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CEO of cryptocurrency platform Coinbase Brian Armstrong attends a reception at Buckingham Palace, in central London, on November 27, 2023 to mark the conclusion of the Global Investment Summit (GIS). (Photo by Daniel LEAL / POOL / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL LEAL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Daniel Leal | Afp | Getty Images

Coinbase, Crypto.com, Gemini and other cryptocurrency exchanges are warning users in the U.K. that they’ll need to start filling out risk assessments and investment questionnaires aimed at testing their financial knowledge.

It comes ahead of tough new rules on the advertising of digital asset products in the country.

The firms have told users in Britain that, starting Jan. 8, they will be required to complete a declaration about what type of investor they are, and respond to a questionnaire asking questions on a range of aspects of financial services and regulation to continue using their respective platforms.

In the customer declaration section, users are asked to select their investor profile: either high-net-worth individual earning above £100,000 (roughly $126,700) annually or with a net worth of more than £250,000, or a “restricted investor” that won’t invest more than 10% of their assets. Otherwise, they cannot trade crypto.

The financial questionnaires, which vary from exchange to exchange, require users to respond to numerous questions about what range of products the firms offer, the volatile nature of crypto asset prices, and the treatment of crypto as a product by financial regulators.

If a customer fails to complete the tasks successfully, they will be prevented from trading with their crypto account.

Since the passing of the Financial Services and Markets Act, a major package of financial services reforms in the U.K., firms that offer crypto and a certain type of digital currency called stablecoins are now covered by the law and must adhere to the same rules as those that govern traditional financial services.

Since Oct. 8, firms seeking to promote cryptoassets in the U.K. to retail customers must be authorized or registered with the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), or have their marketing approved by an FCA-authorized firm.

Coinbase said that the changes were made “to ensure we are meeting UK investor protection standards, which require our users to have the necessary knowledge to make informed investment decisions.”

“This process is also part of Coinbase’s commitment to working collaboratively with local regulators so that we can best serve our users now and in the future,” a Coinbase spokesperson told CNBC via email.

A Crypto.com spokesperson gave similar reasoning for the move, saying its changes were made “primarily to ensure customers understand the risks of investing in cryptocurrency, which is a key component of the important consumer protections being put in place by the FCA.”

“We do not expect this to impact user activity in the UK and as always our customer service team is on hand to help with any queries,” George Tucker, U.K. general manager of Crypto.com, told CNBC via email.

“As an authorised Electronic Money Institution and registered cryptoasset business in the U.K., Crypto.com supports and complies with the FCA’s rules and will continue to work with the regulator as we expand our product offering here,” Tucker added.

Crypto firms in a tight spot

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has been advocate of the U.K.’s role as a crypto hub, particularly as the exchange faces a tougher time at home with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suing the firm over securities law violations.

In April last year, he told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal that Coinbase was “looking at other markets” to invest in beyond the U.S. and was “probably going to invest more” in the U.K., given in its push to position itself as a crypto hub.

But the new financial advertising regulations have put some crypto firms in a tight spot.

Some crypto companies have suspended their services in the U.K. in response to the new rules. ByBit, an unregistered crypto firm, halted services to U.K. customers, while Luno said it is halting some U.K. clients from making crypto investments. PayPal, meanwhile, said it is suspending some crypto services until it brings its crypto arm into compliance with the new rules.

Binance, which was slapped by U.S. authorities with a $4.3 billion settlement over money laundering charges last year, tried in October to get its marketing authorized in the U.K. with a third-party firm. But it was blocked by the FCA, which at the time said it was doing so to protect consumers.

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Here’s how fusion energy could power your home or an AI data center

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Here's how fusion energy could power your home or an AI data center

Clean Start: Fusion energy gets new look from startup Type One Energy

The artificial intelligence boom has sent energy demand soaring. Some of the supercomputers sucking up all that power are helping to find new energy sources.

Fusion energy is the process of forcing two hydrogen atoms to combine and form one helium atom, which releases huge amounts of power. It uses a stellarator, a type of fusion reactor invented in the 1950’s that produces heat.

Until now, the technology was too difficult to deploy commercially.

But this old concept has brand new potential. Type One Energy, a startup based in Tennessee, claims to have proven that fusion energy will be able to produce electricity in the next decade.

“It’s going to create heat that’s going to boil water, make steam, run a turbine and put fusion electrons on the power grid on a 24/7 reliable basis,” said Type One Christofer Mowry.

