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Giannis Antetokounmpo invests in Kalshi, a day after fans traded over $23 million on his NBA future

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While most of the sports world is still figuring out how to navigate the prediction market boom, NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo is going all-in.

The Milwaukee Bucks player announced he’s a shareholder in Kalshi in an X post on Friday.

“The internet is full of opinions. I decided it was time to make some of my own,” Antetokounmpo wrote.

Kalshi said Antetokounmpo will partner with the company on marketing, live events, and other activities. Other shareholders include Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Coinbase Ventures.

“I love the Kalshi markets and have been checking them often recently,” Antetokounmpo said in a press release. “I like to win. It’s clear to me Kalshi is going to be a winner, and I’m excited to be getting involved.”

Prediction markets are platforms where online users can buy and sell contracts based on the outcome of various events, including presidential elections, the weather, and even the political future of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. Kalshi and Polymarket have emerged as popular platforms among users, who can make or lose large sums of money on all kinds of events unavailable in traditional gambling venues. The markets can often serve as measures of public opinion.


Screenshot from Kalshi

Kalshi users wagered on Giannis Antetokounmpo.



Kalshi



Some Kalshi users, for instance, got a payday earlier this week by wagering on Antetokounmpo’s future in the NBA.

Ahead of the league’s February 5 trade deadline, users speculated on whether Antetokounmpo would stay with the Milwaukee Bucks or retire from the league. Some also wagered on whether Milwaukee would trade Antetokounmpo to another team.

The contract amassed a trading volume of over $23 million.

Antetokounmpo, who ultimately remained with the Bucks, poked fun at the trade rumors in an X post on Thursday. “Legends don’t chase. They attract,” he wrote.

Following Antetokounmpo’s shareholder announcement, some fans expressed concern that he could be violating the NBA’s gambling policy and bemoaned the league’s recent embrace of sports gambling. The NBA now partners with FanDuel and displays betting odds during live broadcasts.

“A player partnering with a prediction market company? There is no conflict of interests here?” one X user asked.

A 2025 illegal sports gambling scandal involving Miami Heat player Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups highlighted the potential for players and coaches to influence games and betting outcomes. A federal investigation into the accusations is ongoing.

Kalshi said Antetokounmpo is prohibited from participating in its prediction markets.

“As an active player in the NBA, Antetokounmpo will be forbidden from trading on markets related to the NBA, per Kalshi’s strict terms of service that ban insider trading and market manipulation,” the company said in a press release.

Some US lawmakers have also raised concerns that prediction markets veer too closely to traditional gambling, which is subject to stricter regulations. In January, a lawmaker introduced a bill to ban government officials from engaging in insider trading in prediction markets.

Kalshi told Business Insider this month that the company has had “dozens of conversations” with lawmakers and is a “regulatory-first company.”




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This startup uses AI to get you on a date — fast. Read the pitch deck it used to raise $9.2 million.

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Allen Wang and Eric Liu, two UC Berkeley dropouts, think they can help college students find love using AI.

Their dating startup, Ditto, leverages AI to match people based on the data users input into the service. It then plans the date for them.

“We’re bringing people back to in-real-life interactions,” Wang, 23, told Business Insider.

After users make a profile, they directly message Ditto’s AI chatbot via text— no app required — about their type and dating preferences. On Wednesdays, users get a text about a potential match. After each date, Ditto follows up for feedback and uses that information as additional data for future matches.

“People are tired of being trapped behind the apps,” Wang said.

Ditto will announce on Tuesday that it has raised $9.2 million in seed funding, led by venture capital firm Peak XV, with participation from firms like Alumni Ventures, Gradient, and Scribble Ventures.

The seed funding will primarily be spent on hiring talent across AI and growth, Wang said, as well as toward Ditto’s marketing. The company has 10 staffers and has raised a total of $9.5 million to date. Ditto launched its product in early 2025.

Ditto isn’t the only AI dating app gaining momentum right now.

Other startups like Sitch, Known, and Amata have raised millions for similar products that pitch AI-powered matchmaking as the new alternative to swiping through profiles. Dating app mainstays like Tinder and Bumble, meanwhile, are also testing the AI waters to reignite user interest.

Ditto’s AI tries to determine whether two people would be a good match by using profile details, such as users’ hobbies or interests, to simulate a date, Wang said.

“Would you guys have a good conversation? Do you guys have matched humor level? Do you guys have similar vibes and values?” Wang said.

