Crypto

It’s still unclear exactly when Rui Hachimura will return for the Lakers after missing six games because of right calf soreness, but coach JJ Redick said the forward is trending toward playing soon.

That could be as early as Monday night when the Lakers play at the Sacramento Kings or Tuesday night when they play the Atlanta Hawks at Crypto.com Arena.

Hachimura practiced Sunday and took extra shots after the session. “He was able to do everything in practice,” Redick said.

Hachimura has been rehabbing for two weeks. He took part in a few practices and is eager to return.

Does he think he will play against the Kings?

“I think so. I think I felt good after [practice], but I got to check with the trainers and everybody and then we’ll see for tomorrow,” Hachimura said.

When he does return, Hachimura will be on a minutes restriction and will probably come off the bench, Redick said.

Hachimura said his calf has “healed,” giving him a chance to practice with the South Bay Lakers, the Lakers’ G League team.

Hachimura is averaging 12.7 points and 4.3 rebounds in 27 games. He is shooting 52.1% from the field and 44.5% from three-point range,

“I’m fine,” he said. “I feel good about it.”

Hachimura is aware how calf injuries have led to more serious ailments for NBA players. Although staying healthy is a priority with free agency looming at the end of the season, Hachimura said his main concern is helping the Lakers win games.

“I think at the end of the day … I’m trying to help this team win. That’s the whole purpose of being here,” he said. “I’ve been here for four seasons now. I think I’m one of the guys that has been here the longest too, so I’m happy to be here playing with these guys. The coaches and everybody, I love these guys.

“Of course the contract and stuff is coming up. But at the end of the day I’m just trying to focus on everyday, just in the moment. … We got a second half that is coming. As a team too, but for me, I got to be ready for the playoffs.”

NBA suspends Kings guard Dennis Schroder

A day after the NBA suspended Sacramento point guard Dennis Schroder three games for confronting and attempting to strike Luka Doncic after a game on Dec. 28, Redick offered little insight into the incident.

“It’s a league matter,” Redick said. “So, I don’t really have a comment on it, to be honest with you. They made their decision. And it’s up to them.”

The league said the incident occurred approximately 40 minutes after the game when Schroder sought out Doncic in a Crypto.com Arena hallway and initiated the confrontation.

The two had been sniping at each other all game, with Doncic at one point taunting Schroder for not signing an $84-million contract with the Lakers in 2021.

After the game, according to people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, Schroder was hiding and waiting to attack Doncic in the hallway.

Redick was asked if he was aware of what happened.

“There’s very few things I’m not aware of,” Redick said.

For his part, Schroder posted on social media, “Attempting,” with several emojis.

Morgan Stanley plans to launch ETFs tied to the price of Bitcoin and Solana, the first and sixth-largest crypto assets by market capitalisation respectively, according to a Form S-1 filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

This is the first time one of the ten largest US banks by total assets has formally moved to offer crypto ETFs.

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a basket of assets that trades on a stock exchange like a share, giving investors easy exposure to an index, sector or commodity without owning it directly.

Many investors favour gaining crypto exposure via ETFs because they are low-cost and convenient. They can also offer greater liquidity while removing the regulatory and logistical complications of holding and safeguarding the underlying assets directly.

However, in the two years since the SEC approved the first US-listed Bitcoin ETF, it has largely been asset managers rather than banks that have launched these products.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said last December that its Bitcoin ETF suite had become the firm’s top revenue source, with allocations nearing $100 billion (€85bn) and generating more than $245 million (€210mn) in annual fees.

US banks, which have only acted as custodians of client funds until now, seem ready and eager to evolve as providers of crypto services in 2026.

Regulatory push under Trump

The current US administration has been notably favourable towards the crypto asset industry. President Donald Trump’s family launched a crypto platform, World Liberty Financial, just 50 days before the 2024 presidential election.

The company is managed by Trump’s two eldest sons, Donald Jr and Eric Trump, and alongside another firm, Trump Media and Technology Group, it has expanded the US President’s personal crypto ventures.

In parallel to these private interests, the current US administration has made a major regulatory push encouraging Wall Street to fully embrace crypto assets.

