News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
Retail investors could be key to SpaceX, other IPOs, says expert
STORY: SpaceX is moving ahead with plans for one of the most anticipated IPOs in history as it hosts analysts this week for three days of closed-door meetings at its launch facility in Texas and mega-sized data center in Tennessee, according to three people familiar with the matter. Elon Musk's company is holding the briefings for Wall Street's top aerospace and technology analysts as it looks to raise $75 billion, in an IPO that would be the world's biggest ever, with executives targeting a late June trading debut. ChatGPT maker OpenAI and rival AI startup Anthropic are also part of the strong pipeline of high-profile companies lined up to enter public markets this year. Their success will hinge on whether "markets stay strong enough for investors to absorb the size of those three deals," said Scheif, who added that access to shares through 401k plans would also help shore up demand.
Oracle Is The Winner From The OpenAI vs. Anthropic War (NYSE:ORCL)
Looking for a portfolio of ideas like this one? Members of Best Of Breed Growth Stocks get exclusive access to our subscriber-only portfolios. Learn More " Oracle (ORCL) has officially become a forgotten AI winner. The initial reason was apparently due to the heavy customer concentration to OpenAI, but the main driver over the last few months has been the ongoing suffering in the software sector. Investors may Julian Lin is a financial analyst. He finds undervalued companies with secular growth that appreciate over time. His approach is to look for companies with strong balance sheets and management teams in sectors with long growth runways. Julian is the leader of the investing group Best Of Breed Growth Stocks where he only shares positions in stocks which have a large probability of delivering large alpha relative to the S&P 500. He also combines growth-oriented principles with strict valuation hurdles to add an additional layer to the conventional margin of safety. Features include: exclusive access to Julian's highest conviction picks, full stock research reports, real-time trade alerts, macro market analysis, individual industry reports, a filtered watchlist, and community chat with access to Julian 24/7. Learn more. Analyst's Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of ORCL either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Polymarket launches trading of heavily leveraged 'perps' contracts
Prediction markets platform Polymarket is expanding into trading of perpetual futures contacts, the company said Tuesday. The announcement comes on the heels of a report from The Information that its main rival Kalshi has plans to offer crypto trading, including perpetuals. These are futures contracts that stay open indefinitely, allowing traders to hold leveraged exposure and exit anytime they want as long as they have enough funds to maintain it. Polymarket has not specified whether its offering will include crypto perpetual futures, but the company is highly crypto friendly. It's built on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains and denominates trades primarily in the stablecoin USDC. Crypto traders were major drivers of Polymarket's meteoric rise in 2024. The move puts Kalshi -- and perhaps Polymarket, if its offering includes crypto perpetuals -- in more direct competition with Robinhood, Coinbase and Kraken, all of which have added prediction markets into their offerings in the past year, highlighting the value of young, speculative and risk-tolerant retail traders. While not widely available in the U.S., international perpetuals, or "perps," became especially popular among the crypto crowd in the industry's early years as a workaround to traditional finance limitations. Last year, the top Last year, the top centralized crypto exchanges registered $86.2 trillion in annual perps volume and 47% growth from the previous year, according to CoinGecko. By expanding into perps, Polymarket and Kalshi are tapping into derivatives trading at a time when cryptocurrency prices have stalled and trading activity has slowed - even if signs of longer-term institutional demand remain intact. Perps have the ability to keep the ecosystem active by generating more consistent volume and allowing traders to speculate on short-term moves, hedge existing positions, and use leverage -- regardless of the direction of the market. Neither Kalshi nor Polymarket responded to a request for comment. -- CNBC's Liz Napolitano contributed reporting.
Amazon Stock Jumps On Expanded Deal With Anthropic - AOL
Amazon.com Inc shares are trading higher in Monday's after-hours session after the company announced an expanded strategic collaboration with Anthropic. Amazon announced Anthropic is committed to spending more than $100 billion on Amazon Web Services technology over the next 10 years to secure five gigawatts (GW) of capacity to train and power the company's advanced AI models. The deal includes Trainium3 capacity, which is expected to come online this year. Don't Miss: Separately, Amazon bolstered its investment in Anthropic with $5 billion invested and up to an additional $20 billion tied to commercial milestones. The investment adds to the $8 billion Amazon previously invested in Anthropic in 2024. "Our custom AI silicon offers high performance at significantly lower cost for customers, which is why it's in such hot demand," said Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon. "Anthropic's commitment to run its large language models on AWS Trainium for the next decade reflects the progress we've made together on custom silicon, as we continue delivering the technology and infrastructure our customers need to build with generative AI." The commitment includes Trainium2, Trainium3, Trainium4 and the ability to purchase future generations of Trainium as they become available. Additionally, AWS customers will be able to access the full Anthropic-native Claude console from within AWS. "ACTIVE INVESTORS' SECRET WEAPON" Supercharge Your Stock Market Game with the #1 "news & everything else" trading tool: Benzinga Pro - Click here to start Your 14-Day Trial Now! Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga:
Bitget Unveils SpaceX-Linked Pre-IPO Token on Solana - Blockonomi
Trading opened shortly after distribution, providing near-immediate liquidity on a spot market. Bitget has introduced a new platform that offers tokenized exposure to private companies before public listings. The exchange started the service with a SpaceX-linked product issued through Republic. The tokens run on the Solana blockchain and began trading after a short subscription period. Bitget launched the platform under the name IPO Prime and opened subscriptions for its first product, preSPAX. The token tracks the economic performance of SpaceX ahead of a potential public listing. Republic issued the asset, and Solana supports the token minting and settlement process. Users committed stablecoins into a pooled structure during a limited subscription window. The platform then allocated tokens based on total demand rather than fixed allotments. Trading opened shortly after distribution, and holders accessed near-immediate liquidity through a spot market. The exchange stated that IPO Prime aims to streamline access to private market exposure. It confirmed that preSPAX does not represent equity ownership in SpaceX. Instead, the structure mirrors financial outcomes tied to valuation after a public debut. PreSPAX functions as a derivative instrument linked to SpaceX's valuation following a future IPO. The token does not grant voting rights or shareholder status. However, it reflects financial results connected to post-listing market performance. Republic structured the product to track valuation metrics once SpaceX goes public. Bitget facilitated distribution and secondary trading on its exchange infrastructure. The company said the subscription model allocates tokens proportionally based on pooled stablecoin commitments. Trading activity began soon after the allocation process concluded. As a result, participants adjusted positions as expectations shifted around a potential listing. The spot market enabled price discovery based on supply and demand dynamics. Bitget confirmed that Solana handles token issuance and transaction processing. The blockchain network supports settlement speed and transparent token transfers. The exchange integrated the asset directly into its trading interface for retail access. SpaceX has reportedly filed confidential paperwork for an initial public offering. Market participants expect one of the year's anticipated stock listings if plans proceed. The launch of preSPAX follows those reports and aligns with growing interest in tokenized financial products. Bitget stated that IPO Prime will list more private company-linked tokens in future phases. The exchange did not disclose specific timelines or company names. Trading for preSPAX remains active on the platform at the time of publication.
