Science & Environment
Coinbase-backed lobby urges ABC to ask Trump, Harris about crypto
Stand With Crypto’s bus tour through five battleground states kicked off last week in Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Logan Dobson/Stand With Crypto Alliance
A big purple bus adorned with “AMERICA ❤️ CRYPTO” started making its way across five swing states last week, on a mission to get out the vote ahead of the presidential election.
The campaign, initially launched by Coinbase, has a shorter-term objective: Getting a crypto question asked at Tuesday night’s presidential debate.
The Stand With Crypto Alliance, created last year, initiated a letter writing petition five days ago to pressure ABC News to raise a crypto question in the first — and perhaps only — presidential debate between Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The group, which is hosting 2,500 debate watch parties across the country, has gotten over 2,000 people to sign a pre-drafted letter on its website.
“I am one of the 52 million Americans who own cryptocurrency,” the letter says. “On behalf of myself and all American crypto owners, I urge you to ask the candidates their position on cryptocurrency and its place in the American economy.”
In recent months, Trump has branded himself as the pro-crypto candidate. Harris hasn’t yet made her official stance known on digital assets, but the Biden administration’s aggressive crackdown on the industry has created an opening for the former president.
Trump has pledged to fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who’s taken on companies including Coinbase. In addition to the presidential race, the group is backing crypto-friendly politicians in Congress as it pursues more favorable laws. In May, the House passed the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, with the help of more than 70 Democrats.
Stand With Crypto’s bus tour through five battleground states is all about getting people registered to vote.
Logan Dobson/Stand With Crypto Alliance
“Bipartisan crypto legislation has already passed the House of Representatives, and more and more elected officials are coming out in support of crypto,” the letter says.
ABC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
On its website, the alliance gives Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, “A” grades for their support of crypto. For Harris and running mate Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, the group gives a grade of “N/A” and says, “pending stance on crypto.”
Many crypto fanatics see the November election as a defining moment for the sector, and they’re showing up with their wallets. Nearly half of all donations made by corporations this cycle have been from crypto companies, according to a Public Citizen report.
Stand With Crypto’s tour through battleground states is more about turning out the vote than raising cash. And the group has been trying for months to get presidential candidates to talk about the issue.
The alliance previously lobbied CNN with 2,300 emails asking for a crypto-pegged question ahead of the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, who at the time was the presumptive Democratic nominee. The network didn’t broach the topic.
Between online and in-person efforts, Stand with Crypto has signed up 104,000 people through its voter registration tool. Along the way, the group has put on concerts and delivered speeches to throngs of fans.
Stand With Crypto’s bus tour through five battleground states kicked off last week in Phoenix, Arizona where Sen. Kyrsten Sinema spoke about electing lawmakers who understand cryptocurrencies.
Logan Dobson/Stand With Crypto Alliance
The bus tour kicked off in Phoenix last Wednesday, with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat who’s now an independent, stoking the crowd with an impassioned speech about electing lawmakers who understand cryptocurrencies.
“Sensible, reasonable regulation that allows the industry to continue to innovate and grow – that’s what we got to stay focused on,” Sinema said.
The bus then headed to Las Vegas, where crypto advocates heard from the state treasurer and chief of staff for the lieutenant governor. According to data shared by the alliance, 385,000 Nevadans are crypto owners, and more than 16,000 people in the state have signed up to be Stand with Crypto advocates.
Arizona and Nevada are two of the seven states considered critical and up for grabs with less than two months until election day and the contest in a virtual tie. This week, the crypto bus will make stops in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which are also among the key swing states.
The final event takes place in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 18. Several top Coinbase execs, including Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, will speak, and music duo The Chainsmokers will be performing at a nightclub.
Stand With Crypto’s bus tour through five battleground states stopped in Las Vegas last week, where crypto advocates heard from the state treasurer and chief of staff for the lieutenant governor.
Logan Dobson/Stand With Crypto Alliance
The movement hasn’t entirely committed to Trump.
Coinbase policy head Faryar Shirzad, who will also be speaking in D.C., said on X that he’s been “pleased to take part in a number of discussions with the Harris team.” He described the approach as “constructive” and said “the dialogue had been an important first step.”
Though Harris hasn’t formally come out with her campaign position on crypto, members of her team have been meeting with crypto industry leaders for months.
“I think we’re going to hear from Vice President Harris soon on this,” Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel of North Carolina told CNBC in an interview in July on the sidelines of the biggest bitcoin event of the year in Nashville. “And I’m very optimistic we’re gonna get a reset. And that, I think, will matter in a major way.”
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., also told CNBC at the time that he had been in dialogue with the Harris team on the issue.
Democrats have since gotten more vocal. At a virtual town hall in August, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said a crypto bill could pass his chamber this year.
