Crypto News: Crypto pain

Good morning. Retail investors are being burned by crypto ETFs. Samsung unveils a phone that folds more than once. And why Americans are tired of the "slop bowl." Listen to the day's top stories.

— Marcus Wright

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Retail investors who piled into Michael Saylor's grand Bitcoin experiment
are paying a heavy price. Saylor's Strategy Inc. was once hailed for wrapping crypto into a public stock. But the two most popular ETFs tracking Strategy's stock have plunged more than 80% this year. Yet even after recent turmoil in the sector, crypto-linked ETFs as a whole remain one of the fastest-growing segments in US fund industry. Vanguard is bowing to that reality by allowing the products to trade on its platform. Not for the faint hearted, perhaps.

The Galaxy Z Trifold smartphone. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Z TriFold, whose two hinges allow it to transform into a tablet-sized device. It will be launched in South Korea on Dec. 12 with a price tag of 3.59 million won (about $2,450). Samsung plans to sell the phone in the US, but hasn't yet laid out pricing. It's another sign of Samsung's prowess in foldable technology—Apple's first foldable iPhone isn't due until next fall.

Cyber Monday spending grew more slowly in the US than Europe, a new phenomenon that partly reflects the impact of Donald Trump's trade war on tariff-stung shoppers. Global online spending increased about 5%, while US spending rose by 2.6%, according to Salesforce. Global Black Friday spending grew twice as fast as US sales—which were still up from a year earlier.

Bosses Try Bonus Pools, Cash Awards to Entice Workers Wary of AI

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Apple's AI chief John Giannandrea is stepping down, capping tumultuous tenure. The company was late to generative AI—two years after OpenAI's ChatGPT became synonymous with the technology—and its Apple Intelligence platform was widely considered subpar. Apple also had to delay a much-touted new version of its Siri voice assistant.

Photographer: Dani Choi

The family office—an operation dedicated to managing everything from a family's investments and charity to its household staff—has become one of the hottest sectors in global finance. Still, the general air of mystery surrounding them makes it hard to know how they actually operate.

Deep Dive: The Race for Rare Earths

Samples of rare earths. Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg

US defense companies are scooping up rare earths faster than their European rivals. Why? Well, they are essentially critical components for everything from frigates to fighter jets to military drones.

Despite a one-year truce in the rare earths trade war between the US and China, Beijing maintains tight controls on supplies and prohibits sales to companies that produce weapons. That's made the competition for stockpiles outside China even fiercer.
With obscure names like gadolinium and dysprosium, rare earths are also used in everything from semiconductors and iPhones to MRI machines and cancer treatments. Here's our explainer.
The US has called a meeting at the White House later this month with eight allied nations as it seeks to shore up supply chains for the computer chips and critical minerals needed for AI technology.
China is also rallying support for its position. It used last month's Group of 20 summit in South Africa to unveil details of a global mining initiative with friendly nations.

The Big Take

The game room, featuring a poker table, at Hudson River. Photographer: Gaia Squarci/Bloomberg

Finding an edge in the cutthroat world of electronic market makers usually means moving a split-second faster than your rivals. Hudson River Trading also found an advantage by slowing down.

Big Take Podcast

What the US-Russia Talks Could Mean for Peace in Ukraine

Opinion

Possible Successor JD Vance. Photographer: Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

Trump has always been just insider-enough to placate the Republican establishment and just outsider-enough to excite conservative populists, David M. Drucker writes. But keeping that coalition together will be difficult for his successor in 2028.

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Before You Go

A burrito bowl at a Chipotle restaurant. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

Americans are increasingly over the "slop bowl"—all those pick-your-own ingredients piled atop rice or greens. Instead, hungry office workers are choosing offerings like sandwiches and tacos, that fill them up and often cost less.

A Couple More