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Time Is Money

Jun 18, 2023 • 5 min read

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St. Petersburg Economic Forum
U.S. China Meeting

Week Recap:

Billionaire George Soros decided to pass the reins of his $25 billion empire to his son, Alexander. The empire includes a vast range of investments, financial assets, philanthropic organizations, and other entities.
Chinese bank, BOCI, in partnership with UBS, has successfully issued China's first tokenized security on the Ethereum blockchain. These tokenized securities are a part of CNH 200 million worth of fully digital structured notes that BOCI has distributed to its clients.
J.P. Morgan Chase has agreed to a $290 million settlement to resolve claims from victims of Jeffrey Epstein. The case, approved as a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, alleged that the bank had knowingly benefited from Epstein's illicit activities.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 4% increase in the Consumer Price Index (inflation) in May.
Donald Trump has entered a "not guilty" plea to 37 charges associated with alleged mishandling of classified documents. The charges break down into 31 counts for supposedly retaining classified documents and six additional counts pertaining to actions allegedly taken to conceal those documents.
New York City has introduced a minimum wage for delivery app workers, marking the first instance in the United States. The city's mayor announced that the new minimum wage for delivery workers will begin at $17.96 per hour, not including tips, and will be increased to $19.96 per hour by 2025.
The Federal Reserve decided to break from its trend of consecutive interest rate hikes, choosing not to implement an 11th rate increase.
The BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) is set for expansion as 20 new countries have applied to join, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov.
BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world with over $9 trillion in assets under management, has filed for a Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Mercedes-Benz is introducing OpenAI's conversational AI chatbot, ChatGPT, to its MBUX infotainment system for U.S. customers. Owners of models using MBUX can opt into a beta program to activate the ChatGPT functionality, enhancing the car's conversational abilities.
In a recent meeting with Bill Gates, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his approval for U.S. companies like Microsoft to bring their artificial intelligence (AI) tech to China, according to two sources familiar with the talks. This occurred amid Microsoft's ongoing business development in China, discussed during the meeting in Beijing.
Researchers challenged AI model GPT-4 with a comprehensive set of 4,550 questions covering MIT's Mathematics and Computer Science program. Utilizing carefully crafted prompts, the AI remarkably scored 100%.
NBA icon Michael Jordan is selling his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets for an estimated $3 billion to a consortium headed by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall, generating over ten times his original investment.

St. Petersburg Economic Forum:

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered the keynote address at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, discussing various aspects of Russia's economy, defense spending, relations with foreign businesses, and more.
He predicted growth of up to 2% for Russia's economy this year, driven by strong non-oil and gas revenues. While acknowledging a small federal budget deficit, Putin said additional funds were needed for defense and security. Regarding foreign businesses in Russia, Putin insisted the country is open to their return.
In terms of international relations, he addressed issues like the Western freeze of Russian assets, the Ukraine conflict, and relations with the United States. He also made it clear that nuclear weapons could be used if Russia's territorial integrity is threatened. Lastly, he said that despite the conflict, he has never closed the door to peace talks with Ukraine.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) is a global conference focused on economic issues. It is held annually in St. Petersburg, Russia, and gathers leaders from politics, business, and academics from around the world to discuss and debate key issues facing Russia and the global economy.

U.S. China Meeting:

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Beijing for a rare diplomatic visit. The visit comes amid tense relations between the two world powers.
Blinken's trip, which was previously postponed due to a suspected Chinese spy balloon incident, will include meetings with China's top diplomats and possibly President Xi Jinping.
The main objectives are establishing crisis management mechanisms, advancing U.S. and allied interests, discussing concerns directly, and identifying potential areas of cooperation.
The visit is seen as a possible stepping stone to future bilateral meetings and could set the stage for possible summits between President Biden and Xi later in the year.

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