Authored by Brian Quarmby via CoinTelegraph.com,

US President Donald Trump is set to become the first sitting president in history to have his signature put on US paper currency.

In an announcement on Thursday, the US Department of the Treasury said the move would mark the 250th anniversary of the US.

It will put both Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s signatures on future US notes.

“There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S. dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the Semiquincentennial,” Bessent said.

Until now, the tradition has been to put the signatures of the treasurer and the Treasury secretary on US paper currency.

This move would mark the first time in history that a sitting president is placing his signature on US currency.

Source: Brandon Beach

According to a report from Reuters on Thursday, the first $100 bills with Trump and Bessent’s signatures will be printed in June, with other bills following in later months.

Trump’s name and likeness have also made their way to cryptocurrencies, famous landmarks and commemorative coins.

Alongside the Treasury’s plans to put Trump’s signature on US notes, there are also potentially $1 coins with the president’s face on them that could enter circulation as part of the US’s 250th anniversary.

In late 2025, the US Mint released three proposed designs bearing Trump’s face and the caption “In God We Trust.”

Proposed $1 coin designs. Source: US Mint

Trump has also helped oversee the renaming of major US landmarks such as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. 

The board of the Kennedy Center, reportedly filled with Trump appointees, voted in late December to change the name to the “Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

This has prompted pushback, however, with lawmakers arguing that the move is illegal when done without authorization from Congress.

In the crypto world, Trump has a memecoin named after himself and he has also released multiple NFT projects, including the Trump Digital Trading Cards. 

Submitted by Michael Kern of OilPrice.com

Asian refiners have started pricing their orders for U.S. crude oil against the ICE Brent benchmark instead of the typical pricing on Dubai crude, as the Middle Eastern benchmark has seen wild fluctuations amid choked physical supply from the Persian Gulf.

Dubai crude prices soared last week to an all-time high of $169.75 per barrel, and were around  $130 a barrel early on Friday.

These highly volatile prices and the uncertainty about supply from the Middle East have prompted refiners in Asia to seek pricing against Brent, instead of the Dubai benchmark which has traditionally been the marker dictating the price of imports into the world’s top crude-importing region.

Some Japanese refiners have already bought U.S. crude cargoes for delivery in July priced against ICE Brent, sources at trading and refining firms told Reuters on Friday. Taiyo Oil, for example, has purchased 2 million barrels of U.S. light crude via a tender at a premium of $19 per barrel over ICE Brent for July delivery, according to Reuters’ sources. Taiyo Oil usually buys U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude priced against the Dubai benchmark.

The major shift in Asian pricing shows the market’s unwillingness to price trades against Dubai crude, whose prices have been severely distorted in recent weeks due to the major physical supply disruptions with the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Asian refiners are also forced to pay massive premiums for non-Middle Eastern crude, especially for the sour variety suitable for Asian refineries geared to process the sulfur crude from the Persian Gulf. The most suitable grade from Norway, Johan Sverdrup, was being bid last week at record-high double-digit premiums over Dated Brent.

Refiners in Asia are also cutting processing rates due to a lack of crude, fuel prices are skyrocketing, and governments are implementing fuel-saving measures such as four-day work weeks, work from home, and extended national holidays. Many Asian countries are also banning exports of fuels, which ripples through the global fuel supply, especially in jet and diesel markets.

A disturbing browser game called Five Nights at Epstein’s is spreading in schools, with students playing it during class and sharing videos online, according to Bloomberg.

In the game, players take on the role of victims trapped on Jeffrey Epstein’s island, trying to survive five nights by avoiding assault. Its popularity has been fueled by social media, where clips of students playing have drawn large audiences and, in some cases, even demonstrate how to bypass school restrictions. The game’s accessibility through web browsers makes it especially easy for students to access on school-issued devices.

Parents and educators are alarmed not only by the game’s content but by how casually students engage with it.

One parent noted that classmates seemed “disconnected to the reality that there were real victims,” often joking about the scenario in ways that felt dehumanizing.

Photo: Bloomberg

Bloomberg writes that despite platform policies that prohibit harmful or exploitative material, videos and links continue to circulate, frequently disguised with misspellings to avoid detection. The game reflects a broader pattern of meme-driven parody content that turns real-world abuse scandals into entertainment, blurring the line between satire and harm.

