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China didn’t grab many headlines at Davos, but it’s the elephant in the room

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 03:14:12 +0000

Flags flutter during the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2026.

Denis Balibouse | Reuters

BEIJING — While high-profile world leaders in Davos last week opined on U.S. claims to Greenland, China’s envoy reiterated calls for cooperation.

Businesses and analysts in China said the developments highlighted an opportunity for Beijing to expand its influence globally as tensions between the U.S. and its allies grow.

This year’s Davos is a “watershed” moment, said Hai Zhao, a director of international political studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a state-affiliated think tank.

He said countries are likely to shift toward regional trade, rather than a global economy centered on the U.S.

The world’s second-largest economy sent He Lifeng, one of its four vice premiers, to Davos, where he promoted business opportunities in China and called for the fair treatment of Chinese companies. In his speech Tuesday, He cited U.S.-China trade talks as an example of cooperation, with no specific discussion of other countries.

His remarks drew less attention than those of other world leaders at the forum. U.S. President Donald Trump made headlines by making personal jabs at foreign leaders and later softening his stance on Greenland.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outlined possible trade agreements, including a potentially “historic” deal with India.

Notably, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney laid out “a rupture in the world order” in a brief speech that was lauded by many commentators as potentially historic.

But analysts in China said it was Beijing’s consistent messaging that would wield greater global sway.

U.S. tensions with Europe are good for China’s relationship with the bloc, said Wei Wang, a researcher at Tianjin University of Commerce.

He said the Greenland controversy could accelerate what he described as Western acceptance that competition with China is failing, while reinforcing the idea that global power is shifting eastward.

The Davos speeches indicate growing acceptance of fundamental global shifts, which many countries outside the U.S., European, and Japanese orbit have already known, said Peter Alexander, managing director at Shanghai-based Z-Ben Advisors.

“With each passing day, it becomes evident that so long as China dominates production, all other nations have little leverage or ability to act,” he said.

China’s share of global container shipments has climbed steadily, reaching 37% for the first three quarters of last year. Beijing was the first major economy to retaliate against Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs back in April, and has increasingly cast itself as a stabilizing force for the world.

The U.S. and China reached a fragile one-year truce in October, with Trump set to visit China in April. But tariffs remain elevated, while Washington continues to restrict China’s access to advanced technologies.

The U.S.-China rivalry is the culmination of decades of “consequential miscalculations made on the part of American policy makers and business leaders,” Alexander said in an essay published Thursday documenting his perspective as an American who has lived in China for nearly 30 years.

Beijing hosts more global leaders

Signaling changes afoot, several world leaders have visited China in January alone, a sharp contrast with the more isolated years around the Covid-19 pandemic.

As 2026 kicked off, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Ireland’s Prime Minister Michael Martin — the first visit by an Irish leader in 14 years — and hosted South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung later that day.

Canada’s Carney met with Xi in Beijing last week and announced a new strategic partnership involving canola seeds and electric cars. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to make a similar trip next week.

These visits help increase business confidence in engaging with China, said Jacob Cooke, co-founder and CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies. The company helps foreign brands such as Vitamix and IS Clinical sell online in China and other parts of Asia.

Over the last year, as the U.S. raised tariffs, Cooke said he’s seen an “uptick in interest from non-American Western consumer brands looking to diversify their international sales by exporting to China.” Chinese consumers continue to seek premium products in categories such as vitamins, pets and sports, he said.

China’s Vice Premier He has said boosting domestic demand, particularly income growth, is a priority this year.

That remains a challenge for China’s state-dominated economy. Retail sales grew just 0.9% in December, the slowest pace since the pandemic. When asked last week about measures to boost disposable income, senior economic planning officials still had no specific measures to share.

Global trends are shifting regardless of China’s domestic challenges.

Larry Fink, CEO of the U.S. financial giant BlackRock and co-chair of this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, said Tuesday the gathering may not always be held in the Swiss Alps.

It might be in “places like Detroit and Dublin, and cities like Jakarta and Buenos Aires,” Fink said. “The mountain will come down to earth.”

The forum has already run a summer version in China since 2007, with this year’s event scheduled for the northeastern city of Dalian. Attendees last year noted a tilt away from Western economies and businesses.

Trump also hinted at a softer tone toward China in his high-profile Davos speech.

“I’ve always had a very good relationship with President Xi … he’s an incredible man. What he’s done is amazing, he’s highly respected by everybody,” Trump said.

He added that while the relationship was “very severely interrupted by Covid,” he stopped using the term “China virus” at Xi’s request.

Grab CEO Anthony Tan suggests drivers could upscale to ‘new kinds of jobs’ as the firm prepares to launch robotaxis next year | Fortune

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 04:27:46 +0000

Ride-hailing firm Grab will roll-out robobuses in its home city of Singapore in early 2026, building on its large investment in autonomous vehicle technologies.

Grab co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan made the announcement Tuesday during the company’s quarterly earnings, covering the three months ending Sep. 30.