Finding love as a college student

The dating startup world has a history of targeting college students as early users. For instance, Tinder’s early success came in part from its marketing on college campuses.

“College kids are very adaptive to new technology,” Wang said.

The app now has about 42,000 people signed up across several college campuses in California. With its recent funding, Ditto plans to expand to more college campuses.

One tactic that helps get college-aged users on board: parties.

Ditto plans to host several yacht parties across the US, beginning with a Valentine’s Day party in Los Angeles (it hosted its first yacht party this summer). At the parties, 100 college students will sign up for Ditto and then get paired into 50 couples.

For now, Ditto is free.

“We are prioritizing growth over monetization,” Wang said, adding that the startup is interviewing users about what price they’d be willing to pay for dates from the service.

Read the 12-page pitch deck Ditto used to raise $9.2 million:

Note: Some details have been redacted.

Ditto introduces itself as an ‘AI social agent’


The first AI Social Agent start with dating


Ditto

The deck kicks off with a little dating app history


Dating App's Paradigm Shifts Every Decade DUE TO NEW TECH INNOVATION AND GENERATIONAL DEMOGRAPHIC


Ditto

Dating apps have a “paradigm shift every decade,” the slide says.

In the 1990s and 2000s, online dating websites emerged. Then in the 2010s, mobile dating apps took over. Ditto pitched investors that AI is the next frontier.

Ditto explains AI agents and what it says Gen Z wants


AI Social Agent Network TECH INNO AI AGENTS TURNED STATIC PROFILES ALIVE


Ditto

The slide describes Ditto as an AI social agent network where “AI turns profiles into live agents that can interact on their own.”

“Gen Z is tired of swiping and chatting online,” the slide says. “They prefer ‘coffee chat vibe check’ style social: IRL, genuine, light.”

Ditto says dating apps like Tinder are ‘primitive’


AI Social Agent Network TECH INNO AI AGENTS TURNED STATIC PROFILES ALIVE


Ditto

The slide also incorporates some old-school video game aesthetics, inspired by Super Mario Bros.

It says that AI agents setting up dates ‘is the future’


Ditto is the future An AI Agent that directly set up your dream dates


Ditto

Then, the deck explains how Ditto works


Tell Ditto Your type (On phone UI:) Tell us about your type 1/2 When dating, what are red flags for you? Type your answer here…


Ditto

On a website, users fill out a questionnaire and tell Ditto about their “type.” Then, Ditto will start texting users directly.

Ditto texts a date invite after finding a match


AI customized date invite


Ditto

The text includes a collage of the user’s photos.

Then, Ditto sets up a date and follows up for feedback


Direct to IRL Date


Ditto

Ditto pitches vibe-based matchmaking


Vibe is all you need CONNECT BASED ON REASONING


Ditto

It includes a flow chart explaining how its agentic system works


How our agentic system works User Data


Ditto

Ditto takes user data and feeds it into an analysis agent, which performs image analysis, attractiveness analysis, and profile tagging.

Then, in the “pre-date reasoning” phase, a matchmaking agent does a “vibe check” and “hobby match” before running a “date simulation.” The date simulation agent then runs through things like “first impression” or “conversation flow” before presenting a user with a match.

Ditto’s deck concludes with a collage of testimonials from college students


People Love Us


Ditto




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Paramount+ got about 1 million new subscribers the day of its first UFC event, an exec told staffers

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UFC is already a hit for Paramount+.

Paramount’s flagship streaming service generated about a million new subscribers on the day of its first-ever UFC event, Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow told employees in a town hall on Tuesday morning, three staffers who attended the meeting told Business Insider.

A Paramount spokesperson said: “Those numbers are unverified, and it’s against our policy to share speculative data externally.”

In August, Paramount did a deal with UFC parent TKO that will see it pay $7.7 billion to secure UFC rights in the US for seven years.

Glasgow said at the town hall that Saturday was the second-largest day of sign-ups ever for its streamer, and that UFC 324 was the second-most-streamed sporting event on the service, according to two employees.

Notably, Paramount made its UFC matches available for anyone with a Paramount+ subscription, which starts at $8.99 a month. Before the Paramount deal, many UFC matches were only on pay-per-view for around $80 each.

Paramount previously announced that its UFC broadcast had just under 5 million average viewers for the main card. Paramount CEO David Ellison told staffers in an email that it was “the largest-ever exclusive live event for Paramount+.” The streamer has drawn larger audiences to other non-exclusive live events, including NFL games that ran on both Paramount+ and CBS.