Educators warn that repeated exposure to this kind of content risks desensitizing young people to serious issues like sexual violence.

As one librarian put it, “That’s not kids being kids; that’s kids hiding from being sexually assaulted,” emphasizing concerns about how such media may shape attitudes and empathy.

Schools are attempting to respond through stricter device monitoring and usage policies, but many believe these measures alone are insufficient. Addressing the issue, they argue, requires a coordinated effort between tech platforms, parents, and educators to help students better understand the real-world consequences behind what they see on screens.

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

“The people we care about most, the undocumented migrants…”

– Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)

Cult Classics

Tensions rise as the green fuse drives the flowers of springtime (and thank you, Dylan Thomas, for the loan.)

Too many things are out of whack. Some are actually breaking.

A physics of events is at work that will bring our affairs back to true, but expect it to be painful.

Okay, you’ve been warned.

Asia, especially, suffers bigly with the Persian Gulf shut-down.

For decades these countries took the oil flows for granted without having to do anything. No thoughts of maritime security. No cares for the chaos Iran sowed across the region (and beyond). Leave the tanker insurance to London.

Now, they are rationing the diesel, gasoline, natgas, and aviation fuel.

For the moment they are just stunned. Soon, they’ll be hollering, stomping, jumping up and down crying woo-woo-woo.

Europe, for years, has garishly, and in plain sight, planned its own journey to a de-industrialized neo-medieval Palookaville.

The poster-child, Germany, destroyed its energy prospects with lunatic glee, in thrall to retarded climate change politics, while the European Union turned into a devouring mother, stole her children’s sovereign agency, and herded them into a Klaus Schwab death camp.

No more atomic energy for you! No more cheap gas from Russia. No more heat in wintertime. Jihad for entertainment. The lights are going out and it might be too late to make other arrangements.

Don’t think for a moment that Iran was not a threat to the world, and especially to The Great Satan, as they styled us.

The Persians have been hostage to a cult for half a century, and all cults are crazy. This one, the reign of the Shia ayatollahs, was apocalyptic in the pure sense of the word. They prayed and labored avidly for the destruction of others and relished their own martyrdom. The craziest part was thinking that the USA under Donald Trump might possibly roll over for them.

Quit swallowing those black pills, everybody.

Iran is not some super-monster out of the Marvel Comics movies. Iran doesn’t have the mojo to shut down the Strait of Hormuz indefinitely. It will run out of missiles, drones, torpedoes, mines, launch sites, and a command structure for deploying any of that.

It has converted the other neutral Gulf states into raging enemies eager to help the US — and by extension, most ironically, Israel, too.

This rearrangement of interests in the Middle East would have been unthinkable a mere month ago.

We have way more to worry about here in America with our own apocalyptic coteries and claques.

And our broken institutions. Is it not obvious that the Democratic Party exists now solely to punish half of the country that would prefer to not wreck our republic?

The Democratic Party has no other program. It’s just another death cult.

That’s why you were made to wait four and half hours in some far-off precinct of the airport for a flight that you were guaranteed to miss.

Well, at least that’s over for now, since the Senate passed a spending bill at two o’clock in the morning today and DHS will be up-and-running again — while Congress takes two weeks off for Easter.

Now consider those figures and factions in the Republican Party who won’t lift a finger to allow election reform.

Thune, McConnell (what little is left of him), Murkowski, Tillis, maybe Collins.

What possible calculus judders their brains?

They are about to be drowned in a tsunami of revelation about organized ballot fraud in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

How will they explain that?

Maybe “election denial” wasn’t a thing all along. Thune’s game is plain stupid. He’s engineering his own downfall as majority leader as he attempts to usher the SAVE Act into a ditch. Our election procedures are patently insane, and only the insane fail to notice. So, failing to notice is an option, at least.

Tomorrow, Saturday, brings another Neville Roy Singham production of “No Kings” demos across the nation, a field-day for the senile.

They want to abolish ICE. They want illegal aliens to stay here and they want them in the voting booth.