In July 2025, Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) into law, creating a comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins. These are crypto assets designed to maintain a stable value by pegging their worth to a real-world asset, typically a fiat currency such as the US dollar.

That same month, the Crypto Legal Accountability, Registration and Transparency for Investors Act (CLARITY Act) was approved in the US Congress. It is now moving through the US Senate and is expected to pass on 15 January 2026.

The CLARITY Act is a landmark legislation intended to end the long-standing era of “regulation by enforcement” that has weighed on US crypto firms for years.

In September 2025, the SEC also revamped listing rules for new commodities ETFs, including those tied to crypto assets, clearing the way for firms to bring more financial products to market.

The shift helped spur Morgan Stanley to broaden client access to crypto investments in October 2025, and it has now filed with the SEC to offer crypto ETFs directly.

At the start of 2026, Bank of America also began allowing its wealth advisers to recommend crypto allocations in client portfolios, another sign of growing adoption of crypto assets among major US banks.

What this means for the EU

This development in the US banking sector and the crypto industry is not only significant for Wall Street, but also has direct implications for European investors.

US-listed ETFs are typically not available to European retail investors because they do not meet EU requirements under the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) regime.

Morgan Stanley has been expanding its footprint in the European ETF market since entering the space in 2023, and has been building the infrastructure needed to launch EU-compliant versions of these funds.

While Europe has yet to see a UCITS-compliant spot crypto ETF, major platforms such as Coinbase, one of the world’s largest crypto asset exchanges, are partnering with financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley, to enable crypto ETF trading in Europe this year.

Together, they aim to comply not only with UCITS, but also with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules, which require firms to hold a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) licence.

Morgan Stanley’s leap indicates that for Wall Street, crypto is no longer a reputational risk to avoid, but a revenue stream they can no longer afford to ignore.

Legislation signed by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov establishes a licensing scheme overseen by country’s central bank.

Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most isolated nations, has officially legalised mining and exchanging cryptocurrency in a major shift for the country’s tightly controlled, gas-dependent economy.

President Serdar Berdimuhamedov signed the legislation on Thursday, regulating virtual assets under civil law and establishing a licensing scheme for cryptocurrency exchanges overseen by the country’s central bank.

However, digital currencies will still not be recognised as a means of payment, currency or security.

Turkmenistan, a former Soviet country in Central Asia, relies heavily on the export of its vast natural gas reserves to support its economy.

China is the country’s main importer of gas, and Turkmenistan is currently working on a pipeline to supply gas to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Turkmenistan has been taking steps to digitalise government functions as well as its economy.

In April, it adopted a law introducing electronic visas aimed at simplifying entry for foreigners.

After gaining independence in 1991, the tightly governed nation typically placed strict entry requirements on would-be visitors, with many visa applications turned down for unclear reasons.

A mostly desert country of seven million people with the world’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves, Turkmenistan declared itself officially neutral in 1995 under its first president, Saparmurat Niyazov, who spurned both Western and Russian influence.

Until his death in 2006, Niyazov maintained tight control over politics, a policy of isolationism from the outside world, and an economy heavily based on natural gas exports.

Since succeeding his father as president in 2022, Berdymukhamedov has signalled some opening.

In December, he hinted at possible political reforms ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian.

“We are carrying out extensive work aimed at transforming our neutral country into a powerful, democratic, and rule-of-law state where citizens live happy lives,” Berdymukhamedov said in the article, without giving further details.

While Turkmenistan’s internet remains tightly regulated and controlled by the government, curbs on social media have been eased, and the government has pledged to open new air transport links and liberalise its visa system.

Still, the country is ranked by the Committee to Protect Journalists as one of the worst in the world for independent media.

Kyrgyzstan, another former Soviet Central Asian republic, has also positioned itself as a regional leader in the sector, launching a national stablecoin in partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

Citizens of the Central African Republic (CAR) will vote on Sunday in highly controversial presidential and legislative elections expected to extend President Faustin-Archange Touadera’s tenure beyond two terms for the first time in the country’s history.

Touadera, who helped put his country on the map when he adopted Bitcoin as one of its legal tenders in 2022, had earlier pushed through a referendum abolishing presidential term limits. That, as well as significant delays that almost upturned the confirmation of two major challengers, has led some opposition groups to boycott the vote, calling it a “sham”.

