Author: GT

Last year was monumental for the AI industry in the U.S. and beyond. There were 49 startups that raised funding rounds worth $100 million or more in 2024, per our count at TechCrunch; three companies raised more than one “megaround,” and seven companies raised rounds $1 billion in size or larger. How will 2025 compare? It’s still the first half of the year, but so far it looks like 2024’s momentum will continue this year. There have already been multiple billion-dollar rounds this year, and more AI megarounds closed in the U.S. in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024. Here…

Toward the end of March, OpenAI said it intended to release its first “open” language model since GPT‑2 sometime this year. Now, details about that model are beginning to trickle out from the company’s sessions with the AI developer community. Aidan Clark, OpenAI’s VP of research, is leading development of the open model, which is in the very early stages, sources familiar with the proceedings told TechCrunch. The company is aiming to release the model — a reasoning model along the lines of its o-series models — in early summer, and wants to make sure it tops benchmarks versus other…

Something weird happened on Monday. Stocks were down. Bitcoin was up. This keeps happening more and more these days. That’s huge. Particularly at a time when uncertainty in Trump’s trade war is reaching new heights, to see gold continue its rise makes sense — but could Bitcoin really be finally turning into digital gold? It’s long been the promise, but the data hasn’t supported it… until, maybe now? Plus, as Michael Saylor’s Strategy continues to run their playbook to acquire more Bitcoin, new players seem to be copying the same strategy (no pun intended) on Solana. While the numbers in…

Government censorship has found its way to Bluesky, but there’s currently a loophole thanks to how the social network is structured.Earlier this month, Bluesky restricted access to 72 accounts in Turkey at the request of Turkish governmental authorities, according to a recent report by the Freedom of Expression Association. As a result, people in Turkey can no longer see these accounts, and their reach is limited. The report indicates that 59 Bluesky accounts were blocked on the grounds of protecting “national security and public order.” Bluesky also made another 13 accounts and at least one post invisible from Turkey. Given that many…

By Niket Nishant (Reuters) -CME Group will launch futures contracts tied to the XRP cryptocurrency next month, the derivatives exchange said on Thursday, aiming to tap into the growing interest in tokens other than bitcoin and ether. The cash-settled futures are set to launch on May 19, pending regulators’ approval. Futures contracts let traders bet on or hedge against the future price movements of an asset, without owning it. CME’s move highlights a push to offer sophisticated trading tools for altcoins — which typically refer to tokens smaller than bitcoin and ether. Initially viewed as speculative assets, these coins are…

Tesla has started testing its autonomous ride-hail service with employees in Austin and the Bay Area ahead of the company’s planned robotaxi launch this summer. “FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees in Austin & San Francisco Bay Area,” the company posted Wednesday on X. FSD stands for “Full Self-Driving,” which is Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system available to Tesla owners via subscription that can perform some automated driving tasks. The system, which requires the driver to periodically keep their hands on the wheel, is not yet capable of autonomously driving. Thousands of Tesla owners…

Bitcoin has surged 10% over the past seven days and stayed above Bitcoin has been gaining ground. On Wednesday, the original cryptocurrency reached $94,000, its highest level since Mar. 2, after falling as low as $75,000 earlier this month. The rest of the crypto market has also rallied this week; Ethereum is up 11% in the last seven days, XRP up 7% and Solana up 13%. The traditional stock market is making gains as well after a historic meltdown earlier this month. The Nasdaq is up 5% in the last five days and the S&P 500 is up 4%. “While…

AI coding assistant startup Windsurf cut its prices “across the board” it announced on Monday, touting “massive savings” for its users as competition with its rival Cursor intensifies. Windsurf said it’s getting rid of its complex system of “flow action credits,” which charged developers for actions its AI did in the background. It’s also cutting prices for its team plans to $30 per user per month down from $35, while making its enterprise plans “much cheaper,” per the announcement. Windsurf product marketer Rob Hou proclaimed on X that Windsurf now has “BY FAR the best and most affordable pricing structure…

Michael Saylor’s bitcoin buying strategy had both believers and skeptics. But a new rival just emerged, already holding nearly $4 billion BTC on its balance sheet—and it’s a bullish sign, according to at least one Wall Street analyst. When SoftBank, Tether, and Cantor Fitzgerald unveiled plans to launch a new bitcoin investment company called Twenty One, structured explicitly around holding bitcoin as its primary business, many called it a significant rival to Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR). Its day-one bitcoin balance sheet holding would rank it as the third-largest publicly held bitcoin treasury on day one. In traditional finance, one could argue…

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg presents Orion AR Glasses as he makes a keynote speech during the Meta Connect annual event at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25, 2024.Manuel Orbegozo | ReutersMeta has laid off employees in its Reality Labs division that is tasked with developing virtual reality, augmented reality and related wearable devices.The cuts affected an unspecified number of employees working in the division’s Oculus Studios unit, which develops VR and AR games and content for Meta’s Quest VR headsets, a company spokesperson told CNBC.”Some teams within Oculus Studios are undergoing shifts in structure and roles…