US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, the market capitalization of which quickly soared to several billion dollars, the BBC reported on Sunday.
“Trump is launching $Trump meme coin as he prepares to take office as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, January 20. The venture is being coordinated by CIC Digital LLC, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, which previously sold Trump-branded shoes and perfumes,” the BBC said.
It is noted that meme coins are used to increase the popularity of a viral Internet trend or movement, but they have no intrinsic value and are extremely volatile investments.
According to CoinMarketCap.com, by noon on Saturday, a few hours after the launch, $Trump had reached almost $5.5 billion.
CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight Fight LLC, founded in Delaware earlier this month, own 80% of the tokens. However, it is unclear how much money Trump can make from this venture.
“My new official Trump meme is here! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: victory,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social page, announcing the meme coins on the evening of January 17.
About 200 million digital tokens have already been issued, and another 800 million will be issued over the next three years, according to the cryptocurrency’s website. “This Trump meme honors a leader who doesn’t back down despite adversity,” the site says.
The BBC report also states that “the message also contains a disclaimer that the coin is ‘not intended to be the target’ of an investment opportunity or security, and ‘is not political’ and ”has no connection to any political campaign, political office or government agency.”
Such digital tokens are notorious for speculators using the hype to drive up the value before selling at the top of the market, leaving latecomers to count their losses as the price plummets. However, cryptocurrency investors are hopeful that the Trump administration will promote the industry.
President Joe Biden’s regulators have expressed concerns about fraud and money laundering as they cracked down on crypto companies by suing these exchanges.
In the past, Trump has not shown much favor for cryptocurrencies, but last year at a bitcoin conference in Nashville, he said that America would become the “crypto capital of the planet” when he returned to Washington.
His sons Eric and Donald Jr. announced their own cryptocurrency venture last year.
The infrastructure of state registries of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has been restored after a large-scale cyberattack by Russians, and all registries are ready to work again, the ministry’s press service reports on its telegram channel.
“The Russians did not achieve their goal. Step by step, we restored the key registers for notaries, then the Civil Registry Office, the Unified State Register, and now the work on restoring the last part of the registers has been completed. The final step is to update the data entered during the restoration, which is already being done by the executive service and private enforcement officers. I would like to emphasize once again that the data of Ukrainians have not been lost,” said Olha Stefanyshyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Minister of Justice of Ukraine.
It is noted that systemic changes are being introduced to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Thus, the Ministry of Justice has terminated cooperation with the head of the State Enterprise “National Information Systems”. The criminal proceedings that were opened immediately after the attack are ongoing. For the first time, the NAIS was audited. An internal investigation is also underway.
Steps are also being taken to strengthen security.
“The Verkhovna Rada supported the draft law No. 11290 in the first reading. This is an important step. A professional network of cybersecurity specialists will be created in all government agencies that process important data of Ukrainians. This will be part of the Pentagon for state registries. But this is only part of the plan to strengthen it,” the statement said.
In addition, international cooperation will be strengthened.
“Cyber threats have no borders, so we are actively engaging the experience and expertise of partner countries,” Stefanyshyna emphasized.
She thanked the employees of the National Intelligence Service, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Special Communications Service and the National Police who assisted in restoring infrastructure and ensuring future protection.
According to the Ministry, the State Register of Real Property Rights, the State Register of Encumbrances on Movable Property, the Automated System of Enforcement Proceedings, the Electronic Register of Apostilles, the Unified Register of Convicts and Detainees, the Automated System of Bankruptcy and Insolvency, and the Unified State Register of Persons Subject to the Provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Purification of Government” have already resumed their work.
The data is currently being updated, so notaries and state registrars have limited access to the State Register of Real Property Rights, as well as to entering updated data on encumbrances by public and private enforcement officers. At the same time, a number of electronic information interactions with government agencies that use data exchange with the above registers in their activities are being resumed, primarily with the State Tax Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Migration Service, the State Customs Service, the Pension Fund, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the State Geocadastre, the State Border Guard Service, and others.
In addition, access to online services related to the above registers will be restored on the portal and in the Diia app in the near future.
“Nova Poshta has joined the “Plus” preference program in the Army+ mobile app for military personnel, which allows them to send and receive cargo up to 30 kg for 1 hryvnia at offices in the frontline regions: Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported on Monday.
“Nova Poshta, just like the military, understands that every second is worth its weight in gold. Especially in the delivery of valuable, necessary and symbolically important things for the defenders of Ukraine. A generator, a Mavic or even a child’s drawing that is dear to the heart. The main principle of “Plus” is to be a warm, humane service for the military. And this principle coincides with the principles of Nova Poshta. Therefore, we are glad that they have joined our program,” said Deputy Minister of Defense for Digitalization Kateryna Chernogorenko.
