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Bitcoin Surges Ahead Of Inauguration, XRP Hits Record High This is a published version of our weekly Forbes Crypto Confidential newsletter. Sign up here to get Crypto Confidential days earlier free in your inbox. BITCOIN CLAWS BACK ABOVE $105,000 Bitcoin just powered its way to a 2025 high, leaping past the $105,000 threshold on Friday and erasing a slump that briefly knocked it under $90,000. The rebound is fueled by hopes that President-elect Donald Trump will flip the U.S. script on crypto once he’s sworn in Monday. Trump’s campaign promises included turning America into a global crypto leader, complete with a national bitcoin stockpile—a radical departure from the clampdowns of Biden’s administration. He’s reportedly preparing an executive order to declare digital assets a policy priority and set up an advisory council stocked with industry insiders. Trump has quickly become the crypto world’s new best friend, snagging donations from Circle, Ripple and other large companies for his inaugural committee. They’re even throwing a “Crypto Ball” in D.C. on Friday, a sign that the industry’s influence on Capitol Hill has never been stronger. XRP REACHES NEW ALL-TIME HIGH XRP, the token linked to Ripple Labs and the third-largest cryptocurrency, climbed nearly 40% this week to a record $3.4, eclipsing the performance of every other major digital asset this month. Its market capitalization now sits at about $190 billion, driven by optimism that the Trump administration could adopt friendlier crypto policies. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently told the New York Times that he had dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and encouraged creating a federal stockpile of cryptocurrencies, including XRP. Ripple just launched RLUSD, a new stablecoin on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum. Talk about doubling down. San Francisco-based Ripple Labs was sued in 2020 by the SEC, which claimed the company was offering unregistered securities. A U.S. district court ruling found that XRP is considered a security when sold to institutional investors but not to retail investors, which the crypto industry viewed as a partial win. The SEC is appealing the decision, but with a more crypto-friendly SEC chair expected to take the helm, that appeal’s future might be shaky. COINBASE TAKES ANOTHER SWING AT BITCOIN-BACKED LOANS Coinbase has once again flung open the door to bitcoin-backed loans. U.S. customers (except those in New York) can now borrow up to $100,000 worth of stablecoins (USDC) through a lending protocol Morpho on Base, a blockchain developed by Coinbase. Your bitcoin gets wrapped into “cbBTC,” shipped off to Morpho, and then some USDC appears in your Coinbase account. All in less than a minute, supposedly, with standard DeFi disclaimers: these loans must be over-collateralized, and interest rates change with the market’s swings. If your loan creeps up to 86% of your collateral’s value, your bitcoin could be liquidated to cover the outstanding balance and a penalty fee. But for faithful bitcoiners, this might be worth it. Selling now—when bitcoin is up 146% over the past year—would mean triggering a tax event. Coinbase tried a version of this scheme back in 2020 with its Borrow program, only to shelve it for retail clients in 2023 when it didn’t pick up steam. This new version adds some DeFi zest, with plans to expand collateral types and open to more markets.

