Category: 3. Business

The government is in the process of drafting a legal package aimed at amending existing laws to mandate digital payment solutions at business and retail outlets as part of its push towards a cashless economy as reported by Express Tribune.

The report confirmed that the draft legal package proposes amendments to the Payment Systems and Electronic Fund Transfers Act, 2007, making it mandatory for businesses to offer at least one digital payment method, including QR code facilities. Local governments will be authorised to ensure compliance and enforcement.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) are revising bylaws to mandate digital payment acceptance at all retail outlets within their jurisdiction. Provincial governments are also expected to amend or enact new Digital Payment Acts to enforce the same requirement for businesses in their areas.

In the interim, local governments and regulatory authorities have been instructed to issue notifications for the installation of digital payment acceptance facilities at retail outlets.

Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) have begun printing Raast QR codes on consumer bills. Together, the two companies serve 10.74 million customers with annual collections of Rs384.91 billion. Over 21,400 consumers have paid their gas bills using Raast QR codes, contributing Rs51.8 million in payments.

Meanwhile, 10 out of 11 electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) have adopted Raast QR codes for bill payments, with Tesco also signing up. To date, over 27,900 consumers have paid electricity bills through Raast QR codes, amounting to Rs128 million in transactions. The total consumer base of all DISCOs is 35 million, with annual collections around Rs4 trillion.

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has introduced Raast QR payments at its service centres and through its mobile application. Currently, 949 NADRA centres are enabled for Raast QR payments, and the feature is integrated into the PAK ID app, which has 10.7 million users. As a result, cashless transactions at NADRA facilities have risen from 66% to 76% by October 2025.

Raast QR payments now account for 10% of all cashless transactions and 13% of daily applications processed through the PAK ID app. The total potential for digital collections through this system is estimated at Rs28.47 billion, with a consumer base of 27.2 million.

The CDA has also mandated the display of Raast QR codes at retail outlets in Islamabad, with 38,819 stores now enabled to accept payments. A Merchant Acquisition Committee has been established to oversee the process, with 12 participating banks facilitating the initiative.

Weiterlesen

More than 130 cars have been admired on London’s Pall Mall as St James’s Motoring Spectacle returned to the capital.

Organised by the Royal Automobile Club with the permission of Westminster City Council, the event is seen as the curtain-raiser to the following day’s London to Brighton Car Run.

The St James’s Spectacle showcased vehicles from the birth of motoring to the most recent hypercars.

About 75 pre-1905 vehicles took part – and they, with hundreds of others, will join Sunday’s run to Brighton.

Pedal power was also celebrated, with a collection spanning veteran bicycles and early motorcycles through to modern electric bikes.

One of the main raps against cryptocurrency has been that it is not a “mainstream” investment asset. However, the recent announcement of a new crypto-related index created by S&P Dow Jones Indices is just the latest in a string of headlines pushing crypto toward wide-stream acceptance.

Read More: I Asked ChatGPT To Explain Crypto Like I’m 12 — Here’s What It Said

Find Out: 9 Low-Effort Ways To Make Passive Income (You Can Start This Week)

Here’s a look at what’s going to be in the index, how it might boost crypto in general, and whether or not it might be a fit for your portfolio.

According to S&P Global, the creator of the new S&P Digital Markets 50 Index, “The index is designed to track a wide range of companies and digital assets connected to the crypto ecosystem, combining cryptocurrencies and publicly traded crypto-linked equities into one index.”

What this means is that unlike some other indexes that merely track specific cryptocurrencies, this index is meant to encompass the entire crypto ecosystem. In addition to individual coins and tokens, the S&P Digital Markets 50 Index will include stocks of companies that are somehow related to crypto. Specifically, the index “will include 35 companies involved in digital asset operations, infrastructure providers, financial services, blockchain applications and supporting technologies, but will also be combined with 15 cryptocurrencies selected from the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market Index.”

Note that at the present time, the S&P Digital Markets 50 is just an index, not an investable exchange-traded fund (ETF). However, later this year, fintech firm Dinari plans to offer investible “dShares” based on the index in conjunction with S&P Global. Additionally, as The Motley Fool noted, this index could lead to the introduction of new ETFs or mutual funds.