Anthropic outspends OpenAI in biggest-ever lobbying quarter
Driving the news: Both companies still don't spend nearly as much as their Big Tech counterparts, but their numbers have inched up quarter by quarter, recently breaking the million-dollar-mark. * Meta topped Big Tech lobbying spending once again in the first quarter of 2026, spending $7.1 million, with Amazon and Google trailing behind at $4.4 million and $2.9 million, respectively. Stunning stat: Anthropic spent $1.6 million on lobbying in the first quarter of this year, compared to just $360,000 in the first quarter of 2025. That's a 344% year-over-year increase for the quarter. * OpenAI spent $1 million compared to $560,000 in the first quarter of 2025 -- a 78.6% year-over-year increase for the quarter. What's inside: Anthropic had a rough first quarter of 2026, battling with the Pentagon over red lines and acceptable uses for its technology in classified settings as Trump administration officials accused the company of being "woke." * As those fights continue in court, the company is flooding the zone in Washington on Capitol Hill and keeping agencies in the loop on their latest models. * Most notably, the topics of AI procurement, Defense Department procurement, supply chain risk and "acceptable use policy," the heart of Anthropic's dispute with the Pentagon, are listed as topics the company spoke to lawmakers about in Q1 2026. * Also listed: AI and national security, export controls, legislation, energy infrastructure, supply chain and permitting. OpenAI, in its most expensive quarter yet, talked to lawmakers about AI and copyright, cybersecurity, cloud computing and infrastructure, per its filing. * Meta, per its filing, focused on data privacy, security, encryption and cross-border data flows along with AI issues. * Both Meta and Google lobbied on kids' online safety bills, copyright, chips and AI workforce training. * Microsoft homed in on AI in education, tax, digital trade, kids' online safety, software patents, cloud and copyright. Both AMD and Nvidia lobbied on export control rule changes and kept spending steady from last year's levels. What we're watching: Expect AI-specific companies and interests to keep upping their spending in Washington, even as more traditional Big Tech companies remain the biggest overall spenders with massive lobbying portfolios.
Kalshi, Polymarket Expand Crypto Push With Perpetual Futures (1)
and are getting closer to launching new products that will take them deeper into crypto trading with so-called perpetual futures. Kalshi plans to launch the product, tied to the prices of cryptocurrencies, in the coming weeks, according to a person familiar with the plans who was not authorized to discuss non-public information. The products will be Kalshi's first foray beyond the event contracts it offers on its prediction markets. Shortly after the first news reports on Kalshi's plans, Polymarket announced on social media that it too is launching perpetuals.
Vercel breach exposes the OAuth gap most security teams cannot detect, scope or contain
One employee at Vercel adopted an AI tool. One employee at that AI vendor got hit with an infostealer. That combination created a walk-in path to Vercel's production environments through an OAuth grant that nobody had reviewed. Vercel, the cloud platform behind Next.js and its millions of weekly npm downloads, confirmed on Sunday that attackers gained unauthorized access to internal systems. Mandiant was brought in. Law enforcement was notified. Investigations remain active. An update on Monday confirmed that Vercel collaborated with GitHub, Microsoft, npm, and Socket to verify that no Vercel npm packages were compromised. Vercel also announced it is now defaulting environment variable creation to "sensitive." Next.js, Turbopack, AI SDK, and all Vercel-published npm packages remain uncompromised after a coordinated audit with GitHub, Microsoft, npm, and Socket. Context.ai was the entry point. OX Security's analysis found that a Vercel employee installed the Context.ai browser extension and signed into it using a corporate Google Workspace account, granting broad OAuth permissions. When Context.ai was breached, the attacker inherited that employee's Workspace access, pivoted into Vercel environments, and escalated privileges by sifting through environment variables not marked as "sensitive." Vercel's bulletin states that variables marked sensitive are stored in a manner that prevents them from being read. Variables without that designation were accessible in plaintext through the dashboard and API, and the attacker used them as the escalation path. CEO Guillermo Rauch described the attacker as "highly sophisticated and, I strongly suspect, significantly accelerated by AI." Jaime Blasco, CTO of Nudge Security, independently surfaced a second OAuth grant tied to Context.ai's Chrome extension, matching the client ID from Vercel's published IOC to Context.ai's Google account before Rauch's public statement. The Hacker News reported that Google removed Context.ai's Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store on March 27. Per The Hacker News and Nudge Security, that extension embedded a second OAuth grant enabling read access to users' Google Drive files. Patient zero. A Roblox cheat and a Lumma Stealer infection Hudson Rock published forensic evidence on Monday, reporting that the breach origin traces to a February 2026 Lumma Stealer infection on a Context.ai employee's machine. According to Hudson Rock, browser history showed the employee downloading Roblox auto-farm scripts and game exploit executors. Harvested credentials included Google Workspace logins, Supabase keys, Datadog tokens, Authkit credentials, and the [email protected] account. Hudson Rock identified the infected user as a core member of "context-inc," Context.ai's tenant on the Vercel platform, with administrative access to production environment