CAR will also hold local elections for the first time in 40 years, after a long period of destabilising political conflict, including an ongoing civil war between the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebel movement and the largely Christian Anti-balaka armed groups, which has led to the displacement of one million people. There are fears that the country’s electoral body is not equipped to handle an election on this scale.

The landlocked nation is sandwiched between several larger neighbours, including Chad to the north and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the south. It has an ethnically and religiously diverse population of about 5.5 million, with French and Sango being the national languages.

Although rich in resources like crude oil, gold and uranium, persistent political instability since independence from France in 1960, and the ongoing civil war (2013-present) have kept CAR one of Africa’s poorest nations. For security, CAR is increasingly reliant on Russian assistance to guard major cities against rebels.

Citizens of CAR are referred to as Central Africans. The country’s largest city and capital is Bangui, named after the Ubangi River, which forms a natural border between CAR and the DRC. The country exports mainly diamonds, timber and gold, but much of the population depends on subsistence agriculture, and economic activity is limited.

Here’s what we know about Sunday’s election:

Who can vote and how does it work?

About 2.3 million Central Africans over the age of 18 are registered to vote for the country’s next president. Of these, 749,000 registrations are new since the previous election in 2020.

They’ll also be voting for national lawmakers, regional and, for the first time in about 40 years, municipal administrators. Average turnout in past years has been about 62 percent, according to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). There are about 6,700 polling units across the country.

The National Elections Authority initially planned to hold the municipal government elections at the end of August, but moved the polls to December at the last minute, blaming insufficient funds as well as technical and organisational challenges. The decision has added to concerns among election observers and opposition politicians about how prepared the electoral body is.

Campaigning began on December 13, but opposition groups claim that delays in including Touadera’s biggest challengers in the process have favoured the president’s rallies.

The presidential candidate with an absolute majority is declared the winner, but if there is no outright winner in the first round, a second run-off vote will determine the victor.

Although presidents were previously limited to two, five-year terms, a controversial 2023 referendum introduced a new constitution which removed term limits and increased each term to seven years.

Who is running for president?

The country’s constitutional court approved Touadera’s candidacy alongside prominent opposition leader Anicet-Georges Dologuele, ex-Prime Minister Henri-Marie Dondra, and five others.

However, delays in approving the two major opponents and concerns around the readiness of the electoral body have led an opposition coalition, the Republican Bloc for the Defence of the Constitution (BRDC), to boycott the election. The group has, therefore, not presented a candidate.

Here is what we know about the candidates who are standing:

Faustin-Archange Touadera

Touadera, 68, is a mathematician and former vice chancellor of the University of Bangui. He is running under the ruling United Hearts Movement (MCU).

He served as the country’s prime minister from 2013 to 2015 under President Francois Bozize. He was elected as president in 2016 and again in 2020, although opposition groups contested the vote.

Touadera, who is the favourite to win in these polls, has campaigned on promises of peace, security and new infrastructural development in the country.

After 10 years in office, the president’s legacy is mixed. His administration has been dogged by accusations of suppressing the opposition and rigging elections.

Indeed, Touadera would not be eligible to run had he not forced the 2023 referendum through. He sacked a chief judge of the constitutional court in October 2022, after she ruled that his referendum project was illegal.

Opposition members boycotted the referendum, but that only gave the Touadera camp more “yes” votes. Although a civil society group launched a legal challenge against his candidacy before the polls, the constitutional court threw out the suit.

Touadera is credited with spearheading some economic development, compared with his predecessors. New roads and highways have been built where there were previously none, but the World Bank still ranks CAR’s economy as “stagnant”.

Touadera has also been praised for achieving relative stability in the conflict-affected country where armed groups hold swaths of territory, especially in the areas bordering Sudan.

Support from a United Nations peacekeeping force, Rwandan troops and Russian Wagner mercenaries has helped to reduce violence in recent years.

CAR was the first country to invite the Russian mercenary group to the continent in 2018 in a security-for-minerals deal, before other countries, including Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, also secured security contracts.

