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Crypto.com founder Kris Marszalek buys ai.com domain name for record $70 million: FT

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Crypto.com founder Kris Marszalek buys ai.com domain name for record $70 million: FT

Kris Marszalek, the founder and CEO of crypto exchange Crypto.com, spent $70 million to buy ai.com, the highest publicly disclosed price paid for a website domain, the FT reported.

The acquisition signals the executive’s move into artificial intelligence, a sector that reached nearly $1.5 trillion in worldwide spending in 2025, according to Gartner. The momentum will intensify this year, with Bloomberg reporting that the four largest U.S. tech giants alone, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, plan to invest a combined $650 billion in AI infrastructure this year.

The transaction, finalized in April 2025, was conducted entirely in cryptocurrency, the FT said in its report on Friday, citing Larry Fischer of GetYourDomain.com, who brokered the transaction. The price tag more than doubled the previous $30 million record held by Block.one’s 2019 purchase of Voice.com. Block.one is the owner of CoindDesk’s parent, Bullish (BLSH). Marszalek spent $12 million to acquire crypto.com in 2018.

Ai.com announced the debut of a consumer platform featuring autonomous AI agents. Unlike traditional chatbots, these agents are designed to operate on a user’s behalf — executing tasks such as trading stocks, managing calendars and automating workflows. Marszalek said the platform aims to be the “front door to AGI” through a decentralized network.

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“We are at a fundamental shift in AI’s evolution as we rapidly move beyond basic chats to AI agents actually getting things done for humans,” said Marszalek. “Our vision is a decentralized network of billions of agents who self-improve and share these improvements with each other.”

The platform announced its debut with a Super Bowl LX commercial on Sunday, generating a surge in traffic that crashed the website for several hours. Writing on X on Monday, Marszalek cited “insane traffic levels” from the 30-second ad, noting that while the team had prepared for scale, the volume of interest was unprecedented.

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Crypto World

Kalshi Suffers Court Loss in Ohio over Sports Betting Lawsuit

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Law, CFTC, Court, Kalshi, Prediction Markets

The prediction markets platform argued for an injunction against Ohio authorities, claiming that federal commodities laws superseded state laws on sport event contracts.

An Ohio federal court has denied a motion filed by prediction markets platform Kalshi for a preliminary injunction against Ohio state authorities over allegations that the company was operating in violation of gambling laws.

In an order filed Monday, US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Chief Judge Sarah Morrison denied Kalshi’s request for an injunction that would have blocked the Ohio Casino Control Commission and state attorney general from regulating contracts on the platform, specifically for sports betting.

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According to the judge, Kalshi had failed to show that the sports event contracts available on the platform were subject to the “exclusive jurisdiction” of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

“Even if this Court were to find that sports-event contracts are swaps subject to the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction, Kalshi has not shown that the [Commodity Exchange Act, or CEA] would necessarily preempt Ohio’s sports gambling laws,” said the opinion and order, adding:

“Kalshi argues that Ohio’s sports gambling laws are field and conflict preempted by the CEA when it comes to sports-event contracts traded on its exchange […] Kalshi fails to establish that Congress intended the CEA to preempt state laws on sports gambling.”

Law, CFTC, Court, Kalshi, Prediction Markets
Source: Courtlistener

The denial pushed back against the narrative from CFTC Chair Michael Selig, who said in February that the federal regulator had “exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets and threatened lawsuits against any authority claiming otherwise. Kalshi and prediction platforms face lawsuits in other US states over similar allegations involving unlicensed sports betting.

“This Court does not endeavor to explain why the CFTC has not exercised its authority […] with respect to the sports-event contracts,” said the Monday filing in Ohio. “But the agency’s inaction is not proof that the sports-event contracts are regulated by or permissible under the CEA—and the Court has concluded they are not.”

Related: CFTC chair backs blockchain-based prediction markets as ‘truth machines’

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In a statement to Cointelegraph, a Kalshi spokesperson said that the company “respectfully disagree[d] with the Court’s decision, which splits from a decision from a federal court in Tennessee just a few weeks ago, and will promptly seek an appeal.”

CFTC guidance on prediction markets could be looming

Last week, Selig said that the federal regulator was working to provide guidance regarding prediction markets “in the very near future.” The CFTC chair is the sole Senate-confirmed commissioner in a panel normally consisting of five people.

Magazine: The debate over Bitcoin’s four-year cycle is over: Benjamin Cowen

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