Juiced Bikes has launched a Friends and Family sales promotion through April 8 that is taking 10% off most e-bikes and accessories when using the promo code FRIENDS at checkout. The most affordable model amongst the company’s lineup is the RipRacer Fun-Sized Fat-Tire e-bike for $1,169.10 shipped, after using the promo code. Already down from its regular $1,499 price tag, this e-bike was featured in many holiday and flash sales throughout 2023, often landing between $1,099 and $999 – with the occasional drop lower to $899 or the once-seen $849 low. Today’s deal comes in as a combined 22% markdown off the going rate and lands among some of the lowest prices we have tracked.
The RipRacer e-bike comes in three colorways (blue, green, and black) and is equipped with a 750W motor and an upgraded G2 52V lithium-ion battery allowing it to reach top speeds of 20 to 28 MPH depending on your throttle and pedal assist usage, while also offering a range of 35 to 55+ miles. It features five levels of pedal assistance alongside a standard cadence sensor. You’ll also receive a more humble collection of accessories than some of the brand’s other models like hydaulic disc brakes, a 1,050-lumen headlight paired with a 2-mode taillight, knobby fat-tires for smoother off-road joyrides, and a back-lit LCD display that keeps you informed of real-time metrics as well as allowing you to adjust riding settings.
AeroGarden Harvest XL Indoor Garden is now $112
Amazon is offering the AeroGarden Harvest XL Indoor Garden with Gourmet Herbs Seed Pod Kit for $112 shipped. Down from $140, this device originally began with a $250 MSRP, which it fell from to the new $140 list price just before the start of 2024. It spent 2023 in a constant state of rising and falling between its old price tag and a $122 low – which it only hit during Black Friday sales. Today’s deal comes in as a 20% markdown off the new going rate (55% off its original MSRP) and lands as a new all-time low.
This indoor hydroponic gardening system grows your favorite vegetables, herbs, or flowers in water without the mess of soil using a spacious grow deck and water bowl allowing up to six different live plants at once, all able to grow to 18 inches tall. With its full spectrum 25W LED grow light, which includes an automatic on/off timer to mimic natural sunlight helping plants germinate up to 5x faster than in soil. It even has a touch-sensitive illuminated control panel that reminds you when to add water and plant food. It includes the Gourmet Herb Seed Pod kit for growing Genovese Basil, Curly Parsley, Dill, Thyme, Thai Basil, and Mint.
More AeroGarden hydroponic system discounts:
Greenworks 80V electric string trimmer hits $175
Best Buy is offering the Greenworks 80V 16-inch Cordless Electric String Trimmer with 2.0Ah battery for $174.99 shipped through the rest of the day. Down from a $250 price tag, it has seen very few discounts over the last year, mainly seeing price cuts during major sales events like early Black Friday sales, which only hit a $150 annual low. Today’s deal comes in as a 30% markdown off the going rate and lands at the second-lowest price we have tracked in the last year. It even beats out Greenwork’s website where it is sitting at a much higher MSRP of $350.
This string trimmer is equipped with a brushless motor, and working alongside a 2.0Ah battery you’ll get a 50-minute lifespan on a single 40-minute charge – ideal for yards up to 1/2-acre in size. It has a 16-inch cutting swath with variable speed control for easier handling and a Load N’ Go trimmer head for easier spool rewinds. It also features load-sensing technology that can automatically increase its power output when dealing with thicker-than-average brush so it never gets bogged down. Head below for more.
The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.
US coal giant Peabody and Germany’s RWE are teaming up to develop 5.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar and energy storage projects on former mining land in the Midwest.
It’s an unlikely but strategic partnership: RWE is one of the world’s leading renewable energy developers, while Peabody was once the largest private-sector coal company in the world.
RWE is buying into R3 Renewables, a joint venture that Peabody launched alongside Summit Partners Credit Advisors and Riverstone Credit Partners. With this move, RWE is acquiring Summit and Riverstone’s stakes and taking a majority position, while Peabody will hold on to a 25% equity interest. The projects are spread across Indiana and Illinois, focusing on large-scale solar and energy storage on land that Peabody previously mined for coal.
