Author: GT

Tech giants like Microsoft might be touting AI “agents” as profit-boosting tools for corporations, but a nonprofit is trying to prove that agents can be a force for good, too. Sage Future, a 501(c)(3) backed by Open Philanthropy, launched an experiment earlier this month tasking four AI models in a virtual environment with raising money for charity. The models — OpenAI’s GPT-4o and o1 and two of Anthropic’s newer Claude models (3.6 and 3.7 Sonnet) — had the freedom to choose which charity to fundraise for and how to best drum up interest in their campaign. In around a week,…

There is an intriguing relationship between Bitcoin and the U.S. President Donald Trump. Once dismissive of the crypto assets, Trump referred to Bitcoin as a “scam” in an interview in June 2021. However, he came to embrace crypto in the run-up to the 2024 presidential elections. “I will ensure that the future of crypto and the future of Bitcoin will be made in the USA, not driven overseas,” Trump said in a speech to his supporters at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington D.C. on May 25, 2024. When Trump won the presidential election on Nov. 5, 2024, Bitcoin was…

Aerial view of containers for export sitting stacked at Qingdao Qianwan Container Terminal on April 5, 2025 in Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty ImagesThe United Nations shipping agency is on the cusp of introducing binding regulations to phase out fossil fuel use in global shipping — with the world’s first-ever global emissions levy on the table.The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will this week hold talks at its London headquarters to hammer out measures to reduce the climate impact of international shipping, which accounts for around 3% of global carbon emissions.Some of the measures on…

On Monday, the “de-extinction” startup Colossal Biosciences announced its most ambitious results to date: the dire wolf. These are creatures that have been extinct for more than 12,000 years and made famous by the HBO show “Game of Thrones.” These white, fluffy animals live on a 2,000-acre preserve in a location so secretive that journalists, including from TechCrunch, who were invited to view the live animals, were not invited to the compound itself, located in the northern United States. Instead we flew to another secretive location to see the animals with our own eyes because in this age of AI,…

Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) is heading lower again in Tuesday’s trading. The cryptocurrency’s token price was down 4% as of 5:30 p.m. ET. At the same point in time, Bitcoin was down 2.6% over the last day, and Ethereum had fallen 6.1%. Dogecoin’s valuation is falling as investors respond to new tariffs that are set to go into effect after midnight tonight. In particular, investors are worried about the fallout from tariffs on China. The Trump administration confirmed today that tariffs on products imported from China will be set at 104% — by far the highest level of any country. The…

Your 401k is suffering. The billionaires are fighting. The gamers are imperiled. Not even the penguins on McDonald Island, where no humans reside, have been spared. But at long last, 26-year-old YouTuber and chocolatier MrBeast has weighed in on President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to impose sweeping tariffs on imports. Jokes aside, the prolific YouTuber MrBeast is probably the most influential public figure among American children — you may not like it, but it’s true. In an X post, he points out how for some companies, like his chocolate business Feastables, Trump’s tariffs don’t actually incentivize businesses to move manufacturing…

A Bitcoin user accidentally paid nearly 0.75 BTC in transaction fees, worth around $60,000, after making a panic-driven error on April 8, 2025. This mistake occurred when the user tried to use the replace-by-fee (RBF) feature to adjust an unconfirmed transaction. The user’s initial transaction featured a conservative fee, but after realizing the first transaction was unlikely to be processed in time, they attempted to replace it with a higher fee. However, in their rush, they ended up setting the fee much too high, leading to the overpayment. The second RBF transaction sent out a total of 0.75 BTC, which…

Jeff Bezos is funding a secretive EV startup based in Michigan called Slate Auto that could start production as soon as next year, according to multiple sources and documents that link the billionaire’s family office to the startup. Slate, which took root in another Bezos-connected company called Re:Build Manufacturing, has been operating quietly since its founding in 2022. The company has hired hundreds of employees while in stealth — many of whom come from Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, and Harley-Davidson. It also attracted the backing of several other wealthy individuals, including Mark Walter, the controlling owner of the LA Dodgers…

Bitcoin could challenge gold as a hedge against inflation over the next decade, according to Blockstream CEO Adam Back. Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week 2025, Back pointed to rising inflation and the growing adoption of cryptocurrency as key drivers of Bitcoin’s future appeal. He compared Bitcoin’s potential to gold, noting that while both are scarce assets, Bitcoin is also undergoing an adoption curve. This makes it a compelling alternative for investors seeking a store of value. Global inflation has been rising, especially in the U.S. and Europe, partly due to the increased supply of money. Major currencies like the U.S.…

Last week, details emerged about an application that fintech giant Stripe had submitted for a U.S. banking license. There was a lot of chatter on X about whether this meant Stripe — already the largest privately valued fintech in the world — would now be adding “bank” to the list of descriptions of what it does. The short answer is: No. What is true is that this marks the first time that Stripe has applied for a banking license. But what may not be as clear is that the scope of the license is a very narrow one. This license…