Sterling Shakes: GBP Volatility Hits 7-Month Peak as Budget Jitters Grip Markets

Posted on November 25, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

The cost of protection against fluctuations in sterling reached a seven-month high.

Overnight volatility versus the euro surged to the highest level since mid-April on an intraday basis and is at the strongest closing level since June 2023 as traders prepare for short-term price swings.

Options are now trading at the largest premium to realized swings in three years compared to recent market activity, indicating that hedges are significantly overpriced. UK risk is mainly transferred through the euro by avoiding the US macro influence on the pound-dollar exchange rate.

However, according to data from the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, positioning has leaned towards being pound-bearish this month vs both the common currency and the US dollar. Traders are not positioning for an outsized move, despite not taking any chances with the Autumn Budget.

While remaining close to the year-to-date average versus the euro, demand for structures that payout if the UK currency breaks out of its recent ranges versus the dollar fell on Monday to the lowest level since June. Except for the September 2022 mini-budget, budget days have seldom been significant volatility events, which partially explains historical trends.

The average daily movement of the pound against the dollar since 2017 has been 0.5 percent, and the volatility of overnight cable generally aligns with that average.

Nvidia Tumbles 2.7% as Meta Eyes Billions in Google’s AI Chips

Posted on November 25, 2025November 25, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Nvidia declined after a report indicated that Meta is in talks to spend billions on Google’s AI chips. This suggests that the internet search giant is making progress in efforts to compete with industry leaders in AI acceleration.

Meta is negotiating to use Google’s tensor processing units, or TPUs, in data centers in 2027, according to The Information, which cited an anonymous source familiar with the discussions.

Meta may also rent chips from Google’s cloud division next year, the report added.
An agreement would position TPUs as an alternative to Nvidia’s chips, which are considered the gold standard among big tech companies and startups like Meta and OpenAI for AI platform development and deployment.
Nvidia’s shares dropped as much as 2.7% in after-hours trading, while Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., rose by 2.7%, continuing a recent rally driven by optimism over its latest Gemini AI model.
Google previously signed a deal to supply up to 1 million chips to Anthropic PBC, highlighting potential long-term challenges to Nvidia’s traditional market dominance.
Following the Anthropic deal, Seaport analyst Jay Goldberg described it as a “really powerful validation” for TPUs. “A lot of people were already thinking about it, and a lot more are probably thinking about it now,” he stated.
Third-party providers of large language models are likely to use Google as a secondary supplier for inference chips, as evidenced by Meta’s probable use of Google’s TPUs, which Anthropic already employs. We estimate that Meta will spend at least $40–50 billion on inference chip capacity next year, based on its projected capital expenditures of at least $100 billion for 2026.

Growth in Google Cloud’s consumption and backlog may accelerate further. Owing to demand from corporate clients wishing to use TPUs and Gemini LLMs on Google Cloud, other hyperscalers and neo-cloud competitors experienced a surge in Alphabet-related Asian stocks early Tuesday trading.

IsuPetasys Co. in South Korea, which supplies Alphabet with multilayered boards, saw an 18% rise to reach a new intraday high. In Taiwan, MediaTek Inc. shares increased by nearly 5%. A deal with Meta, one of the largest global investors in data centers and AI development, would benefit Google

Gold Under Arrest at $4,200: One-Week Top Vanishes in Fed Optimism and Risk Avalanche

Posted on November 25, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

The bullion metal maintains a somewhat optimistic tone going into Tuesday’s European session, but finds it difficult to build on a slight intraday increase to a one-and-a-half-week high.

Traders increased their bets for another interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) in December, which continues to support the non-yielding yellow metal following recent remarks from key FOMC members.

Ongoing geopolitical uncertainties brought on by the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as new conflicts in the Middle East, prove to be another factor favoring the safe-haven commodity.

In the meantime, the US dollar (USD), which rose last week despite dovish Fed expectations, is currently near its highest level since late May and is hurting gold. Additionally, a generally optimistic outlook for the stock markets helps to limit the precious metal’s upside. Additionally, traders appear hesitant and choose to wait for crucial US macro data.

