Finance
ECB: US Embrace of Crypto Could Trigger Financial Crisis | PYMNTS.com

A European Central Bank (ECB) official says America’s embrace of cryptocurrency and non-bank finance could backfire.
“The United States risks sinning through negligence,” Francois Villeroy de Galhau, a member of the bank’s governing council, said in an interview with French weekly La Tribune Dimanche on Saturday (March 15).
“Financial crises often originate in the United States and spread to the rest of the world. By encouraging crypto assets and non-bank finance, the American administration is sowing the seeds of future upheavals.”
The U.S. government’s attitude toward cryptocurrency has changed under President Donald Trump. Trump championed the digital assets when running for office last summer, and has since pushed to make America the “crypto capital of the world” by calling for the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems to be rolling back its regulatory crackdown on the crypto sector, having dismissed several cases against crypto platforms since Trump’s inauguration.
As PYMNTS wrote recently, this change has upended the dynamic between America and Europe in how they approach crypto.
“The initial contrast between the rules-based approach to cryptocurrency in the European Union and the enforcement-driven strategy in the United States was once thought to shape the global crypto industry’s trajectory,” that report said.
All the same, the EU’s structured Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) policy framework, designed to harmonizing the fragmented regulatory landscape across the EU’s 27 member states, is already in place and continues to guide the some of the largest crypto companies in one of the biggest economic regions in the world.
“MiCA’s applications, and its endemic speedbumps, could hold many lessons for an eventual U.S. regulatory environment,” PYMNTS wrote.
Since MiCA’s approval in 2023 — the rule is being implemented in phases — market players have been hurrying to comply with its provisions. Crypto exchanges, stablecoin issuers and wallet providers now face strict licensing requirements, capital reserves standards and clear consumer protection rules.
While MiCA is designed to streamline crypto operations, it poses obstacles for existing virtual asset service providers (VASPs). All VASPs who were registered in the EU before 2025 must comply with MiCA requirements this year.
“Predictions suggest that around 75% of these VASPs may struggle to meet the new standards. Factors such as company size, compliance costs and requirements contribute to this potential contraction,” PYMNTS wrote.
“For example, many registered VASPs are small enterprises that may lack the resources to fulfill MiCA’s rigorous demands, including substantial share capital requirements and comprehensive compliance frameworks.”

Finance
Walmart should ‘eat the tariffs,’ Trump says, after retailer warns of looming price hikes
Walmart (WMT) joins rocker Bruce Springsteen and pop music icon Taylor Swift as getting a verbal lashing from president Trump on social media this week.
The president ripped Walmart execs on Saturday for signaling tariff-driven price hikes that are poised to begin later this month.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“We have always worked to keep our prices as low as possible and we won’t stop. We’ll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins,” a Walmart spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon was among the CEOs who met with the president in late April to discuss tariff implications. A person familiar with the discussions told Yahoo Finance Walmart made a case to remove tariffs on China altogether as even lower tariffs would have major implications on prices for general merchandise items such as furniture and toys.
The Trump administration and China agreed to dial back tariffs for 90 days last week. The US tariff rate on China now sits at 30%, down from 145% at the height of the trade tussle between the economic superpowers.
“Low prices is what we stand for, and we’re going to keep prices as low as we can as long as we can,” Walmart CFO John David Rainey said on Yahoo Finance’s Catalysts (video above) this week following the company’s first quarter earnings. “But when you look at the magnitude of some of the cost increases on certain categories of items that are imported, it’s more than what retailers can bear. It’s more than what suppliers can bear.”
“And so we’ll work hard to try to keep prices low. But it’s unavoidable that you’re going to see some prices go up on certain items.”
Rainey said increases will be noticeable later this month.
Rainey added, “Well, if you’ve got a 30% tariff on something, you’re likely going to see double digits [in price increases].”
The most impacted areas for Walmart will include baby strollers, furniture, and toys. Price hikes in these departments could major impacts on suppliers such as Newell Brands (NWL), reports Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma.
Walmart’s earnings day was mixed as shoppers spent somewhat cautiously given the greater economic uncertainty.
Finance
Anthropic raises $2.5B in debt to finance growth investments – SiliconANGLE

