Trump names 5 cryptocurrencies for national reserve, sending prices soaring

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: US President Donald Trump on social media announced the names of five digital assets he expects to include in a new US strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies on Sunday, spiking the market value of each.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that his January executive order on digital assets would create a stockpile of cryptocurrencies including bitcoin , ether , XRP , solana and cardano . The names had not previously been announced.

More than an hour later, Trump added: “And, obviously, BTC and ETH, as other valuable Cryptocurrencies, will be at the heart of the Reserve.”

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value, was up more than 11% at $94,164 Sunday afternoon. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, was up about 13% at $2,516.

The total cryptocurrency market has risen about 10%, or more than $300 billion, in the hours since Trump’s announcement, according to CoinGecko, a cryptocurrency data and analysis company.

XRP is cryptocurrency company Ripple Labs’ token. Ripple backed a so-called super PAC to influence congressional elections in November in favor of the crypto industry, Reuters reported.

“This move signals a shift toward active participation in the crypto economy by the U.S. government,” said Federico Brokate, head of U.S. business at 21Shares, a digital assets investment management firm. “It has the potential to accelerate institutional adoption, provide greater regulatory clarity, and strengthen the U.S.’s leadership in digital asset innovation.”

James Butterfill, head of research at asset manager CoinShares, said he was surprised to see digital assets other than bitcoin included in the reserve.

“Unlike bitcoin…these assets are more akin to tech investments,” Butterfill said. “The announcement suggests a more patriotic stance toward the broader crypto technology space, with little regard for the fundamental qualities of these assets.”

Trump won support from the crypto industry in his 2024 election bid, and he has quickly moved to back their policy priorities. He is hosting the first White House Crypto Summit on Friday, and his family has also launched its own coins.

Under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, regulators cracked down on the industry in a bid to protect Americans from fraud and money laundering.

Under Trump, the Securities and Exchange Commission has withdrawn investigations into several crypto companies and dropped a lawsuit against Coinbase (COIN.O), the largest crypto exchange in the U.S.

But in recent weeks cryptocurrency prices are down sharply, with some of the biggest digital currencies erasing nearly all of the gains made after Trump’s election win triggered a wave of excitement across the industry.

Analysts say the market needs a reason to move higher, such as signs that the U.S. Federal Reserve plans to cut interest rates or a clear pro-crypto regulatory framework from the Trump administration.

Reuters has reported that Geoff Kendrick, an analyst at Standard Chartered, is targeting bitcoin to hit $500,000, against a record high of $109,071, before Trump leaves office.
Regulatory filings in the U.S. showed that while hedge funds remain the dominant crypto buyers, banks and sovereign wealth funds are buying too.

Quarterly filings showed that asset managers boosted allocations to U.S. ETFs tied to the price of spot bitcoin in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Analysts and legal experts are divided on whether an act of Congress will be necessary to set up the reserve. Some have argued the reserve could be created via the U.S. Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund, which can be used to purchase or sell foreign currencies.
Trump’s crypto group had planned to look at potentially creating the stockpile with cryptocurrencies seized in law enforcement actions.

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Adam Zampa looking for best form ahead of India semi-final

Australia spinner Adam Zampa says he is below his best at Champions Trophy 2025 but will still be ready to take big wickets in the semi-final against India on Tuesday.

Adam Zampa took 2-48 in the washed-out group match against Afghanistan and 2-64 in the five-wicket win over England in Lahore to help Australia reach the last four of the ODI tournament.

The veteran leg spinner may be key to Australia’s hopes of victory in Dubai, where India, who refused to play in co-hosting nation Pakistan, won their three group matches on spin-friendly wickets.

“Personally, I don’t think I’m bowling quite at my best but I like to think the beauty about me, when I’m not quite at my best and not feeling that great out there, is my ability to still contribute and take those big wickets,” Zampa said.

 

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“So, yeah, (I am) obviously working on some stuff at the moment to hopefully get back to my best.

“But as I said, the ability to still do a job for the team and get those big wickets is still there, which to me is really important.”

The Australia squad flew from Lahore to Dubai on Saturday despite knowing they might need to fly back to Pakistan for the second semi-final depending on the result of the India-New Zealand group match.