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TikTok Ban Live Updates: Trump Says ‘TikTok Is Back’ In Victory Rally As App Restores Access President-elect Donald Trump cheered TikTok’s return in a rally Sunday shortly after the platform welcomed back U.S. users, ending a 14-hour shutdown as a law banning TikTok nationwide took effect—with Trump promising to halt the ban when he takes office by extending a deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell the app. 5:30 p.m. EST, January 19Trump said, “as of today, TikTok is back,” while speaking during a “victory rally” as part of his three-day inauguration event on Sunday, telling the crowd in D.C., “we have no choice, we have to save it,” while suggesting the U.S. will own 50% of the company in what he referred to as a “joint venture” that would “make a lot of money.” 4:20 p.m. EST, January 19Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNN the president-elect’s team is “still finalizing” an executive order to delay the TikTok ban and give the platform more time to reach a deal to stay in the United States (the law banning TikTok by Jan. 19 gives the president the power to delay the ban by up to 90 days if ByteDance is making progress toward a sale). 4:10 p.m. EST, January 19A 19-year-old arrested for allegedly setting fire to a building that houses the office of Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wisc., told authorities early Sunday he was motivated by the TikTok ban, local police told multiple news outlets (law enforcement said nobody was injured). 3:10 p.m. EST, January 19TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is planning on attending Trump’s pre-inauguration victory rally in D.C., which is set to begin shortly, CNN reported earlier, citing unnamed sources—days after The New York Times revealed Chew plans to attend the inauguration itself, alongside tech billionaires Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. 1:50 p.m. EST, January 19TikTok is now back online for many American users, sending a popup message that states: “Welcome back!” adding, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.”—though it still does not appear to be available on Apple’s App Store. 1 p.m. EST, January 19Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, warned that “any company that hosts, distributes, services or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability” in a tweet responding to the company’s announcement that it’s restoring the app. 1 p.m. EST, January 19Some TikTok users reported the app has started working again—just over 12 hours after service was suspended. 12:30 p.m. EST, January 19TikTok tweeted it “is in the process of restoring service” and thanked Trump for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties,” adding the company “will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.” 10:00 a.m. EST, January 19Trump announced he will sign an executive order Monday delaying the TikTok ban and called for the platform to be taken over by a joint venture with U.S. and current owners, also urging companies to prevent TikTok from “going dark” and vowing “no liability” for any tech firms that act before Monday. 7:03 a.m. EST, January 19Trump posted to Truth Social: “SAVE TIKTOK.” 12:00 a.m. EST, January 19A nationwide ban on TikTok took effect, formally barring internet service providers and app stores from offering the ultra-popular social media platform. 11:00 p.m. EST, January 18TikTok shut itself down in the United States at some point before 11 p.m. EST, greeting American users with a message that said “you can’t use TikTok for now” due to a “law banning TikTok” set to take effect Sunday—but the platform noted Trump “has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.” (Read more here.) 12:30 p.m. EST, January 18Trump signaled he would “most likely” issue a 90-day extension on the TikTok ban, saying an announcement would “probably” come Monday, though he did not definitively say whether he would do so. January 17TikTok said in a statement its service will “be forced to go dark” on Jan. 19 unless the Biden administration—which said earlier on Friday TikTok “should remain available to Americans” if “under American ownership”—guarantees Apple, Google and other service providers won’t be punished by supporting the app. January 17The Supreme Court ruled the law does not violate the First Amendment rights of the app and its users, upholding the federal government’s national security argument and leaving TikTok open to a ban on Jan. 19 unless it is sold to an American company. January 16The Biden administration does not plan to intervene against the law forcing TikTok’s ban or sale by Jan. 19, according to multiple outlets, one day after NBC News reported Biden’s team was “exploring options” on how it can avoid the app being shut down—though ABC reports Biden also won’t take action to enforce the ban against app stores or internet providers. January 16Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said it is “clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer,” noting Senate Democrats’ failed attempt to pass a bill extending the Jan. 19 deadline and urging lawmakers for a solution that keeps TikTok in the U.S. while also protecting Americans’ data privacy (the law banning TikTok unless ByteDance sells the app passed on a bipartisan basis last year). January 14ByteDance would likely expect $40 billion to $50 billion for the platform’s U.S. operations, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives estimated (other analysts have offered a range of figures for how much TikTok is worth, depending on whether the deal includes TikTok’s powerful content algorithm). January 13Chinese government officials have considered selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Trump-allied billionaire Elon Musk if the Supreme Court does not stop the ban from going through on Jan. 19, reported Bloomberg, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter—though the people noted the deliberations are preliminary and officials prefer to keep TikTok under the ownership of China-based ByteDance (ByteDance told Forbes it “can't be expected to comment on pure fiction” when asked about the Bloomberg report). January 10The Supreme Court heard oral arguments over the law requiring TikTok to be sold to a U.S. company or face a ban, with justices appearing “inclined” to uphold the law after appearing satisfied with its focus on the controversial Chinese ownership of the app’s parent company, according to The New York Times. January 9Billionaire Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty announced a proposal to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations—but not its algorithm—by migrating American users to a locally run digital infrastructure, a deal McCourt has suggested could be worth $20 billion, with interest from other investors like “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary (it’s unclear whether ByteDance is considering the offer). January 6O’Leary, part of The People's Bid for TikTok, told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum he planned to buy the app and that he would need Trump’s help to do so. January 3The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to uphold the law forcing the ban or sale of TikTok despite Trump’s support of the app, arguing TikTok has not shown enough to reason to justify a pause of the law’s date of taking effect and that Trump has not presented a viable argument for a pause. December 27, 2024Trump opposed the potential ban of TikTok in a court filing, arguing if the Supreme Court intervenes, he could secure a “political resolution” after his Jan. 20 inauguration that would keep the app in the U.S. December 18, 2024The Supreme Court announced it will review TikTok’s challenge against the federal law that could potentially ban the app, scheduling oral arguments for Jan. 10—just days before the law is set to become effective. December 16, 2024TikTok requested an injunction from the Supreme Court that would block the ban against it until the conservative majority court rules on TikTok’s legality or dismisses the case, saying the pause would “create breathing room for this Court to conduct an orderly review ... before this vital channel for Americans to communicate with their fellow citizens and the world is closed.” December 16, 2024Chew met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to CNN, and argued an injunction from the Supreme Court, which was ultimately not granted, would give Trump’s TikTok-friendly administration time to comment on the matter. December 6, 2024The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied TikTok’s petition to review the law against TikTok after the court’s three-judge panel said national security concerns outweigh TikTok’s First Amendment rights, later declining TikTok’s request to halt its ruling upholding the law. May 14, 2024Eight TikTok users sued the federal government, accusing them of First Amendment violations and calling the ban “unconstitutionally overbroad.” May 7, 2024TikTok filed suit against the federal government, challenging the constitutionality of the ban and arguing the app and its American users were having their First Amendment rights violated. April 24, 2024President Joe Biden signed the bill requiring TikTok to be sold or banned, provoking a response from the platform, which claimed in a statement it “invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation.” April 23, 2024The Senate voted 80-19 to pass the bill, which Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said was done to “prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel.” April 20, 2024The House in an overwhelming 360-58 vote passed the legislation against TikTok, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., saying in a statement the legislation was “designed to address legitimate national security and privacy concerns.” Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here. When Did The Tiktok Ban Take Effect? The ban against TikTok became effective Sunday, Jan. 19, but the platform appeared to take itself online minutes earlier. Is Tiktok Back? When Will Tiktok Be Fully Restored? Many U.S.-based users reported the mobile app or website was working again as of Sunday afternoon at about 1 p.m. EST, and users were greeted with a message stating: “Welcome back!” However, the app still is not available for download on the iPhone App Store. In a message posted on its website, Apple said TikTok will remain on users’ devices if they have already downloaded it, but the app won’t get any further updates, which may “impact performance, security and compatibility” with the iPhone and iPad operating systems. It’s not clear when—or if—Apple will allow the app to return. Can Trump Stop Tiktok From Getting Banned? Yes—at least temporarily. Trump, who is opposed to banning TikTok despite once pushing for a ban, takes office a day after the deadline, so he was not able to stop the law from taking effect altogether. However, he announced Sunday he will extend the ban when he returns to office “so we can make a deal to protect our national security” by transferring TikTok to a joint venture with 50% U.S. ownership—though the law only allows Trump to extend the ban by 90 days if ByteDance is working toward a sale. Trump also said there will be “no liability” for companies that allow TikTok to stay live before he signs the order. TikTok said in a statement Sunday it was able to start restoring service because Trump promised no penalties for its service providers. If TikTok is not sold within 90 days, however, it’s unclear what Trump can do. Former Justice Department official Alan Rozenshtein wrote in a Lawfare op-ed Trump could lobby Congress to repeal the ban, though in doing so he would have to overcome the law’s bipartisan support. Here’s more on Trump’s options.