“Grab will continue to build new partnerships with more global remote driving and AV leaders, participate in more pilots to understand the operational conditions for different driverless services, and be part of the regulators’ efforts to improve transport connectivity through driverless technologies,” Tan said in prepared remarks.

Grab ran a successful pilot of autonomous vehicles in September, rolled out in partnership with WeRide, a Chinese robotaxi operator. Earlier this year, Grab announced it would make a “strategic equity investment” in WeRide, to be completed in the first half of next year.

Then, in late October, Grab also invested in U.S.-based May Mobility, another provider of autonomous vehicles. May Mobility started to provide commercial rides on robotaxis in the U.S. earlier this year.

In an Q&A with analysts, Tan called the investments part of a “long-term strategy to lead the adoption of AV and remote driving across Southeast Asia.” Yet he admitted that self-driving vehicles may have a steeper hill to climb in the region, due to lower labor costs compared to developed markets like the U.S. or Singapore. “It will require considerable time for the unit economics to reach parity with human drivers.”

Tan also suggested how Grab might upscale its current human drivers as it explores self-driving vehicles. “We see new kinds of jobs emerging. For example, drivers could be remote safety drivers, data labelers; they could change LiDARs, cameras, and so forth.”

A bumper quarter

In its most recent quarter, Grab reported revenue of $873 million, 22% higher than the same period the year before. The tech company reported double-digit growth in all three of its business areas: deliveries, ride-hailing and finance. Ride-hailing revenue grew 17% year-on-year to $317 million, deliveries grew 23% to $465 million, and financial services had the fastest growth at 39% to $90 million.

The company also hiked its profits forecast for the full year; it now expects $480 million to $500 million in adjusted EBITDA for 2025.

Still, Grab shares fell by 4.7% in U.S. trading on Tuesday, perhaps due to low growth in profit for the current quarter. Grab reported $17 million in net income, just slightly more than the $15 million reported a year ago.

During the earnings call, Tan also re-affirmed the firm’s commitment to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its workflow, to enhance both “internal efficiencies and external innovation”. Over 98% of Grab’s engineers now use AI to code, which accelerates their development cycles.

AI technology has also boosted user experience on its apps, Tan added, with visually impaired users benefitting from its boosted speech recognition abilities, which now recognizes speech across regional accents with a 90% accuracy rate, up from 46%.

IIHL and Invesco complete JV formation to grab a piece of fast-growing asset management market in India

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 15:15:47 +0000

IndusInd International Holdings (IIHL), the promoter of IndusInd Bank, and US-based global investment firm Invesco Ltd have completed the formation of their new asset management joint venture in India, marking a key strategic move in India’s fast-growing mutual funds industry.

Under the agreement, IIHL has acquired a 60% stake in Invesco Asset Management India (IAMI), while Invesco retains the remaining 40%. With all regulatory approvals and closing conditions completed, both partners will now act as joint sponsors of the venture, which will continue to operate under the existing Invesco brand and management structure.

The deal positions IIHL, part of the Hinduja Group, to expand beyond banking and deepen its presence in India’s financial services ecosystem. It also allows Invesco to strengthen its domestic foothold by leveraging IIHL’s extensive on-ground distribution network.

As of September 2025, Invesco Asset Management India ranks as the 16th largest asset manager in the country, with total average assets under management of Rs 1.48 lakh crore for the quarter ended September 2025, spanning onshore and offshore advisory businesses. The firm currently operates across 40 Indian cities, catering to retail and institutional investors.

The partnership brings together Invesco’s global investment and product expertise with IIHL’s distribution scale and local market reach. Through its promoted entities and subsidiaries, IIHL will contribute a distribution network spanning more than 11,000 touchpoints and access to over 45 million customers. The company said it also plans to leverage its associate entities globally to extend that reach to another 50 million potential investors.

Despite the ownership change, IAMI’s existing management and investment approach will remain unchanged. The business will continue to be led by CEO Saurabh Nanavati, maintaining its long-standing research-driven investment philosophy and disciplined processes.Commenting on the completion of the transaction, Ashok Hinduja, Chairman of IIHL, said the partnership aligns with the group’s broader ambition to become a diversified financial powerhouse by the end of the decade.”At IIHL, we are very enthused with this JV with Invesco, to augment our parabanking portfolio by including asset management and become a global financial powerhouse by 2030,” Hinduja said.

“This is the most opportune time, as India’s rising income levels and favourable demographics offer enormous investment potential. We will strive to reach the last investor, transparently and efficiently, and live up to the belief that – mutual fund sahi hai,” he added.

Andrew Lo, CEO, Asia Pacific at Invesco, said the partnership will help accelerate the firm’s next growth phase in India.

“Our India business has seen solid growth in the last nine years. We now look forward to partnering with IIHL to further expand our domestic distribution capabilities. Our focus will remain on delivering industry-leading investment offerings and service to Indian clients, drawing on our global and local investment strengths,” he said.

The transaction was advised exclusively by Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors, with Crawford Bayley & Co. and AZB & Partners acting as legal advisors to IIHL and Invesco, respectively.

