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Bitcoin Finds A Real-World Use Case In Las Vegas Stores

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Bitcoin Finds A Real-World Use Case In Las Vegas Stores

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Small shops and some bigger chains in Las Vegas are now taking Bitcoin for everyday buys. People scan a QR code, pay from a phone, and the merchant gets paid. According to local reports, owners are trying this out to cut the cost of credit card processing and to attract customers who prefer crypto.

Merchants Cut Costs With Bitcoin

Reports say the move is largely about fees. Credit card processing often takes away 2.5–3.5% of a sale. For many small operators, that is painful. Payment tools that accept Bitcoin — often routed over the Lightning Network or through services that can convert crypto to cash — have lowered that burden for merchants.

Square’s program, which lets millions of US merchants enable Bitcoin checkout with no processing fee through 2026, helped speed up adoption in the area.

Stores Report Real Transactions

Business owners are reporting real use, not just experiments. Juice stands and cafes have processed payments. Some larger outlets are listed on public payment maps so customers can find them.

BTCUSD currently trading at $88,735. Chart: TradingView

This has meant more foot traffic from people who travel with crypto or who prefer to keep their cards for other uses. Reports note both new customers and savings on fees as clear benefits.

Lightning Network Speeds Up Payments

The Lightning Network is being used to make payments faster and cheaper at the cash register. It moves small Bitcoin payments quickly without the long wait a base-layer transfer can cause.

Merchants scan a code or show one on a screen. The payment is then sent from the buyer’s wallet and settled almost instantly. This technical fix has made in-person Bitcoin payments workable for the first time at many spots.

How Owners See It

Owners are balancing savings against new risks. Some keep crypto for a short time, then sell it for cash. Others leave part of their receipts in Bitcoin. Chargebacks, a problem with cards, are reduced when crypto is used.

A few places say small boosts in sales followed their switch to crypto, yet long-term patterns are still being watched. Reports have disclosed these mixed outcomes as part of a slow but clear shift.

Customers Find New Ways To Pay

Shoppers are adapting. Tourists who carry crypto find these spots useful. Locals who are curious try the method at least once. Payment apps and merchant directories make the process easier for everyone.

For those who like simple steps, scanning a QR code and approving a payment on a phone works fine. For others it is a novelty that might stick.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

How SharpLink Aims to Be the Most ‘Focused, Disciplined’ Ethereum Treasury in 2026

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How SharpLink Aims to Be the Most ‘Focused, Disciplined’ Ethereum Treasury in 2026

In brief

  • SharpLink Gaming plans to differentiate itself from other Ethereum treasury firms in 2026.
  • The second-largest ETH treasury will not just accumulate for the sake of it, SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom told Decrypt.
  • SBET shares have fallen over the last six months, but institutional ownership is increasing according to Chalom.

Digital asset treasuries burst onto the scene in 2025, racing to accumulate billions of dollars’ worth of crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

But 2026 is about more than buying ETH for Ethereum treasury firm SharpLink Gaming, which aims to stand apart from the pack by focusing on long-term stability and avoiding splashy moves for the sake of it.

“We’re not going to be the people who are prioritizing accumulation over everything,” SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom told Decrypt. “2026 is really differentiating ourselves from the pack, and being viewed as the focused, disciplined digital asset treasury (DAT).”

The firm has amassed 865,797 ETH or more than $2.6 billion thus far, but it hasn’t made a major acquisition since October. That’s because the firm plans to only add ETH to its treasury when it’s accretive to shareholders, or when its multiple to net-asset-value (mNAV) is above 1. 

That means it has fallen well behind leading Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) in terms of accumulation, as that Tom Lee-fronted firm holds more than 4.2 million ETH valued at greater than $12.6 billion. BitMine has also made investments along the way, most recently putting $200 million into Beast Industries, the firm of YouTube superstar MrBeast.

“If I just wanted to accumulate, I could raise capital every month, every day, and dilute my shareholders,” said Chalom. “We’re not doing that.”