India duly beat New Zealand by 44 runs on Sunday to ensure Australia’s early trip to Dubai was worth it.

South Africa, however, were forced to travel back to Pakistan for the second semi-final against New Zealand in Lahore on Wednesday.

The International Cricket Council has come under fire over the scheduling but Zampa was not complaining.

“Obviously we had a bit of a hectic schedule playing a couple of games in Pakistan, back and forth in between cities,” he said.

“It’s kind of nice to get here. We’ve got a great facility here at the ICC Academy, changes it up a little bit as well, so yeah, the boys are feeling OK about it.”

Australia have moved to cover for the injured Matt Short, with all-rounder Cooper Connolly approved as a replacement in the squad, organisers said.

Short was ruled out due to a left quadriceps injury.

Left-arm spinner Connolly will help cover the loss of Short’s off-spin if the 21-year-old is selected against India.

Champions Trophy 2025- Latest Updates

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New Zealand win toss, elect to bowl first against India

DUBAI: New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl first against India in the final group-stage game of the Champions Trophy 2025 on Sunday.

The two sides have already qualified for the semi-finals, having won their two respective games against Pakistan and Bangladesh.

While reports had earlier said that Rohit Sharma would be given rest for the game, he came out for the toss, confirming he recovered from the hamstring injury he sustained during their game against Pakistan.

India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy and Mohammed Shami.

New Zealand Playing XI: Rachin Ravindra, Will Young, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke.

Both sides entered Champions Trophy 2025 on the back of strong performances as New Zealand won the tri-nation ODI series in Pakistan against the hosts and South Africa.

India continued their winning streak from a home ODI series victory against England to consecutive victories in the Champions Trophy 2025 group stage against Pakistan and Bangladesh.

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CM Maryam Nawaz directs CS to monitor drive against price hike

Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz has directed the chief secretary (CS) to personally monitor the drive against price hike and hoarding in the province.

Ramadan Calendar 2025 – Sehri & Iftar time today

Chairing a meeting in Lahore on Sunday, CM Maryam Nawaz asked to get the government rate list pasted on all shops prominently and strictly monitor the demand and supply of necessary use items to prevent the hoarding.

Maryam Nawaz said supply and prices of fruits and vegetables will also be strictly checked during Holy Ramadan and strict legal action will be taken on price hikes.

Read more: Punjab cabinet approves Ramzan Nigehban Package

The Punjab government has announced measures to regulate the prices of essential commodities during Ramadan, aiming to curb inflation and provide relief to the public.

Special Assistant to the Punjab Chief Minister, Salma Butt, stated in a press conference on Tuesday that the administration was working to ensure affordable rates for key food items, including vegetables, flour, sugar, and dates, as part of the Ramzan Nigabhan Relief Package.

She assured that staple vegetables would remain within reasonable price limits, with tomatoes expected to be priced at Rs40-50 per kilogram, onions at Rs80/kg, and potatoes at Rs55-60/kg. The price of dates, a widely consumed item during Ramadan, is projected to decrease from Rs525 to Rs485/kg.

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PPP Core Committee meets soon to discuss working relations with PML-N

ISLAMABAD: People’s Party leadership has decided to convene the party’s core committee meeting in next few days to be presided over by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, citing sources ARY News reported on Sunday.

The PPP Core Committee will consider over the political situation of the country, party sources said.

The party session will also consider over negotiations with the ruling PML-N and state of the working relations with the party.

The PPP core committee will also review the implementation of the party’s demands to the government.

Party sources said that the party’s leadership will review the privatization policy as well as performance of the government.

The party core committee will also be given briefing over President Asif Zardari’s visit of Punjab.

The PPP, a major coalition party in the centre, has time and again expressed its displeasure over the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government’s ‘consistently side-lining’ them in key matters.

The party used to complain about neglecting the PPP lawmakers in Punjab and in the centre and the recent canal issue has further heated the matters between both the parties.

Party insiders claim that the PPP leadership is frustrated by the lack of consultation on significant national issues.

A major point of contention is the decision to draw a link canal from the Indus River, a move that has raised serious concerns within the PPP.

Sources indicate that the party is prepared to explore all possible options to oppose the project.

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How to pre-load GTA 5 upgrade on PC?

