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Co-founder and CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, speaks on stage during the opening night of Web Summit 2022.

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LISBON, Portugal — The boss of crypto exchange Binance says he wasn’t privy to Elon Musk’s thinking when the billionaire backed away from, and then revived, his takeover of Twitter.

Speaking on stage at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, Changpeng Zhao said he was “a little surprised” when he heard Musk had agreed to acquire the company after all.

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is now one of Twitter’s equity backers, kicking in $500 million to help Musk buy the company. Zhao has expressed his hopes to bring Twitter into “Web3,” a term the technology industry uses to describe the next generation of the internet.

“It’s very hard to predict what Elon will do next,” Zhao, who goes by “CZ” online, told the audience on the opening night of Web Summit Tuesday. “The deal was on, the deal was off, the deal was on. It’s OK, we’re committed on our support.”

Crypto enthusiasts want to remake the internet with 'Web3.' Here's what that means

“For me, large deals like this, there’s so many different factors involved. I’m not directly involved in what he’s thinking … There’s so many different little things that could go one way or another, negotiations, changes of minds.”

Zhao added that he wasn’t bothered by Musk’s attempts to wriggle his way out of the takeover.

“When we invest in a deal, we’re very comfortable if the deal goes through, we’re very comfortable if the deal doesn’t go through,” he said.

The “number one reason” for him to buy the social media firm was to make it a “free speech platform,” he said.

The protracted saga over Musk’s purchase of Twitter drew to a close last month when Musk agreed to a final deal with the company.

Having initially reversed his decision to buy the company due to concerns over suspicious accounts, he subsequently made a renewed offer, in large part to avoid a contentious legal battle with company management, which sued to force him to buy it after he backed out.

He has since dissolved the Twitter board, fired some of its top executives and made himself the CEO. Musk is already discussing plans to improve the platform’s monetization efforts, including adding a fee for verified users. Initial reports suggested he would charge users $20 for a “blue tick” badge on their profiles, but his latest tweets suggest he is leaning toward $8 instead.

Zhao said he had heard of Musk’s desire to introduce a fee for verification badges but wasn’t aware of the latest developments.

“Elon Musk’s probably a hard guy for me to predict,” he said. “I’m not the CEO of Twitter. We’re an investor in Twitter but I’m not running it.”

Zhao added he shared Musk’s desire to promote free speech on the platform and purge it of bots and suspicious accounts. “Twitter is the global town square,” he said.

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Cryptocurrencies rise to start the week, bitcoin jumps above $102,000

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Cryptocurrencies rise to start the week, bitcoin jumps above 2,000

The photo illustration shows the Bitcoin cryptocurrency on November 12, 2024 in Shanghai, China.

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The price of bitcoin leapt back above $100,000 to start the first full trading week of the new year.

The flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by about 4% at $102,234, according to Coin Metrics. The broader crypto market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 index, gained more than 3%. Bitcoin and ether are coming off their best weeks since Dec. 6, while Solana had its best week since Nov. 22.

“Overall, we are in a bullish environment and traders appear to be risk-on as we head into the new year,” Mario Jurina, CEO at crypto swaps platform Jumper.Exchange. “With Trump’s election set to be certified today, and January often being a bullish month — six of the past 10 years saw positive price action — it’s no wonder markets are moving upward.”

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Bitcoin rises above $100,000 to start the week

The moves in crypto coincided with a rebound in tech stocks as Nvidia and shares of other chip names jumped. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was last higher by about 1.7%.

Crypto stocks Coinbase and MicroStrategy advanced nearly 6% and 5%, respectively. MicroStrategy Monday morning reported it has purchased another 1,070 bitcoins for about $101 million, bringing its total bitcoin holdings to 447,470.

Activity is coming back into the crypto market after a post-election rally that was driven by promises of a more supportive regulatory environment. The optimism sent prices rocketing for weeks before cooling at the end of the year. The price of bitcoin is expected to roughly double under the new administration this year, with some price predictions, like Fundstrat’s Tom Lee’s, being as high as $250,000.

Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC Pro:

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Amazon’s Ring announces smart smoke alarm as CES tech palooza kicks off

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Amazon's Ring announces smart smoke alarm as CES tech palooza kicks off

Ring security cameras are displayed on a shelf at a Target store on June 01, 2023 in Novato, California. 

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Amazon‘s Ring is partnering with fire safety product maker Kidde to launch a connected smoke alarm, the company announced Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The companies plan to launch Kidde smoke and carbon monoxide alarms that integrate Ring’s home security technology and can deliver alerts to the Ring mobile app. The Kidde Smart Smoke Alarm with Ring will cost $54.97, while the Kidde Smart Smoke and CO Alarm with Ring will cost $74.97. Both products will ship in April.

As part of the launch, Ring will also roll out a $5-per-month subscription service that gives users access to round-the-clock professional monitoring and emergency dispatchers.

Amazon acquired Ring in 2015 for a reported $1 billion. The home security company is primarily known for its video doorbell devices, which allow users to record activity in front of their homes, though it has expanded to include a portfolio of products ranging from camera-equipped floodlights to flying security camera drones.

Amazon doesn’t disclose unit sales for its Ring division, but Ring and rival home security company SimpliSafe comprise one-fifth of the U.S. market for professional monitoring systems, according to data from market research firm Parks Associates. Ring CEO Liz Hamren, who took the helm from founder Jamie Siminoff in March 2023, told Bloomberg last May that the company “recently” became profitable.

Users aren’t required to subscribe to Ring Home, the company’s program that enables video recording storage and other security features, in order to access the new smoke alarm service.

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Global chip stocks climb as Foxconn’s bumper results show a continuation of the AI boom

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Global chip stocks climb as Foxconn's bumper results show a continuation of the AI boom

Jakub Porzyck | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Global semiconductor stocks climbed on Monday after contract electronics giant Foxconn announced record fourth-quarter revenues, suggesting the artificial intelligence boom has far more room to run.

Hon Hai Precision Industry, which does business as Foxconn internationally, said in a Sunday statement that the company’s fourth-quarter revenue totaled 2.1 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($63.9 billion), growing 15% year-over-year.

Foxconn — which is a supplier to Apple — also set a record, posting the highest fourth-quarter revenue ever in company history, according to the statement.

The firm’s bumper revenue performance was driven by growth in its cloud and networking products — which includes AI servers like those designed by the likes of chipmaker Nvidia — and components and other products segments.

Computing products and smart consumer electronics — which numbers iPhone and other smartphones — saw “slight declines,” Foxconn said.

Shares of several semiconductor firms across Asia, Europe and the U.S. rose, as a result.

In Asia, TSMC hit a record high Monday and closed 1.9% higher in Taiwan.

The largest semiconductor manufacturer globally, TSMC produces chips for the likes of AMD and Nvidia.

Other Asian chip firms also logged share price gains — South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung rose nearly 10% and 4%, respectively.

In Europe, globally critical semiconductor equipment firm ASML saw its shares jump almost 6%, while fellow Dutch chip company ASMI’s stock rose almost 5%. Germany’s Infineon surged more than 6%.

The momentum in semi stocks could last as they have great earnings momentum, says Jim Cramer

Paris-listed shares of European contract chipmaker STMicroelectronics rose nearly 6%.

Stateside, Nvidia got a boost from the Foxconn numbers, climbing 2% in U.S. premarket trading.

Also boosting chip stocks on Monday was Microsoft’s announcement at the end of last week about plans to invest $80 billion in 2025 on data centers that can handle AI workloads.

Microsoft is one of several tech giants splurging on GPUs (graphics processing units) from Nvidia to train and run the most advanced AI models.

AMD, Nvidia’s closest rival, rose 3% in pre-market trading Monday, while fellow U.S. chip firms Qualcomm and Broadcom both climbed almost 2%.

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