“This record-breaking performance is, above all, a testament to the extraordinary teamwork across our entire company,” Ellison told employees in his memo, which was obtained by Business Insider.


UFC champ

Paramount’s UFC event, which saw Justin Gaethje emerge victorious, was highly viewed, the company told employees.

Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC



For context, Netflix’s Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight added about 1.4 million US subscribers to that service in November 2024, according to the subscription data firm Antenna. The firm only tracks US data.

Antenna estimated that Paramount+ reeled in an estimated 3.2 million new US customers when it hosted the Super Bowl in 2024.

Read Ellison’s full memo to employees below:

Team,

A huge congratulations to everyone who contributed to the success of our first UFC event on Paramount+! Several members of our leadership team and I were cageside Saturday night, and we were completely blown away by the experience and by the intensity, skill and heart on display across the card. We left the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas more excited and energized than ever about our partnership with Dana White and the entire TKO/UFC team.

I’ve heard from several executives at TKO/UFC, and they also could not be more pleased with how everything came together. It was a fantastic start to our 7-year partnership!

While we went into the weekend with high expectations, I’m thrilled to share that we exceeded them, reaching nearly 5 million streaming views — the largest-ever exclusive live event for Paramount+. And the actual audience was likely even higher, given how common co-viewing is among UFC fans.

This record-breaking performance is, above all, a testament to the extraordinary teamwork across our entire company. Every single business unit, division and team — from Paramount+, Paramount Pictures and CBS to MTV, BET, Nickelodeon and Pluto, as well as Marketing, Social, Ad Sales, Technology, Events and more — came together, rolled up their sleeves and got creative. The incredible power of Paramount One to reach the broadest possible audience was on full display companywide, and UFC 324 stands as our strongest example yet of what we can achieve when we all work together toward a common goal.

Again, hats off to everyone. With nearly 5 million streaming views and record-breaking engagement, UFC 324 set the bar high, and we can’t wait to keep the momentum going at UFC 325 next weekend in Sydney!

Let’s go!

David




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Peter Kafka

Streaming big events like an NFL game used to be question mark. Amazon just got more than 31 million people to stream the Bears-Packers.

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On Saturday, the Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers in an NFL playoff game that had everything: a bitter rivalry, an old-school outdoors atmosphere, and a historic comeback (or choke-job, depending on your POV).

It also happened to be a (mostly) streaming-only game. Did you notice? Or care?

I didn’t. Except for about 30 seconds, when I was trying to find out what network was showing the game, and it took me a beat to realize it was on Amazon’s Prime Video. Then I booted up my app and watched the game without any issue. Just like any other NFL game.

In 2026, “Guy doesn’t have a problem watching the Bears/Packers” is a true dog-bites-man story. But that’s why I’m writing about it here: Not very long ago, the idea of streaming a super-high-profile NFL game — and requiring NFL fans to subscribe to a streaming service in order to watch it — would have been a very big deal.

Now it’s a yawner: I was one of 31.6 million people who watched the game, the vast majority of whom streamed it (fans in local markets could use broadcast TV). That’s a streaming record for an NFL game, and it’s more than some other games got last weekend on conventional TV.

And that tells you just how far sports and streaming have come.

Flash back to 2013, for instance, and the idea of whether the “internet” — a catch-all term that included everything needed to get streaming video onto your screen, from web servers to fiber-optic lines to the router in your house — could support a big NFL game watched by many millions of people was an open question. “Why Web TV Skeptic Mark Cuban Thinks Google Can Make the NFL Work on the Web,” was an ungainly headline I tapped out at the time.

Back then, the NFL and other sports giants were routinely streaming big events like the Super Bowl and World Cup — but only as a sort of secondary outlet for weirdos who didn’t have traditional TV. And anyone who did stream sports had to expect to run into problems, like ESPN did when it streamed a World Cup game in 2014.

A year later, the NFL put on a streaming-only game for the first time — but made sure it was a relatively niche one, and made sure that people knew it was an experiment.

Cut to today, and streaming is just a way we watch some football games now. Amazon pays a gazillion dollars a year to show one game a week during the regular season; Netflix has paid up to show a couple games on Christmas Day. A new deal the NFL struck with Disney last year will give the league the opportunity to sell even more games to digital players.

And two years ago, the league passed another new threshold by moving one of its most valuable assets — a playoff game — to Comcast’s Peacock streamer, where it was only available to paid subscribers. That one generated a ton of complaints from people who said they didn’t want to pay another service to watch an NFL game — along with millions of sign-ups for Peacock, which showed they would.

