Social network X has grown its in-app revenue over the past year, despite a decline in active users, new data shows. Global consumer spending in the X mobile app across both iOS and Android has climbed by 76.3% year-over-year, when comparing two similar periods in January, according to data from app intelligence firm Appfigures. However, other data indicates X’s daily active users have declined, as usage of rivals like Bluesky and Threads has increased.
In an analysis performed by Appfigures, X’s global consumer spending on iOS and Android reached $7.6 million for the period of January 1-20, 2024. During the same time in January 2025, X saw $13.4 million in consumer spending, the firm said. This figure includes in-app purchases made through X’s mobile apps — not revenue from advertising or subscriptions bought on the web, where X users receive a discount on their purchases.
In other words, this is not a number that represents X’s total revenue. X continues to be a largely advertising-driven business, so this is only a window into consumer spending trends.
The addition of xAI’s Grok AI chatbot to X’s app may be helping to fuel the increase in consumer spending, at least in part. There were obvious spikes in net revenue shortly after X began testing a free version of Grok in X in November. This was just ahead of X’s addition of a faster model and a new Grok button to the X app in mid-December 2024 and the launch of a new image generation model on December 9.
X also added an NFL portal in late November to increase sports engagement on its app. This could have boosted X adoption given that sports is one of the most-discussed topics on X.
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In the U.S., X saw 61.4% growth in year-over-year consumer spending on iOS and Android, growing from $4.4 million from January 1-20, 2024, to $7.1 million during the same period in 2025.
While global mobile consumer spending is up year-over-year, the monthly totals haven’t always been on a steady climb. In some months, the spending dropped, and in other months it climbed. During 2025, the lowest month was February, with spending of $9.6 million across iOS and Android. December saw the highest total with $25.6 million, after increases that started in October leading up to the U.S. elections.
The top in-app purchases on the X iOS app in January 2025 are as follows: at No. 1 is the X Premium Monthly subscription ($11/mo.), followed by the X Premium Plus Monthly subscription ($30/mo.), X Premium Basic Monthly ($4/mo.), a subscription to Elon Musk’s account directly ($4/mo.), and X Premium’s Annual Subscription ($114.99/yr.).
Despite the jump in consumer spending towards year-end, further data suggests that X may be losing active users.
Both X’s U.S. and worldwide daily active users decreased in January 2025, with each figure down by roughly 13% compared with the same time last year, according to estimates from app intelligence provider Sensor Tower, shared in response to a data request from TechCrunch. Year-over-year growth in monthly active users on X has also dipped slightly, Sensor Tower found.
The firm’s principal market insights manager, Jonathan Briskma, told TechCrunch that X had more than 313 million worldwide mobile app MAUs (monthly active users) in the fourth quarter of 2024 and more than 300 million worldwide mobile app MAUs through January 2025 month-to-date.
As X’s active usage dipped when comparing the same period in January 2024 with January 2025, daily active users on competing apps Instagram Threads and Bluesky jumped up more than 170% and 495%, respectively. This growth has been driven by a number of factors, including international expansions and the addition of several new features and functionality across both platforms.
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We asked X if it could share its own internal MAUs figure, but the company did not respond.
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Shoppers seek closeout sale discounts at Party City in Stamford, Conn. July 3, 2023.
Tyler Sizemore | Albany Times Union | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images
Store closures in the U.S. last year hit the highest level since the pandemic — and even more locations are expected to shutter this year, as shoppers’ dollars increasingly go to a few industry winners, according to an analysis by Coresight Research.
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Major retailers, including Party City and Macy’s, closed 7,325 stores in 2024, according to the retail advisory group’s data. That’s the sharpest jump since retailers in the U.S. shuttered almost 10,000 stores in 2020, the year when the Covid pandemic began.
So far this year, closures continue to climb. Retailers have already announced 1,925 store closures so far in 2025 — and that was only as of Jan. 10. The five retailers that have announced the most closures this year are Party City, Big Lots, Walgreens Boots Alliance, 7-Eleven and Macy’s, respectively.
