Robinhood applies for Dubai DFSA License

Robinhood is applying for a Category 4 license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), to serve clients in the UAU and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.

The Category 4 license focuses on advisory services without holding client money. Category 1 relates to commercial or retail banks.

Dubai is in the Gulf time zone which is three hours ahead of London.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems Raises $863m

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (aka CFS, founded in 2018) has raised money from investors including Nvidia's NVentures venture capital unit to complete a demo system to lead to construction of its first commercial plant (400MW) in Virginia (1MW is equivalent to 1 million Watts).

All added, Commonwealth has raised around $3bn, which is one-third of all capital raised in the fusion industry. Google has already agreed to buy half the power output from the project, estimated to complete in the early 2030s.

Bridgepoint Buys £800m Stake in MyDentist

Private equity firm Bridgepoint has bought a reported £800m stake in MyDentist, which runs more than 500 practices in the UK, and is the biggest chain supplying the UK market.  

Bridgepoint has previously owned care home operator Care UK.

Bridgepoint has $86bn AuM. In private equity, they are Europe's leading mid-market growth investor.

Focus sectors include Advanced Industrials (with a focus on asset-light businesses with robust technology), Business and Financial Services (where they look for scale and growth potential) and Healthcare, with Technology running as a horizontal. 

It has a thirty year history, formed from the management buyout from NatWest Ventures by William Jackson.

BitPanda Not Listing in London, Frankfurt or NY Maybe

BitPanda, the crypto exchange, has ruled out a London listing.

Winklevoss Twins File IPO for Gemini under ticker GEMI

Gemini has filed for an IPO on Nasdaq under GEMI. It made a $282m loss in H1 2025. However it follows a trend of crypto funds going to public markets to raise capital. Trading fees are its biggest revenue driver and there are 14.6 million verified users, according to the company, with $12bn assets under custody as of June 30.

Macquarie's Latest Acquisition Optimises Renewable Assets

Macquarie is acquiring 100% of UK-Ireland based optimisation firm Erova Energy. Team members have worked previously in companies like Centrica, SSE and ESB Energy.

Circle Announces Blockchain Plans

Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) has announced Arc, a Layer 1 blockchain designed around stablecoin finance. (Layer 1 blockchains refer to the foundation layer of a blockchain network, so-named to distinguish them from services built on top of blockchains e.g. Optimism (built on Ethereum).

Earlier moves included launch of the Circle Payments Network, enabling financial companies to use stablecoins for payment. It is billed as "a new standard for global money movement".

Circle has also been active in partnerships with the likes of Binance, OKX, FIS and Fiserv.

CRCL went public on June 5th 2025 with the IPO priced at $31 a share. JP, Citi and GS were joint lead active bookrunners for the IPO.

USD stablecoins have advantages over "pure" USD transfers as all you need is a crypto account to use it, potentially have lower fees for money transfers and can be integrated into DeFi infrastructure e.g. smart contracts.

Perplexity Bids to Buy Google Chrome for $34.5bn

The bid comes amid speculation that Google will have to divest Chrome after a court found that Google had an illegal monopoly on online search.  The offer was sent to Google's parent Alphabet on 12 August 2025. This is a Jonah-Whale scenario as the bid is higher than Perplexity's own valuation of around $18bn and would be financed by outside investors. Perplexity said in the event of bid acceptance they would keep most of Chrome's existing team. Perplexity's backers include Jeff Bezos, Nvidia and SoftBank.

USA imposes Tariffs on Gold Imports; Futures Rise

The US has slapped tariffs on gold imports targeting 1 kilogram and 100 ounce gold bars (100 ounces = 2.8 kg). A 39% rate applies to imports from Switzerland (a major refining hub). The 400 ounce gold bars (11+ kilograms) from London are less popular in the US so need to be broken down into smaller bars.

US gold futures (August 2025 expiry) on COMEX have been on a tear, trading over $3400 per troy ounce (weight tolerance 5% higher or lower). The futures also breached $3400 in late April and early May. $3400 futures price translates to a notional of 100x the price i.e. $340,000 for 100 troy ounces.

For the avoidance of doubt, the tariffs as they currently stand apply to the unit specification of the COMEX contract.

Sale of Kantar Media Completes

Kantar Media has been sold to HIG Capital in a deal estimated to be around $1bn. 

HIG was advised by Morgan Stanley, ING and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. 

Kantar Media is media data business, with activities including audience measurement, consumer profiling and advertising intelligence. Kantar Media is based in London and active in 60 markets worldwide and has been operationally independent from Kantar since 2023. 

BP makes largest oil and gas discovery in 25 years

BP has made a large oil and gas discovery in Brazil's Santos basin. This is the largest discovery since Shah Deniz in the Caspian in 1999.

Mark Carney "Disappointed" With New Trump Tariff

Donald Trump has raised trade tariffs on Canada from 25% to 35% - Mark Carney has expressed disappointment. Pakistan's tariffs have shrunk to 19% following Pakistan's nomination of Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. India faces 25% tariffs.