Crypto News
Nakamoto Holdings merges with KindlyMD to build Bitcoin treasury
Healthcare services provider KindlyMD has merged with Bitcoin-native holding company Nakamoto Holdings to build a BTC treasury.According to a May 12 announcement, Nakamoto Holdings — a new company founded by David Bailey, a crypto adviser to US President Donald Trump — plans to build the first global network of Bitcoin (BTC) treasury companies in partnership with BTC Inc. Bailey said:“Traditional finance and Bitcoin-native markets are converging. The securitization of Bitcoin will redraw the world’s economic map. We believe a future is coming where every balance sheet – public or private – holds Bitcoin.”The website of the new Nakamoto company. Source: NakamotoLong-term, the firm’s plan includes developing an ecosystem of Bitcoin-native companies, including media, advisory and financial services, all aiming to accelerate Bitcoin adoption and utility. The company resulting from the new merger aims to accumulate Bitcoin and grow the BTC held per share.Related: Trump crypto adviser David Bailey raises $300M for Bitcoin investment firmNot the first kid on the blockMuch like Michael Saylor’s Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the new firm plans to leverage equity, debt and other offerings to achieve its objectives. The announcement promises that the company will provide “market exposure to Bitcoin within a compliant, transparent structure.”Bailey said the combined company he will lead plans to “bring Bitcoin to the center of global capital markets” by integrating it into equity, debt, preferred shares and “new hybrid structures.” He added:“Our mission is simple: list these instruments on every major exchange in the world.”Deal includes $710 million in financingShares of KindlyMD will continue to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “KDLY.” The newly formed company will be renamed and trade under a new ticker.Source: NakamotoThe board of directors of Nakamoto Holdings and KindlyMD have unanimously approved the transaction, which will also require the approval of the latter company’s shareholders.The transaction includes $510 million in gross proceeds from a private placement in public equity priced at $1.12 per share and consisting of common stock and pre-funded warrants in KindlyMD and $200 million in gross proceeds from the sale of senior secured convertible notes maturing in 2028. The financing is expected to close in conjunction with the merger. Upon completion, the newly combined firm will inherit the obligations and business relationships of Nakamoto Holdings, including marketing services provided by BTC Inc., the publisher of Bitcoin Magazine and organizer of the annual Bitcoin Conference.Magazine: Bitcoiners are ‘all in’ on Trump since Bitcoin ’24, but it’s getting risky
Published Date: 2025-05-12 12:38:13Creator: Cointelegraph by Adrian Zmudzinski
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DeGods NFT founder steps down as collection gains traction
The creator of the non-fungible token (NFT) collection DeGods announced that he has stepped down as the CEO of the project amid an uptick in sales. Rohun Vora, known online as “Frank DeGods” on X, said he has stepped down as the project’s CEO, concluding a three-year stint as the head of one of the most popular Solana-based NFT collections. He identified pseudonymous figures 0x_chill and Pastagotsauce as the new leaders of DeGods. “There are no investigations, because I have never done anything illegal. That’s the boring truth,” Vora wrote, addressing speculation about his departure. The announcement came as the NFT collection started gaining traction on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. Source: FrankdegodsDeGods’ sales are up 101% on SolanaData tracker CryptoSlam shows that in the last seven days, DeGods NFTs have seen a significant increase in sales. On May 12, DeGods on Solana recorded a sales volume of around $458,000, a 101% increase over the previous week. In the last 30 days, the collection had a sales volume of $1.1 million for its NFTs based on the Solana network. On Ethereum, the DeGods collection recorded $104,000 in sales for the past week, a 156% growth over the previous seven days. In the last 30 days, the collection recorded over $250,000 in sales, a 323% increase in sales volumes. Following the announcement, new DeGods project lead Pasta shared plans to release a tribute to the project’s three-year history and teased a shift in strategy.Pasta also hinted that there will be changes in the project’s approach. “Our job isn’t to build crypto products. It’s to make DeGods as big as it can possibly be. That’s what you want. That’s what we want too. So that’s exactly what we’re gonna do,” Pasta wrote. Source: PastagotsauceRelated: Doodles NFT sales surge 97% ahead of DOOD token airdropNFT sales are up by 17% in the last seven daysMeanwhile, the broader NFT market has also gained traction in the last seven days. CryptoSlam data shows that from May 6 to 12, NFTs recorded a sales volume of over $120 million, a 17% increase over the previous week. Magazine: Trump-Biden bet led to obsession with ‘idiotic’ NFTs —Batsoupyum, NFT Collector
