Coinbase Says SEC Is Close to Dismissing Enforcement Case [Bloomberg via Yahoo!]
Coinbase shares jumped 4.8% to $268.51 in premarket trading in New York. The stock was up 3.3% in 2025 through Thursday. Bitcoin extended its gain to more than 1% to trade at around $99,500.
The decision is the latest retreat from the policies of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who officials in the crypto industry complained had sought to regulate the industry through enforcement actions. Last week, the SEC filed a request to put a similar case against Binance on hold, citing the pending development of a regulatory framework for digital assets under President Donald Trump’s crypto-friendly administration.
Citigroup drops its DEI efforts, joining corporate withdrawal from diversity initiatives [Reuters via CNBC]
The bank will not have “aspirational representation goals” except as required by local law, CEO Jane Fraser said. It will also change the name of the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Talent Management” team to “Talent Management and Engagement”…. “It is important to note that we’re living in an environment where things are changing quickly,” Fraser wrote, adding that the bank will still encourage “the best practice of having a variety of perspectives included in hiring decisions”.
UnitedHealth Shares Dive After Report of US Investigation Into Medicare Billing [AP via U.S. News]
Federal officials have launched a civil fraud investigation into how the company records diagnoses that lead to extra payments for its Medicare Advantage plans…. UnitedHealth Group Inc. stock has been in a rut since early December, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan on his way to the company’s annual investor meeting.
JPMorgan, Charlie Javice Both Accused of Lying as Fraud Trial Begins [Bloomberg]
Javice’s lawyer said it was JPMorgan that was lying about being cheated… He said the bank cried fraud because it had “buyer’s remorse” over its 2021 purchase of her company, Frank, after the government changed the rules on filing student financial aid forms through the site…. Javice, now 32, faces years in prison if she’s convicted of allegedly deceiving the bank and creating fake data to back up a claim that her site had 4.25 million customers, even though she knew it had fewer than 300,000.
Why Is Warren Buffett Hoarding So Much Cash? [WSJ]
The mountain of cash and Treasury bills at the famed investor’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, rose above $300 billion in the third quarter—easily a record and its highest as a percentage of company assets in data going back to 1998…. Close observers of Berkshire think about the rise in cash this way: Within the company’s hunting ground of large, high-quality businesses in industries Buffett understands, prices have risen too high for the stock picker to feel confident an investment would lead to worthwhile returns for Berkshire and its shareholders.
Does Elon Musk Still Care About Selling Cars? [NYT]
Tesla’s car sales fell 1 percent last year even as the global market for electric vehicles grew 25 percent. Mr. Musk has not addressed that underperformance, and he has offered no concrete plan to revive sales…. He seems to have lost interest in the grinding business of developing, producing and selling cars, investors and analysts say.
