USDC is becoming central to the future of digital payments: Here’s why
Stablecoins increasingly moved beyond trading as Coinbase expanded deeper into digital financial infrastructure.
Alibaba’s AI and cloud revenue jump 38%
China’s Alibaba said that growth accelerated for both its artificial intelligence and cloud businesses in the latest quarter, driven by the AI boom, even though overall revenue rose just 3% to 243 billion yuan ($36 billion).
Revenue from its Cloud Intelligence Group, which focuses on cloud computing and AI developments, jumped 38% in the January-March quarter from a year ago to 41.6 billion yuan ($6.1 billion). That was faster than the 36% and 34% growth in the previous two quarters, respectively.
However, Alibaba recorded an overall of 848 million yuan ($125 million) loss from operations for the quarter, a key measure of profitability of its core operating businesses, which was down sharply from a 28.5 billion yuan gain the same period last year.
Growing technological investment was one of the main reasons for rising expenses that weighed on profitability, as technology companies globally race to invest to boost infrastructure in supporting the ballooning AI demand.
The Hangzhou-based company, which has about 130,000 employees, last year pledged investments of at least 380 billion yuan over three years in cloud computing and AI infrastructure.
This week, Alibaba said it has fully connected its flagship Qwen AI app to its e-commerce platform Taobao, allowing users to “browse, compare, place orders, and manage deliveries through natural conversation” in hopes of driving up demand. It launched its “agentic” AI tool Wukong in March in expanding its products for commercial customers, and raised prices for some AI services.
“Alibaba’s AI has moved beyond the initial investment phase and progressed commercialization at scale,” said CEO Eddie Wu on Wednesday in prepared remarks during an earnings call.
Alibaba’s U.S.-traded shares jumped more than 7% after Wednesday’s results announcement.
Many technology companies are now facing the challenge of boosting AI-related revenue and proving that the huge investment costs can pay off. For Alibaba, “we should expect AI-related growth to accelerate further,” said Jacob Cooke, CEO of Beijing-based consultancy WPIC Marketing + Technologies.
In March, Alibaba pledged a goal of surpassing $100 billion in annual AI and cloud revenue within the next five years.
Tencent, a key rival of Alibaba in AI, on Wednesday also reported weaker-than-expected revenue for the January-March quarter. Net profit was up 21%, which fell short of expectations, although some analysts believe its AI investments were also starting to deliver return.
Capital expenditure across Chinese AI companies is likely to remain elevated as the “investment phase is far from over,” wrote Chelsey Tam, an analyst at Morningstar, in a recent research note, while the AI firms are going to increasingly pivot from user acquisition to monetization.
—Chan Ho-Him, AP business writer
UK PM Starmer clings on as leadership talk overshadows king's speech
The pomp of a speech by King Charles III to Britain’s parliament Wednesday failed to quell speculation that a senior government minister is poised to launch a leadership challenge against embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The monarch’s address opening a new parliamentary session was overshadowed by reports that allies of Health Secretary Wes Streeting had said he was preparing to resign to trigger a contest to oust Starmer from office.
Africa Forward Summit: Navigating the nuances of data governance in Africa
Data responsibility matters.
Peter Addo explains the data governance challenges African nations must reckon with as AI infrastructure grows. More on #F24Debate➡️
CLARITY Act Faces Wave of Amendments Ahead of Markup
The Senate Banking Committee’s CLARITY Act is heading into Thursday’s markup, buried under opposition.
According to reports, Senator Elizabeth Warren alone filed more than 40 amendments before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. ET deadline, and American Bankers Association members sent over 8,000 letters to Senate offices in less than a week demanding changes to the bill’s stablecoin yield rules.
Over 100 Amendments Filed
The total number of proposed amendments going into Thursday is still being confirmed, but according to a list obtained by Politico, there have been more than 100 proposed. To put things in perspective, a total of 137 revisions were proposed before the markup scheduled for January, which was canceled.