The NFL is not ditching TV for streaming anytime soon. For many people, watching NFL games is the main reason to watch TV, and that gives the league a ton of leverage to extract ever-increasing fees from the likes of NBC and CBS. So they will almost certainly keep the majority of their games on old-time TV for the foreseeable future. But they’re going to sell them to streaming platforms too — because they’ll pay up to get them, and you’ll pay, too.




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Polymarket users have bet over $2 million so far predicting the Golden Globes. Here’s who they say will win.

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The awards show ballot was once an innocent watch-party game.

Now, millions of dollars are at stake.

Fans planning to watch the 83rd Golden Globe Awards are plowing money into prediction markets, hoping for a windfall if they correctly choose a winner.

Millions have so far been bet on Golden Globe winners on Polymarket, one of the leading prediction market platforms. This year, Polymarket partnered with the Golden Globes, which airs on CBS and Paramount+ on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.

“The collaboration will bring real-time, market-driven insights across the Golden Globes live events and a broad digital and editorial ecosystem touching fans’ greatest passion points across entertainment, fashion and pop culture,” a joint press release said.

Prediction markets, such as Polymarket and Kalshi, allow users to buy and sell shares on the outcomes of future events, including sports games or presidential elections, potentially resulting in a payday. Polymarket also provides real-time updates, meaning the data can provide insights into how consumers and investors think.

The relatively new markets are not strictly regulated, leaving room for those with insider knowledge to game the system. A last-minute bet on Polymarket last week that Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro would be ousted netted strong returns after the US captured Maduro in a surprise raid hours later. A new bill proposed last week in response would prohibit government officials from insider trading on prediction markets.

For the Globes, fans have already bet nearly $2.5 million in contracts across 30 awards show categories on Polymarket, including Best Director and Best Motion Picture, as of Sunday afternoon.

So, who do betters think will win?

Predicted Winners on Polymarket

Best Director

On Polymarket, betters think Paul Thomas Anderson, whose film “One Battle After Another” also snagged Golden Globe noms, has a 94% chance of winning Best Director. Ryan Coogler, director of “Sinners,” is behind Anderson at 3%.

Best Actor — Drama winner

Betters gave Wagner Moura, who starred in “The Secret Agent,” a 73% chance of winning Best Actor in a motion picture drama. Michael B. Jordan of “Sinners” had a 24% chance.

Best Actor — Musical or Comedy winner

Timothee Chalamet, star of “Marty Supreme,” led with a 70% chance to win Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy motion picture on Sunday afternoon. Leonardo DiCaprio followed Chalamet at 17% for his work in “One Battle After Another.”

Best Actress — Drama winner

“Hamnet” star Jessie Buckley had a 96% of winning Best Actress in a drama motion picture. Behind Buckley, betters gave Renate Reinsve of “Sentimental Value” a 3% chance of winning.

Best Actress — Musical or Comedy winner

Polymarket betters think Rose Byrne has a 76% chance of winning a Golden Globe Award for her role in the film, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” Emma Stone, star of “Bugonia,” came in second at 12%.

Best Motion Picture — Animated winner

On Polymarket, users gave Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” a 92% chance of winning the top animation prize. “Acro,” written and directed by Ugo Bienvenu, followed at a 5% chance.

Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy winner

Betters on Polymarket threw their money behind “One Battle After Another” to win this category at 97%, beating “Marty Supreme,” which had a 2% chance.

Best Motion Picture — Drama winner

“Sinners” had the highest chance to win Best Motion Picture in the drama category on Polymarket at 55%. “Hamnet” came behind that at a 31% chance.




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Donald Trump says Venezuela would give 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the US, to be controlled by him

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  • President Donald Trump announced a plan to import over 30 million barrels of Venezuelan oil to the US market.
  • Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has not commented on Trump’s proposal.
  • Trump is considering subsidizing oil companies to expand their operation to Venezuela.

President Donald Trump said he’s wasting no time when it comes to oil in Venezuela.

In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said that the interim president of Venezuela will “be turning over” between 30 and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil, and that the oil would be sold at market prices, with the revenue overseen by him as president to ensure it benefits both Venezuela and the US.

“It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He added that he directed Energy Secretary Chris Wright to carry out the plan “immediately.”