John Williams, president of the New York Federal Reserve, stated on Friday that interest rates could drop soon without jeopardizing the central bank’s inflation target. Furthermore, Fed Governor Christopher Waller stated that another quarter-point rate cut in December is justified due to the poor state of the labor market. The futures-market-implied probability of a 25 basis point rate reduction to a range of 3.50 percent to 3.75 percent in December is currently approximately 80 percent, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

This gives support to the non-yielding gold and prevents the US dollar from building on last week’s powerful surge to a multi-month high. Early on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, Russia launched a series of attacks on Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, targeting residential structures and energy infrastructure.

The attack comes after discussions about a US-brokered plan to end a nearly four-year-old conflict took place over the weekend in Switzerland between representatives of the US and Ukraine.

Franklin Templeton Debuts XRP ETF on NYSE Arca, Unlocking Regulated Access to Ripple’s Token

Posted on November 25, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Franklin Templeton launches its XRP ETF on NYSE Arca following Ripple’s SEC settlement, providing US investors with regulated access to XRP.

The Franklin XRP Trust, an XRP exchange-traded fund that gives US investors controlled access to the XRP token, was introduced by Franklin Templeton on Monday on NYSE Arca.

Franklin Templeton currently oversees four cryptocurrency ETFs that include XRP, ether, bitcoin, and a diversified digital asset fund. According to Franklin Templeton’s announcement, David Mann, Head of ETF Product and Capital Markets, said that XRP has a “foundational role in global settlement infrastructure.”

The SEC sued Ripple Labs in late 2020, claiming the company had been selling XRP as an unregistered security since 2013. Delistings from important exchanges and notable drops in market value were the outcomes of the action.

According to court documents, Ripple paid a monetary settlement in August 2025 without acknowledging any wrongdoing. Roger Bayston, head of digital assets at Franklin Templeton, stated that the fund offers “regulated custody, daily transparency, and liquidity without the operational complexity of holding the

XRP Settlements Emerge in ISO 20022—What It Means for Crypto Adoption

Posted on November 25, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Claims regarding XRP’s role in enterprise blockchain infrastructure have resurfaced amid its integration with RippleNet and R3 Corda. XRP can be directly found in ISO 20022-related code. A code snippet referencing XRP modules is visible in the images accompanying the post.

Community members who traced the material’s origins and provided technical context have offered clarifications amid renewed interest. The commentator shared a screenshot of imports from a Kotlin file named VerifySettlements.

KT, displaying components related to SWIFT, token types, and modules like XrpOracleService, XrpPayment, and XrpSettlement. The file appears organised to illustrate how various payment methods could interoperate within a settlement framework. However, community researchers noted that the file is outdated and does not reflect the current ISO 20022 infrastructure.

Another analyst explained that Corda Settler was developed to facilitate settlement flows between external payment or blockchain systems and R3 Corda’s private networks.

It was presented as a decentralised experimental application for testing multi-rail settlement, incorporating modules for XRP, XDC, and a SWIFT representation to demonstrate cross-system compatibility rather than production-level functionality. Unresolved issues indicate the tool could not be used reliably, even during its experimental phase, and the repository has shown no activity for over six years. Corda Settler was merely a conceptual bridge designed to demonstrate how private networks could employ external digital assets or messaging systems for settlement.

XRP modules were not an operational link to ISO 20022; they served as part of this testing environment. Additionally, insecure practices such as private methods were present in the codebase.

Alibaba’s AI Gambit Hits Big: 5% Surge Post-ChatGPT Competitor Launch

Posted on November 24, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Alibaba’s Qwen app received over 10 million downloads in the week following its relaunch. Qwen’s launch demonstrates how artificial intelligence apps have recently achieved unprecedented levels of rapid adoption. Alibaba intends to thoroughly incorporate essential productivity and lifestyle services into the Qwen App.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. In the week following its relaunch, the Qwen app received over 10 million downloads, which is encouraging for a longer-term endeavor to create a competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The Chinese e-commerce giant’s shares increased more than 5% on Monday in Hong Kong, following Alibaba’s disclosure of the figure in a WeChat blog post.

