Month: February 2025

Regulation By Enforcement Is Out at CFTC, Acting Chair Pham Says

by

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Acting Chair Caroline Pham said Tuesday the regulatory agency has reorganized its enforcement division to “refocus” on fraud and “stop regulation by enforcement.” Under former Chairman Rostin Behnam, the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement had a variety of task forces, including one focused on insider trading, another focused on cybersecurity … Read more

Miist, founded by a 25-year-old, wants people to vape their way out of smoking addiction and migraines

by

As a university student, Dalton Signor was troubled by how many people around him smoked or vaped, including his grandmother and 14-year-old sister. Signor (pictured center) felt that existing smoking cessation medicines, whether patches, gums, or lozenges, are not very effective because they take too long to start working. “They take about 30 minutes to … Read more

Google expects to spend $75 billion this year on the AI race

by

Google parent company Alphabet expects to invest “approximately $75 billion” in capital expenditures in 2025, according to a statement from CEO Sundar Pichai in Alphabet’s Q4 2024 earnings release. Capital expenditures have become a hot topic as of late as big tech companies race to build infrastructure to support their growing AI ambitions, and today’s … Read more

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce Lays Out 10 Priorities for New Crypto Task Force

by

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) newly-created Crypto Task Force is working to create long-awaited regulatory clarity for the crypto industry, according to a Tuesday statement from Commissioner Hester Peirce. Pierce, who was appointed by Acting Chair Mark Uyeda to spearhead the Crypto Task Force, laid out 10 of the group’s priorities, including resolving … Read more

Bitcoin OP_CAT Proposal Gets Boost From Taproot Wizards’ $30M Fundraise

by

Taproot Wizards has raised $30 million with which it plans to build an ecosystem of applications using the OP_CAT Bitcoin improvement proposal (BIP). OP_CAT is a feature that Bitcoin’s pseudonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto included in the software’s original code but which he/she/they removed out of concerns that it exposed it to risks such as denial-of-service … Read more

Spyware maker Paragon confirms U.S. government is a customer

by

Israeli spyware maker Paragon Solutions confirmed to TechCrunch that it sells its products to the U.S. government and other unspecified allied countries. Paragon’s executive chairman John Fleming said in a statement to TechCrunch on Tuesday that, “Paragon licenses its technology to a select group of global democracies — principally, the United States and its allies.” … Read more

Figure drops OpenAI in favor of in-house models

by

Figure AI founder and CEO Brett Adcock announced Tuesday that the humanoid robotics firm is exiting a deal with OpenAI. The Bay Area-based robotics company has instead opted to focus on in-house AI, owing to a “major breakthrough.” Adcock was tightlipped in terms of specifics, but he promised to deliver “something no one has ever … Read more