“We’re not distracted by unfocused investments—we’re not stuck as a zombie DAT,” he added. “If you have institutional capital or you want to invest in the long run, we are that focused DAT with discipline and sophistication. That’s how we want to end the year.” 

Shares in the firm (SBET) have fallen more than 60% over the last six months, but Chalom said institutional ownership of the firm’s shares is increasing, providing a signal that the story it is telling is resonating with longer-term thinkers. 

“I think it’s how we’re telling our story and operating,” he said. “We’re doing it really systematically and methodically, and it tends to attract people who are interested in a long-term investment thesis.” 

Earlier this month, the firm staked $170 million of its ETH holdings on Ethereum layer-2 network Linea as part of a multi-year effort that allows it to generate higher-than-normal yields and additional incentives for investors.

The move is the first of its kind for SharpLink, which ultimately wants to “pioneer” the productive use of ETH among digital asset treasuries. 

Like BitMine, SharpLink plans to ultimately hold 5% of the Ethereum circulating supply—but Chalom said it will do so with shareholders’ interests at the forefront. 

“We will get there, but my north star is being investor-aligned and focused on ETH concentration per share—not accumulation for the sake of accumulation,” said Chalom.

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Sui Group (SUIG) charts new course for crypto treasuries with stablecoins and DeFi

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Sui Group (SUIG) charts new course for crypto treasuries with stablecoins and DeFi

Sui Group Holdings (SUIG), the only Nasdaq-listed company with an official relationship with the Sui Foundation, is positioning itself to become the most economically important player in the blockchain’s ecosystem, according to Steven Mackintosh, the company’s chief investment officer.

Formerly known as Mill City Ventures, the U.S.-based specialty finance firm rebranded to Sui Group Holdings in 2025 as it pivoted toward a foundation-backed digital asset treasury (DAT) strategy centered on SUI, the native token of the Sui network.

While the company continues to invest in and advise public and private companies, Mackintosh said its priority is now clear: accumulating SUI and building infrastructure that generates recurring yield for shareholders.

“Our performance is always going to be correlated to the price of SUI,” Mackintosh told CoinDesk in an interview. “The goal is to be the most innovative DAT in the market by embedding ourselves directly into the Sui ecosystem.”

Growing the SUI treasury

Sui Group currently holds about 108 million SUI tokens, worth roughly $160 million, representing just under 3% of the circulating supply, according to Mackintosh. The company’s near-term goal is to increase that stake to 5% of the circulating float, which he described as a really important milestone.

The firm has already grown its SUI per share metric, a benchmark similar to ether-per-share used by Ethereum-focused treasury companies, from 1.14 to 1.34, Mackintosh said.

In a PIPE (private investment in public equity) deal completed when SUI traded near $4.20, the treasury was valued at roughly $400–450 million. Sui Group raised about $450 million, intentionally withholding around $60 million to manage market risk, a move Mackintosh said helped avoid forced token sales during periods of volatility.

Sui Group’s digital assets are custodied and managed by Galaxy Digital (GLXY), its official asset manager.

From treasury to operating business

Mackintosh said the company is now moving beyond buying and staking SUI into a full operating model.

The centerpiece is SuiUSDE, a native, yield-bearing stablecoin built in partnership with the Sui Foundation and Ethena, expected to go live in February following ongoing testing. Sui Group is among the first to white-label Ethena’s technology on a non-Ethereum network.

“Wall Street understands stablecoins far better than altcoins,” Mackintosh said. “This is an opportunity to capture that premium inside a public equity.”

Under the structure, 90% of fees generated by SuiUSDE will flow back to Sui Group Holdings and the Sui Foundation, either to buy back SUI in the open market or to be redeployed into Sui-native DeFi. The stablecoin is expected to be used across DeepBook, Bluefin, Navi and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) such as Cetus, as well as serve as collateral throughout the ecosystem.

Mackintosh said the goal is to attract the yield-hungry DeFi users that powered Ethena’s growth on Ethereum and bring that energy to Sui, with discussions ongoing with players like Pendle.