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Here Are The Startups Jeff Bezos Invested In Last Year The billionaire Amazon founder put early money into Airbnb and Uber. Now he’s placing bets on these AI robotics companies. Before Marko Bjelonic, cofounder and CEO of AI robotics company Swiss-Mile, met with billionaire Jeff Bezos last April, he sent Bezos his version of an Amazon 6-Pager to pitch his company, hoping it would improve his odds in a video call he expected to feel rushed—but wasn’t. (The 6-Pager is the now-famous document that Bezos required Amazon executives to circulate before strategic meetings in lieu of PowerPoint slides and is known as a key element of Amazon’s culture.) “I was very surprised by how patient he was and how relaxed,” Bjelonic says. The call was scheduled for 30 minutes, but ended up being an hour long. “It felt like a conversation.” That call led Bezos to co-lead a $22 million funding round in Zurich-based Swiss-Mile in August. The company is developing AI-powered robots that look a bit like wiry, headless dogs with wheels for feet and, later this year, can hopefully deliver items from point to point. It’s currently testing early versions on the streets of Zurich. Swiss-Mile is one of at least nine companies that got investments from the world’s second richest person in 2024; seven of them are artificial intelligence startups, according to media reports, PitchBook and Preqin data and Forbes research. A representative for Bezos wouldn’t comment. Four of the startups, including Figure AI and Swiss-Mile, are specifically working on AI-powered robotics—a vertical he had not publicly focused on as a venture investor before last year. While Bezos wouldn’t comment on his investment strategy, billionaire entrepreneurs who typically dip into angel investing are seeing changes coming. In this case, Bezos may think AI-powered robotics is on the cusp of a big commercial breakthrough. “They want to be on the forefront of investing into the type of technology that can be beneficial for their industry,” says Kjartan Rist, founding partner at Concentric, a venture firm that only has family offices as limited partners. “They've seen the waves that have come. So they’re very keen on being part of the next wave.” For Bezos, the last couple of “waves” in his primary industry—ecommerce—were likely real estate for distribution centers and robotics, and the next wave is autonomous robotics, Rist added. Bezos isn’t new to robotics; in 2007 he made an early bet on Rethink Robotics, a startup that helped robots automate manufacturing. During Bezos’ tenure as CEO of Amazon, the company purchased several robotics companies, including Kiva Systems in 2012 and Canvas Technology in 2019. But Bezos has never publicly invested in so many robotics startups in a year, and autonomous robots, which can operate without direct human supervision, are new. Two of the four AI robot companies (Figure AI and Physical Intelligence) didn’t respond to a request for comment, but Swiss-Mile’s Bjelonic and Skild AI cofounder and CEO Deepak Pathak are of course bullish, believing it’s a breakthrough moment for AI-powered robotics: “As people get interested about building artificial general intelligence, … robotics is the way to go to AGI,” Pathak says. “This is the next big frontier for AI.” Bjelonic likens it more to the invention of the iPhone, saying that all the requisite technologies are coming together to make autonomous robots possible—AI advances so the robots can be smarter, and cheaper hardware so more people can build them.

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What To Expect From Cybersecurity Threats In 2025

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TikTok CEO Will Reportedly Attend Trump’s Inauguration As Ban Threat Looms TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is planning to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week, the New York Times reported Wednesday, even as the Supreme Court signaled it may uphold a bipartisan law—which Trump has opposed—which would either force TikTok’s sale to an American company or ban it. Social Media CEOs Testify TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew speaks during a Senate [+] Judiciary Committee hearing with other social media platform heads on Capitol Hill in Washington. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Key Facts According to the Times, Chew was formally invited by the Trump Vance Inaugural committee to attend the ceremony. The report added that the TikTok CEO will reportedly be seated “in a position of honor on the dais,” which is usually where former presidents, family members and other high-level guests are seated. Aside from Chew, several top tech industry leaders are expected to attend the inauguration, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. Forbes has reached out to TikTok for a comment. Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here. Is Trump Planning To Block The Tiktok Ban? Earlier on Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that Trump was considering issuing an executive order, after taking office next week, that would delay the enforcement of the law targeting TikTok for two to three months. The report, however, cited legal experts who expressed doubts about whether Trump could unilaterally undo a law that was passed by Congress and has strong bipartisan backing. The president-elect, however, is reportedly keen on being seen as “making a deal” to save the popular app. This is a developing story. Follow me on Twitter. Send me a secure tip. Siladitya Ray is a reporter on the Forbes news team who covers major world news stories

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Inside $250 Billion EQT’s Plan To Dominate Asian And European Private Equity

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Nvidia Slams Biden ‘Overreach’ And Praises Trump—As AI Stock Enters Correction Territory Nvidia blasted the Biden administration and hyped President-elect Donald Trump in a Monday press release reacting to more export restrictions targeting Nvidia’s highly sought-after artificial intelligence chips, a criticism coinciding with a rare down stretch on Wall Street for Nvidia—and mounting Silicon Valley support for Trump. President Joe Biden announced Monday a framework to govern the transfer of AI technology most famously designed by Nvidia to cap AI chip sales abroad at both the country and company levels, a move which the White House characterized as an effort to keep away the advanced AI systems out of the hands of “countries of concern” as Biden has voiced concern about China’s use of American-made AI throughout his presidency. The potential for limited exports poses a potential headache for Nvidia, as China, Singapore and Taiwan accounted for more than half of the company’s $35 billion in revenue during its most recent financial quarter, with China alone accounting for $5.4 billion of Nvidia’s quarterly sales. Nvidia lashed out against the rules in a strongly worded statement: “The new Biden rules would only weaken America’s global competitiveness, undermining the innovation that has kept the U.S. ahead,” clapped back Ned Finkle, Nvidia’s vice president of government affairs, arguing it’s an attempt from the White House “to rig market outcomes and stifle competition.” The Nvidia response also indicated a warm attitude toward Trump, as Finkle wrote the “first Trump Administration laid the foundation” for the recent AI revolution. Nvidia looks “forward to a return to policies that strengthen American leadership, bolster our economy and preserve our competitive edge in AI and beyond,” Finkle added. Nvidia Stock Enters 10% Correction Shares of Nvidia fell as much as 4.7% to $129.51 shortly after market open, as pressure on its abroad business accelerated its recent stock market slump. The stock was down more than 15% from its all-time-high share price set last week, erasing as much as $578 billion in market capitalization from its $3.75 trillion valuation peak set Tuesday morning. Other big technology stocks struggled Monday, with shares of Alphabet, Apple and Tesla all declining at least 1% as the S&P 500 benchmark index sank to its lowest level since early November. Contra Much of Nvidia’s stock surge came while Biden was in office. The company’s share price is up 880% since Biden’s 2021 inauguration, compared to a 414% rally during Trump’s first term, according to FactSet data. Key Background Nvidia is far from the first big tech firm to express excitement about the prospects of Trump’s second term, with the likes of Amazon and Alphabet committing $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund as industry leaders like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos all met with Trump following his November election win. Zuckerberg also announced sweeping changes to Meta’s policies ahead of Trump’s inauguration: The company is ditching fact-checks in favor of X-style community notes, and Trump ally Dana White will join the board. Trump’s administration includes the newly-created role of “White House AI & Crypto Czar,” filled by Silicon Valley venture capitalist David Sacks, in an effort to make the U.S. “the clear global leader” in AI and cryptocurrency, Trump said in December. Nvidia is the face of the 2020s generative AI boom, as it designs a majority of the data-intensive hardware and software systems used to train AI technology like OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot and Tesla’s self-driving programs.