Rockstar Games has announced allowing Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 5 PC players to pre-load the upcoming enhanced version before the release date.

In a blogpost on its website, the developer announced that the upcoming upgrade has been made available for pre-load from the Rockstar Games Launcher and Steam for PC.

As per Rockstar Games, the enhanced version will come with “highly requested features previously only available in the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions including new vehicles and performance upgrades, access to subscribe to GTA+.”

While the GTA 5 upgrade will arrive on March 4, PC players can pre-load it through Steam and Rockstar Games Launcher.

PC gamers, who own Grand Theft Auto 5, will see GTA V Enhanced available in their library to begin pre-loading.

Read more: Rockstar Games drops major update for GTA 5

Rockstar Games has renamed the existing version as GTAV Legacy and will continue to support it.

PC player can pre-load the upgrade using the steps given below:

Step 1 – Open Steam on PC and login with the account that owns Grand Theft Auto 5

Step 2 – Navigate to Library

Step 3 – Click on Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced

Step 4 – Click on the button labelled PRELOAD

Step 5 – Select your preferred installation location for the Enhanced edition

Step 6 – Click on Install

Step 7 – Click on Accept to begin the download

Additionally, PC players will be able to preemptively migrate their Story Mode progress to the new version using the Pause Menu inside GTA 5 Legacy.

Meanwhile, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players can still migrate Story Mode and Online progress to PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S.

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PM Shehbaz launches Rs20b Ramadan package for deserving families

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday launched Rs20 Ramazan package for 4 million deserving families across the country, benefitting about 20 million people. 

Addressing the launching ceremony, the prime minister said that a total of 4 million deserving families comprising about two crore people would get relief from this package which would be distributed in the first ten days of the holy month. 

Each family through digital wallets would get Rs5,000, he said, expressing his satisfaction that the price hike had been reduced this year when compared with the previous figures during the holy month of Ramazan. 

“This year, an amount of Rs20 billion has been allocated for the purpose. The relief amount last year was Rs7 billion,” he added.  

The prime minister also lauded all the relevant authorities and institutions including ministries, State Bank of Pakistan, NADRA, BISP and tech companies who worked day and night to devise a digital mechanism. The federal government’s initiative would benefit all parts of the country through a well-devised digital system, he added.  

He also expressed his gratitude to the foreign partners for their partnership and support in this noble cause and appreciated their commitment and valuable contributions.  

The prime minister said that billions of rupees of the poor nation had been stuck up in litigation for years and expressed the resolve of the government to get expeditious decisions over Rs500 billion cases pending for adjudication in various courts. 

He said corruption was being dealt with iron hands. During their previous interim government’s tenure, the banks had made windfall profits over fluctuation of dollar rates and got stay orders from the court when the government introduced a legislation in this regard.  

Referring to a decision of the recent Sindh High Court, he said Rs23 billion were recovered from the disposal of a stay case. 

The prime minister termed the corruption in the Utility Stores Corporation as ‘worst one’ and said that it was being privatized, ending public agonies with a very proactive digital system like the one just launched.  

He also reiterated to close down other government’s entities running into losses.  

The prime minister expressed his deep grief over a terrorist attack on Maulana Hamid ul Haq at Madrassa Haqqania in which Maulana Haq had embraced martyrdom.  

He said that Madrassa Haqqania was a renowned center of Islamic studies, and yesterday’s terrorist incident was heart-wrenching and highly condemnable.  

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would immediately bring the perpetrators to book, he said, adding in the year 2018, terrorism was eliminated from the country, and in that fight about 80,000 Pakistanis had laid down their lives, including security forces officers and jawans and all segments of society. 

Unfortunately, he said the specter raised its head in the recent times and everyone knew the reasons. With the unmatched sacrifices of the security forces and nation’s support, they would eliminate terrorism forever and would not rest till its complete eradication, he added. 

Minister for Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, in his remarks, said the programme was sanctioned in twenty days in which all the relevant authorities played a significant part, enabling them to launch the initiative in the holy month.  

He said foolproof mechanism would ensure swift transfer of amount to 4 million deserving families all over the country. 

Moreover, a total of 600 stalls were being set up at the tehsil level to provide sugar at subsidized price of Rs130 kg.  

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