Ethena is a DeFi protocol on Ethereum focused on creating a crypto-native synthetic dollar and financial infrastructure that operates independently of traditional banking systems. Its flagship product is USDe, a synthetic dollar designed to maintain a stable 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar using delta-neutral hedging of crypto collateral combined with derivative positions rather than relying on fiat reserves held in banks.

DeFi revenue and yield ambitions

Sui Group has also entered into a revenue-sharing agreement with Bluefin, the leading perpetual futures DEX on Sui. The company receives a fixed percentage of trading fees, adding a recurring revenue stream to its DAT.

“Perps are the killer use case in crypto,” Mackintosh said. “We’ve gone from a company that buys and stakes SUI to an operating business that owns a stablecoin and earns revenue from a perps DEX.”

Two additional ecosystem deals are in the pipeline, he added.

While SUI’s base staking yield is around 2.2%, Mackintosh said the network’s fixed 10 billion token supply and fee-burn mechanism make it structurally deflationary, unlike inflationary networks such as Solana and Ethereum.

If Sui Group can push its effective yield to around 6% through operating revenues, Mackintosh said he believes SUI per share could grow materially over the next five years, even before factoring in price appreciation.

“The combination of deflation and higher yield gives us a very compelling long-term setup,” he said.

Capital discipline and market volatility

Mackintosh contrasted Sui Group’s approach with other DATs that have struggled amid volatility, forced token sales and convertible debt structures.

In the recent market downturn, digital asset treasury companies, publicly traded firms that build core business models around holding large crypto balances, came under sustained pressure that forced some to sell down parts of their crypto stacks and rethink their strategies.

Sui Group recently bought back 8.8% of its own shares and still holds about $22 million in cash, which Mackintosh said provides flexibility without forcing knee-jerk decisions.

“We’ve been patient, we’ve used cash effectively and we haven’t chased financial engineering,” he said. “That discipline matters in this market.”

Looking ahead to 2026, Mackintosh said the firm’s focus remains singular: making Sui Group Holdings the central economic actor in the Sui ecosystem and giving public-market investors a cleaner way to access its growth.

Read more: Staking goes mainstream: what 2026 could look like for ether investors

AI ‘Swarms’ Could Escalate Online Misinformation and Manipulation, Researchers Warn

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AI ‘Swarms’ Could Escalate Online Misinformation and Manipulation, Researchers Warn

In brief

  • Researchers warn that AI swarms could coordinate “influence campaigns” with limited human oversight.
  • Unlike traditional botnets, swarms can adapt their messaging and vary behavior.
  • The paper notes that existing platform safeguards may struggle to detect and contain these swarms.

The era of easily detectable botnets is coming to an end, according to a new report published in Science on Thursday. In the study, researchers warned that misinformation campaigns are shifting toward autonomous AI swarms that can imitate human behavior, adapt in real time, and require little human oversight, complicating efforts to detect and stop them.

Written by a consortium of researchers, including those from Oxford, Cambridge, UC Berkeley, NYU, and the Max Planck Institute, the paper describes a digital environment in which manipulation becomes harder to identify. Instead of short bursts tied to elections or politics, these AI campaigns can sustain a narrative over longer periods of time.

“In the hands of a government, such tools could suppress dissent or amplify incumbents,” the researchers wrote. “Therefore, the deployment of defensive AI can only be considered if governed by strict, transparent, and democratically accountable frameworks.”

A swarm is a group of autonomous AI agents that work together to solve problems or complete objectives more efficiently than a single system. The researchers said AI swarms build on existing weaknesses in social media platforms, where users are often insulated from opposing viewpoints.

“False news has been shown to spread faster and more broadly than true news, deepening fragmented realities and eroding shared factual baselines,” they wrote. “Recent evidence links engagement-optimized curation to polarization, with platform algorithms amplifying divisive content even at the expense of user satisfaction, further degrading the public sphere.”

