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Bitcoin Sinks and Stocks Rise After US, China Scale Back Tariffs Bitcoin touched a four-month high of $105,500 early Monday, but then dipped after the U.S. revealed a partial tariffs pause with China. James Rubin By James Rubin May 12, 2025 3 min read Image: Danielo/Shutterstock Image: Danielo/Shutterstock In brief Bitcoin has dipped in recent hours after touching $105,500, its highest price since January. The U.S. and China announced Monday that they were cutting their tariffs on one another. Ethereum and Dogecoin have spiked in recent days, leading the altcoin rebound. Bitcoin and major altcoins surged early Monday, but then dipped after the U.S. and China announced that they were scaling back the Draconian tariffs on one another that have been weighing on investors for weeks. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at about $102,600, down 1.5% over the past 24 hours, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. Bitcoin briefly rose above $105,500—for the first time since January—before U.S. markets opened, but then retreated. "Bitcoin's rally above $105,000 this morning appears to be a direct response to the easing of U.S.-China trade tensions," wrote Joe DiPasquale, CEO of crypto fund manager BitBull Capital, in a text to Decrypt. "The announcement of a 90-day tariff truce has injected optimism into global markets."

Frank Bisignano just took the top job at the Social Security Administration, and nearly 73 million people might see changes in how they get their money. Frank, a former finance exec, was confirmed as commissioner this week under Donald Trump’s new term in the White House. The agency’s already gone through a mountain of reforms in the first 100 days of Trump’s return — many driven by the Department of Government Efficiency. Now, with Frank in charge, those changes are going even faster. According to CNBC, adjustments are already affecting pensions, overpayment rules, phone wait times, and direct deposit setups. From the way checks are calculated to how the agency handles mistakes, Trump’s government is pressing harder on enforcement and automation. A new law that kicked in this January is giving almost 3 million people a raise in their Social Security checks. The Social Security Fairness Act targets workers who used to get hit by the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset — two rules that cut down benefits for folks with jobs that didn’t pay into Social Security. That includes teachers, cops, firefighters, federal employees under the Civil Service Retirement System, and workers under foreign pension plans. Under the new law, they’ll now get full Social Security benefits. Monthly increases started going out in February and could be small for some, but others will see over $1,000 more every month. And it’s not just future checks getting bumped. The agency is also sending retroactive payments all the way back to January 2024. In just over three months, Social Security has already paid $14.8 billion in back pay to more than 2.2 million people. The catch? Not everyone’s getting their check right away. Some cases need manual processing, and the agency says it could take over a year to get those paid. The way Social Security handles overpayments has also changed again. If the government pays someone too much by mistake — which can go unnoticed for months or even years — it eventually sends a letter demanding the money back. Under Joe Biden, the default repayment rate was lowered to 10% of a person’s monthly benefit, or $10, whichever was higher. That was meant to ease the burden. Under Trump, the agency announced in March that it planned to bring the rate back up to 100%, meaning someone could lose their entire check until the debt was cleared. The move was supposed to recover about $7 billion over the next ten years. But after complaints, the agency adjusted the plan. Starting April 25, the default withholding rate for new overpayment letters is now 50% for retirement, survivor, and disability benefits. For SSI, the rate stays at 10%. That’s still too much for some. Richard Fiesta, head of the Alliance for Retired Americans, told CNBC, “Losing 50% [of benefits] for a lot of people could put them into immediate economic hardship.” And that’s not the only reason a check can shrink. On May 5, the federal government restarted collection efforts for defaulted student loans. That means the Education Department can now use the Treasury Department Offset Program to grab Social Security benefits, tax refunds, and even paychecks to cover unpaid loans. Some people could see those deductions as early as June. The agency can also withhold checks for unpaid child support, alimony, restitution, and tax debt, depending on who you owe. Both parties in Congress are complaining. Republicans in the House Ways and Means Committee told Frank these problems aren’t new. But Democrats worry that if nothing gets fixed, more chaos is coming. The agency says it’s working on a new telecom system that should make phone calls easier. The full upgrade is expected to be finished by the end of this summer. Early results show slightly better answer rates, but the problems aren’t gone. KEY Difference Wire helps crypto brands break through and dominate headlines fast