Published Date: 2025-05-12 12:27:18Creator: Cointelegraph by Ezra Reguerra
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FTX EU creditors can now withdraw money from Backpack exchange
Crypto exchange Backpack announced that customers of the defunct crypto exchange FTX EU can begin reclaiming their funds through its service.According to a May 12 X post, Backpack now allows FTX EU users who selected it as the redistribution platform to claim their euro balance. Users must first complete Know Your Customer (KYC) verification.Backpack’s support page also said that the KYC details on the platform must match the ones provided to FTX EU:“If they do not, you will need to contact Backpack EU support at support@eu.backpack.exchange to update your Backpack EU account to reflect the same information used for your FTX EU claim. This ensures a smooth verification process and avoids delays in accessing your distribution.”Related: Former FTX exec’s wife says gov’t ‘induced a guilty plea’FTX EU claims process beginsBackpack opened the claims process for former FTX EU exchange users on April 1. To access their claims through the platform, users had to create an exchange account and go through the aforementioned KYC checks. No deadline has been set for users going through the process.The support page clarifies that not all European Union-based FTX users are FTX EU users. Those users who signed up to FTX before March 7, 2022, are not FTX EU users unless they later specifically signed up on the FTX EU platform. The documentation states:“Generally, EU-based users who signed up to FTX on or after March 7, 2022, are FTX EU customers, in which case they should make their claim with FTX EU.“Still, no rule is set in stone. Backpack explained that some EU-based users signed up to FTX International after March 7, 2022. The exchange recommends checking the terms of service to determine which FTX platform they signed up for.Related: FTX says Backpack acquisition of EU arm has not been approved by courtBackpack’s involvement with FTX EUBackpack acquired FTX EU in January 2025 to offer crypto derivatives, including perpetual futures, in Europe. The deal came after a lengthy battle to buy the European arm of the bankrupt exchange.Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante explained at the time that the firm would return FTX EU funds as fast and as safely as possible. Shortly after the acquisition, Backpack clashed with the FTX estate over ownership rights to FTX EU.The US-based FTX estate claimed at the time that the shares of FTX EU remained under the ownership of FTX Europe AG, a subsidiary of FTX. According to the statement, the previously announced transfer of shares to FTX EU’s co-founders, Patrick Gruhn and Robin Matzke, had not yet occurred.“As of today, 100% of the share capital of FTX EU is held by FTX Europe AG, an FTX subsidiary,” the FTX estate claimed.Magazine: Ex-Alameda hire on ‘pressure’ to not blow up Backpack exchange: Armani Ferrante, X Hall of Flame
Published Date: 2025-05-12 12:10:02Creator: Cointelegraph by Adrian Zmudzinski
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Crypto speculation dominates $600B cross-border payments: BIS report
Hundreds of billions of dollars in cross-border cryptocurrency payments flow globally, driven primarily by speculative investment, according to a recent report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).The BIS study, published May 8, found cross-border payments using the two largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), and the two largest stablecoins, USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC), totaled about $600 billion during the second quarter of 2024, the final observation period covered by the analysis.“Our findings highlight speculative motives and global funding conditions as key drivers of native crypto asset flows,” the BIS said.Cross-border crypto asset flows by quarter. Source: BISStill, the report noted that stablecoins and low-value Bitcoin transactions are frequently driven by practical use cases, particularly as alternatives to traditional remittances. The researchers pointed out that geographical barriers have less influence on cryptocurrency transactions compared with traditional financial systems.Related: Spar supermarket in Switzerland starts accepting Bitcoin paymentsSpeculative crypto activity remains tied to “global conditions for funding in major crypto markets,” signaling a growing “interconnectedness” between cryptocurrencies and the legacy financial system, the researchers said, adding:“Concurrently, we observe