Author: GT

TOKEN2049, one of the biggest crypto events in the world, is set to return to Dubai on April 30. With only 30 days at this point, organizers say that the demand is setting records, and the event is on the way to selling out well in advance in the most immediate memory. On April 3, ticket prices will rise again as the last wave of registrations floods in. This year, the conference moved to Madinat Jumeirah Resort. TOKEN2049 Dubai is set to host over 15,0000 attendees, representing over 4000 companies and 160+ countries. The event is growing into a large,…

Google is rolling out a slew of new features — some powered by AI — across Search, Maps, and Gemini that are designed to help people plan their summer vacations. The new features arrive as users have been turning to tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT for help with planning trips. Google Search’s AI Overviews, which display a snapshot of information at the top of the results page, can now help users get trip ideas for certain regions or countries. Starting this week, users can search for something like “create an itinerary for Costa Rica with a focus on nature.” From there,…

Trevor Milton, the founder of electric vehicle start-up Nikola who was sentenced to prison last year, was pardoned by President Donald Trump late Thursday, the White House confirmed Friday.The pardon of Milton, who was sentenced to four years in prison for exaggerating the potential of his technology, could wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution that prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors.Milton and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election campaign fund less than a month before the November election, according to the Federal Election Commission, At Milton’s trial, prosecutors say a company video…

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Bitcoin has been relatively stable this week, trading around $80,000. While there hasn’t been anything too exciting, some analysts believe a big move is on the horizon. Arthur Hayes, former CEO of BitMEX, shared his prediction on X, stating, “I bet Bitcoin hits $110,000 before it retests $76,500.” Hayes attributes this potential rise to the Fed shifting from quantitative tightening (QT) to quantitative easing (QE) for Treasuries. He also speculates that if Bitcoin does hit $110,000 first, we could see a rapid surge toward $250,000. That’s an extremely bullish take, and while I remain cautious, I’ll gladly take it! Robinhood…

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. What started as a tool to supercharge productivity through writing essays and code with short text prompts has evolved into a behemoth with 300 million weekly active users. 2024 was a big year for OpenAI, from its partnership with Apple for its generative AI offering, Apple Intelligence, the release of GPT-4o with voice capabilities, and the highly-anticipated launch of its text-to-video model Sora. OpenAI also faced its share of internal drama, including the notable exits of high-level execs like co-founder and longtime chief…

In early March of this year, President Donald Trump announced plans for a crypto strategic reserve that would include five cryptocurrencies: bitcoin, ether, XRP, solana and cardano. Federal reserves are held so that the government can tap into them in emergencies. For instance, the government has reserves of military equipment and medical equipment. Of course, probably the most famous federal reserve is its stockpile of gold. And while some have referred to bitcoin as “digital gold,” there are differences. As Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University, told NPR, as opposed to digital assets like crypto, gold…

Nintendo announced on Thursday that it is working on Virtual Game Cards, a feature that makes digitally downloaded games more portable across different devices. With the highly awaited Nintendo Switch 2 on the horizon, these Virtual Game Cards will make it easier for users to port over their existing Switch games to their new devices. As it stands, Switch games can be purchased either as a physical game card — like a traditional video game cartridge — or as a digital download. While physical game cards can easily be ejected and reinserted into another Switch for easy play, digital downloads…

Mexico City-based Mendel has raised $35 million in a Series B round of funding, it tells TechCrunch exclusively. Corporate spend management platform Mendel last raised in December 2021 — a $15 million Series A round and $20 million in debt — after participating in Y Combinator’s Winter 2021 cohort. With this latest capital infusion, the startup has brought in a total of $60 million in equity funding and $50 million via a credit facility. Mendel’s mission is straightforward: to reinvent corporate spend management by automating most of the operations for an enterprise CFO that are currently done manually. Or put…

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) confronted Paul Atkins, President Donald Trump’s nominee for SEC chair, over his financial ties and potential conflicts of interest during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. Atkins, a former SEC commissioner, is set to sell his stake in Patomak Global Partners, a consulting firm he founded that has worked with major financial institutions and crypto firms, including the collapsed exchange FTX. Warren pressed him to disclose the buyers and the price to ensure the sale was not a way for people to buy influence. When Atkins stated that he had followed White House ethics…