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President Donald Trump has found a new way to reward his supporters. On Sunday, Trump announced in a Truth Social post that he will issue an executive order creating a Crypto Strategic Reserve that will include Bitcoin, Ethereum, and three other cryptocurrencies. I will make sure the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World, Trump wrote. The announcement, which comes days before a White House crypto summit set for Friday, immediately drove up the price of bitcoin by about 10% on Sunday, while boosting ethereum 7%; though the biggest beneficiaries were Solana (up about 20%), XRP (25%), and Cardano (56%), the three lesser-known coins included in the reserve announcement. While a strategic reserve of cryptocurrency has been floated by legislators and advocatesincluding Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who has proposed a reserve specifically for Bitcointhere is no clear reason for the government to buy these assets. The real winners are the crypto-loving Trump supporters, crypto lobbyists, and executives who will benefit from the governments investment in their favorite coins. While Trump has not yet issued his executive order with specifics about how this reserve would work, heres the general idea: The government would buy up large quantities of the five named cryptocurrencies and hold them for a set number of years, placing set limits on how and when they can sell. While Trump has not specified amounts, Lummis had proposed that the Treasury Department buy one million bitcoin, now a sum of more than $90 billion by todays prices (one bitcoin costs about $90,000). Additionally the government would be barred from selling the coins for 20 years unless theyre spent paying down the national debt. The government already holds more than 200,000 tokens (about $18 billion) from assets seized in criminal and civil proceedings, so a reserve could mean that it is unable to sell the coins its already acquired. In August, experts told Fast Company that holding volatile assets such as cryptocurrencies could create significant liabilities for the government, which is counted upon for stability in times of economic crisis. At the time, Todd Phillips, an assistant professor of law at Georgia State University, called the idea of a Bitcoin strategic reserve a pump scheme that would solely reward current holders. Critics have lambasted the move as a waste of taxpayer money, especially as the government makes critical cuts to federal employment, scientific research, and international aid. While he chokes off cancer research and fires VA researchers, the President is using your taxpayer dollars to buy crypto and enrich his personal allies, Washington Sen. Patty Murray wrote on X on Monday. Even some Silicon Valley mainstays who have been supportive of Trump came out against the reserve. Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale said that while hes pro-crypto and supports the administrations cost-cutting efforts, the government shouldnt be buying crypto. Cut it out with these schemes guys, he wrote on X on Sunday. Investor Jason Calacanis echoed that sentiment: Its a terrible idea to spend tax payer money buying the crypto bags of the people who donated many millions to him, he wrote on X. Its an even worse idea to pick winners like this. Taxation is theft. It should be kept to a minimum.Its wrong to steal my money for grift on the left; its also wrong to tax me for crypto bro schemes.Efficient defense, courts, national parks (should fund themselves), prisons, etc – fine. Cut it out with these schemes guys. https://t.co/owIdAJvXoA— Joe Lonsdale (@JTLonsdale) March 2, 2025 According to one preelection poll, Trump was disproportionately supported by cryptocurrency holders who supported him 12 percentage points more than his rival U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. As such, he campaigned on the promise of boosting crypto: You’re going to be very happy with me, Trump told attendees at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July. If Bitcoin is going to the moon . . . I want America to be the nation that leads the way. While Trumps crypto faithful supporters cheer the announcement, its clear that this isnt about promoting economic stability or making important investments but rather rewarding a key constituency of the MAGA movement. And the American people are fronting the cost.
