Author: GT

Meta Platforms Inc. faces a historic antitrust trial beginning Monday that could force the tech giant to break off Instagram and WhatsApp, startups it bought more than a decade ago that have since grown into social media powerhouses. The looming antitrust trial will be the first big test of President Donald Trump’s Federal Trade Commission’s ability to challenge Big Tech. The lawsuit was filed against Meta — then called Facebook — in 2020, during Trump’s first term. It claims the company bought Instagram and WhatsApp to squash competition and establish an illegal monopoly in the social media market. Meta, the…

Bullish bitcoin (BTC) options strategies are becoming popular again, stabilizing a crucial sentiment indicator that indicated panic early last week. BTC has bounced to over $84,000 since probing lows under $75,000 last week. The recovery comes as the bond market chaos supposedly forced President Donald Trump to capitulate on tariffs just days after announcing sweeping import levies on several nations, including China. Late Friday, The Trump administration issued new guidelines, sparing key tech products like smartphones from his 125% China tariff and baseline 10% global levy. Hours later, Trump refuted the news, suggesting no relief on tariffs. Still, the price…

Demand for solar energy in power-starved Nigeria has soared in the last decade thanks to worsening grid reliability and rising fuel costs. That’s drawn investor interest to Arnergy, a cleantech startup meeting that need. The company just raised a $15 million Series B extension (on top of a $3 million B1 round last year), bringing its total for the round to $18 million. That surge in demand for solar systems follows significant policy shifts, most notably the removal of Nigeria’s decades-old fuel subsidy in May 2023 (the government’s decision—long debated—ended its practice of covering the gap between global and local…

Bitcoin (BTC) is flat as East Asian markets open for the week, trading above $84K, as the White House presents mixed messages on semiconductor and technology component tariffs. Over the weekend, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the White House’s decision to exempt items like smartphones, computers, and the semiconductors that power them from tariffs was a temporary measure. President Trump confirmed it later in a press briefing, stating that the tariff rate would be announced next week, but there would be some “flexibility” on the matter. “The market saw a material rebound as popular consumer electronics categories were exempted…

An oil pumpjack is seen in a field on April 08, 2025 in Nolan, Texas.Brandon Bell | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesJust as many mission-driven fund managers have reconsidered their defense policy in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an analyst at Goldman Sachs says it is now time for sustainable investors to re-evaluate their approach to oil and gas companies.It comes at a time when European energy majors have slashed renewable spending and doubled down on fossil fuels in an effort to boost near-term shareholder returns.Investments focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors tend to…

Bitcoin is still expected to hit $1.8 million by 2035, despite recent price drops and reduced investor interest driven by global trade tensions. Joe Burnett, director of market research at Unchained, said Bitcoin remains in a long-term bullish cycle. He pointed to two models, the parallel model and Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin 24 model, that project Bitcoin prices of $1.8 million and $2.1 million, respectively, within the next decade. Burnett described both as solid base cases, noting that Bitcoin’s actual price could exceed those figures depending on broader economic factors. Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and CIO at Maelstrom, also gave…

According to Dealroom data cited by the Financial Times, British start-ups raised just £16.2 billion last year, far less than the more than £65 billion raised by their counterparts in Silicon Valley during the same period. In fact, the U.S. appears to be pulling further ahead each year. In 2024, 57% of global venture capital funding went to U.S. startups — the first time that share has exceeded 50% in over a decade, per Dealroom. This widening gap is part of a years-long trend that U.K. founders have taken note of, the FT reports, and it’s prompting many to consider…

As traditional gold markets heat up, crypto investors are following suit—flocking to tokenized versions of the precious metal that offer both price exposure and digital flexibility. Gold-backed cryptocurrencies like Paxos Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT) have risen 24.15% and 23.7% respectively year-to-date to new all-time highs above $3,300, roughly matching the performance of spot gold. Their prices have since receded slightly to $3,265 and $3,244, respectively. While gold-backed cryptocurrencies surged so far this year, the wider cryptocurrency market has been in a downtrend. Bitcoin (BTC) has lost more than 11% of its value so far this year, while the…

OpenAI may soon require organizations to complete an ID verification process in order to access certain future AI models, according to a support page published to the company’s website last week. The verification process, called Verified Organization, is “a new way for developers to unlock access to the most advanced models and capabilities on the OpenAI platform,” reads the page. Verification requires a government-issued ID from one of the countries supported by OpenAI’s API. An ID can only verify one organization every 90 days, and not all organizations will be eligible for verification, says OpenAI. “At OpenAI, we take our…

ATLANTA (AP) — Trump administration officials were out in force across the television networks Sunday defending President Donald Trump’s economic policies after another week of reeling markets that saw the Republican administration reverse course on some of its steepest tariffs.Trump, meanwhile, said on his social media platform that there ultimately will be no exemptions for his sweeping tariff agenda, disputing characterizations that he has granted tariff exceptions for certain electronics, including smart phones, whose production is concentrated in China. Rather, Trump said, “those products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different…