that tighter global funding conditions, known to curtail risk-taking in traditional asset classes, are associated with reduced flows. This indicates increasing interconnectedness between cryptoassets as speculative assets and mainstream finance.”Additionally, crypto-specific risks and heightened public awareness significantly influence crypto investment flows, reinforcing their role as speculative assets, according to the BIS.The findings were published nearly a month after the BIS warned that the number of investors and amount of capital in crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi) had “reached a critical mass,” posing a threat to financial stability and global wealth inequality, Cointelegraph reported on April 19.Related: $400M Web3 investment fund ABCDE halts new investments, fundraisingStablecoin, low-value Bitcoin payments fueled by fiat inflation, high transfer costsBeyond speculative investment tools, stablecoins and Bitcoin are also used as a “transactional medium.”“Higher opportunity costs of fiat currency usage, such as high inflation, spur bilateral cross-border transactions in both unbacked cryptoassets and stablecoins,” the BIS stated, adding:“Likewise, greater economic activity within both sender and receiver countries is often linked to increased crypto flows in most cases.”High remittance fees charged by traditional financial institutions further bolster crypto adoption for international money transfers, especially from developed economies to emerging markets, the report stated.Global USDT flow map. Source: BISThe US and the UK accounted for a cumulative 20% of cross-border payments using Bitcoin and USDC, and nearly 30% using ETH.As for USDT, Russia and Turkey accounted for over 12% of the cross-border transactions using the world’s largest stablecoin.Magazine: Uni students crypto ‘grooming’ scandal, 67K scammed by fake women: Asia Express
Published Date: 2025-05-12 11:49:27Creator: Cointelegraph by Zoltan Vardai
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What is RISC-V, and why does Vitalik Buterin want it for Ethereum smart contracts?
What is RISC-V? RISC-V, pronounced “risk five,” is a modern open-source instruction set architecture (ISA) based on reduced instruction set computer (RISC) principles. In simple terms, it’s like a blueprint that defines a set of instructions that a processor can execute.RISC-V is designed to be highly modular, efficient and flexible. Originally developed by the University of California in 2010, the open-source framework gives developers the flexibility to tailor its functionality and use cases, plus offers cost savings compared to proprietary ISAs like ARM or x86. This offers a wide range of uses, from supercomputers to smartphones and now blockchains like Ethereum.On April 20, 2025, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin unveiled a “radical” new scaling proposal to replace the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with the RISC-V instruction set architecture, aiming to boost the speed and efficiency of the network’s execution layer. The idea is that RISC-V is the best way to solve the blockchain’s scalability constraints. “It aims to greatly improve the efficiency of the Ethereum execution layer, resolving one of the primary scaling bottlenecks, and can also greatly improve the execution layer’s simplicity - in fact, it is perhaps the only way to do so.The idea: replace the EVM with RISC-V as the virtual machine language that smart contracts are written in,” said Buterin.Ethereum continues to face high transaction fees and reduced transaction volume as users shift to layer 2s for cheaper, faster transactions. This aligns with Ethereum’s scaling strategy post-Merge (2022). Buterin’s idea to reshape the chain is seen as a chance for it to modernize and retain its dominance as a top smart contracting platform.Did you know? Ethereum’s execution layer has become its main scalability bottleneck. The inefficient processing of smart contracts and transactions due to single-threaded execution, wasteful computational design and complex state management is causing network congestion. How would RISC-V work on Ethereum? Adding RISC-V to Ethereum is still just a proposal being discussed by the community and network governance. Buterin outlines several approaches to implement the proposal, including running two virtual machines (VMs) or a complete switch to RISC-V.The first idea to support VMs would enable contracts to be written and executed in either the existing EVM model or RISC-V. Both contract types would have access to functionality such as persistent storage, holding Ether (ETH) balances and making and receiving calls. Adding to this, the contract could integrate so they can call one another. An alternative approach, described as “more radical,” would modify the protocol to convert existing EVM contracts. This would require