That shift is already visible on major platforms, according to Sean Ren, a computer science professor at the University of Southern California and the CEO of Sahara AI, who said that AI-driven accounts are increasingly difficult to distinguish from ordinary users.

“I think stricter KYC, or account identity validation, would help a lot here,” Ren told Decrypt. “If it’s harder to create new accounts and easier to monitor spammers, it becomes much more difficult for agents to use large numbers of accounts for coordinated manipulation.”

Earlier influence campaigns depended largely on scale rather than subtlety, with thousands of accounts posting identical messages simultaneously, which made detection comparatively straightforward. In contrast, the study said, AI swarms exhibit “unprecedented autonomy, coordination, and scale.”

Ren said content moderation alone is unlikely to stop these systems. The problem, he said, is how platforms manage identity at scale. Stronger identity checks and limits on account creation, he said, could make coordinated behavior easier to detect, even when individual posts appear human.

“If the agent can only use a small number of accounts to post content, then it’s much easier to detect suspicious usage and ban those accounts,” he said.

No simple fix

The researchers concluded that there is no single solution to the problem, with potential options including improved detection of statistically anomalous coordination and greater transparency around automated activity, but say technical measures alone are unlikely to be sufficient.

According to Ren, financial incentives also remain a persistent driver of coordinated manipulation attacks, even as platforms introduce new technical safeguards.

“These agent swarms are usually controlled by teams or vendors who are getting monetary incentives from external parties or companies to do the coordinated manipulation,” he said. “Platforms should enforce stronger KYC and spam detection mechanisms to identify and filter out agent manipulated accounts.”

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Why your gold investment might just be a worthless piece of paper

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Why your gold investment might just be a worthless piece of paper

There is a buying frenzy in the gold market that has propelled the price of the precious metal by more than 80% over the last 12 months, making it one of the best-performing assets.

However, investors aren’t paying attention to a hidden threat that is forming beneath the surface, according to Björn Schmidtke, CEO of the Tether gold-treasury firm Aurelion (AURE).

The easiest way for someone to buy gold is to purchase what Schmidtke calls ‘paper gold’ or stocks of a gold exchange-traded fund. When buying such stocks, what investors think is that they have bought the physical gold bar, when the reality is that they have bought “a small piece of paper that says, ‘I owe you gold.’ And people collectively agree that this piece of paper has value,” he said in an interview with CoinDesk.

While this avoids the hassle of owning and storing a physical gold bar, it is where the real problem starts, according to Schmidtke.

‘Seismic event’

Think about it this way: an investor buys the “paper gold” thinking that they now own a bar of gold. While it’s redeemable, the investor doesn’t know which gold bar they own. There is simply no proof of owning a gold bar, other than the fact that an investor bought a share of the ETF.

Schmidtke estimates that 98% of gold exposure is effectively unallocated in IOUs, in which investors hold billions of dollars’ worth of pieces of paper that are meant to be backed by the gold they represent, but they don’t know which gold bars they own.

This is fine for now because the current system has worked for decades, as few investors ever demand delivery.

But let’s say a catastrophic event occurs in which fiat currency is exponentially devalued, and people rush to get their physical gold they thought they bought when they purchased their “paper gold.”

When such a “seismic event” occurs and the investor wants their gold bar, where is the proof that the gold bar is owned by that investor, and how do those gold bars get delivered to the investors?

“You simply cannot move a few billion dollars’ worth of physical gold in a single day,” he said. And if those gold bars lack proof of ownership, that creates an even bigger logistical bottleneck, which could lead to a market rupture if panic drives investors toward redeemable assets. In such a crisis, the price of actual gold could soar while paper gold prices lag, leaving holders of derivatives unable to settle.

“The risk is real. We’ve already seen it in the silver market,” he said, pointing to past events where physical premiums rose while spot prices stayed flat. “We believe we will see it in the gold market as well,” if such an event happens.

This is where onchain gold comes into play, according to Schmidtke.