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NFL Legend Steve Young On How Faith is the Ultimate Game-Changer

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How Jay Graber Is Making Sure Bluesky Never Turns Into Elon Musk’s X Since Elon Musk torpedoed Twitter, Bluesky has seen a stunning surge. CEO Jay Graber is working on “billionaire-proofing” social media against any similar takeover. Emily Baker-WhiteJan 6, 2025, How Jay Graber Is Making Sure Bluesky Never Turns Into Elon Musk’s X Two months after the social network Bluesky launched in February 2023, it got its first bona fide celebrity user: the humorist known as dril. An absurdist Twitter character once described by the New Yorker as “one of America’s incisive ongoing works of social criticism,” dril had a finger on the pulse of Twitter’s decades-old chaotic energy, and that energy was headed to Bluesky. “it is real it is him,” Bluesky developer Paul Frazee posted after dril joined. Despite his nearly two million followers at the time, Elon Musk’s X was no longer working for him, dril told Forbes. “Their algorithm has been more aggressively prioritizing moronic political commentators and crypto scammers, while pushing aside the people you actually follow,” he said. “If Bluesky can market itself as a sort of last bastion against ad bots, AI crap, and nefarious algorithms, I think it'll be in a very strong position,” he continued. But “it's likely only a matter of time before one of their higher-up tech gurus decides to break the dam so all that sewage can flow in.” Bluesky was never meant to be an app — or even a company. It began as an open source research project at Twitter, a skunkworks team helmed by open internet evangelist Jay Graber. Graber’s mandate was to build a protocol, a shared language that computers could use to talk to each other, designed specifically for social media. Through the AT Protocol (or Authentic Transfer, as well as, “where you at online?”), Twitter and other companies would be able to exchange information with one another, creating an open network where posts could be freely shared across social platforms. But after Elon Musk bought Twitter, it became clear that Bluesky was no longer on its roadmap. Twitter under Musk began to transform, facing an advertiser boycott, exodus of users, and eventually a name change to X. So the team that made the protocol spun up a quick app, just to show how it might be used. They launched it as an invite-only social network in 2023. Graber began leading Bluesky two years earlier, after Parag Agrawal, who would soon become Twitter CEO, offered her the job. The move proved prophetic for Graber, who had previously worked in cryptocurrency and built social apps. Her mother, who grew up in China, gave her the first name Lantian, Mandarin for blue sky. (The similarity, however, is coincidental, as the project had already been named before Graber’s involvement.) Since its launch, Bluesky has seen unusual success: It raised a modest $15 million Series A round in October, when it had 13 million users, and since then, its user base has nearly doubled to more than 25 million. The app has panicked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose own Twitter competitor, Threads, has rushed to copy many of its features. But as dril recognizes, Bluesky is a company with investors who want to make money. And that could someday clash with Graber’s user-first approach to social media: to put the people using Bluesky in control of its central features. “Open sourcing the app, the choice there was to make sure that everyone could see how we were doing this, that it was possible to build social apps at scale, and that developers could just come in and start building,” Graber told Forbes. Rather than let Bluesky itself determine what you see, in what order, and why, Graber and her team designed the app to let users create and subscribe to any number of feeds. Want to see posts from just your mutuals? There’s a feed for that. Want to see every post about gardening, or trail running, or a bottomless stream of gift links to news articles that usually have paywalls? There are feeds for those, too, and BlueSky doesn’t own them. Its users do. Bluesky’s ethos of user choice extends beyond just which feeds you choose to follow. Don’t like the company’s lack of verification? Build your own system, like Hunter Walker, a journalist at Talking Points Memo, did. Don’t want to see AI art? Crowdsource a labeling and filtering system to detect and block it. Don’t like the company’s moderation settings? Create your own — as long as you stay above the company’s permissive floor. (Illegal content, harassment, election meddling, and other hard lines are non-negotiable.) The idea of user choice even extends beyond Bluesky’s features to the idea of the app itself. If the AT Protocol catches on with other social platforms, then users will be able to frictionlessly move between platforms to the one they like best — which means Bluesky will have to compete with any number of other companies to provide the best user experience. “Bluesky is a much more positive experience, but bad if you, like me, have built a following partly on dunking on idiots. There aren't as many idiots on Bluesky.” Derek Guy, the “menswear guy” In giving power to the people, Bluesky has so far eschewed the strategy that other social platforms have used to make billions of dollars: collecting troves of intimate data about their users and then letting advertisers target them based on that data. At least today, Bluesky is fully public, and its user data is available to people outside the company, so there’s no secret sauce for advertisers to pay for. It’s not that Graber is opposed to ads, but when it comes to social media, she said they’ve become “overly extractive.” “We think of it a bit like the resource curse: when a country discovers oil and it becomes a very profitable revenue stream, there’s this phenomenon where other industries get neglected. They don’t build out the rest of the economy.” If ads are oil, Graber doesn’t yet know what the solar, wind or hydropower sources of income for Bluesky might be. The company is preparing to test several subscription products, and has left the door open to testing some ads, too, in a way that would keep users in control. Graber is conscious of what she called “bus problems” — or, the scenarios that could happen if she and her executive team, god forbid, get hit by a bus. “We have locked things open enough that we cannot significantly degrade the user experience because we have opened the market up to entrepreneurs.” What will truly keep the AT Protocol independent, Graber said, is people other than her and her team stewarding it. She said she has started talking to standards bodies, international organizations that define each language of code, but that true decentralization — or “billionaire-proofing” as she has called it — relies on people outside of Bluesky adopting the protocol and making it their own. There are efforts to expand use of the protocol. A day after the New Year rang in, cryptic posters began appearing throughout San Francisco. The posters show a cloudy blue sky, an asterisk, and teased a website called Free Our Feeds, with a countdown clock to January 13. A source familiar with the posters said they are related to an upcoming announcement about the AT protocol. Bluesky’s DIY approach requires a bit more effort from users than X or Meta Threads. People who can’t code likely won’t be building their own feeds, verification systems or labels anytime soon — and while it doesn’t require coding, figuring out how to subscribe to other users’ creations and customize your moderation settings requires a bit of effort. But barriers to entry fade away when the product is good enough. Billionaire investor and frequent poster Mark Cuban thinks it is. He’s embraced Bluesky as a “truly social” experience: “You can post something about your day and get positive responses.” Still, his 805,000 followers on Bluesky is only a fraction of the 8.8 million he’s amassed on X. “There are lots of people I disagree with,” Cuban told Forbes, but “[t]hat is part of any engaging platform.” Still, he said, personal moderation tools like blocking or reporting “kill the incentives of trolls to troll.” Bluesky does have some moderation features that other platforms don’t have, like the option to detach a quote-post from your original post (a feature that’s largely positive but can sour if people use it to pile on a post they don’t like). But in large part, what makes moderation on Bluesky different from other platforms is how liberally its new users have employed tools that do exist — or at least used to exist — on other platforms, too. Bluesky gained half a million users in a day after X (formerly Twitter) announced that its “block” feature would no longer fully block people. Derek Guy, known online as “the menswear guy,” also praised the platform for its more civil clientele — though he confessed that the friendly atmosphere might not work as well with his personal brand: “Bluesky is a much more positive experience, but bad if you, like me, have built a following partly on dunking on idiots. There aren't as many idiots on Bluesky.” MORE FROM FORBES Jack Dorsey-Backed Decentralized Twitter Rival Prepares To Launch With One Million UsersBy Michael del CastilloWhat To Know About Bluesky—The Buzzy Social Media App Siphoning Users From Elon Musk’s XBy Conor MurrayThe Pentagon Is Using AI To Vet Employees — But Only When It Passes ‘The Mom Test’By Emily Baker-WhiteThe Best Of Forbes Photography 2024By Forbes StaffThe Best Of Forbes Illustration 2024By Forbes Staff Emily Baker-White is an investigative reporter and senior writer at Forbes. She joined ... Richard Nieva is a San Francisco-based senior writer who covers technology. He joined

