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Democrats turned up the pressure on President Donald Trump‘s cryptocurrency ventures this week and the fortune that he and his family are making off the efforts as a vote rolls forward on a key crypto bill.

Thursday’s vote on the GENIUS ACT, a bill to establish federal rules for stablecoins, will be a test of how far the crypto lobby‘s influence goes after it heavily backed Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Even with limited power, Democrats are calling for probes into Trump-connected coins and backers, seeking financial records and blocking legislation.

On Capitol Hill Tuesday morning, California Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, walked out of a hearing on digital asset allocation flanked by fellow Democrats, effectively shutting it down.

That same morning, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent letters announcing an initial inquiry into the Trump family’s expanding crypto empire, calling the Trump meme coin dinner contest a “pay-for-play scheme.”

Blumenthal, the ranking member of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, demanded records from Fight Fight Fight LLC. — the company behind the $TRUMP meme coin — and World Liberty Financial, a family-run crypto venture that recently announced plans to launch a stablecoin.

He called for documentation on ownership, revenue flows, and all communications with the White House, citing what he described as “unprecedented conflicts of interest and national security risks.”

Last month, the project ran a promotion offering top $TRUMP holders a dinner with the president and a “VIP White House tour,” a promise that sent the token’s price soaring after weeks of decline.

“President Trump’s financial entanglements to the $TRUMP coin, as well as the attempted use of the White House to host competitions to prop up the value of $TRUMP, represents an unprecedented, pay-to-play scheme to provide access to the Presidency to the highest bidder,” Blumenthal wrote.

Roughly 80% of the $TRUMP token supply is controlled by the Trump Organization and affiliates, according to the project’s website.

One of Blumenthal’s letters was addressed to Bill Zanker, the entrepreneur behind Fight Fight Fight, which controls a large portion of the $TRUMP token supply.

With the White House and both chambers of Congress controlled by Republicans, Democrats have little ability to push a legislative agenda or to lead investigations into potential malfeasance. But they’re betting that a coordinated effort to call out what they view as corruption in a formerly niche corner of the financial markets will resonate with a voter base that’s already souring on the president’s economic policies.

Top House Democrat Maxine Waters blocks crypto legislation hearing: CNBC Crypto World

The White House responded to Blumenthal’s inquiry with a short statement from Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly to CNBC’s “Crypto World.”

“President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest,” she wrote.

Waters on Tuesday convened a Democrat-only session focused squarely on Trump’s meme coin and World Liberty Financial. Her decision to derail the primary hearing came after Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., chair of the House Financial Services Committee, rejected her request to include provisions in the Digital Asset Market Structure Bill aimed at blocking Trump from further profiting off digital assets while in office.

“I object to this joint hearing because of the corruption of the president of the United States — and his ownership of crypto and his oversight of all the agencies,” Waters said.

Kelly responded to Waters, saying that Trump was working to make America the “crypto capital of the world.”

‘Cultivate influence’

Waters introduced a discussion draft that would ban the president and members of Congress from owning crypto assets or financially benefiting from them.

In the Senate, Democrats on Tuesday unveiled the “End Crypto Corruption Act,” spearheaded by Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Chuck Schumer of New York, meant to prohibit elected officials and senior executive branch personnel and their families from issuing or endorsing digital assets.

“Currently, people who wish to cultivate influence with the president can enrich him personally by buying cryptocurrency he owns or controls,” Merkley said. “This is a profoundly corrupt scheme. It endangers our national security and erodes public trust in government.”

“Our democracy shouldn’t be for sale,” said Schumer, the Senate minority leader.

The bill has already garnered backing from key Senate Democrats and endorsements from watchdog groups including Public Citizen and Democracy Defenders Action.

Merkley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent a letter this week to the Office of Government Ethics, demanding an urgent review of a reported deal between World Liberty Financial, crypto exchange Binance and a UAE state-backed fund called MGX. The senators warned that the deal could represent a “staggering conflict of interest,” violate federal bribery laws and raise national security concerns.

