Author: GT

Snapchat is introducing Sponsored AI Lenses, a new ad format that lets brands engage with consumers in an immersive way. While Snapchat has offered brands the opportunity to pay for sponsored lenses on the platform for years, now they can leverage AI-generated experiences powered by Snap’s proprietary generative AI technology. With these interactive lenses, brands can reach and engage users in a more fun and interactive way when compared to traditional ads, as they allow users to take selfies to see themselves transported into different AI-generated scenes. When users take a selfie for an AI Lens, Snap analyzes their face…

China eased its grip on the yuan (CNY) on Tuesday, allowing it to depreciate beyond a key level, likely in response to President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs. Crypto analysts anticipate that the yuan’s depreciation could favor bitcoin (BTC), drawing parallels to similar events from a decade ago. Early Tuesday, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the so-called daily yuan fix at 7.2038 per dollar on Tuesday, the weakest since September. The yuan isn’t a free float currency like the USD, euro and other G-7 nations and is allowed to trade in a range of 2% on either side of…

A view shows disused oil pump jacks at the Airankol oil field operated by Caspiy Neft in the Atyrau Region, Kazakhstan April 2, 2025. Pavel Mikheyev | ReutersCrude oil futures held steady on Tuesday, after booking steep losses on fears that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs will trigger a full-blown, global trade war.U.S. crude oil was last up 24 cents, or 0.4%, to $60.94 per barrel, while global benchmark Brent rose 18 cents, or 0.28%, to $64.39 per barrel.West Texas Intermediate hit a session low of $58.95 per barrel on Monday, the first time the benchmark has fallen below $60 per…

Bitcoin (BTC) clawed its way back to almost $80,000, staging a relief rally after dipping below $75,000 late Monday and spurring a run-up in major tokens. Dogecoin (DOGE), BNB Chain’s BNB, XRP and Cardano’s ADA rose as much as 10%, alleviating some of the past 24 hours’ losses. The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20) added nearly 9%. Overall, crypto market cap has pulled back to levels seen in early November last year, when Donald Trump’s victory triggered a rally that propelled the total value through a level that had been seen as offering resistance to further gains. Equity markets staged a…

At 11 a.m. in California last Thursday, the day after President Donald Trump declared sweeping new tariffs under what he dubbed “Liberation Day,” Ryan Petersen was live on camera, fielding questions from a virtual room packed with more than 2,300 anxious customers. The founder and CEO of Flexport, a now 12-year-old global logistics and customs brokerage firm, had spent the previous night studying the fine print himself, preparing to explain a dizzying new reality for U.S. importers. “We broke our livestreaming platform,” Petersen said half-jokingly that night at TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event in San Francisco. “We need to get a better…

Cboe Digital, the crypto arm of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange, is hoping to roll out a new bitcoin (BTC) futures product later this month if approved by regulators, the exchange said on Monday. The new trading vehicle, in partnership with FTSE Russell, will be cash-settled and based on the XBTF Index, which represents 1/10th the value of the FTSE Bitcoin Index. It will settle on the last business day of each month. If regulators approve Cboe’s application, the futures would begin trading on April 28, it said. Futures are a type of derivatives where the buyer and seller…

AI innovations have taken the world by storm since ChatGPT’s debut in November 2022. We’ve seen more organisations integrate AI into their workflows: a recent survey by McKinsey revealed that 78% of the respondents work in organisations that use AI in at least one business function. What’s more intriguing is the bounce back of Nvidia, now the world’s leading chipmaker. Its stock price has surged by 1635% in the past five years, placing it third in terms of value in market capitalisation, slightly behind Apple and Microsoft. But with AI running hot over the past two years, most investors are…

Nikola founder Trevor Milton, who was recently pardoned after being convicted of securities fraud, is trying to buy the assets of his former company out of bankruptcy, according to new court filings and a person familiar with the matter. Nikola filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February and has said it hopes to sell its business by the middle of this month. Milton’s bid was met with a frosty reception — filings show the company stopped him from personally inspecting the assets at its Coolidge, Arizona, factory earlier this month, as the Phoenix Business Journal previously reported. Milton’s interest…

For many crypto investors, it might seem impossible that Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) could come roaring back to life and skyrocket higher in 2025. After all, Bitcoin is down almost 30% from an all-time high of $109,000 in January, and the intensifying global trade war threatens to cut any nascent crypto rally short. However, according to a recent report from Fidelity Digital Assets, the price of Bitcoin could actually be ready to skyrocket. All signs point to Bitcoin having one last major rally in 2025. So is Fidelity right? To answer this question, it’s important to understand the historical four-year Bitcoin…

Amid a morning of pandemonium on Wall Street, a popular news aggregator on X, known as Walter Bloomberg, posted a false report declaring that President Trump was considering a 90-day pause on his controversial tariff proposal. This news was not true, and yet, index funds like the Dow Jones whipsawed — rapidly rising, before reversing course minutes later. This type of volatility is more meaningful than a stock’s typical rise and fall throughout any given day, which is why the false report garnered so much attention. Though the Walter Bloomberg account is not affiliated with any news organization and has…