Warren’s batch alone covers a wide range of restrictions. One amendment that stood out would bar the Federal Reserve from issuing master accounts to crypto companies, which would effectively cut such firms off from the core infrastructure of the US banking system.
The lawmaker also attacked the updated bill on X, arguing that it lacked ethics provisions tied to President Donald Trump’s crypto businesses.
“No bill should move through the Banking Committee without real ethics guardrails,” she wrote.
That dispute has become harder for negotiators to avoid. Late last month, analyst Simon Dedic claimed that Trump’s meme coin and his crypto-related dinners were part of the reason the CLARITY Act was going nowhere, with Democrats demanding conflict-of-interest language before backing the legislation.
Another revision, filed by Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, would prohibit crypto from being used as legal tender, including for paying taxes. That proposal runs directly counter to a bill Representative Warren Davidson introduced last year that would have allowed Bitcoin to be used for precisely that purpose.
Senators Reed and Tina Smith of Minnesota also filed a joint amendment that would incorporate bank-requested changes to the stablecoin yield language.
According to journalist Brendan Pedersen, the proposal will force senators to choose between crypto and the banks on a single vote, making it an uncomfortable moment for Republicans who tend to side with both.
Bankers Blitz Senators With 8,000 Letters
Elsewhere, members of the American Bankers Association have reportedly sent more than 8,000 letters to Senate offices since last Friday, pushing lawmakers to change the bill’s stablecoin yield compromise.
However, Stand With Crypto, the crypto advocacy group, responded with its own numbers on Tuesday, saying its advocates had called Congress 8,000 times and sent 300,000 emails over recent months to protect stablecoin rewards, and have contacted lawmakers nearly 1.5 million times in support of the CLARITY Act overall.
Those on the side of digital assets are framing the banking industry’s lobbying campaign as an attempt to block competition from yield-bearing stablecoins.
Senator Bernie Moreno accused banks of trying to “kill stablecoins that would let everyday Americans earn real yields on their own money.” He also described the banking industry as a “cartel” protecting low-interest deposit models.
But not everyone inside Washington thinks this fight ends at Thursday’s committee vote. According to reporter Sander Lutz, banking policy leaders are already preparing for another push on the Senate floor if they lose the markup battle over yield restrictions.
Meanwhile, crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer privately encouraged Democrats to work toward supporting the bill.
The post CLARITY Act Faces Wave of Amendments Ahead of Markup appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Xbox Project Helix console could ditch the disc drive and go fully digital
Leaks tied to Xbox Project Helix suggest Microsoft may launch its next-gen console without a disc drive, alongside a possible Disc2Digital program.
Trump arrives in China for historic trip
US President Donald #Trump has arrived in Beijing for highly anticipated talks with his Chinese counterpart #Xi Jinping. The two leaders are expected to discuss the #Iran war, trade and #US arms sales to #Taiwan. The visit to #China is the first from a US leader since 2017.
Decoding Injective’s 12% jump: INJ buybacks, USDC growth & more…
INJ’s latest surge has 3 big drivers – Here’s what traders should know!
Alexa for Shopping is a chatty new AI assistant with some cool tricks to make you spend at Amazon
After years of using Alexa to answer questions, control smart homes, play music, and handle everyday tasks, Amazon has found a more obvious job for it. Alexa is becoming your personal shopper, meant to help you find what you need faster and get it into your cart with fewer second thoughts. Amazon is rolling out […]
Cannes 2026: Park Chan-wook and Demi Moore ready to judge festival contenders
It’s Day 1 of the annual cinematic marathon for the Cannes jury weighing up the features in competition for the Palme d’Or, with 22 films to consider. Critic Emma Jones tells us more about the members of director Park Chan-wook’s jury, and we discuss the first two competition screenings: “Nagi Notes” and “A Woman’s Life”, as well as the hotly anticipated features from Asghar Farhadi, Pedro Almodovar and Cristian Mungiu.
