There’s just one week left until the biggest event in Apple’s yearly calendar: the launch of the latest iPhone models. But some expert pundits have opined that the peripheral devices that launch alongside the iPhone 17 may actually be more exciting. The Apple Watch Series 11 and AirPods Pro 3, both of which are expected to land this month, have the potential to wow the market with upgrades and new features.

Sadly, however, a last-minute report indicates that one of the more highly anticipated features won’t be ready in time for the AirPods Pro 3 launch. According to an anonymous tipster who got in touch with 9to5Mac, live translation isn’t on the cards to be available out of the box.

On the plus side, it doesn’t appear that the feature has been abandoned, only that it’s been delayed. What’s more, the tipster says live translation “will likely be added in a later software update.” Apple has already announced that live translation in the Phone, Messages, and FaceTime apps is a major part of the iOS 26 update, but has thus far left AirPods out of the conversation.

So you’ll reportedly be able to buy the AirPods Pro 3 at launch, enjoy the other improvements, then benefit later when the feature drops as part of a free update. On the other hand, some customers may have been burned last year when they bought the iPhone 16 on the strength of Apple Intelligence features that were expected to land in an update, but were repeatedly delayed and, in some cases, still haven’t arrived.

Even if live translation doesn’t make the launch slate, the AirPods Pro 3 should still have plenty to offer. Aside from a new chip, improved noise cancellation, and a stylish redesign (including a new-look charging case), the new headphones will get two new health sensors, according to the tipster: heart rate and temperature. Both of which would fit in well as Apple looks to pivot the AirPods to a more rounded and health-focused wearable.

The iPhone 17 and Apple Watch Series 11 will be announced at the “Awe Dropping” September 9, likely alongside the AirPods Pro 3, though some reports suggest they may have to wait until later in the fall. Either way, you can catch all the latest news and rumors in our regularly updated new AirPods hub article.

Bitcoin’s latest rally is spilling over into the luxury holiday market.

The Financial Times (FT) reported earlier today that private jet firms, cruise lines and boutique hotels are increasingly accepting crypto payments.

Flexjet-owned FXAIR, for instance, now takes tokens for transatlantic trips costing about $80,000, while cruise operator Virgin Voyages sells annual passes worth $120,000.

SeaDream Yacht Club and boutique hotel groups including The Kessler Collection have also added crypto checkout options, according to the FT.

High-end travel is a natural niche for crypto spending. On six-figure invoices, fees and volatility matter less, and merchants can instantly convert payments into fiat.

For customers, paying in bitcoin carries status value, echoing earlier bull-market splurges on Lamborghinis and watches. This time, the indulgence is time-saving private jets and one-of-a-kind cruises.

Still, whether it makes financial sense is another matter. Bitcoin’s most famous cautionary tale comes from 2010, when Florida programmer Laszlo Hanyecz spent 10,000 BTC on two pizzas, a purchase now worth over $1 billion in hindsight. Today’s jet bookings could invite the same regret if bitcoin keeps climbing.

Yet others see logic in cashing in.

With bitcoin recently hitting a record $124,128 on Aug. 14, some wealthy holders may view the present rally as a window to lock in gains before macro shocks send prices lower.

Inflationary pressures tied to the new U.S. import tariffs, along with wider economic uncertainty, could easily knock BTC back below $100,000, turning today’s holiday splurges into a rational hedge.

There are also tax complications.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for instance, treats crypto as property, meaning that spending BTC counts as a taxable disposal and can trigger capital-gains liabilities. The U.K.’s HMRC applies the same principle, taxing disposals when coins are sold, swapped or spent.

The bigger backdrop, according to McKinsey data cited by the FT, is that younger affluent travelers are driving a luxury travel boom projected to nearly double spending between 2023 and 2028. For that generation, crypto is not just an investment vehicle but also a way to pay for experiences that promise freedom and exclusivity.

Bottom line: Crypto hasn’t taken over coffee shops, but at the top end of the market it is showing up. Whether that’s smart wealth management or another billion-dollar pizza mistake depends on how long this bull cycle lasts.

