Several major United States banks are discussing the launch of a joint stablecoin, a type of digital currency meant to maintain a fixed value, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The talks involve JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. along with companies they co-own such as Early Warning Services LLC, which operates Zelle, and The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC, which runs a real-time payments network. The proposed stablecoin aims to speed up payments, especially for cross-border transactions and help banks “compete with the crypto industry.” The effort reportedly remains in early stages and may shift depending on demand and regulation.

NN: This is a big mistake

Coinbase Global said it’s working with law enforcement to track down an unknown “threat actor” that paid its contractors working in support roles for the company outside the U.S. to obtain personal information of its customer base. Coinbase did not say how many of its clients were affected, but it had already informed them about the breach after it detected it months ago and fired the contractors involved. Coinbase said customer passwords and private keys were protected by its systems, and “at no time were any of the targeted contractors or employees able to access customer funds.” However, the affected data included names, home and email addresses, phone numbers, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, masked bank-account numbers and some bank-account identifiers. The breach also included government-ID images such as passports and driver’s licenses, account data such as balance snapshots and transaction history and limited Coinbase corporate data such as documents, training materials and communications to support agents. Coinbase said it plans to open a new support hub in the U.S. as well as take other prevention measures. It estimated expenses of $180 million to $400 million for remediation costs and voluntary customer reimbursements related to the problem, and said the dollar figure could change as it assesses the impact. It did not say if the cost estimates include the price of launching a U.S. service center. “The threat actor appears to have obtained this information by paying multiple contractors or employees working in support roles outside the United States to collect information from internal Coinbase systems to which they had access in order to perform their job responsibilities,” the company said. Coinbase said it has already terminated the personnel involved and “implemented heightened fraud-monitoring protections” in previous months after its security monitoring detected the trouble.

Coinbase says some user data stolen in cyberattack

Shares of Coinbase Global Inc. slid more than 4% on Thursday after the company disclosed it had been targeted by hackers.

The crypto platform said that less than 1% of customers’ data was stolen in the cyberattack, but insisted no passwords, private keys, or funds were exposed and added it will reimburse users who were tricked into sending funds to the attacker.

Coinbase’s stock plunged 4.75% to $251.39 at 9:39 am ET.

ITS BUYING TIME AGAIN

 I want to be very clear here, as I’ve been saying all along. The market  low Of $58.15 Brent put in on April 9th will and has  held. It was tested today. With a low in the overnights of $58.60.  The market has since reversed and its  trading around  $60.00.  This is low volume trading with labor day in the UK  banks and trading closed. I’m going to watch the next couple days for a possible quick and dirty test of the low and a possibility of skid marks into the high $57.00 area where there are a lot of juicer stops. We’ve doubled down on our buying in the cash machine both Friday and today anticipating a very significant bottom.

Its noteworthy that OPEC+ decision on Saturday to increase output was not a surprise to the market.  It was well telegraphed and designed to punish over producers  namely Iraq and Kazakhstan for producing above their quotas.

On a further note there is no peace in the valley. America, despite daily pounding the shit out of of Houthi positions in Yemen have been unable to stop the rocket attacks on Israel. Yesterday four rockets penetrated Israeli airspace and for the first time scored a direct hit on the international Airport. Panicking passenger’s and causing massive flight cancellations.

Israel cabinet approved  an invasion into Gaza. Calling up   30,000 combat troops which are amassing at the border with Gaza.  An invasion has been set in the next two weeks to take back full control  Gaza which they should have done years ago.

which in a dream life would lead to a randy nuclearizing iand occupy s never going to happen and sooner or later the nuclear industry we bombed in Oblivion

In closing, sophisticated traders, (not the algo fagots  or candlestick assholes  who are the  shortest they’ve ever been)  that buy the real barrels not paper barrels are buying the shit out of oil and going very long.  They are scooping up bargain basement priced oil with both hands, including the Chinese

Again I repeat a very significant bottom has been put in. The old lows have held and I expect a major rally in the coming weeks. So I just urge you to  buy Bargain Basement priced barrels of oil while you still can

• Most of Spain and Portugal are suffering a major blackout
• Authorities are still trying to determine the cause of the outage
• Transport links have been disrupted, with some issues reported at airports
• Spain warns that it may take ten hours to restore power
• France is supplying power to Spain and has offered to provide more

11m ago09:51

Here’s our latest mainbar, with some clues now of what might have caused this huge problem. The outage was triggered by sudden changes on the network, known as oscillations, it seems. More to follow no doubt.

Sharp Power Swings Trigger Major Blackout in Spain, Portugal

28m ago09:34

It’s not just airlines and airports affected today. Public transport services have also been hit by the power issues, and there are queues as people wait for buses and trains.

 

42m ago09:20

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is set to head an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, which has been called to discuss the blackout. Earlier, Sanchez headed a crisis meeting at the offices of Red Electrica, the national grid operator.

Updated 39m ago

45m ago09:17

It’s no surprise that it will take the Spanish grid some hours to start back up. With such an extensive outage, there is a meticulous process to get things up and running again called a black start. Grid operators have plans in place for this that they hope to never use.

 

It’s a process to build the grid back up in a stable way, recreating the careful balance between supply and demand that was somehow broken.

1h 2m ago09:01

I’ve been out on the streets of downtown Madrid, which are teeming with people trying to get home after many companies closed their offices because of the power outage. Shop employees were waiting outside businesses, while some restaurants remained open but were only accepting payments in cash.