Check Out: 3 Reasons Bitcoin Is ‘Digital Gold,’ Says Investing Expert

Anything that is seen to legitimize and bring cryptocurrency into the mainstream is seen as a good thing for the overall crypto market. When investors feel more confident that crypto isn’t simply the wild west of the investment world, they’ll be more likely to invest themselves. An increase in the number of investors could both drive crypto prices higher and reduce volatility in the sector.

Investing in a crypto-based index can provide two additional major benefits.

First, it allows investors access to a relatively diversified portfolio with a single purchase. Although not a wholly diversified portfolio, as all of the investments will consist of crypto and crypto-related securities, you’d be owning 50 different investments instead of putting all your money into just one.

Next, it takes the burden of research away from you as an investor and places it in the hands of S&P instead. Rather than having to go out and research 50 individual cryptocurrencies and crypto-related companies, S&P is doing all the heavy lifting for you. While you’ll still have to determine whether this index matches your investment objectives and risk tolerance, you can focus your energies on vetting a single security instead of 50 diverse investments.

Although the new S&P index offers potential, there are some risks to consider as well to any potential investment based on this index.

Here are some possible downsides.

• Overdiversification: In traditional stock mutual funds, the diversification offered by owning 50 different securities can be beneficial. But as crypto is still a new and speculative asset class, the question has to be asked, “Will there really be 50 winners in that space?” Or will the “forced diversification” into 50 securities mean you’ll end up owning a significant handful of losers?

• Volatility: Owning 50 different securities instead of one may dampen your volatility somewhat. But as every investment in this index is either crypto-related or actual crypto, most of the securities will likely trade in tandem. This means an investment based on this index could still be quite volatile.

• Fees: S&P Global and Dinari haven’t publicly announced a fee structure for this new product, and it is likely to be fairly low. However, paying any type of fee by definition drags your performance down as opposed to simply buying a stock or cryptocurrency for no commission at all.

S&P Global is helping crypto investments become mainstream with the creation of its Digital Assets 50 Index. This is likely good for the overall crypto market. However, the index itself, including the investable dShares coming later this year, are not the perfect investment for everyone.

You’ll still have to weigh the pros and cons of the index and match them with your financial objectives and ability to handle volatility. Even then, it’s likely a good idea to think of the index as a supplemental or fringe investment, rather than a core one.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How S&P’s New Index Could Be a Game Changer for Your Crypto Investments

OMAHA, Neb. — The profits of Warren Buffett’s company improved 17% thanks to a relatively mild hurricane season and more paper investment gains this year as Berkshire Hathaway continues to prepare for the legendary 95-year-old investor to relinquish the CEO title in January.

But last month’s $9.7 billion investment in OxyChem won’t do much to diminish the $381.7 billion cash pile that Berkshire was sitting on at the end of September even though it is the biggest deal the company has made in years.

The biggest thing on most investors’ minds right now is that Buffett Vice Chair Greg Abel is set to succeed him as CEO in January, although Buffett will remain chairman at Berkshire. The Class A stock is well off its peak of $812,855, set just before Buffett surprised shareholders at the annual meeting in May by announcing he will step back. It closed Friday at $715,740, but Berkshire still didn’t buy back any of its own stock in the quarter, which suggests Buffett thinks it is still overvalued.

CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert said she expects investors will clamor for more details from Berkshire after Abel takes over, and that calls for the company to finally pay a dividend if it can’t find better uses for all that cash will also grow louder. But with Buffett remaining chairman there may not be any immediate changes.

“The lack of discussion and disclosure — I think has a lot of the investment community frustrated,” Seifert said. Berkshire has never had public or investor relations departments, and the company skips the quarterly investor calls that nearly every public company holds. Buffett has long said he prefers to share results with every investor at the same time, on Saturdays, and give them the weekend to digest the results before the markets reopen.

Berkshire said Saturday that it earned $30.796 billion, or $21,413 per Class A share, in the quarter. That’s up from last year’s $26.251 billion, or $18,272 per A share.

But those bottom-line figures are always distorted by the current value of Berkshire’s massive investment portfolio and any stock sales, which this year added $17.3 billion to the company’s profits.

That’s why Buffett has long recommended that investors pay more attention to Berkshire’s operating earnings to get a sense of how its many operating companies are performing, including well-known insurers like Geico, BNSF railroad, several major utilities and an assortment of manufacturing and retail companies.

On that measure, Berkshire’s operating profit jumped to $13.485 billion, or $9376.15 per Class A share, thanks to a strong rebound in its insurance companies. A year ago, Berkshire reported operating earnings of $10.09 billion, or $7,023.01 per Class A share.

