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The bitcoin logo displayed on a smartphone with euro banknotes in the backgrouund.

Andrea Ronchini | NurPhoto via Getty Images

The European Central Bank gave a strong critique of bitcoin on Wednesday, saying the cryptocurrency is on a “road to irrelevance.”

In a blogpost titled “Bitcoin’s last stand,” ECB Director General Ulrich Bindseil and Analyst Jürgen Schaff said that, for bitcoin’s proponents, the apparent stabilization in its price this week “signals a breather on the way to new heights.”

“More likely, however, it is an artificially induced last gasp before the road to irrelevance — and this was already foreseeable before FTX went bust and sent the bitcoin price to well below USD16,000,” they wrote.

Bitcoin topped $17,000 Wednesday, marking a two-week high for the world’s largest digital coin. However, it struggled to maintain that level, falling slightly to $16,875. Vijay Ayyar, vice president of corporate development and international at crypto exchange Luno, warned that the bounce is likely just a bear market rally and would not be sustained. “This is just a bearish retest,” he told CNBC.

The remarks from the ECB officials are timely, with the crypto industry reeling from one of its most catastrophic failures in recent history — the downfall of FTX, an exchange once valued at $32 billion. And the market has been largely down in the dumps this year amid higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve.

Bindseil and Schaff said that bitcoin didn’t fit the mold of an investment and wasn’t suitable as a means of payment, either.

“Bitcoin’s conceptual design and technological shortcomings make it questionable as a means of payment: real Bitcoin transactions are cumbersome, slow and expensive,” they wrote. “Bitcoin has never been used to any significant extent for legal real-world transactions.”

“Bitcoin is also not suitable as an investment. It does not generate cash flow (like real estate) or dividends (like equities), cannot be used productively (like commodities) or provide social benefits (like gold). The market valuation of Bitcoin is therefore based purely on speculation,” they added.

Analysts say that FTX’s insolvency is likely to hasten regulation of digital currencies. In the European Union, a new law called Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA, is expected to harmonize regulation of digital assets across the bloc.

Bindseil and Schaff said it was important not to mistake regulation as a sign of approval.

“The belief that space must be given to innovation at all costs stubbornly persists,” they said.

“Firstly, these technologies have so far created limited value for society — no matter how great the expectations for the future. Secondly, the use of a promising technology is not a sufficient condition for an added value of a product based on it.”

They also raised concerns with bitcoin’s poor environmental credentials. The cryptocurrency’s technical underpinnings are such that it requires a massive amount of computing power in order to verify and approve new transactions. Ethereum, the network behind bitcoin rival ether, recently transitioned to a new framework that backers say would cut its energy consumption by more than 99%.

“This inefficiency of the system is not a flaw but a feature,” Bindseil and Schaff said. “It is one of the peculiarities to guarantee the integrity of the completely decentralised system.”

It’s not the first time the ECB has raised doubts about digital currencies. ECB President Christine Lagarde in May said she thinks cryptocurrencies are “worth nothing.” Her comments came on the back of a separate scandal for the industry — the multibillion-dollar implosion of so-called stablecoin terraUSD.

– CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report

How a $60 billion crypto collapse got regulators worried

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Tesla launches refreshed Model Y in China to fend off domestic rivals

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Tesla launches refreshed Model Y in China to fend off domestic rivals

Tesla launched a revamped version of its Model Y in China.

Tesla

Tesla on Friday announced a revamped version of its popular Model Y in China, as the U.S. electric car giant looks to fend off challenges from domestic rivals.

The Model Y will start at 263,500 Chinese yuan ($35,935), with deliveries set to begin in March. That is 5.4% more expensive than the starting price of the previous Model Y.

A spokesperson for Tesla China said that the new Model Y is only open for pre-sale in the Chinese market, rather than being launched globally.

Tesla’s Model Y refresh comes after the auto giant this month reported its first ever annual decline in overall deliveries for 2024.

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle firm is facing heightened competition around the world, from startups and traditional carmakers in Europe. In China, the company continues to face an onslaught of rivals from BYD to newer players like Xpeng and Nio.

Jason Low, principal analyst at Canalys, notes that the Tesla Model Y was the best-selling EV in China in 2024 and that the popularity of the car “remains high.” However, he noted that the competition in the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment with vehicles priced between 250,000 yuan and 350,000 yuan “has been fierce.”

“Tesla must showcase compelling smart features, particularly a unique but well localized cockpit and services ecosystem,” as well as “effective” semi-autonomous driver assistance features “to ensure its competitiveness in the market,” Low added.

Tesla is offering a number of incentives for customers to buy the Model Y including a five-year 0% interest financing plan.

