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eToro Group Ltd is poised to pursue bolder acquisitions after securing a substantial liquidity base, according to one of its co-founders. At the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy, Ronen Assia, executive director and co-founder, confirmed that the firm “has cash and cash equivalents of around $1.2 billion at the end of the first half of the year, with a cash position of $988 million, with no debt.” He added: “We’re looking to do more ambitious stuff involving acquisitions,” emphasising that eToro aims to broaden both asset classes and its geographic footprint.

eToro’s deliberate pivot into more aggressive mergers and acquisitions comes on the heels of its listing on Nasdaq in May 2025, where it raised $620 million in its initial public offering. The company’s robust cash war-chest endows it with flexibility to explore new verticals and markets in a dynamic fintech landscape.

Beyond financial strength, eToro is deepening its product offering. The platform recently rolled out tokenisation and artificial intelligence tools targeted at retail investors, along with expanding its global reach. Meanwhile, preliminary selected business metrics for July and August reveal continued operational momentum: assets under administration rose to $19.7 billion, funded accounts approached 3.69 million—both reflecting high year-on-year growth—while crypto trading volumes surged by nearly 50 percent.

The company’s healthy balance sheet is grounded in a successful IPO and product innovation. In Q1 2025, eToro reported $736 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, alongside growth in user accounts and assets under administration. The firm also expanded its trading products, launching options in the UK and futures in Europe, while diversifying geographic access to include exchanges in Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong.

This marks a clear signal that bold acquisitions are on eToro’s horizon—a phrase that captures the firm’s evolving strategic ambition and its capacity to act decisively in a competitive market.

The timing of this announcement is significant. Mergers and acquisitions within fintech and crypto sectors have become tools for scale, innovation, and regulatory navigation. With its substantial liquidity and no leverage, eToro may look to acquire firms offering complementary capabilities—whether in tokenisation, AI-driven trading, wealth management, or regional expansion.

Ronen Assia’s stance highlights both intent and preparedness. The expressed goal to take on “more ambitious” deals indicates a readiness to move beyond smaller bolt-ins, aiming instead for transformative moves that could reshape the firm’s product and regional scope. The emphasis on adding asset classes and locales suggests potential targets might include firms with niche offerings or solid footprints in under-penetrated markets.

At a time when many fintech companies are consolidating or recalibrating amid macroeconomic shifts and evolving regulation, eToro’s proactive posture sets it apart. With backing of a strong balance sheet and public market credibility, the platform is well placed to capitalise on strategic M&A opportunities as they arise.

Tether is weighing entry into the gold industry by initiating discussions with mining, refining, trading and royalty firms to channel its crypto-generated profits into bullion-linked ventures. The company holds US $8.7 billion in gold reserves stored in Zurich as collateral, and already holds a minority stake in a royalty firm, with talks underway to expand that involvement. This move marks a strategic shift toward physical assets, seeking to broaden its exposure across the gold supply chain and diversify beyond the cryptocurrency market. While CEO Paolo Ardoino has likened gold to “natural bitcoin”, the gold sector has responded to the overture with caution and scepticism.

Tether’s consideration of investments in new realms of the gold industry underscores a calculated attempt to strengthen its position beyond USDT’s dollar peg. The firm has reportedly held talks with multiple royalty companies and even mining investment vehicles—but not all discussions have yielded results. Notably, Tether’s efforts include growing its exposure via Elemental Altus, a Toronto-listed gold royalty company in which it holds a minority stake, with potential for further investment. Talks with Terranova Resources reportedly ended without agreement.

Tether already anchors its stablecoin operations with nearly US $8.7 billion in gold backing, using physical bullion to support its broader digital asset ecosystem. The gold-backed token XAU₮ remains modest in scale compared to its dollar-pegged counterpart, holding a market value of approximately US $880 million.