This quick uptick comes after Alibaba decided to rename and update its existing iOS and Android apps this month to unify the services under the Qwen brand. Qwen’s launch highlights how artificial intelligence apps have recently set new benchmarks for rapid adoption, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT being the fastest to reach 100 million users three years ago,

The initial Qwen user numbers followed an announcement by Ant Group Co., an Alibaba fintech affiliate, made over the weekend. Last week, the company unveiled LingGuang, a multimodal AI assistant.

LingGuang has been downloaded over a million times. To make Qwen a fully functional AI agent, Alibaba will progressively add agentic AI features to support online shopping across platforms, including its well-known Taobao marketplace, in the coming months.

The company has rebranded itself as an AI-first enterprise under CEO Eddie Wu, a move that will be reevaluated when Alibaba answers investor inquiries following its Tuesday quarterly results. According to a statement from the company, “Alibaba plans to deeply integrate core lifestyle and productivity services – including digital maps, food delivery, travel booking, office tools, e-commerce, education, and health guidance – directly into the Qwen App

Bitcoin Buckles Under Pressure: Post-Selloff Defense Mode Ushers in Potential 2022-Style Monthly Meltdown

Posted on November 24, 2025November 24, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Bitcoin started the week on the defensive after a protracted selloff that put the token on track for its worst month since 2022. The original cryptocurrency dropped as much as 2.3 percent over the weekend, briefly falling below $86,000 on Monday morning before taming losses.

From Turmoil to Rebound: Bitcoin Holds Firm Above $110,000 — Even though it is significantly higher than the Friday lows of $80,553, traders don’t see much reason to rejoice.

The broader cryptocurrency market is in a severe decline despite growing institutional adoption and several policy victories pushed for by US President Donald Trump, who has embraced the sector

US equity-index futures increased on Monday as hope for interest rate cuts grew. If nothing changes, November will be the worst month for Bitcoin since a series of corporate failures shook the cryptocurrency market in 2022, culminating in the demise of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange. Traders are keeping an eye on $85,200 as a crucial support level.

These liquidation flurries often precede bounces if no new shocks hit, technicals and macro headwinds dominate over fundamentals.

Caroline Mauron, co-founder of Orbit Markets, stated, “Early trading is showing slight weakness today, but the moves are fairly small and within normal variations.”. As the market searches for hints regarding the Federal Reserve’s impending rate decision, Bitcoin is expected to trade in the $80,000 to $90,000 range during the week, she continued.

XRP’s Epic Win: SWIFT’s 90% ISO 20022 Pivot Crowns Ripple

Posted on November 24, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

SWIFT anticipates that by the beginning of 2026, 90% of all transactions will transition to ISO 20022.

The organisation responsible for overseeing ISO 20022 compliance is the Registration Management Group (RMG), which includes a range of members or parent companies associated with well-known Layer 1 blockchains. Notable members include Algorand (ALGO), Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR), Stellar Lumens (XLM), and Ripple (XRP), the latter two of which joined in 2020.

Stellar’s participation has provided both original altcoins with an opportunity to improve interoperability with SWIFT and other major financial institutions.

Financial giants like BlackRock and JP Morgan are actively accumulating coins that comply with ISO 20022. Stellar (XLM) boasts significant partnerships with companies like MoneyGram and IBM World Wire; however, its trading volumes fall short compared to those of XRP. Ripple has established active partnerships with over 300 banks and financial payment solutions, including Santander and SEB, and is in the process of integrating its own RLUSD stablecoin.

Ripple’s (XRP) spot market volume consistently exceeds $2 billion, making it reasonable for the altcoin to grow with relatively low transaction fees. However, this $2 billion in spot trading is quadrupled by its futures market volume. XRP’s demand in perpetual contracts has reached $8 billion in a single day, indicating a new trend among traders seeking potentially larger gains.

Stellar Lumens (XLM) typically maintains a daily trading volume ranging from $100 million to $200 million, although both Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) chains process a block in an average of five seconds. XRP’s ledger handles an average of 40 million transactions daily, far surpassing Stellar’s 7 million average daily transactions.