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E-Commerce
Inflation in Europe eased to an annual 2.4% in February, supporting the case for another interest rate cut from the European Central Bank but leaving open how far the central bank will go in lowering borrowing costs for an economy that’s still struggling to show robust growth.The February figure for the 20 countries that use the euro currency was down from 2.5% in January as energy inflation dwindled and major economy France saw a rate of only 0.9%, the European Union’s statistical agency Eurostat reported Monday.The lower consumer price inflation figure supports the view that the ECB is succeeding in its battle to get inflation back to its target of 2% and can focus on supporting tepid growth. The bank’s rate-setting council is expected to cut its benchmark rate by a quarter point to 2.5% on Thursday. That rate influences borrowing costs throughout the economy, and a cut will make it easier to borrow money to buy a house or expand a factory.A rate cut Thursday had already been pencilled in by analysts but the new figure gives added support for a cut.Growth worries have come to the fore after the eurozone stagnated in the last three months of 2024, as consumers still smarting from an outbreak of inflation remained cautious in their spending habits. Business worried about possible new tariffs on exports to the US under President Donald Trump. Political paralysis in France, where no party has a majority in parliament to address an outsized budget deficit, and the transition to a new government in Germany after the Feb. 23 national election have also left businesses uncertain about the future.Recent surveys of purchasing managers by S&P Global suggested the eurozone economy just barely grew in February.The big question at Thursday’s interest rate meeting is whether bank President Christine Lagarde will drop clues about how far the bank will go in cutting rates. While inflation is well down from its peak of 10.6% in October, 2022, some indicators of prices pressures remain elevated. Costs for services a broad category ranging from haircuts and hotel rooms to concert tickets and medical care remained at 3.7%.At its last meeting on Jan. 30, the bank said the benchmark rate was still high enough to restrict growth; dropping that mention on Thursday could be seen as a signal that future cuts will be more limited.A top ECB official argued in a recent speech that recent changes in the economy may constrain how far the bank can go in cutting rates.Recent evidence suggests “that the era during which risks to inflation have persistently been to the downside is likely to have come to an end,” said Isabel Schnabel, a member of the six-member executive board that runs the bank day to day at its Frankfurt headquarters. Schnabel argued that the so-called neutral rate at which the economy is neither held back nor stimulated has risen in recent years. David McHugh, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD has launched a sale of its Hong Kong shares to raise up to $5.2 billion via an accelerated book-building, according to a deal term sheet seen by Reuters on Monday. The company has set a price range of HK$333HK$345 per share for the offering, representing an up to 8.4% discount compared to the stock market’s closing price of HK$363.60 on Monday. The offering is expected to be priced on Monday, the term sheet said. BYD did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment. The company plans to use the proceeds to invest in research and development, expand overseas businesses, supplement working capital, and for general purposes. The deal adds to a sharp pickup this year in share offering momentum in Hong Kong, the preferred destination for Chinese companies looking to raise offshore capital, as investors bet on a possible recovery in China’s economic growth. Shares of China’s largest bubble tea and drinks chain, Mixue Group, jumped more than 47% in their debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, with new listings in the city recording their strongest start to a year since 2021. The stellar start reinforces hopes for a strong year in new equity issuances by Chinese companies in Hong Kong, as Beijing steps up support for its private enterprises to revive a slowing economy amid heightened geopolitical tensions. The fundraising comes amid a hectic pace of hiring and expanding to other markets for BYD. BYD plans to hire 20,000 employees in Zhengzhou in the first quarter as it boosts production capacity, government-run Henan Daily reported last month. The company also aims to complete its $1 billion plant in Indonesia at the end of 2025, the head of its local unit said in January. BYD, which overshot its global sales target to more than four million units sold last year, opened its first EV plant in Southeast Asia in Thailand in 2024, worth $490 million and which has a production capacity of 150,000 units per year. Scott Murdoch, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Catherine Bashiama runs her fingers along the branches of the coffee tree she’s raised from a seedling, searching anxiously for its first fruit buds since she planted it three years ago. When she grasps the small cherries, Bashiama beams.The farmer had never grown coffee in her village in western South Sudan, but now hopes a rare, climate-resistant species will help pull her family from poverty. “I want to send my children to school so they can be the future generation,” said Bashiama, a mother of 12.Discovered more than a century ago in South Sudan, excelsa coffee is exciting cash-strapped locals and drawing interest from the international community amid a global coffee crisis caused mainly by climate change. As leading coffee-producing countries struggle to grow crops in drier, less reliable weather, prices have soared to the highest in decades and the industry is scrambling for solutions.Experts say estimates from drought-stricken Brazil, the world’s top coffee grower, are that this year’s harvest could be down by some 12%.