The plan is to develop 10 projects totaling 5.5 GW. RWE will take over seven of these projects, while the remaining three will continue under a joint venture with Peabody. If all goes to plan, these projects could generate enough electricity to power more than 850,000 homes.
For Peabody, which has faced growing pressure to pivot as the world transitions away from fossil fuels, the partnership is part of a broader effort to create value from its reclaimed mining sites. Jim Grech, Peabody’s CEO, says the partnership with RWE marks “significant added momentum” for their renewable energy initiatives.
RWE sees this as a big opportunity to expand in the US Midwest. Andrew Flanagan, CEO of RWE Clean Energy, called the partnership “an exciting opportunity to invest in rural regions of Indiana and Illinois,” promising economic development through construction jobs, investment, and community benefits. The plan aims to support the energy transition while ensuring that communities historically tied to coal still see benefits – this time from clean energy.
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Investors weren’t able to do all that much with it besides buy and hold it. But that was precisely why the world’s largest cryptocurrency was valuable.
It was a commodity, like gold — or corn. It didn’t get too fancy on its offerings. In fact, bitcoin’s core team of developers has intentionally moved as slowly as possible on everything that touches the base blockchain specifically to avoid breaking things. That’s why many of crypto’s more cavalier coders headed to other blockchains to tinker and do things like build decentralized applications.
The approach worked. Traders poured their money into bitcoin not just because it was the OG coin but also because the network was robust and reliable, and they knew what they were getting. As solanareported hack after hack, bitcoin didn’t really change. The asset was volatile, but aside from a major system upgrade that took four years to design and green-light, bitcoin kept its status as the world’s biggest cryptocurrency by market cap by sticking to the status quo.
But times are changing for the original coin.
Developers are increasingly building on bitcoin’s base blockchain in unexpected ways. Wall Street is also decking the coin out with all its familiar trappings such as exchange-traded fund wrappers and allowing traders to hedge positions and make leveraged bets.
In January, spot bitcoin ETFs began trading, which opened the door to more mainstream investors. Last week, options on those spot crypto products finally started to go live on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange. CBOE Global Markets is also set to list its first cash-settled bitcoin ETF options Dec. 2.
Creating this new margin framework around bitcoin means that both retail traders and institutions alike will be able to get more exposure to the asset class relative to how much cash they’re investing.
New ways to bet on bitcoin
Collectively, the U.S.-issued spot bitcoin funds hold north of $100 billion in assets under management. Last week, they notched their largest weekly inflows on record, totaling more than $3.1 billion. And according to CoinShares, year-to-date net flows are up to $37 billion versus U.S. Gold ETFs, which drew around $309 million in their first year.
Nearly half of those flows into the spot bitcoin products took place after U.S. interest rates were cut for the first time in four years in September.
Vetle Lunde, head of research at K33 Research, told CNBC there has been record high open interest for futures on the CME derivatives exchange, the way most U.S. institutions currently buy bitcoin futures contracts. But a lot of traders have been waiting for options on spot bitcoin ETFs on major exchanges such as the NYSE and Nasdaq, since it enhances liquidity and offers hedging tools.
Lunde says that demand for leveraged long exposure to bitcoin and ether is climbing, with VolatilityShares’ BTC exposure hitting new all-time highs.
Galaxy Digital’s trading team told CNBC the firm has observed significant volume in BlackRock’s IBIT ETF options, the first to launch on the Nasdaq last week. BlackRock is the largest digital asset manager in the world after it eclipsed Grayscale in August. BlackRock’s bitcoin trust IBIT holds $48.4 billion in bitcoin compared with the $34 billion in its gold trust.
Options on IBIT had a blockbuster debut, with 353,716 contracts traded on its first day, according to Galaxy Digital. The firm noted that the previous most active debut of options trading was when Facebook options went live in 2012 and 360,000 contracts changed hands.
Galaxy sees notable trading activity extending out to January 2027, roughly halfway into Donald Trump’s administration. On the campaign trail, the president-elect had an about-face on bitcoin and went from criticizing digital assets to making big promises to the crypto industry. Bitcoin is up roughly 40% since Election Day, Nov. 5.
