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Bitcoin and ether hit new all-time highs on Monday evening.

Bitcoin’s price at one point rose above $67,700 – eclipsing a previous record set in late October – while ether, the native token of ethereum’s blockchain, surpassed $4,800 for the first time ever.

These record-breaking moves come amid a wider rally in the crypto market. So-called “ethereum killers” Solana and Cardano are up 23% and 9% respectively in the last seven days.

The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which launched in October and tracks bitcoin futures contracts pegged to the future price of the cryptocurrency, was up more than 8% on Monday.

While it is difficult to link short-term price movements to any specific event – and cryptocurrency price charts are often rife with volatility – some analysts think that both bitcoin and ether will continue to trend upward in the weeks ahead.

In a note sent on Monday, Mikkel Morch, executive director at crypto hedge fund ARK36, said a $70,000 price for bitcoin now “seems imminent.”

Others have bolder projections for where bitcoin is headed, as JPMorgan recently doubled down on its prediction that bitcoin would ultimately hit $146,000, with a shorter-term price target of $73,000 for this year.

Next week, bitcoin rolls out its biggest upgrade in four years.

The software upgrade is known as Taproot. It will mean greater transaction privacy and efficiency – and crucially, it will unlock the potential for smart contracts, a key feature of its blockchain technology.

Meanwhile, ether has been on an upswing since it implemented Altair, a network upgrade that went live in late October.

Altair was largely seen as a non-event to most everyone except validators — that is, the people on the ethereum network who verify transactions. But the upgrade was a pivotal step in implementing ethereum 2.0 or Eth2, which has been in the works for years and will fundamentally overhaul the entire network.

Ethereum 2.0 would have the network switch from the energy-intensive “proof-of-work” mining system, where miners solve difficult math equations to create new coins, to “proof-of-stake,” which just requires users to leverage their existing cache of ether as a means to verify transactions and mint new tokens.

Eth2 aims to make ethereum more scalable, secure and sustainable. This change will be huge not just for ethereum, but for the wider cryptocurrency community at large.

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Tesla cutting around 2,700 jobs in Austin as part of broad restructuring

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Tesla cutting around 2,700 jobs in Austin as part of broad restructuring

CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk speaks at the Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing “Cyber Rodeo” grand opening party on April 7, 2022 in Austin, Texas.

Suzanne Cordeiro | AFP | Getty Images

Tesla is eliminating around 12% of its workforce at a factory in Austin, Texas, as part of a broader restructuring the company announced last week.

According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act letter on Tuesday, the layoffs affect 2,688 employees at the facility in Travis County. In 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk moved the company’s corporate headquarters to Austin from Palo Alto, California.

Musk said in an internal memo last week that Tesla was cutting more than 10% of its global headcount as the electric vehicle maker reckons with flagging sales and increased competition. He didn’t say which departments or locations would be most impacted.

“As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” he wrote. A subsequent WARN notice filed in New York indicated that 285 of positions were being eliminated at a factory in Buffalo.

Tesla employed 140,473 people as of December, according to filings.

Tesla officially opened its Texas EV and battery factory in April 2022, with a “cyber rodeo” party. The company now manufactures some of its Model Y crossover utility vehicles in Austin, and has started to build its Cybertruck there.

Musk later called the Austin factory, and another assembly plant in Germany, “gigantic money furnaces,” in an interview with Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, a fan club that promotes Tesla vehicles.

According to filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation revealed, Tesla was planning to spend upward of $770 million last year on the construction of expanded facilities in Austin, including for battery cell testing and manufacturingcathode and drive unit manufacturing, and a die shop, among other things.

Tuesday’s WARN filing said that “none of the employees are represented by a union and none of the employees have bumping rights,” or the right of more senior workers to replace those with less seniority.

Executives are expected to discuss the restructuring on the company’s quarterly earnings call at 5:30 p.m. ET.

WATCH: Tesla set to report earnings

Tesla set to report earnings: Here's what to expect

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Tesla set to report first-quarter earnings after the bell

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Tesla set to report first-quarter earnings after the bell

Tesla vehicles sit on the lot at a Tesla dealership in Austin, Texas, on April 15, 2024.

Brandon Bell | Getty Images

Tesla is set to report first-quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday.

Here is what analysts are expecting, according to LSEG:

  • Earnings per share: 51 cents
  • Revenue: $22.15 billion

Wall Street is projecting revenue will drop 5.1% from $23.33 billion a year earlier, which would mark the first year-over-year drop in sales since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted production.

Tesla shares have plummeted 42% this year on concerns about weak deliveries, competition in China and the company’s ongoing price cuts. Earlier this month, Tesla reported an 8.5% year-over-year decline in vehicle deliveries for the first quarter.

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company is now facing heightened competition worldwide, with fully electric cars still in demand but sales growth in the segment slowing. Tesla and key rivals have been slashing EV prices, on and off for months, to try to spur demand.

Tesla embarked on a massive restructuring this month with two executives, Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel, resigning. Musk said last week in a companywide memo that the automaker was cutting more than 10% of its global workforce.

The layoffs and resignations followed a Reuters report that said Tesla would scrap plans to make a low-cost electric car in the near future, and instead focus on self-driving technology. While Musk initially balked at the report, he later said in a post on social media site X that Tesla would go “balls to the wall for autonomy.”

Musk has promised investors and customers a self-driving vehicle for years, but never delivered.

He is now saying there will be an unveiling of a Tesla robotaxi on Aug. 8, 2024. Unveiling events do not mean a vehicle is ready to be produced. For example, Tesla first unveiled a new version of its Roadster in December 2017, and has yet to produce the car.

Shareholders submitted and voted on questions for Tesla executives to answer ahead of Tuesday’s call. Submissions included a request for a “realistic timeline for launching a revenue-generating robotaxi network,” and a progress update on a “cheaper next-generation vehicle.”

A livestream of the earnings call is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET.

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The fact that Elon Musk was right about EVs doesn't mean he's going to be right now: Gautam Mukunda

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Apple sends invites to May 7 launch event, new iPads expected

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Apple sends invites to May 7 launch event, new iPads expected

Apple CEO Tim Cook greets customers as he arrives for the release of the Vision Pro headset at the Apple Store in New York City on Feb. 2, 2024.

Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

Apple will launch new products on May 7 in a online event, according to invites sent to the media on Tuesday.

The event, with the tag line “Let loose,” will be livestreamed on Apple’s website at 10 a.m. Eastern time. Apple’s launch events are usually pre-recorded.

Apple is expected to release new iPads after no new models were announced in 2023. The invite graphic features Apple Pencil, the company’s iPad stylus. Apple could release upgrades to its high-end iPad Pro, as well as a bigger iPad Air, according to analysts and reports.

Apple invitation to May 7 launch event.

Apple

Apple also sometimes releases new colors for iPhones, Apple Watches, and accessories during the spring. The last time Apple held a launch event during the spring was in March 2022, during which it announced the latest version of the iPad Air, alongside a lower-end iPhone.

Millions of people tune in to watch Apple’s launch events live, representing a critical marketing channel for the company.

Apple is also expected to make significant AI announcements this year, likely at its WWDC conference in June.

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