Author: GT

Spacecoin says it reached a new milestone in its quest to build a decentralized communications backbone that could one day rival SpaceX’s Starlink. The company said this week that it successfully transmitted secured data via its first demonstration satellite, validating the spacecraft’s ability to execute encrypted transactions in orbit. The blockchain transaction, beamed from Chile to Portugal, served as a proof-of-concept for moving cryptographic signatures and encrypted data through space. “Can we send cryptographic signatures to space intact? Without it, we cannot build a decentralized network of communications satellites and fulfill the vision of building permissionless connectivity,” Spacecoin founder Tae…

Ticktock! The Founder and Investor Bundle sale for TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 ends tomorrow, October 3, at 11:59 p.m. PT. After that, founders will no longer be able to register in bulk at a discount, and investors will drop back to the standard 15% savings. Don’t miss your chance to save more and supercharge your Disrupt experience as a community. Disrupt is the startup launchpad for founders and investors alike Disrupt 2025 will unite 10,000+ founders, investors, and tech leaders from across the globe. It’s the ultimate launchpad for startups at every stage, where investors spot the next big opportunity first,…

OpenAI has sold $6.6 billion in shares held by current and former employees, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The sale pushed OpenAI’s total valuation to $500 billion, the highest ever achieved by a privately held company. Purchasers included SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, MGX, and T. Rowe Price, the report said. The sale was not a conventional funding round, as the cash went to individuals holding shares or options in OpenAI rather than the company’s own coffers. Still, it’s a powerful retention tool for the company, which has faced significant pressure from Meta’s newly revitalized AI lab.…

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota regulators voted unanimously Friday to approve an investment group’s takeover of a power company over the objections of the state attorney general, big industrial electricity buyers and consumer advocates.In voting for the takeover of Duluth-based Minnesota, the five members of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission said they believe the conditions imposed on the deal will protect the public interest and shield customers from rate increases. Opponents warned that the private equity group is only interested in squeezing bigger profits from regular ratepayers. The approval came as electricity bills are rising fast across the U.S., and growing…

Google says hackers associated with a prolific ransomware group are sending extortion emails to executives at “numerous” large organizations after claiming to have stolen their sensitive information from a suite of business software products developed by Oracle. In a statement provided to TechCrunch, Google’s head of cybercrime analysis Genevieve Stark said the hackers began sending emails to executives around September 29, but that the tech giant has not yet substantiated the hackers’ claims. The emails were sent from hundreds of compromised accounts, including one used by a known financially motivated cybercrime group affiliated with the Clop ransomware gang.  Charles Carmakal,…

Charging an electric vehicle.Tashdique Mehtaj Ahmed | Moment | Getty ImagesThe price of used electric vehicles has come down to levels comparable with gasoline cars, a dynamic poised to boost their popularity despite the loss of a federal tax incentive for EVs, according to auto analysts.In August, the price premium for used EVs relative to used vehicles with a gasoline engine narrowed to just $897, on average, the smallest price gap on record, according to Cox Automotive.The average list price for used EVs was $34,704 in August, down 1.1% from July and 2.6% from a year earlier, it found.This price…

Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesOpenAI’s new artificial intelligence video app Sora has already grabbed the top spot in Apple’s App Store as its number one free app, despite being invite-only.Sora, which was launched on Tuesday, allows users to create short-form AI videos and share them in a feed. The app is available to iPhone users but requires an invite code to access.Here’s how to snag a Sora app invite code:First, download the app from the iOS App Store. Note that Sora requires iOS 18.0 or later to be downloaded.Login using your OpenAI account.Click “Notify me when access opens.”A…

On Thursday, Andreessen Horowitz released its first AI Spending Report in partnership with the fintech firm Mercury. Using transaction data from Mercury, the report analyzes the top 50 AI-native application layer companies that startups are spending money on, similar to the previously published Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps.  a16z partners Olivia Moore and Seema Amble say the data shows companies are still adopting a range of different AI products for certain tasks — and new apps are rising and falling very quickly. “There’s a proliferation of tools,” Amble said. “It hasn’t just coalesced around one or two in each category.”…

Consumer AI is having its breakout moment — and few startups have captured the spotlight this year quite like Phia. The AI-powered shopping assistant has become one of 2025’s buzziest launches, not only for its vision of how Gen Z shops, but also for the powerhouse founders leading it: Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, happening October 27–29 at San Francisco’s Moscone West, the two will take to the Disrupt Stage to share how they’re building Phia into a durable consumer brand, what it takes to scale in one of tech’s most competitive markets, and how they’re…

Apple has taken down an app that uses crowdsourcing to flag sightings of U.S. immigration agents, apparently after being pressured by U.S. authorities. ICEBlock, a free iPhone-only app lets users anonymously report and monitor activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, was no longer available on Apple’s App Store as of Friday. “We just received a message from Apple’s App Review that #ICEBlock has been removed from the App Store due to “objectionable content’,” the developer said in a social media post. “The only thing we can imagine is this is due to pressure from the Trump Admin. We…