CAR was historically closer to former colonial power France, but Paris suspended its military alliances and reduced aid budgets to the country in 2021 following the Russia cooperation.

At a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023, Touadera praised Russia for saving CAR’s democracy. The two met again in January 2025.

In advance of the elections, Touadera has also signed a series of peace accords with some armed groups active in the country, although there are fears that the agreements will only hold until after the polls.

The president launched Bitcoin as a legal tender in 2022, making CAR the second country to do so after El Salvador. The idea drew scepticism, as less than 10 percent of Central Africans can access the internet, and was ultimately abandoned after a year.

In February 2025, CAR launched the $CAR meme coin, which the government said is an experiment.

This week, Touadera’s government signed a new contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink to expand internet services to rural and remote regions.

Henri-Marie Dondra

The 59-year-old is a career banker and former finance minister. He is running under his Republican Unity party (UNIR), which has positioned itself as a reformist party and is not part of the opposition coalition. He served as prime minister under Touadera between 2021 and 2022 but was fired, likely because of his strong pro-France tendencies at a time when the administration was turning towards Russia, according to reporting by French radio, RFI.

Dondra’s candidacy was not approved until November 14, after Touadera accused him of holding Congolese citizenship, which he denied. The accusations raised fears that he would be barred from the vote. Two of his brothers were reportedly arrested and detained without charge before the vote, Dondra told Human Rights Watch in late November.

Anicet-Georges Dologuele

The main opposition leader of the Union for Central African Renewal (URCA) party broke from the boycotting opposition coalition in order to run in these elections. Dologuele’s candidacy has prompted what some analysts say are xenophobic statements from Touadera’s supporters.

The 68-year-old dual citizen French-CAR politician first ran for the top job back in 2015 and was the runner-up in the 2020 presidential race. His third bid has faced challenges over his citizenship status. The 2023 referendum limited candidates to CAR citizenship only, and derisive comments from some in the governing camp have suggested some opposition candidates are not “real Central Africans”.

In September, Dologuele said he had given up his French citizenship; however, in October, a Central African court stripped him of his CAR citizenship, citing a clause in the old constitution disallowing dual citizenship. Dologuele reported the issue as a violation of his human rights to the UN human rights agency. It’s unclear what, if any, action the agency took, but Dologuele’s name on the final candidates list suggests his citizenship was reinstated.

Dologuele served as prime minister in the 1990s, under President Ange-Felix Patasse, before joining the Bank of Central African States and later heading the Development Bank of Central African States.

Although he is seen by some as an experienced hand, others associate him with past government failures. Dologuele is promising stronger democratic institutions and better international alliances.

Other notable candidates

• Aristide Briand Reboas – leader of the Christian Democratic Party, the 46-year-old was a former intelligence official and the sports minister until 2024. He is running on promises of better amenities, including electricity and water. He previously ran in 2020.
• Serge Djorie – a former government spokesperson until 2024, the 49-year-old is running under his Collective for Political Change for the new Central African Republic party. The medical doctor and published researcher has campaigned on public health reforms, poverty reduction and more pan-Africanism. Djorie ran in the 2020 elections.
• Eddy Symphorien Kparekouti – The civil engineer helped draft the new constitution that was controversially adopted in 2023. In his campaigns, the independent candidate has emphasised poverty reduction in order to solve political insecurity and other developmental challenges.

What are the key issues for this election?

Armed groups

Protracted political conflict in CAR has continued for more than a decade, with many Central Africans saying they want a leadership that can bring peace.

Trouble began following a coup in March 2013 by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance that overthrew President Francois Bozize. In retaliation, Bozize assembled Christian and animist rebel armed groups, known as the Anti-balaka. Both sides attacked civilians and have been accused of war crimes by rights groups. Bozize, who continues to lead a rebel coalition, is now in exile in Guinea-Bissau. His attempted attacks in 2020 were fended off by Touadera’s Russian mercenaries.

However, killings, kidnappings and displacement continue in many rural communities in the country’s northwest, northeast and southeast regions, despite recent peace deals signed with some groups. Russian mercenaries have proven pivotal in securing major areas, but are also accused of human rights violations, such as mass killings, while opposition politicians have criticised the reliance on foreign fighters.