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The Big Question At The Heart Of The TikTok Case

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Why An Old-School Value Investor Is Betting On Bitcoin Bitcoin’s breathtaking 2024 performance and its rise above $100,000, has captured the world’s attention. Here’s why one card-carrying value investor is bullish on the volatile digital asset. Why An Old-School Value Investor Is Betting On Bitcoin My first trip to Las Vegas is one I remember very fondly. I was only about a year out of college when my best friend offered me a free flight to go with him for a few days. We stayed at the Hard Rock Casino, which was off the Strip at the time and exactly the kind of place where someone my age would want to be at with its party-like atmosphere, smaller and more intimate table gaming pit than the bigger casinos on the Strip, and some of the most generous comps. Even 27 years later, this experience remains fresh in my mind. I can recall playing blackjack for hours. We started at $10 minimum bet tables. But a lucky streak early on had us quickly progressing to bigger bets per hand. I won about $1,700 my first two days there. On the third day, our fortunes turned. By the evening, my friend went from being up a few hundred to being down $750. Frustration set in and he decided to head to bed early. I fared even worse with my $1,700 gain whittled down to just $300. But unlike my friend, I wasn’t done. Losing that much money had left such a bad taste in my mouth that I took the $300 I was still up, saw a $100 minimum table with no one there and said, why not? With luck back on my side, I turned that $300 into $3,000 in less than 20 minutes. In all, I came home having won about $3,600. For a 23-year-old living in New York City in the late 90s, this was a lot of money. Sobering Foray Into Stock Investing I bring this up because it’s often the first experience that shapes your view. My first trip to Vegas was about as good as it gets for someone in my circumstance back then. I had no fear of betting way outside my means because of the incredible luck I was enjoying and because I didn’t know any better. When you’re young, you haven’t accumulated enough life lessons to realize how reckless it is to bet $100 a hand when you only have $700 in the bank. The same is true with investing in stocks. My first introduction to doing so came when I began working at Forbes, which just happened to be at the height of the Dot-com bubble in early 2000. Among the stocks recommended by my department in the six months prior to my arrival were eToys, VerticalNet and Healtheon, which took advantage of the insatiable demand for anything related to the Internet, whether a new website or a business that facilitated growth in its infrastructure. Those three gained 66%, 92% and 99%, respectively, in just two months, two-and-a-half months and three months. And the biggest beneficiary of this madness, Qualcomm, saw its stock soar something like 2,600% in the prior year. That’s not a typo. By then, I had some money saved and opened my first brokerage account. Timing-wise, it couldn’t have been worse as that was right around when the web/tech wreck began. Two of the first stocks I purchased were ones that were recommended by our department during my first three months here, Net Perceptions and Wind River Systems, neither of which exist anymore. I can’t even recall what they did. What remains crystal clear, however, is the fact that I rode them all the way down the market slump that followed, ultimately losing 75-80% on these holdings. That was my baptism by fire and a sobering reminder that I knew nothing about buying stocks and really had no business doing so at that point. Becoming A Value Investor This would change in the years that followed as I went through the CFA program, became a stock analyst, and gained experience hunting for bargains in virtually every sector and industry that exists. But the poor experience from my first foray buying stocks never left me. I lost a lot of money on the two losers noted above because I—like so many others at the time—bought into the hype. Shaped by this initial experience, as well as the value-oriented strategy associated with the stock recommending services I worked for, I avoided as much market hype as I could. Instead, I studied Warren Buffett, read Securities Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd (still considered the bible of fundamental analysis), and began primarily buying shares of companies selling at deep discounts to what I believed they were actually worth based on my research and analysis. In other words, I became a full-fledged value investor. This meant I sought out companies with strong future cash flow potential, but was disciplined enough to only buy them when they became too cheap to ignore. For example, when our department recommended Amazon at $7.48, right after the equity market tanked in the wake of the tragic 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, I bought some myself. But it also meant when we recommended that our subscribers take their profits at $12.20

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Where Is Cannabis Legal? A Guide To All 50 States

