Why Crypto Die-Hards Are Flocking to a More Secret Version of Bitcoin
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What financial challenges is the Pentagon facing due to the Iran war?
The Pentagon says the growing cost of the Iran war is going to leave them short of money for other operations. Plus, why Bitcoin evangelists are hyped for a different coin called Zcash.
Bitcoin is just an object of speculation. It's digital gold at this point. And the argument for Zcash is it's digital gold plus because you've got this ability to shield yourself from the government.
And Anthropic's AI model mythos helped researchers find a way to crack Apple's famously secure software. It's Thursday, May 14th. I'm Alex Zosola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.
Why are Bitcoin enthusiasts turning to Zcash?
We start today's show in Washington, talking about the consequences of the Iran war. The war, along with troop deployments along the southern U.S. border, are eating up military funding. Pentagon leaders say they could start running out of money for operations this summer unless Congress passes a new wartime spending bill. Defense officials also haven't said when they intend to ask Congress for more money for the war. The latest estimate of the conflict's cost so far is $29 billion. In the meantime, the entire military is exploring ways to save money. That could include holding back on training or denying flying hours for pilots. Turning to the summit between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in China, another day of talks will be kicking off Friday morning in Beijing.
What makes Zcash a more private alternative to Bitcoin?
U.S. allies in Asia, like South Korea and Japan, are paying close attention to discussions about Taiwan. As we mentioned on this morning's show, Xi told Trump that any mishandling of Taiwan could lead to, quote, an extremely dangerous situation. So what do regional U.S. allies want out of these meetings? WSJ Tokyo Bureau Chief Jason Douglas says their goal is status quo.
They didn't want any rocking of the boat, if you know what I mean. There has been, and there still is, a bit of anxiety, particularly around Taiwan. There's this lingering concern that President Trump, in this pursuit of some grand bargain or trade deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, will in some way weaken American commitments to Taiwan and American commitments to the region. They would probably take a degree of reassurance from what we've heard so far, but we're only halfway through the summit, so I don't think nerves will be entirely soothed until the whole thing is over.
The U.S. has a longstanding policy of not supporting Taiwan independence while also stopping short of formally opposing it. The China summit doesn't seem to have affected that, as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear in an interview with NBC Today.
U.S. policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today and as of the meeting that we had here today. It was raised. They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position and we move on to the other topics. We know where they stand and I think they know where we stand.
In Cuba, the government says the country has completely run out of fuel oil and diesel. Officials blamed the U.S. energy blockade. Since January, only one shipment of Russian crude has reached Cuban ports. In the capital, Havana, protests have erupted as days-long blackouts lead to deteriorating living conditions. Last night, residents showed their anger by banging pots and burning garbage. The Trump administration said that it continues to seek meaningful reforms to Cuba's communist system. Cuba's foreign minister says Cuba was ready to hear the U.S. offer, but it heard no details of the plan. And back in the U.S., the latest census data show that some of the country's fastest-growing cities are its exurbs, communities that sit a long or longish commute away from a larger city.
That's the case in places where the populations of cities themselves are shrinking, like in Dallas and Boston. But in cities that themselves are growing, like Phoenix, the exurb cities, such as Goodyear, Buckeye, Surprise, and Avondale, are growing even faster. Coming up, the market debut of chip company Cerebrus shows how excited investors are about AI.
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