The partnership comes amid record growth in India’s mutual fund industry, with retail participation expanding rapidly in smaller cities.

Crypto Hacks Surge: $19M In Ethereum Grab by Infamous Wallet Raises Alarming Questions | Bitcoinist.com

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 03:06:23 +0000

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A crypto wallet connected to the notorious $300 million Coinbase hack has reappeared with another suspicious move on the Ethereum blockchain.

Over the weekend, the address acquired 3,976 ETH worth approximately $18.9 million, according to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence. The purchase was executed using 18.9 million DAI, a stablecoin, and split across multiple transactions before being consolidated into the buy.

The transaction came just as Ethereum broke above $4,700, marking its highest level in more than two weeks. Currently, ETH trades at $4,538, down 2.9% in the past 24 hours.

ETH's price trends to the upside on the daily chart. Source: ETHUSD on Tradingview

A Pattern of Bold Acquisitions

This is not the first time the wallet has made waves. In July, it bought 4,863 ETH for $12.6 million and later added 649 ETH at $3,562 per token. Just last month, the same wallet scooped up $8 million worth of Solana (SOL), though that position has since slipped below entry price.

Analysts say the strategy shows deliberate fund consolidation, often seen in money laundering tactics. Breaking transactions into smaller amounts and using privacy tools allows the hacker to mask movements, making tracking more difficult.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT previously estimated that the Coinbase-related social engineering scam drained at least $330 million from victims, warning that the real figure may be significantly higher.

Growing Concerns Over Rising Crypto Hacks

The latest Ethereum purchase shows broader concerns in the crypto industry, where hack-related losses reached $163 million in August alone, according to security firm PeckShield.

With exploits shifting from smart contract bugs to social engineering and cross-chain bridge vulnerabilities, wallets like this continue to pose a major threat to investor confidence.

Despite Coinbase offering a $20 million reward for information on the perpetrators and tightening security, the hacker remains unidentified. The latest $19M ETH grab proves the resilience and boldness of cybercriminals operating in the space.

As crypto rallies and institutional inflows grow, the question remains: is the hacker simply riding bullish momentum, or is this part of a deeper strategy to launder stolen funds? Regulators and blockchain investigators are watching closely, but for now, the crypto world is left with more questions than answers.

Cover image from ChatGPT, ETHUSD chart from Tradingview

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Ride-hailing giant Grab posts first profitable quarter, announces $500 million share buyback

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 07:46:17 +0000

A attendee walks past a banner with a Grab logo before a bell-ringing ceremony as Grab begins trading on the Nasdaq, in Singapore, on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021.

Ore Huiying | Bloomberg | Getty Images

SINGAPORE — Grab posted its first-ever profitable quarter, raking in $11 million in profit, the Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant said in its fourth-quarter earnings report Thursday.

This compares with a $391 million loss recorded in the same period a year ago. The boost was “primarily due to the improvement in Group adjusted EBITDA, fair value changes in investments, and lowered share-based compensation expenses,” the company said.

Revenue for the quarter hit $653 million, exceeding LSEG analysts’ estimates of $634.86 million.

Losses for full year 2023 came to $485 million, down 72% from $1.74 billion a year ago.

In addition to ride-hailing, the company also provides financial services like payments and insurance, as well as deliveries for food, groceries and packages.

“We exited [2023 with] mobility exceeding pre-Covid levels. We are seeing a very strong demand in the mobility space,” Grab CFO Peter Oey told CNBC in an exclusive interview on Friday, adding that tourism is “growing very much.”

“If you look at the deliveries business, we have another record 13% year-over-year growth. We have now more users on our platform also at the same time. So we have really strong momentum,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

Grab announced Thursday it would be repurchasing up to $500 million worth of class A ordinary shares for the first time.

Grab was largely unprofitable during its years of operation, having amassed billions of dollars in losses since its inception in 2012.

In the initial years of business, tech startups tend to prioritize growth over profitability, which usually means burning a lot of cash. But with global macro uncertainties slowing growth, they have been forced to renew their focus on profitability and be more prudent with costs.

During the fourth quarter, total incentives — which include partner and consumer incentives — were further reduced to 7.3% of total value of goods sold, Grab said in its report. That’s compared to 8.2% in the same period a year ago “as we continued to improve the health of our marketplace.”

Grab had been doling out incentives to attract drivers and passengers to its platform but that’s tapering now as the company moves to drive up profitability.

On whether Grab would reach a time where it wouldn’t need to incentivize people to stay on the platform, Oey said incentives will “always be a lever” for the business.

“I don’t think we’re going to see a world where there’s no incentive whatsoever,” he told CNBC, adding that incentives help “to make sure we have enough supply” of drivers and attract price-sensitive customers.

For 2024, Grab expects revenue to come in between $2.70 billion and $2.75 billion, lower than LSEG analysts’ consensus of $2.8 billion.

Grab’s shares closed 8.41% lower on Thursday. Its share price has plummeted 75.8% from its $13.06 opening price in December 2021, when the firm first listed on the Nasdaq.