Eric Trump is deepening his role in digital assets with reported plans to attend a shareholder meeting in Tokyo, public predictions about bitcoin’s price, and new corporate ventures that extend the Trump family’s crypto push into Asia.

Bloomberg reported Friday that Trump will join a Sept. 1 shareholder meeting of Metaplanet, a Japanese company following Michael Saylor’s Strategy (formerly, MicroStategy) playbook, citing people familiar with the matter. Trump was appointed as a strategic adviser in March. His Tokyo stop will apparently follow an appearance at the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong on Aug. 28–29.

A day earlier, Trump appeared at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, where he described himself as a “bitcoin maxi” and said he now spends more than half his time on crypto projects. He predicted bitcoin would reach $175,000 by the end of 2025 and eventually climb past $1 million. He argued that bitcoin and blockchain could address flaws in traditional finance, such as slow payments and settlement processes.

The Financial Times reported onAug. 15 that American Bitcoin — a miner and treasury company co-founded by Eric Trump and his brother Donald Trump Jr. — is exploring acquisitions of listed firms in Japan and Hong Kong to use them as vehicles for stockpiling bitcoin, following the playbook pioneered by Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy. The company is preparing to go public in the U.S. through a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed Gryphon Digital Mining. Eric Trump is a co-founder and the chief strategy officer.

American Bitcoin emerged in May from a reorganization of American Data Centers, a Trump-linked entity that absorbed rigs from Canadian operator Hut 8. The firm has said it aims to become the world’s most efficient bitcoin accumulation platform, combining active treasury management with new coin production.

The Trumps’ crypto ambitions extend beyond Eric Trump. Trump Media & Technology Group, parent of Truth Social, raised more than $2 billion in the second quarter to create a bitcoin treasury. President Donald Trump disclosed in June $57 million in income from World Liberty Financial, a crypto startup launched last September.

Together, these moves highlight how Eric Trump and his family are aligning themselves with crypto at a time when Japan and Hong Kong are competing to attract digital asset firms.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) will approve the first yen-denominated stablecoin as early as this fall. Meanwhile, Hong Kong has introduced the Stablecoins Ordinance, a regulatory framework that requires fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers to obtain a license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

A new report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg tells us that Apple is working with Google to test out a custom version of Gemini that could power Apple’s next-gen Siri voice assistant in the cloud.

The report says Apple is in “early discussions” and that Google is currently training a version of its Gemini AI assistant that can run on Apple’s cloud infrastructure. This is similar to the partnerships Apple has explored with Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Apple is creating a next-gen, “LLM Siri” using its own models while at the same time developing an infrastructure that could see the new Siri powered by a third-party AI model. We wrote about that effort here.

According to Gurman’s report, Apple is still “several weeks away” from deciding whether to go with Apple’s own internal models for the new Siri or to employ tech from outside partners.

Apple is employing a “bake-off” approach, pitting the internally-developed next-gen Siri (code-named Linwood) against a next-gen Siri powered by external models (code-named Glenwood). The company has not yet decided which external technology is best, nor has come to financial terms with them. Supposedly, Anthropic’s Claude was the early favorite, but Anthropic demanded such a steep price that Apple started reaching out to other companies for alternatives.

This work to use Google’s Gemini is separate from the previously-reported effort to add Gemini as another option for general queries in Apple Intelligence. Today, ChatGPT is the only supported third-party AI for these sorts of general knowledge queries, but Apple has plans to add Gemini as another option. This new report, by contrast, is about Google developing Gemini-based “brains” to serve as the foundational model for the new Siri, running on Apple’s servers.

Most experts agree that Apple faces an uphill battle to compete in the AI race. The company’s Apple Intelligence platform arrived late, and felt distinctly underbaked even then; Siri is a punchline and improvements to it keep being pushed back; and rivals are pushing forward with ever more impressive features.

Apple would love to find a shortcut to success, and it may have found one. Sources report that the company is giving serious consideration to bidding for the startup Perplexity AI, which would allow it to transplant a chunk of expertise and ready-made technology into Apple Park and leapfrog many of the obstacles it currently faces.