The new Model Y can accelerate from 0 kilometers per hour to 100 kilometers per hour in 4.3 seconds, Tesla said, exceeding the speed capabilities of the previous vehicle. The Model Y Long Range has a further driving range on a single charge versus its predecessor.

Tesla has not introduced a new model since it began delivering the Cybertruck in late 2023, which starts at nearly $80,000.

Investors have been yearning for a new mass-market model to reinvigorate sales. Tesla has previously hinted that that a new affordable model could be launched in the first half of 2025.

Despite Tesla’s headwinds, the company’s stock is up nearly 70% over the last 12 months, partly due to CEO Musk’s close relationship with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

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World’s biggest chipmaker TSMC posts record 2024 revenue as AI boost continues

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World's biggest chipmaker TSMC posts record 2024 revenue as AI boost continues

The logo for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 26, 2023.

Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. posted December quarter revenue that topped analyst estimates, as the company continues to get a boost from the AI boom.

The world’s largest chip manufacturer reported fourth-quarter revenue of 868.5 billion New Taiwan dollars ($26.3 billion), according to CNBC calculations, up 38.8% year-on-year.

That beat Refinitiv consensus estimates of 850.1 billion New Taiwan dollars.

For 2024, TSMC’s revenue totaled 2.9 trillion New Taiwan Dollars, its highest annual sales since going public in 1994.

TSMC manufacturers semiconductors for some of the world’s biggest companies, including Apple and Nvidia.

TSMC is seen as the most advanced chipmaker in the world, given its ability to manufacture leading-edge semiconductors. The company has been helped along by the strong demand for AI chips, particularly from Nvidia, as well as ever-improving smartphone semiconductors.

“TSMC has benefited significantly from the strong demand for AI,” Brady Wang, associate director at Counterpoint Research told CNBC.

Wang said “capacity utilization” for TSMC’s 3 nanometer and 5 nanometer processes — the most advanced chips — “has consistently exceeded 100%.”

AI graphics processing units (GPUs), such as those designed by Nvidia, and other artificial intelligence chips are driving this demand, Wang said.

Taiwan-listed shares of TSMC have risen 88% over the last 12 months.

TSMC’s latest sales figures may also give hope to investors that the the demand for artificial intelligence chips and services may continue into 2025.

Foxconn, which assembles Apple’s iPhones, reported its highest-ever fourth quarter revenue this week, as it notched strong demand for AI servers.

Meanwhile, Microsoft this month said that it plans to spend $80 billion in its fiscal year to June on the construction of data centers that can handle artificial intelligence workloads.

CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.

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Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments on challenge to TikTok ban

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Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments on challenge to TikTok ban

Tik Tok creators gather before a press conference to voice their opposition to the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” pending crackdown legislation on TikTok in the House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 12, 2024.

Craig Hudson | Reuters

The Supreme Court on Friday will hear oral arguments in the case involving the future of TikTok in the U.S., which could ban the popular app as soon as next week.

The justices will consider whether the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the law that targets TikTok’s ban and imposes harsh civil penalties for app “entities” that continue to carry the service after Jan.19, violates the U.S. Constitution’s free speech protections.

It’s unclear when the court will hand down a decision, and if China’s ByteDance continues to refuse to divest TikTok to an American company, it faces a complete ban nationwide.

What will change about the user experience?

The roughly 115 million U.S. TikTok monthly active users could face a range of scenarios depending on when the Supreme Court hands down a decision.

If no word comes before the law takes effect on Jan. 19 and the ban goes through, it’s possible that users would still be able to post or engage with the app if they already have it downloaded. However, those users would likely be unable to update or redownload the app after that date, multiple legal experts said.

Thousands of short-form video creators who generate income from TikTok through ad revenue, paid partnerships, merchandise and more will likely need to transition their businesses to other platforms, like YouTube or Instagram.

“Shutting down TikTok, even for a single day, would be a big deal, not just for people who create content on TikTok, but everyone who shares or views content,” said George Wang, a staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute who helped write the institute’s amicus briefs on the case. 

“It sets a really dangerous precedent for how we regulate speech online,” Wang said.

Who supports and opposes the ban?

Dozens of high-profile amicus briefs from organizations, members of Congress and President-elect Donald Trump were filed supporting both the government and ByteDance.

The government, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, alleges that until ByteDance divests TikTok, the app remains a “powerful tool for espionage” and a “potent weapon for covert influence operations.”

Trump’s brief did not voice support for either side, but it did ask the court to oppose banning the platform and allow him to find a political resolution that allows the service to continue while addressing national security concerns. 

The short-form video app played a notable role in both Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ presidential campaigns in 2024, and it’s one of the most common news sources for younger voters.

In a September Truth Social post, Trump wrote in all caps Americans who want to save TikTok should vote for him. The post was quoted in his amicus brief. 

What comes next?

It appears TikTok could really get shut down, says Jim Cramer

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