rewriting current contracts to interact with an EVM interpreter, while new contracts would be written directly in RISC-V.A major challenge for such a drastic change is to avoid breaking existing decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts. Ethereum can’t risk breaking existing contracts written in the current EVM code. A transitional solution could involve using an interpreter — essentially a translation layer between different computing languages. This would allow developers to begin building with RISC-V while ensuring legacy EVM contracts continue to function without disruption.Did you know? In 2022, Ethereum made a leap forward in its energy efficiency and delivered more scalability, security and sustainability. In a process dubbed “The Merge,” the chain switched from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake (PoS). This involved merging the Ethereum mainnet with a separate PoS blockchain called Beacon Chain. Key benefits of RISC-V vs. EVM If RISC-V causes a major shift in the Ethereum architecture, what will be the benefits of making this change? In the long run, RISC-V would enhance the Ethereum smart contracts’ performance and processing.According to Buterin, the new architecture could theoretically deliver efficiency gains of 100x; in reality, this number will be hard to reach, but gains would still be significant. The efficiency gains are tied to RISC-V’s suitability for both zero-knowledge (ZK) proof systems and general smart contract execution, as it eliminates EVM overhead.It’s less about replacing the EVM outright and more about using RISC-V as a backend for zkEVM or similar ZK rollups, where proving costs dominate. Scalability improvements would largely come from offloading execution to ZK rollups, with RISC-V optimizing the proving process.RISC-V smart contracts could run faster and use fewer computational resources. This increased efficiency would likely translate to lower gas fees for the end users. In the process, it would also enable the network to handle more users and transactions without slowing down. That would be a direct improvement to the scalability of Ethereum, potentially solving one of the biggest criticized points of the blockchain industry. Additionally, RISC-V’s simple, flexible instruction set is better suited for ZK-proof computations than the EVM, which incurs overhead from administrative tasks like gas accounting and state management. Rather than rebuilding the EVM for ZK-proofs, RISC-V offers a streamlined alternative, simplifying the development of ZK-optimized execution layers. This could accelerate Ethereum’s roadmap for privacy and scalability via ZK rollups, making RISC-V a compelling complement to the EVM.Below is a comparison table summarizing the key differences and benefits of RISC-V vs. the EVM.Did you know? Ethereum has gone through several major development milestones over its first decade. Notably, in 2016, it conducted a hard fork to roll back the chain after The DAO hack. The result is still noticeable today with Ethereum and Ethereum Classic chains both in existence. Will RISC-V be implemented in the future? Buterin’s proposal has sparked a lively debate among Ethereum users and developers. It is an ambitious idea that could be a milestone in the development roadmap for the leading smart contract blockchain. Programmer Ben Adams raised several concerns about the proposal: In short, the ZK-proof might become more efficient, but there could be a trade-off. Block building and execution, which run the smart contracts, could end up becoming significantly slower. “The risk here is that ZK-proving may get better, but block building and execution will deteriorate significantly,” commented Ben Adams.A sentiment that was echoed by another anonymous commenter, “I agree with Ben Adams here, The EVM as a whole is very much U256 based, so abstracting down to RISC-V would decrease overall execution performance.”Others appeared to agree that RISC-V was a good idea to help reduce bottlenecks but questioned if it was a priority, given the potential technical difficulty and cost. “Agree, it seems like a good idea for the L1 that solves points 2 and 3 of the L1 bottlenecks. But is this the set of priorities we want to solve for, especially given the scale of technical cost here?” added Adam Cochran. It’s clear that the proposal still needs clarity and further discussions within the Ethereum community. While the promise is one of radical simplification that drives efficiency and speed, it also introduces a complex technical change. It would require potentially years of dedication to rethinking how the layer-1 blockchain works.Of course, as with any decentralized project, the green light doesn’t just rely on technical planning; it needs the consent of the community. So, currently, Buterin’s proposal has opened a wide conversation about any impending development action.
