Jefferies strategist Christopher Wood drops bitcoin for gold on quantum computing concern Christopher Wood, Jefferies’ global head of equity strategy, has removed bitcoin from his model portfolio and shifted that allocation into gold and gold-mining stocks. According to the update, Wood replaced a 10% bitcoin position with gold-related exposure, citing concern that advances in quantum…
Texas High Court Torpedoes Sloppy Default Judgment on Service Flub The Texas Supreme Court just obliterated a $170,000 default judgment against Alabama mover Shamrock Enterprises because plaintiff Top Notch Movers botched substituted service via the Secretary of State. Service hit a wrong address—not the statutorily mandated “most recent address on file”—dooming the no-answer ruling despite…
Morning Minute: Coinbase Withdraws Support of Clarity Act, Markup Delayed Coinbase has withdrawn its support for the current draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, saying it cannot back the bill “in its current state.” The move contributed to a delay in a scheduled Senate markup that had been expected to advance the legislation….
**Texas High Court Torpedoes “Gotcha” Default Judgments** Texas Supreme Court just vacated a default judgment against an Alabama mover because the plaintiff half-assed service of process, ignoring known addresses, emails, and phones after certified mail bounced back undelivered. This isn’t just procedural nitpicking—it’s a constitutional gut-punch demanding real notice before stripping someone’s rights, with Chief…
### Kazakh Tycoon’s RICO Bid Crushed Over Foreign Injury A Kazakh businessman’s desperate U.S. lawsuit alleging torture and racketeering to seize his $450M energy empire was shot down by the Second Circuit, shielding Kazakhstan’s spy agency and accomplices. The ruling clarifies RICO’s ironclad domestic-injury barrier, slamming the door on foreign fraud schemes chasing U.S. treble…
BitMine’s $200 million MrBeast investment seen as strategic diversification: B. Riley BitMine Immersion Technologies (NASDAQ:BMNR) is drawing fresh attention after making a $200 million investment in Beast Industries, the company associated with YouTube creator MrBeast. Following the announcement, B. Riley maintained its Buy rating on BitMine and reiterated a $47.00 price target, according to Investing.com….
**Drug Smuggler Walks Free on Technicality** The Second Circuit just tossed a jury’s drug conviction of airport mechanic Paul Belloisi, ruling prosecutors failed to prove he knew cocaine—not just some contraband—was stashed in a plane’s avionics bay at JFK. Belloisi admitted sneaking into the compartment for something shady, but the court demanded ironclad evidence he…
**Second Circuit Backs Harsher Supervised Release Sentences** The Second Circuit just affirmed a 12-month prison term for Theodore Owens, who blew through his supervised release by using drugs like fentanyl, dodging probation check-ins, and jetting out of state without permission. This non-precedential ruling greenlights judges to stretch beyond federal sentencing guidelines when offenders rack up…
**Immigration Court Rejects Asylum Over Waiver Blunder** A U.S. Second Circuit panel slammed the door on Ecuadorian Patricia Yolanda Landi-Camas’s bid to stay in America, upholding a Board of Immigration Appeals decision that booted her asylum, withholding, and torture claims. She claimed gang threats tied to her police tips and Jehovah’s Witness faith, but judges…
**Chevron’s Ghost Haunts Immigration Deportation Ruling** The Second Circuit just crushed a Barbados man’s bid to dodge deportation, sticking to old precedents despite the Supreme Court’s death knell for agency deference in Loper Bright. Devon Hinds, convicted of child endangerment in New York, lost his appeal against removal and a shot at staying via cancellation—signaling…
**Second Circuit Vacates Deportation Over El Salvador Torture Fears** The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has granted Salvadoran national Jorge Alberto Andrade’s petition, vacating his removal order and remanding his Convention Against Torture (CAT) claim back to immigration authorities. This non-precedential ruling slams U.S. immigration judges for ignoring mountains of evidence on state-sanctioned prison brutality…
**Second Circuit Shields Employers from Weak Discrimination Claims** The Second Circuit just affirmed summary judgment for a library boss who yanked a job offer from a Black candidate, ruling her evidence couldn’t prove race was the real reason behind it. This non-precedential order underscores how tough it is for §1983 discrimination suits to survive without…
Dogecoin drops 4% as traders sell rallies and support gives way Dogecoin fell 4% in the latest session, placing it among the weakest performers within the large-cap crypto group. Trading desks described a clear pattern behind the move: selling into rallies. In practice, that means traders have been using short-lived price rebounds as opportunities to…
**Court Tosses Vaccine Exemption Clash as Moot Drama Fades** A federal appeals court just axed a heated battle over a New York school’s rejection of a child’s vaccine exemption, dismissing the case as moot after the temporary court order expired with the school year. Parents sued school officials for barring their daughter from class over…
CME Group to Launch Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar Futures as It Expands Crypto Derivatives Lineup CME Group said it plans to launch new cryptocurrency futures tied to Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), and Stellar (Lumens) on February 9, pending regulatory review, according to a PRNewswire release dated Jan. 15, 2026. The planned listings would add three…
Coinbase and Robinhood shares slide as crypto policy fight returns to the spotlight Coinbase and Robinhood shares fell sharply even as Bitcoin rebounded, after renewed uncertainty around a major U.S. crypto market-structure proposal known as the CLARITY Act. The move highlighted a widening gap between crypto’s market performance and the outlook for U.S. regulation, which…
Senate Democrats pursuing a Friday call with crypto industry on market structure bill U.S. Senate Democrats are set to reopen talks with representatives from the cryptocurrency industry on Friday, according to people familiar with the plan who spoke to CoinDesk. The discussion is expected to focus on a crypto market structure bill and concerns about…
Senate Banking Committee Delays Markup of Key Crypto Bill as Industry Support Frays Senate efforts to rewrite U.S. crypto rules hit another obstacle after the Senate Banking Committee delayed a planned markup of a major bill aimed at shaping the industry’s regulatory framework. The postponement underscores the difficulty lawmakers face in building consensus around crypto…
More people are using Ethereum for the first time, data shows Ethereum is seeing a noticeable increase in first-time users, according to month-over-month activity retention data that tracks how wallets behave over time on the network. The data shows a pronounced spike in the “new” cohort, a metric that measures wallets making their first recorded…
Democrats Blast SEC Over Crypto Retreat, Justin Sun’s Alleged China Ties Two Democratic lawmakers are criticizing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over what they describe as uneven enforcement of securities laws in the crypto sector, while also raising questions about Tron founder Justin Sun and his alleged connections to China. In a letter, Reps….
