SEC cracks down on crypto staking, Citigroup barred from Texas bonds, News Corp. to cut 5% of staff

Notable business headlines include the SEC cracking down on crypto staking practices, Citigroup being barred from Texas bonds, and News Corp. cutting 5% of its staff.

Video transcript

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- Let's take a look at some other top business stories that we're watching. We start with the Securities and Exchange Commission taking out staking, which is the cryptocurrency practice in which unused tokens earn interest after a fixed period. It's now seeing some action from the SEC. Crypto exchange Kraken no longer offering staking after a $30 million penalty and settlement.

Meanwhile, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has spoken out against restrictions on staking via a tweet. Those comments leading to a small rout in shares of the company because there are concerns about staking at Coinbase as well. They fell a lot more yesterday, now down a bit today.

Citigroup barred from handling a major muni bond deal in Texas. This after the state's attorney general says the bank discriminates against the firearms industry. The bond deal, which is worth $3.4 billion, will help utility companies recover from a 2021 winter storm. Citigroup is, in fact, the second bank to be barred from the deal. UBS was first barred after the state said that bank boycotted the oil and gas industry.

And the corporate pullback in jobs continues. News Corp set to lay off 5% of its staff after reporting lower quarterly revenue. One bright spot is the company's Dow Jones Financial Publishing Unit, which includes publications like "The Wall Street Journal." It was the only unit to report a revenue rise. The news the latest in a long list of companies, of course, that have recently cut costs by reducing headcount, including companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Zoom. And we have now seen those cuts spread beyond big tech.