“What history shows us is that sometimes the world doesn’t give you a choice, and right now there are many coffee farmers suffering from climate change that are facing this predicament,” said Aaron Davis, head of coffee research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London.Excelsa could play a key role in adapting. Native to South Sudan and a handful of other African countries, including Congo, Central African Republic, and Uganda, excelsa is also farmed in India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The tree’s deep roots, thick leathery leaves and big trunk allow it to thrive in extreme conditions such as drought and heat where other coffees cannot. It’s also resistant to many common coffee pests and diseases.Yet it comprises less than 1% of the global market, well behind the arabica and robusta species that are the most consumed coffees in the world. Experts say excelsa will have to be shown to be practical at a much larger scale to bridge the gap in the market caused by climate change. Coffee’s history in South Sudan Unlike neighboring Ethiopia or Uganda, oil-rich South Sudan has never been known as a coffee-producing nation.Its British colonizers grew robusta and arabica, but much of that stopped during decades of conflict that forced people from their homes and made it hard to farm. Coffee trees require regular care such as pruning and weeding and take at least three years to yield fruit.During a visit earlier this month to Nzara County in Western Equatoria stateregarded as the country’s breadbasketresidents reminisced to Associated Press reporters about their parents and grandparents growing coffee, yet much of the younger generation hadn’t done it themselves.Many were familiar with excelsa, but didn’t realize how unique it was, or what it was called, referring to it as the big tree, typically taller than the arabica and robusta species that are usually pruned to be bush- or hedge-like. The excelsa trees can reach 15 meters (about 49 feet) in height, but may also be pruned much shorter for ease of harvesting.Coffee made from excelsa tastes sweetunlike robustawith notes of chocolate, dark fruits, and hazelnut. It’s more similar to arabica, but generally less bitter and may have less body.“There’s so little known about this coffee, that we feel at the forefront to trying to unravel it and we’re learning every day,” said Ian Paterson, managing director of Equatoria Teak, a sustainable agro-forestry company that’s been operating in the country for more than a decade.The company’s been doing trials on excelsa for years. Initial results are promising, with the trees able to withstand heat much better than other species, the company said. It’s also working with communities to revive the coffee industry and scale up production. Three years ago it gave seedlings and training to about 1,500 farmers, including Bashiama, to help them grow the coffee. The farmers can sell back to the company for processing and export.Many of the trees started producing for the first time this year, and Paterson said he hopes to export the first batch of some seven tons to specialty shops in Europe. By 2027, the coffee could inject some $2 million into the economy, with big buyers such as Nespresso expressing interest. But production needs to triple for it to be worthwhile for large buyers to invest, he said. Challenges of growing an industry amid South Sudan’s instability That could be challenging in South Sudan, where lack of infrastructure and insecurity make it hard to get the coffee out.One truck of 30 tons of coffee has to travel some 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) to reach the port in Kenya to be shipped. The cost for the first leg of that trip, through Uganda, is more than $7,500, which is up to five times the cost in neighboring countries.It’s also hard to attract investors.Despite a peace deal in 2018 that ended a five-year civil war, pockets of fighting persist. Tensions in Western Equatoria are especially high after the president removed the governor in February, sparking anger among his supporters. When AP reporters visited Nzara, the main road to town was cut off one day because of gunshots and people were fleeing their villages, fearful of further violence.The government says companies can operate safely, but warned them to focus on business.