Hello! We hope everyone celebrating tomorrow has a very joyful Thanksgiving — this year, like every other publication covering tech, we’re grateful for the endless content pit provided by the world of artificial intelligence. In today’s Altman-free edition we’re covering:
Another blow for crypto
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, yesterday admitted to violating anti-money laundering regulations and breaking US sanctions, less than 3 weeks after 31-year-old crypto kingpin Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud and conspiracy.
Treasury officials reported that nearly $900 million was transferred between American and Iranian users on the exchange, with other customers using Binance to funnel money to illicit actors involved in terrorism, cybercrime and child abuse.
As part of the settlement, Binance is set to pay a staggering $4.3 billion fine, while the company’s talisman and CEO Chengpeng Zhao, widely known as CZ, will pay a $50 million personal fine and step down from the company he founded.
Going finite
Established in 2017, Binance thrived in the crypto industry's regulatory vacuum, leading CZ to quickly become one of, if not the, most important figures in crypto. As the fuse burned down on FTX’s implosion, CZ announced that Binance was dumping its FTX tokens, though 2 days later he revealed a hastily put-together plan to rescue FTX. But upon closer inspection, Binance pulled out, FTX went down, and CZ and co. lived to fight another day.
In the wake of the chaos, Binance won more market share, with data from The Block revealing that it had more than 60% of all exchange-based crypto trading in February of this year.
The deal leaves CZ facing a potential 18-month stretch in prison, and crypto enthusiasts facing an increasingly hostile regulatory environment — Kraken, another top 5 exchange, was hit by the SEC with a lawsuit on Monday.
Pumpkin patches
Sorry to all the cherry, chocolate, and sweet potato heads out there, the data doesn't lie: the top 3 Thanksgiving pies are — according to a 2022 YouGov poll — pumpkin, with 23% of the vote; pecan, with 14%; and apple, which 12% of Americans say is their favorite.
Pumpkin supremacy is only confirmed by Google data, which shows more searches for pumpkin pie than any other in almost 80% of US states, with only a few exceptions. Indeed, over the last 30 days, just 9 states searched for “apple pie” more than any other, with a strong concentration around the Big Apple itself, while pecan only prevailed in Mississippi and Alabama.
The nation’s favorite
America’s relationship with pumpkin pie goes way back. Indeed, the Library of Congress notes that colonial settlers in New England were already cooking the festive favorite by 1655, although it wasn’t until 1796 that the recipe began to take the form that (most of us) know and love today.
Interestingly, the cost of a Thanksgiving feast for 10 is down 4.5% on last year, to $61.17, according to the American Farm Bureau — although that’s still 25% higher than in 2019.
P.S. This is as close to a pie chart as we’ll ever get.
Luckin good
When Starbucks entered China in the late 1990s, its competition was mostly small independent shops. But, some formidable rivals have since emerged, most notably Luckin Coffee, a local chain that's won customers around with its cheap coffee, growing to over 13,000 stores in just 6 years. That knocks Starbucks off the top spot in China, with just 6,800 locations in the region.
Established in 2017, Luckin Coffee swiftly gained momentum through its mobile app and efficient delivery, becoming known for its minimalist stores, in contrast to Starbucks' often more elaborate cafes. Luckin achieved unicorn status just a year later, before going public in 2019. By 2020, however, the Chinese chain was embroiled in an accounting scandal, admitting to fabricating $310 million in coffee and snacks that it didn’t really sell, paying a hefty $180 million fine to the SEC, before eventually filing for Chapter 15 bankruptcy.
Full steam ahead
But, following a restructuring, Luckin Coffee wasted no time in getting back to what it does best: expanding. While Starbucks opts for mostly company-owned stores worldwide, Luckin's approach involves both self-operated outlets and franchises, enabling it to rapidly grow — the Xiamen-based coffee company is now setting its sights on the rest of the world, going global for the first time with 14 stores opening in Singapore this year.
• Earth’s global average surface temperature likely passed 2°C, a critical warming threshold, on Friday and Saturday.
• 4 wheels good, 2 wheels better: 280 million e-bikes and mopeds are displacing oil demand 4x more than the world’s EVs.• Forget AI references or mentions of “shrink”, it seems that “choiceful” is the latest buzzword for S&P 500 execs, appearing on 15 earnings calls so far this year, compared to just 2 in 2021.
• Mob ruling: over 200 gang members have been sentenced to a collective 2,200 years in prison following one of Italy’s biggest mafia trials in history.
• From skinny jeans to socks with sandals, charting Americans’ outlook on the fashion trend landscape.
Off the charts: Game of Thrones fans were disappointed after George R. R. Martin said he is "struggling" to finish the long-awaited next book in the series — which GoT character sparked a wave of babies named after them? [Answer below].