A 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping force, MINUSCA, has been extended until November 2026, although the move faced resistance from the US, which wants CAR to handle its own security going forward. The force has suffered at least three deaths in deadly attacks this year alone. There are also fears about the security of voters in rural areas; about 800 voting units were forced to close in the last elections due to rebel violence.

Poverty

CAR remains one of the poorest nations in the world, with more than 60 percent of the population living in poverty, according to the World Bank.

Most people live in rural areas and survive on subsistence farming in the absence of any state-propelled industry.

Economic growth rate is slow, averaging 1.5 percent yearly. Only 16 percent of citizens have access to electricity, and only 7.5 percent have access to the internet.

Persistent fuel shortages make economic activity more difficult.

The country ranked 191st of 193 countries in the 2022 Human Development Index.

Divisive politics

The country’s turbulent political history and the present landscape of deeply divided political groups have failed to deliver a unified opposition coalition that can challenge Touadera and enshrine a functioning democracy.

Fears around whether Touadera intends to run for life following the 2023 referendum are high, with opposition and rights groups already calling for reforms to the new constitution. There are also fears around vote rigging in the elections in favour of Touadera’s governing party.

The Lakers felt good about their starting lineup Thursday when Luka Doncic and Rui Hachimura returned from injury to restore their normal starting unit for only the seventh time this season.

But the good times didn’t last long. Coming out of halftime down 10 points to the Houston Rockets, the Lakers announced Austin Reaves wouldn’t play in the second half because of left calf soreness.

With another apparent setback for Reaves adding to the Lakers’ desperate search for continuity, the team put up another inconsistent performance on defense in a 119-96 loss to the Rockets at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers, who’ve lost three in a row for the first time this season, allowed the Rockets to shoot 53% from the field. Amen Thompson led the way with 26 points and Kevin Durant scored 25 as the Rockets out-rebounded the Lakers 48-25.

Reaves missed three games with a left calf strain before returning against Phoenix on Tuesday. He scored 17 points off the bench in the Lakers’ loss to the Suns.

Against the Rockets, Reaves started and played 15 minutes in the first half, scoring 12 points on five-for-eight shooting.

Reaves entered Thursday averaging 27.3 points per game, ranking him 11th in league scoring.

Doncic, who had been out with a lower left leg contusion, had 25 points and seven assists and LeBron James had 18 points. Hachimura (right groin injury management) didn’t score in his 28 minutes.

With so many players rotating through the lineup because of injuries, the Lakers have struggled to find solutions to their defensive issues.

They entered Thursday allowing 117.4 points per game, 19th most in the league. They were allowing the 26th highest field-goal percentage (48.4) and the highest three-point shooting percentage (40.1). They were next-to-last in rebounds, averaging 40.1 per game.

That was a real issue against the Rockets team that entered the game first in offensive rebounds (16.1).

And in this game, the Rockets got 17 offensive rebounds.

The Lakers didn’t have key role players Jaxson Hayes (left ankle soreness) and Gabe Vincent (lumbar back strain), adding to their woes.

“It’s the modern NBA where there’s injuries and then there’s not a lot of time to practice,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “So, when you have continuity, you can kind of capture what you’re trying to do and you feel comfortable and good about it.”

Four years ago, California startup Theta Labs’ cryptocurrency was soaring, and its future appeared bright when it landed a partnership with pop star Katy Perry.

The Bay Area company had built a marketplace for digital collectibles known as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and had teamed up with Perry to launch NFTs tied to her Las Vegas concert residency. Its THETA token jumped by more than 500% in early 2021, reaching a peak of more than $15, making it one of the world’s most valuable cryptocurrencies. Later in the year, the spotlight shone on the company when it announced the Perry partnership.

“I can’t wait to dive in with the Theta team on all the exciting and memorable creative pieces, so my fans can own a special moment of my residency,” Perry said in a June 2021 news release.

Today, like many cryptocurrencies, THETA is 95% off its 2021 peak. It took a hit this week after former executives accused it of manipulating markets to dupe consumers into buying its products. On Tuesday, it was trading at less than 30 cents.

