Wealth Creator

Markets, Cryptos, Biz and Culture

All That Glitters

Digital Bush Telegraph - Australia to Hollywood and Silicon Valley Edition; Xmas Media Watercooler; Santa vs Grinch

December 25, 2025
Sydney, Australia

Gold 4479.21 -0.28%
S&P/ASX 200 8762.70 -0.24%
S&P 500 6932.05 +0.32%
NIKKEI 50344.10 -0.14%
FTSE 9870.68 -0.19%
AUD/USD 67.05 +0.08%

Cryptos

BTC $87,605.02 -0.07%
BNB $849.26 +0.75%
Dogecoin $0.1285 +0.70%
XRP $1.8721 -0.50%

Market Favs

TKO $217.98 +2.15 +1.00%
Alphabet Inc Class A $314.09 -0.26 -0.083%
Netflix Inc $93.64 +0.14 +0.15%
Paramount Skydance Corp $13.74 +0.21 +1.55%
Porsche Automobile Holding SE Unsponsored Germany ADR $4.64 +0.011 +0.24%
Mercedes Benz Group ADR $17.40 +0.0100 +0.058%

News

Dec 24

Fortescue aims for 2030 debut in African iron ore
Gabon's President Brice Oligui Nguema has committed to undertaking a "comprehensive audit" of every mining agreement that the developing nation secured between 2010 and 2024. This is likely to include the deal that Fortescue struck with Nguema's predecessor Ali Bongo in 2021 regarding the Belinga iron ore project. Fortescue's executive chairman Andrew Forrest recently travelled to Gabon to discuss the project with Nguema. Fortescue aims to complete a feasibility study by the end of 2026, and Forrest has indicated that he wants shipments to begin by 2030. (RMS)

News

Golden time as bullion hits new heights

The gold price has risen by more than 70 per cent so far in 2025, which is the strongest annual performance for the 'safe haven' in over four decades. The spot price reached a new peak of $US4,497.80 an ounce on Tuesday, compared with about $US2,624/oz at the start of this year. Factors such as central bank buying and geopolitical tensions have contributed to the rally in the gold price, as well as the shares of Australian-listed gold producers. Meanwhile, Justin Lin from Global X says the gold price could potentially rise to around $US5,000/oz in 2026. (RMS)

The Lead Up

Dec 23
Sydney, Australia

Australian Dollar: $0.6654 USD (up $0.0044 USD)
Iron Ore: $104.90 USD (up $US0.40)
Oil: $58.04 USD (up $1.52 USD)
Gold: $4,436.33 USD (up $96.23 USD)
Copper: $5.4985 USD (up $0.0150 USD)
Bitcoin: $88,564.31 -0.09%
Dow Jones: 48,389.19 (up 254.30 points)

BTC $88,564.31 -0.09%
BNB $856.94 -0.10%
Dogecoin $0.1327 -0.99%

Market Favs

TKO $215.49 +2.06 +0.97%
Alphabet Inc Class A $309.78 +2.62 +0.85%
Netflix Inc $93.23 -1.16 -1.23%

News

Trading

Schwab CEO Rick Wurster draws a ‘bright line’ between investing and gambling

When it comes to encouraging customers to invest for the long haul or live in the fast lane, Rick Wurster says he knows where his brokerage stands. And it is not on the side of the guy dressed as a race-car driver. Wurster, appointed Charles Schwab’s CEO in January, has delivered higher profit this year thanks to individual investors’ mounting confidence in trading everything from stocks and bonds to options and exchange-traded funds. An extended rally has led some ordinary Americans into riskier, more-volatile markets.

News

Las Vegas

30 years, millions of lights and one big party at downtown Las Vegas’s Fremont Street Experience

In Vegas time, 30 years is long enough to feel like forever. It’s a monumental chunk of time wherein generations of locals and visitors may have no understanding of what came before. That’s how long we’ve had the Fremont Street Experience—the historic casino-lined five-block pedestrian promenade Downtown, covered mostly by the 1,375-foot LED-screen canopy flashing Viva Vision shows every night—instead of “Glitter Gulch,” what we called Fremont Street when you could drive your car there. When the canopy came to life, there was no Stratosphere tower in Las Vegas, no Bellagio fountains, no faux Eiffel Tower.

