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Time Is Money

Jul 21, 2024 • 7 min read

Trending:

WazirX Cyberattack
Amazon Prime Day Results

Week Recap:

Donald Trump has selected Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his vice-presidential running mate, ending months of speculation and making a significant political shift given Vance's past criticisms of Trump. The announcement comes just days after a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was shot at, resulting in injuries to his ear, the death of one spectator, and critical injuries to two others. The shooter, firing from an elevated position outside the venue, was neutralized by U.S. Secret Service personnel and later confirmed dead.
Stripe's valuation has recently risen to $70 billion, driven by Sequoia Capital's initiative to buy shares from investors seeking liquidity. Sequoia is offering $27.51 per share, focusing on limited partners from funds raised between 2009 and 2012, aiming to acquire up to $861 million in shares. This follows Stripe's earlier valuation of $65 billion in February, which had increased from $50 billion last March but remained below the $95 billion peak in 2021.
Elon Musk has announced the relocation of the headquarters for his companies, X (formerly Twitter) and SpaceX, from California to Texas. This decision was primarily influenced by a new California law that prevents school districts from requiring teachers to inform parents when a child changes their gender identity or sexual orientation. Musk has been vocal about how such laws negatively impact both families and businesses. Previously, in 2021, Musk moved Tesla's headquarters to Texas, although California remains the company's engineering hub.
Between January and June 2024, ISIS claimed 153 attacks in Iraq and Syria, indicating a significant resurgence in their operations compared to previous years. This sharp increase suggests ISIS is attempting to rebuild its capabilities after a period of reduced activity. The United States Central Command, in collaboration with Iraqi Security Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces, responded by conducting 196 missions aimed at defeating ISIS, resulting in the elimination of 44 ISIS operatives and the detention of 166 others. Specifically, 137 operations in Iraq led to 30 ISIS operatives being killed and 74 detained, while 59 operations in Syria resulted in 14 operatives being killed and 92 detained.
Rite Aid, an American drugstore chain, recently disclosed that it was the victim of a data breach last month. On June 6, a third-party threat actor impersonated a company employee and gained unauthorized access to certain company systems. The breach was detected shortly afterward, prompting an investigation to determine the scope and whether any data had been compromised. The investigation revealed that sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, financial details, and patient records were not affected. However, the attackers managed to obtain data related to retail purchases, including names, addresses, dates of birth, and driver's licenses or government IDs.
Andrej Karpathy, the former head of AI at Tesla and researcher at OpenAI, has launched Eureka Labs, an AI powered education platform. Based in San Francisco, Eureka Labs was registered as an LLC in Delaware on June 21. The company aims to leverage advancements in generative AI to develop AI teaching assistants that can guide students through course materials. According to Karpathy, human teachers will continue to create course content but will be supported by AI assistants. These AI personalities or assistants are envisioned to work alongside teachers, facilitating a learning environment where anyone can learn anything.
OpenAI has announced the launch of GPT-4o mini, an innovative and cost-effective AI model designed to surpass its predecessor, GPT-3.5 Turbo. GPT-4o mini is built with advanced AI capabilities and is now available through the API. This model excels in textual intelligence, scoring 82% on the MMLU (Massive Multitask Language Understanding) benchmark, compared to GPT-3.5 Turbo's 69.8%. Additionally, GPT-4o mini enhances multimodal reasoning, supporting both text and vision inputs, with plans to incorporate audio and video functionalities in the future.
Billionaire investor Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of hedge fund Citadel, recently purchased a Jurassic stegosaurus skeleton named "Apex" for $44.6 million at a Sotheby's auction. This acquisition marks the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction. Apex, a 150 million-year-old skeleton standing 11 feet tall and nearly 27 feet long, comprises 254 fossil bone elements and was initially expected to sell for about $6 million. Griffin's winning bid followed a 15-minute competition with six other bidders.
Yesterday, a routine software update from CrowdStrike, a leading cybersecurity firm, triggered a massive global technology outage, affecting numerous industries worldwide. The update, released at 04:09 UTC, contained a logic error that caused system crashes and blue screens (BSOD) on Windows systems using the Falcon sensor. This issue was not due to a cyberattack but was a result of a bug in the update. Multiple major U.S. airlines, including American, Delta, and United, grounded their flights, causing significant delays and disruptions. Other industries, such as banks, stock exchanges, emergency services, hospitals, and public transit systems, also experienced severe impacts, causing widespread chaos.

WazirX Cyberattack:

On July 10, 2024, WazirX, an Indian-based cryptocurrency exchange, suffered a significant hack, resulting in the theft of over $230 million. The attacker initiated the hack by using Tornado Cash, a service that anonymizes cryptocurrency transactions, to fund their operations. This technique obscured the origins of the transactions, making it difficult to trace the funds back to their original source.
The hacker carried out a series of test transactions and strategic transfers involving Ethereum and Shiba Inu tokens, exploiting vulnerabilities within the WazirX system. The complex method of moving funds through multiple addresses suggested the involvement of a sophisticated group, with evidence pointing towards the Lazarus Group, known for their advanced cyber-attacks.
As a consequence, WazirX experienced a substantial financial loss, severely impacting its operations. Despite revealing some details about the hack, such as the use of privacy tools and intricate transaction patterns, the investigation could not fully identify the attacker. The trail led to Bitcoin transactions linked to an unidentified service, complicating further tracing efforts. This hack underscores the urgent need for enhanced security measures and vigilance in the tech sector.

Amazon Prime Day Results:

During Amazon's Prime Day event on July 16-17, 2024, online spending in the U.S. grew by 11% year-over-year to reach $14.2 billion, surpassing expectations and setting a new record, according to Adobe Analytics. This increase was driven by back-to-school shopping and a surge in demand for new tablets, TVs, and Bluetooth speakers, marking a shift from the previous year's focus on household essentials.
Adobe had forecasted that U.S. shoppers would spend $14 billion during the event, which tracks transactions across various U.S. retail sites, not just Amazon. Prime Day has become an important revenue period for other retailers who also offer sales during this time. Although Amazon reported record-breaking Prime Day revenue, it did not disclose specific sales figures. The company highlighted its Rufus shopping assistant, powered by AI, which helped millions of shoppers by suggesting products and providing order updates.
Numerator, which monitored purchases across over 35,500 households, found that the average order size increased to $57.97 from $54.05 last year. Popular items included Amazon-branded Fire TV sticks, Premier protein shakes, and Liquid IV packets. Top categories were home goods, household essentials, apparel, and shoes. Numerator analyst Amanda Schoenbauer observed that shoppers purchased fewer big-ticket items and placed fewer multiple orders, indicating a trend towards more thoughtful spending and a preference for saving.

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