Quick Summary: Block Inc. has rehired a small number of the 4,000 employees laid off in late February, with some citing clerical errors and staffing needs. Block Inc., the company behind Square, Cash App, and Afterpay, has rehired a portion of workers dismissed during its late-February layoffs, which affected roughly 4,000 employees. Several returning staff members announced their rehiring on LinkedIn this month, citing different reasons for their reinstatement.Design engineer Andrew Harvard said he was told his dismissal resulted from a clerical error, while technical lead Richard Hesse said he spent two days persuading management that critical infrastructure work required…
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Quick Summary: Retail investors poured roughly $70 billion into gold ETFs since Q2 2025, even as institutional sellers accelerated exits and prices fell sharply. Retail gold purchases have tripled over the past six months while institutional selling has accelerated, according to a quarterly review from the Bank for International Settlements. The report attributes outsized price swings in precious metals to retail-driven demand channeled largely through exchange-traded funds.Cumulative retail inflows into gold ETFs rose from around $20 billion to roughly $60 billion between late Q3 2025 and the end of Q1 2026. Institutional selling began around mid-November and picked up pace…
Quick Summary: The Algorand Foundation has laid off 25% of its staff, citing crypto market weakness and global macroeconomic uncertainty. The Algorand Foundation, the organization behind the layer-1 blockchain network Algorand, has reduced its workforce by 25%. The foundation cited ongoing crypto market weakness and broader macroeconomic uncertainty as the driving factors, though the exact number of employees affected was not disclosed.The foundation stated it remains committed to financial empowerment and the continued development of the Algorand protocol. Its Q4 transparency report showed quarterly transaction growth of 4.7% and real-world asset values reaching $109 million on the network. Real-world asset…
Quick Summary: A coalition of over two dozen groups urges OpenAI to pull a California ballot measure they say weakens child protections and limits legal accountability. More than two dozen advocacy organizations have written to OpenAI demanding it withdraw a proposed California ballot initiative they argue would undermine child safety and restrict families’ ability to seek legal redress. Signatories include Encode AI, the Center for Humane Technology, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center.The measure, called the Parents & Kids Safe AI Act and backed by OpenAI and Common Sense Media, would set rules for how AI chatbots interact with minors.…
Quick Summary: Bitcoin fell 4.2% to $71,235 after the Federal Reserve signalled prolonged elevated inflation, even as institutional ETF inflows remained strong. Bitcoin dropped 4.2% to $71,235 late Wednesday after reaching nearly $75,600 earlier in the week, according to CoinGecko data. The decline followed a shift in interest-rate expectations after the Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.5% to 3.75% and raised its 2026 inflation forecast to around 2.7%.Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated policymakers anticipate only limited progress on inflation, reinforcing a higher-for-longer rate stance. Rising oil prices and a stronger-than-expected producer price index reading further complicated the outlook…