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Why Caitlin Clark Is One Of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women In 2024 The Indiana Fever rookie lit the match that set women’s sports on fire this year—including a $2 billion media rights deal for the WNBA, gender parity in the Olympics, and record-breaking viewership for professional women’s soccer. Caitlin Clark was almost nonchalant about the shot that, in March, made her the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer—male or female. “Pretty cool,” she told Fox’s courtside reporter Allison Williams before using the same breath to launch into an analysis of her team’s performance in the game’s first half. “Pretty cool” is one way to describe the year that Clark has had. Groundbreaking, galvanizing, and history-making are others. After leading Iowa to the NCAA women’s finals—which was watched by a record 18.7 million viewers (24 million at its peak), making it one of the most-watched games in college basketball history and surpassed the men’s final for the first time—Clark went on to become the number one pick in the 2024 WNBA draft. In her inaugural WNBA season, she continued making history—she set rookie records for most points and assists, as named the league’s Rookie of the Year. Alongside draft class members Angel Reese, Cameron Brink and Kamilla Cardoso, Clark is credited with driving a record 54 million viewers to ABC, NBC, ESPN and their cable peers to watch the WNBA’s regular season. All of that attention is also lucrative: Over the summer, the WNBA struck an 11-year $2.2 billion media rights deal with Disney, Amazon Prime and NBC. A basketball player has never before made the ranks of the Forbes list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women (Serena Williams, tennis ace, is one of the only other athletes to appear in the rankings in the last 20 years), but the 22-year-old Clark was a driving force in a game-changing year for women’s sports. The year marked the first time there was gender parity in the number of Olympic athletes competing in the Games; U.S. women’s soccer closed its 2024 season with the most-watched championship game in NWSL history; Angel City FC became the highest-valued women’s professional sports team, at $250 million when Willow Bay and Bob Iger acquired a controlling stake this summer. “Caitlin Clark became the lightning rod of this moment in time,” says Thayer Lavielle, the managing director of Wasserman’s women’s-focused practice, The Collective. Lavielle estimates the value of professional women’s basketball and soccer stands to increase by a combined $1.6 billion over the next three years, a figure that is based on attendance and viewership (on television or streaming equivalents) and doesn’t include merchandise or media deals. It’s a growth spurt that is long overdue. Dawn Staley, who as the head coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks now has three NCAA women’s titles to her name, told Forbes in July that the momentum behind women’s sports has been building for so long that it’s finally “uncontrollable.” But it also takes a singular figure to truly galvanize consumer interest. “I think sometimes you need a unifier,” Staley said. “I think Caitlin Clark has done a tremendous job at being that person people want to see. She's brought a different set of eyeballs to our game.” Of course, for all the attention that Clark and her cohorts have brought to women’s sports in 2024, it’s “a long path to equity,” says Lavielle. “The men’s side of the ecosystem is $54 billion.” And research from The Collective shows that in the years leading up to 2024, women’s sports received, on average, 15% of total sports media coverage and 10% of sponsorship dollars. Naturally, that discrepancy translates to significantly lower starting salaries for female players in the WNBA. Clark’s $76,535 rookie salary made headlines earlier this year when it was compared to the salaries of her male counterparts in the NBA: Zaccharie Risacher, 2024’s overall number one pick, and Victor Wembanyama, 2023’s first pick, both received a starting salary of $12 million. “The major money that funds women's sports comes from sponsorships and media rights, and even media is really just a reflection of what brands are willing to spend,” explains Pete Giorgio, a principal at Deloitte who leads the firm’s sports practice. “Caitlin Clark will get paid the same as Victor Wembanyama when companies spend 50% of their marketing dollars on women's sports.” Giorgio projects that 2024 will mark the first year that global revenue from women’s sports will surpass $1 billion and says that any “bear” case to his thesis is gender-neutral: an economic downturn that would affect sports writ large, for instance. “I fundamentally believe that women's sports is an undervalued asset that's going to continue to grow,” he says.

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Biggest Career Comebacks Of 2024

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Hong Kong and Germany Eye Strategic Bitcoin Reserves Amid Growing Global Interest The global financial landscape evolves, several countries are seriously considering integrating Bitcoin into their national reserves. Hong Kong and Germany are the latest to join this race, as lawmakers in both regions propose strategies to incorporate Bitcoin into their respective financial systems. The move reflects the growing recognition of Bitcoin as a potential hedge against economic uncertainty and a strategic asset for the future. Hong Kong’s Push for Bitcoin in the Exchange Fund Hong Kong has long been a crypto-friendly hub, and its latest proposal to include Bitcoin in its Exchange Fund signals the city’s intent to remain competitive in the rapidly evolving global economy. Wu Jiezhuang, Chairman of Hong Kong’s Web3 Virtual Asset Development Subcommittee, suggested leveraging the “One Country, Two Systems” framework to pilot Bitcoin inclusion in the Exchange Fund. This initiative aims to bolster Hong Kong’s financial security amid shifting global crypto dynamics. Currently, the Treasury Bureau in Hong Kong has not designated crypto assets as targeted investments for the Exchange Fund. However, it has allowed external investment managers to include a small exposure to cryptocurrencies within diversified portfolios. This shows a potential opening for the city to take the next step toward a strategic Bitcoin reserve. In recent years, Hong Kong has been positioning itself as a leader in the crypto space. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange currently lists 12 cryptocurrency-linked exchange-traded funds (ETFs), collectively valued at HK$7.4 billion (around $940 million). This growing interest in crypto assets is part of Hong Kong’s broader efforts to establish itself as a key player in the global cryptocurrency market. If successful, this move could further solidify the city’s role as a leading financial hub for digital assets. Interestingly, China, which holds roughly 190,000 Bitcoins, is second only to the United States in terms of Bitcoin reserves. With Bitcoin’s current price nearing $94,000, China’s holdings are worth approximately $18 billion. Hong Kong could look to follow suit, potentially converting these Bitcoin reserves into ETFs listed on its exchange. Germany’s Call for Bitcoin in Central Bank Reserves Across the globe, Germany is also considering Bitcoin as part of its strategic reserves. Christian Lindner, Germany’s former finance minister, has urged the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bundesbank to explore the possibility of adding Bitcoin to their reserves. This call comes on the heels of similar discussions within the European Parliament and follows growing concerns about the role of cryptocurrencies in global finance.