Go out and ask them why that’s a good idea.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Golf pro Tiger Woods has reportedly been involved in a “rollover crash” on Jupiter Island, just north of Palm Beach County in Martin County, according to local media outlet WPTV.

The Martin County Sheriff’s Office said the accident occurred near 281 Beach Road on Jupiter Island in Hobe Sound. Property records from Zillow show the closest house to the accident is valued at $14.8 million.

The sheriff’s office has yet to say what happened or whether Tiger was injured.

If the report is correct, this would mark Tiger’s third car crash. Here are his prior two:

November 2009 in Florida, when he hit a fire hydrant and a tree outside his home.

February 2021 in Southern California, a serious single-car rollover that caused major leg injuries.

Sheriff John Budensiek will hold a press conference at around 1700 local time.

*Developing… 

Submitted by Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

Surging LNG prices amid the war in the Middle East are set to lead to the lowest monthly LNG imports into China in eight years as Qatari and UAE supply is off the market and Chinese buyers look to raise supply from domestic gas production and pipeline deliveries.

China is on track to import about 3.7 million tons of LNG in March, per tanker-tracking data by Kpler cited by Bloomberg. That would be the lowest monthly import level in the world’s top LNG importer since the spring of 2018, as well as a 25% slump compared to March 2025, according to Bloomberg data and analysis.

The de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz has stranded all Qatari and UAE supply of LNG. Additionally, Qatar’s LNG capacity has been severely damaged by Iranian missile attacks, which forced state firm QatarEnergy to declare force majeure on contracts and start quantifying the losses.

The Iranian missile attacks on Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC) dashed hopes of quick resumption of Qatari LNG flows even if the Strait of Hormuz were to open to unimpeded and safe traffic today. QatarEnergy last week said the damage from Iranian missile strikes on the Ras Laffan LNG complex, the world’s single largest LNG-producing facility, would cost it about $20 billion per year in lost revenue and to take up to five years to repair.

As a result, Asian LNG prices have nearly doubled this month and Asian buyers are outbidding Europe for spot supply.

China had some buffer to allow itself not to spend too much on costly LNG imports this month. The country’s LNG storage was estimated by Kpler at about 51% by end-March, and this buffer allows Northeast Asian buyers to draw on existing inventories.

The effect would shift peak restocking season in China, Japan, and South Korea to June–July rather than April–May, according to Kpler.

In a moment that captured the growing unease within conservative circles, Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, found himself in an awkward spot at this year’s CPAC in the Dallas area on Friday. While attempting to rally the crowd, Schlapp asked, “How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?” The audience erupted in cheers. Visibly caught off guard, he quickly backpedaled: “No… that was the wrong answer.” He tried again – “Let’s try that again, how many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?” – only for the crowd to cheer again. Flustered, Schlapp joked about needing coffee for the attendees before pivoting to a safer topic: keeping the House majority.

An attempt by @mschlapp to hype up the CPAC crowd goes horribly wrong —

“How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?”

[cheers]

“That was the wrong answer…” pic.twitter.com/PQUCThdgV3

— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) March 27, 2026

The incident unfolded against the backdrop of heated discussions at the conference about the U.S.-Israeli military actions in Iran. It was not the unified show of support Trump allies had hoped for – and it signaled deeper fractures in the MAGA base over foreign policy.

Those cracks are widening on Capitol Hill. Republican lawmakers, once solidly behind Trump, are now openly breaking ranks over the escalating conflict in Iran, warning that any deployment of U.S. troops could trigger a political backlash severe enough to cost the party in the midterms. Leading the charge is South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, who has repeatedly drawn a hard line against “boots on the ground.”

Mace: I’ll be voting against the funding if we’re putting troops on the ground. I’m not going to fund that—no U.S. troops. pic.twitter.com/qLDbT0OrvA

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 24, 2026

“If there are boots on the ground, public sentiment on this war changes overnight in a flash… people are not going to go for it,” Mace told ZeroHedge after a closed-door briefing. She has vowed to vote against any funding that would send American troops into Iran, stating plainly: “If a single boot of a single American soldier sets foot on Iranian soil, I will vote against this. I will not vote to fund sending South Carolina’s sons and daughters to die in a ground war in Iran.” Mace even stormed out of a House Armed Services Committee briefing, later telling colleagues “we were misled” about the scope of operations.