News

Congressman urges Commodity Futures Trading Commission to review Kalshi-CNN deal

Congressman Abe Hamadeh has called on federal regulators to review the partnership between news broadcaster CNN and prediction market platform Kalshi, warning that the deal posed risks to market integrity and even national security. In a letter to Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chairwoman Caroline D. Pham, Hamadeh requested details on how the regulator is reviewing the partnership between Kalshi and CNN. He argued that the arrangement creates a conflict of interest as it allows a major news organization to potentially profit from geopolitical events.

News

The crypto market rebound is far from recovery

Market Overview
The crypto market is making a new attempt at growth, and its capitalisation has once again exceeded the psychologically important round level of $3 trillion. The centre of the battle between bulls and bears over the past month has been near this level. Positive dynamics prevail on Monday, but this is mainly due to the low base effect.

The sentiment index rose to 25, signalling a potential exit from the extreme fear zone. It seems that over the past month, the crypto market has simply grown tired of fear. On the other hand, this is not enough for growth, and objective fundamental changes will be needed to return to a bull market.

Bitcoin is trading at $89K, once again at the upper limit of the range that has been in effect since the beginning of last week. The short-term positive momentum may be misleading, and the broader picture of disappointment compared to hopes at the start of the year should not be overlooked. Bitcoin is 30% below its peak and trading at a level lower than it was at the beginning of 2025. Attempts to bring YTD momentum to zero are little consolation in this context.

News Background

Sentiment in the crypto market remains bearish, according to Santiment. Growth in demand for Bitcoin is fading, which could keep the asset in a bearish trend, according to CryptoQuant.

Risk appetite in the derivatives market has also weakened. The technical picture has deteriorated: Bitcoin has broken below the 365-day moving average, which traditionally serves as the boundary between growth and decline phases.

There has been no final capitulation of investors in the market yet, and the search for a price bottom is not over, according to Checkonchain's assessment of the situation. Experts cite $81K as a critical level, which corresponds to the average purchase price for spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Fundstrat has named the possible range of $60K - $65K as a ‘good entry point’ before the subsequent recovery of the asset.

The fact that many influential BTC developers are ignoring the threat of quantum computing is already a bearish factor for Bitcoin, according to Castle Island Ventures. This position contradicts the philosophy of ‘active paranoia,’ which is typically characteristic of the Bitcoin community.

Ethereum developers have chosen a name for the upcoming update, which will follow the Glamsterdam hard fork in the first half of 2026. The upgrade has been named Hegota, and its release is scheduled for the second half of 2026. (FxPro_

News

Gold sets a record

The US dollar may strengthen against major global currencies.

Debasement trading and geopolitics are helping gold. Markets await Christmas, central banks await data. As expected, the Bank of Japan raised its overnight rate to 0.75%, the highest level in three decades. However, the yen weakened sharply against major global currencies due to the implementation of the ‘buy the rumour, sell the fact’ principle and the BoJ's reluctance to use hawkish rhetoric. Kazuo Ueda noted that there is room to continue the normalisation cycle, but further actions by the regulator will depend on data. The futures market gives only a 20% probability of a cut in the federal funds rate in January and a 54% chance in March. Most likely, the Fed will wait until spring to ease monetary policy. The rate differential with the Bank of Japan will remain wide. This will be a strong argument in favour of intensifying carry trade and continuing the USDJPY rally. The same applies to other low-yielding currencies. The US dollar is becoming a risky asset due to its still high interest rates. It may rise against the backdrop of the traditional Christmas rally in US stock indices. The presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, John Williams, and Cleveland, Beth Hammack, spoke in favour of keeping the Fed's monetary policy unchanged, at least until spring. According to the latter, rates are slightly below neutral. Therefore, the risks of stimulating the economy and accelerating inflation are still high. The weakening of major global currencies and the rise in bond yields around the world, led by Japan, as prices fall, are bringing back investor interest in so-called debasement trading. This has allowed gold to break above $4,400 per ounce for the first time in history and reach a new record high. The rally is being fuelled by rising geopolitical risks, including the US blockade of oil supplies from Venezuela and Ukraine's first attack on a Russian shadow fleet tanker in the Mediterranean. Capital inflows into specialised exchange-traded funds have been flowing for five consecutive weeks. Precious metal-focused ETFs increased their reserves every month in 2025 except May. According to Goldman Sachs, investors are beginning to compete with central banks for a limited number of bullion bars. This will allow gold to reach $4,900 in 2026. (FxPro)

