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Oil prices slipped on Friday on the possibility of a nearing Gaza ceasefire that could ease geopolitical concerns in the Middle East, while a stronger dollar and faltering U.S. gasoline demand also weighed on prices.

Olga Rolenko | Moment | Getty Images

U.S. crude oil dropped for the third consecutive trading session on Wednesday, dipping below $85 a barrel as the market dismissed the risk of a wider war between Israel and Iran that could disrupt supplies.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for May delivery declined 46 cents, or 0.55%, to $84.89 a barrel. June Brent futures were down 51 cents, or 0.57%, at $89.51 a barrel. U.S. oil and the global benchmark are down just under 1% this week.

“Oil prices go about their business of unwinding some of the war premium that has been priced-in due to the continuing tensions surrounding the Gaza conflict and the subsequent Iranian missile onslaught on Israel,” John Evans, an analyst at oil broker PVM, wrote in a note Wednesday.

Oil Prices, Energy News and Analysis

“It is hard to imagine that ‘cooler heads prevail’ can be associated with this eons-long strife, but thus far Israel has adhered to the international calls of showing restraint,” Evans said.

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Wednesday that “it’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act” against Iran.

“We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible,” Cameron told reporters in Jerusalem before meeting with Israeli officials.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned Wednesday that a counterattack by Israel would be met with a “massive and harsh” response.

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Aventon e-bikes $300 off with extra batteries starting from $799, ECOFLOW power station sale, Juiced takes $200 off all e-bikes, more

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May 21, 2024

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aventon ramblas

We’ve got another day of Memorial Day sales – this time giving you quality e-bikes at affordable rates alongside backup and off-grid power options ahead of Summer. Headlining these Green Deals is the Aventon Memorial Day sale that is taking up to $300 off a large selection of e-bikes and also giving away free extra batteries, starting from $799. It is joined by ECOFLOW’s sale that will save you thousands on power stations, bundles, and accessories – with plenty of extra savings opportunities as well. Then there’s Juiced Bikes taking an additional $200 off ALL its models – including JetCurrent Pro pre-orders – starting from $1,449. Plus, all the other hangover Green Deals that are still alive and well.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Aventon has launched its Memorial Day sale through May 28 that is taking up to $300 off a selection of e-bike models, with some even receiving a free extra battery as well, valued at $500. A notable standout is the very first post-launch discount on the new Ramblas Electric Mountain Bike for $2,399 shipped. Dropping from its $2,699 price tag, we saw it first arrive onto the scene with a minor $75 price cut back in February. Today’s deal comes in to give you a solid $300 in savings and marks a new all-time low going forward. Keep in mind, though, that this is one of the two models (alongside the Soltera.2) that doesn’t benefit from a free extra battery. You can learn more about this e-bike by heading below or reading through our announcement coverage over at Electrek.

The Ramblas eMTB is one of the most comprehensive models we’ve seen come out of Aventon’s think tanks, with its surprising 250W mid-drive motor (with a 750W peak power) that works alongside the 36V battery in order to reach top speeds of 20 MPH for a massive 80-mile range on a single charge. Whether you plan on traversing the mountain trails or cruise through your neighborhood’s streets, you’ll have far more options when it comes to its pedal assistance system: 15 levels made up of 3 profiles (eco, trail, turbo), each with five levels. You’ll also be getting a level up in terms of features, with a variety that includes SRAM NX Eagle 12-speed drivetrain, 4-piston SRAM hydraulic disc brakes, a KS dropper seat post, a RockShox 35 fork, LED lighting built into the chainstays for rear visibility, and a full color display that gives you real-time performance data and setting adjustment options.

Save thousands on ECOFLOW power stations, bundles, and accessories

As part of its early Memorial Day sales, the official ECOFLOW Amazon storefront is offering its DELTA 2 Portable Power Station for $599 shipped. Normally fetching $999, this unit has kept above $600 since the start of the new year, often to either its $649 or $629 rates. Today’s deal, though, comes in to finally take things further in 2024, bringing down costs by 40% and landing it at the third-lowest price we have tracked – just $54 above the all-time low from 2023’s Black Friday sales. You’ll also find a few discounted bundle options as well, with the power station including a 220W solar panel for $879 (down from $1,649), or you can grab it with two 220W solar panels for $1,299 (down from $1,899), or double its capacity with a smart extra battery for $1,098 (down from $1,698). You might also notice that with the bundles (as well as some of the other offers that are in the curated list below), you can redeem the on-page coupon for an additional 12% off on orders over $2,000 or more.

Summer excursions are being prepped for (yours truly will be going out to Bear Mountain for a weekend soon) and the DELTA 2 would surely be a wonderful addition to campsite needs – or even for emergency backup power options (I grew up in tornado country and storm surges/power outages are far less stressful when everything is not dependent on candlelight).

