Morning Brief: August 25

• BTC collapsed to $111,000, falling back to six-week lows.  The drop came after a sharp rise on Friday on statements by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell about a possible rate cut. The capitalization of the first cryptocurrency is currently $2.2 trillion, with a market share of 58.2%. At the same time, Ether remains near record levels ($4953).

• Germany is facing an economic and political crisis. The Chancellor acknowledged that the country is no longer able to maintain the current model of social policy. Since 2019, real GDP has decreased by 0.1%, the worst indicator among the G7 countries. Against the background of economic difficulties, the authorities are tightening migration policy: the powers to detain migrants have been expanded and the list of countries for deportation has been increased. According to polls, 59% of Germans are dissatisfied with the actions of Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the first 100 days of his work.

• Syria is preparing the denomination of the national currency. The central Bank plans to remove two zeros from the denominations and issue new banknotes on December 8. The old money will be in circulation until the end of 2026. The printing of new banknotes was entrusted to the Russian Goznak. The Syrian pound has depreciated by more than 99% since 2011: it is now worth $1 ≈ 10,000 pounds. The reform is not only economic, but also political in nature – new banknotes will be issued without images of the Assads.

• The EU and the US signed a trade agreement despite the criticism. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that rejecting the deal with Washington would be «a gift for Moscow and Beijing.» Despite the criticism from within the EU, Brussels agreed to sign the agreement in order to avoid further confrontation and weaken Europe's position.

• Armenian banks began to disclose the data of Russians. Armenian financial institutions request information about their tax residence from their clients and will transfer it to Russia within the framework of the OECD standard. This will allow the Federal Tax Service to track the income and assets of Russian citizens and companies abroad, which increases the risk of additional taxes and criminal liability for hiding funds.