Perplexity runs an AI-powered search engine which can already perform the contextual tricks which Apple advertised ahead of the iPhone 16 launch but hasn’t yet managed to build into Siri. For example, I ran the following three queries consecutively:

• Which Warhammer 40k faction is most fun to play?
• What about painting?
• How do you define advanced?

For the second query, the search engine knew I was asking which Warhammer faction is best for painting, and for the third query, it knew I meant advanced painting and was referring to a phrase in its previous answer. These are simple logical steps, but Siri can’t do this without resorting to ChatGPT. Apple would far prefer to have its own tech for such functions, and thus be able to control the user experience entirely.

Cupertino executives are understood to have held internal discussions about the idea of buying Perplexity; Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman specifically claims that M&A chief Adrian Perica has spoken about the matter with Eddy Cue and senior members of Apple’s AI team, although he notes that “discussions are at an early stage and may not lead to an offer.” Apple also hasn’t yet spoken to anyone at Perplexity, which has issued a statement denying all knowledge.

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman analyses the potential deal in greater detail. He notes that it would dwarf any previous Apple acquisition: its largest to date was Beats for $3 billion in 2014, whereas Perplexity was recently valued at $14 billion.

Historically, Apple has been wary of large acquisitions, whereas rivals, such as Facebook (buying WhatsApp for $22 billion) and Google (acquiring cloud security platform Wiz for $32 billion), have spent big to scoop up companies. It could be a mark of how worried Apple is about the AI situation that it’s considering such a major and out-of-character move. But after a year of headaches and obstacles, it also could pay off in a big way.

BlackRock plans to acquire approximately 10% of the shares offered in Circle’s initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg News reported on May 28.

People familiar with the matter said Circle and its shareholders, including co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire, are seeking to raise $624 million through the offering. 

Orders for the offering have reportedly exceeded the number of shares available, with the pricing scheduled for June 4.

BlackRock already manages the Circle Reserve Fund, a government money market fund that holds roughly 90% of the reserves backing Circle’s USDC stablecoin. 

The fund reported nearly $30 billion in net assets as of April 30, 2024, based on the Circle IPO filing. 

The investment management firm could acquire its stake directly or through an affiliated entity, although its final participation remains subject to change.

As a result, the IPO would deepen the existing relationship between BlackRock and Circle, as it would constitute one of the largest single-investor stakes in the crypto company.

Institutional participation broadens interest in Circle

The filing also revealed a combined interest from major institutional investors, indicating heightened demand for equity in the stablecoin issuer as it prepares to enter the public markets.

Circle’s USDC ranks as the second-largest US dollar-pegged stablecoin with a $61.3 billion market cap and plays a central role in crypto transfers. The stablecoin registered a $10 trillion year-to-date transfer volume as of April 30, according to data from Artemis. 

Pending legislation in Congress proposes backing stablecoins with cash or government securities, a structure already in place for USDC through the Circle Reserve Fund.

Circle’s decision to proceed with a US-based IPO reflects broader efforts by crypto companies to secure public market capitalization at a time when federal regulatory policy is trending toward acceptance. Kraken is also reportedly eyeing an IPO for 2026.

The IPO filing formalizes Circle’s long-anticipated listing plans, which previously included a terminated Special Purpose Acquisition Company deal in 2022. 

With backing from institutional players and a reserve fund managed by the world’s largest asset manager, Circle is positioning itself to expand operations under a more transparent and regulated capital structure.

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Every so often, Apple makes an attempt to push its platforms as a place for serious gaming. If the latest report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg is accurate, the company will try again this year with the launch of iOS 19, macOS 15, and its other yearly OS updates.

According to the report, Apple plans a dedicated, pre-installed gaming app on iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple TV. The app will debut at WWDC on June 9, and roll out to those devices with iOS 19 and macOS 15 (or a subsequent update) later this year.

The app will feature editorial content about new games (similar to what you’d find in the App Store today), access to the App Store’s games section and Apple Arcade, and centralize all the stuff currently handled by Game Center, like friends lists, achievements, leaderboards, and communications. The Mac version of the app is said to be able to “tap into games downloaded outside of the App Store.” Likely, that means that it will serve as a launcher for those games, and that the core identity/achievements/leaderboards functions will be available to developers via APIs even for those games distributed outside the App Store.