The retail advisory firm projects that retailers will close about 15,000 stores this year as some legacy brands shrink and file for bankruptcy protection, or liquidating companies shutter locations.
The striking numbers reflect the stark divide between retailers that are gaining market share and those that have lost ground. Amazon, Costco and Walmart have gotten bigger as shoppers seek value and convenience. On the other hand, some smaller chains and specialty retailers have struggled to keep doors open or been forced to downsize.
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A spike in bankruptcies contributed to the high number of closures in 2024. According to Coresight’s data, there were 51 retail bankruptcies in 2024, up from 25 in 2023. Some of those, such as Party City, have most of their closures taking place in 2025.
Consumer spending has stayed strong — but a larger share of the dollars has gone to fewer retailers. Holiday sales increased 4% year over year to $994.1 billion for Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, according to the National Retail Federation, the industry’s major trade group. That total excludes auto dealers, gas stations and restaurants.
That’s about in line with pre-pandemic holiday spending, which rose an an average of 3.6% from 2010 to 2019.
Specialty retailers in particular have struggled:In December, discount chain Big Lots said it would close all of its stores after the company’s sale fell through, days before The Container Store filed for bankruptcy protection. Fabrics and craft retailer Joann filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month for the second time in a year.
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But it wasn’t just specialty stores.Last year, the highest number of closures came from Dollar Tree-owned Family Dollar, CVS Health, Conn’s, rue21 and Big Lots, respectively. Conn’s, a home goods and furniture retailer, and rue21, a teen apparel retailer, closed all stores after the parent company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2024.
John Mercer, Coresight’s head of global research, said competitive threats, not a decline in demand, is to blame.
“Demand may be strong among consumers, but where is some of that increased demand going? Where is it being channeled to?” he said.
He said the retailers that are shuttering stores tend to fall in three categories: They are closing all locations as part of a liquidation, such as Big Lots; shutting down many of their stores after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, such as The Container Store; or trimming back their footprint as they adapt to fast-changing consumer preferences, such as drugstores Walgreens and CVS and legacy department store Macy’s.
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Macy’s, for example, is in the middle of closing about 150 of its namesake stores across the country by early 2027. The department store operator has been shuttering roughly 50 of those per year, since it made the announcement in early 2024. It is opening a limited number of shops that are smaller, off-mall versions of its namesake stores and new locations of its better-performing brands, Bloomingdale’s and beauty chain Bluemercury.
Some newcomers are chipping away at legacy retailers’ sales, Mercer said. Coresight estimates that Chinese e-commerce companies Shein and Temu pulled in a combined roughly $100 billion in sales last year, with the majority of that coming from outside of the U.S.
For example, more Americans are turning to sites like Temu for party balloons and storage tubs, which may have contributed to the bankruptcy filings of Party City and The Container Store last year, he said.
Even a small percentage drop in sales can be a blow to retailers’ stores, which come with high fixed costs like leases and labor, Mercer said.
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Some unique factors have widened the gap between store openings and closures, according to David Silverman, a retail analyst at Fitch Ratings. When a major mall anchor like Macy’s closes, he said that can lead smaller retailers to exit, as well. As some stores in mall or strip shopping centers shutter, they’re also getting replaced by fitness studios, urgent care clinics or apartments instead of another retail store.
He added that population shifts during the Covid pandemic changed retailers’ store traffic patterns and shook up where they may want to be located.
“Most companies are not adding a significant number of square footage and even the ones that until recently were adding a lot, like the dollar stores, are rethinking their footprints,” he said.
Silverman said he expects more stores will continue to close than open in the U.S., as retailers’ growth comes from online sales and as larger companies take a bigger share of the market. Some of those, such as Walmart, add a lot more volume with one store than specialty retailers get from the dozens of locations they close, he added.
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Investors will soon get an update on which retailers are outperforming and underperforming. Most major retailers will deliver their holiday-quarter results starting in mid-February.