Science & Environment
Affirm (AFRM) earnings report Q1 2025
Affirm, the provider of buy now, pay later loans reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results.
Here’s how the company did, compared to analysts’ consensus estimates from LSEG.
- Loss per share: 31 cents adjusted vs. a loss of 35 cents expected
- Revenue: $698 million vs. $664 million expected
Affirm reported gross merchandise volume (GMV) of $7.6 billion, topping the average estimate of $7.28 billion, according to StreetAccount. GMV, a key metric that helps gauge the total value of transactions, increased by 35% from a year earlier.
Revenue in the fiscal first quarter rose 41% from $496.5 million a year earlier.
Revenue less transaction costs (RLTC) came in at $285 million, ahead of earlier guidance of $265 million to $280 million.
Affirm said it expects to achieve profitability on a GAAP basis in its fiscal fourth quarter of 2025. Last quarter, CEO Max Levchin said in a note to shareholders that the company had set a new goal of hitting operating profitability on a GAAP basis by the end of its fiscal year.
The company sees second-quarter revenue of between $770 million and $810 million, or $790 million in the middle of the range, versus the average estimate of $785 million, according to LSEG. Affirm is guiding to GMV in the range of $9.35 billion to $9.75 billion. Analysts polled by StreetAccount called for GMV of $9.48 billion.
Affirm shares were about flat for the year as Thursday’s close, but have been trending higher lately, up more than 70% since the end of August.
The company’s new relationship with Apple plus other partnerships with Amazon and Shopify are helping results. In June, Affirm and Apple announced plans for U.S. Apple Pay users on iPhones and iPads to be able to apply for loans directly through Affirm.
“Affirm’s growth story has continued, particularly as they add new strategic distribution partners,” Kevin Kennedy, an analyst at global research firm Third Bridge, said in an email.
Kennedy added that the quality of Affirm’s underwriting, specifically for higher-priced orders and interest-bearing BNPL purchases, sets the company apart from the growing list of competitors.
“The payments space is constantly facing commoditization risk, and BNPL, while nascent, is facing the same challenge,” he wrote. “However, large ticket interest bearing purchases, which are becoming more accessible through Affirm, are better protected” compared with offerings from peers, he added.
Square parent Block, which also reported earnings after the bell, acquired BNPL firm Afterpay for $29 billion in 2021.
Affirm’s quarterly earnings call starts at 5:00 P.M. eastern.
Science & Environment
Block (SQ) earnings Q3 2024
Block shares tumbled 11% in extended trading on Thursday after the company reported third-quarter revenue that trailed Wall Street expectations.
Here is how the company did, compared to analysts’ consensus estimates from LSEG.
- Earnings per share: 88 cents adjusted vs. 87 cents expected
- Revenue: $5.98 billion vs. $6.24 billion expected
Block, formerly known as Square, posted $2.25 billion in gross profit, up 19% from a year ago. Analysts tend to focus on gross profit as a more accurate measurement of the company’s core transactional businesses.
The company reported net income of $283.7 million, or 45 cents per share, after losing $88.7 million, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier.
The Cash App business, the company’s popular mobile payment platform and a significant contributor to overall profitability, reported $1.31 billion in gross profit, a 21% year-over-year jump. Block, run by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, said its Cash App Card monthly active users increased 11% year over year to more than 24 million.
The company said gross profit for the fourth quarter will increase 14% to $2.31 billion.
Block’s third-quarter earnings call starts at 5 P.M. Eastern time.
Science & Environment
New DNA evidence at Pompeii reveals surprises about identities of Vesuvius eruption victims
When a volcanic eruption buried the ancient city of Pompeii, the last desperate moments of its citizens were preserved in stone for centuries.
Observers see stories in the plaster casts later made of their bodies, like a mother holding a child and two women embracing as they die.
But new DNA evidence suggests things were not as they seem — and these prevailing interpretations come from looking at the ancient world through modern eyes.
“We were able to disprove or challenge some of the previous narratives built upon how these individuals were kind of found in relation to each other,” said Alissa Mittnik of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. “It opens up different interpretations for who these people might have been.”
Mittnik and her colleagues discovered that the person thought to be a mother was actually a man unrelated to the child. And at least one of the two people locked in an embrace — long assumed to be sisters or a mother and daughter – was a man. Their research was published Thursday in the journal Current Biology.
The team, which also includes scientists from Harvard University and the University of Florence in Italy, relied on genetic material preserved for nearly two millennia. After Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the Roman city in 79 A.D., bodies buried in mud and ash eventually decomposed, leaving spaces where they used to be. Casts were created from the voids in the late 1800s.