Published Date: 2025-05-12 11:18:00Creator: Cointelegraph by Marcel Deer
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US crypto funds smash old record amid 4-week inflow streak
Cryptocurrency investment products continued receiving healthy inflows last week, attracting $882 million as global crypto funds approached all-time high asset levels.Global crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) recorded $6.3 billion of inflows in the past four weeks, accounting for 93% of total inflows year-to-date (YTD), according to data from European crypto investment firm CoinShares.Total YTD inflows now stand at $6.7 billion, closing in on the record $7.3 billion posted in early February, according to CoinShares’ head of research James Butterfill.Weekly crypto ETP inflows since late 2024. Source: CoinSharesAmid strong investor demand, crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States reached a record $62.9 billion in cumulative net inflows since launch in January 2024, surpassing the previous high of $61.6 billion set in February, Butterfill noted in a May 12 fund flows update.Total AUM nears historic record of $173 billionThe continued inflow streak has brought total assets under management (AUM) in global crypto funds to $169 billion, just 2.5% below the historic record of $173.3 billion seen in the last week of January, according to CoinShares data.However, the latest $882 million of inflows were a notable cooldown from $2 billion seen in the first week of May and $3.4 billion posted in the last week of April.Bitcoin (BTC) dominated with $867 million in inflows in the past week, with YTD inflows reaching $6.6 billion and AUM rising to $146 billion.Crypto ETP flows by asset as of May 10, 2025 (in millions of US dollars). Source: CoinSharesInflows to Ether (ETH) investment products were less significant, posting $1.5 million inflows, with AUM edging up to $12 billion.Sui (SUI) was the biggest winner among altcoins, with Sui ETPs seeing $11.7 million of inflows last week.Solana (SOL) was the only altcoin to see outflows last week, totaling $3.4 million and dragging month-to-date outflows to $2.9 million.BlackRock’s iShares outstrip total inflowsAccording to CoinShares, crypto fund inflows were again highly concentrated in BlackRock’s iShares products, which saw $1 billion of inflows last week.Year-to-date, BlackRock has attracted $8.1 billion in inflows, significantly exceeding the industry’s total of $6.7 billion.Related: BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF posts $356 million inflows, marking the longest streak of 2025Grayscale and Bitwise continued to see outflows, losing $168 million and $27 million respectively during the past week. Fidelity and ARK reversed previous negative trends, reporting inflows of $62 million and $46 million, respectively.Crypto ETP flows by issuer as of May 10, 2025 (in millions of US dollars). Source: CoinSharesBullish trend driven by rise in money supply, macro factorsThe ongoing bullish trend in the crypto ETP industry came amid a rally in the cryptocurrency markets, with Bitcoin reclaiming $100,000 for the first time since January on May 8.Amid the growing investor sentiment, the total crypto market capitalization surged to nearly $3.5 trillion, down 11% from the historic high of $3.9 trillion posted in mid-December 2024, according to data from CoinGecko.Bitcoin (BTC) price chart since January 2024. Source: CoinGecko“We believe the sharp increase in both prices and inflows is driven by a combination of factors: a global rise in M2 money supply, stagflationary risks in the US and several US states approving Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset,” CoinShares’ Butterfill wrote.Bitcoin traded at $104,407 at the time of publication, slightly down from a historic high above $106,000 posted on Dec. 17, 2024.Magazine: Bitcoin eyes ‘crazy numbers,’ JD Vance set for Bitcoin talk: Hodler’s Digest, May 4 – 10
Published Date: 2025-05-12 10:48:41Creator: Cointelegraph by Helen Partz
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‘Dark stablecoins’ could emerge as regulations tighten
Censorship-resistant “dark stablecoins” could come in increasing demand as governments tighten their oversight of the industry. Stablecoins have been used for various groups to store assets due to a lack of government interference; however, with regulations pending, that could soon change, Ki Young Ju, CEO of crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, said in a May 11 X post.“Soon, any stablecoin issued by a country could face strict govt regulation, similar to traditional banks. Transfers might automatically trigger tax collection through smart contracts, and wallets could be frozen or require paperwork based on government rules,” he said.