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Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO, Digital Currency Group 

David A. Grogan | CNBC

After months on the market, crypto news site CoinDesk has finally been acquired by a business that’s run by the former president of the New York Stock Exchange.

Bullish, a digital asset exchange led by ex-NYSE chief Tom Farley, has purchased CoinDesk from Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group. It’s the latest sign that Silbert’s crypto empire, which had vaulted its founder into the billionaire ranks, continues to fall apart.

CoinDesk will operate as an independent subsidiary of Bullish. Terms of the purchase haven’t been disclosed, but the Wall Street Journal reported that it’s an all-cash deal.

DCG, which first acquired CoinDesk for $500,000 in 2016, reportedly received several unsolicited offers for more than $200 million for the news site earlier this year. CoinDesk first began looking into a possible sale in January, enlisting the help of advisors at Lazard. In July, however, a $125 million purchase agreement from a consortium of investors fell through.

In August, CoinDesk reportedly laid off around 16% of its staff. Farley said Bullish “will immediately inject capital” into the media company to help scale the operation.

Silbert called CoinDesk one of DCG’s “best investments of all time,” in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Monday morning.

Michael Casey, Coindesk’s chief content officer, told CNBC that the Bullish deal came together “very quickly,” and that his side of the newsroom is excited for the new strategic alliance.

Thomas Farley

Anjali Sundaram | CNBC

The existing management team will remain in place, though an extra layer has been added to ensure journalistic independence. Matt Murray, who was previously the editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, will head a newly formed editorial committee designed to protect the publication’s autonomy.

CoinDesk, which launched in 2013, is best known in parts of the crypto universe for breaking the story about potential balance sheet improprieties at Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research. That reporting sparked a downward spiral at crypto exchange FTX, ending with the collapse of the company and Alameda that month, and the arrest and ultimate conviction of Bankman-Fried.

The contagion from the FTX meltdown hit CoinDesk sister company Genesis, a crypto lender also owned by DCG that filed for bankruptcy protection after suffering crippling losses from the collapses of FTX and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

Genesis is the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission charge alongside crypto exchange Gemini. Last month, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit against DCG and Genesis for allegedly defrauding investors of more than $1 billion. Meanwhile, Genesis sued its parent company, DCG, in September in an effort to recover $620 million in unpaid loans.

Silbert has also faced challenges at DCG’s crown jewel, Grayscale Investments, which manages the $32 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, better known by its ticker GBTC.

In February, the Financial Times first reported that DCG was selling its holdings in several Grayscale trusts at a steep discount to shore up funds to pay back its creditors billions of dollars.

Grayscale recently won a legal battle with the SEC over its application to convert GBTC into a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Should the conversion ultimately be approved, however, there are concerns about profitability, in part because the company has committed to cutting fees.

Earlier this month at DC Fintech Week, Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein said the company has been growing as an independent organization with its own broker-dealer and registered investment advisor.

“My focus and my team’s focus at Grayscale is really on the GBTC uplifting itself,” he said. “We’re not involved in what’s transpiring with DCG, or with Barry, or with any of the other DCG entities themselves.”

While Silbert’s influence fades, Farley’s is on the rise.

Bullish is among a short list of three bidders vying to buy what remains of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler previously told CNBC a revived FTX could work if new leadership does so with a clear understanding of the law.

“If Tom or anybody else wanted to be in this field, I would say, ‘Do it within the law,'” Gensler said earlier this month. “Build the trust of investors in what you’re doing and ensure that you’re doing the proper disclosures — and also that you’re not commingling all these functions, trading against your customers. Or using their crypto assets for your own purposes.”

WATCH: Crypto in the early innings of a bull market

Crypto is in the early innings of a bull market, says Brian Kelly

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EV sales are up, Tesla sales are down, and new electric Toyota goodness

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EV sales are up, Tesla sales are down, and new electric Toyota goodness

On today’s thrilling episode of Quick Charge, we’ve a huge spike in global EV sales and a huge dip in Tesla deliveries. Plus a whole bunch of news from Toyota, including an updated bZ that’s just a bit better than before … but is a bit better going to make a big difference?

We’re also on track for more than 1 in 4 new cars sold this year to be electric, with a whole lot more hybrids coming in to make up the difference and drive fuel demand down to a new yearly low. All this, plus the top 5 cheapest EVs to insure when you hit the play button.

