BUSINESS

The Appia roadmap for a euro-based tokenized financial system is part of the European Union’s push to reduce reliance on foreign financial infrastructure.

Also: Nvidia’s rare blog, Aave liquidations, and Pudgy Penguins new game.

The appointment of Stephen Gregory comes as U.S. crypto exchanges intensify competition and broaden offerings beyond digital assets.

The largest-ever release of oil from the International Energy Agency’s emergency stockpiles was expected to send oil prices lower on Wednesday. Instead, prices continued to rise.

Faster Excel, smarter writing tools, and improved collaboration.

The technology launched last year for 4 million YouTube creators and is now expanding to a pilot group of government officials and candidates.

The move would make Exxon the latest high-profile company to move to the Lone Star State.

In recent months, T-Mobile has been generous with the perks it offers loyal customers, especially as it struggles to prevent them from switching carriers. As T-Mobile wrestles with rising competition, it is sweetening the deal by bringing back a free customer benefit valued at about $150.In 2025, T-Mobile’s postpaid phone churn, the percentage of customers who canceled their service, reached 0.9%, an increase from the 0.84% churn it had in 2024, according to its latest earnings report. The heightened customer losses come after T-Mobile raised prices for some of its legacy phone plans earlier last year and later made additional changes to its offerings that irritated some customers.U.S. consumers have become more sensitive to high phone plan bills amid economic pressures. A new survey from Oxio found that more Americans are reassessing their loyalty to their phone carriers and are warming up to the idea of exploring nontraditional wireless service options as they seek lower prices and value in their phone plans. About 58% of U.S. consumers in the survey said that a bill increase triggers them to reevaluate their phone plan. While 79% said they value affordable pricing the most from a mobile provider, 75% have a positive or neutral opinion of nontraditional phone carriers. “Last year, our research signaled that consumers were open to change,” said Oxio CEO Nicolas Girard in a press release. “In 2026, that openness became action. Consumers are not passively renewing mobile plans. They are actively evaluating them, comparing value, scrutinizing pricing, and reassessing providers more frequently.”Free customer perk returns to T-MobileThroughout 2025, T-Mobile has rolled out several free perks in its T-Life app to discourage customers from leaving. In March last year, through its T-Mobile Tuesdays program in the app, the carrier offered customers a deal that allowed them to purchase a three-piece chicken tender combo from Wingstop for only $0.01; however, the offer ended abruptly and early due to high demand.Related: T-Mobile customers set to receive a significant network upgradeIn May, T-Mobile also began offering customers $25 off any Uber Eats order of $30 or more, another deal that ended prematurely due to high popularity.  In July, it gave customers the opportunity to snag a free DoorDash subscription (DashPass), and the following month, it rolled out a six-month free trial of Apple TV+.After seeing high demand for these perks, T-Mobile is once again pulling this lever. Just in time for baseball season, T-Mobile is offering customers a free, full regular-season subscription to the MLB.TV app, a perk valued at $149.99 and has been offered annually since 2016.More Telecom News:T-Mobile drops 2 new phone plans to stop customers from fleeingVerizon CEO shifts gears after 2.25 million customers departAT&T closes billion-dollar acquisition to win back customersThe app allows viewers to watch out-of-market games (live or on demand) and listen to live radio play-by-play for all Major League teams. Viewers can also stream documentaries and World Series films, receive the latest baseball news and highlights, and more.”We are always looking for ways to give our customers more of what they love – and our customers love baseball! They streamed MILLIONS of hours of MLB.TV in 2025, so obviously we wanted to extend this free offer for another season,” said T-Mobile in a statement on its website. The freebie will be available in the T-Life app from March 24 to March 30, and it is offered to all qualifying customers. 

T-Mobile has been ramping up free perks in response to customer losses.Shutterstock

T-Mobile’s new free perk appeals to shifting consumer behaviorThe latest free perk from T-Mobile targets a growing consumer trend, which involves more Americans turning to streaming over traditional TV options like cable and satellite TV to watch live sports.According to a recent survey from Reviews.org, many Americans prefer watching live sports through streaming apps due to cost and the customization options these platforms offer. How Americans are watching live sports in 2026:Approximately 88% of Americans watch live sports.Streaming is the primary way Americans watch live sports (47%), while cable/satellite options fall behind (33%).The estimated total monthly spend on live sports is roughly $122.93 per household. Specifically, households spend an average of $79.80 per month to watch sports through traditional pay TV and an extra $43.13 per month for on-demand streaming.Also, 57% of Americans stream sports using Amazon Prime Video, while 44% use ESPN, 41% use Hulu, and 38% use Peacock. About 68% of Americans watch the NFL, making it the most-followed sports league in the U.S. The NBA comes second (55%), followed by MLB (54%).Nearly 75% of people agree that live sports are becoming too expensive to follow their favorite teams and leagues.
Source: Reviews.org
“Still, it’s apparent that people are increasingly turning to streaming for watching live sports because they can customize their options to keep up with their favorite teams and leagues without overpaying for add-ons and extra channels,” wrote Trevor Wheelwright, TV, streaming, and internet expert at Reviews.org, in the survey release.Related: T-Mobile launches bold new offers to win back customers