News

More Intel

Dec 19

Central banks did not scare the dollar

Central banks prefer to pause

The strengthening of the dollar prevented gold from reaching a record high. Global central banks are diverging in their policy paths. In the wake of the Fed's decision, Britain and Mexico have lowered rates, whereas the eurozone, Norway, and Sweden have signalled a continued pause. The Bank of Japan tightened its policy, raising the overnight rate to its highest level since 1995 at 0.75%. Nevertheless, the US dollar strengthened against major world currencies on expectations of a prolonged pause in the process of lowering the federal funds rate. The Bank of England lowered the repo rate to 3.75% by five votes to four. Andrew Bailey warned of limited room for manoeuvre in the monetary expansion cycle in 2026. As a result, the futures market reduced its expected scale to 25 basis points. The pound initially strengthened, but a reassessment of US inflation data brought GBPUSD back down to earth. As expected, the ECB raised its eurozone GDP forecasts to 1.4% in 2025 and 1.2% in 2026. The central bank expects inflation to remain below target until 2028. Christine Lagarde did not encourage the ‘hawks’ who had previously discussed raising deposit rates. The Frenchwoman repeated the mantra that the European Central Bank is in a comfortable position. The EURUSD's inability to break through resistance at 1.176 resulted in a sell-off. The Bank of Japan raised its overnight rate to 0.75%. This outcome of the December meeting was predicted by all 50 Bloomberg experts. In this regard, after the BoJ's verdict, a sell-off of the yen began on the facts. Moreover, the Governing Council did not signal a continuation of the cycle of monetary tightening. The US dollar strengthened against major world currencies as investors ignored the slowdown in US core inflation to 2.6% in November. This is the lowest level since the beginning of 2021. After the shutdown, the BLS is experiencing problems with data. It will take time for confidence in it to return. The market's reluctance to take US consumer price statistics at face value played a cruel joke on gold. The precious metal hit a new local high but failed to reach a record high and was forced to retreat due to the strengthening of the US dollar. According to Goldman Sachs, structurally high demand from central banks for bullion and cyclical support from the Fed's rate cuts will continue to create tailwinds for XAUUSD. (FxPro)

News

U.S/Tech/Search/A.I News

Google executive addresses calls to slow AI, highlights security and energy focus

Executive cites cybersecurity and energy as key areas where AI growth can be beneficial

Google executive Royal Hansen responded to some lawmakers' calls to slow the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the U.S., emphasizing the need to develop and use the technology responsibly rather than fall behind other countries.

"It's really… this idea of being responsible as we invest in and develop AI because there's a lot of upside to using AI well, whether it's in energy production or healthcare or science."

"But in cybersecurity," he continued, "it's an area where we need to keep people safe, help people learn to use AI well at the same time."

News

Dec 22

Australia

Dodgy $60m crypto mining scheme shut

The Federal Court last week ordered that NGS Crypto and two linked companies be wound up, with the three firms known collectively as the NGS digital mining scheme. The ruling followed an Australian Securities & Investments Commission investigation into the dubious scheme, with ASIC reporting that over 450 people invested about $60 million with the NGS companies over a period of six years. However, to date, only around $US4.5 million ($6.7 million) of that money has been traced. (RMS)

News

Dec 20

Show hits pay dirt, and some real gold

The Discovery Channel Australia will broadcast the 10th season of Aussie Gold Hunter from 8 January. The show was the highest-rating factual series across Foxtel's channels from 2017 and 2022, while it has an estimated global audience of 40 million people in 140 countries. Seven teams of gold prospectors will appear in the new season of Aussie Gold Hunters; the program is produced by Perth-based Electric Pictures, and executive producer Andrew Ogilvie says much of its appeal lies in its depiction of ordinary people finding gold - or not finding it. (RMS)

News

Dec 22

New-age 'showman' stalking Hollywood

Netflix and Paramount are battling for control of Warner Bros Discovery, with Netflix's bid for much of Warner Bros valued at $US72bn ($108.7bn). Some have claimed that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is trying to destroy Hollywood with its bid, but he has stated he views it as a win for the entertainment industry. He promised in a speech in Paris to keep films in theatres, although he told a Time magazine event this year that he views traditional filmgoing as being outmoded for most people. Producer Greg Berlanti has stated that Sarandos "has that old studio showman flair", while US President Donald Trump has spoken highly of him. (A.I Newsfeed)

News

Gold

Gold prices surged over 65% this year, nearing $4,400 per ounce.

Rising central bank buying and geopolitical risks are driving gold demand and outlook.

It’s hard to imagine gold having a better year in 2026 than it has this year.