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

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Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.


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FERC: Solar + wind made up 98% of new US power generating capacity in Q1 2025

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FERC: Solar + wind made up 98% of new US power generating capacity in Q1 2025

Solar and wind accounted for almost 98% of new US electrical generating capacity added in Q1 2025, according to new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) data reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign.

Solar and wind also made up an impressive 100% of new capacity in March, and March was the 19th consecutive month in which solar was the largest source of new capacity.

Renewables were 100% of new capacity in March

In its latest monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update” report (with data through March 31, 2025), FERC says 446 megawatts (MW) of solar were placed into service in March, along with the 223.9 MW Shamrock Wind & Storage Project in Crockett County, TX. Combined, they accounted for 100% of all new generating capacity added during the month.

For the first quarter of the year, the combination of solar and wind (7,076 MW) was 97.8% of new capacity while natural gas (147 MW) provided just 2.0% and another 0.2% came from oil (11 MW).

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Solar was 66.6% of new capacity added in March

Solar accounted for two-thirds (66.6%) of all new generating capacity placed into service in March. It was 72.3% of new capacity added during Q1 2025.

Solar has now been the largest source of new generating capacity added each month from September 2023 to March 2025.

New wind accounted for the remaining third (33.4%) of capacity additions in March and provided over a fourth (25.5%) of new additions for the quarter.

Solar + wind are 22.5% of US utility-scale generating capacity

The installed capacities of solar (10.7%) and wind (11.8%) are now each more than a tenth of the US total. Taken together, they constitute almost one-fourth (22.5%) of the US’s total available installed utility-scale generating capacity.

Approximately 30% of US solar capacity is in the form of small-scale (e.g., rooftop) systems that are not reflected in FERC’s data. Including that additional solar capacity would bring the share provided by solar + wind to more than 25% of the country’s total.

With the inclusion of hydropower (7.7%), biomass (1.1%), and geothermal (0.3%), renewables currently claim a 31.5% share of total US utility-scale generating capacity. If small-scale solar capacity is included, renewables are about one-third of total US generating capacity.

Ten years ago, the mix of utility-scale renewables accounted for 16.9% of total installed generating capacity, including solar (1.0%) and wind (5.7%). Thus, over the past decade, wind’s share of US generating capacity has more than doubled while that of solar has increased by more than tenfold.

Solar is still on track to be second-largest

FERC reports that net “high probability” additions of solar between April 2025 and March 2028 total 89,452 MW – an amount more than four times the forecast net “high probability” additions for wind (22,109 MW), the second fastest growing resource. FERC also foresees net growth for hydropower (596 MW) and geothermal (92 MW) but a decrease of 130 MW in biomass capacity.

Taken together, the net new “high probability” capacity additions by all renewable energy sources over the next three years – that is, the bulk of the Trump administration’s remaining time in office – would total 112,119 MW.  

On the other hand, there is no new nuclear capacity in FERC’s three-year forecast, while coal and oil are projected to contract by 24,372 MW and 2,108 MW, respectively. Natural gas capacity would expand by 1,738 MW.

Thus, adjusting for the different capacity factors of gas (59.7%), wind (34.3%), and utility-scale solar (23.4%), electricity generated by the projected new solar capacity to be added in the coming three years should be at least 20 times greater than that produced by the new natural gas capacity, while the electrical output by new wind capacity would be over seven times more than gas.

If FERC’s current “high probability” additions materialize, by April 1, 2028, solar will account for nearly one-sixth (16.3%) of US installed utility-scale generating capacity. Wind would provide an additional 12.6% of the total. Thus, each would be greater than coal (12.4%) and substantially more than either nuclear power or hydropower (7.3% and 7.2%, respectively).

Assuming current growth rates continue, the installed capacity of utility-scale solar will likely surpass coal and wind in less than two years, placing solar in second place for installed generating capacity, behind only natural gas.

Renewables may overtake natural gas within three years

The mix of all utility-scale (i.e., >1 MW) renewables is now adding about two percentage points each year to its share of generating capacity. At that pace, by April 1, 2028, renewables would account for 37.5% of total available installed utility-scale generating capacity, rapidly approaching that of natural gas (40.2%). Solar and wind would constitute more than three-quarters of the installed renewable energy capacity. If those trendlines continue, utility-scale renewable energy capacity should surpass that of natural gas in 2029 or sooner.