Abu Dhabi-based MGX is using the Trump stablecoin for a $2 billion investment in Binance, Reuters reported.

Warren also sent a letter to the OGE questioning a White House waiver granted to David Sacks, the White House AI and crypto czar.

Sacks, a venture capitalist who co-hosted a $1.5 million-a-head fundraiser this week for a Trump-aligned super PAC, reportedly splits his time between advising the president on crypto policy and running a firm with active investments in the digital asset space.

Under federal ethics law, such financial entanglements would typically bar him from shaping policy in the same sector.

Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC Pro

But the Trump administration issued an ethics waiver asserting that Sacks’ holdings were “not so substantial” as to compromise his judgment — a claim Warren called unverifiable. In her letter, Warren demanded clarity from the OGE on whether it reviewed the waiver and whether Sacks still holds crypto-related financial interests that pose a conflict of interest.

Sacks said he sold over $200 million worth of digital asset-related investments personally and through his firm, Craft Ventures, before starting the job, according to a memo from the White House in March.

Legislation is becoming harder

Chris Dixon, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, discusses cryptocurrency during the TechCrunch Disrupt forum in San Francisco, October 2, 2019.

Kate Munsch | Reuters

The crypto industry is lobbying to push it forward.

“The GENIUS Act will protect consumers and increase transparency — a significant improvement on the status quo,” said Chris Dixon, managing partner in Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto practice, in a post on X. “Moving quickly on this and a market structure bill would provide long-overdue clarity for consumers and the industry so that we entrench dollar dominance and the U.S. remains the leader in blockchain technology.”

Stripe, which recently acquired stablecoin infrastructure startup Bridge Network for $1.1 billion, has also backed the bill. The company said as part of a press release on Tuesday that it “supports the development of a clear, consistent regulatory framework for stablecoins and welcomes the growing bipartisan interest in this issue.”

WATCH: Jack Mallers looks to rival Strategy with new bitcoin company backed by Tether and SoftBank

Jack Mallers looks to rival Strategy with new bitcoin company backed by Tether and SoftBank

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Home charging rules as global EV ports soar to 206 million by 2040

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Home charging rules as global EV ports soar to 206 million by 2040

Global EV charging is about to see a massive buildout. According to Wood Mackenzie’s recent Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Forecast, the number of global EV charging ports is expected to climb at a 12.3% compound annual growth rate between 2026 and 2040, hitting 206.6 million by the end of that period.

Home charging leads the way

Residential charging will continue to be the backbone of the market, with 133 million ports installed globally by 2040. To support that growth, annual spending on EV charging infrastructure will rise steadily at 8% a year, reaching $300 billion by 2040.

“Residential Level 2 charging dominates the global market and will make up about 2 out of every 3 charging ports worldwide through 2050,” said Emil Koenig, senior research analyst at Wood Mackenzie. “Its appeal comes from the balance of convenience, performance, and value that resonates most strongly with EV owners.”

Public charging will also expand, but at a more measured pace compared to home setups. “As utilization in public charging increases and infrastructure efficiency improves, we expect the ratio of EVs to public chargers to rise from 7.5 battery electric vehicles per charger in 2025 to 14.2 in 2040,” said Oliver McHugh, Wood Mackenzie’s senior EV charging research analyst.

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Asia-Pacific dominates, with India rising fast

China continues to lead the global pack in public charging infrastructure, and Asia-Pacific overall is forecast to see around 10% annual growth in DC fast charging from 2025 through 2040. By then, public Level 3 and residential Level 2 charging will represent the largest annual capital spending in the region, at $54 billion and $33 billion, respectively.

India is emerging as a fast-growing market. The country’s DC fast charger network is projected to skyrocket from just 14,000 today to 1.1 million by 2040, thanks to strong government policies and rapid EV adoption.

