Cryptocurrencies
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Democrats are railing against Trump’s $1.4 billion in crypto income. Will his financial disclosure derail a key crypto bill in Congress?
President Donald Trump’s financial disclosure came at a bad time for the crypto industry—depending on who you ask. Last week, documents revealed that crypto business entities associated with Trump and his family raked in $1.4 billion in income in 2025, pushing Democrats in Congress to respond with alarm. In a post on social media, Sen.…
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The sell-off in Strategy’s preferred stock has investors questioning everything
In 2025, Bitcoin’s foremost booster pitched financial alchemy. At a conference in Prague, Michael Saylor, the executive chairman of the Bitcoin hoarder Strategy, touted his company’s newest stock offering. “I give you the upside, you have no downside, and I pay you a dividend while you wait to get rich,” he said. Saylor was extolling…
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Exclusive: Framework Ventures raises $400 million for fourth fund as firm expands beyond crypto
Crypto is boring right now, and AI is hot, so it’s no wonder that a growing list of digital asset VCs are expanding their focus beyond blockchain. San Francisco-based Framework Ventures is the latest investor to join the trend, and the firm announced on Friday that it raised $400 million for its fourth fund. Framework…
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Crypto’s most controversial governance idea is making a comeback
Hi, Ben Weiss here! I’m filling in for Jeff for the next three weeks while he’s on vacation. Last week, crypto investors debated one of the wonkier terms in blockchain. In a discussion on X, Ali Yahya, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm, mused about how previous iterations of DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organizations,…
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Exclusive: Index Ventures, Union Square Ventures back trading app Fomo at $550 million valuation
Two established investors are feeling crypto FOMO. Index and Union Square Ventures have backed the crypto startup Fomo, named after the acronym for “fear of missing out,” the company announced on Monday. Index Ventures led the $75 million Series B fundraise, which valued Fomo at $550 million. Other participants include Zygna cofounder Mark Pincus, Discord…
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SpaceX tokens are a bust on IPO day—but blame supply and demand, not crypto
There are IPOs, and then there is what SpaceX pulled off on Friday. The initial public offering for Elon Musk’s rocket shop didn’t just exceed previous IPOs—it blew them out of the water. SpaceX raised an eye-popping $75 billion, which is roughly triple what the previous record holder, Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, pulled in during its…
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Exclusive: The startup that’s dressing up crypto for Wall Street raises $175 million in a round led by a16z crypto, Paradigm, and Ribbit Capital
Paul Frambot has a message for the “suits” at traditional financial institutions. “I think TradFi is going to have to wear shorts,” said the 25-year-old, who was coincidentally wearing a pair of his own. That’s an audacious challenge to Wall Street, but Frambot has reason to be confident. He’s the cofounder of the fast-growing crypto…
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Visa and Mastercard are planning to shake up the stablecoin market—but pulling it off won’t be easy
The stablecoin market, which has been dominated for a decade by Tether and Circle, could look very different in a year. The leading legacy players in payments, Visa and Mastercard, have been circling the sector for some time and are reportedly cooking up a plan with other big players to put their own spin on…
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Financial fraud in an era of blockchain and AI
I had the pleasure last week of hosting a discussion with fintech CEOs at the Reagan National Economic Forum in lovely Simi Valley, Calif. The focus was on how the U.S. can keep its edge as the world’s top economic power by leading in the two technologies that are defining the next era of finance:…
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Mecka AI raises $60 million to train robots with human data sourced from body sensors and iPhones
Data is the oil of the AI boom—and the startup Mecka AI hopes to tap the vast reservoir of hand gestures, walking gaits, and immense collection of humanity’s physical motions to better train our future overlords: robots. So-called “embodied” AI data isn’t exactly novel. Wayve, the British autonomous driving company, has trained its models on…