Crypto
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Meet the Fortune Crypto 100: A ranking of the very best companies in blockchain
In 2010, “crypto” consisted of the Bitcoin blockchain and a motley group of visionaries, builders, and outlaws. Today, crypto is a multi-trillion-dollar industry whose reach spans from humble villages to the biggest banks on Wall Street. This evolution reflects the tireless work of thousands of entrepreneurs who have built a global technology stack, often in…
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Sam Bankman-Fried formally files for pardon—but White House reiterates that FTX cofounder’s odds are slim
Convicted crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried formally submitted a pardon request with the Department of Justice, but the odds of President Donald Trump granting him clemency remain slight, according to a White House spokesperson. The status of Bankman-Fried’s request is currently listed as “pending,” per the Department of Justice’s website on Monday. The FTX cofounder’s petition…
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I bought peptides with crypto. How my purchase helped fuel a $100 million gray-market, ‘looksmaxxing’ economy
“Hi! I’m interested in buying peptides,” I wrote on WhatsApp. Two minutes later, I received a reply from a U.K. area code from someone calling herself Louise, whose profile picture was of a young woman with airbrushed skin. Louise shared a menu: testosterone boosters, synthetic growth hormones, weight-loss medications, and more. Mindful of my expense…
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Variant raises $222 million for new fund with a thesis of AI, crypto and ‘autonomy’
Venture capitalist Jesse Walden made his name as a crypto investor—a job he says will disappear before the decade is out. “In four years, being a crypto investor will be like being an ‘Internet investor’,” says Walden, who started his investing career at Andreessen Horowitz before founding his own crypto-focused firm, Variant, in 2020. This…
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SpaceX’s $1.4 billion Bitcoin hoard is a strategic reserve—and an accounting headache
When SpaceX filed for its much-hyped IPO, investors learned that the size of its Bitcoin hoard exceeded previous estimates. When the company finally does go public, it’s an open question what the firm helmed by Elon Musk, who has recently cooled on his longtime crypto fervor, will do with that stash, which is currently worth…
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Exclusive: Binance adds U.S. stocks in ‘super app’ push, plans to launch tokenized shares
Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Monday that its users will be able to trade more than 7,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs. The company also announced an upcoming plan to allow customers to convert the stocks they hold into crypto-style digital assets as part of its broader ambition to become a “multi-asset financial…
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The AI arms race in cybersecurity has started. Most companies aren’t ready
In 2019, sophisticated hackers spent weeks targeting Coinbase employees with emails from compromised Cambridge University accounts. The attackers patiently built trust before deploying a pair of chained zero-day exploits—a term that describes undiscovered software vulnerabilities—that took aim at the Firefox browser. One exploit sought to break into the browser, and the other sought to execute malicious…
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Kalshi adds perpetual futures for U.S. traders following thumbs-up from key regulator
Kalshi became the first U.S.-based firm to receive regulators’ blessing to offer a perpetual futures product, which is a novel kind of derivative that was popularized by crypto traders. While this approval only extends to futures contracts on Bitcoin, perpetual futures—known among traders as “perps”—have lately become popular among non-crypto traders who use the instrument…
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This professor asked his robot clone about the future: ‘I think robots will coexist with people. Robots are the mirror of human beings’
Mechanical hands dexterous enough to thread a needle, childlike dancing robots and adult-sized ones to help with deliveries were on display Thursday as the Humanoids Summit Tokyo opened. Among the dozens of companies taking part, including well-known players like Boston Dynamics and Toyota Motor Corp., the big stars now were clearly the Chinese. Chinese newcomers,…
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Billionaire Mark Cuban says bye-bye Bitcoin: Why he is ‘disappointed’ by crypto
For years, Mark Cuban was one of crypto’s most high profile evangelists. After overcoming his initial skepticism, the billionaire entrepreneur and Shark Tank shark became something of a crypto fanatic, sayingin 2021 that he spent 3-4 hours per day reading about the industry and brokering partnerships between crypto ventures and his Dallas Mavericks. Now, though,…