“People who used stablecoins for big international transfers might start looking for censorship-resistant dark stablecoins instead.”On the heels of US President Donald Trump’s crypto-friendly administration assuming power earlier this year, lawmakers are weighing stablecoin legislation, which seeks to regulate US stablecoins, ensuring their legal use for payments. The European Union has already brought in its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which, among other measures, mandates that stablecoins be regulated and transparent.Source: Ki Young JuJu speculates that a dark or private stablecoin could be created as an algorithmic stablecoin, with the value maintained through algorithmic mechanisms rather than being pegged to an external asset like gold, which makes it susceptible to interference from authorities. “One possible example could be a decentralized stablecoin that follows the price of regulated coins like USDC using data oracles like Chainlink,” he said.Another way would be stablecoins issued by countries that don’t censor financial transactions, or, for example, if Tether chooses not to comply with US government regulations in the future.“USDT itself used to be considered a censorship-resistant stablecoin. If Tether chooses not to comply with US government regulations under a future Trump administration, it could become a dark stablecoin in an increasingly censored internet economy,” Ju said.Privacy technology in crypto is already being usedZcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR) — while they aren’t stablecoins —already shield transactions and allow users to send and receive funds without revealing their transaction data on the blockchain.Related: Russia finance ministry official floats country making own stablecoins: ReportSeveral projects are also working on using similar technology for stablecoins, such as Zephyr Protocol, a Monero fork that hides transactions from being revealed on the blockchain. PARScoin also hides user identities, transaction values, and links to past transactions.The market cap of US dollar-denominated stablecoins has continued to grow, crossing $230 billion in April, a report from investment banking giant Citigroup found. That’s an increase of 54% since last year, with Tether (USDT) and USDC (USDC) dominating 90% of the market.Meanwhile, total stablecoin volumes hit $27.6 trillion in 2024, surpassing the combined volumes of Visa and Mastercard by 7.7%. Magazine: Ridiculous ‘Chinese Mint’ crypto scam, Japan dives into stablecoins: Asia Express
Published Date: 2025-05-12 02:55:08Creator: Cointelegraph by Stephen Katte
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Ledger secures Discord after hacker bot tried to steal seed phrases
Hardware wallet provider Ledger has confirmed its Discord server is secure again after an attacker compromised a moderator’s account to post scam links on May 11 to trick users into revealing their seed phrases on a third-party website.“One of our contracted moderators had their account compromised, which allowed a malicious bot to post scam links in one channel,” Ledger team member Quintin Boatwright wrote on the Ledger Discord server. “The issue was quickly contained: the compromised account was removed, the bot was deleted, the website was reported, and all relevant permissions were reviewed and secured.”Some members in Ledger’s Discord channel claimed the attacker abused moderator privileges to ban and mute them as they tried to report the breach, possibly slowing Ledger’s reaction.Boatwright said the security breach was an isolated incident and that Ledger has taken additional measures to strengthen its security on Discord, a chat platform many crypto projects use to share protocol developments and engage with their community. Using the compromised Ledger community manager account, the hacker told Ledger Discord members that there was a recently discovered vulnerability in the firm’s security systems and strongly urged all users to verify their recovery phrases with a scam link, according to several screenshots shared on X. Ledger users were asked to connect their wallets and follow on-screen instructions.Source: ecurrencyholderIt isn’t clear whether anyone was affected by the security breach. Cointelegraph has reached out to Ledger for comment. Ledger scammers were sending physical letters last month In April, scammers were mailing physical letters to owners of Ledger hardware wallets, asking them to validate their private seed phrases in a bid to access and empty the wallets.The letter used Ledger’s logo, business address and a reference number to feign legitimacy and asked users to scan a QR code and enter the wallet’s recovery phrase.One Ledger user who received the letter speculated whether scammers were sending letters to Ledger customers whose data was leaked in July 2020.Related: Jameson Lopp: Most don’t realize how easy self-custody has becomeThat incident saw a hacker breach Ledger’s database and dump the personal information of over 270,000 of its customers online, which included names, phone numbers and home addresses.The following year, several Ledger users claimed to have been mailed fake Ledger devices that were tampered with and designed to install malware upon use, Bleeping Computer reported at the time.Magazine: ChatGPT a ‘schizophrenia-seeking missile,’ AI scientists prep for 50% deaths
Published Date: 2025-05-12 00:29:20Creator: Cointelegraph by Brayden Lindrea
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White House claims 'substantial progress' on China trade deal
