Tether Leads Funding Round for Payment Infrastructure Company Speed to Complete $8 Million Strategic Financing

December 17: Boston Federal Reserve President stated the 2026 dot plot does not include any rate cuts, noting the economy is expected to perform more strongly with GDP growth around 2.5%—meaning policy still needs to remain restrictive.

Boston Fed (Dec 17): Aimed to keep monetary policy unchanged at the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting. If the labor market sees a broad-based cyclical slowdown, other signals of meaningful economic weakening will emerge. The labor market is cooling, but a significant economic slowdown is not anticipated. Further interest rate cuts would push monetary policy into or toward accommodative territory, posing risks to inflation and inflation expectations. Source: FXStreet

Dec. 17 President Trump announced on social media Wednesday that he will deliver a primetime national address at 9 p.m. ET (10 a.m. Beijing Time Thursday). The speech lands as his first year back in the White House winds down—a critical moment marked by slipping approval ratings and economic headwinds. Over the past year, Trump has focused on overhauling U.S. economic and national security ties: he imposed tariffs on trade partners and key sectors, clashed heatedly with allies over defense spending, immigration, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and domestically pushed executive power boundaries, restructured the federal government, carried out large-scale undocumented immigrant deportations, and tightened legal immigration pathways. The address gives Trump a platform to tout his achievements and lay out next year’s priorities as Republicans aim to hold onto Congress in next year’s midterms (which typically see the president’s party lose seats). The White House says Trump

December 17: Sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that former President Donald Trump will interview current Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Wednesday (local time) for the Fed chair position. Trump interviewed former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh last week and has stated Warsh and Kevin Hassett are currently his top two candidates. Waller is a key voice within the Fed advocating for rate cuts this year. At the Fed’s July meeting—where policymakers held rates steady—Waller dissented in favor of a rate cut. Economists favor Waller as a Fed chair candidate, and he is widely respected on Wall Street for his clear, consistent arguments in support of rate cuts. His views are seen as capable of bridging the Fed’s widening internal divides, and several of his rate-cut arguments have been adopted by current Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Waller is set to deliver remarks on the economic outlook Wednesday night Beijing time, per FX168.

Coinbase will list Theoriq (THQ) for spot trading on December 17. Should liquidity conditions be met, the THQ-USD trading pair will launch later today.

On December 17, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) approved a proposed rule establishing an application process for banks to issue stablecoins via subsidiaries. The rule kicks off a 60-day public comment period, marking the first formal rulemaking proposal since the GENIUS Act—also known as the American Stablecoin Innovation Act—was passed.