All posts tagged: collateral

Collateral Damage | ZeroHedge

Collateral Damage | ZeroHedge

Published by Jenni Sidey

By Molly Schwartz, Cross-ASset Macro Strategist at Rabobank Negotiations between the US and Iran are going nowhere. In fact, they’re not really even happening at all. Over the weekend, Axios reported that Iran gave the US a proposal to reopen the Strait — not to end the war. The proposal includes extending the ceasefire and an assertion that any conversations about Iran’s nuclear program are off the table until the Strait is open and the US blockade is lifted. The US has not indicated whether it will accept or reject the proposal at the time of writing. Assuming the US does agree to extend its indefinite ceasefire, a flimsy ceasefire extension, even if agreed to by both parties, holds little water. Remember, keeping the Strait open was a condition of the current ceasefire as agreed to on April 8, and we can all see how well that held up. Just take a look at the prices at the pump. While conversations between the US and Iran stall, Iran is making friends elsewhere. Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi met …

American kids are collateral damage in Trump’s immigration crackdown

American kids are collateral damage in Trump’s immigration crackdown

Published by Sam Flores

For much of last year, Trump administration officials insisted that no Americans were caught up in the government’s immigration dragnet. ProPublica and many others repeatedly documented that is not true: Americans have even been kicked, dragged and detained for days by immigration agents. On Tuesday, House and Senate Democrats are spotlighting a particularly troubling part of the crackdown: the American children who have been collateral damage in the deportation campaign. The forum the lawmakers are holding is part of an ongoing congressional investigation prompted by ProPublica’s report last fall that more than 170 U.S. citizens have been detained by immigration agents for some amount of time. That included Americans who have been handcuffed, held at gunpoint or simply prevented from leaving their location. As of last October, more than 20 of those citizens were children, ranging from toddlers to teens. A toddler, a preschooler and a 7-year-old — all citizens — were deported despite their documented parents claiming they wanted to keep the children in the U.S. In response to questions, Department of Homeland Security …

JPMorgan Activates BTC & ETH As Institutional Collateral

JPMorgan Activates BTC & ETH As Institutional Collateral

Published by Jenni Sidey

Via Sentora Research, JPMorgan has officially bridged the gap between “Digital Gold” and “Wholesale Credit.”  The activation of direct BTC and ETH collateralization allows institutional giants to finally turn their dormant holdings into immediate USD liquidity without selling a single satoshi. Operating through the Kinexys (formerly Onyx) digital financing platform, the bank now allows institutional clients like hedge funds and corporate treasuries to pledge BTC and ETH for USD-denominated liquidity. Unlike previous years where only ETF-wrapped products were supported, this move enables borrowers to leverage their direct on-chain holdings without triggering the capital gains taxes associated with liquidation. The quantitative framework for these loans is defined by a rigorous risk-weighted haircut model. Under the current policy, JPMorgan applies a 30% to 50% haircut on BTC and ETH, effectively setting the maximum Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio at 50% to 70% depending on 90-day volatility metrics. This structure is designed to buffer against the “cascade risk” inherent in crypto markets, where a 15% intraday drop could otherwise trigger systemic liquidations. By treating BTC and ETH as Tier-1 collateral, JPMorgan is …

‘The Washington Post became the collateral damage ofJeff Bezos’s choice to forge the strongest possible ties with Trump’

‘The Washington Post became the collateral damage ofJeff Bezos’s choice to forge the strongest possible ties with Trump’

Published by Sam Flores

Media moguls do not necessarily have the same story; it depends on the choices they make. After making his fortune in the garment industry in Hong Kong, Jimmy Lai created the raucous, sensationalist tabloid Apple Daily two years before the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997. Refusing to accept the silent disappearance of Hong Kong’s democracy, Lai made his newspaper the mouthpiece of that resistance, following the rhythm of each new uprising sparked by Beijing’s tightening grip, which ultimately strangled the paper. In the end, Lai’s choice led him to prison. At 78 years old, he has languished there since 2020, and his 20-year sentence for “collusion with foreign forces” and “seditious publication,” which was handed down on Monday, February 9, amounts to a death sentence. That is the price he has paid for standing up to the Chinese juggernaut. Beijing has crushed the commitment it made in 1984 to preserve for half a century the “way of life” then prevailing in Hong Kong: freedom. Former US vice president Mike Pence …

US intervention in Venezuela leaves collateral victim: Congress

US intervention in Venezuela leaves collateral victim: Congress

Published by Sam Flores

Mike Johnson, speaker of the US House of Representatives, during a press conference at the Capitol in Washington, December 10, 2025. ELIZABETH FRANTZ / REUTERS The military operation that resulted in the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the heart of Caracas on Saturday, January 3, claimed a collateral victim: the US Congress. The country’s main legislative body, which normally has authority over foreign armed conflicts, was neither consulted nor briefed in advance by the US president, who openly expressed a certain disdain for it: “Congress has a tendency to leak.” Reflecting the weakened state of the legislature, John Thune and Mike Johnson, the Republican leaders of the Senate and the House, praised Donald Trump’s decision in unison, without a word on the trampling of their prerogatives. It was from the Democratic opposition that the main criticism emerged. Even then, it was voiced with caution. While Trump announced Maduro’s arrest at dawn, most statements and other reactions only arrived in the afternoon, as if every word had to be …

Trump’s revenge tour leaves MAGA collateral damage

Trump’s revenge tour leaves MAGA collateral damage

Published by Sam Flores

Donald Trump’s fixation on the “big lie” of the 2020 election is the organizing principle of his political life. After the Jan. 6 insurrection, he campaigned against Republicans who dared to hold him accountable. Since returning to office, he has set out on a revenge tour so obsessive and self-defeating that it is now consuming the very people who carried him back to power.  From the start of his second term, the president has used the levers of government to reward loyalty and punish perceived betrayal. Universities that failed his ideological loyalty tests were threatened with investigations or funding cuts. Media companies were sued and harassed. Law firms that represented his opponents were singled out for retribution. Instead, the president has turned his weapons of revenge on deep-red communities and MAGA diehards who believed — despite mountains of evidence to the contrary — that their loyalty would shield them. As Salon’s Brian Karem recently observed, there is no indication that Trump plans to slow down in 2026. Instead, the president has turned his weapons of …