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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was once on a glide path to becoming a billionaire. But as sexual assault allegations and civil lawsuits mount, business partners have fled and his brands have become increasingly worthless. And the worst news may be yet to come. https://lnkd.in/gj2_bDYM

Forbes reported last year that Bhutan had secretly built what was likely to be the world's largest state-owned crypto mining operation. The World Bank now has put a price tag on the project: $539 million. 

The scale of the investment has put a serious strain on the small Himalayan kingdom's finances. That $539 million investment in chips capable of mining bitcoin was equivalent to a fifth of the small Himalayan nation's total GDP. 

Bhutan's economy was still grappling with the impact of the pandemic and the total shutdown of its traditional cash cow - high end tourism (visa fees of $200 per day per visitor) when it embarked on this gamble. The World Bank confirmed Forbes reporting that government spending on its secret crypto project drained hard currency reserves and fuelled a current account deficit. 

How Bhutan had financed this spending was a mystery until now. The World Bank stated in its report that the spending was bankrolled by its central bank buying three-year foreign exchange bonds from its sovereign wealth fund Druk Holding & Investments. 

Those bonds are now a risk factor for the country's economy, according to the World Bank. "There are significant uncertainties related to the bitcoin mining operation that could delay DHI’s loan repayment to RMA, which could constrain the country’s ability to strengthen fiscal and external balances in the short and medium term."
 
The report also notes that the loans were not "adequately" disclosed in the sovereign wealth fund's annual reports. Despite the scale of the gamble it warranted little more than a paragraph from Druk's last annual report, and many of Forbes' questions about the project to harness the kingdom's hydropower plants to mine bitcoin went unanswered.

Here's our deep-dive on Bhutan's secret mining operation from last year.
https://lnkd.in/eUcXbaBX

Signal jammers used to disrupt satellite-guided drones and missiles in the Middle East have also thrown planes and ships around Cyprus off course since the start of the war in Gaza. Now they’re confusing residents of the Mediterranean island puzzled to find their phones wrongly reporting that they are in other countries.

More than a decade ago, Forbes set out to create the inaugural 30 Under 30 list. Now, it's now the definitive list of young people changing the world. Do you know someone creating the next Instagram, Stripe or Spotify? Nominate them (or yourself!) today. https://trib.al/09bZcQX

The Wall Street giant says it sprinkled nearly $3 billion in capital to expand the Black business community.

Goldman Sachs says it has deployed nearly $3 billion in capital for One Million Black Women since its 2021 launch. Its “Black in Business” education course, designed to help sole proprietors scale into employers, has credentialed 750 Black women, including the 146 individuals in its fifth cohort on June 18. Black in Business is a free program and serves as the foundation of One Million Black Women because it may help close the wealth gap and grow the U.S. economy by adding jobs in the Black community.

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