Proof of ownership

Think about a theoretical real estate ownership scenario.

Let’s say a real-estate developer offered a unique way for investors to buy housing units. If they buy 10 shares in the project, they receive an instant IOU promising delivery of 10 housing units. This developer has also promised the same to other investors. The whole process is completed by simply buying shares in the project, without signing an ownership deed.

Sounds easy, right?

Now, when it comes to taking possession of the housing units, because the investors didn’t sign any ownership but bought shares, there is no searchable proof of which units they bought, and developers might try to deliver them at random, creating a nightmare bottleneck, where the units will get probably get delivered to the investors but it will take substantial amount of time and without guarantee who gets which units and when.

Schmidtke says that onchain gold ownership solves this by eliminating the bottleneck in the delivery of physical gold.

To redeem physical gold, investors would have to physically move it, whereas tokenized gold, like XAUT, decouples ownership from the physical movement of the metal.

Because every XAUT token is inextricably linked to a specific, allocated bar of gold sitting in a Swiss vault, the “title deed” to that gold can be transferred globally in seconds on the blockchain.

It’s similar to the theoretical real estate problem. If, instead of buying just shares, an investor signed a title deed from the get-go, they would know exactly which units they are getting, and it would be easier for developers to quickly sort through those deeds and deliver those units to their rightful owners on time.

With the onchain gold token, these allocations will be searchable and redeemable. While the actual physical delivery may still take time, at least the investors can trust that their gold, with their ownership deed, remains safe and traceable.

A ‘durable’ ownership

That view is shaping Aurelion’s strategy.

The company has overhauled its treasury to hold XAUT$5,057.29, a blockchain-based token backed by physical gold stored in Swiss vaults.

Schmidtke argued that XAUT provides the speed of digital transactions without sacrificing physical settlement. Unlike paper gold, the tokens represent allocated bars and are fully redeemable. “How you own gold matters as much as whether you own gold,” he said.

Schmidtke sees XAUT as early in its adoption cycle, with room to scale.
Asked whether Aurelion would consider selling its gold, Schmidtke said only if market conditions present a “significant and sustained discount” to the firm’s underlying holdings. For now, the company is focused on long-term compounding.

“This is not a short-term arbitrage strategy,” he said. “It’s about building a durable Tether Gold equity that investors can participate in over time.”
Aurelion also plans to raise more capital over the next year to expand its gold treasury.

The company, according to CoinGecko data, currently holds 33,318 XAUT tokens worth around $153 million.

ASSTs preferred equity blueprint for MSTR’s convertible debt

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ASSTs preferred equity blueprint for MSTR’s convertible debt

Strive (ASST), a bitcoin treasury and asset management company, is using perpetual preferred equity to retire convertible debt and restructure its balance sheet, a method that could offer a template for Strategy (MSTR) in the future.

On Thursday, the company priced a follow-on offering of its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock SATA (SATA), at $90 per share. The transaction was upsized beyond the initially announced $150 million to allow for the issuance of up to 2.25 million SATA shares in aggregate, combining public issuance with privately negotiated debt exchanges.

Strive said it intends to use the net proceeds to pay down Semler Scientific’s 4.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2030, which are guaranteed by Strive. The company expects to enter exchange agreements with certain noteholders representing $90 million in aggregate principal.

Under those agreements, approximately 930,000 newly issued SATA shares will be exchanged directly for the convertibles. The remaining net proceeds from the offering, together with cash on hand and potential proceeds from terminating existing capped call transactions, are expected to be used to redeem or repurchase any remaining Semler convertibles and repay borrowings under Semler Scientific’s Coinbase Credit facility, and fund additional bitcoin purchases.

Rather than refinancing or rolling dated debt, Strive is converting fixed maturity obligations into perpetual preferreds. SATA carries a variable dividend currently set at 12.25% and has no maturity or conversion feature. Because the preferred shares are treated as equity rather than debt, this improves reported leverage metrics and flexibility. While bondholders effectively give up equity conversion optionality in return for a higher yielding, perpetual, and fully liquid instrument which also has seniority over common stock.