To use the service, it is enough to generate a barcode in the application and show it to the branch operator, who will activate the offer, the Ministry of Defense telegram channel reports.
The “Pluses” program in the Army+ mobile application for military personnel is based on cooperation with businesses and provides them with a number of preferences in everyday life. In particular, in December 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia joined the program by introducing a special reserve of tickets for the military and Ukrnafta by providing discounts on fuel and 30% off the menu of filling stations.
In 2024, Zhydachiv Pulp and Paper Mill (ZhPPM, Lviv region) reduced its output by 13.7% compared to 2023, to UAH 455.3 million, according to statistics from Ukrpapir Association.
According to the data provided by the association to Interfax-Ukraine, in physical terms, corrugated packaging output decreased by 12.7% to 19.9 million square meters, paper output by 11.2% to 3.8 thousand tons, and containerboard output by almost 30% to 10.9 thousand tons.
At the same time, in December-2024, the plant reduced the production of corrugated boxes by 7% to December-2023 and to 1.5 million square meters by November-2024, while paper and cardboard production increased by 13.6% and decreased by 1.7% to 1.17 thousand tons, respectively.
As reported with reference to the association’s data obtained from the main industry enterprises, in 2024, the production of cardboard boxes in Ukraine increased by 12.3% compared to 2023, to 590.1 million square meters, and paper and cardboard by 3.1%, to 601 thousand tons (in particular, cardboard production decreased by 0.7%, to 463.5 thousand tons, and paper production increased by 18.2%, to 137.5 thousand tons).
ZhPPM has a paper production capacity of 43 thousand tons per year (base paper for corrugation, linerboard, cover paper), cardboard production capacity of 50 thousand tons, corrugated cardboard and corrugated packaging capacity of 120 million square meters, and injection molded containers (tray for 30 eggs) capacity of 72 million units per year.
The plant has a full production cycle: from processing of technological raw materials to production of finished corrugated products and cast containers.
In 2023, the plant produced UAH 527.6 million worth of products, up 3.3% compared to 2022. According to the Clarity-project project, in the same year, ZHBK increased its net profit by 51.2% to UAH 63.14 million by 2022, with net income growing by 5.6% to UAH 563.55 million.
In 2024, Ukraine transported about 11.36 million tons of Russian oil through the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline, reducing transit by 16% compared to last year.
“This is the lowest value at least since 2014, and probably in the entire history of Ukraine’s independence since 1991,” former Energy Minister Olha Buslavets posted on Facebook late last week.
According to her, most of the Russian oil in 2024 was supplied to Hungary – more than 4.7 million tons, which is almost the same as in 2023. In addition, 3.9 million tons of oil were transported to Slovakia (-15%) and 2.7 million tons (-35%) to the Czech Republic.
As reported, in July 2024, Ukraine tightened sanctions against Russia’s LUKOIL, effectively banning the transit of oil to Central Europe through the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline. The company was a major supplier of raw materials to both Hungary (about a third of the country’s imports) and Slovakia (40-45%).
At the same time, in September, the Hungarian MOL Group announced an agreement with Russian oil suppliers and pipeline operators to ensure its transportation via the Druzhba pipeline through Belarus and Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia. According to MOL Group, the company has taken over ownership of the relevant volumes of crude oil on the border of Belarus and Ukraine.
Also in September, EC spokesman Olof Gill said that after Ukraine banned LUKOIL’s oil transit to Hungary and Slovakia, the European Commission (EC) quickly took all necessary steps to resolve the issue. He noted that LUKOIL is not the only oil supplier to Hungary and Slovakia.
Lviv-based Cardboard and Paper Company LLC, a major Ukrainian manufacturer of cardboard tubes, produced products worth UAH 1 billion 333 million in 2024, up 5.1% year-on-year.
According to statistics provided toInterfax-Ukraine by UkrPapir Association, the company thus consolidated the positive production dynamics it had achieved in the first nine months of the year.
In physical terms, the company reduced its output of cardboard products by 5.8% to 24.9 thousand tons last year, while it increased its production of paper base for sanitary products by almost 10% to 8.7 thousand tons.
Production of toilet paper in rolls decreased by 5.5% to 5.79 million units.
At the same time, in December, the company increased its paper and cardboard production by 14.7% compared to December 2023, but decreased by 19.3% compared to November 2024, to 2.3 thousand tons.
LLC “Cardboard and Paper Company” produces products and semi-finished products from waste cardboard (cardboard sheets, corners, sleeves), pulp and recycled waste paper (toilet paper, towels, napkins TM Papero). The company supplies its products, in particular, to the EU countries.
Among its customers are Biosphere, Arterium, Nestle, Khlibprom, Yarych, and Galych dairy companies.