The precious metal is up more than 65% this year and has been retesting highs set near Halloween, gaining 7.5% in the last month to get within sniffing distance of $4,400 per ounce.

Markets that achieve that kind of vertical lift — and gold prices as measured by SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) are up 33.7% annualized and roughly 140% cumulative over the last three years — nearly always have similarly scary pullbacks, so investors’ gold nerves are on edge.

And while gold has always been considered a hedge against rising prices and inflation has proven persistent and sticky, gold’s recent rise appears to have little to do with inflation and more to do with geopolitical risk, tariff concerns, a weakened dollar, and more.

News

Dec 20

Sharemarket caps weak year of returns amid blue-chip exodus

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is set to underperform its global peers in calendar 2025. It is on track to post a gain of about six per cent, compared with 8.4 per cent in 2024 and 11.4 per cent in 2023; in contrast, the US and UK bourses are set to post double-digit returns, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong has gained nearly 30 per cent. Tony Sycamore from IG notes that the S&P/ASX 200's performance would have been much worse if it had not benefited from a rally by the resources sector, which has gained about 25 per cent in the year to date; this has been primarily due to a surge in the price of gold. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.39 per cent to 8,621.4 points on Friday. (RMS)

News Flashback

Markets, Biz, News, Resources, Culture

December 19, 2025
Sydney, Australia

Australia and World

S&P/ASX 200 8588.20 +0.37%
S&P 500 6778.28 +0.85%
NIKKEI 49001.50 -1.03%
FTSE 9837.77 +0.65%
AUD/USD66.15 +0.23%
GOLD 4331.30 +0.23%
BITCOIN $84,747.60 -1.52%

News

Markets

ASX futures up 44 points/0.5% to 8627

Wall Street:
S&P 500 +0.8%
Dow Jones: +0.1%
Nasdaq +1.2%

Europe:
Stoxx 50 +1.1%
FTSE +0.7%
DAX +1%
CAC +0.8%

Australian dollar +0.1% to US66.12 cents

Bitcoin $85,077.30 -0.99%

Gold -0.3% to $US4325.33 per ounce

US oil +0.1% to $US55.98 a barrel

Brent crude oil +0.1% to $US59.71 a barrel

Iron ore +1.3% to $US105.00 per ton

10-year yield:
US 4.11%
Australia 4.74%
Germany 2.85%

News

Mining/Energy/Resources

Demand headwinds may put brakes on iron ore's run

The iron ore price has risen by about seven per cent so far in 2025, but Vivek Dhar from the Commonwelth Bank warns that oversupply concerns could soon see the price of the steel input fall below $US100 per tonne. He notes that demand headwinds are accelerating in China, while shipments from the Simandou project in Guinea have commenced. UBS in turn says factors such as rising iron ore port inventories, pressure on the steel sector and Simandou pose downside risks to iron ore prices. Despite the bearish outlook, the ASX 200 materials sector has gained 27 per cent in the year to date. (RMS)

News

Iron ore tipped to plunge into a bear market

Westpac is particularly bearish about the outlook for the iron ore price, forecasting that it will fall by 20 per cent to about $US83 per tonne by the end of 2026. The pessimistic forecast comes amid ongoing signs of a downturn in China's steel industry. Production fell by 11 per cent year-on-year in November, declining for a sixth consecutive month. In contrast, iron ore imports into China reached a record high during the first 11 months of calendar 2025, and inventories at the nation's ports have reached their highest level since March. (RMS)

News

US miners take on Simandou play in Guinea

The Rio Tinto-backed Simandou iron ore mine in Guinea is currently the world's biggest mining project. However, the Kon Kweni iron ore deposit in south-east Guinea is estimated to be of higher quality. It is owned by US-based Ivanhoe Atlantic, which has proposed a $US1.8bn mine and rail project to produce iron ore with 66.5 per cent purity. Ivanhoe Atlantic's president and CEO Bronwyn Barnes says every ton of iron ore produced at Kon Kweni will be reserved solely for US and allied supply chains. The company expects to start shipping ore in the first half of 2027, while it has received preliminary approval to list on the Australian sharemarket. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Bitcoin is holding, while Solana is on the edge

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation fell to $2.91T (-2.4% for the day). The surge at the start of the US session on Wednesday only fuelled the bears, who drove the market down to $2.89T by the end of the day, retreating only slightly from these lows. Under intense pressure, the major old altcoins — Ethereum, XRP, and Solana — retreated to multi-month lows, losing about 4% over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin is trading near $87K, roughly where it was the day before. A sharp jump in price above $90K hit a wall of selling, and now just above this round level is a significant short-term resistance line, which was support until 14 December. However, it is also difficult for the market to find reasons to go below the $85K level, from which the price has been rebounding since the beginning of the week. Additionally, it is worth noting that BTC is trading significantly above its late November lows of $80K, outperforming major altcoins.