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📈Market Overview Market is swept up in euphoria, forgetting the long months of decline. $BTC has risen above $102K, and $ETH has returned to the $2K mark. Tokens from Ethereum ecosystem such as EIGEN, UNI and ZK have surged sharply, along with meme coins like PEPE, NEIRO and BRETT. Market Cap: $3.37T 24h Liquidation: $867.1M Fear & Greed Index: 73 (Greed) 👉 Latest News - C.B. reported Q1 2025 earnings with revenue of $2.03B - Zerebro creator found alive after faked death rumors spread - Alex Mashinsky, founder of Celsius, sentenced to 12 years for crypto fraud 👉 Small Cap Gainers Moo Deng +103% Not in Employment +77.1% Joe Coin +59.2% Koma Inu +50.1% Luna by Virtuals +44.6% 👉 Recent Funding Rounds C.V. has acquired Deribit for $2.9B Sonic $10M Strategic Round led by Galaxy G.Q. $4M Seed Round led by GSR

The White House on Thursday announced Trump’s first official trade agreement with the United Kingdom, calling it “comprehensive,” but the rest of the world won’t be celebrating. The deal does not reduce the overall 10% tariff rate that Trump imposed back in April. Nothing has really changed—except a few favors carved out for luxury cars and airplane parts. According to CNN’s full breakdown of the announcement, this deal is already being treated as a win by Wall Street and the administration, even though it leaves global supply chains frozen and American businesses stranded. Trump’s team declared the agreement a “very big and exciting day.” They held a press event in the Oval Office, where UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined in over speakerphone. Keir wasn’t even in Washington. Trump had called him at the last minute, what the British ambassador described as “a very typical, 11th-hour intervention.” The British side said the arrangement was “historic,” although Keir’s tone was so flat it might as well have been automated. Even so, the UK agreed to it—because, as Keir put it, “The question you should be asking is: Is it better than where we were yesterday?” Under this new agreement, the US will not increase its baseline 10% tariff on British imports. That rate stays exactly where it was on April 2. The only real changes are some custom adjustments for UK industries. British luxury cars, including Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, and Bentley, were going to be taxed at 27.5%, but now they’ll only face 10%. These changes do not apply to other consumer goods. British aerospace companies can now send aircraft parts to the US without paying any tariffs. In return, British Airways is expected to purchase 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, a detail confirmed by Bloomberg. On steel and aluminum, both sides agreed to scrap taxes completely, though no quantities or enforcement mechanisms were announced. In agriculture, both countries granted each other tariff-free exports on beef and other unnamed farm products. However, no timelines or export limits were disclosed. The officials from both countries made it clear: the details of the so-called “comprehensive” agreement are still being negotiated. Chief economist at RSM, Joe Brusuelas, responded on social media, “A trade agreement where the details are still being negotiated is not an agreement. This does not provide the clarity necessary to lift the fog of uncertainty created by a trade war of choice.” Despite this, US markets rallied. Investors reacted to the White House’s tone, interpreting it as a sign that Trump might slow down the economic destruction his tariffs have caused. But there’s no sign of real change. The US-UK trade relationship only represents 3% of total US trade. That’s a sliver compared to the China trade freeze, which still hasn’t moved an inch since Trump imposed 145% tariffs on most imports. On the same day, the UK deal was announced, Justin Wolfers, an economics professor at the University of Michigan, reminded the public that the rest of the world is still stuck behind Trump’s wall. “Overwhelmingly, the most important fact about today’s trade deal is that the 10% across-the-board tariffs are staying,” Justin said online. “Tiny tweaks here and there with some trading partners won’t change that. The US is a high tariff country for the foreseeable future, and the trade war continues.” Before Trump returned to office, the average effective tariff rate was 2.5%. It’s now 22%, the highest in over a century. Thursday’s deal does not change that. It just puts a few extra Bentleys on American roads and some Dreamliners in the air. Even the White House knows the rest of the global trade grid is in worse shape. The US and China are set to meet this weekend in Geneva, but there’s no optimism. The best Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent could say was he’s hoping for “de-escalation.” So while Trump calls this a “very big and exciting day,” global exporters, manufacturers, and crypto-linked trade ecosystems are still jammed. This “deal” is a receipt, not a product. And the rest of the world is stuck waiting for real terms that may never come. KEY Difference Wire : the secret tool crypto projects use to get guaranteed media coverage