Nearly everything else that’s being built on or enabled by blockchains replaces something that’s already being done fairly well.
Yes, there are companies that facilitate crypto trades like Coinbase and Block (formerly Square).
But there’s no actual company that’s developed economic value by doing something brand new or better on a blockchain.
Energy drives the real-world economy, and unless Sam Altman or somebody successfully unlocks fusion and delivers energy that’s truly “too cheap to meter,” it’s going to remain a real asset with real value for some time.
In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Satoshi had some kind of connection to the energy industry.
What do you call an AI company that is suffering from very public gyrations regarding its business health, place in the market, and leadership structure?
Well, you might call it Stability AI.
Stability AI’s latest leadership shakeup is no joke, with its CEO Emad Mostaque departing to work on AI products that are less centralized — which is to say, owned and built by a single company, like, say, Stability AI.
The startup’s fundraising journey is well-known to tech folks, while its best-known product — Stable Diffusion — is known even more broadly.
We dig into all that and more in today’s TechCrunch Minute:
Hello, and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.
This is our Monday show, in which we look back at the weekend what’s ahead in the week before us.
Over in the EU, a number of U.S.-based tech companies are under inquiry thanks to the new Digital Markets Act.
At some point, you have to wonder if tech giants are going to find a better working relationship with the bloc.
Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.
Fisker’s finances are back in the news after the company warned back in February that it didn’t have enough cash to make it through its next year.
The company said this week that it intends to halt production for six weeks to get its business back in order.
Softening demand growth for EVs is making the normal challenges of scaling a company all the harder for Fisker and its peers.
Not that we’re all doom and gloom here at TechCrunch — we’re actually rather bullish on the prospect for EVs in the near and far future.
Let’s take a look at what’s going on under the hood here:
Hello, and welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.
This is our Monday show, in which we take a look back at the weekend and what’s ahead in the week.
We’re coming to the end of earnings season, which means that there are just a few weeks left in the first quarter.
With spring in the air, here’s what we got into this morning:
TikTok ban: What’s going on with the proposed bill in Congress Congress could force TikTok to part with its Chinese parent companyTikTok faces an uncertain fate in the U.S. once again.
The bill, which many of its detractors reasonably describe as a “ban,” would force ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months for the app to continue operating here.
The campaign to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to a U.S. company originated with an executive order during the Trump administration.
Trump’s threats against the company culminated in a plan to force TikTok to sell its U.S. operations to Oracle in late 2020.
We may learn more next week if senators begin weighing in on the prospect of creating their own version of the House bill.
After frenzied speculation that a recent photo of Kate Middleton and her children was AI generated, the Duchess of Cambridge herself had to address the controversy.
It’s an appropriate amount of hands — eight hands for four people — but they all look a bit off.
So when official Royal Family accounts published the suspicious-looking photo of Kate and her children, the internet had a field day.
Even British celebrities like Piers Morgan have weighed in, raising the question of why the Royal Family won’t quash the conspiracy theories by just releasing the unedited photo.
It’s a good thing that the public was so skeptical about Middleton’s sketchy photo, since she admitted that it was edited.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hello, and welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.
This is our Monday show, in which we take a look back at the weekend and what’s ahead in the week.
Over the weekend, we dropped an interview with Roger Lee that is well worth your time, and here’s our take on Reddit’s IPO financials.
Here’s what we got into today:
What’s going on with the new bill that could ban TikTok?
Congress wants to force TikTok to part with its Chinese parent companyTikTok faces an uncertain fate in the U.S. once again.
The bill, which many of its detractors reasonably describe as a “ban,” would force ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months in order for the app to continue operating here.
The campaign to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to a U.S. company originated with an executive order during the Trump administration.
We may learn more next week if senators begin weighing in on the prospect of creating their own version of the house bill.
What’s the Deel with Remofirst, and why are VCs playing musical chairs?
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hello, and welcome to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.
This is our Friday episode, in which we dig through the most critical stories and themes from the week.
Today on the pod, Mary Ann and Alex dug into a whole mess of news, including:We have an interview coming out tomorrow that we’re stoked about, and will be back on Monday.
