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Memecoin ETF era kicks off with Dogecoin fund that’s ‘useless by design’

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Wall Street is about to package a joke into an exchange-traded fund — and charge 1.5% for the privilege.

The REX-Osprey DOGE ETF launches Thursday as the US’s first fund dedicated to Dogecoin, the memecoin created in 2013 as satire that now commands a staggering $57 billion market value.

Trading under the ticker DOJE, it marks a somewhat surreal milestone: institutional products for assets that proudly serve no purpose.

And funds are charging up to six times more than for most Bitcoin ETFs, suggesting investors are willing to pay a hefty premium for a self-described parody cryptocurrency.

“Pretty sure this is the first-ever US ETF to hold something that has no utility on purpose,” Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst, wrote on X on Tuesday.

Back in December 2024, Balchunas forecasted a wave of cryptocurrency ETFs coming to the market. Balchunas had pointed to eventual approvals for six cryptocurrencies, one of which was Dogecoin.

Dogecoin is a memecoin conceived in 2013 and has since become a favourite of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Like most memecoins, it has no intrinsic value apart from speculation.

But what’s particularly interesting about the Dogecoin ETF is the backdoor route it’s taking to get in front of investors.

DOJE is launching under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

Basically, the ‘40s Act serves as a regulatory loophole, circumventing some of the SEC’s approval requirements. This means the fund can start trading immediately but faces stiff marketing restrictions.

The 1933 Securities Act approval is harder to get, but allows for broader distribution. This is the route spot Bitcoin ETFs took.

According to Balchunas, there’s a “big group of ’33 Act-ers waiting for SEC approval still.”

Dogecoin is up 150% this year, trading at about $0.24 per token. The token’s total market value floats around $36 billion, landing it in ninth place overall in the crypto industry.

Getting a memecoin ETF into the market wouldn’t be possible without Bitcoin ETF’s stunning success story.

Last year, 11 US Bitcoin ETF issuers raked in $107 billion in their first year — the most successful ETF launch in history — with BlackRock’s IBIT alone taking in $76 billion.

That turned IBIT into BlackRock’s third-largest revenue-generator across the firm’s ETF offering that extends to nearly 1,200 funds.

Still, a memecoin ETF is uncharted territory. Unlike Bitcoin’s clear-cut value proposition — it’s supposedly digital gold — or Ethereum’s smart contract utility, Dogecoin exists purely as a cultural phenomenon. And a parody one, at that.

Dogecoin’s creators, in fact, abandoned the project years ago.

In just a few days, the memecoin ETF era kicks off with a product that would have been inconceivable just two years ago: Wall Street selling shares of a joke and charging premium prices to do so.

Pedro Solimano is DL News’ Buenos Aires-based markets correspondent. Got at a tip? Email him atpsolimano@dlnews.com.

Man arrested after CS gas found in Heathrow evacuation

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A man has been arrested on suspicion of possession of CS gas and causing a public nuisance following the partial evacuation of Heathrow Airport on Monday night.

Hundreds of people were forced to leave Terminal 4 at about 17:00 BST on Monday, before being allowed back in three hours later.

No hazardous materials were found but the Metropolitan Police discovered a can of CS spray which it said “caused a reaction to those within the airport”. London Ambulance Service treated and discharged 20 people for “irritation”.

The incident is not being treated as terrorism related, Scotland Yard said, and the 57-year-old suspect remains in police custody.

An investigation is ongoing, police added.

On Monday, a Heathrow spokesperson said the airport reopened to passengers shortly after 20:00 and they were “very sorry for the disruption caused”.

Disruption to flights landing and departing from Terminal 4 appeared minimal during the evacuation, according to flight data.

Ronda Rousey passes on UFC White House card: 'I got better s— to do'

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Former MMA fighter Ronda Rousey says don’t expect to see her come out swinging at an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) cage match at the White House. 

“I’m not fighting at the White House,” Rousey said in a recent interview on the “Lapsed Fan” podcast, when asked if anyone had reached out about the fight, scheduled to take place next June on the South Lawn. 

“After Mike Tyson being the biggest fight of the year, you never say never, but I ain’t fighting at the f—ing White House,” Rousey, a 38-year-old Olympian who retired from MMA in 2016, said. 

In July, President Trump floated the idea of hosting a UFC event at the White House next summer to help mark the United States’s 250th anniversary.

“We’re going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House,” Trump said. 

“We have a lot of land there. We’re going to build a little — we’re not, Dana’s going to do it. Dana’s great. One of a kind,” he said at the time, referring to UFC President Dana White.

