JPMorgan Chase is investigating the possibility of offering loans secured by digital assets, while the UK faces potential costs to participate in the European Union’s defense fund. Meanwhile, UK finance minister Rachel Reeves attributes sluggish financial growth to regulatory constraints. Additionally, a tech venture based in San Francisco is reportedly working on a method to produce gold. n nDiscussed in this episode: n nJPMorgan considers cryptocurrency-backed loans n nThe EU may require the UK to pay for access to its €150 billion defense initiative n nCould renewed appetite for risk spark economic optimism? n nA fusion energy company claims a breakthrough in synthetic gold production n nThe FT News Briefing for today was prepared by Sonja Hutson, Katya Kumkova, and Marc Filippino. Additional support came from Blake Maples, Michael Lello, David da Silva, and Gavin Kallmann. Our acting audio co-head is Topher Forhecz, and our intern is Michaela Seah. The program’s theme music was composed by Metaphor Music. n nRead a transcript of this episode at FT.com