variable dashboards. Context.ai published its own bulletin on Sunday (updated Monday), disclosing that the breach affects its deprecated AI Office Suite consumer product, not its enterprise Bedrock offering (Context.ai's agent infrastructure product, unrelated to AWS Bedrock). Context.ai says it detected unauthorized access to its AWS environment in March, hired CrowdStrike to investigate, and shut down the environment. Its updated bulletin then disclosed that the scope was broader than initially understood: the attacker also compromised OAuth tokens for consumer users, and one of those tokens opened the door to Vercel's Google Workspace. Dwell time is the detail that should concern security directors. Nearly a month separated Context.ai's March detection from the Vercel disclosure on Sunday. A separate Trend Micro analysis references an intrusion beginning as early as June 2024 -- a finding that, if confirmed, would extend the dwell time to roughly 22 months. VentureBeat could not independently reconcile that timeline with Hudson Rock's February 2026 dating; Trend Micro did not respond to a request for comment before publication. Where detection goes blind Security directors can use this table to benchmark their own detection stack against the four-hop kill chain this breach exploited. What's confirmed vs. what's claimed Vercel's bulletin confirms unauthorized access to internal systems, a limited subset of affected customers, and two IOCs tied to Context.ai's Google Workspace OAuth apps. Rauch confirmed that Next.js, Turbopack, and Vercel's open-source projects are unaffected. Separately, a threat actor using the ShinyHunters name posted on BreachForums claiming to hold Vercel's internal database, employee accounts, and GitHub and NPM tokens, with a $2M asking price. Austin Larsen, principal threat analyst at Google Threat Intelligence, assessed the claimant as "likely an imposter." Actors previously linked to ShinyHunters have denied involvement. None of these claims has been independently verified. Six governance failures the Vercel breach exposed 1. AI tool OAuth scopes go unaudited. Context.ai's own bulletin states that a Vercel employee granted "Allow All" permissions using a corporate account. Most security teams have no inventory of which AI tools their employees have granted OAuth access to. CrowdStrike CTO Elia Zaitsev put it bluntly at RSAC 2026: "Don't give an agent access to everything just because you're lazy. Give it access to only what it needs to get the job done." Jeff Pollard, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, told Cybersecurity Dive that the attack is a reminder about third-party risk management concerns and AI tool permissions. 2. Environment variable classification is doing real security work. Vercel distinguishes between variables marked "sensitive" (stored in a manner that prevents reading) and those without that designation (accessible in plaintext through the dashboard and API). Attackers used the accessible variables as the escalation path. A developer convenience toggle determined the blast radius. Vercel has since changed its default: new environment variables now default to sensitive. "Modern controls get deployed, but if legacy tokens or keys aren't retired, the system quietly favors them," Merritt Baer, CSO at Enkrypt AI and former Deputy CISO at AWS, told VentureBeat. 3. Infostealer-to-SaaS-to-supply-chain escalation chains lack detection coverage. Hudson Rock's reporting reveals a kill chain that crossed four organizational boundaries. No single detection layer covers that chain. Context.ai's updated bulletin acknowledged that the scope extended beyond what was initially identified during its CrowdStrike-led investigation. 4. Dwell time between vendor detection and customer notification exceeds attacker timelines. Context.ai detected the AWS compromise in March. Vercel disclosed on Sunday. Every CISO should ask their vendors: what is your contractual notification window after detecting unauthorized access that could affect downstream customers? 5. Third-party AI tools are the new shadow IT. Vercel's bulletin describes Context.ai as "a small, third-party AI tool." Grip Security's March 2026 analysis of 23,000 SaaS environments found a 490% year-over-year increase in AI-related attacks. Vercel is the latest enterprise to learn this the hard way. 6. AI-accelerated attackers compress response timelines. Rauch's assessment of AI acceleration comes from what his IR team observed. CrowdStrike's 2026 Global Threat Report puts the baseline at a 29-minute average eCrime breakout time, 65% faster than 2024. Security director action plan Run both IoC checks today Search your Google Workspace admin console (Security > API Controls > Manage Third-Party App Access) for two OAuth App IDs. The first is 110671459871-30f1spbu0hptbs60cb4vsmv79i7bbvqj.apps.googleusercontent.com, tied to Context.ai's Office Suite. The second is 110671459871-f3cq3okebd3jcg1lllmroqejdbka8cqq.apps.googleusercontent.com, tied to Context.ai's Chrome extension and granting Google Drive read access. If either touched your environment, you are in the blast radius regardless of what Vercel discloses next. What this means for security directors Forget the Vercel brand name for a moment. What happened here is the first major proof case that AI agent OAuth integrations create a breach class that most enterprise security programs cannot detect, scope, or contain. A Roblox cheat download in February led to production infrastructure access in April. Four organizational boundaries, two cloud providers, and one identity perimeter. No zero-day required. For most enterprises, employees have connected AI tools to corporate Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or Slack instances with broad OAuth scopes -- without security teams knowing. The Vercel breach is the case study for what that exposure looks like when an attacker finds it first.
