Author: GT

The tech market doesn’t need to be soaring up and to the right to foster healthy M&A activity. Deals can get done even in down markets. But can M&A thrive in an uncertain market? That’s a harder question. The venture market soured in 2022 as fundraising and exits largely dried up. Since then, venture investors have been waiting in the wings for exits, both M&A and IPOs, to return. While the past few years didn’t deliver, heading into 2025, there was reason to be hopeful. Late-stage startup valuations had started to recover, and a handful of strong deals gave the…

Bitcoin is the crypto sector’s top asset and is also universally defined by U.S. regulators and courts as a commodity, putting it under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. That agency is now seeking public comments on whether it should open the wider world of derivatives to around-the-clock trading, as already executed for bitcoin and other digital assets. Though the CFTC is expected to be established as a crypto market regulator in Congress’ ongoing effort to establish industry rules, the agency’s invitation for comments issued on Monday doesn’t explicitly discuss digital assets oversight. The request notes that “technological…

The Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team at Meta has announced five projects advancing the company’s pursuit of advanced machine intelligence (AMI). The latest releases from Meta focus heavily on enhancing AI perception – the ability for machines to process and interpret sensory information – alongside advancements in language modelling, robotics, and collaborative AI agents. Meta stated its goal involves creating machines “that are able to acquire, process, and interpret sensory information about the world around us and are able to use this information to make decisions with human-like intelligence and speed.” The five new releases represent diverse but interconnected efforts…

Jeff Bezos-backed Slate Auto has planted multiple concept versions of its EV on the streets of California. It’s a marketing tactic that teases the secretive startup’s strategy to sell a “Transformer”-like vehicle, people familiar with the company’s internal discussions told TechCrunch. This unconventional real-world tease comes days before Slate’s April 24 launch event at Long Beach Airport, according to an invite viewed by TechCrunch. The Michigan-based startup, founded in 2022, has operated in relative secrecy until TechCrunch published a report revealing Bezos’ financial involvement, as well as its plan to price its EV at around $25,000 while encouraging buyers to…

The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit Monday against Uber, alleging the ride-hail and delivery giant charged customers for its Uber One subscription service without their consent. The lawsuit also claims Uber failed to deliver the savings promised in its subscription service and made it unreasonably difficult for users to cancel despite its “cancel anytime” promises.  Uber has denied any wrongdoing and accused the FTC of rushing the investigation process and basing its claims on “unvetted allegations.”  The lawsuit comes after the FTC has pushed companies with subscription services to make them easier to cancel under its previous director, Lina…

President Donald Trump had the most lavish inauguration week in history, thanks to a record $239 million in donations from corporate supporters and executives, according to a Sunday filing with the Federal Election Commission. A hefty portion came from the crypto industry, which has been one of Trump’s most vocal supporters: Crypto firms and their leaders gave $18 million in inauguration donations to the 47th president. Other big donors include oil companies like Exxon Mobil, big tech firms like Google, and a lobby group for the U.S. vaping industry. Ripple Labs, which has battled the Securities and Exchange Commission in…

Investors are entering 2025’s first-quarter earnings season with a huge cloud of uncertainty hanging over them — thanks primarily to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.The scale of duties announced in April, along with the volatility injected by subsequent updates and reversals in policy, have so far exceeded even the most bearish forecasts.Negotiators from the European Union and the U.K. are in talks with U.S. officials to try to alleviate their respective 25% and 10% blanket tariffs, while also grappling with broader tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos. Meanwhile, the rest of the world watches on to see whether red-hot tensions…

In an internal email surfaced as part of the Meta antitrust trial, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg fretted about the potential that the company’s Instagram acquisition may cannibalize Facebook. Were that to happen, it could lead to the “network collapse of the more engaging and profitable product,” a worried Zuckerberg told other Meta executives in a confidential message. Zuckerberg proposed multiple ways to prevent this cannibalization from occurring, including building more bridges between Meta’s apps to make them function as a single network (suggesting that Instagram was contributing to Facebook’s loss of cultural relevance). He also openly wondered if Facebook would…

The week has begun on an interesting note, with the U.S. dollar crashing to three-year lows alongside losses on Wall Street, yet bitcoin (BTC), which usually follows the sentiment on Wall Street, stands resilient. As of press time, bitcoin changed hands near $87,000, representing a 2% gain in the day. This could just be the beginning of bitcoin’s evolution as a haven asset. The shift away from the USD and toward seizure and censorship-resistant assets like BTC and stablecoins could accelerate if President Donald Trump follows through with his reported plans to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, which have…

ChatGPT search, OpenAI’s feature within ChatGPT that allows the chatbot to access and incorporate up-to-date information from the web into its responses, is growing at a fast clip in Europe. A report filed by one of OpenAI’s EU corporate divisions, OpenAI Ireland Limited, reveals ChatGPT search had roughly 41.3 million average monthly active “recipients” for the six-month period ending March 31. That’s up from approximately 11.2 million average monthly active recipients in the six-month period ending October 31, 2024. OpenAI regularly publishes information on ChatGPT search to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which regulates many aspects of…