Author: GT

With President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs coming out today — a day he is calling “Liberation Day” — a web3 startup thinks it could track tariffs automatically on goods coming into and out of the USA using its blockchain platform. The claim may well be bold — and typical of many such bold claims made by other web3 startups. However, Watr‘s platform is already being used to validate commodities by large mining companies and auto manufacturers, so there may be more to the claim than meets the eye.  Created by former Shell, BP, and JP Morgan executives, the company…

At a presentation unveiling the Nintendo Switch 2, longtime Nintendo producer Kouichi Kawamoto revealed that at one point, he considered calling the Switch’s successor the “Super Nintendo Switch.” It would have been a nice nod to Nintendo’s second console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which followed the original NES about 35 years ago. But Kawamoto, along with directors Tetsuya Sasaki and Takuhiro Dohta, didn’t think that “Super Nintendo Switch” was quite the right fit. It’s not that the Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t super — I’ll go out on a limb and call it the Pretty Good Nintendo Switch. Rather, the…

Retail adoption is often seen as the missing piece in Bitcoin’s long-term success. And while institutions and sovereign wealth funds are pouring in, some experts believe that mass retail participation remains essential. “I do feel retail growth and adoption will be important to the long-term future of Bitcoin,” said TheStreet Roundtable host Rob Nelson in a recent conversation with Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks. “Just having big institutions, sovereign wealth funds, strategic reserves — all good — but you kind of need a wider adoption worldwide.” Sui is the founding CEO and chairman of the board of CF Benchmarks,…

Runway, a startup developing a range of generative AI models for media production, including video-generating models, has raised $308 million in a Series D funding round. General Atlantic led the round, which had participation from Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Nvidia, SoftBank, and others. The fresh capital will be put toward AI research and hiring, Runway said in a press release, as well to expand its Runway Studios film and animation production arm. To date, Runway has raised $536.5 million, according to Crunchbase. “Today marks an important milestone as Runway announces a significant next step towards our goal…

Bitcoin’s price saw sharp movements following President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on April 2, with analysts suggesting the market drop could present a buying opportunity. S&P 500 futures fell over 2%, erasing more than $2 trillion in market value, while Bitcoin initially surged to $88,000 amid rumors of a delay in tariffs before falling to $82,000. As of April 3, Bitcoin was trading at around $83,000, with the overall digital asset market down more than 4% in 24 hours. Major altcoins, including Ethereum and Solana, also saw declines of over 6% and remained at multi-month lows. Despite this…

British oil and gasoline company BP (British Petroleum) signage is being pictured in Warsaw, Poland, on July 29, 2024.Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesBritish oil major BP on Friday said its chair Helge Lund will soon step down, kickstarting a succession process shortly after the company launched a fundamental strategic reset.”Having fundamentally reset our strategy, bp’s focus now is on delivering the strategy at pace, improving performance and growing shareholder value,” Lund said in a statement.”Now is the right time to start the process to find my successor and enable an orderly and seamless handover,” he added.BP CEO Murray Auchincloss,…

TechCrunch All Stage — the ultimate founder summit — is shaping up to be a powerhouse event where 1,200 founders and VCs across all stages will come together to forge meaningful connections and gain practical insights they can immediately apply to scale their startups. Join us on July 15 at SoWa Power Station in Boston and be part of the conversation with scaling experts. Register now and save up to $210! Save even more when you register for a group of four or more. About the breakout session Adding even more value to this already-packed agenda, we’re excited to announce…

President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of new tariffs has sent ripples through global markets, affecting everything from traditional stocks to digital assets. On April 2, 2025, Trump unveiled a broad set of tariffs during a 45-minute address from the White House. The tariffs include a 10% baseline on all goods imported into the United States, with several countries facing higher rates—China at 34%, the European Union at 20%, and countries like Japan and Vietnam seeing similar increases. Trump also imposed a 25% tariff on automotive imports. The impact on global markets was immediate. The S&P 500 lost more than $2…

Spotify announced Gen AI ads, among other changes to its advertising business, at an event in New York City on Thursday. Notably, the company introduced a new programmatic offering, the Spotify Ad Exchange (SAX), which allows advertisers to reach Spotify’s logged-in users via real-time auctions. Expanding on the SAX news, Spotify said it inked new partnerships with Google’s demand-side platform, Display & Video 360, and Magnite, with Yahoo DSP, Adform, and others to come “soon.” The Trade Desk is also supported. SAX will offer “full addressability” and measurement capabilities, the company said. Partners will initially be able to advertise within…

CLS Global, a UAE-based financial services firm, has been fined $428,059 after admitting to wash trading in U.S. cryptocurrency markets. The firm pleaded guilty to market manipulation and wire fraud charges after a sting operation led by the FBI. The charges relate to CLS Global’s role in manipulating cryptocurrency trading volumes to attract investors. CLS Global was sentenced in federal court in Boston on April 2, 2025, and was ordered to pay the fine, which includes both seized cryptocurrency and monetary penalties. Additionally, the company was sentenced to three years of probation, during which it is banned from participating in…