Trump Signals Potential Pentagon Deal with Anthropic as Tensions Ease
President Donald Trump has signaled a potential rapprochement with Anthropic, stating a deal for the Department of Defense to use its AI is "possible." This follows a period where the startup was blacklisted as a supply chain risk over disagreements regarding AI safety guardrails and autonomous weapons. The back-and-forth continues in the relationship between Anthropic and the current U.S. administration. It seemed all was over for the AI startup regarding federal contracts after receiving a "supply chain risk" warning from the Pentagon. However, the launch of Mythos, an AI model allegedly so powerful it could pose a security risk if widely deployed, reopened the White House doors to the company. Now, President Donald Trump has indicated that Anthropic is "shaping up" and suggested that a future AI deal with the Department of Defense (DOD) is "possible." The Trump administration is reconsidering Anthropic AI deal with DOD The conflict between the company and the administration originally stemmed from a breakdown in negotiations over how the military could use the software. Anthropic reportedly sought guarantees that its AI would not power fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance. The Pentagon, seeking broader access for all legal purposes, resisted these constraints. This led to a breakdown in their $200 million contract. The role of "Mythos" As said before, the catalyst for this recent rapprochement seems to be Anthropic's new AI model called Mythos. Unveiled earlier this month, Mythos reportedly possesses unprecedented capabilities in identifying and exploiting cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Because of its power, Anthropic has skipped a general release, instead launching "Project Glasswing." This initiative invites a select group of major tech companies, cybersecurity vendors, and financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase to evaluate the model privately. CEO Dario Amodei recently met with senior administration officials -- including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent -- to discuss how Mythos could support U.S. cyber readiness and maintain the nation's lead in the AI race. A potential middle ground The President still occasionally uses sharp rhetoric regarding the company's internal culture. However, his recent comments emphasize a pragmatic interest in talent and capability. "They're very smart, and I think they can be of great use," Trump noted during his CNBC appearance. The legal battle between the two sides continues in the background. Anthropic previously sued to reverse its blacklisting, resulting in a complex web of conflicting court rulings across various districts. However, the "constructive" nature of recent White House meetings suggests both parties may now prefer a negotiated settlement.
Investors are valuing Polymarket at a discount to archrival Kalshi -- and its crypto ties could be one reason why
The prediction market space is one of the fastest-growing in finance. Two years ago, Polymarket reportedly raised funds at a $350 million valuation. Today, the platform is in talks to raise funds at a valuation of $15 billion, The Information reported. But the windfall may be made a little less sweet by the success of Polymarket's bitter rival, Kalshi, which was most recently valued at $22 billion. The nearly one-third valuation discount for Polymarket could be explained by Kalshi's stronger foothold in the U.S., where it currently holds roughly 90% market share, or by its stronger revenue figures, since Polymarket just recently started charging trading fees. But the reason for investors' discounting of Polymarket could lie with a more idiosyncratic factor -- the cryptocurrency token the company plans to launch, which makes it more difficult to gauge the stickiness of Polymarket's current trading volume. The recent divergence in how investors value Polymarket and Kalshi is noteworthy given that the two companies' valuations have moved in lockstep for the past year. Polymarket and Kalshi offer nearly the same product, and if prediction markets turn into a winner-take-most sector, then the horse race between the two startups could have major stakes for investors. One key difference between the firms, though, is that Polymarket's non-U.S. arm is built on blockchain rails, and the project has deep roots in the crypto space: Its 2020 seed round was backed by crypto venture capital firms Polychain, ParaFi, and 1confirmation. This is in contrast to Kalshi, which runs on traditional financial rails and is generally less ingrained in the crypto world. What's a token worth? Polymarket has teased the idea of releasing a crypto token for years. The company's chief marketing officer said in an October 2025 podcast appearance that "there will be a token, there will be an airdrop," referring to a practice where crypto projects will distribute free tokens to power users in a bid to drive activity and reward loyal fans. Since crypto platforms often dole out token airdrops based on user activity, it's common for customers to employ stunts to overstate their engagement on the platform, a practice known as "airdrop farming." In some cases, that can include so-called "wash trading" where users trade with themselves. "Polymarket's volume is being read as pure product demand. Airdrop farming is why that read is misleading," Eric Chen, co-founder of the blockchain Injective, told Fortune. "Polymarket has real demand, and the honest question is what share of the reported number actually represents it." Polymarket has surpassed $2 billion in weekly trading volume for eight consecutive weeks, according to data from Artemis, approaching but typically lagging just behind Kalshi's weekly volume. Polymarket did not return a request for comment. For some industry watchers, it will be difficult to separate Polymarket's organic usage from users jockeying for an airdrop until after it releases its token. "None of this takes away from the platform's innovation or long term potential, but it does mean that volume and user growth should be viewed with context," Digital Wealth Partners CEO Max Kahn said. "The key question over time will be whether engagement remains strong once incentives fade, as that's a better indicator of durable usage and product market fit." Still, speculative activity surrounding a crypto token does not necessarily lead to a fall-off in user activity. Hyperliquid was once popular among airdrop farmers, but the crypto derivatives platform has only grown more popular in the time since its HYPE token debuted. Meanwhile, the launch of a Polymarket token could provide a financial windfall and boost the company's valuation in the longer term. "Looking back at HYPE, they were very [successful] and continued to be so afterwards," Nansen research analyst Nicolai Sondergaard said. "So even if a lot of volume is happening due to airdrop farming, it is not cause for concern if the underlying 'product' is good enough and will keep people around."
Amazon's AI infrastructure push with Anthropic lifts outlook, but profitability debate grows
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s expanding artificial intelligence ambitions received a fresh vote of confidence after Anthropic agreed to spend more than $100 billion on Amazon Web Services over the next decade, prompting analysts to highlight both the scale of demand and growing scrutiny over returns. In a note following the announcement, analysts at Jefferies said the deal, which includes plans for Anthropic to utilize up to 5 gigawatts of computing capacity, reinforces confidence in AWS's in-house chip technology, particularly its Trainium processors. The agreement marks Amazon's second mega-scale AI infrastructure commitment in recent months, following a similar multibillion-dollar arrangement with OpenAI. Together, the deals signal what Jefferies described as "growing confidence" among leading AI developers in Amazon's custom silicon strategy. As part of the partnership, Amazon will also invest up to $25 billion more into Anthropic, adding to its existing $8 billion stake. The cloud unit will provide access to vast computing resources, including millions of Graviton processor cores and next-generation Trainium chips. Analysts said the scale of these commitments could support stronger long-term revenue visibility for AWS, particularly as demand for AI training and inference infrastructure accelerates. However, the size of the deals is also expected to raise questions about capital intensity. Jefferies noted that combined commitments from Anthropic and OpenAI could account for a significant portion of the roughly 15 gigawatts of data center capacity Amazon is expected to build through 2027. That could push the company to maintain or increase its already sizable capital expenditure outlook, which had been projected at around $200 billion for 2026. Despite concerns over rising spending, analysts pointed to potential efficiency gains from Trainium chips, which Amazon has said could lower costs significantly compared with third-party alternatives. Jefferies said the focus now shifts to profitability, with investors likely to press management on how these large-scale AI deals translate into margins and returns. The firm described the agreements as "competitive," suggesting pricing dynamics could influence near-term profitability even as they strengthen Amazon's strategic positioning.