Pressed on whether she would participate in the event if given the opportunity, Rousey responded to laughs, “Even if offered? I got better s— to do.”

Gold rallies to new record on U.S. rate cut hopes, Fed tension

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By Anushree Mukherjee and Sherin Elizabeth Varghese

(Reuters) – Gold hit a record high above $3,600 an ounce on Tuesday, spurred by expectations of U.S. rate cuts, concerns about Federal Reserve independence and robust demand from investors and central banks.

Having hit a record high at $3,673.95 a troy ounce, spot gold was trading around $3,637.39 at 1524 GMT for a gain of more than 38% so far this year.

Analysts expect gold to trade in a $3,600-$3,900 range in the near to medium term and see potential for it to test $4,000 next year if economic and geopolitical uncertainties persist.

A Reuters survey published in July showed analysts expected gold prices to average $3,220 this year compared with $3,065 in the April survey and $2,756 an ounce in the January survey.

“Supportive for gold is the bearish dollar outlook underpinned by expectations of Fed cuts, investors distancing from U.S. assets and tariff-related economic uncertainty,” said Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades.

The dollar has fallen nearly 11% since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. Expectations of further U.S. rate cuts will further undermine the U.S. currency, which when it falls makes dollar-denominated gold cheaper for holders of other currencies.

Traders see a 92% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut in September when the Fed meets, according CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

Meanwhile, Trump’s criticism of Powell and attempts to remove Governor Lisa Cook have heightened concerns over the Fed’s independence and sparked further gold purchases.

“The most bullish wildcard is … potential interference with the U.S. Federal Reserve and concerns about the dollar’s status as a safe-haven,” said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke.

Among other factors fortifying gold’s appeal are security concerns emanating from the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine. Central bank gold purchases such as those by China have also provided impetus to gold prices.

According to the World Gold Council, central banks plan to raise the gold portion of their reserves while reducing dollar reserves over the next five years.

Physically-backed gold exchange traded funds have also seen significant inflows. Holdings in the the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest physical gold ETF, rose to 990.56 tons on September 2 for a over 12% increase so far this year and its highest since August 2022.

(Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee and Sherin Elizabeth Varghese in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Kavya Balaraman; Editing by Pratima Desai and xxxxx)

Prince Harry donates £1.1m to Children in Need

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The Duke of Sussex has made a personal donation of £1.1m to a BBC Children in Need project in Nottingham supporting young people who have been affected by violence.

Prince Harry is on the second day of a UK visit, where he’s been attending charity events.

In Nottingham he visited the Community Recording Studio, an initiative supported by BBC Children in Need, where he applauded a rap music performance, giving a hug to one of the young people taking part.

The prince hoped the donation, from his own money rather than his Archewell organisation, would help “changemakers in the city continue their mission to create safe spaces… and offer hope and belonging to young people who need it most”.

Prince Harry told the event that “Nottingham has been a place where I’ve heard harrowing stories, learned important lessons, seen resilience, and felt truly inspired”.

“The challenges remain serious and sadly aren’t getting any easier,” said Prince Harry. “Violence impacting young people, particularly knife crime, continues to devastate lives, cut futures short, and leave families in grief.”

He praised the efforts of those in the city who were working to tackle issues such as “food poverty, racism and educational inequality”.

Looking relaxed and wearing jeans, Harry met youth workers and local groups at the recording studio and heard about their efforts to tackle violence in Nottingham, in a scheme supported by BBC Children in Need.

“You gave me goosebumps,” he said after listening to a rapper called Paige.

“I was proper nervous,” Paige told Prince Harry about her first visit to the recording studio. “I’d never seen a booth or a mic or anything. So I’m listening to all these rappers on YouTube – and I’m like, ‘How do they even make that?'”

A young comedian, Ki’miya, teased Prince Harry about different backgrounds growing up by saying: “I bet you never had to stand on a chair to get a Hobnob.”

As well as showing a few dance moves when he arrived, and turning down the chance to sing backing vocals, Prince Harry joined conversations about creating more positive opportunities for young people.

BBC Children in Need is now one of the country’s biggest funders of independent youth workers.

Tony Okotie, the charity’s director of impact, said the donation would help “create spaces where young people feel safe, heard, and empowered to build brighter futures”.

There have been previous significant donations by the prince. He gave £1.2m of the proceeds from his memoir Spare to Sentebale, the charity he co-founded in southern Africa, which he subsequently left in an acrimonious dispute.