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7 Reasons Why 2025 Could Redefine Crypto Despite questions over regulation, lingering SEC lawsuits and scores of billion dollar zombie blockchain, bitcoin and the entire crypto market had a roaring comeback in 2024. Crypto winter? Over. Fallen empires and courtroom drama? In the rearview. The survivors? Battle-tested and eyeing the horizon like it’s the next gold rush. After years of clashes with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds have arrived. As of mid-December 16, U.S. bitcoin ETFs held $129 billion in assets, surpassing the $125 billion in gold ETFs, according to Norway-based K33 Research. A post-election cocktail of market euphoria and Donald Trump’s promises to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world” and establish a strategic bitcoin reserve sent bitcoin past $100,000. Solana is having a moment, fueled by memecoin hype and new categories like dePINs—networks that leverage blockchain tech to decentralize control and ownership of physical infrastructure. Platforms like Polymarket, where users bet on the outcome of U.S. presidential elections, and the battle royale game Off The Grid have found mainstream success. A new wave of “degens” are gambling on tokens like fartcoin and dogwifhat, both now with a market cap above $1 billion. “It’s the year that crypto moved into the mainstream consciousness in a way that it hadn’t since 2021, and that it is now a sustainable long-term asset class that is going to have a voice and is going to matter,” says Rob Hadick, general partner at Dragonfly, a San Francisco-based crypto venture capital firm. “If you look at just the effect that crypto had on the election—both as donors and in terms of bringing it forward in legislatures and for presidential candidates—that's never been done before and obviously a big step forward in legitimization.” With Trump and a cadre of crypto-friendly officials poised to take office, the stage is set for what insiders are already calling "crypto’s golden age." Here’s what’s brewing: New All-Time Highs and the U.S. Bitcoin Reserve The art of bold price prediction is back in vogue. Crypto asset manager Bitwise forecasts $200,000—or even $500,000—per bitcoin if the U.S. creates a strategic reserve akin to those for oil or gold. The logic: the U.S. official bitcoin stockpile would trigger global FOMO. Trump floated using 200,000 bitcoins confiscated from criminals (worth $21 billion) to jumpstart the reserve at the Nashville Bitcoin conference in July. But the legal pathway is murky—will it require Congressional approval, or can the executive branch act unilaterally? Pro-crypto Senator Cynthia Lummis proposed a Treasury-operated reserve in July. Skeptics argue the asset’s volatility could undermine financial stability. Trump's silence on whether the U.S. would acquire more bitcoin through open market purchases adds another layer of intrigue. Crypto’s Regulatory Reset: A Friendly Washington The incoming administration is shaping up to be the most pro-crypto yet. Key appointments include: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): Paul Atkins, former SEC commissioner and a crypto supporter, is poised to replace the industry’s sworn enemy Gary Gensler, whose tenure was defined by lawsuits and enforcement crackdowns. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC): Brian Quintenz, head of policy at Andreessen Horowitz and former CFTC commissioner, is the frontrunner to lead the agency. Treasury: hedge fund billionaire and bitcoin advocate Scott Bessent is Trump’s pick for secretary. Commerce: Howard Lutnik, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald (the main custodian for Tether’s USDT reserves), is set to lead the department. AI & Crypto Czar: David Sacks, a longtime venture capitalist who also worked with Elon Musk at PayPal, will oversee policy in two key areas of Trump's strategy for enhancing national competitiveness. The House Financial Services Committee: Rep. French Hill, an Arkansas Republican who has worked alongside outgoing Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) to champion industry-friendly crypto legislation, plans to prioritize crypto market structure bill within the first 100 days and investigate the so-called Operation Choke Point 2.0, which many believe unfairly targeted the crypto sector through debanking practices. “There's a real opportunity to get good policy in place for the industry,” says Kristin Smith, CEO of Washington DC-based Blockchain Association, which represents more than 100 crypto companies. “The White House has indicated that this is a priority. I think we're going to see a combination of efforts across government, a legislative push for market structure and stablecoins and a big shift towards a lot of the innovation coming back to the US,” she adds. New Public Listings and Available Capital

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The Methodology Behind The Midas List Europe: How Data Shapes The Rankings The Midas List Europe seeks to be the definitive ranking of the top tech investors in Europe and the Middle East. This annual list is compiled using a rigorous, data-driven methodology in an effort to ensure accuracy and fairness in identifying the most successful venture capitalists in the region. By combining data validation and a sophisticated analytical model, we ensure the list provides a credible and authoritative ranking that reflects the true performance of these investors in driving tech innovation and growth across the European ecosystem. Several criteria must be met to be considered for one of the 25 spots on the Midas List Europe. VCs must reside in Europe or the Middle East and invest in a portfolio that includes European and/or Middle Eastern companies. Investors also must invest on behalf of third-party limited partners; investments made from personal balance sheets or for a single corporation, foundation, or other entity do not qualify, as they often have additional objectives outside of performance driving their investment strategy. Investors’ rankings are determined by the performance of their portfolio companies, which must have either exited in the last five years through a public offering or sale at a valuation of $100 million or more, or be private, unexited companies valued at $200 million or more at the last priced round. This historic period of five years helps capture consistent records of success while rewarding recent bets. Collecting and Validating Data The process of compiling the Midas List Europe begins with thorough data collection. Forbes and TrueBridge Capital invite hundreds of investors across dozens of firms to submit their deal data. This data provides details on the companies they have invested in, including the stages of investment and the outcomes of those companies. While the submission period is open, the Midas team reviews publicly available data sets to ensure accuracy, consistency and completeness of information. It also reviews industry information and data from past lists, which creates a comprehensive set of data points for analysis. In order to ensure the integrity and complete confidentiality of the data, TrueBridge acts as an independent third-party data partner, receiving and analyzing the submissions. Every step of the process is framed to maintain trust and the credibility of the list. Running the Midas List Europe Model The Midas team employs a sophisticated model to analyze the broad set of data points. This model considers several key metrics for each deal attributed to a VC. These include the total number of investment deals, the valuation of the companies at exit or current valuation, and the stage at which the VC invested. The model assigns a score to each deal based on these variables, with a weighted emphasis on exited companies and more recent returns. For example, if multiple VCs have invested in the same company at different stages, the model calculates a score for each VC based on their specific investment and level of participation. This process is repeated for all deals attributed to each investor, resulting in a score that determines the ranking for each individual. Identifying List Trends for 2024 In order to rank VCs based on the value they have created for their investors, this list must, by definition, be backward-looking. An interesting side effect of this historic look is that the newest trends in investing are not immediately reflected in the list. The obvious example of this in 2024 is AI. While AI investments can be expected to dictate the outcome of the list in the coming years, 2024 remains a relatively balanced and broad year, with companies across SaaS, fintech, cybersecurity, and entertainment all contributing. Another 2024 trend is the continued difficulty of the exit markets. With few companies completing a successful exit this year, metrics around stage of investment, ownership, board participation and continued follow-on support have greater weight than in a year of robust exit activity. The ultimate goal with the selection of the Midas List Europe is to have a thorough and transparent process, designed to identify the most successful investors placing bets on startups in Europe and the Middle East. Venture capital and the revolutionary companies it enables, from Spotify to Adyen to Mistral, are an important and exciting part of the innovation economy. We hope that the Midas List Europe provides some insight into these companies and the partners working alongside them every day to help them grow.

