Dubai benchmark in Indian oil deal - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Nidhi Verma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationNEW DELHI, April 3 (Reuters) - Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft (ROSN.MM) and India's top refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS) agreed to use the Asia-focused Dubai oil price benchmark in their latest deal to deliver Russian oil to India, three sources familiar with the deal said. Rosneft's chief executive Igor Sechin said in February that the price of Russian oil would be determined outside of Europe as Asia has emerged as largest buyer of Russian oil since the West imposed progressively tighter sanctions on the export. Under the new deal, announced on March 29, Rosneft will nearly double oil sales to Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS), two of the sources told Reuters. The European Union nations stopped buying Russian oil from Dec. 5 and the Group of Seven (G7) countries joined the EU in imposing a price cap on Russian crude of $60 per barrel. The move was aimed at cutting Russia's oil revenue while maintaining stability on the global oil market.

☆ Jeffrey Gundlach sees ‘red alert’ recession signal and Fed cutting rates soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Gundlach points to the Treasury yield curve, which is rapidly becoming less inverted, and indicative of an economic downturn on the horizon. "UST 2 Year versus 10 Year is now inverted 40 basis points. Was 107 basis points just a few weeks ago. Earlier this month, the gap between the 2-year Treasury yield and the 10-year Treasury rate widened to more than 100 basis points, marking the most severe inversion since September 1981. Short-term lending rates above long-term rates have accurately foretold looming recessions for the past 50 years.

☆ Factbox: The battle over Russia's crude and oil products
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MOSCOW, March 15 (Reuters) - In attempt to curb Russia's oil revenues, Western countries imposed sweeping sanctions against Russian crude oil and oil products. Below are the sanctions so far imposed, their impact and Russia's response:CRUDE OIL- The G7, the European Union and Australia stopped buying all Russian crude oil delivered by sea - or 2/3 of all EU imports of Russian crude - from Dec. 5. - Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree banning the supply of crude oil and oil products from Feb. 1 to nations that abide by the cap. - Russia's crude oil loadings from its Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga and the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk were some 10% below the target for February. - In February the EU released from sanctions oil products which are produced from Russian oil outside the country and canceled the price cap for those oil products which are mixed with those from other countries.

Markets remained fragile, with European bank stocks tumbling over 5% on Monday and U.S. banks set to open lower (.SX7P). Markets also moderated their view on UK rates and were pricing in a roughly 75% chance of a 25 bps hike when the Bank of England meets next week. Goldman Sachs said on Sunday the banking stress meant it no longer expected the Fed to hike rates next week. "It's not going to want to go clattering in with another 50 (bps hike) and see some other financial institution getting hosed." A new Fed bank funding scheme aimed at addressing some of Silicon Valley Bank's apparent problems with losses in its bond portfolio is expected to further help with stability for banks and bonds.

☆ Technology Chiefs Seek Help Wrangling Cloud Costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Some chief information officers have turned to cloud management tools and established internal teams to oversee their cloud spending. Mr. Nimboorkar said the company has since built a dedicated team to manage its Amazon Web Services spending and invested in a third-party cloud spending management tool. Executives from all three cloud giants have said customers are optimizing or reining in their cloud spending, citing economic factors. Many of the best practices in cloud spending management have been codified by the nonprofit FinOps Foundation, which promotes cloud financial literacy and accountability, she said. That model allows Mr. Kanchi to wholly manage cloud spending, he said, but was only possible after UST figured out how to tag cloud usage by its various business units.

☆ Exclusive: Russia plans deep March oil export cuts -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MOSCOW/LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Russia plans to cut oil exports from its western ports by up to 25% in March versus February, exceeding its announced production cuts in a bid to lift prices for its oil, three sources in the Russian oil market said. Russia had already announced plans to cut its oil production by 500,000 barrels per day in March, amounting to 5% of its output or 0.5% of global production. U.S. treasury officials have said the Russian decision to cut oil production reflects its inability to sell all its oil. "The export cuts appear to be deeper than the planned production cuts. Russian oil has traded below than level in recent weeks due to steep discounts and expensive freight rates.

☆ FTX's collapse wiped out $200 billion in the total value of the cryptocurrency market, and it hit retail investors in emerging economies the hardest
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX's downfall wiped out $200 billion from crypto's market capitalization last year, a new report revealed. Retail investors in emerging economies like India and Thailand were hit the hardest, per the Bank for International Settlements. Over 80% of retail participants using a crypto-trading app would have lost money from the market turmoil. "Notably, this share is even higher in several emerging market economies like Brazil, India, Pakistan, Thailand and Turkey. The token, which promised retail investors lofty yields in exchange for parking their assets, caused $450 billion of market value to vanish, per the BIS report.

☆ The SEC has accused fugitive Terraform founder Do Kwon of multibillion-dollar crypto fraud linked to TerraUSD's collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The SEC has charged fugitive crypto boss Do Kwon and his company Terraform Labs with alleged fraud. The suit is linked to the collapse of stablecoin TerraUSD which led to a $60 billion wipeout last year. Terraform was "simply a fraud propped up by a so-called algorithmic 'stablecoin'," the SEC alleges. The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused them of misleading US investors about the stability of algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD, or UST, which was meant to be pegged to the US dollar. At the same time, the SEC is also charging Terraform and Kwon over the sale of unregistered securities, the markets regulator said.

☆ US SEC charges Terra founder Do Kwon with fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Kwon founded blockchain platform Terraform Labs and was the primary developer of two cryptocurrencies whose demise roiled crypto markets around the world last year. The SEC filing did not say where Kwon was living. According to the SEC’s complaint, Terraform Labs and Kwon misled investors about the stability of UST, and claimed that the firm’s crypto tokens would increase in value. Terraform Labs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Globally, investors in TerraUSD and Luna lost an estimated $42 billion, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.

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