Two former executives from Theta Labs sued the startup, alleging in separate lawsuits that the company and its chief executive, Mitch Liu, engaged in fraud and manipulated the cryptocurrency market for his benefit. Liu retaliated against them after the employees refused to engage in deceptive business practices and raised concerns, the lawsuits say.

Some of the alleged misconduct involved placing fake bids on Perry’s NFTs, engaging in token “pump and dump” schemes and using celebrity endorsements and “misleading” partnerships with high-profile companies such as Google to deceive the public, according to the December lawsuits filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Perry is not accused of any wrongdoing in the suit, and Theta denies the charges.

The lawsuits against Theta Labs are the latest controversy to rattle an industry beset by scandals.

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed, and its founder, Samuel Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024 after being found guilty of multiple fraud charges. Binance founder and former Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao also got prison time after he pleaded guilty to violating money laundering laws, but President Trump pardoned him this year.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission previously charged celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul and Ne-Yo for promoting crypto without disclosing they were paid to do so.

Theta Labs created a network that rewarded people with cryptocurrency for contributing spare bandwidth and computing power to enhance video streaming and lower content delivery costs. The company describes Theta Network as a “blockchain-powered decentralized cloud for AI, media and entertainment.” The network has two tokens: THETA, used to secure the network, and TFUEL, used to pay users for services and power operations.

The whistleblowers suing Theta Labs are Jerry Kowal, its former head of content, and Andrea Berry, previously the company’s head of business development.

“Liu used Theta Labs as his personal trading vehicle, perpetrating fraud, self-dealing, and market manipulation,” said Mark Mermelstein, Kowal’s attorney, in a statement. “His calculated ‘pump-and-dump’ schemes repeatedly wiped out employee and investor value. This suit is about demanding accountability and proving no one is above the law.”

Theta, Liu and its parent company, Sliver VR Technologies, deny the allegations and “intend to prove with evidence the fallacy of the stories being told in the lawsuits,” according to Kronenberger Rosenfeld, the law firm representing the defendants. The lawsuits are an attempt to paint the company in a negative light in hopes of securing a settlement, a lawyer for the firm said.

Kowal has sued his former employers before. In 2014, he accused Netflix of spreading false claims that he stole confidential information and Amazon of wrongful termination.

The latest lawsuits allege that Liu profited from buying and selling THETA tokens using insider knowledge about partnerships with celebrities, studios and others in the entertainment industry.

“Liu’s true motive in pursuing such partnerships was not to develop a sustainable content business but to generate publicity that could be used to artificially inflate token prices for Liu’s personal gain,” Kowal’s lawsuit says.

Kowal worked for Theta from 2020 to 2025.

In 2020, Liu traded and sold tokens knowing that the company would close a content licensing deal with MGM Studios, according to the lawsuit. After the deal’s announcement, THETA token’s market capitalization increased by more than $50 million in just 24 hours, the lawsuit says.

When NFTs started to take off in 2021, Kowal closed deals with high-profile partners such as Perry, Fremantle Media and Resorts World Las Vegas for the startup’s NFT marketplace.

As part of the deal with Perry, the singer received $8.5 million and additional warrants for the right to license her image and likeness for the NFTs.

To inflate the price and demand for these digital collectibles, Liu allegedly made bids on NFTs and directed employees to do the same. This led to people overpaying for the Perry NFTs.

Representatives for Perry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Multiple examples of alleged manipulation are outlined in the lawsuits. In one instance from 2022, the startup launched a new token called TDROP that employees also received as part of a bonus.

Liu gained control of 43% of the supply of the cryptocurrency, according to Kowal’s lawsuit. When the TDROP token reached a high, he then sold the token, and its price collapsed by more than 90% within months.

Berry’s lawsuit also alleges that Theta Labs announced “misleading” or fake partnerships with high-profile companies such as Google and entities including NASA to pump up the value of the THETA token. Theta paid for Google Cloud products but claimed it was a partner when it was a Google customer, according to the lawsuit.

A rural Texas community says nonstop noise from a bitcoin mine is destroying their lives. Residents in Hood County describe the 24/7 hum of cooling fans as “torture,” while operators defend the project as a major jobs and tax boost. Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle says AI data centres may bring even bigger battles ahead.