Some retailers, including Kohl’s and Macy’s, announced their own plans for store closures before they shared full quarterly results. Kohl’s said earlier this month that it will close 27 underperforming stores by April, along with shuttering an e-commerce fulfillment center in San Bernardino, Calif. in May.
There’s some hopeful news for the retail industry, however: Store openings also accelerated last year in the U.S. to 5,970 — the highest number since Coresight began tracking store openings and closures in 2012. The firm anticipates that will stay about flat in 2025, with an estimated 5,800 stores opening.
Last year, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, 7-Eleven, Mexican convenience store Oxxo and Five Below tallied the most store openings.
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So far this year, the top five retailers in terms of announced store openings in the U.S. are Aldi, JD Sports, Burlington Stores, Pandora and Barnes & Noble, respectively.
Following Bitwise’s and Rex Shares’ recent application for spot Dogecoin ETFs in the United States, crypto analyst Ali Martinez has provided a technical outlook suggesting Dogecoin (DOGE) could ascend to $15. His analysis, detailed in a logarithmic chart spanning from 2017 to 2025, captures a massive ascending channel that highlights the potential upward trajectory for DOGE.
Dogecoin Targets $15
Martinez’s chart delineates a long-term ascending channel where Dogecoin’s price action is bounded by a structure consisting of three parallel trendlines. The lowest of these lines has consistently served as a firm support since 2017, aiding the price to stabilize during significant downturns, notably in early 2019 and again in mid-2022. The median line of the channel, which presently hovers around $0.40 to $0.45, has just been tested by DOGE as it recently surged to this level, marking a critical inflection point that was last touched in early 2022.
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The upper boundary of the channel, which is the focus of Martinez’s bullish forecast, is projected to climb well above $10, touching as high as $15 by late 2025. This top trendline is not just a theoretical limit but has proven to be the bull run top twice for the Dogecoin price, once in January 2018 and then in May 2021. At the last all-time high in May 2021, Doge even significantly exceeded the channel.
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Martinez’s prediction highlights the spot Dogecoin ETFs as potential market catalysts. He suggests that the approval and launch of such financial products could channel fresh institutional and retail investment into DOGE, propelling it towards these higher valuations.
In trading terms, the current position of DOGE below the median line is pivotal. This price level has historically acted as a springboard for upward movement when sustained buying pressure is present. Should DOGE maintain its footing above this zone, the pathway to higher resistance levels around $1.00, and potentially the channel’s upper echelon near $15, appears technically feasible.
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Notably, the spot Doge ETFs could hit the market as early as April, according to Bloomberg’s ETF specialist Eric Balchunas. Bitwise officially lodged the application to register a Dogecoin ETF on Wednesday.
The company submitted its proposal, named the “Bitwise Dogecoin ETF,” to the Delaware Division of Corporations, which is part of the U.S. Department of State. Although such registrations can occasionally be misleading, Balchunas confirmed via X: “Bitwise Doge ETF likely coming soon.. and yes I checked and this is def legit (vs some whack job committing forgery for a quick pump a la BlackRock XRP that one time).”
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Registering in Delaware represents an initial step before advancing to a formal ETF submission with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This registration process sets up the legal structure that would manage the proposed ETF but does not constitute a direct application for SEC approval.
This initiative follows an earlier application by investment firms Rex Shares and Osprey Funds, both of which have also filed applications for multiple cryptocurrency ETFs, including one focused on Dogecoin.
At press time, DOGE traded at $0.34.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Agora, a blockchain governance startup, is set to acquire its competitor Boardroom. The company framed the acquisition as a strategic move to enhance governance within the broader Ethereum ecosystem, citing expectations of renewed growth in decentralized governance due to President Trump’s promise of regulatory clarity for the blockchain industry.
“2025 is the year we make good governance the standard for all protocols in Ethereum,” Agora co-founder Yitong Zhang told CoinDesk.