 

Traffic police were trying to bring order to massive traffic jams. At a convenience store, people were buying flashlights, batteries, radios, camping gas, firewood and portable stoves.

 

1h 19m ago08:43

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez held a crisis meeting at the headquarters of grid operator

Red Electrica to monitor the situation. Energy Minister Sara Aagesen also took part in the meeting.

Rodrigo OrihuelaSpain Bureau Chief

 

 

 

1h 26m ago08:43

Red Electrica Says Spanish Blackout Due to Grid Oscillation

Dara DoyleSenior Editor

 

 

 

1h 31m ago08:38

More than 10 gigawatts of power going offline in one instance is “such a rare event” that it’s “hard to have a reference point” for just how much time it will take to bring the grid back up to normal operation, says Ian Berryman, head of energy systems modeling at BloombergNEF. It could be hours, he said.

Updated 1h 29m ago

1h 34m ago08:36

Repsol’s Petronor refinery in Spain’s Basque Country said it halted all units at 12:30 p.m. due to a lack of electricity. As part of the security stoppage, black smoke was released.

 

 

 

1h 34m ago08:35

France stands ready to help Spain:

• France’s Rte Says Ready to Provide 950mw of Power to Spain
• French Grid Operator Says Supplied 700mw of Power to Spain
• French Grid Operator Rte Comments on X

Dara DoyleSenior Editor

 

 

 

Updated 1h 33m ago

1h 36m ago08:34

Regular business life is being disrupted, it seems.

Regulator Delays BBVA-Sabadell Decision Due to Blackout: Efe

Dara DoyleSenior Editor

 

 

 

1h 46m ago08:24

CORRECT: Following up on Javier’s post on Spain power demand, data from grid operator Red Electrica showed it was in freefall just after noon, dropping more than 10 gigawatts. That’s more than a third of the country’s total electricity need Monday.

 

The website is now down and the data feed can’t be accessed. It’s not clear if that’s because of the power outage or because too many people are trying to access the data now.

 

(Corrects spelling of reporter’s name.)

Will MathisEnergy Reporter

 

 

 

Updated 1h 37m ago

1h 46m ago08:23

The Spanish government should declare a so-called Level 3 emergency to allow the Army to deploy and “preserve order if necessary,” Madrid regional President Isabel Diaz Ayuso, one of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s most vocal critics, said.

Rodrigo OrihuelaSpain Bureau Chief

 

 

 

Updated 1h 43m ago

 

1h 49m ago08:20

Airlines are keeping a close eye on developments, and the main Madrid airport has cautioned that it’s experiencing a high degree of delays because of electrical equipment outage on the ground.

 

Discount carrier Ryanair said it’s “monitoring potential disruption to flights operating to/from all airports in mainland Spain and Portugal.”

 

Updated 1h 34m ago

1h 51m ago08:18

While it’s too early to tell what caused this outage, the UK offers a potential clue.

 

Back in August 2019, there was a major blackout across London and the surrounding areas when two major power generators, a wind farm and a gas plant, unexpectedly shut off almost simultaneously during a lightning storm. Grid operators struggle to cope with such major unplanned shifts in supply or demand happening at the same time and that’s one possibility this time in Spain.

Will MathisEnergy Reporter

 

1h 53m ago08:17

Here’s Madrid’s mayor on the situation in the city.

 

“I ask all people in Madrid to absolutely minimize displacements and, whenever possible, to stay where they are at the moment and keep roads clear. The traffic lights are down at the moment and it’s essential that emergency services can circulate.”

 

Updated 1h 49m ago

1h 53m ago08:16

Data from Spain’s national grid shows a massive drop in power demand in a few seconds, Javier Blas notes:

For Iran, ‘Israel is the appetizer and the U.S. is the entree,’ new ambassador said as he submitted his diplomatic credentials

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee conveyed a message to the growing isolationist camp on the American right as he submitted his diplomatic credentials on Monday: Maintaining close relations with Israel and countering the Iranian nuclear threat are beneficial to Americans. “The Iranian regime and all the hostility it has inflicted on the world for 46 years continues to threaten not only the peace of Israel but the peace of the United States,” Huckabee said in the ceremony at the residence of Israeli President Isaac Herzog. “Iranians have always said, ‘Death to Israel,’ and chapter two is ‘Death to America’… Israel is the appetizer, and the United States is the entree.” “We care deeply about the threats that face Israel because those are also the threats that face our country,” he added. In remarks Huckabee specifically directed at his “American colleagues,” he said that Israel and the U.S. “share the values of the Bible. We share the understanding that the Judeo-Christian foundation is the foundation of all of Western civilization. Without it, there is no sense of democracy, and love, appreciation and respect of the individuals. “It’s also important for Americans to know that, while we hope to be a good friend of Israel and provide assistance when we can, I never want Americans to think that we Americans are not greatly benefitted by our partnership with Israel. “People sometimes only think that Israel benefits from the United States,” he explained. “The truth is the United States benefits a great deal from Israel, and not just militarily. We certainly benefit from the technology, from the innovation, from defense systems that were developed here, but there’s a much more important and long-lasting side where Americans benefit in agriculture, technology, medical advancement. “It is not a one-way street,” Huckabee told JNS. “The relationship between the United States and Israel is not ceremonial. It’s deep. It’s rooted in our love of democracy and our love of the Judeo-Christian understanding that every life has worth and value,” he said. Asked about demands on Israel to resume aid in Gaza amid a now 18-month war in the Strip, Huckabee did not press Israel, saying that Hamas “brought this upon themselves.”