You’ll get a 1,024Wh capacity (2,048Wh with the extra battery) that can be further expanded up to 3,000Wh. When paired alongside a single 220W solar panel, this unit can fully recharge in up to six hours and its IP68 rating ensures protection against water, dust, and debris when dealing with the wilds of the world. You’ll be able to monitor and control the DELTA 2’s settings in real-time on the EcoFlow app via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It also offers 15 port options to cover all your appliance and device charging needs: six ACs, four USB-As, two USB-Cs, and three DCs. Head below to read more.

ECOFLOW power station discounts:

ECOFLOW bundle discounts:

ECOFLOW accessory discounts:

Juiced Bikes JetCurrent Pro Foldable e-bike with post for Aventon e-bikes

Juiced Bikes takes additional $200 off all e-bikes

Juiced Bikes has kicked off its Memorial Day sales with a $200 price cut on all e-bikes under the brand’s sun by using the promo code HONOR at checkout, through May 28. A notable inclusion is on pre-orders for the new JetCurrent Pro Foldable e-bike for $2,099 shipped, after using the promo code. We saw its pre-order deal launch at the top of April, dropping costs from its $2,799 MSRP to $2,499, with the company bringing things down further to $2,299 between its launch and Mother’s Day sales. Today’s deal ultimately gives you $700 in savings off this new model and marks a new all-time low. Shipping on this model will begin in June, so this is likely the lowest price we’ll see until later on after its officially released.

The all-new JetCurrent Pro Foldable e-bike comes in four colorways (purple haze, indigo blue, desert tan, and black) and is equipped with a supercharged 1,200W NeoBlade Motor (2,000W peak) alongside a 52V battery that carries it up to 34 MPH for up to 70 miles on a single charge. It has five levels of pedal assistance that are monitored by joint torque and cadence sensors, as well as a throttle when you just want to cruise, and extra functions like an active cruise control that can be set at any speed below 20 MPH and a race track mode for the most aggressive settings where the e-bike does not electronically limit its speed (at the cost of mileage).

It also comes with a variety of features that truly set this model apart from all the e-bikes that came before it. You’ll find a powerful 1,050-lumen Shadowblaster headlight, front and rear turn signals, a brake light, knobby 4-inch tires with fenders over each, a rear cargo rack, 4-piston hydraulic brakes, a folding mirror, an “automotive-grade horn,” and a backlit LCD display that gives you real-time performance data while also allowing you to customize its performance settings – plus it has a USB port to charge your devices as you ride. Its most noticeable feature, however, is being the first foldable e-bike among Juiced’s lineup, making transport and storage far easier when it’s not in use.

Spring e-bike deals!

Anker PowerCore Reserve 60,000mAh power station being carried towards car with open door, within post for Aventon e-bikes

Other new Green Deals landing this week

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.

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Volvo CE brings mobile charging to the construction job site

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May 21, 2024

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Volvo CE brings mobile charging to the construction job site

Volvo CE and partners announce new mobile charging solutions for electric equipment

Volvo CE and Penta revealed two new mobile charging solutions for North American construction fleets at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Las Vegas.

Volvo CE unveiled two Volvo-branded mobile charging units at a press conference held last night, calling them the next logical step towards full job site electrification.

“We all have a common goal to revolutionize the landscape of sustainable technology within the heavy equipment sector,” said Dr. Ray Gallant, Vice President — Sustainability and Productivity Services at Volvo CE. “Collaborating on these products allows us to make significant steps forward in the adoptability of electric machines.”

The first mobile charger, PU750, is a mobile DC fast charging solution developed to be an ideal solution for fast-charging larger equipment onsite without the need for a converter. The portable power unit (hence, “PU”) packs 750 usable kWh into a towable chassis that can fully charge the batteries in a machine like the Volvo EC230 Electric excavator from 0-100% three times before needing to be recharged itself.

Volvo PU quick specs

Volvo CE mobile charger quick specs; via Volvo CE.

When the PU750 does need charging, it can be managed using the grid interactive UIG power system. That enables the battery-hauling rig to maximize available AC power while tracking multiple assets simultaneously, all managed and visualized within the GridSure platform to make vehicle and charging power management clear to the fleet manager.

“We teamed up with UIG last year because of their expertise in integrating multiple assets to maximize on- and off-grid charging possibilities,” said Darren Tasker, Vice President Industrial, Volvo Penta North America. “Weaving our Volvo CE teammates into the partnership was always the plan, and it’s exciting to see what has come of this relationship so quickly.”

Volvo PU130 mobile AC charger

Volvo mobile AC charging solution; via Volvo CE.

On the AC side of the equation, the new Volvo PU130 is a portable Level 2 charger, designed for more compact machines (like the ECR25 Electric we first covered last April).