Solana's price fell to $123, testing an important support area from March 2024. Since its peak in September, this seventh-largest altcoin has lost half of its value. The technical rebound that began at the end of November has ended, and if support at $120 fails, the road down to $90 or even $70 will open up.

News Background

Long-term Bitcoin holders have almost completed their active selling phase, according to K33 Research, which anticipates a decrease in selling pressure. Over the past two years, 20% of the supply has returned to the market, and this process is almost complete.

Institutional investors have begun buying Bitcoin at a rate faster than miners can mine it, Capriole notes. For the first time since November, demand from companies has exceeded the inflow of new coins into the market amid a more than 30% drop in the asset from its October highs.

Strategy bought 641 bitcoins daily in 2025, according to Finbold Research. This allowed it to increase its holdings by 223,800 BTC (a 50% increase) in less than a year.

The capacity of the Lightning Network (LN) micropayment network has reached a historic high, thanks to technical improvements and the implementation of the solution by major exchanges. The growth of this indicator is a sign of demand for faster and cheaper transactions. (FxPro)

News

Currency Notes Under The Watercooler

Crypto Winter Darwinism

Digital asset treasuries were flying high earlier this year until bitcoin's sudden October crash. Now many of those companies are sitting on unrealized losses.

Over 180 public companies currently hold crypto on their balance sheets, with roughly 100 of that total having followed some version a the playbook that Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor pioneered in 2020 by issuing debt and equity to rapidly accumulate bitcoin.

Bitcoin's more recent volatility has prompted a sell-off across the digital asset treasury space.

Strategy's stock has fallen roughly 40% since bitcoin's Oct. 10 liquidation.

Investors have wrestled with Strategy's imitators even worse over the past month. KindlyMD (NAKA) has dived 39%. Eric Trump's American Bitcoin (ABTC) is down 60%. Anthony Pompliano's ProCap Financial (BRR) has fell 65%.

Other ether-holding treasury companies, like sports betting company SharpLink Gaming (SBET) and computing firm Bit Digital (BTBT), have seen their stocks tumble about 40% over the past two months.

"Market concerns on MSTR are overstated and there is no realistic scenario which threatens the longevity of MSTR," analyst Gautam Chhugani wrote in a note on Dec. 1. "However, several MSTR copy-cats may continue to trade at discount to their NAVs without a clear path to raise long term capital."

Restructuring and stronger players acquiring weaker ones are possibilities, according to Will Owens, a research analyst for Galaxy Digital.

"In other words, treasury companies are about to enter a Darwinian phase," Owens wrote earlier this month.

Bet with your head, not over it!

Best Quotes Of The Day

Cryptocurrency, Finance and World

"Volatility is Satoshi’s gift to the faithful." - Michael Saylor

"Bitcoin is a tool for freeing humanity from oligarchs and tyrants, dressed up as a get-rich-quick scheme." — Naval Ravikant

"We have elected to put our money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error." — Tyler Winklevoss

"You can't stop things like Bitcoin. It will be everywhere, and the world will have to readjust. World governments will have to readjust." — John McAfee

"Bitcoin is the most important invention in the history of the world since the Internet." — Roger Ver

"Cryptocurrency is such a powerful concept that it can almost overturn governments." — Charles Lee

"In the future, national currencies will become obsolete. Bitcoin will become the single global currency." — Jack Dorsey

"The future of finance is crypto, whether it’s in payments, contracts, or savings." — Changpeng Zhao

"Crypto offers freedom to the unbanked and hope to the underprivileged." — Elizabeth Stark

"The new frontier of innovation is in decentralization. Blockchain leads the charge." — Don Tapscott

"Digital currency is here to stay, and it’s only a matter of how long before governments embrace it." — Brad Garlinghouse

Wealth Creator is a bi-monthly magazine featuring interviews with Australia's leading Entrepreneurs, together with up-to-date information for the serious Share and Property investor.

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Some of Australia's most successful share investors contribute towards our regular stock market section. This covers market fundamentals, trading strategies and options.