This could be a possible avenue that Strategy can deploy; it has roughly $8.3 billion of outstanding convertible notes, while its perpetual preferred securities have recently surpassed convertibles in notional value.

Still several years from maturity, the largest portion of the convertible notes remains the $3 billion tranche with a June 2, 2028 put date and a $672.40 conversion price, roughly 300% above the current share price near $160.

The use of preferred equity to retire or exchange such debt could offer executive chairman Michael Saylor an additional avenue to reduce future maturity risk.

Colombia Pension Giant Takes First Step Into Bitcoin – Details

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Colombia Pension Giant Takes First Step Into Bitcoin – Details

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AFP Protección, Colombia’s second-largest private pension manager, is preparing a new product that will give some savers a way to gain exposure to Bitcoin. Reports say the move will be limited, targeted and tied to advisory checks rather than open to every account holder.

Bitcoin As An Option For Qualified Savers

Reports note the fund will be offered only to investors who meet a risk profile and pass a tailored advisory process. That means access won’t be automatic; it will be conditional on an assessment meant to match a person’s tolerance with a small, optional slice of crypto.

The product is designed for long-term allocation and not for quick trading or speculation, according to market coverage. AFP Protección’s executives emphasized that core pension portfolios will remain focused on traditional assets such as bonds and equities, and that any Bitcoin exposure would be a narrow, complementary allocation.

The language used by the firm frames the initiative as diversification rather than a wholesale shift of retirement capital. Juan David Correa, who serves as president of Protección SA, confirmed the plan in an interview with local media outlet Valora Analitik.

Colombia's skyline. Image: OECD

Size And Reach Of The Manager

AFP Protección manages assets for millions of clients and has a sizable balance sheet. Reports put its assets under management at roughly 220 trillion Colombian pesos — roughly US$55 billion — and note that the firm serves a broad base of workers through mandatory pensions, voluntary saving plans and severance accounts. The sheer scale of the manager helps explain why even a small, optional product gets wide attention.

Regulation And Reporting

Reports also point to a tightening regulatory backdrop in Colombia. Tax and customs authorities have rolled out new crypto reporting rules that align with international reporting standards.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $88,738. Chart: TradingView

Those rules are likely to affect how crypto products are structured and how returns or transfers are reported for tax purposes. The change in rules is one reason AFP Protección has framed its product as measured and compliant.

How This Fits A Regional Trend

Across Latin America, some institutional players have been experimenting with limited crypto exposure for years. Colombia’s move follows earlier steps by one or two other local managers and fits a regional pattern where established firms test small, controlled offerings before widening access. The step will be watched closely by investors and regulators overseas.

Reports say potential participants should expect thorough suitability checks, clear disclosures and limits on how much of a retirement portfolio can sit in the new vehicle.

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

Why Jerome Powell’s press conference is the real wildcard for markets

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Why Jerome Powell’s press conference is the real wildcard for markets

The Federal Reserve is set to announce its rate decision, and almost no one expects it to cut rates.

However, traders will be paying very close attention to Chairman Jerome Powell’s post-meeting press conference, which could hold the real intrigue.

His take on what to expect in the coming months and on recent hot topics, including President Donald Trump’s affordability policy push and threats to the Fed’s independence, could move both traditional and crypto markets.

Let’s dig into what is priced in and how Powell’s comments could move markets.

Status quo on rates

After delivering three back-to-back quarter-point cuts, the central bank is expected to stand pat on Wednesday. As of Friday, CME’s FedWatch futures priced in a 96% chance of the Fed holding steady at 3.5%-3.75%.

This is consistent with the message Powell delivered in December, saying the bank’s voting committee will hold off on additional cuts into 2026. Further, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who has a vote on the Federal Open Market Committee this year, recently told The New York Times that he believes it is “way too soon” to cut rates again.