Tesla Completes AI5 Design Review, Starts AI6 — TSLA to $450

Posted on November 23, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced in an X post on Sunday that the company is nearing completion of its AI5 chip design and has started work on a new AI6 chip, which will be installed in its vehicles and data centers. Musk, the world’s wealthiest individual, said, “Our goal is to bring a new AI chip design to volume production every 12 months.” “AI4 is currently used in automobiles; AI5 is almost finished, and work on AI6 has begun.”

Samsung Electronics Co. declared in July that it reached a $16.5 billion agreement to manufacture AI semiconductors for Tesla. At that time, Musk mentioned that the AI6 chip would be made at a new Samsung facility in Texas. In his Sunday post, Musk stated, “We anticipate building chips at higher volumes ultimately than all other AI chips combined.” “I’m serious.”

Tesla’s stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) has been volatile in 2025, trading between $350 and $400 per share as of late November. Analysts generally see Musk’s AI chip updates as bullish, enhancing Tesla’s edge in robotics and autonomous driving despite competition from Waymo, Cruise, and Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers.

The internal chip approach may reduce costs (e.g., decreasing dependency on Nvidia) and enable proprietary optimizations, potentially accelerating the release of FSD v13+ and Optimus.

The bullish case is centered on AI differentiation: the unveiling of cyber taxis in 2026 (initially using AI4 due to delays) could confirm Tesla’s “robotaxi” vision if the deployment of AI5 and AI6 succeeds.

If FSD reaches Level 4 autonomy, analysts like those at Wedbush predict TSLA could hit $500+ by the end of 2026. The company aims for dual sourcing from the U.S., reducing supply risks through fabs like Samsung and TSMC, with Musk referencing a large “TeraFab”—Tesla’s own $10–$20 billion chip plant—indicating a move toward long-term self-sufficiency.

Aiming for $420–$450 by mid-2026 if AI5 samples meet benchmarks, the forecast is moderately optimistic for the next 12–18 months. Assuming 20–30% yearly revenue growth from autonomy, long-term (2027+) AI6 and fab expansions could push TSLA toward $600+.

XRP Reigns Supreme: Tops 2025 ISO 20022 Crypto List Amid Fedwire Shift!

Posted on November 23, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

XRP was the leading coin in the new category of ISO 20022 coins. The update coincided with the global shift to ISO 20022.

Many market participants are curious about the possible connection between digital assets and this transition.XRP is leading the pack, according to recent analyses and platform classifications.

CoinMarketCap introduced an official ISO 20022 category, with XRP at the top because of its native compliance through RippleNet. Based on market capitalisation, utility, and adoption metrics as of November 23, 2025, the following is a summary of the top ISO 20022-compliant cryptocurrencies for 2025.

ISO 20022 is a modern communication standard for financial transactions, including payments. Banks and payment providers are replacing older MT messages with new MX messages, which contain more structured data. This helps create clear formats for instructions, account details, and reporting, increasing payment accuracy.

SWIFT set a deadline for this transition on November 22. It’s expected that this shift will continue across the financial industry. To avoid failed messages, banks need to adopt the new format.

Many experts now see this transition as XRP’s entry into the global monetary system. The standard does not alter a blockchain’s core functions; it only affects the payment messages that institutions send and receive. Ripple developed its technology to comply with ISO 20022 standards. The system is ready for banks that complete their migration, as RippleNet can send messages in the new format. However, XRP itself is not ISO 20022 compatible.

Since RippleNet can send messages in the new format once banks finish their migration, the system is prepared. Yet, XRP does not comply with ISO 20022. No cryptocurrencies currently fully comply.

Nonetheless, Ripple’s system compatibility enables XRP to progress within standard-compliant financial networks. It also allows potential communication with SWIFT-connected networks that expect ISO 20022 messaging. Although XRP was designed to solve the global banking payment problem, Ripple built its tools to help organisations transfer money across borders quickly and cost-effectively.

These tools can use XRP as a bridge asset. By using Ripple’s technology to send ISO 20022-ready messages, banks can stay aligned with international standards. Therefore, XRP might play a role in future payment flows.