Prince Harry arrived in the UK on Monday – and went to lay a wreath on the grave of Queen Elizabeth II in Windsor, on the third anniversary of her death.

But it is still not known whether he will meet his father King Charles during this visit to the UK, despite much speculation that a meeting is on the cards.

The two men have not met face to face since February 2024 and Prince Harry has talked emotionally in a BBC interview about wanting a “reconciliation” with his family.

While Prince Harry has been in Nottingham, his brother the Prince of Wales has been carrying out his own engagements – visiting a housing project in south London as part of his Homewards campaign to tackle homelessness.

On Monday, Prince Harry had attended the WellChild awards in London, while his brother Prince William was at a Women’s Institute meeting in Berkshire, with guests remembering the legacy of the late Queen Elizabeth.

Mamdani taps 'Gilded Age' star to read 'freakout' reaction to him from NY's mega-rich

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Zohran Mamdani’s campaign is offering a rich response to a news story detailing how the very wealthy feel about the New York City Democratic mayoral nominee, tapping a star of “The Gilded Age” to perform a “dramatic reading” of the article.

In a video posted by Mamdani on Monday, Morgan Spector is seen dressed as his railroad tycoon character, George Russell, from the HBO historical drama that’s set in the late 19th century and follows the lives of New York’s mega-rich. 

The 44-year-old actor then reads aloud selected passages from a New York Times story published last month titled “How Are the Very Rich Feeling About New York’s Next Mayor?”

“August in the Hamptons: Ocean breezes. Oversubscribed Tracy Anderson classes. Parking woes. And this year, with a New York City mayoral election looming in the fall, a freakout that the most sumptuous of summer staples hasn’t soothed,” Spector said in front of a background filled with books and lit candles. 

“Even overpriced lobster salad can’t seem to make people out here feel better,” Spector said, reciting a political fundraiser quoted in the Times’s piece. 

“What they are talking about is whether anyone, specifically former Gov. Andrew M Cuomo or Mayor Eric Adams, can beat the Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani,” Spector said in a pronounced manner.

“In June, he dared to say, on ‘Meet the Press’: ‘I don’t think that we should have billionaires,'” Spector said of Mamdani’s interview on the NBC program. Spector then eyed the camera directly and dramatically took a sip of a drink. 

“The Hamptons is basically in group therapy about the mayoral race,” Spector said, again quoting the political fundraiser cited by the Times. 

“In other words, the plutocrats are panicking,” Spector said, pulling from the same article. 

Spector has praised Mamdani before, referring to him as a “fantastic candidate” before he officially clenched the Democratic nomination for New York mayor in July. 

“He feels like a candidate who could have an amazing future as a left politician,” Spector told Rolling Stone. 

President Trump has repeatedly ripped Mamdani, a New York state Assembly member who identifies as a democratic socialist, calling him a “communist lunatic.”

JPMorgan elevates three insiders as global investment banking chairs on M&A revival

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(Reuters) -JPMorgan Chase named three insiders as global chairs of its investment banking division on Tuesday, as U.S. banks position themselves to capitalize on a recovery in dealmaking activity in 2025.

Global mergers and acquisitions hit $2.6 trillion in the first seven months of the year, the highest since a 2021 pandemic-era peak, boosting investment banks’ prospects.

The three – Howard Chen, Charlie Dupree and Fred Turpin – will join a senior team that provides strategic advice to some of JPMorgan’s most important clients as the largest U.S. bank bolsters its investment banking division, a key driver of recent profits.

The lender beat estimates for second-quarter profit in July and its investment banking fees rose 7% to $2.5 billion, fueled by an increase in M&As and debt underwriting.

Chen, who joined JPMorgan in 2018, was most recently co-head of the North America financial institutions group, while Dupree served for the last seven years as vice chair of investment banking for M&A.

Turpin, most recently JPMorgan’s global head of media & communications investment banking, has been with the bank 30 years, having worked on deals such as T-Mobile and Sprint and Warner Media and Discovery, among others.

(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

Mitchum deodorants recalled after itchy, burning armpits claims

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Faarea Masud & Connie BowkerBBC News

Mitchum A green and pink bottle of Mitchum powder-fresh roll-on deodorant.Mitchum

A well-known deodorant brand has apologised and recalled some of its roll-on products after customers were reportedly left with itchy, burning armpits.

Consumers of Mitchum’s 48-hour roll-on anti-perspirant and deodorant complained on social media how they experienced “agonising weeping spots”, redness and irritation after using the roll-ons.