Her concerns are shared by other GOP voices who are far from the usual anti-interventionist suspects. Texas Rep. Chip Roy expressed “a lot of concern” among constituents, demanding clarity on objectives, timeline, and what “victory” would look like if troops are committed. Fellow Texas Rep. Brandon Gill stressed that voters reject “a long prolonged Middle East” engagement or nation-building. Even Sen. Rand Paul warned of an “uprising” at the gas pump if prices spike to $5 a gallon, noting that working families already squeezed by rent, food, and fuel costs will turn against the war the longer it drags on.

The GOP unease intensified after a Pentagon supplemental funding request reported at $200 billion – far beyond the White House’s initial framing of the operation as lasting mere “days” or “weeks.” Lawmakers were briefed on expanded objectives that reportedly include seizing Iran’s oil export hub at Kharg Island, targeting nuclear material, and even hints of regime change – options that could require thousands of ground troops. As of this week, roughly 7,000 U.S. forces from units like the 82nd Airborne are already heading to the region.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley highlighted the broader economic pain: voters want lower gas prices, cheaper healthcare, and rising wages – not endless foreign spending. Rep. Lauren Boebert echoed the “America First” frustration, saying she is “tired of the Industrial War Complex” while families back home struggle to afford basic living costs.

The CPAC episode and the congressional revolt come at a precarious moment for the Trump administration. What began as targeted strikes is now raising fears of another Middle East quagmire in a country twice the size of Iraq. With midterm elections looming, GOP members worry that prolonged conflict – especially one accompanied by higher energy prices and no clear exit strategy – could alienate the very MAGA voters who delivered Trump’s victory.

Trump may have even less time to wrap this up than previously thought… 

*  *  *

Elon Musk is planning a highly unconventional IPO for SpaceX, aiming to make it one of the largest public offerings ever, with a target raise in the tens of billions, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Instead of relying solely on the standard investor roadshow, he is considering bringing investors directly to SpaceX sites, where they could tour facilities and potentially witness rocket launches—turning the pitch into an immersive experience designed to build excitement and demand.

A central part of the strategy is reshaping who gets access to shares. Musk wants to allocate a much larger share of the IPO to retail investors—possibly a third or more—far above the typical allocation. He is also exploring giving priority access to loyal supporters, such as Tesla shareholders and individuals who have backed his other ventures, reinforcing his pattern of rewarding his existing base.

The WSJ writes that at the same time, SpaceX may depart from traditional IPO rules around insider selling. Some early investors could be required to hold their shares longer than usual to help stabilize the stock, while others might face fewer restrictions and be allowed to sell earlier.

Bloomberg adds that SpaceX plans to begin more formal investor outreach in April through “testing-the-waters” meetings, where executives will share deeper financial and strategic details ahead of the IPO. These sessions are expected to clarify how the company justifies its massive valuation target.

The offering could aim for a valuation above $1.7 trillion, putting SpaceX among the largest companies in the world if achieved. Investor interest is especially focused on how newer initiatives—like its AI business (xAI), space-based data centers, and long-term lunar ambitions—factor into that valuation.

Financially, most of SpaceX’s revenue still comes from its launch services and Starlink satellite business, with projected revenue nearing $20 billion, while its AI division remains much smaller but strategically important.

The IPO is expected to be heavily supported by major Wall Street banks, with a large global syndicate coordinating investor demand across regions.

If completed at the expected scale, the listing would far surpass previous IPO records, reinforcing its position as a historic market debut.

With the yen collapse accelerating, and pushing the USDJPY above 160 for the first time since 2024, markets are on edge expecting a BOJ intervention at any moment as this was the price when the BOJ intervened last time.

However, with BOJ interventions having been consistently proven futile with a half life of just weeks if not days, Japan – facing soaring inflation yet desperate not to raise rates as that would crash the stock market – is weighing a controversial (some would say idiotic) new plan to arrest the yen’s slide: stepping into oil futures markets.