Parallel to these strategic talks, Tether’s gold-backed offering—Tether Gold —demonstrates measurable growth. As of the end of June 2025, around 246,524 XAU₮ tokens were in circulation, each representing one fine troy ounce of physical gold; the total backing equates to more than 7.66 metric tonnes of gold. A paraphrase of the headline above encapsulates the thrust: Tether eyes gold mining expansion.

Samsung has introduced its newest Galaxy S25 FE handset and Tab S11 tablet series, underlining an ambition to deliver flagship-level features to a broader audience. The Galaxy S25 FE arrives at around $650, equipped with a 6.7-inch AMOLED display, Exynos 2400 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and a 4,900 mAh battery—paired with Galaxy AI enhancements such as Instant Slow-Mo, Generative Edit, and Audio Eraser. The Tab S11 models—the 11-inch base and the 14.6-inch Ultra—feature One UI 8, Android 16, S Pen support, 120Hz AMOLED screens, MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ chips, and AI-enabled enhancements including Samsung DeX’s new Extended Mode.

At the event held alongside IFA 2025, Jay Kim, one of Samsung’s corporate executive vice-presidents, noted that Galaxy AI is now live on more than 200 million devices, and the company expects to double that by year’s end. The Galaxy S25 FE delivers the longest battery life yet for an FE phone and debuts with improved cooling via a larger vapour-chamber system, alongside a build featuring Armor Aluminium and Gorilla Glass Victus+, with IP68 dust and water resistance.

The Tab S11 Ultra matches the iPad Pro’s 5.1 mm thinness and brings Wi-Fi 7 support, anti-reflective coating, enhanced DeX features, and promising multitasking capabilities. Together, these devices reflect Samsung’s approach to combine premium hardware with smart, AI-powered functionality at competitive prices.

Samsung’s announcement suggests a deliberate strategy: expanding access to its AI ecosystem, offering extended software support—seven years of OS and security updates for the S25 FE—and positioning these devices ahead of major rival launches.

The Galaxy S25 FE is now available and begins around $650 in the US, while the Galaxy Tab S11 line starts from $799 for the base model and $1,199 for the Ultra.

Samsung’s timing—introducing value-oriented yet AI-driven phones and tablets just before its biggest mobile competitor’s next launch—signals a sharp push to attract consumers with strong hardware, intelligent software, and long-term support.

In Bangalore and beyond, industry observers note that the S25 FE’s offering of Galaxy AI tools, robust support lifespan, and competitive price point could challenge rivals in emerging markets. The Tab S11 series, with its stylus-enabled productivity enhancements and tablet-as-laptop flair, appears aimed at professionals and creatives seeking seamless workflows on Android.

Echoing its messaging, Samsung is enhancing its Galaxy ecosystem, aiming to envelop users in its AI capabilities—whether through smartphones or tablets—while ensuring that cutting-edge features are no longer confined to its flagship devices alone.

China has issued a bold action plan to propel its electronic information manufacturing industry through 2025 and 2026, targeting sustained growth in industrial output, revenue, and technological capability as it seeks to strengthen its position in the global technology arena.

The plan, jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation, sets forth a target of roughly 7 per cent average annual growth in industrial output across major segments—including computer, communications, and electronic equipment manufacturing. Revenue growth across related sub-sectors such as lithium batteries, photovoltaics and components is projected to exceed 5 per cent per annum.

Authorities further anticipate that by the close of 2026, the electronic information manufacturing category will retain its status as the largest among China’s 41 key industrial sectors in both revenue and export share. Ambitious local targets aim to elevate five provinces to over 1 trillion yuan in annual manufacturing revenues, with the server industry aiming to surpass 400 billion yuan.

Beyond output and revenue, the plan calls for accelerated equipment modernisation and the development of high-end, intelligent, and eco-friendly production lines. Central to this strategy is the creation of internationally competitive industry bases and specialised clusters serving smaller enterprises.

