State Of The Race

Driving The News

Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' trial began yesterday.

ICYMI: Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 at just 19 years old. The company, which was once valued at US-$9 billion, developed a way to run 240 medical tests from a single drop of blood...or so we thought. 

In 2015, The Wall Street Journal’s John Carreyrou exposed Theranos’ test as a dud, and showed that the company was using regular blood testing machines. 

What happened: The trial began yesterday with opening statements from the defense and prosecution. Prosecutors accused Holmes of cheating her way to keep Theranos in business, while the defense said that Holmes has been held to an unfair standard and did not intentionally deceive anyone.

But for now Holmes is sitting cozy in a US-$135 million mansion as her trial unfolds. Buckle in because the trial is expected to go on for at least 13 weeks.

China fined Toronto-based Canada Goose over what it claims are misleading ads, per Bloomberg. 

What happened: China slapped Canada Goose with a US-$71,000 fine in June for advertising that their products were made from a specific kind of goose down called Hutterite, which it claims is not true.

It’s not the first time China has pointed fingers at foreign retailers: China fined H&M for US-$40,200 in August for allegedly misleading customers in their ads. This was seen as retaliation for the retailer accusing China of using forced labour.

Bottom line: The fine adds to growing tensions between Canada and China, which have escalated in recent years due to Canada’s detention of Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou and China’s detention of the two Michaels.

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Canadian-based investments, that is. Bill Gates increased his stake in Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotels to ~71%. 

Refresher: Gates' private investment firm, Cascade Investments, holds stakes in a number of companies including Canadian National Railway. Cascade previously held a 47.5% stake in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. 

Zoom out: Cascade Investments has been going through a shuffle since Bill and Melinda French Gates’ divorce last month. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warned cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase about their new product, Lend. 

Lend would allow users to earn a 4% yearly interest on certain crypto holdings that they lend.  

Why it matters: Coinbase isn’t insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which protects consumers in case banks go under. However, Coinbase doesn’t call itself a bank and it’s difficult to regulate cryptocurrency under current laws.

But in this case the SEC claims it has grounds to investigate Lend because if cryptocurrency holdings are used to generate profits, it's technically a security. Coinbase disagrees with the SEC’s position and has said it discussed the product with regulators ahead of the announcement. 

Bottom line: Cryptocurrency platforms and the SEC are butting heads on the technicalities of what is a bank and what isn’t, what’s considered a security, and what the SEC can legitimately regulate.

Congratulations to NASA's Perseverance rover for collecting its first sample on Mars on Tuesday. 

Catch up: Perseverance landed on Mars in February to collect soil samples that may show evidence of life on the red planet.

What’s next: Over the next decade, the rover will continue to collect around 30 more samples from Mars for scientists to better understand the red planet’s origins. 

But getting those samples back to Earth will be a whole different ball game: NASA and the European Space Agency are planning to bring them back to Earth in 2031. Talk about planning ahead...

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