So, unless the Fed springs an unexpected rate cut, which could tank the dollar while boosting bitcoin and stocks, the decision itself is shaping up to be a non-event.

Hawkish or dovish pause?

However, the primary question for traders will be whether the impending pause in rate cuts signals a hawkish or dovish stance.

A hawkish pause scenario involves Powell flagging lingering inflation risks, denting rate-cut bets and pressuring risk assets lower. A dovish scenario would mean Wednesday’s pause is temporary and rate cuts would resume in the coming months, potentially lifting bitcoin.

Morgan Stanley expects the Fed to send a dovish signal by retaining the policy statement wording “considering the range and timing for further adjustments to the target range,” signaling that easing remains on the table. The statement is expected to acknowledge the economy’s robustness while preserving options for future rate cuts.

Watch for dissenters to the Fed’s rate pause, as they could amplify a dovish tilt. Trump’s appointee, Stephen Miran, is expected to dissent in favour of a bold 50-basis-point cut. If the number of dissenters grows, it would bolster the case for future easing, lifting stocks and bitcoin.

As of now, most observers, except JPMorgan, are expecting the Fed to cut rates once or twice over the rest of the year. JPMorgan sees no rate move this year, followed by a hike next year.

Status quo and affordability measures

Powell will likely face questions about the rationale for holding rates steady, as well as the potential impact of Trump’s affordability measures and related issues on key macroeconomic variables.

According to ING, Powell’s explanation of the status quo rate decision may lift the U.S. dollar, potentially weakening greenback-dominated assets like bitcoin.

“Given the recent performance of both U.S. asset markets and activity, he will struggle to argue that financial conditions are restrictive and need to be loosened. This could pour cold water on the notion of a second Fed rate cut and this would lift the dollar against the low yielders like the yen and the euro,” ING analysts said.

“Instead, the next macro leg lower in the dollar will likely have to emerge from poor data rather than Fed-speak,” they added.

Powell’s potential nod to Trump’s housing affordability efforts as being inherently inflationary in the near term might amplify market volatility.

Trump recently said he has instructed his representatives to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds, claiming it will drive down rates and monthly payments. He also issued an executive order requiring large institutional investors to refrain from buying single-family homes that families could otherwise purchase.

Observers say these measures could front-load demand, boosting housing inflation.

“The purchase [of] USD200bn of mortgage-backed-securities risk pulling forward demand, inflating prices and skewing benefits toward incumbents. On the other hand, the impact of banning large institutional investors from buying single-family homes is likely to be limited, given small institutional ownership relative to the overall stock,” Allianz Investment Management said in a note.

Note that Trump’s tariffs are already baked in with a delayed inflationary impact expected this year, as higher import costs filter through to the final consumer.

Lastly, Powell might face questions about the DOJ investigation targeting him personally, which he calls political vengeance for not slashing rates fast enough to suit Trump, and about recent bond market volatility stemming from Japan’s fiscal issues. He might dodge the probe while downplaying bond market fears.

Monero Plummets 40% From All-Time High as India Targets Privacy Coins

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Monero Plummets 40% From All-Time High as India Targets Privacy Coins

Monero has suffered a sharp reversal, plunging nearly 20% in a week and 41% from its Jan. 14 all-time high of $797. Outpacing the Altcoin Slump The privacy coin Monero ( XMR) is currently locked in a punishing downtrend, a stark reversal from the euphoric heights of Jan. 14, when it notched a new all-time […]

How B2B Companies Find and Nurture the Right Leads

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How B2B Companies Find and Nurture the Right Leads

Finding the right leads has always been a challenge in B2B sales, but the landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. Buyers now move through long, complex decision processes, often doing most of their research before speaking to a sales rep. Businesses can’t rely on cold outreach alone or hope that broad marketing campaigns will magically reach the right people. Today’s B2B success depends on understanding who your ideal buyers are, how they behave, and what matters to them throughout the sales cycle.