Researchers focused on 14 casts undergoing restoration, extracting DNA from the fragmented skeletal remains that mixed with them. They hoped to determine the sex, ancestry and genetic relationships between the victims.
There were several surprises in “the house of the golden bracelet,” the dwelling where the assumed mother and child were found. The adult wore an intricate piece of jewelry, for which the house was named, reinforcing the impression that the victim was a woman. Nearby were the bodies of another adult and child thought to be the rest of their nuclear family.
DNA evidence showed the four were male and not related to one another, clearly showing “the story that was long spun around these individuals” was wrong, Mittnik said.
Researchers also confirmed Pompeii citizens came from diverse backgrounds but mainly descended from eastern Mediterranean immigrants – underscoring a broad pattern of movement and cultural exchange in the Roman Empire. Pompeii is located about 150 miles (241 kilometers) from Rome.
The study builds upon research from 2022 when scientists sequenced the genome of a Pompeii victim for the first time and confirmed the possibility of retrieving ancient DNA from the human remains that still exist.
“They have a better overview of what’s happening in Pompeii because they analyzed different samples,” said Gabriele Scorrano of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, a co-author of that research who was not involved in the current study. “We actually had one genome, one sample, one shot.”
Though much remains to be learned, Scorrano said, such genetic brushstrokes are slowly painting a truer picture of how people lived in the distant past.
In August, archaeologists at Pompeii announced they had unearthed the remains of two more victims — a man and a woman discovered inside what was likely the bedroom of their home, where they’d become trapped as the rest of the structure filled with debris. The woman was found on the bed with a collection of gold, silver and bronze coins, as well as a pair of gold earrings, a pair of pearl earrings and other jewelry.
Earlier this year, three researchers won a $700,000 prize for using artificial intelligence to read a 2,000-year-old scroll that was scorched in the Vesuvius eruption.
The Herculaneum papyri consist of about 800 rolled-up Greek scrolls that were carbonized during the 79 CE volcanic eruption that buried the ancient Roman town, according to the organizers of the “Vesuvius Challenge.”
The scroll’s author was “probably Epicurean philosopher Philodemus,” writing “about music, food, and how to enjoy life’s pleasures,” wrote contest organizer Nat Friedman on social media.
The scrolls were found in a villa thought to be previously owned by Julius Caesar’s patrician father-in-law, whose mostly unexcavated property held a library that could contain thousands more manuscripts.
Science & Environment
FTX’s Caroline Ellison reports to prison to begin 2-year sentence
Caroline Ellison, former chief executive officer of Alameda Research LLC, arrives at court in New York, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Caroline Ellison, the star witness in the prosecution of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, reported to a low-security federal prison in Connecticut on Thursday, according to a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons.
In September, Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion for her role in the massive fraud and conspiracy that doomed the cryptocurrency exchange once valued at $32 billion.
The federal Probation Department had recommended that Judge Lewis Kaplan sentence Ellison to three years of supervised release, with no time behind bars. Defense lawyers also had requested a punishment that didn’t include prison time.
While Kaplan praised Ellison for her extensive cooperation with prosecutors — which led to the conviction of Bankman-Fried — the judge said her criminal sentence needed to deter other potential bad actors from committing fraud.
Ellison ran Alameda Research, which was a sister hedge fund of FTX. She was also romantically involved with Bankman-Fried.
Alameda received much of the $8 billion in customer funds looted by Bankman-Fried from FTX. The stolen money was used for Alameda’s trading operation and other purposes.
Ellison reached a plea deal with prosecutors in December 2022, a month after FTX spiraled into bankruptcy. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy and financial fraud charges.
Kaplan called FTX the greatest financial fraud perpetrated in the history of the U.S., and told the court in Manhattan during the sentencing that a “literal get-out-of-jail-free card I can’t agree to.”
“I’ve seen a lot of cooperators over the years and I’ve never seen one quite like Miss Ellison,” said Kaplan, who also said he believed that Ellison was genuinely remorseful for her crimes and that her cooperation carried a steep price for her emotionally.
Late last month, Former FTX executive Nishad Singh was sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release, becoming the fourth ex-employee of the collapsed crypto exchange to be punished.
At her sentencing, Ellison read from a statement in a shaky voice while crying at times as she apologized to the people she had hurt and said she was deeply ashamed. She also said she was sorry for not being brave enough to walk away from FTX and Bankman-Fried.
Kaplan allowed Ellison to remain free on bail until surrendering to prison either on or after Nov. 7.
Bankman-Fried chose to stand trial and was convicted of all seven criminal fraud charges against him. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March and also was ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture by Kaplan.
Both Bankman-Fried and Ellison had faced the same statutory maximum sentence of about 110 years in prison for their crimes.
WATCH: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried appeals fraud conviction
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