Large language model developer Anthropic PBC has secured $2.5 billion in debt financing, CNBC reported today.
The loan is structured as a revolving credit facility. Standard debt financing deals require the borrower to pay back the funds in a fixed number of installments. A revolving credit facility, in contrast, has no such requirement. Additionally, the borrower can draw down funds again after repaying the loan.
Anthropic’s revolving credit facility will run for five years. It’s underwritten by Morgan Stanley, Barclay, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Canada and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. Several of those banks also backed a $4 billion revolving credit facility that OpenAI, Anthropic’s top rival, raised last year.
“This revolving credit facility provides Anthropic significant flexibility to support our continued exponential growth,” said Anthropic Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao.
The company previously raised $8 billion from Amazon.com Inc. in the form of convertible notes. A convertible note is a type of loan that can be turned into shares. Amazon turned a sizable portion of Anthropic investment into shares during the first quarter, which was reportedly one of the reasons its earnings per share surpassed analyst expectations.
In conjunction with the announcement of its revolving credit facility, Anthropic disclosed today that its annualized revenue topped $2 billion in the first quarter. That represents a year-over-year increase of more than 100%. In the same time frame, the number of customers that pay at least $100,000 for Anthropic’s AI models jumped eightfold.
The company regularly launches new products to maintain its sales growth.
Earlier this month, Anthropic updated the application programming interface that customers use to integrate its LLMs into their software. The company added a tool that allows its LLMs to search the web if the information requested by a user isn’t readily available. Pricing starts at $10 per 1,000 searches.
A few weeks earlier, Anthropic debuted a new Max plan for its Claude chatbot. It’s available in two editions priced at $100 and $200 per month, respectively. They offer usage caps up to 20 times higher than the most affordable paid Claude tier.
Anthropic’s largest competitors are experiencing rapid sales growth as well.
In March, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI expects to triple its revenue to $12.7 billion by the end of 2025. More recently, a source told Reuters that Cohere Inc. has doubled its annualized recurring revenue since the start of the year. The company reportedly makes most of its revenue from providing highly regulated organizations with customized AI models that they can run on their own infrastructure.
Image: Anthropic
Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.
One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.
Join our community on YouTube
Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.
THANK YOU
Finance
Galiano Gold Inc (GAU) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Financial Position and …
Release Date: May 15, 2025
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
-
Galiano Gold Inc (GAU) maintains a robust financial position with $106 million in cash and zero debt.
-
The company achieved significant exploration success at Abore, identifying a promising high-grade zone beneath the main pit.
-
A 75% increase in gold production is projected by 2026, indicating strong future growth potential.
-
The secondary crusher project is on track for completion in Q3 2025, which is expected to enhance mill throughput.
-
Operating costs are being well managed, with unit costs for mining at Abore and Assassi in line with expectations.
-
The company experienced two lost time injuries (LTIs) during the quarter, reflecting a need for improved safety measures.
-
An unscheduled two-week mill shutdown due to repairs reduced production by approximately 5,000 ounces.
-
Net earnings were negatively affected by fair value adjustments to the hedge book, resulting in a net loss of $29 million.
-
The impact of high gold prices and increased government levies could raise all-in sustaining costs (ASIC) by up to $55 per ounce.
-
Production figures for Q1 2025 were lower than expected, moving towards the lower end of guidance for the year.
Q: Can you walk us through your intermediate and longer-term expectations for drilling, especially in the south pit? A: Unidentified_5 (Exploration VP): We focused on the south pit to confirm the robustness of the high-grade zone, which exceeded our expectations. The strike length expanded from 90m to 180m. We discovered a new high-grade zone below the reserve pit, which was unexpected. We plan to test deeper targets along the ore body and explore both open pit and underground mining scenarios.
Q: What happened with the cost of the secondary crusher equipment versus expectations, and what downtime should we expect for the install? A: Unidentified_4 (CFO): The secondary crusher project remains on budget, with most equipment costs paid in installments. We expect minimal downtime for installation, as most pre-works can be done while the plant is running. The shutdown for tie-in will be brief, and we plan to conduct other maintenance simultaneously.
Q: Should we model any significant impact from the crusher installation shutdown? A: Unidentified_3 (COO): We don’t expect a significant impact from the shutdown. We have contingencies in place, and the production forecasts already account for this downtime.
-
Austin, TX1 week ago
Best Austin Salads – 15 Food Places For Good Greens!
-
Technology1 week ago
Netflix is removing Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
-
World1 week ago
The Take: Can India and Pakistan avoid a fourth war over Kashmir?
-
News1 week ago
Reincarnated by A.I., Arizona Man Forgives His Killer at Sentencing
-
News1 week ago
Who is the new Pope Leo XIV and what are his views?
-
News1 week ago
Efforts Grow to Thwart mRNA Therapies as RFK Jr. Pushes Vaccine Wariness
-
Entertainment1 week ago
Review: 'Forever' is a sweet ode to first love (and L.A.) based on Judy Blume's novel
-
Politics1 week ago
Department of Justice opens criminal investigation into NY AG Letitia James