Companies that invest in better tools, smarter segmentation, and data-driven nurturing strategies are seeing faster growth and stronger customer loyalty. Those that don’t often feel stuck chasing the wrong people or responding too late in the buyer journey. The good news is that modern technology and improved analytics make it easier than ever to focus on quality leads instead of wasting time on dead ends.

Using Smarter Prospecting Tools to Find the Right People Faster

The first step in building an effective B2B pipeline is identifying leads that actually match your business goals. This sounds obvious, but many companies still waste hours scrubbing lists, guessing which contacts fit their ICP, or relying on outdated databases. Tools like a B2B prospector were built to solve this exact problem by providing accurate, real-time data on the people and companies most likely to benefit from what you offer. Instead of guessing or manually digging through LinkedIn, teams can instantly access verified contact information, job roles, and company insights that help them prioritize outreach.

These tools also allow businesses to stay ahead of organizational changes. When a prospect changes jobs, secures funding, or enters a stage of growth that aligns with your product, a system like this keeps you informed. That timeliness matters because great leads often have narrow windows of opportunity. By ensuring your team has the right contacts at the right time, your pipeline becomes more predictable and more aligned with the customers who are genuinely ready to engage.

Understanding Lead Behavior Through Cohort Insights

Finding good leads is only the beginning. Nurturing them requires a deeper look at behavior patterns, timelines, and buying trends. Cohort analysis helps companies understand how different groups of users behave over time and how those insights can shape better sales strategies. When businesses group their leads into meaningful cohorts, such as industry, company size, acquisition channel, engagement level, or product interest, they start to notice patterns that would otherwise remain hidden.

Cohort analysis helps teams see which leads tend to convert quickly, which require longer nurturing, and which rarely convert at all. It also reveals which content, campaigns, and touchpoints drive the strongest engagement within each group. These insights allow companies to tailor messaging, improve lead scoring models, and deliver more relevant interactions at every stage of the journey.

Building Trust Through Early Value and Personalized Content

Once a company identifies the right leads, the next challenge is earning their attention. B2B buyers are flooded with messaging, and most of them tune out anything that feels generic. Businesses that stand out offer value from the very beginning. That value may come from sharing actionable content, offering tools or calculators, providing playbooks, or simply giving leads insights that help them think differently about their challenges.

Personalization plays a critical role in this stage. Buyers respond when companies demonstrate that they understand their industry, workflow, or pain points. When messages reflect a lead’s specific goals or frustrations, trust begins to form. It also signals that the company reaching out has done their homework, a quality that buyers heavily prioritize. By providing relevant insights and clear reasoning for why a solution matters, businesses nurture leads in ways that feel supportive rather than intrusive.

Strengthening Lead Qualification Through Better Conversations

Lead nurturing isn’t just about content. It’s also about conversation quality. Buyers today expect thoughtful, informed communication rather than scripted pitches. The best nurturing strategies encourage curiosity, empathy, and collaboration. Sales teams that ask better questions uncover the motivations, challenges, and constraints that drive each lead’s decision-making process. This leads to more accurate qualification, which prevents wasted time on deals that were never going to close.

Great conversations also create alignment earlier. Instead of waiting until a late-stage meeting to clarify budget, priorities, or timelines, teams gather this information naturally through ongoing dialogue. Leads feel respected because the conversation focuses on solving real problems rather than pushing a product. Companies benefit because they gain clarity on which opportunities deserve more attention and which are unlikely to progress.

Using Automation to Stay Consistent Without Losing the Human Touch

Consistency is one of the hardest parts of lead nurturing. Different leads move at different speeds, and sales teams often juggle dozens of conversations at once. Automation helps fill this gap by ensuring that no lead is forgotten and no follow-up falls through the cracks. Automated emails, reminders, and engagement triggers can maintain momentum, especially in the early and middle stages of nurturing.

However, automation works best when paired with thoughtful human interaction. Businesses that rely entirely on automated nurturing risk sounding robotic or impersonal. The goal is to blend automation with personal touches so leads receive timely communication without feeling like they’re interacting with a machine.

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