💰 Donald Trump’s net worth reaches $6.5B after crypto gains

Donald Trump’s wealth rose to about $6.5B in 2026, up $1.4B from a year earlier, according to Forbes. He now ranks 645th among the world’s 3,428 billionaires.

Crypto ventures drove much of the increase. Trump reportedly earned about $550M from token sales tied to World Liberty Financial. A sale of a 49% stake in the company to UAE-backed Aryam Investment added another $200M. Forbes estimates Trump still holds crypto assets worth about $570M.

An appeals court also removed a $517M civil fraud penalty from his liabilities. Real estate assets such as Mar-a-Lago and his golf courses also increased in value.

Some holdings declined during the year. The value of Trump Media and Technology Group fell to about $1.2B as the company reported $712M in losses on $3.7M in revenue.

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💰 BlackRock launches Ethereum staking fund paying 82% of rewards

BlackRock launched the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) on Nasdaq. The fund will pass 82% of staking rewards to investors through monthly payouts.

The product plans to stake 70–95% of its ETH holdings. The remaining 18% of rewards will go to the trust, custodians, and staking providers. Coinbase and Anchorage Digital will act as custodians.

BlackRock will charge a 0.12% introductory management fee, rising to 0.25% later. Coinbase will receive a 10% staking fee, which may drop to 6% if the fund reaches $20B in assets.

The launch adds a staking option to BlackRock’s crypto ETF lineup and introduces new competition with Grayscale’s Ethereum staking products.

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💻 AI coding startup Cursor in talks for funding at $50B valuation

Cursor is in early discussions with investors about a new funding round that could value the company at about $50B.

The AI coding startup previously raised $2.3B in November, which valued it at $29.3B. In February the company said its annualized revenue had surpassed $2B.

Investors in earlier rounds include Coatue, Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Google, and Nvidia.

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📈 Binance founder CZ reaches $110B and passes Bill Gates

Changpeng Zhao’s net worth climbed to about $110B, up $47B from a year earlier, according to Forbes. He now ranks 17th on the global billionaire list and sits ahead of Bill Gates, whose wealth is estimated at $108B.

Most of Zhao’s wealth comes from Binance, the crypto exchange he founded in 2017. Industry estimates value the company at about $100B. Legal filings suggest Zhao owns roughly 90% of the business.

Binance reportedly generated about $16–17B in revenue across 2024 and 2025 and processes more than $30T in annual trading volume.

The rebound in Binance’s valuation pushed CZ to his highest net worth to date.

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‼️ Nvidia CEO says 2025–2030 may be the key window to build wealth from AI

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the current AI boom could create major wealth in the next few years, before the industry becomes harder to enter once the infrastructure is fully built.

He also noted that future millionaires may not come mainly from traditional office careers. As AI automates more digital work, practical skills and real-world problem solving could gain value.

Huang pointed to trades such as electricians, plumbers, and mechanics as roles that are harder to automate.

The shift could reshape which types of work benefit most from the AI economy.

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💸 Fees can wipe £100,000 off the same £100k investment

£100,000 invested in the MSCI World for 20 years ends very differently depending on fees:

🖱 £300,000 with a 0.3% fee
🖱 £250,000 with a 1.3% fee
🖱 £200,000 with a 2.3% fee

Same market.
Same returns.

Only the fee changes.

One decision quietly costs about £100,000.

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🐋 AI boom adds 45 new billionaires to the Forbes list

Forbes 2026 lists 45 new billionaires who built their fortunes in artificial intelligence. The total number of AI-linked billionaires has reached 86, with combined wealth around $2.9T.

The richest newcomer is Surge AI founder Edwin Chen with an estimated $18B fortune.

New wealth also came from companies such as Mistral AI, MiniMax, ElevenLabs, and Perplexity, along with startups building data center and model training infrastructure.

Major tech leaders like Elon Musk, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Jensen Huang remain among the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom.

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The AI Supply Chain

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💰Trump administration to receive $10B fee from TikTok U.S. deal

Investors taking control of TikTok’s U.S. business agreed to pay the U.S. government about $10B as part of the deal that shifted the platform’s American operations away from ByteDance.

Backers of the new U.S. entity include Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi investor MGX. Around $2.5B was paid to the Treasury when the deal closed in January, with additional payments planned until the total reaches $10B.

The new TikTok U.S. company is valued at about $14B and will still share profits with ByteDance, which licensed its algorithm and keeps nearly a 20% stake.

Such a fee for brokering a corporate transaction is highly unusual for a government.

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Ⓜ️ Meta considers layoffs that could affect up to 20% of staff

Meta is reportedly considering workforce cuts that could affect up to 20% of employees as the company ramps spending on AI infrastructure and hiring.

Meta had about 79,000 employees as of December 31. The report came from Reuters, while a company spokesperson described the claims as speculative.

Large tech firms have recently announced layoffs as AI investments rise and companies restructure their operations.

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🤖 OpenAI explores $10B AI venture with major private equity firms

OpenAI is in advanced talks with private equity firms including TPG, Advent International, Bain Capital, and Brookfield to create a joint venture focused on enterprise AI adoption.

The proposed venture could be valued at about $10B pre-money. The PE firms are expected to commit roughly $4B in exchange for equity stakes.

The plan is to distribute OpenAI’s enterprise tools across the firms’ portfolio companies and other corporate clients.

The move would give investors influence over how OpenAI technology is deployed inside their networks.

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🎂 Claude turns 3 as Anthropic nears $10B ARR

Claude recently turned 3, and Anthropic’s revenue has grown rapidly over that period.

In 2023, the first year after launch, Claude reportedly generated about $100M.

In 2024 revenue reached $1B.

By the end of 2025, Anthropic’s annualized revenue is estimated at around $9–10B.

That is one of the fastest revenue ramps in AI so far.

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👨‍🔧 Nvidia GTC 2026: OpenClaw, space data centers and AI factories

Jensen Huang outlined Nvidia’s next steps at GTC 2026, focusing on software, infrastructure, and new computing models.

OpenClaw was positioned as a new type of computer system, with NemoClaw introduced as an enterprise layer adding logging, encryption, and sandboxing.

Nvidia also announced Vera Rubin Space-1, a module for orbital data centers built on the Rubin architecture, targeting up to 25x higher inference performance than H100.

The company described a shift from data centers to “AI factories” producing tokens at scale. Nvidia is building Dynamo OS to manage these systems and DSX to simulate infrastructure through digital twins.

Nvidia is moving from chips to full-stack control of AI infrastructure.

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😏 xAI hires Wall Street pros to train Grok on finance

Elon Musk’s xAI is recruiting bankers, traders, and credit specialists to train its chatbot Grok on financial markets and investment workflows.

Job listings target senior roles in equity capital markets, IPOs, underwriting, and crypto trading. The goal is to improve Grok’s ability to handle real-world financial analysis and decision-making.

The push comes as AI companies compete for enterprise users in finance. OpenAI and Anthropic have already launched products for analysts and business teams.

xAI is expanding training beyond data from X to improve Grok’s performance in finance.

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💳 Mastercard to acquire BVNK for up to $1.8B in stablecoin push

Mastercard agreed to acquire London-based stablecoin infrastructure startup BVNK for up to $1.8B, including $300M tied to performance targets. It is the company’s largest crypto deal.

BVNK, founded in 2021 and valued around $750M, operates across 130+ countries and supports transactions on major blockchain networks.

The acquisition gives Mastercard the ability to connect traditional payment rails with systems built on stablecoins and tokenized deposits.

The deal positions Mastercard deeper inside digital currency infrastructure as adoption grows.

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