Déjà vu in the Bay -- NMB again faces funding cutoff amid governance chaos
Nelson Mandela Bay is once again at risk of losing National Treasury grant funding after missing a March deadline to submit key governance documents, with a final cut-off set for 30 April. The National Treasury has warned it may suspend transfers of the money if the municipality continues to fall short on financial management and compliance obligations, including its failure to adequately address persistent unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. An urgent special council meeting was called for Wednesday after senior officials, including an intervention team operating under section 154 of the Constitution and the acting chief operations officer, spent the weekend preparing outstanding submissions. However, at a municipal public accounts committee (MPAC) meeting on Monday, also attended by Speaker Eugene Johnson and Chief Whip Wandisile Jikeka, members refused to allow the documents to be sent directly to the council without first being considered by the committee. It was therefore resolved that the city request a deadline extension from the National Treasury and postpone the council meeting to next week, to allow MPAC to convene on Thursday to deliberate on the documents. The call followed a visit by National Treasury officials to the city on 15 April for a meeting with acting City Manager Lonwabo Ngoqo, Mayor Babalwa Lobishe, Johnson, Jikeka, the mayoral committee, the executive committee and the disciplinary board, among others. At the meeting, the National Treasury reiterated its warning that it may invoke section 216(2) of the Constitution, which empowers the Treasury to stop the transfer of funds to an organ of state that commits serious or persistent material breaches of financial management measures. Accountability and transparency This constitutional provision is used to enforce accountability and transparency in government finances. On Tuesday, MPAC chair Luxolo Namette said, "Treasury conceded that the problem is with management and its failure of implementing consequence management, which MPAC has been calling for. We have even written to the office of the acting city manager in some instances, but Ngoqo's office just won't act." He said the municipality was also criticised for its failure to spend grants allocated for service delivery projects, and highlighted a breakdown in communication within the metro: "The city received the letter from the Treasury in December and, as MPAC, we only got to learn about it in last week's meeting, where the threat to withhold the funds was verbalised. "We won't take this lightly; we will raise this issue at council so that whoever dropped the ball is held responsible." Asked whether the council was expected to adopt the recently prepared documents required by Treasury without following due process, Namette said: "I just came out of a meeting with the speaker, chief whip and MPAC members where we decided that the meeting be postponed to allow MPAC to convene on Thursday, where the documents to Treasury will be tabled before they are taken to council for approval. The council meeting will be rescheduled for next week." Persistent failure Slides from a presentation conducted by Treasury officials last week indicate that grant funding for the city will be withheld due to the persistent failure to reduce the unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure (UIFWE) by at least 75%. The failure to implement consequence management in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and the financial misconduct regulations is another factor. The National Treasury director-general, Dr Duncan Pieterse, wrote to Ngoqo on 8 December 2025, requesting the progress reports of 10 action plan documents to be submitted by the end of March and the end of October. Despite these clear directives, the city defaulted on its submissions and failed to provide any explanation to the National Treasury. The metro's grant funding was initially at risk of being withheld when Pieterse warned Ngoqo that the Treasury intended to stop transferring funds to municipalities that commit serious or persistent material breaches of the measures established in terms of section 216(1) of the Constitution. "This step is necessitated by the municipality's persistent failure to address UIFWE as required in terms of section 32 of the MFMA. Additionally, the municipality has failed to implement consequence management as required under Chapter 15 of the MFMA, read with the Municipal Regulations on Financial Misconduct Procedures and Criminal Proceedings." Duncan referred to a letter sent to the city on 11 November 2025, alerting the city of the intention to stop the funds. The Treasury's deputy director-general for intergovernmental relations, Ogalaletseng Gaarekwe, notified Ngoqo about the move to withhold the equitable share due to the failure to address the UIFWE. In its submission, the municipality noted that MPAC had made recommendations to write off R1.5-billion in UIFWE. Despite the initial threat to freeze the money, the Treasury eventually transferred the December equitable share tranche -- amounting to R546-million -- to the metro on 9 December 2025. Duncan indicated that while reference has been made to forensic investigations, the city failed to address matters relating to investigations by the Disciplinary Board as required in terms of Chapter 15 of the MFMA, read with the financial misconduct regulations. "There is still persistent non-compliance with section 32 and Chapter 15 of the MFMA, read together with the Financial Misconduct Regulations. Therefore, the National Treasury hereby notifies you of its intention to stop the transfer of funds in line with section 216 (2) of the Constitution, read with section 38 of the MFMA, until the requirements outlined are met," he told Ngoqo. Section 38 (2) (a) of the MFMA allows a municipality to submit written representations within seven days to the National Treasury regarding the proposed halting of funds. The progress reports required by the Treasury, none of which has been submitted, include: * An updated council-approved UIFWE prevention and reduction strategy; * An updated and council-approved UIFWE policy; * An action plan with monthly activities to process historical UIFWE; * A copy of the reviewed MPAC terms of reference; * A copy of the policy for UIFWE documentation; * An amendment of the terms of reference for the Disciplinary Board; * An action plan to address the backlog in the financial misconduct investigation; * A reviewed and adopted consequence management policy; * A copy of the reviewed UIFWE preventative controls; and * A copy of the internal audit action plan. In December 2024, the Treasury requested municipalities across South Africa to develop an action plan, setting out a procedure to process the UIFWE balance up to 30 June 2024 by the end of August 2025. Postponement of council meeting Johnson confirmed the postponement of the council meeting, stating the council would ensure that it did not miss the 30 April deadline. "We postponed because MPAC members wanted to scrutinise some of the documents, especially the ones that have to do with policy and the UIFWE. So we decided to allow for this process to take place, then bring the documents to council next week." ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said, "We strongly condemn the last-minute attempt to force critical UIFWE-related documents through council after months of delay, despite clear directives and deadlines from National Treasury. "Treasury's letter dated 8 December 2025 made it clear that the municipality was already facing serious compliance concerns. Treasury required specific governance and compliance documents, several of which clearly required council approval or formal resolution." Grootboom said addressing the Treasury's concerns at the last minute raised serious concerns about neglect of duty, governance failure and possible misconduct. "The facts before us are that these matters were not tabled properly and timeously before MPAC and council. Instead, after missed deadlines and after National Treasury engagement, the documents were only emailed through to MPAC and councillors on 21 April at 08.56, with a council meeting then called for 22 April 2026," he stated. "This is unacceptable. The ACDP wishes to state clearly that proper council process was not followed. Committees that should have played a central role in shaping and interrogating these amendments, including budget and treasury and MPAC, were not given a proper opportunity to make input." Grootboom said if Ngoqo, Lobishe, Chief Financial Officer Jackson Ngcelwane and other officials were aware of the Treasury correspondence, they must be held accountable. DM
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Kalshi and Polymarket launch crypto perpetual futures with $1B volumes
⚖️ Critical data: New York sues major market operators over unlicensed prediction products. Two leading U.S. prediction market platforms, Kalshi and Polymarket, have announced new services in crypto derivatives, both racing to launch perpetual futures within days of each other. The moves come as competition intensifies to attract traders seeking alternative markets for exposure to cryptocurrency price moves. ContentsKalshi and Polymarket target crypto derivativesSurge in trading volumes and regulatory contextLegal spotlight on market operatorsKalshi and Polymarket target crypto derivatives Kalshi, which is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has scheduled its cryptocurrency perpetual futures rollout for April 27 in New York City. The new product, internally codenamed "Timeless," allows traders to take leveraged positions on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without expiry dates. Collateral will initially be limited to U.S. dollars, with plans to introduce stablecoin options in the near future. Tarek Mansour leads Kalshi as CEO. The company has established itself as an $11 billion platform handling over $100 billion in annualized trading volume. It primarily offers event-based binary contracts but now enters the crypto derivatives arena as its first venture beyond event-focused markets. Polymarket, Kalshi's rival, entered the mix just ahead of Kalshi's announcement with the launch of its own perpetual futures trading. Valued at $9 billion, Polymarket now lets users go long or short on outcome-based prediction contracts around the clock, without waiting for settlement tied to discrete events. Its announcement on X emphasized continuous trading and attempted to capture momentum before Kalshi's launch date. Surge in trading volumes and regulatory context March saw a record 192 million transactions across prediction markets, reflecting rising demand for flexible market exposure. For Kalshi, user-generated data from Dune Analytics tracked crypto trading volumes exceeding $1 billion in a single month for the first time. Polymarket has also surpassed the $1 billion mark in weekly notional volumes during the first quarter of 2026. Perpetual futures allow holders to speculate on asset price movements without owning underlying tokens, using a funding rate to align contract and spot prices. This marks a shift from event contracts for both companies: Kalshi diversifies its offering beyond binary outcomes, while Polymarket integrates continuous trading into its platform, previously built on event resolution. Kalshi's status as a CFTC-regulated operator creates a potential advantage over offshore crypto derivatives providers, especially as regulatory authorities consider bringing U.S. perpetual futures under formal oversight. The current CFTC chair has discussed plans to supervise this product category, and Kalshi expects to add stablecoin collateral for perps in the coming quarter. Legal spotlight on market operators Amid these launches, the New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed lawsuits against Coinbase and Gemini, challenging their prediction market operations as unlicensed and allegedly unlawful under state law. The suits allege these platforms enabled trading on event outcomes without proper regulatory approvals and could risk exposing underage users to financial harms. Kalshi is a U.S.-based prediction market known for its CFTC-compliant trading products, allowing participants to take positions on real-world events. Polymarket is a high-profile blockchain-powered prediction market that facilitates decentralized wagers on outcomes spanning elections, economics, and the crypto sector. Both companies are now directly competing to shape the next phase in prediction markets, focusing on crypto derivatives to attract new clients and boost trading activity. The regulatory environment and ongoing legal scrutiny remain critical factors as these platforms expand their offerings. You can follow our news on Telegram, Facebook & Coinmarketcap & XDisclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Polymarket Announces Plans to Launch Perpetual Contracts
Polymarket has announced plans to launch perpetual contracts, signaling a major expansion beyond its core prediction market platform into the crypto derivatives space. The announcement, reported by BeInCrypto, confirms that Polymarket intends to offer perpetual futures trading. The product is planned but not yet live, and specific launch dates have not been confirmed. Polymarket has set up a dedicated page for the upcoming product at polymarket.com/perps, though full details on supported assets, margin requirements, and fee structures remain to be disclosed. Perpetual contracts are derivative instruments that allow traders to speculate on the price of an asset without an expiration date. Unlike traditional futures, positions can be held indefinitely, with periodic funding rate payments keeping the contract price aligned with the underlying spot market. This differs fundamentally from Polymarket's existing product. Prediction markets let users trade on the outcome of discrete events, with contracts that resolve to a binary outcome. As Polymarket previously indicated, perpetual contracts track continuous price movements rather than event outcomes. The addition would transform Polymarket from a pure prediction market into a broader trading venue. For users already familiar with the platform's interface, perpetuals could offer a natural extension for taking leveraged positions on crypto prices alongside event-based bets. Perpetual contracts are among the highest-volume instruments in cryptocurrency markets, with centralized and decentralized exchanges competing aggressively for market share. By entering this segment, Polymarket would be positioning itself against established derivatives platforms. The move comes as Kalshi prepares to launch perpetual crypto futures trading, suggesting a broader trend of prediction market platforms expanding into derivatives. This convergence could reshape how traders interact with both event-based and price-based markets. For Polymarket, the strategic appeal is clear. Prediction markets are inherently tied to event cycles, with volume spiking around elections or major decisions and falling between them. Perpetual