FTX begins asset sale to repay debts and US blocks Huawei chip licences

FTX starts asset sale to pay billions to debtors

FTX still owes customers billions of dollars following the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange in November 2022.

The firm is aiming to sell off all its remaining assets to a value of around $16.3 billion to cover around $11 billion worth of debt owed to customers left out of pocket when the firm closed under a cloud of controversy.

FTX was one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges before its downfall, which was triggered when customers withdrew billions of dollars amid reports about the behaviour of founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

In March, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding FTX customers and investors.

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US government blocks chips sales to Huawei

US regulators have banned US chipmakers from exporting certain unspecified goods to Huawei in the latest setback for the Chinese telecoms vendor.

The Department of Commerce did not disclose which licences it had revoked but reports from Reuters claim US chip companies such as Intel and Qualcomm have all been affected by the move.

The US acted after Huawei released its first AI-powered laptop, the Matebook X Pro, powered by Intel’s Core Ultra 9 processor. Republican lawmakers had criticised President Joe Biden for not taking tougher actions against the Chinese company, claiming the launch showed Huawei was “making a comeback” despite previous US sanctions.

US officials have accused Huawei helping China engage in espionage around the world, something the company has repeatedly denied, prompting the ban on sales of its telecoms equipment in the US.

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TikTok sues US over ban

TikTok is suing the US government to block an incoming law that will see the video sharing app banned unless its Chinese owners sell its share in the firm.

Parent-company ByteDance called the law – signed last month by President Joe Biden – an “extraordinary intrusion on free speech rights” of American citizens who use TikTok.

The social media app has around 170 million users in the US but has faced criticism from US lawmakers across both major parties who claim its Chinese ownership raises the risk of Beijing exploiting data or promoting propaganda, meaning it should be classed as a national security risk.

The law gives ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok, which has maintained its stance that it is independent of the Chinese government. In the filing with the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, TikTok said the sale requirement was “simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally. And certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act”.

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AI start-up wins Wayve of funding for automated vehicle tech

The UK AI start-up has raised more than £1 billion in funding to develop the next generation of artificial intelligence-powered vehicles.

Major tech names including Japan’s SoftBank, chipmaker Nvidia and Microsoft all backed London-based Wayve in what is the biggest ever investment round to date for a European AI startup.

Wayve’s current technology is integrated into six vehicle platforms including electric cars such as the Jaguar I-Pace and the Ford Mustang MachE, as part of advanced driver assistance systems. It said the funding will be used as part of global expansion plans.

Alex Kendall, a co-founder and the chief executive of Wayve, said: “This investment will help us launch our embodied AI products and expand our operations globally. It sends a crucial signal to the market of the strength of the UK’s AI ecosystem, and we look forward to watching more AI companies here thrive and scale.”

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UK regulator warns social media giants to hide toxic content from kids

Ofcom has warned social media firms such as Facebook and TikTok that they face being named and shamed if they fail to protect children from harmful content online.

New UK online safety rules empower the UK regulator to potentially ban platforms that fail to enact more robust age-checking measures and reformulate algorithms to protect under-18s from “toxic content”.

Ofcom’s children’s safety codes call on services to make their platforms child-safe by default or implement robust age checks to identify children and give them safer versions of the experience.

More seriously harmful content, including that relating to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, will need to be kept off children’s feeds entirely, as will pornography.

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