Posting on TikTok, one customer claimed they wanted to “rip my armpits out”, while another said her underarms felt like they were “on fire”.

The company said it was “truly sorry” and explained how a change in the manufacturing process had led to the 100ml batches sold in the UK, Ireland and South Africa being affected and recalled.

Hundreds have taken to sharing videos of their experience on social media, including a customer who described how she was left in agony because of “weeping spots” under her arm.

“I won’t be using any Mitchum products again because I’m not risking this happening again,” she said.

One woman said she was unable to sleep after applying the roll-on to her skin because the deodorant left her with “second degree chemical burns on my armpits”.

Another described her underarm skin as developing a pink rash which had “scabbed over”.

A Mitchum spokesperson said the brand was “truly sorry some of our customers have experienced temporary irritation.”

In a statement, the company said: “We want to reassure there has been no change to the formula of our products, but we have identified a change in the manufacturing process affecting one of our raw materials.

“This has impacted how the roll-on interacts with the skin of some users.”

It said the issue had since been “resolved” and it was working to “remove the small amount of product” left in shops.

“In addition, we have reverted to the original manufacturing process to ensure no other batches are affected”, the spokesperson said.

Mitchum advised all those affected to contact its customer services team so it could “make this right”.

The firm has issued a list of all the affected 100ml roll-on products. These are:

  • Powder Fresh
  • Shower Fresh
  • Unscented
  • Pure Fresh
  • Flower Fresh
  • Ice Fresh
  • Clean Control
  • Sport

Jon Stewart mocks Trump Cabinet meetings: 'Vibe … is very Make-A-Wish kid'

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Jon Stewart is mocking the way President Trump is treated at his Cabinet meetings, saying the praise he receives is similar to a “Make-A-Wish kid.”

“Whenever any of his biggest supporters are with him, it sounds like they’re saying goodbye,” the “Daily Show” host quipped to the audience during his monologue on Monday.

The Comedy Central show’s host played clips of White House officials commending Trump, including U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff telling the president at an August Cabinet meeting that working for him was “the greatest honor” of his life. 

Stewart said, “Once you begin to notice this pattern, you begin to see really the whole vibe around this president is very Make-A-Wish kid.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation, a nonprofit organization, grants “life-changing wishes” to children with critical illnesses. 

“Everyone who shows up to his office tries to make one of his dreams come true,” Stewart said of the attitude towards Trump. Stewart then cued up a clip of Trump being presented with an honorary U.S. Marshals Service badge during an event in the Oval Office last month. 

“Look how happy they made him! Gee whiz, mister, a real marshal?” Stewart exclaimed with feigned enthusiasm.

“Now you might be saying to yourself, the Make-A-Wish thing is a little much,” Stewart said. 

“A grown man would recognize when people are condescending to him, treating him like a child, tiptoeing around his fragile ego with the idea that this person is so easily manipulated that even the cheapest of gestures could be persuasive,” he added.

“You would f—ing think that,” Stewart, a frequent Trump critic, said to laughs before playing a news clip of FIFA President Gianna Infantino handing the World Cup Trophy to the president in the Oval Office last month.

“It’s for winners only, and since you’re a winner, you can as well touch it,” Infantino said. 

“Everything about the treatment of this president screams Make-A-Wish,” Stewart said. 

“I’m telling you, though, man, this goes way past trophy fondling and cereal box deputy badges: The people around Trump know that he is a never ending, insatiable black hole of wishes,” Stewart said, noting that several White House officials have floated him for a future Nobel Peace Prize. 

But Stewart then shifted his characterization, after denouncing a Monday Supreme Court ruling that lifted a judge’s limits on Los Angeles-area immigration stops based on a person speaking Spanish or working in a certain profession.

“The Supreme Court bent over backwards to grant Trump even his most unconstitutional wishes, like maybe you can arrest people for looking Mexican,” Stewart said.

“What kind of a Make-A-Wish kid wants to nullify the Fourth Amendment?” the “Daily Show” host said. 

“I’m beginning to think Trump isn’t a benign, suffering child at all. I’m beginning to think everybody treats Trump like this, not because he’s the Make-A-Wish kid, but because he’s that ‘Twilight Zone’ kid that any time somebody made him mad, he sent them out to the cornfield,” Stewart said, in a reference to a 1961 episode of the classic TV horror series. 

“This is where we’re at, America,” Stewart said with a shake of his head, telling the audience that the country is being “held hostage by the fragile ego of a man-baby president.”

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