There’s so much drama taking place in the world. Last week alone, investors watched the U.S.-Iran war escalate, sending energy prices sharply higher. The Strait of Hormuz was closed after massive airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. About one-third of the world’s seaborne oil exports passed through the Strait in 2025, according to Kpler data cited by CNBC.Oil prices had jumped quickly to above $119 per barrel but have fallen from their prior high. As of writing, Brent fell to $90.37 per barrel on March 10, down 8.7% from the previous day.DeCarley Trading’s commodity trader Carley Garner warned last week that such oil spike “isn’t bullish for anything.””I’ve only seen oil move this far, this fast on three other occasions: 2008, 2011, and 2022,” Garner wrote on X. “What came next wasn’t pretty for most assets. When an integral commodity like oil spikes like this, things start to break.”Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Investment Management, thinks differently.Related: JPMorgan’s shocking Iran forecast could change oil’s next moveWood often views sharp volatilities as opportunities. Sometimes she’s right. Last year, the flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) gained 35.49%, far outpacing the S&P 500’s return of 17.88% in the same period.Cathie Wood says oil prices could nearly halve over the next decadeIn the latest “In The Know With Cathie Wood” show on March 7, Wood said the world is seeing a “coiled spring” moment and predicted oil prices could sharply decline as technological change reshapes transportation and energy demand.Wood used “coiled spring” to describe two forces building simultaneously. One is demographic and political pressure in parts of the Middle East, particularly Iran, where younger populations are pushing for change. The other is the tech innovation.

Cathie Wood likes to buy “disruptive” tech stocks.Getty Images

“This world of technology and innovation itself is also a coiled spring,” she said. “Slowly, then all at once — and we are having a lot of ‘all at once’ moments now.”Despite the near-term spike in oil prices, Wood believes the long-term trend points lower.“Electric vehicles will be less expensive,” Wood said, arguing that autonomous mobility and EV adoption could significantly reduce oil demand over time. “That means that the oil price will probably come down.”MoreEconomic Analysis:Ernst & Young drops blunt reality check on the economyFederal Reserve official blasts latest interest-rate pauseIMF drops blunt warning on US economyWood suggested crude oil could fall below $50 per barrel within five to ten years, and potentially even lower as electric transportation and renewable energy scale globally.Global EV registrations, a proxy for sales, reached 20.7 million vehicles in 2025, Reuters reported. The Middle East is preparing for a non-oil economyWood said oil-producing countries are already preparing for the shift to a non-oil economy. Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have poured billions into technology investments and diversification programs as they attempt to reduce reliance on hydrocarbons.“The Middle East, which has the largest oil reserves, knows this,” Wood said, referring to the potential oil price drop. “So they’ve been diversifying into really technology-based disruptive innovation.”Related: JPMorgan delivers a stark message for investors in stocksWe’ve seen programs such as Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy, which is aimed at expanding the non-oil economy, including artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and tourism.On Iran’s future and its broader impact on the world, Wood said the world may not change dramatically.“I don’t think, if this regime somehow manages to hold on, that the world will be that much different,” Wood said.Do you agree or disagree with Cathie Wood’s views? Let us know your comments below!Related: Cathie Wood buys $27 million of battered tech stock

