After recent purchase of UK’s Daily Telegraph, Axel Springer and its ‘guru-like’ CEO, Mathias Döpfner, have sights on transatlantic expansion In Mathias Döpfner’s 2023 book Dealing with Dictators, the chief executive of the German media company Axel Springer SE proposed a fix for western democracy: states that respect the rule of law should stick together and prioritise trading with each other. Be...
After recent purchase of UK’s Daily Telegraph, Axel Springer and its ‘guru-like’ CEO, Mathias Döpfner, have sights on transatlantic expansion In Mathias Döpfner’s 2023 book Dealing with Dictators, the chief executive of the German media company Axel Springer SE proposed a fix for western democracy: states that respect the rule of law should stick together and prioritise trading with each other. Better that, he declared, than indulging the illusion that doing business will tame “self-styled strongman leaders”. So it came as quite the surprise when last month Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, was given a prominent opinion article in Welt am Sonntag, less than four weeks before the riskiest elections of the rightwing populist’s career. “It caused a lot of strong irritation,” said a former editor at the Springer-owned broadsheet. Continue reading...
J Studios Oil prices fell sharply to below $100 a barrel after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a conditional two‑week ceasefire that hinges on reopening the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, easing supply fears that had driven prices higher during the conflict. Brent ( CO1:COM ) tumbled as much as 16% before trading at $94.87 a barrel at press time, while West Texas Intermediate ( CL1:COM ) fell t...
J Studios Oil prices fell sharply to below $100 a barrel after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a conditional two‑week ceasefire that hinges on reopening the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, easing supply fears that had driven prices higher during the conflict. Brent ( CO1:COM ) tumbled as much as 16% before trading at $94.87 a barrel at press time, while West Texas Intermediate ( CL1:COM ) fell the most in almost six years and was last near $96 in Asian trading. President Donald Trump said the ceasefire is subject to Iran reopening the strait, and will allow an agreement “to be finalized and consummated.” Further price direction will hinge on whether talks translate into a durable agreement and a sustained normalisation of flows through the strait, with volatility likely to persist during negotiations later this week, ING analysts said in a note. Elsewhere, refined product prices followed crude lower. European diesel futures fell as much as 23%, marking their largest decline in more than four years, while futures linked to Abu Dhabi’s Murban crude dropped 19% – the sharpest fall since the contract’s launch in 2021, the note said. On the output front, Iraq posted the largest decline, with output falling by 2.8mb/d to 1.6mb/d. Saudi Arabia’s production dropped by 2.1mb/d to 8.4mb/d, while UAE output fell by 1.4mb/d to 2.2mb/d, partly cushioned by pipeline routes bypassing the strait. Reopening the Strait of Hormuz could allow some lost production to return in the coming weeks, though a full normalisation will be gradual, ING analysts Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson added. More on Crude Oil Futures, Brent Futures Commodities: Oil Slumps Below $100 After U.S., Iran Agree To 2-Week Ceasefire 10 Hours To $150 Oil? The Looming Deadline Threatening The Strait Of Hormuz Commodities: Oil Climbs On Trump Escalation Threat Shipowners eye escape for 800 vessels as Hormuz reopening looms Stock futures jump, crude oil slides after Trump suspends Iran attack for two weeks
Vertigo3d/E+ via Getty Images Bitcoin's ( BTC-USD ) market structure in Q1 2026 has split into two opposing forces. On one side, publicly listed miners are liquidating their BTC treasuries at an unprecedented pace, selling billions of dollars worth of coins to repay debt and fund a sweeping pivot to artificial intelligence infrastructure. On the other, a growing cohort of DAT companies led by Stra...
Vertigo3d/E+ via Getty Images Bitcoin's ( BTC-USD ) market structure in Q1 2026 has split into two opposing forces. On one side, publicly listed miners are liquidating their BTC treasuries at an unprecedented pace, selling billions of dollars worth of coins to repay debt and fund a sweeping pivot to artificial intelligence infrastructure. On the other, a growing cohort of DAT companies led by Strategy ( MSTR ) are collectively stepping in as the dominant corporate buyers during one of Bitcoin's steepest drawdowns. A quiet supply war is now underway, and its outcome may define the second half of 2026. The Great Mining Exodus The economics of Bitcoin mining have turned hostile. Listed miners are now losing approximately $19,000 per coin produced as BTC trades around $69,000, nearly 47% below its October 2025 all-time high of $126,000, while mining difficulty and energy costs remain elevated. The response has been an industry-wide fire sale: In total, public miners have reduced their BTC holdings by over 15,000 coins from peak levels. The destination for these proceeds is overwhelmingly AI and high-performance computing. Mining companies hold exactly what AI firms need most: Long-term power purchase agreements at below-market rates Grid-connected physical sites Cooling infrastructure designed for high-density hardware As of March, over $70 billion in AI and HPC contracts had been signed across the sector. Industry analysts project that some miners could derive up to 70% of their revenue from AI hosting by year-end. The deeper catalyst is a leverage unwind. Many of these companies raised billions through zero-coupon convertible notes in 2024 and 2025 specifically to buy Bitcoin. When BTC dropped 47%, the debt remained. Now they are forced to sell the very asset they borrowed to acquire. This creates a fundamental tension: the companies securing the Bitcoin network are becoming its largest sellers. The DAT Companies Are Absorbing Supply While miners rush for the exit, DA...