The four analysts surveyed by FactSet Research predicted Berkshire would report operating earnings of $8,573.50 per Class A share.

Berkshire said fewer catastrophic losses from hurricanes this year compared to when Hurricane Helene ravaged the southeast a year ago helped its insurance underwriting profit jump $1.6 billion to $2.369 billion. The bottom line was also helped by $331 million in gains on debt held in foreign currencies this year, compared to a $1.1 billion loss on those holdings a year ago.

Most of Berkshire’s other companies performed well in the quarter although profits did decline nearly 9% at its utilities to $1.489 billion.

Asked whether Nvidia intends to sell AI accelerators from that family of products in the Asian country, the tech chief said, “I don’t know. I hope so someday.” 

Huang’s comments came a day after US President Donald Trump said he didn’t discuss the prospect of Blackwell chip sales in a meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, despite saying earlier that he would do so. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, asked whether Blackwell chip sales to China would be discussed more going forward, said “I don’t think that’s on the table right now.”

Huang, speaking Friday in South Korea, expressed optimism that might change. “No decisions have been made, and we’ll see how it turns out,” said Huang, 62, of Nvidia’s Blackwell export plans. “I hope it turns out well.” The Nvidia chief said earlier this week that the company hasn’t applied for Washington’s permission to sell Blackwell chips to China, permits that are required under export controls first imposed in 2022.

Read More: Trump Says Nvidia Chip Talks With Xi Didn’t Cover Blackwell 

The Blackwell family of chips is Nvidia’s latest generation of artificial intelligence semiconductors and the industrial standard for developing and running large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The processors have capabilities that far surpass those of semiconductors that Washington effectively banned from export to China several years ago, as well as anything that’s currently available from Chinese competitors like Huawei Technologies Co. 

Selling those products to China, as Huang hopes to do, would require a dramatic departure from the Trump administration’s stated approach to the tech competition between the world’s two largest economies. Still, the president had put it on the table. Trump said months ago that he’d be open to allowing China shipments of an unspecified, downgraded Blackwell chip. Ahead of his meeting with Xi, Trump said he’d discuss the “super duper” Blackwell accelerators with the Chinese leader — remarks that helped make Nvidia the first $5 trillion business by market value. 

But while Trump and Xi did discuss Nvidia’s access to China in general, Trump said after the meeting, those talks did not touch on Blackwell chip approvals: “We’re not talking about the Blackwell,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “That just came out yesterday.”

Back in Washington, China hawks breathed a sigh of relief. Many US officials had worried that Trump, in an effort to reach a broader trade deal with Beijing, might give away what they consider to be the country’s strongest technological asset — and one with significant national security implications. Concern about Blackwell chip sales to the Asian country is one of the primary motivations behind a bipartisan congressional measure that could have major implications for Huang’s hopes for the China market.

The legislation, an earlier version of which has already passed the Senate, would require chipmakers like Nvidia to prioritize American customers before selling chips to buyers in arms-embargoed countries, including China. Hours after Trump and Xi concluded their meeting, lawmakers introduced the highly-anticipated bill to the US House of Representatives.

One congressional staffer, who requested not to be identified, described a sense of uncertainty akin to a fog of war when asked how Trump’s stance on Blackwell chips was playing on Capitol Hill.

Read More: AI Chip Export Controls Backed by House After Trump-Xi Talks

Nvidia has criticized trade restrictions as hamstringing US competitiveness and lobbied aggressively against chip export controls more broadly. “I think it’s really good for America and it’s really good for China that Nvidia could participate in the Chinese market,” Huang said Friday. Nvidia’s argument is that restricting Chinese AI developers from using American chips will only push them toward domestic alternatives.

To be sure, participating in China would also be really good for Nvidia: the world’s most valuable company wrote down billions of dollars in revenue earlier this year when Trump’s team restricted sales of a less-advanced processor called the H20. Washington later reversed course and greenlit H20 chip shipments, but Beijing has discouraged Chinese companies from using those accelerators.

Trump said Thursday that Nvidia and the Chinese government will have to keep talking about the chipmaker’s access to the Asian nation’s market, which is the world’s biggest for semiconductors. Huang, though, said the topic didn’t come up during his meeting Friday with Ren Hongbin, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. 

“We were just talking mostly about enjoying each other’s company,” Huang said.