The Americas keep pace

Despite challenges, the US public fast-charging market is expected to grow at a healthy 14% annual clip, reaching 475,000 ports by 2040 and generating $3.3 billion in annual market value. South America will also ramp up quickly – residential charging in the region is projected to grow at 22% annually as EV adoption accelerates. Residential Level 2 charging will dominate, with $11.2 billion in spending by 2040.

Europe and the Middle East surge

Europe’s public charging infrastructure is on track for 11.3% annual growth through 2040, with DC fast chargers expanding even faster at 13.7%. Residential charging will hit 57 million AC chargers, while commercial charging grows at 12% annually.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as a standout player in the Middle East. The kingdom’s public DC charging segment is forecast to soar at 29% annual growth, supported by aggressive government targets. By 2040, the entire EMEA region will be spending $14 billion each year on public charging and $30 billion on residential charging.

Read more: The US added 4,200 new DC fast charging ports, and that’s just Q2


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Tesla (TSLA) insiders have sold more than 50% of their shares in the last year

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Tesla (TSLA) insiders have sold more than 50% of their shares in the last year

Tesla insiders have been unloading their shares at an impressive rate. Excluding CEO Elon Musk, Tesla executives and board members have sold more than 50% of their TSLA shares over the last year.

And that might only be part of the story.

Public companies are required to report insider trading by key executives and board members.

In recent years, Tesla’s number of key executives has dwindled to now only three:

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  • Elon Musk
  • Tom Zhu
  • Vaibhav Taneja

Here’s Tesla’s corporate governance page on its investor relations website:

That’s partly due to several of them leaving in the last year, including Drew Baglino, who was the de facto head of engineering and was listed as a key executive before leaving last year.

It’s also because Musk is known to micro-manage, resulting in him having many direct reports who would generally go through other department heads.

The result is that only two Tesla executives, in addition to Musk, who would have to report his transactions even if he weren’t CEO, since he owns more than 10% of the company, are required to report their stock transactions.

Based on Tesla’s 2024 proxy statement, here were the insider ownership last year:

TSLA Insider Ownership Total Shares Options
Elon Musk 715,022,706 303,960,630 411,062,076
Vaibhav Taneja 1,063,544 105,032 958,512
Andrew Baglino 1,218,669 31,230 1,187,439
Tom Zhu 1,996,983 63,171 1,933,812
Robyn Denholm 1,490,069 15,000 1,475,069
Ira Ehrenpreis 1,681,005 1,571,005 110,000
Joe Gebbia 111 111 0
James Murdoch 1,427,295 157,275 1,270,020
Kimbal Musk 1,950,470 1,608,720 341,750
Kathleen Wilson‑Thompson 771,255 5,400 765,855
TOTAL 726,622,107 307,517,574 419,104,533
TOTAL Excl. Elon Musk 11,599,401 3,556,944 8,042,457

Now here’s the ownership of Tesla shares and options from insiders based on the 2025 proxy statement:

Name Total Shares Options As‑of (filing)
Elon Musk 714,754,706 410,794,076 303,960,630 12/31/2024 (10‑K/A filed 4/30/2025)
Vaibhav Taneja 830,844 116,924 713,920 7/8/2025
Andrew Baglino 520,005 31,230 488,775 4/1/2024 (latest)
Tom Zhu 348,250 67,600 280,650 6/12/2025
Robyn Denholm 85,000 85,000 0 5/6/2025
Ira Ehrenpreis 855,394 855,394 0 5/27/2025
Joe Gebbia 4,111 4,111 0 4/24/2025
James Murdoch 1,282,519 884,306 398,213 3/10/2025
Kimbal Musk 1,463,220 1,463,220 0 5/27/2025
Kathleen Wilson‑Thompson 5,400 5,400 0 5/1/2025 (options canceled)
TOTAL (sum of listed rows) 720,149,449 414,307,261 305,842,188
TOTAL excl. Elon Musk 5,394,743 3,513,185 1,881,558

As you can see, excluding Musk, Tesla insiders sold more than half their shares in the company over the last year.