Volvo co-developed the PU130 with Portable Electric, and used its proprietary 48-volt technology, the PU130 provides the ability to charge equipment in less than an hour with 130 kWh of energy storage capacity and a 20 kW charge rate, while simultaneously providing up to 40 kW of onsite power to run portable offices or other buildings.

Volvo says the mobile chargers are further proof of the OEM’s commitment to providing the best solutions possible to make carbon reduction in the construction industry a reality. “Battery electric equipment is not feasible for every job site or application, but its use cases continue to grow,” said Dr. Gallant. “As long as owners and operators are making an effort to reduce emissions in whatever way they can, that is forward progress.”

Electrek’s Take

Volvo’s press events at ACT Expo always bring something exciting and, more importantly, useful to the table – and these mobile chargers are no exception.

As fleets are forced to electrify through a combination of legislation, environmental requirements, noise regulations, customer ESG goals, and volatile fuel costs, the need to get usable power to where work is being done becomes a critical variable for fleets to solve for. Solutions like this will help some fleets electrify sooner than later, and that’s why we’re all here.

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Uniswap fights back against SEC as the Ethereum crackdown continues

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May 21, 2024

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Uniswap fights back against SEC as the Ethereum crackdown continues

Here's why DeFi platforms using Ethereum are facing SEC scrutiny

For years, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been cracking down on the crypto sector writ large, but in the last few months, the agency appears to have trained its sights on Ethereum, in particular. Some of the biggest names in decentralized finance are now fighting back.

In a 40-page filing on Tuesday, Uniswap Labs — which builds decentralized finance infrastructure including a popular DeFi crypto exchange that enables users to custody their own coins — details to the SEC all the reasons why the agency shouldn’t pursue legal action against them. It comes a few weeks after the commission issued Uniswap a Wells notice, warning the company that it identified potential violations of U.S. securities law.

“The SEC’s entire case rests on the false assumption that all tokens are securities. Tokens are in fact, simply a file format for value,” said Uniswap’s chief legal officer Marvin Ammori.

“The SEC has to essentially unilaterally change the definitions of exchange, broker, and investment contract in order to try to capture what we do,“ continued Ammori.

A Wells notice is typically one of the final steps before the SEC formally issues charges. It generally lays out the framework of the regulatory argument and offers the potentially accused an opportunity to rebut the SEC’s claims.

So far this year, the federal regulator has sent Wells notices, filed lawsuits, or reached settlements with a host of crypto firms, and the agency’s legal challenges are increasingly focused on ethereum and players working in decentralized finance, including ShapeShift, TradeStation, Uniswap and Consensys. It also comes as the agency is reportedly investigating the Ethereum Foundation.

CNBC reached out to the SEC about the recent batch of Wells notices sent out to crypto firms, and an agency spokesperson declined to comment.

In April, Consensys tried to preempt the SEC’s action with its own lawsuit, alleging regulatory overreach on the part of the regulator. The 10-year-old crypto firm said its suit followed three subpoenas issued last year, plus a Wells notice from the SEC that claimed the company was violating federal securities laws.

“This action is about the almost certainty that we hold that the SEC is trying to slow or kill ethereum, decentralization, disintermediation, and disintermediated technology in the U.S. and probably wouldn’t stop there with its long arm,” said long-time ethereum veteran Joseph Lubin, who went from co-founding the blockchain to launching and running Consensys.

“It might influence other nation states to do similarly draconian things,” continued Lubin.

Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC Pro

Security vs. commodity

The recent spate of actions targeting major names working in the Ethereum ecosystem come ahead of a long-awaited decision on whether the regulator will approve or deny applications to launch spot ether exchange-traded funds.

To date, the agency’s stance on ether’s classification as either a commodity or a security remains uncertain.

“We think big banks like the way things are organized. We think certain factions of the U.S. government like the way they operate,” said Lubin. “Without explicitly stating their intentions, without public discussion and clear rule-making, the SEC seems to have decided to reclassify ether as a security without being able to utter that that’s what they’re doing.”

The industry argues if ether — the native token of the Ethereum blockchain — gets classified as a security, it could throw the future of the Ethereum network and many adjacent crypto firms into question. Exchanges, both centralized and decentralized, would be forced to choose between registering with the SEC, or delisting ether altogether.

“If the SEC, in fact, does take the position that Ethereum is a security, pretty much everyone in this business that is using or providing services of the Ethereum blockchain, they’re going to be on notice that they might need to be registered,” said digital assets attorney Christopher Gerold, who previously served as the chief of the New Jersey Bureau of Securities.

“Whatever protections they thought they had before are no longer going to be there, and we’re going to see a shift in the industry,” continued Gerold.

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin on bitcoin ETF decision, prospect of a spot ether ETF

The head of litigation and investigations at Consensys told CNBC that they’ve been alarmed that the SEC has been targeting developers.