contracts would provide a more consistent revenue stream by tapping into daily crypto trading activity. The expansion could also help Polymarket attract a different type of trader. While prediction market users tend to be information-driven participants betting on outcomes, perpetual contract traders are often more technically oriented, using leverage and short-selling strategies. This kind of user base diversification mirrors what other platforms, including projects like RaveDAO, have pursued to sustain engagement beyond single catalysts. Several important details remain unresolved. Polymarket has not disclosed which assets will be available for perpetual trading, what leverage limits will apply, or how the platform will handle liquidation mechanics. Regulatory considerations are also significant. Derivative products face scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions, and Polymarket's existing prediction market operations have already drawn regulatory attention. Adding perpetual contracts could increase compliance complexity. Liquidity is another open question. Successful perpetual contract markets require deep order books and reliable market makers to maintain tight spreads. Building this liquidity from scratch, while competing against entrenched platforms, presents a substantial challenge. Risk management infrastructure will be critical. Perpetual contracts with leverage can generate rapid losses for traders, and platforms need robust systems for margin calls, auto-deleveraging, and insurance funds to prevent cascading liquidations. No. Polymarket has announced plans to launch perpetual contracts, but the product is not yet available for trading. A dedicated page exists at polymarket.com/perps, though a launch date has not been confirmed. Perpetual contracts are crypto derivatives that let traders speculate on asset prices with leverage and no expiration date. Positions stay open until the trader closes them, with funding rates periodically exchanged between long and short holders to keep contract prices near the spot market. The move would diversify Polymarket beyond event-based prediction markets into continuous crypto price trading. This could attract new users, generate more consistent trading volume, and position the platform to compete with platforms like Kalshi in the crypto derivatives space. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.
Kalshi, Polymarket Announce Plans To Launch Crypto Perpetual Futures: Report - Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:CO
The two largest prediction markets both revealed plans to launch crypto perpetual futures in the U.S. on Tuesday. The Information broke the news first this morning, reporting that Kalshi planned to roll out leveraged crypto products, citing people familiar with the matter. A few hours later, Polymarket went public on X with its own teaser: "We price the future. Now you can lever it." The same-day one-two punch takes direct aim at Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and the $2.9 billion derivatives moat the crypto exchange has spent years building. What Are Perpetual Futures Coinbase has spent years trying to build an onshore equivalent. It closed the $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit in August 2025, rolled out "perpetual-style" futures with five-year expirations, and grew U.S. derivatives market share fourfold year-over-year. True perpetuals in the Binance format have remained off the table until now. Kalshi will start with crypto perpetuals and may eventually offer perpetuals on other asset classes. The CFTC Changed The Game CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said last month the agency plans to allow perpetuals in the U.S. soon, partly to pull volume back from offshore platforms. Kalshi holds CFTC licenses that position it to offer the product and secured a margin trading license last month. It hired crypto influencer John Wang as head of crypto last year. Polymarket's early-access signup page went live at polymarket.com/perps alongside the X post. The platform has been quietly building toward this, rolling out ultra-short Bitcoin contracts that already function like high-velocity derivatives, and registered with the CFTC in July 2025. The COIN Trade Coinbase shares were already down roughly 6% Tuesday after the New York Attorney General sued the exchange earlier in the day over its prediction markets product. The stock sits roughly 55% below its July 2025 all-time high of $444, and Q1 earnings are due May 7. Kalshi was reportedly finalizing a $1 billion raise at a $22 billion valuation led by Coatue Management. Polymarket is separately raising at roughly $15 billion. Image: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.
Prediction Market Giants Kalshi, Polymarket Eye Perpetual Futures Push: Report - Decrypt
Polymarket and Kalshi can provide access to futures and options under the CFTC's framework for Designated Contract Markets. Polymarket announced on Tuesday that users will soon be able to trade perpetual futures on its platform, while chief rival Kalshi reportedly eyes a similar push into the derivatives space. In an X post, Polymarket published a video indicating that users will be able to speculate on the price of various assets with at least 10x leverage, including real-world assets like gold and silver, stocks of companies like Nvidia and Coinbase, and digital assets like Bitcoin. Not long before, The Information reported that Kalshi plans to support perpetual futures on its platform, a move that would give U.S. customers access to derivative contracts that don't feature an expiration date and use a so-called funding rate to trade around the clock. For the prediction-market realm's leading firms, an entry into the perpetual futures space would extend the platforms' functionality beyond relatively basic bets on topics such as politics, finance, and sports -- underscoring their respective efforts to expand their business models. Polymarket and Kalshi are already able to provide access to futures and options under the CFTC's framework for so-called Designated Contract Markets. It is unclear whether Polymarket plans to introduce perpetual futures on its U.S.-facing platform, its international counterpart, or both. Decrypt has reached out to Kalshi and Polymarket for comment. The development comes as CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, aligns itself with other players soliciting bets. Earlier this year, CME Group indicated that it would debut event contracts in collaboration with FanDuel, America's leading online sportsbook. Recent interest in perpetual futures has been fueled by Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange that facilitated $148 billion in derivatives volume last month, according to a Dune dashboard. In February, Hyperliquid said in an X post that it planned to support "outcome trading," which would allow for the creation of prediction markets and option-like instruments on its platform. "There has been extensive user demand in both of these areas," Hyperliquid said. Among crypto-native firms, dueling derivatives announcements have happened before. A week after crypto exchange Kraken debuted CME-based futures contracts for Bitcoin and Ethereum in the U.S. last July, Coinbase began offering similar contracts with five-year durations. On Tuesday, Coinbase found itself on the defensive amid its own prediction-market push alongside Gemini. The state of New York filed a pair of lawsuits against both firms, arguing that sports- and entertainment-related wagers were allowed in violation of local gambling laws.