The White House announced that talks between the United States and China regarding a trade deal have made "substantial progress," yet no official deal has been announced at this time, leaving investors in doubt.According to a May 11 announcement from the White House, more details on the trade talks and the proposed "agreement" will be revealed on May 12.“I am happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a joint statement with US trade representative Jamieson Greer.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells the media that the US-China trade walks were productive. Source: Fox News"We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive," Bessent continued, without mentioning the word "deal" once in his statement.Greer made mention of the deal but did not give any details on the talks, leaving investors in doubt about the substance of the announcement, as market participants continue to monitor the ongoing trade tensions for signs of relief for financial markets.Related: Bitcoin nears $100K as Trump set to reveal trade deal with UKTrump's tariffs cause chaos in markets and draw widespread criticismAlthough traditional financial and digital asset markets have recovered and retraced some of the value lost following the initial price shock brought on by US President Donald Trump's sweeping trade tariffs, investor uncertainty still looms over asset markets.The Trump administration has flip-flopped on its tariff policies, reversing course on trade proposals or softening its rhetoric several times, leaving investors on edge and uncertain about investing in riskier assets like tech stocks and crypto.In April 2024, the US Customs and Border Protection, at the behest of the Trump administration, announced that select tech products would be exempt from tariffs including, smartphones, processing chips, computers, and other electronics.However, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick walked back the electronic tariff exemptions one day following the announcement.Lutnick said that the tariff exemptions would only be temporary until administration officials decided on a comprehensive tariff regime that featured different tariff rates for economic sectors.The lack of a comprehensive, decisive trade policy has called the Trump administration's plans into question, with many observers saying that the trade tariffs will only create more discord in financial markets and the broader economy.Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle
Published Date: 2025-05-11 21:19:23Creator: Cointelegraph by Vince Quill
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Microsoft and OpenAI renegotiate investment deal: Report
Tech company Microsoft and artificial intelligence firm OpenAI are reportedly in talks to renegotiate the investment deal between the AI firm and Microsoft, which is OpenAI's biggest financial backer.According to a report from the Financial Times, Microsoft may give up a portion of its equity in OpenAI for continued access to the AI company's products and models beyond 2030, when some of the original terms of a deal signed between the two companies expire.Microsoft has invested over $13 billion into OpenAI since 2019, when it first acquired an interest in the artificial intelligence firm.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman takes the podium at the White House in January 2025 to discuss AI infrastructure investment in the United States. Source: The White HouseOpenAI is attempting to restructure the company to shift its focus to profit-making. However, those plans have met with pushback from co-founders like Elon Musk and early investors.The deal between OpenAI and Microsoft is critical to OpenAI's restructuring and the future of the US-based AI startup company. Advancing artificial intelligence has also become a key policy objective for global leaders as the AI arms race heats up.Related: OpenAI to stay nonprofit, scrap proposed overhaulOpenAI faces staunch pushback against for-profit shiftOpenAI was founded as a non-profit entity in 2015 by businessman Elon Musk, tech entrepreneur Sam Altman, and AI researcher Ilya Sutskever.However, in 2024, the company began mulling a corporate restructuring that would convert the company from a non-profit entity to a for-profit corporation.Elon Musk has been one of the biggest critics of the plan, calling into question the legality of the proposed shift in a November 2024 legal filing.Elon Musk and others file litigation against OpenAI to block its conversion to a for-profit company. Source: Court ListenerThe tech billionaire also blasted the company's focus on closed-source software development, which he said was not the original objective of OpenAI."OpenAI was actually started and was meant to be open source. I named it 'OpenAI' after open source, now it is, in fact, closed source. It should be renamed super closed source AI for maximum profit AI," Musk told an audience at the New York Times DealBook Summit.In February 2025, a group of investors led by Musk submitted a $97.4 billion bid to take over OpenAI. However, the deal was flatly rejected by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.More recently, on May 5, OpenAI announced it was abandoning its shift to a purely for-profit model and is choosing to shift to a public benefit corporation — a profit-driven structure with legal obligations to fulfill social or public goods objectives — controlled by a non-profit entity.Magazine: Crypto AI tokens surge 34%, why ChatGPT is such a kiss-ass: AI Eye
Published Date: 2025-05-11 19:39:28Creator: Cointelegraph by Vince Quill
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