“They asked for a list of the names of any Consensys developers who contributed any coding to the merge,” said Laura Brookover.

The so-called merge was a years-in-the-making systemwide upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain that took effect in September 2022 and changed the way transactions are verified. The proof-of-stake model, which replaced the proof-of-work model, requires volunteers on the network to put up their ether tokens, or “stake” them, in order to secure the network.

Brookover says the agency has explicitly asked for the identities of public and private Consensys software developer code repositories.

“Those are very strange requests from a financial regulator,” continued Brookover. “I can speak to that, because I used to be in the CFTC’s enforcement division and investigated cases myself.”

Multiple coders and industry executives have told CNBC that it is possible the SEC could be taking more of an interest in Ethereum, because the regulator thinks its native token functions more like a security after the merge.

Brookover told CNBC that their suit asks the court to declare both that ether is not a security and that the SEC lacks jurisdiction to investigate Ethereum. Ultimately, the regulator will have to respond to the Consensys complaint in a legal filing.

“They’re going to be hard pressed not to stay in their answer whether they think Ethereum is a security or not,” said Gerold, adding that he suspects that the agency will take the position that it is a security because of the proof-of-stake change that took effect two years ago.

One thing the SEC has been clear on is its classification of bitcoin as a commodity. With ether, the narrative has changed.

In 2018, when Bill Hinman was still the Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance, he told CNBC that, “When we look at bitcoin or if we look at ether and the highly decentralized nature of the networks, we don’t see a third-party promoter where applying the disclosure regime would make a lot of sense.”

“So we’re comfortable…viewing these as items that don’t have to be regulated as securities,” continued Hinman.

In April 2023, when Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) asked SEC Chair Gary Gensler whether ether was a commodity or a security, Gensler demurred.

Ether up 50% this year as trader optimism soars over possible spot ether ETF approval

SEC vs. crypto

Gensler has, in multiple interviews, repeatedly shared that he believes much of the industry already belongs under its jurisdiction, and its lawsuits are simply bringing the industry under compliance. Crypto firms argue that the recent legal battles haven’t given the regulatory clarity the industry has been seeking for years.

With the Uniswap Wells notice, for example, a source at the company told CNBC that dealing with the SEC was akin to “talking to a wall.”

For two years preceding the Wells notice, Uniswap described the protracted interactions with the agency as an opaque process that involved responding to multiple requests, including giving testimony and sending several documents to the agency, without getting much feedback about the regulator’s concerns around potential wrongdoing. This source also told CNBC they had not heard from the regulator at all in 2024 until the agency told them in a half-hour phone call that they would be receiving a formal notice.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler dodges Trump Media campaign finance questions

Both Consensys and Uniswap suggest the SEC’s broad approach to classifying securities may be outdated.

“The SEC is arguing that the Uniswap protocol is an unregistered securities exchange, and that the Uniswap interface and wallet are both unregistered broker brokers,” Ammori said.

But Uniswap argues that the protocol itself is a general purpose computer program that anyone can use and integrate.

“So the protocol is not an exchange also, because under the law, it would have to be specifically designed for securities trading, and it is not,” continued Ammori.

Uniswap argues in its response to the SEC that the majority of its trading volume is obvious non-securities, like ether, bitcoin, and stablecoins.

“It’s not run by a group, as the definition requires, but as autonomous software no person or group controls,” added Ammori.

“The SEC knows that the current definition of exchange does not cover the protocol, or anything we do. That’s why as we speak, there’s a pending rulemaking, for the SEC is trying to redefine about a half dozen words in their own regulations to try to capture us,” contined Uniswap’s chief legal officer.

Alma Angotti, partner and global legislative and regulatory risk leader at the consulting firm Guidehouse, cautions that it is less clear whether decentralized exchanges function like an alternative trading system, or a market maker — or whether they really are just a technology that does not act as a broker dealer.

Meanwhile, as the SEC ramps up its focus on decentralized players in the crypto ecosystem, centralized players also remain under scrutiny by the regulator.

In May, investment platform Robinhood announced it received a Wells notice for the company’s crypto operations. The SEC has also sued Coinbase and Binance. With multiple pending legal challenges from the regulator and enduring uncertainty about the future of crypto regulation in the U.S., multiple crypto businesses have said they are considering decamping from the country altogether.

“We’ve got companies that are wasting resources trying to figure out, ‘Am I a broker dealer? Are these assets securities?'” said Binance’s former chief compliance officer, Christina Rea.

“We’re already having a hard enough time trying to get them to be compliant with other important laws — anti-money laundering laws, anti-bribery and corruption laws.”

On Thursday, the commission will issue a decision on whether to approve one of the spot ether ETF applications after a multi-month delay. Many are waiting to see whether the regulator will offer clarity on its stance on ether.

— CNBC’s Jordan Smith contributed to this report.

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