Wheat Spread Blows Out As Drought Chaos Plagues America's Breadbasket
This means traders are pricing in weather impacts and tightening expectations for higher-protein wheat supplies. It is important to note that HRW is a more valuable protein and is primarily used in bread, rolls, and all-purpose flour. It is grown in the U.S. Plains (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas), while SRW is used in cakes, cookies, crackers, and pastries, and is grown in the Eastern U.S. (Ohio Valley, Midwest, Southeast). The blowout in the HRW-SRW spread, the biggest premium in two years, is mainly due to weather stress as drought grips the central U.S. The market is currently pricing in possible supply imbalances and quality concerns for HRW. As of mid-April, 61% of the Lower 48 is in drought as the Northern Hemisphere growing season begins and farmers start plantings, according to NOAA. This equates to nearly 149 million people across the Lower 48 affected by drought. About 45 states were experiencing moderate drought conditions as of last week.
SpaceX Falcon 9 team wins Armstrong Space Prize for reusable rocket work
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN -- The 2026 Neil Armstrong Space Prize was announced Tuesday, April 21, at Purdue University, heralding the Falcon 9 Booster Landing Team as the inaugural winner of the Neil Armstrong Space Prize for cutting-edge work on the Falcon 9 reusable two-stage rocket system. The team is the first recipient of the international prize recognizing excellence over the past 10 years in space discovery, innovation and human achievement, according to a news release. The five-member team was nominated for their work in developing the Falcon 9 vertical landing capability, fundamentally changing the launch vehicle landscape. The SpaceX recipients are: * Lars Blackmore, senior principal Mars landing engineer * Shana Diez, senior director, Starship reliability * Jon Edwards, senior vice president of Falcon and Dragon projects * Yoshi Kuwata, principal guidance, navigation and control engineer * Eduardo Velazquez, director, Crew Starship engineering The selection of the research team for the honor was announced during an event in the Herman and Heddy Kurz Atrium at Purdue's Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. Attendees watched via livestream as the Neil Armstrong Space Prize recipients were surprised by the news of receiving the award. Amit Kshatriya, NASA associate administrator, and other leaders participated. "Purdue alumnus Neil Armstrong took that small step and giant leap on the face of the moon in 1969," Purdue President Mung Chiang said. "Now as the dawn of space economy and the new frontier of human space exploration inspire us all, the Neil Armstrong Space Prize will recognize the most impactful steps and leaps each year." The inaugural Neil Armstrong Space Prize will be formally awarded in September during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., aligning with the America250 celebration and connecting Purdue's space leadership with this historic national milestone. The eponymous award honors aerospace pioneer and Purdue graduate Neil Armstrong (BS aeronautical engineering '55, honorary doctorate '70), who led the team of three American astronauts who were the first to land on the moon on July 20, 1969. Dan Dumbacher, chair of the Neil Armstrong Space Prize selection committee, said Falcon 9 last year had 164 launches with one booster being used more than 30 times. "The reusability resulting from vertical landing has been key in reducing the cost of launching payloads," Dumbacher said in the release. "This team made it happen." Nominations received in 2025 were extensively reviewed and narrowed down to six finalists in January. A final nominee recommendation was passed along to Chiang and Arvind Raman, the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering, in March.
Amazon Poised to Invest Another $25B in Anthropic
Photo Credit: Abid Shah Amazon is preparing to invest up to $25 billion in Anthropic, in addition to the $8 billion it has already injected into the AI startup in recent years. On Monday, artificial intelligence startup Anthropic announced its commitment to spending over $100 billion on Amazon Web Services technology over the next decade as part of an expanded agreement to build out the tech giant's AI infrastructure. Amazon has agreed to invest up to $25 billion in the AI company, on top of the $8 billion it has already injected into Anthopic over the last few years. According to Anthropic, the build-out includes current and future generations of Trainium, Amazon's custom AI chips. The AI company also said it has secured up to 5 gigawatts of capacity for training and deploying its Claude AI models. Amazon's investment into Anthropic includes $5 billion now and up to $20 billion in the future, contingent on "certain commercial milestones." The initial investment arrives at Anthropic's latest valuation of $380 billion. "Anthropic's commitment to run its large language models on AWS Trainium for the next decade reflects the progress we've made together on custom silicon, as we continue delivering the technology and infrastructure our customers need to built with generative AI," said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Anthropic said it will bring nearly 1 gigawatt of Trainium2 and Trainium3 capacity chips online by the end of the year. To that end, Amazon said back in February that it expects to dish out around $200 billion this year alone on capital expenditures that mostly consist of AI infrastructure. Meanwhile, Anthropic's copyright court battle brought by music publishers headed by Universal Music Group is ramping up as the AI company has asked a California federal court to rule in its favor, arguing fair use. Anthropic claimed that its AI training made "transformative" use of lyrics to "help Claude understand human language and enable progress and productivity in science, business, and education." Last month, the publishers told the court that Anthropic's AI training did not constitute fair use because Claude generates derivatives of copyrighted lyrics that "compete with and dilute the market" for the rights holders. Share on: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Copy Link
Mozilla says its Firefox 150 release includes fixes for 271 vulnerabilities identified using early access to Anthropic's Mythos Preview
Matt Slotnick / @matt_slotnick: "we've secured 5 gigawatts for Claude" sounds like a bad startup mad libs joke you'd tell in 2015 NEED MORE COMPUTE "...This encompasses current and future generations of Trainium (Amazon's custom silicon) and tens of millions of Graviton cores (Amazon's widely-adopted CPU chip) to provide superior price performance. Anthropic will secure up to 5 gigawatts (GW) of capacity to train and power their advanced AI models, including significant Trainium3 capacity expected to come online this year."