“If I’m a businessman, dealing with my business, let me not mix with politics. Once you start mixing your business with politics, definitely you will end up in chaos,” said Alison Barnaba, the state’s minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Environment.Barnaba said there are plans to rehabilitate old coffee plantations and build an agriculture school, but details are murky, including where the money will come from. South Sudan hasn’t paid its civil servants in more than a year, and a rupture of a crucial oil pipeline through neighboring Sudan has tanked oil revenue.Growing the coffee isn’t always easy, either. Farmers have to contend with fires that spread quickly in the dry season and decimate their crops. Hunters use fires to scare and kill animals and residents use it to clear land for cultivation. But the fires can get out of control and there are few measures in place to hold people accountable, say residents. Coffee as a way out of poverty Still, for locals, the coffee represents a chance at a better future.Bashiama said she started planting coffee after her husband was injured and unable to help cultivate enough of the maize and ground nuts that the family had lived on. Since his accident she hasn’t been able to send her children to school or buy enough food, she said.Another farmer, 37-year-old Taban John, wants to use his coffee earnings to buy a bicycle so he can more easily sell his other crops, ground nuts, and cassava, and other goods in town. He also wants to be able to afford school uniforms for his children.Excelsa is an opportunity for the community to become more financially independent, say community leaders. People rely on the government or foreign aid, but when that doesn’t come through they’re not able to take care of their families, they say.But for cofee to thrive in South Sudan, locals say there needs to be a long-term mentality, and that requires stability.Elia Box lost half of his coffee crop to fire in early February. He plans to replace it, but was dispirited at the work it will require and the lack of law and order to hold people accountable.“People aren’t thinking long-term like coffee crops, during war,” he said. “Coffee needs peace.” The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. It receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. Sam Mednick, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
The closing days of February were not good ones for job security in the tech industry. Over the month’s final week, major industry players, including HP, Grubhub, and Autodesk announced plans to reduce their workforce, while another startup seems to be shutting down entirely. Heres what you need to know about the latest round of tech layoffs. HP to cut up to 2,000 workers Without a doubt, the largest number of job cuts over the last week of February was announced by computer maker HP. In a Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), dated February 27, HP revealed it will eliminate between 1,000 and 2,000 of its workers. The layoffs were authorized via an amendment to the companys restructuring plan, which aims to see the company cut costs. HP expects incremental gross workforce reductions of approximately 1,000 to 2,000 employees in connection with the amendment, the company said in the filing. However, HP did not state which departments or jobs were most at risk. The changes to the workforce will vary by country, based on local legal requirements and consultations with employee works councils and other employee representatives, as appropriate. HP employed roughly 58,000 people in 2024, according to Statista. Grubhub to lay off 500 workers Food delivery company Grubhub announced on Friday that it would lay off about 500 people, Reuters reported. The cuts come after food delivery startup Winder bought Grubhub in November 2024. Grubhub reportedly employed about 2,200 people before the layoffs, which means the cuts will see over 20% of its staff let go. Autodesk to eliminate 1,350 employees Design software giant Autodesk, meanwhile, has announced it will lay off 1,350 workers. That equated to about 9% of its total workforce. In a memo to Autodesk employees, CEO Andrew Anagnost said the layoffs were driven by several factors, including the company reshaping its Go-to-Market (GTM) organization and its acceleration of investments in artificial intelligence. To the latter point, Anagnost said, Our investments in cloud, platform, and AI are ahead of our peers and enable Autodesk to provide more valuable and connected solutions that support a much broader customer and developer ecosystem. To maintain and extend this leadership, we are shifting resources across our GTM, Platform, Industry, and Corporate functions to accelerate investments in these strategic priorities. Ibotta to eliminate 8% of its employees The mobile cash rewards company Ibotta announced on Friday that it would be laying off approximately 8% of its workers, reports the Colorado Sun. That equates to about 70 jobs lost out of the 858 employees the company had in September 2024. A company spokesperson said the layoffs were part of a strategic realignment based on our business priorities. HerMD to lay off all workers Finally, womens health startup HerMD has announced it will lay off all employees and shut down the company. Business Journals outlet Cincy Inno reports that industry challenges were a factor in HerMD closing its doors. In an email cited by the outlet, HerMD said, This decision was not made lightly, but it became necessary because of the ongoing challenges in health care that have made it increasingly difficult to sustain the quality care we provide and that we know our patients truly deserve. Tech layoffs now top 18,000 in 2025 With the addition of the tech layoffs above, jobs lost in the tech industry so far in 2025 have now totaled 18,397 across 75 companies, according to tech layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. That compares to the 152,472 tech employees laid off at 549 tech companies in 2024, and the 264,220 tech employees laid off at 1,193 tech companies in 2023.
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E-Commerce
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