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WATCH: NBA Star Jayson Tatum Shares The Story Behind His Signature Jordan Shoe

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Meet The Japanese Noodle Billionaire Taking On McDonald’s And KFC

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30 Under 30 2025 Science: Pushing The Limits Of Chemistry, Math And More These researchers, engineers and entrepreneurs are making discoveries and inventing new solutions in every arena, from the subatomic to the stars. Alex KnappDec 3, 2024, 30 Under 30 2025 Science: Pushing The Limits Of Chemistry, Math And More Daniel Marin dreams of an internet where a user’s identity can be verified without risking giving up any of their own information. His company, Nexus, uses a combination of cryptography, mathematics and engineering to prove you are you instead of a password or the name of your first grade teacher. It relies on a multitude of computers connected to the Nexus network, which does the heavy computation behind the scenes. “We're building a marketplace for compute,” he says. So far, 15 companies and over 120,000 people are using Nexus’ software, and the company has raised $27 million at a recent $150 million valuation to keep building out its products. Its product is currently free but the company aims to develop ways to monetize as it matures its technology. Science-Daniel Marin by Tim Tadder for Forbes Tim Tadder for Forbes Marin, 24, is just one of the innovators on this year’s 30 Under 30 Science list. For more than a decade, Forbes has highlighted young scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs with the help of nominations from the public. To be considered for this year’s list, all candidates had to be under the age of 30 as of December 31, 2024, and never before named to a 30 Under 30 North America, Europe or Asia list. The candidates were evaluated by a panel of judges featuring Sara Seager, professor of physics at MIT; Luna Yu, cofounder and CEO of Genecis; Christina Smolke, cofounder and CEO of Antheia; and Randy Glein, cofounder and partner of DFJ Growth. Marin isn’t the only listmaker pushing computer science to its limits. There’s also Paul Liang, 29, who has laid down some of the theoretical foundations that enables AI models to understand and retrieve multimedia contact. Liz Izhikevich, 28, is using her research to change how industry identifies software performance faults and security threats. And Fiona Kolbinger, 29, is using AI to help surgeons plan their procedures and support decisions while surgery is happening. Another area of research for these listmakers is in the development of new hardware and materials. For example, there’s Kent Zheng, 29, who is working on lithium-free batteries made from zinc and aluminum that are less toxic and more affordable. Meanwhile, Rachel Baker, 29, is developing processes using biomass from trees and plants to make sustainable industrial chemicals. Then there’s Shucong Li, 29, who has developed a platform of responsive materials used to make soft robots for a variety of applications. Some of the listmakers this year have their eyes on the stars. For example, NASA Einstein Fellow Sylvia Biscoveanu, 29, studies gravitational waves to learn more about how our universe came to be. Savannah Eisner, 29, is developing electronics that can survive in space and other harsh environments, like the surface of Venus. Meanwhile, Wyver, cofounded by Callie Lissinna, 27, has satellites in orbit looking down on Earth, providing insight to the chemistry happening on the surface for agriculture, mining and other applications. These are only a few of the incredible scientists and entrepreneurs on this years Forbes 30 Under 30 Science list. Be sure to read up on all of them, plus all of the other 30 Under 30 2025 categories. This year’s list was edited by Alex Knapp, Katie Jennings, Katharine Gammon and Ragnhildur Þrastardóttir. For a link to our complete Under 30 Science list, click here, and for full 30 Under 30 coverage, click here. 30 UNDER 30 RELATED ARTICLES Inside Alex Cooper’s $125 Million Deal To Grow Her Multimedia EmpireBy Alexandra YorkCoders Worry The AI From This $2 Billion Startup Could Replace Their JobsBy Rashi ShrivastavaFracking Hot Rocks Could Revolutionize Clean Energy—If Trump Doesn’t Get In The WayBy Christopher Helman30 Under 30 Marketing & Advertising 2025: The Young Founders Using Fintech, Social Media And The Power Of Partnerships To Boost Brands Big And SmallBy Alexandra York30 Under 30 2025: Stars Shaboozey, Chappell Roan And Noah Kahan Lead The Artists Shaping The Future Of MusicBy Zoya Hasan Alex Knapp is a senior editor covering healthcare, science, and cutting edge technology

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As a leader, your role is not only to guide the process but also to cultivate a culture where diverse viewpoints are thoughtfully considered. Here’s how you can lead effectively by supporting and mastering the art of advocacy within your team

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Mega Millions Jackpot Reaches $944 Million For Christmas Eve Drawing—Here’s How Much The Winner Could Take Home After Taxes

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Electrical infrastructure stocks like Powell Industries and IES Holdings have been on a tear, leading Forbes’ ranking of mid-sized companies. Right behind are names like Abercrombie & Fitch, Dutch Bros, Sweetgreen and Shake Shack

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The chairman and CEO of American Express from 2001 to 2018, Ken Chenault is now the chairman of the venture capital firm General Catalyst with a net worth that Forbes estimates at $750 million.

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The Biden Administration will defend the TikTok divest-or-ban bill in court on January 10, limiting the chances that a future Trump DOJ could try to torpedo it.

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Trump Confirms Bitcoin Reserve Plan $15 Trillion Price Boom Predicted

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