Apple recently purchased the two-person studio RAC7 Games, whose Sneaky Sasquach was an Apple Arcade launch title. It is unclear if this is the first of many acquisitions as an attempt for Apple to build a big first-party games studio, but it doesn’t speak to the kinds of premium games that drive sales of PlayStation, Xbox, or Switch consoles. Rather, it indicates a drive for more mobile gaming, an area in which Apple is already dominant.

To earn the respect of so-called “AAA” game developers, publishers, and players, Apple will need to do much more than pre-install a gaming app on its devices. We will find out more about Apple’s gaming ambitions at WWDC on June 9, when the app and its features are said to be revealed.

According to Financial Times analysis, a small cohort of traders secured nearly $100 million in profits from Melania Trump’s MELANIA token within minutes of its market debut.

Insider trading allegations

Its on-chain analysis suggests that two dozen digital wallets purchased $2.6 million worth of tokens less than three minutes before Trump’s Jan. 19 post on Truth Social announced the coin’s launch.

The subsequent price surge enabled rapid liquidation, with 81% of the sales executed within 12 hours.

The MELANIA token’s release followed President Donald Trump’s TRUMP coin, launched two days earlier without similar pre-announcement activity. While TRUMP’s distribution began seconds after its official disclosure, the early activity in MELANIA’s case highlights the potential for exploitation during memecoin launches.

These tokens, devoid of utility beyond dinner with the president, operate as speculative instruments and are now exempt from securities regulations. Per the SEC’s current view, such trades fall outside federal insider-trading rules.

The wallets involved in the pre-launch accumulation of MELANIA have drawn attention for their possible links to Hayden Davis, a Texas-based crypto entrepreneur.

Davis, previously associated with the controversial LIBRA token tied to Argentina’s President Javier Milei, denied profiting from the MELANIA release, stating in an interview with independent journalist Stephen Findeisen (Coffeezilla), “There was no money made from the Melania team. Zero.”

However, blockchain analysis by FT using Bubblemaps traced early purchases to accounts connected to ventures linked with Davis.

Organizers behind MELANIA, operating through Delaware-based MKT World LLC, have reportedly withdrawn $64.7 million in primary sales and fees, separate from the $99.6 million amassed by early traders.

MKT World, previously used by Melania Trump for various ventures since 2021, has yet to clarify its precise role or profit-sharing structure. The First Lady has not commented publicly on the token’s market activity or governance.

Melania Trump and crypto

Volatility around MELANIA has been punctuated by prior controversies and trading frenzies linked to Trump-family-branded tokens.

In the first 24 hours after futures trading launched, perpetual trading across TRUMP and MELANIA exceeded $50 billion, with MELANIA-USDT open interest spiking 56% in just 90 minutes. Solana’s network struggled under the load, recording 10 million transactions and $1.25 billion in volume, while services such as Phantom and Coinbase faced throttling due to congestion.

Weeks later, developer-linked wallets were traced selling over 31 million MELANIA through unilateral liquidity provisioning, driving a steep drop from a peak of $13 to $0.38 before a modest recovery.

Further, prior ventures involving Melania Trump’s digital initiatives had faced scrutiny, including allegations of wash trading tied to her “Head of State” NFT in 2022 and an NFT-based philanthropy pitch announced in 2024 targeting foster care programs.

The rapid and lucrative trading around MELANIA further reflects the volatility of politically connected tokens.

The Financial Times reported that similar wallet patterns appeared in the LIBRA scandal, suggesting a recurring strategy of leveraging high-profile figures for crypto speculation.

Ethical concerns have also emerged, with former CFTC chair Tim Massad calling the involvement of presidential families in commercial tokens “plainly wrong” due to potential conflicts of interest.

The price of MELANIA stabilized at approximately $0.32 as of May 5, placing the 800 million tokens retained by organizers at a notional valuation near $260 million.

The token’s unlock schedule began on Feb. 19, releasing 3% of the supply, with monthly distributions of 2.25% planned thereafter.

Despite regulatory gaps and anonymity on-chain, the episode illustrates the growing complexity surrounding political branding in digital assets and the challenges facing retail participants in rapidly evolving crypto markets.

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