FSNN | Free Speech News Network https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html Homepage CME, ICE push U.S. regulators to scrutinize Hyperliquid over manipulation risks Bitcoin, ETH, BNB, XRP, SOL, DOGE, HYPE, ADA, ZEC, BCH Price Predictions Bitcoin Depot Flashes Bankruptcy Warning as ATM Revenue Falls, Regulatory Scrutiny Grows Judge Stops U.S. Treasury From Sanctioning Someone’s Speech Saudi Arabia is tokenizing its multi-trillion dollar economy to protect its wealth from global shocks Myanmar’s Military Government Proposes Life in Prison for Crypto Scammers Tether Billionaire Enters UK’s Richest People List Amid Farage Gift Inquiry Trump’s $10 Billion IRS Lawsuit May Become a $1.7 Billion Slush Fund for MAGA’s Self-Proclaimed Victims Thomas Massie’s Enemies Are Attacking Him With an Unfair Accusation Bangladesh tribunal shows journalists Rupa and Babu arrested over 2013 reporting Lombard joins LayerZero exodus as $4 billion in assets switch to Chainlink's bridge Ether price may 20% drop as analysts say ‘downside risks remain’ Dune Analytics Slashes 25% of Workforce in AI, Institutional Pivot A North Carolina Goodyear Plant Is the Latest Victim of Trump’s Misguided Tariffs and Costly Iran War Bitcoin tumbles below $79,000 as rising bond yields, inflation worries rattle markets Augustus CEO Says Banks Can’t Be Rebuilt for AI as OCC Backs Stablecoin Bank Bitcoin Giant Strategy Moves to Retire $1.5 Billion in Convertible Debt, Says It Could Sell BTC The Federal Government Tried To Spy on Your Financial Transactions. A Texas Court Just Said No. Kraken parent Payward cuts 150 staff, streamlining business ahead of planned IPO Poland Approves Crypto Bill Amid Looming MiCA Deadline Gemini Stock Jumps on Revenue Rise, $100M Bitcoin Investment From Winklevoss Capital No Discovery into Alleged “Actual Malice” in Trump’s Lawsuit Against WSJ Over Jeffrey Epstein Birthday Letter Story XRP gives back gains after Senate crypto bill sparks 5% rally What Will Trigger a BTC Price Rally? Bitcoin Shrugs off CLARITY gains as Institutions Sell Amid Surging Treasury Yields Bari Weiss Let Benjamin Netanyahu Pick His Own Softball Interviewer Court Orders Reinstatement of Untenured Professor Allegedly Non-Renewed for Speech About “the Palestinian Resistance” Winklevoss’ Gemini jumps 25% on $100 million bitcoin infusion despite deepening losses Can The Bullish ‘HYPE’ Sustain? Morning Minute: The Clarity Act Just Passed Its First Major Vote The FDA’s New Psychedelic Rules Are Groovy, but the Agency Is Still a Bad Trip Hyperliquid leads 24-hour gains as altcoins pace bitcoin South Korea’s Hana Financial Scoops up 2.2M Dunamu Shares THORChain’s RUNE Token Plunges Double Digits After $10M Exploit, Trading Halt Review: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Is a Fantasy Drama About Occupational Licensing IREN closes $3 billion convertible notes deal amid AI infrastructure expansion Australia Crypto Investors Face Higher Taxes Under Proposed CGT Rules President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump pose for a photo with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Mrs. Peng Liyuan. Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen For all of President Donald Trump’s unpredictability, he does have some consistencies, one being his love of a reviled ruler. He’s praised Vladimir Putin as a “genius” and “tough”. Kim Jong Un is an “absolute leader”, Viktor Orbán is “great” (or was – this may have since been revised). This may have since been revised. And despite all the heat around trade, Trump really likes Xi Jinping. Cancel that – he loves him, as he said at Davos in 2020. It’s obvious why. Xi is everything Trump aspires to be: the leader of a country with the most technologically advanced form of censorship, a nation of 1.125 billion internet users all behind a firewall and many, many surveillance cameras; a place where ethnic and religious minorities are locked up and human rights defenders jailed. Xi has managed to largely get away with it – the outrage today is frankly way too muted. China has even bought complicity from other countries. I should have been at the RightsCon event in Zambia last week which brings together leaders from around the world to talk about human rights and technology. Only, it was cancelled at the eleventh hour – Chinese state level interference apparently. Xi has spoken against “hostile forces” when it comes to the nation’s history, a handy excuse to stamp out anything or anyone painting the past unfavourably: it’s forbidden to mention the Tiananmen Square student demonstrations in China. The horrors of the Cultural Revolution, which incidentally started 60 years ago this Saturday, are off limits. Even British colonial history in Hong Kong is a touchy subject, best forgotten. Xi expects journalists “to tell China’s story well”. The thoughts of Xi Jinping are studied and institutionalised. Posters of Xi have replaced deities in churches, temples and believers’ homes. As for his political rivals, he’s moved with ruthless precision to take them out. Zhang Youxia was the latest. And does anyone even remember Bo Xilai, still very much in jail? No Chinese leader since Mao Zedong has managed to accomplish such centralised control. Xi has censorship licked. Xi has power licked. And when his brazen ambition was laid bare back in 2018, when he abolished term rules so that he could stay at the top indefinitely and most of us in the world were appalled, Trump praised the move. “He’s now president for life. President for life… I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day,” he gushed. This is all grotesque. This is everything that Index exists to fight against. But this is the language that Trump speaks and this is the model that Trump wants. An economic powerhouse, a global leader, and ultimately a country that makes few concessions to freedoms. For every instance of Xi control listed above, you’ll find a counterpart coming out of the Trump administration. So what’s Trump doing in China? He’ll be talking trade, AI, Iran, fentanyl, sure. Maybe he’ll call for Jimmy Lai’s release, not because he necessarily cares about the imprisoned media mogul and certainly not because he cares about media freedom, but because consider the photo op! Consider the high of getting China’s most prized prisoner out! But I bet too that Trump will be taking note, observing up close the world’s largest and most successful autocracy and admiring the man who sits at the top. READ MORE Dangerous Losers The U.S. stock market is getting close to dot-com bubble peak valuations Signal Says it Might Exit Canada if Forced to Comply with Lawful Access Bill EFFecting Change: Enshittification Brickbat: Not Fantastic Bitcoin is still stuck below its 200-day average. Treasury yields may be the reason. Kraken Switches from LayerZero to Chainlink after Kelp DAO Hack EFFecting Change: How to Disenshittify the Internet CLARITY will strengthen dollar stablecoins, but Asia wins on yield: HashKey Research Wall Street’s Tokenization Boom Has a Liquidity Problem: Axis CEO Bitcoin’s Dip Below $80K Could Be ‘Short-Lived’ as STRC Cycle Looms