Connect with us

Published

on

Avishek Das | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Bitcoin reclaimed $60,000 on Tuesday as investors awaited details of the Federal Reserve’s rate cutting plans.

The price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by 4.3% at $60,394.41, according to Coin Metrics. At one point, it rose as high as $61,335.83. It got an initial lift on Monday night as former President Donald Trump unveiled his new crypto venture, World Financial Liberty Coin.

Bitcoin breached the $60,000 level Tuesday morning as the Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day policy meeting. The central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates for the first time in four years, which would likely boost risk assets including bitcoin.

Bitcoin “is likely to react to the news of a Fed rate cut with some retrenchment as the short-term market dynamics filter out,” said Philipp Pieper, co-founder of Swarm Markets. “But the longer-term implications of easing monetary conditions lend themselves to a fresh bull cycle for bitcoin, ether and the rest of the market. In the past, bitcoin has correlated somewhat to major tech indices such as the Nasdaq, and broadly moves in line with monetary conditions, as investors hunt for yield in lower-rate environments.”

The market is divided on whether the Fed would reduce rates by 25 or 50 basis points. Currently, traders are pricing in a 63% chance that the central bank eases rates by 50 basis points, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool. One basis point equals 0.01%.

Bitcoin has been trading in a range between $55,000 and $70,000 this year. Investors have been anticipating Fed rate cuts, the growth of bitcoin ETFs and the outcome of the U.S. presidential election as the next catalysts to shake up the crypto market.

Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC PRO:

Continue Reading

Technology

Microsoft enters portable gaming with new ROG Xbox Ally devices

Published

on

By

Microsoft enters portable gaming with new ROG Xbox Ally devices

Microsoft ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X Handheld devices

Source: Xbox

Microsoft Xbox players will soon be able to take their favorite games anywhere with the launch of the new ROG Xbox Ally handhelds.

This is a first for Xbox, which has never released a handheld before.

The devices, developed in collaboration with ASUS, offer a full-screen Xbox experience meant for portable play.

Players will be able to access Xbox games, stream content, and play on the go with built-in support for cloud gaming.

“Players can look forward to an approachable gaming experience that travels with you wherever you go, featuring several new and first-of-their kind features on both devices,” Microsoft said in a press release.

The announcement follows last week’s debut of Nintendo‘s flagship Switch 2 and sets the stage for a new chapter in portable gaming.

Continue Reading

Technology

Vantage raises $820 million in a first-of-its-kind cloud and AI data center deal in Europe

Published

on

By

Vantage raises 0 million in a first-of-its-kind cloud and AI data center deal in Europe

U.S. data center operator Vantage has raised 720 million euros ($821.4 million) — the first of its kind deal in Europe.

The asset-backed securitization (ABS) deal, the first ever euro-denominated with data center assets on the continent, involves four data centers in Germany.

The company said it will be paying on average a 4.3% coupon on the bonds issued through the process.

In an ABS, Vantage raises money by using its data center infrastructure and future revenues from the facilities as collateral.

Vantage said it will use the funds primarily to pay off existing construction loans previously secured for the facilities.

“We believe the ABS market in particular is kind of best suited for our type of asset, which is real estate centric, high credit quality tenants, long term leases, something that is almost perfect for the ABS investor,” Sharif Metwalli, chief financial officer of Vantage Data Centers, told CNBC.

Vantage added that despite the large sum borrowed, the demand from investors exceeded the amount raised.

“So this transaction was actually pretty highly levered, frankly,” Rich Cosgray, senior vice president of global capital markets at Vantage Data Centers told CNBC. “It was higher leverage than our prior transaction and we had some investors that just weren’t comfortable at that leverage level.”

“Yet, despite that, we were basically two and four times oversubscribed on the respective financings, and we were able to tighten pricing pretty meaningfully through the marketing process,” Cosgray added.

The four facilities — two in Berlin and two in Frankfurt — have access to around 55 megawatts of power and “are fully leased to hyperscale customers,” the company said in a statement. The four facilities were valued at more than $1 billion earlier this year.

Last year, Vantage also raised £600 million through the first-ever securitization of a data center in Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA). The deal involved two units from the company’s Cardiff campus with 148 megawatts of electricity power. Across the region, the company has 2,500 megawatts of data center capacity either operational or under development.

The transaction was led by Barclays Bank and Deutsche Bank as joint lead managers and Vantage was represented by the British law firm Clifford Chance.

Continue Reading

Technology

IonQ buys UK quantum startup Oxford Ionics for more than $1 billion

Published

on

By

IonQ buys UK quantum startup Oxford Ionics for more than  billion

Cheng Xin | Getty Images

IonQ is buying United Kingdom-based quantum computing startup Oxford Ionics in a deal valued at nearly $1.1 billion.

Shares gained about 4%.

The companies said in a release that the deal will combine IonQ’s quantum computing hardware and software knowledge with Oxford Ionics’ semiconductor chip technologies. The company aims to deliver breakthroughs in the field and capitalize on growing revenue opportunities.

“We believe the advantages of our combined technologies will set a new standard within quantum computing and deliver superior value for our customers through market-leading enterprise applications,” said IonQ CEO Niccolo De Masi in a release.

The deal, which is expected to close this year, includes $1.065 billion worth of IonQ shares and about $10 million in cash. The merged company expects to build systems with 256 qubits by 2026, over 10,000 by 2027 and 2 million by 2030.

Interest in quantum computing has skyrocketed in recent months after technology giants Microsoft and Alphabet announced new chip breakthroughs. Experts tout the technology’s ability to solve intricate computing tasks unachievable by other computers.

Read more CNBC tech news

IonQ’s CEO previously told CNBC that he wants the company to become the “800-pound gorilla” in the quantum world.

Shares of Maryland-based company, which went public through a special purpose acquisition company in late 2021, are down about 6% year to date. The stock has soared more than 400% from a year ago.

WATCH: IonQ CEO on earnings: Leading the world in ‘the quantum internet’

IonQ CEO on earnings: Leading the world in 'the quantum internet'

Continue Reading

Trending