Agora was founded in 2022 by Zhang, Charlie Feng, and Kent Fenwick. The trio initially started working on governance tooling at Nouns DAO, one of the buzzier blockchain protocols to emerge from 2021’s DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) and NFT hype cycle.
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The term “DAO” generally describes crypto communities that are governed by their token holders. They’re a favorite among those who believe crypto’s decentralization ethos can be a world-changing force, albeit an unwieldy way to run a pseudo-company. That’s created an opening for support projects like Agora.
Agora was founded on the premise that token governance is central to the value of crypto protocols. It aims to provide user-friendly, open-source governance tools for DAOs like Uniswap and Optimism, which both currently use Agora to organize token holders and hold governance votes.
Boardroom, which predated Agora and has similar goals, took a more horizontal approach to blockchain governance. Boardroom has gradually transitioned from an Agora-style DAO tooling software to a data feed—similar to a “Bloomberg” for crypto governance data.
Agora declined to disclose how much it paid to acquire Boardroom. Boardroom’s employees have been offered roles at Agora, and Boardroom’s founder, Kevin Nielsen, will remain as an advisor. “There’s no plan to deprecate” Boardroom, according to Zhang. Rather, the Agora team will keep both platforms running and will work with users to determine how the tools might gradually be integrated.
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A new day for DAOs?
“DAO” is less of a buzzword in 2025 than it was a few years ago. They were pitched as a way to leverage blockchain’s core strengths in decentralized coordination to advance a new kind of community-owned company, but they’ve been implemented in various ways and to varying degrees of success.
Many DAOs have floundered due to organizational difficulties; it can be hard to coordinate thousands of token-holders around a single goal. Improving DAO tooling can help to address this, but it is only one side of the equation. Another barrier for DAOs has been a lack of regulatory clarity, which has left open questions of legal liability and has made it difficult for DAOs to determine how tokens should be issued, and how decisions should be divided between token holders and a platform’s core developers.
“From a business perspective, DAOs are coming back in a really, really large way,” said Zhang, who says his own business has grown “10X” over the past year. “People haven’t noticed yet because people have so much trauma over DAO bulls**t.”
The Trump administration has signaled its intention to create clearer guidelines for cryptocurrency issuance, which has led to optimism among Zhang and some of his competitors.
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“I think we’re gonna finally get reasonable definitions for sufficient decentralization, security, and compliant ways of doing a token,” said Zhang.”
Wix has announced a new integration with YouTube Shopping
YouTube Shopping allows people to purchase products directly through YouTube videos
The feature is available to creators in specific countries
Wix, one of the best website builders on the market, has announced a new integration with YouTube Shopping, giving store owners a new and popular avenue to sell their products, while also expanding YouTube’s social shopping features.
YouTube Shopping is a relatively new service (first announced in 2021) that allows YouTube creators to tag products within their videos. That way, viewers can easily purchase the items directly from the platform.
Ross is now free. I predict this will be the one good thing to come out of this administration in the grand scheme of things. The reasons behind this pardon were purely political, but regardless of that I am incredibly happy to see Ross reunited with his family and loved ones. Even taking all the accusations against him at prima facie, both those actually charged and those not, Ross has unquestionably served his time.
Actual murders and rapists serve a tiny fraction of the sentence that was levied against Ross, even after multiple offenses in some cases. His sentencing was entirely political, and in no way proportional to the charges brought against him. The severity was so high for one reason: to set an example.
He is not the only example governments have tried to make since 2013. The Samourai Wallet team are currently under house arrest awaiting trial for hosting the backend for a 100% self-custodial service. Roman Sterlingov is in jail for running a centralized mixer, with no evidence other than flawed blockchain heuristics. The Tornado Cash case has developers dealing with cases and jail time in multiple jurisdictions.
All of these go far beyond the pale of what happened to Ross, in terms of legal standing. Ross’s sentence was insanely disproportionate, but the legal basis itself for these other cases is non-existent. They charged them anyway. Some of them, they convicted them anyways. These people are sitting in jail, just like Ross, anyways.
