Wow... What A Week
From snowstorms in New Orleans, wild fires in LA, and executive orders being issued hot off the printing press, 2025 is wasting no time to deliver headlines. Our various newsfeeds feel like they are struggling to keep up with the pace of which things have been happening.
The interesting footnote across nearly every storyline these days is the technology component. Some of the top headlines are directly about harnessing new technology, like our AI story, and others are how technology is being used to try and help solve problems that were once thought impossible, like disaster detection. One guarantee we feel confident in making is that the rest of 2025 will not be boring.
Sorry cinephiles, this is not a reboot of the 90s sci-fi film series. It is, however, a $500 billion initiative to build AI infrastructure in the U.S., with major players like OpenAI, Oracle, Softbank, and the UAE's MGX onboard. The project aims to revolutionize AI by creating thousands of jobs and boosting America's tech dominance.?
The rapid growth of AI demand has sparked concerns about the environmental impact of these new data centers, especially regarding power consumption and land use. However, with Trump’s support, the project is pushing forward, with promises to streamline production through government intervention.
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President Trump signed an executive order to establish a cryptocurrency working group aimed at creating a new regulatory framework for digital assets, fulfilling his pledge to be a "crypto president." The group will include top financial figures like the Treasury Secretary and heads of the SEC and CFTC, and its responsibilities will include regulating stablecoins and protecting banking services for crypto companies.
This contrasts sharply with President Biden's approach, which has leaned toward cracking down on crypto firms for regulatory violations. The policy, under the guidance of crypto czar David Sacks, could potentially push crypto even further into the mainstream, depending on how the regulations are rolled out.
TikTok restored service in the U.S. just hours after President Trump announced he would sign an executive order delaying the platform's ban, offering reassurance to service providers that they wouldn’t face penalties for continuing to support the app. Once a strong proponent of banning TikTok, Trump has now shifted gears, pushing for a deal that keeps the app in the U.S. by potentially involving a 50% ownership stake for the U.S. government or a U.S. company.
While TikTok was briefly offline, its services resumed, with a message thanking Trump for the intervention. Despite the app's return, there are legal questions surrounding whether Trump’s executive order can actually override the law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok. The situation remains in limbo, especially as tech giants like Apple and Google have yet to reinstate the app on their stores.