“This level of concentrated, long-dated activity reflects investor confidence in the ETF’s long-term growth potential, signaling bullish sentiment for the years ahead,” Galaxy’s trading team told CNBC.
Until now, offshore crypto native platforms such as Binance and Deribit have been the main marketplace for bitcoin derivatives trading. Galaxy told CNBC there is a noticeable volatility premium between Deribit, CME and IBIT, which could present arbitrage opportunities among the varying platforms offering derivatives trading.
On Friday, more than $9 billion in bitcoin options contracts expire on Deribit, which could lead to greater price volatility as the expiration date approaches.
“There’s a ton of leverage in the system right now,” Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, a longtime crypto investor, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday.
“You look at the funding rates to do crypto in our market, right? The perpetual market, as high as they’ve been, the basis is high,” Novogratz said. “The crypto community is levered to the gills, and so there will be a correction.”
Bitcoin was within striking distance of $100,000 on Friday but retrenched over the weekend. The cryptocurrency is currently trading at around $95,000.
Although President-Elect Donald Trump is promising to end the $7,500 EV tax credit, Hyundai is confident it will continue growing in the US. The company just opened a massive new $7.6 billion manufacturing plant in Georgia as it looks to grab a bigger share of the US market.
A Reuters report earlier this month claiming Trump’s transition team is planning to end the $7,500 federal EV tax credit is causing US automakers to brace for the potential major impacts.
Although US market leader Tesla reportedly supports the move, Hyundai Motor, including Kia, is preparing for any outcome.
“Hyundai did not build our [US] investment plan based on incentives; the plan was even made before Trump’s [first] term,” Hyundai’s newly elected CEO, Jose Munoz, said at the LA Auto Show last week.
In an interview with Korean media at the event (via Korea JongAng Daily), Munoz said, “If the Inflation Reduction Act goes out, it goes out for everybody, and we can even do better.” Although Hyundai’s EVs currently don’t qualify for the full $7,500 credit, like some US rivals, the company is still gaining market share.
“Competitors like Tesla step by step are losing market share and we continue to increase our share,” Hyundai’s current global chief operating officer explained.
Hyundai to remain flexible if Trump ends the EV tax credit
Hyundai opened its massive new $7.6 billion manufacturing plant in Georgia last month. The first vehicle that rolled off the assembly line was the new US-made 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5. Hyundai upgraded its top-selling EV with more range, features, and a sleek new design. It also comes with an NACS port to charge at Tesla Superchargers.
Last week, the company also unveiled its first three-row electric SUV, the IONIQ 9, which will also be built at the facility.
However, until the battery unit opens next year, Hyundai’s US-built EVs qualify for a partial $3,750 credit. Until then, Hyundai is passing on the full $7,500 for leases.
Hyundai fast-tracked production to level the playing field in the US, its most important market. With Trump reportedly planning to end subsidies, Hyundai’s new CEO said the company will remain flexible.
“We will not only produce EVs but also hybrids and extended-range EVs at our plants, and therefore, the key for us is flexibility and then being able to adjust to what the customers want,” Munoz told reporters.
As the US is expected to pull back, China’s EV market continues surging. China became the first country to build over 10 million new energy vehicles (EVs and PHEVs) in a single year.
EV leaders, like BYD, are looking overseas to drive growth as a wave of low-cost rivals is hitting China. As sales continue surging, BYD is quickly catching up to Ford in global deliveries.
Munoz said, “China is a big threat,” but he believes Hyundai can compete with “technological prowess” and “quality.”
“A lot of consumers, when they buy Chinese products, they realize maybe the quality is not as good as others,” Hyundai leaders explained. That’s where Hyundai wants to “elevate our game in terms of providing not only the best quality but also the best services to our customers.”
Hyundai Motor, including Kia and Genesis, is outpacing Ford and GM as the second-largest seller of EVs in the US through September. With US production kicking off, Hyundai aims to solidify its spot in the US auto market.
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