AI has made it all practical.

“Things have really accelerated remarkably over the last five or six years,” Mowry said. “The supercomputers have allowed industry, academia and large institutions to develop now and actually test at large scale the science machines that demonstrate the process.”

Dozens of other companies are working on different approaches to fusion energy, but Mowry said Type One is so far the only one with the proven stellarator technology to implement at existing power plants. It will soon be tested with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

TDK Ventures is betting that Mowry is right.

“With Type One Energy solutions, we expect outsized return potential,” said Nicola Sauvage, president of TDK Ventures. “Fusion is no longer science fiction, and Type One Energy’s technology is catching up fast to the vision of this low-cost, continuous green energy.”

Type One is also backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Centaurus Capital, GD1, Foxglove Capital, and SeaX Ventures, and has raised a total of $82.4 million.

Fusion energy is different from nuclear power, and there’s no risk of a nuclear accident. The power source has no long-term radioactive waste, and, according to Mowry, can’t be weaponized.

But for handling AI, it could be a critical solution. Fusion energy can be deployed anywhere, whether it’s next to a data center or near a large industrial park that needs clean, reliable energy.

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CoreWeave shares soar 19% after $2 billion debt offering

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CoreWeave shares soar 19% after  billion debt offering

Michael Intrator, Founder & CEO of CoreWeave, Inc., Nvidia-backed cloud services provider, gestures during the company’s IPO at the Nasdaq Market, in New York City, U.S., March 28, 2025. 

Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters

CoreWeave shares popped 19% after announcing a $2 billion debt offering.

The renter of artificial intelligence data centers powered by Nvidia chips said it had priced the notes at 9.25%, with a June 2030 maturity date. The deal represents a $500 million increase from its initial announcement.

CoreWeave said it plans to use the capital to pay off outstanding debt. The company confirmed to CNBC that the debt offering was five times oversubscribed.

In its first-quarter earnings report last week, CoreWeave said that it raised a total of $17.2 billion in equity and debt “to support its strategy to drive the next generation of cloud computing for the future of AI.” The company topped revenues expectations but posted wider-than-expected net loss and said it plans to spend big on capital expenditures to support infrastructure demand.

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During an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” last week, CEO Michael Intrator defended CoreWeave’s spending plans after some investors cast doubt on its debt, and demand durability. He said the company is meeting “demand signals” from some of its major clients.

In a call with analysts, CoreWeave said it has no debt maturities until 2028 other than payments related to vendor financing and “self-amortizing debt through committed contract payments.” The company said it had about $3.8 billion in current debt and $4.9 billion in non-current debt at the end of the quarter.

A year ago, CoreWeave announced that it had raised $7.5 billion in debt, led by Blackstone and Magnetar, to more heavily invest in its cloud data centers. CoreWeave said in its IPO prospectus that it was “one of the largest private debt financings in history and signals the confidence that debt investors have in funding our company to build and scale the next generation AI cloud.”

CoreWeave counts Nvidia and Microsoft among its biggest customers and has signed two seperate deals with OpenAI, totaling nearly $16 billion.

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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says tariffs haven’t dented consumer spending

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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says tariffs haven't dented consumer spending

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, speaks during an unveiling event in New York on Feb. 26, 2025.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Wednesday that the company hasn’t seen any signs of consumers tightening their wallets in the face of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

Jassy’s comments came during Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting, which was held virtually on Wednesday.

“We have not seen any attenuation of demand at this point,” Jassy said during a question-and-answer portion of the meeting. “We also haven’t yet seen any meaningful average selling price increases.”

Amazon and other retailers continue to digest the impact of Trump’s tariffs. Rival retailer Walmart warned last week that consumers could start seeing price hikes from tariffs later this month and in June. Within days, that sparked the ire of Trump, who urged the company to “EAT THE TARIFFS.”

Read more CNBC Amazon coverage

Target said Wednesday it will likely need to hike prices on some items, while Home Depot said it expects to maintain its current pricing levels.

Jassy said last month the company made some “strategic forward inventory buys” to stock up on goods and is “pretty maniacally focused” on keeping prices low for shoppers.

Some third-party sellers, which account for roughly 60% of products sold, have increased prices on certain items, while others have opted to keep prices steady, Jassy said on Wednesday.

“I think that the diversity and the size of our marketplace really helps customers have the best selection of the best prices,” Jassy said.

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