Reuters was informed by “market sources” that Japan’s government is considering ​intervening in the crude oil futures market as the Middle East crisis drives energy prices up sharply. Under the scheme, Japan would tap its $1.4-trillion foreign exchange ⁠reserves and build short positions in the oil futures market by selling futures contracts to push down prices.

By dampening demand for dollars to buy oil, the “brilliant” thinking goes, Tokyo can ease selling pressure on the yen. ​

The oil futures and currency markets (which in turn are driven by soaring yields) have recently moved in tandem, with the Middle East conflict pushing oil prices higher while lifting safe-haven demand for the dollar.

Details of the proposal remain scant, after Reuters reported on Monday that it was under discussion, but the idea underscores Tokyo’s mounting frustration. Policymakers increasingly see ‌speculative surges in energy prices as a major driver of the yen’s weakness against the dollar – and a problem monetary easing and verbal intervention no longer seem able to contain.

Of course, anyone with even half a brain – which unfortunately excludes everyone at the BOJ these days – including analysts and even some in the government, are questioning whether such a strategy would have any meaningful impact in arresting the yen’s current weakness, which they mostly attribute to dollar strength, rather than speculative yen short-selling.

“The government must be aware that the impact would inevitably be temporary,” Shota Ryu, FX strategist ​at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, said. “They would likely use it mainly to buy time till the Middle East situation improves.”

Japanese law allows use of foreign exchange reserves, preserved ​as a war chest for direct currency-market intervention, to take positions in futures markets if the objective is to stabilise the yen. After all, the BOJ is one of the few central banks that takes pride in directly manipulating the stock market through purchases of ETFs. Might as well start shorting oil too.

The idea is being contemplated within the government, though there is no consensus on its feasibility, said three government sources with knowledge of the deliberations.

“I personally wonder whether it would mean anything if Japan did it on its own,” one of the sources said, casting doubt on whether Tokyo can get much bang for its buck ​without joint action with other countries.

The unconventional step has emerged as policymakers privately worry that conventional yen-buying intervention could prove futile under current circumstances, as any such action could be blunted by a surge ​in dollar demand that could intensify if the Middle East conflict drags on. 

The shift in the government’s tactics has been signalled in government officials’ recent comments. Instead of warning against speculative trading in the foreign exchange market, Finance Minister ‌Satsuki Katayama ⁠on Tuesday blamed speculative moves in crude oil futures markets for swaying the foreign exchange market.

“The Japanese government is determined to take thorough action at all times and on all fronts,” she said, signaling the possibility of being more creative in propping up the yen as the currency approached the psychologically important 160 line.

There was no immediate clarity on which international platform Japan may intervene – NYMEX, on which WTI crude oil futures trade, ICE, where Brent trades, or the Dubai futures trade, a benchmark for Asia. Not that Japan has even thought ahead that far. 

But no worries, “as with currency intervention, such an operation could be made on any platform,” a second source said. Just brilliant. 

Any such ​move would follow Japan’s decision to partially release its ​oil stockpiles, in coordination with the International Energy ⁠Agency and on its own, to soften the supply disruptions which started to hit end-users.

But analysts are skeptical whether the move would pay off.

“The government’s strategy is likely aimed at dampening near-term volatility more than anything. It’s not possible to financially engineer a way out of a physical oil shock,” Yuriy Humber, ​CEO of Tokyo-based consultancy Yuri Group, said. “If officials want intervention to make an impact, it must be synced with an inflow of real barrels ​of oil, and ideally, it ⁠should be an international effort.”

On March 5, a senior White House official said that the US was considering potential action involving the oil futures market, but the idea was promptly shot down by Scott Bessent. 

Of course, holding large short positions could also potentially cause losses if the market continues to move higher, and could even force a state-wide margin call on Japan especially if oil hits $200 as some speculate, resulting in total fiscal destruction, something never seen before. 

Japan burnt ⁠through more than $10 billion in ​foreign reserves per round of intervention in its most recent currency actions in 2024.

Tony Sycamore, market analyst with IG in ​Sydney, suggested Japan would need to spend at least $10 billion to $20 billion for the effects to be noticeable.

“I don’t think it makes sense at all irrespective of whether Japan does it alone or it teams up with other nations,” Sycamore said. “The ​key to all of this is opening the Strait of Hormuz.”