To be fair, some of those changes also include cancellations of stock options for board members, who settled a shareholders’ lawsuit for having overcompensated themselves.

However, it doesn’t account for the reduction in ownership of more than 6 million shares and stock options, worth approximately $2 billion at today’s share price.

There are also some specific examples of non-board members liquidating their stakes.

Tom Zhu, who has led Tesla’s manufacturing efforts and was at times seen as Musk’s number 2 at Tesla, reduced his stake by 82% in a single year.

This happened while Musk claimed that Tesla will become the most valuable company in the world and roughly 10x its current stock price due to autonomous driving and robots, a claim most unbiased analysts have been highly skeptical about.

Electrek’s Take

More than 50% reduction in ownership in a single year is wild.

But as I hinted at the beginning of the article, this is only what we can see. Other Tesla execs, managers, and employees also have shares and stock options, and they could potentially be selling at an even higher rate. We simply don’t know.

The single reporting person to have bought shares is Joe Gebbia, who only bought about $1 million worth, and he is a multi-billionaire. It would be the equivalent of me buying a few hundred dollars’ worth of Electrek shares – not a great show of confidence in my company.

I’m not in the business of predicting Tesla’s share price. I think it trades mainly on gullible Tesla retail shareholders believing Musk’s lies.

But I believe that Tesla will likely face several challenging quarters in the next few years and may even start incurring losses. I think many executives also see this coming and don’t believe that autonomy and humanoid robots will have a positive financial contribution for a few years, as Musk claims.

Meanwhile, Tesla’s EV business is struggling, and there’s little hope of reversing the trend without fresh new models and innovation – the pace of which appears to have greatly slowed at Tesla, unfortunately.

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BMW’s next big SUV is gunning for the top dogs, but will it go electric?

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BMW's next big SUV is gunning for the top dogs, but will it go electric?

BMW is tired of missing out, as the Mercedes G-Wagon gets all the attention. That’s why it’s building its own luxury off-roader. BMW’s upcoming flagship SUV may even arrive as an EV.

Will BMW’s off-road luxury SUV launch as an EV?

The new full-size SUV, codenamed G74, will go head-to-head with the Mercedes G-Class and other luxury off-roaders like the Land Rover Defender.

Multiple reports claim it will be built in the US at BMW’s Spartanburg, SC plant, alongside the X5, X6, and X7. A senior BMW official confirmed the rumors, telling Autocar that work on the upcoming flagship SUV is well underway.

“We’re aware of the market potential,” the company official said, adding, “It’s more than just discussions. We have been planning this for a while.”

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Although BMW is keeping most details secret for now, we do know it will be gas-powered. The company official explained that the new SUV “will definitely need an internal combustion engine.”

It’s expected to ride on a modified version of its CLAR platform, which underpins the X5. The chassis will pull elements from its larger SUVs, like the X7, including air suspension, advanced four-wheel drive, and much more, to enhance on and off-road road performance.

BMW-new-SUV-EV
A new BMW iX3 prototype during road testing (Source: BMW)

It’s set for production in the US from 2029. Will BMW also offer an electric version? Don’t rule one out just yet. BMW officials are considering an electric version that would compete with the growing list of luxury off-road EVs coming from China, including BYD’s Yangwang U8 and the GWM Tank 700.

BYD-ultra-luxury-EV-Europe
BYD Yangwang U8L (Source: Yangwang)

With several other luxury electric SUVs hitting the market, including the Rivian R1S and upcoming Volkswagen Scout Traveler, BMW may look to defend sales in the US, its second-largest market behind China.

Inside, the new flagship model will feature better quality materials and equipment than the current range-topping vehicles, the BMW official told Autocar.

BMW’s new off-road SUV will likely pull most other elements from its upcoming Neue Klasse models, so why not launch an EV variant?

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