This industrial blueprint emerges amid broader national efforts to invigorate advanced manufacturing. In August, authorities unveiled new financial guidelines, integrating structural monetary instruments and “green channels” for critical technology firms, aimed at spurring innovation and easing access to capital for integrated circuits, industrial software, medical equipment and advanced materials. Concurrently, China continues to pursue consolidation within its semiconductor sector—though merger negotiations have encountered obstacles, reflecting legal, valuation and fragmentation challenges.

Observers note that China’s renewed emphasis on domestic capability complements longer-standing ambitions under industrial strategies such as “Made in China 2025”, which have driven progress in robotics, solar technology, electric vehicles and rail systems, yet left persistent weaknesses in semiconductors and aerospace.

The current two-year action plan appears to reinforce this trajectory by tying industrial upgrading to environmental standards and smart manufacturing. Provincial authorities are being pressed to deliver on revenue milestones, while the focus on intelligent and eco-friendly production signals an effort to align with global sustainability trends and elevate manufacturing sophistication.

This approach also reflects the government’s response to external pressure, including export controls and trade friction, by targeting resilience and self-sufficiency. By prioritising hubs and clusters, China aims to decentralise innovation and drive inclusive industrial progress across regions, not just within flagship firms or coastal areas.

The twin objectives of maintaining international leadership and building more advanced, cleaner industrial capacity are central to this strategy. As China moves into the mid-2020s, its success will depend on execution—not just on paper targets, but on implementation, regional mobilisation, talent development, and the ability to absorb and apply new technologies at scale.

Abu Dhabi will host the BRIDGE Summit from 8 to 10 December 2025 at the ADNEC Centre, uniting heads of state, media executives, policymakers, technologists and content creators in an ambitious bid to redefine the global media landscape. Announced in Washington by Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed, chairman of the National Media Office, alongside Dr Jamal Mohammed Obaid Al Kaabi, director-general of the NMO, the summit pledges to foster dialogue, innovation and sustainable growth across the sector. Attendance is expected to exceed 5,000 participants, underpinning its status as a global media landmark.

Preparatory efforts have extended worldwide. In June, a roundtable in London convened Al Hamed and Al Kaabi with media experts during London Tech Week to reinforce the summit’s commitment to transparency, accountability and cross-sector collaboration in an increasingly digital era. In Asia, the BRIDGE roadshow landed in Shanghai, following stops in New York, London and Osaka, each event contributing insights to shape the summit’s agenda. A mission to Seoul in August further advanced partnerships with technology and media firms, including I-ON Communications on AI and data storytelling; Dentons on regulatory frameworks; Lotte Caliverse on immersive media; and SM Entertainment on cultural collaboration. These discussions cemented shared goals around content credibility, technology ethics and investment in creative startups.

The BRIDGE Summit is embedded within a broader ecosystem spearheaded by the National Media Office. Alongside the summit lies the BRIDGE Foundation, a non-profit body dedicated to empowering media professionals, funding research and supporting startups. This aligns with the UAE’s pursuit of media as a force for societal development and economic progress. A recently published fact sheet outlines the summit’s six thematic zones—Academy, Diplomacy, Forum, Marketplace, Impact and Spotlight—designed to foster skills, policy engagement, tech innovation, social impact and cultural exchange across a three-day programme.

AI and ethics feature prominently among the summit’s themes. Organisers emphasise human values in storytelling amid accelerating digital disruption and algorithmic influence. Al Hamed has characterised media as a humanitarian force that must uphold integrity and cohesion, not merely chase clicks. The summit will address responsible AI’s potential and pitfalls, ethical journalism, and media business models fit for the digital age.

Beyond content and tech, BRIDGE seeks to bridge policy and practice. With roundtables and forums designed to foster international dialogue, policymakers, creators and academics will collaborate on frameworks that safeguard credibility while embracing innovation.

The summit’s global scope is reflected in its steady itinerary of international engagements. From Washington to London, Shanghai to Seoul, each stop has contributed regional perspectives and partnerships that will inform the summit’s structure, themes and participant networks.