The U.S. government’s own space watchdog is raising serious doubts about whether SpaceX can pull off a moon landing on schedule. And the concerns go deeper than just another missed deadline.A new audit from NASA’s Office of Inspector General released Tuesday, March 10, found that SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander has racked up at least two years of development delays since NASA selected it as its primary astronaut moon lander in 2021. The report warns that Starship’s ability to meet even the revised 2028 target is far from guaranteed.The original goal was a moon landing in 2024. That became 2026, then 2027, and now 2028. Each time, the goalposts have moved. The inspector general is now raising the prospect that 2028 could slip, too, with the report pointing to a shrinking schedule buffer and a string of unresolved technical milestones still ahead.NASA has invested roughly $4.4 billion in SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System contract alone, making the stakes of continued delays not just a scheduling problem, but also a financial and political one.The SpaceX orbital refueling problem nobody has solved yetAt the heart of the audit’s concerns is a technical challenge unlike anything NASA has faced previously. To land astronauts on the moon, SpaceX must first launch more than 11 other Starships into Earth’s orbit to act as refueling tankers. One of those Starships will serve as a propellant storage depot, requiring more than 10 additional Starships to fill it before transferring fuel to the moon-bound vehicle.More Tesla:Top-rated analyst drops curt 8-word take on Tesla stockTesla investors may miss game-changing moveJudge orders Tesla to make major change or halt sales in CaliforniaThis kind of large-scale orbital refueling has never been done before. Starship runs on roughly 1,200 metric tons of liquid methane and liquid oxygen, both of which must be kept at cryogenic temperatures below minus 238 degrees Fahrenheit. Managing that process across multiple spacecraft in zero gravity is an enormous engineering challenge with no real precedent in spaceflight history.To put it in perspective, the Apollo program used a single Saturn V rocket that carried all its fuel from the ground. Starship’s architecture requires assembling its full fuel load in orbit through a chain of tanker flights, each of which must launch, dock, and transfer propellant without a single critical failure before the mission can proceed.”NASA is tracking a top risk that some of the cryogenic technologies and capabilities SpaceX is developing will not be adequately mature” ahead of a 2028 moon landing, the report said.Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander is also falling behindSpaceX is not the only contractor in trouble. The audit also flagged that Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander is running at least eight months behind schedule and still has several unresolved design issues, TipRanks noted. Both companies hold multibillion-dollar fixed-price contracts with NASA to develop lunar landers capable of carrying astronauts to and from the lunar surface.Fixed-price contracts mean the companies, not NASA, absorb cost overruns when milestones are missed. That structure was designed to protect taxpayers, but it also means NASA has limited levers to pull when a contractor falls behind. The agency cannot simply inject more money to speed things up.The audit noted that if something goes seriously wrong during a mission, NASA currently has very limited rescue options for astronauts on the surface. That gap in contingency planning is itself a concern the inspector general flagged explicitly.Key findings from the NASA OIG auditStarship has accumulated at least two years of delays since NASA selected it in 2021.A major design review for the Starship lander has been pushed back to August, shrinking the remaining schedule buffer.Orbital refueling, the most complex step in Starship’s moon mission, has never been attempted at this scale.Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander is at least eight months behind schedule with unresolved design problems.NASA has limited rescue options if something goes wrong with astronauts on the lunar surface.NASA is already restructuring its moon-landing mission planFacing these pressures, NASA moved last month to restructure its Artemis program. The mission previously known as Artemis III, which had been designated as the first crewed moon landing, will now be a lower-Earth orbit rehearsal, CNN reported. Instead, it will test docking between NASA’s Orion capsule and at least one lunar lander prototype.

NASA has retooled its Artemis moon-landing program in response to logistical hurdles and delays.Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images

The actual moon landing has been reassigned to Artemis IV, now targeted for 2028. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency is in fact pursuing up to two moon landings that year, though the inspector general’s report casts significant doubt on whether either is achievable on that timeline.Looming over all of it is China. NASA and the broader U.S. space program are operating under pressure to put boots on the moon before China reaches the lunar surface, with Beijing targeting its own crewed landing by around 2030.What this means for the U.S.-China moon raceThe inspector general’s audit lands at a delicate moment. Every delay in Starship’s development narrows the window between a U.S. moon landing and China’s own timeline. NASA has made clear that the competitive pressure is real and that it factors directly into the urgency behind the Artemis program.China and Russia are jointly working toward a crewed lunar landing, with Beijing targeting a mission by around 2030. If U.S. delays push Artemis IV into 2029 or beyond, the gap between the two programs could close to a matter of months. For NASA, whose entire Artemis narrative is built around American leadership in space, that prospect carries significant weight in Congress, where the program’s funding is decided.SpaceX has now launched Starship more than 11 times since 2023. The program has made genuine technical progress on reusability and vehicle recovery. But the gap between where the rocket is today and what it needs to accomplish to land humans on the moon remains wide, and the government’s own watchdog is now saying so in writing.Related: SpaceX’s Musk, Blue Origin’s Bezos, and OpenAI’s Altman Eye Space Data Centers