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The government is not going to stop making examples. It doesn’t matter that Trump enjoys the benefits of the unregulated monetary extraction possible in this space, it doesn’t matter that Wall Street and D.C. see value they can take advantage of, none of that matters.
These power brokers and figure heads realizing they can set up a grift, or skim money out of the economy being built here, doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t make them fans of privacy. It doesn’t make them fans of true sovereignty for the individual. It doesn’t make them fans of actually free markets that don’t cater to corporate interests preferentially.
We need tools to actually facilitate all of these things, but building them means you are a potential target.
If you actually care about these things, you know this isn’t over. One man who was unjustly imprisoned is free, and that is an amazing thing. He can see his parents again, his wife, his friends, and that is truly a priceless accomplishment.
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But this is not over. Not by a long shot. The music came on, people switched chairs, and it stopped again. But it’s still the same game being played, and we can’t lose sight of that.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Javier Milei’s government is weighing up a proposal for Argentina to leave the Paris agreement, days after Donald Trump announced the US would exit the world’s key accord on climate change.
While a final decision has yet to be made, two people familiar with the discussions said Argentina was likely to follow in the US’s footsteps, a move that would make it just the second country to quit the agreement signed by almost 200 nations.
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Senior officials are studying an internal memo recommending an exit, said people briefed on the situation, after the country withdrew negotiators from last year’s COP29 climate summit and said it was re-evaluating its international commitments on the environment.
Civil servants were seeking to dissuade Milei’s team from leaving the agreement, the people said. One Argentine diplomat said Milei would make the final decision and that “it seems very likely that we will end up leaving”.
A departure, if agreed, would mark a major blow to global efforts to address climate change. The agreement aims to limit global temperature rises to well below 2C and ideally to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
The environmental division of Argentina’s interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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The libertarian leader, who denies that humans are a cause of climate change, on Thursday condemned the global environmental movement in a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“Wokeism has perverted the basic idea of preserving the environment for the enjoyment of human beings, and turned it into a fanatical environmentalism where human beings are a cancer that must be eliminated, and economic development is little less than a crime against nature,” he said.
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order to pull the US from the Paris agreement for a second time, having previously left during his first term. No other country has left the 2015 accord.
Exiting the Paris agreement would require congressional approval in Argentina, but Milei has often bypassed congress via emergency decrees during his presidency.
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Last year was the hottest on record, with scientists saying the world is increasingly off track to meet the temperature goals set out in the accord.
A withdrawal could affect the EU-Mercosur trade agreement concluded in December between Europe and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which specifies that parties can suspend the trade deal if one of the signatories leaves the Paris accord.
A diplomat said: “The technical staff in the ministry are trying to explain that while Trump can do what he wants, for Argentina it would bring consequences.”
They also cited potential complications for Argentina’s recently launched bid to join the OECD, which advocates environmental policy standards for members.
Critics have argued that Argentina would also risk losing access to climate-linked international financing streams, after receiving billions in such funding, and could be excluded from global carbon markets in future.
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Countries are due to submit updated climate plans next month under the Paris accord, although many are expected to miss the deadline.
Microsoft promised a new game announcement at its Xbox Developer Direct event, and that game turned out to be Ninja Gaiden 4. The new entry in the long-running franchise is being co-developed by Team Ninja along with Platinum Games, the team behind action games like Bayonetta and Nier: Automata. Though no release date was announced, the game will be coming to Xbox, and will be available via Game Pass.
While the Ninja Gaiden franchise has been around since the late ‘80s, it entered into a new era on the Xbox with the bloody, and tough-as-nails Ninja Gaiden on Xbox in 2004. That version, developed by Team Ninja, was ported to a handful of other consoles and also received a number of sequels. Based on the debut trailer, the new game looks to continue the dark action started with the 2004 release, but with even faster gameplay.
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