However, as noted, FERC’s data do not account for the capacity of small-scale solar. If that is factored in, within three years, total US solar capacity (small-scale + utility-scale) could approach 330 GW. In turn, the mix of all renewables would exceed 40% of total installed capacity while the share of natural gas would drop to about 37%.

Moreover, FERC reports that there may actually be as much as 223,620 MW of net new solar additions in the current three-year pipeline in addition to 66,368 MW of new wind, 9,059 MW of new hydropower, 201 MW of new geothermal, and 39 MW of new biomass. By contrast, net new natural gas capacity potentially in the three-year pipeline totals just 29,912 MW. Consequently, renewables’ share could be even greater by early spring 2028.

“Notwithstanding the Trump Administration’s anti-renewable energy efforts during its first 100+ days, the strong growth of solar and wind continues,” noted the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director Ken Bossong. “And FERC’s latest data and forecasts suggest this will not change in the near-term.” 

Electrek’s Take

This is encouraging, but it might change in the longer term, depending on what happens with the House draft budget, in which the Republicans are attempting to end the residential 30% solar tax credit.

Trump and the energy secretary are also doing everything they can to smash renewables and promote fossil fuel growth, thus being out of step with the rest of the world. They’re certainly doing a fine job kicking offshore wind where it counts. Only time will tell in terms of how much damage Trump inflicts.


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Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*

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Lucid (LCID) is ramping up its global expansion in Europe and other markets this year

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Lucid (LCID) is ramping up its global expansion in Europe and other markets this year

Lucid (LCID) is gearing up for big growth this year. After launching its first electric SUV, the Gravity, the company plans to double production this year. According to Lucid’s interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, the EV maker will enter new global markets this year, including parts of Europe and the Middle East.

Lucid is expanding into new global markets in 2025

With over 3,100 vehicles delivered in the first quarter, Lucid set its fifth straight quarterly record. Production is picking up at its Casa Grande manufacturing plant, with 2,213 units built from January to March.

Lucid said the record quarter was achieved despite “limited deliveries in Saudi Arabia” due to a system change that has since been fixed. The company had another 600 vehicles in transit to Saudi Arabia, which will be counted in its second quarter results.

During the Saudi-US Investment Forum on Tuesday, Winterhoff told Bloomberg that Lucid expects to accelerate its global expansion with plans to enter new parts of Europe and the Middle East this year.

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“We have started Abu Dhabi and we’re looking into Qatar and other additional markets coming very soon,” Winterhoff said.

Lucid-EV-production-2025
Lucid Gravity and Air models (Source: Lucid)

Lucid opened its first international manufacturing plant (AMP-2) in Saudi Arabia and has been assembling its Air luxury electric sedan since September 2023. It’s also on track to finish construction on another plant in the region with 150,000 annual production capacity in 2026.

Last week, Lucid’s senior vice president, Adrian Price, announced on social media that the second batch of Gravity models was ready to ship to Saudi Arabia.

Lucid-Gravity-lease
Lucid Gravity electric SUV (Source: Lucid)

Winterhoff told Bloomberg that the company will begin delivering Saudi-made EVs locally the following year while exporting to Europe and parts of Asia, outside of China. Although no details were confirmed, Lucid is considering producing EV batteries in Saudi Arabia through a collaboration.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is Lucid’s top shareholder, with a 60% stake in the company. The investment fund has invested billions in the EV startup as it aims to diversify its GDP beyond oil.

Lucid-Gravity
Lucid Gravity Grand Touring in Aurora Green (Source: Lucid)

Even with Trump’s auto tariffs, Lucid expects to produce 20,000 vehicles this year, more than double the 9,000 it made in 2024.

The Lucid Gravity Grand Touring model is available to order in the US, starting at $94,900 with up to 450 miles of range. For those looking for something a little cheaper, Lucid will launch the Gravity Touring trim later this year, starting at $79,900.

Lucid ended Q1 with $5.76 billion in liquidity, which it expects will be enough to fund it into the second half of 2026, when it plans to launch its more affordable midsize platform.

Lucid’s stock has risen over 15% since reporting first quarter earnings on May 6, but share prices are still down 12% over the past year at around $2.76.

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