HARD NUMBERS: Trumpcoin takes flight, Canada’s deficits are here to stay, Snowbirds flee Florida, US slashes red tape for energy and mining

April 24, 2025

The $Trump meme coin together with Bitcoin and crypto coins, seen in this photo illustration.

Jonathan Raa/Sipa USA via Reuters

50: The value of $TRUMP surged by more than 50% on Wednesday after the cryptocurrency’s issuer said President Donald Trump would have dinner with the top 220 holders of the meme coin next month. The top 25 holders of $TRUMP would get a special pre-dinner reception and VIP tour of the White House.

62.3 and 31.4: No matter which of Canada’s largest parties wins the upcoming election, you can be sure of one thing: Deficits are here to stay. The Liberals’ spending plans foresee a deficit of $62.3 billion this year, falling to about $48 billion by the end of the decade. The Conservatives see a deficit of $31.4 billion this year, falling to $14 billion over the same time frame.

25: The number of people locking in mortgage rates to buy second homes in the Tampa area of Florida fell 25% in the first quarter of this year. Experts say the drop is due largely to evaporating interest from Canadian “snowbirds” put off by the Trump administration’s attacks on Canada and its tighter security restrictions on foreigners.

28: It’s about to get easier to drill, baby, drill. The US Department of the Interior has implemented an emergency measure that caps approval times for energy and mining projects on federal lands at 28 days. Permitting for projects of this kind can normally take months or even years. Solar and wind projects are, notably, excluded from the new rules.

Mining for peace: can a US-brokered deal end the conflict in the DRC?

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Democratic Republic of the Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe on June 27, 2025.

REUTERS

On June 27, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda signed a US-mediated peace accord in Washington, D.C., to end decades of violence in the DRC’s resource-rich Great Lakes region. The agreement commits both nations to cease hostilities, withdraw troops, and to end support for armed groups operating in eastern Congowithin 90 days.

Why life sciences are critical to national security

What if the next virus isn’t natural, but deliberately engineered and used as a weapon? As geopolitical tensions rise and biological threats become more complex, health security and life sciences are emerging as critical pillars of national defense. In the premiere episode of “The Ripple Effect: Investing in Life Sciences”, leading experts explore the dual-use nature of biotechnology and the urgent need for international oversight, genetic attribution standards, and robust viral surveillance.

What We’re Watching: Budapest Pride parade, Rwanda and DRC peace agreement, SCOTUS ruling on Trump’s executive power

A woman lights a cigarette placed in a placard depicting Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, during a demonstration, after the Hungarian parliament passed a law that bans LGBTQ+ communities from holding the annual Pride march and allows a broader constraint on freedom of assembly, in Budapest, Hungary, on March 25, 2025.

REUTERS/Marton Monus

Hungary’s capital will proceed with Saturday’s Pride parade celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, despite the rightwing national government’s recent ban on the event.

HARD NUMBERS: Trumpcoin takes flight, Canada’s deficits are here to stay, Snowbirds flee Florida, US slashes red tape for energy and mining

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What We’re Watching: Budapest Pride parade, Rwanda and DRC peace agreement, SCOTUS ruling on Trump’s executive power

Hungary’s capital will proceed with Saturday’s Pride parade celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, despite the rightwing national government’s recent ban on the event.

HARD NUMBERS: Trumpcoin takes flight, Canada’s deficits are here to stay, Snowbirds flee Florida, US slashes red tape for energy and mining

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More from GZERO Media

In this episode of Ian Bremmer’s Quick Take, Ian digs into the surprise Democratic primary victory of Zohran Mamdani in New York’s mayoral race and why it might be “an early signal of something much bigger in the United States.”

Hong Kong’s League of Social Democrats, the last active pro-democracy party in the Chinese-controlled territory, announced on Sunday that it was disbanding.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

"Thought we were bros"

In this episode of Europe in :60, Carl Bildt discusses the outcomes of the NATO Summit and where Europe stands with the Israel-Iran conflict.

Hungary’s capital will proceed with Saturday’s Pride parade celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, despite the rightwing national government’s recent ban on the event.