🛋️ *Like using Craigslist to find a new home for your couch…* 

Non-custodial exchanges facilitate crypto trades between customers but *don't* hold their coins — unlike custodial exchanges like __[Coinbase](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/COIN/)__ and __Binance__. Decentralized exchanges like __[Uniswap](https://robinhood.com/us/en/crypto/UNI/)__ and __PancakeSwap__ are types of non-custodial exchanges. The CEO of __EDX Markets__, a new [non-custodial exchange](https://www.barrons.com/articles/edx-coinbase-crypto-exchange-binance-60662e8c), said __FTX__'s implosion created demand for non-custodials.

DEFI(NE)

Heard on the Block: "non-custodial exchange"

Snacks

November may historically be the best month for US stocks, but you wouldn’t know it from the start o...

Toby Bochan

Managing Editor

Luke Kawa

Markets Editor

Markets

The lack of bear cups is almost too much to bear. A $30 ursine coffee cup offered by Starbucks seems...

A popular  game being developed for the big screen could test the limits of the recent success of vi...

Max Knoblauch

Culture

 is expanding its low-cost Amazon Haul experience to a new stand-alone app called Amazon Bazaar. Ama...

Rani Molla

Tech

Holiday cheer turned into chaos this week for  after the coffee giant’s new “Bearista” holiday cup s...

Nia Warfield

Business

This week,  announced plans for “Fastnet,” a new undersea transatlantic fiber-optic cable running fr...

Jon Keegan

Tech Reporter

Here’s one noteworthy feature of the recent market downturn that has the S&P 500 poised for its wors...

Target just rolled out a new rule for store employees: “smile, make eye contact, and greet or wave” ...

Hyunsoo Rim

Data Reporter

 more than reversed its 11% drop in the wake of its post-close earnings report Thursday, after brief...

Matt Phillips

Senior Markets Correspondent 

Your inbox is ready

Subscribe and thrive

 Report: US Army will buy 1 million drones

As  once again dipped under $100,000 Friday morning, down 20% from its October 6 all-time high, some...

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Contributing Reporter

Crypto

Air taxi maker  is deep in the red on Friday morning after reporting its third-quarter results after...

Nuclear power plant operator  reported Q3 earnings Friday before the start of trading in New York th...

Roughly half of new US startups make it to their fifth birthday — and the most recent ones have even...

Make hay while the sun is shining, or so the saying goes. And that’s exactly what America’s quantum ...

Claire Yubin Oh

Data Journalist

Shares of  leapt in early trading Friday after the travel platform posted a strong third quarter.  A...

Expedia Group headquarters in Seattle, Washington, USA

Over the past few months, the biggest catalyst for quantum computing stocks has been the prospect of...

Shares of  climbed 5% after the bell on Thursday, and held most of those gains into early trading on...

Millie Giles

 reported Q3 earnings that were not well received by the market, with shares cratering in after-hour...

 shareholder meetings are like no other. Where else does a man, just awarded a $1 trillion pay packa...

__Bitter pill…__ Pharma giants are [taking](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/20/drug-prices-drugmakers-aim-to-fight-medicare-negotiations-at-scotus.html) legal action to try to shut down a new drug-pricing law that could cost them billions. Some 65M Americans (most age 65 and older) are enrolled in Medicare, a federal health-insurance program — and the largest buyer of prescription drugs. Under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare would be able to negotiate discounts of up to 60% on numerous prescription drugs. __[Merck](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/MRK/)__ says its lucrative diabetes and cancer drugs would be subject to a “sham” negotiation program, which starts in 2026 with an initial round of 10 drugs. 

- __This month:__ Merck and __[Bristol-Myers Squibb](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/BMY/)__ filed suits against the gov’t, arguing the policy is unconstitutional and could hit blockbuster drugs (some of which make up a quarter of their annual sales).

- __Last week:__ __[Eli Lilly](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/LLY/)__'s CEO said the potential revenue loss could also stunt R&D of future drugs.

- __FYI:__ If companies don't comply, they’d face fines that are several times higher than their daily drug revenue and can be avoided only if they pull out of Medicare. 

__Refill relief…__ Lawmakers have fought for years to curb skyrocketing prescription costs. One study indicated that initial prices for new drugs have jumped 20% annually during the past 15 years. Last year nearly a fifth of US adults said they skipped or delayed taking medicine because of the cost. AARP said Medicare's new negotiations could [save](https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/info-2022/medicare-budget-proposal.html) qualifying Americans an average of $800/year.

Side effects include lawsuits (Kyle Mazza/Getty Images)

__Solutions can come with side effects…__ By lowering drug costs for Medicare, the program could ease Rx affordability for millions and save taxpayers $102B through 2031. But as more drugmakers argue that it’s a threat to their revenue and research, the legal backlash is expected to intensify — and could end up in the Supreme Court.

Drugmakers sue over Medicare’s new pricing rules, potentially setting the stage for a SCOTUS showdown

__Takin’ over the world…__ one ad at a time. __[Snap](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/SNAP/)__'s chatbot probably isn’t in the category of AI that has experts anxious over humanity’s demise, but the app still has big plans for “My AI.” 150M Snap users have exchanged billions of messages with the feed-pinned bot, and Snap’s hoping it can mine the data to [revive](https://www.wsj.com/articles/snapchat-users-embrace-of-ai-could-improve-ads-snap-ceo-says-210fc1f0?mod=pls_whats_news_us_business_f) its flailing ad biz. Last quarter Snap reported its first sales decline ever (ads = 99% of its revenue). 

- __MyByeBye:__ When My AI debuted in April, users were… not smitten. Frustrated that the bot couldn’t be removed, users blasted the app with one-star reviews — leading to an average US App Store rating of 1.7.

- __Target acquired:__ Boss Evan Spiegel said the bot could improve ad targeting, which the company has struggled with ever since __[Apple](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/AAPL/)__'s privacy overhaul.

- __Sponsored chat:__ Snap started testing advertiser links in My AI convos (picture: chatting about travel plans, and then My AI dropping a link for cruise tickets).

__Adpocalyspe not now?…__ Despite fears that AI-powered search could mean the end of sponsored links as we know them, the ad industry is embracing the tech. Ads have found their way into __[Microsoft](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/MSFT/)__'s ChatGPT-fueled Bing search, and the company is exploring AI tools that could predict an ad’s performance. __[Meta](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/META/)__ has started letting advertisers try out its genAI ad products. __[Amazon](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/AMZN/)__'s building out a team to create AI ad apps, and __[Google](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/GOOGL/)__ recently launched AI tools that aim to help marketers with placements.

Chatty

__Monetizing too early is a risk…__ Infusing ads into AI chatbots and search engines runs the risk of losing users’ trust before it's been gained. But given the staggering costs of running AI servers, the risk may be necessary — unless companies can get users to pay for another subscription, like the $20/month ChatGPT Plus.

From Snap to Microsoft, Big Tech hopes AI can be the wind beneath its ad-biz wings

Heard on the Block: "non-custodial exchange"

Get Your News

Subscribe and thrive

Latest Stories