It is unclear if the plan will face legal hurdles, and further details are unknown. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

The current interim leader of Venezuela is Delcy Rodríguez, who was sworn in as acting president on January 5, 2026, after the US captured and detained the country’s former President Nicolás Maduro, alongside his wife. Rodríguez is a longtime Maduro loyalist and originally served as the Vice President of Venezuela. She has so far not spoken out on whether she would cooperate with Trump’s plan.

Trump’s comments build on his previous remarks that he would “take back” Venezuela’s oil reserves and revive the country’s battered energy sector, which has faced sanctions and mismanagement.

Trump also previously said in an interview with NBC News that the US could reimburse American oil companies for expanding their operations in Venezuela, but he did not have an estimate on how much the subsidy would cost.

Even though a larger supply could lead to lower costs for American consumers, the downward pressure on prices could disincentivize large oil companies from investing in Venezuela. It could also take years to build functioning infrastructure.

Venezuela’s oil production currently accounts for less than 1% of the global oil output, despite possessing the world’s largest known oil reserves.




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kelly burch

While I led my company through a $150 million acquisition, my husband handled the parenting. Here’s how we make it work in our house.

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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tiffany Haynes, host of the Between Builds podcast and Substack. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I was entirely on my own when I was 19. While I was enrolled in college, I worked full-time at night in the call center of a fintech company, Jack Henry & Associates. It was a gritty, hands-on role, but an exciting time to be with the company, which was growing quickly.

I didn’t have a typical college experience. I worked a lot so I could pay for my car and home. At work, I put my hand up any chance I could. I was never the smartest person, but I worked really hard and was always willing to figure out problems. Even if I’d never done something, I would figure it out. I couldn’t afford to fail, personally or professionally.

That served me well. I gained a reputation as someone who could execute tasks with a high degree of excellence, while also operating with empathy. By the time I left Jack Henry in 2022, after 20 years, I had become a vice president.

My husband handled childcare while I worked in NYC

At that point, I was a wife, mom of five, and had been a foster mother to seven children. I live in Missouri, but my reputation was so strong that the team at Fingercheck, a New York-based HR platform, approached me about scaling the company with a goal of acquisition.

I started traveling a lot, and spending two weeks in Brooklyn at a time, with a week at home in between. My husband handled childcare, loading up the kids and bringing them to the school that they attended, where he was the superintendent.

Over three years, I helped scale Fingercheck. In October 2024, it was acquired for $150 million.


Tiffany Haynes wearing a white zip-up sweater and standing in a field.

Tiffany Haynes wants her kids to know the value of hard work.



Photo credit: Teresa’s PHOTOWORKS



After the acquisition, my husband and I founded a school

I stayed at Fingercheck until this July to help with the transition. After that, the plan was to take time to reorient myself and rest.

Yet, life had other plans. The school my husband led was affiliated with a local church. It grew so much that the church could no longer handle it, and this summer, we had a choice to make: let 100 kids find a new school community, or open our own.

It was a whirlwind four months, but we did it. I call myself the quiet cofounder of the school, and I’m not involved in day-to-day operations. Now, I’m doing some advising work and have a podcast called Between Builds. I’m also taking some time for myself to be whole, rather than hurried.


Tiffany Haynes and her husband

Tiffany Haynes and her husband connect every day over coffee.



Photo credit: Teresa’s PHOTOWORKS



We connect almost daily over coffee

My husband doesn’t take a salary — his work is our way of giving back. When he left his paying job 13 years ago to enter education, I became the breadwinner. We’ve had a lot of practice respecting one another’s domains.

The work I did with Fingercheck in New York was very fast-paced, urban, and growth-focused. The work he does here in Missouri is rural, quiet, and focused on community. It’s two different ends of the spectrum.

We appreciate each other’s different skill sets. I support the school, because he loves the school and I love him. He handled the family when I needed to travel for work, even if he didn’t fully understand the fintech world. We connect almost every morning over coffee, before the kids are up, and talk about how we can support each other. We aimed to do that even when I was working full-time, but it’s easier in the months since I left Fingercheck.

I want my kids to understand the joy that comes from hard work

I grew up poor, and I understand how privileged my family is today. We have more than enough, so we aim to give not only money but time. I try to be the advocate I never had growing up, both to my own kids and the children we foster. I’ve done a lot of work to process my own trauma from a difficult childhood, and I want my children to have a foundation of emotional intelligence and health.

I also want them to understand that it takes a lot of hard work and consistency to be excellent. They see YouTube influencers talking about making millions, and I worry that creates a short-sighted view of worth ethic and personal meaning.

I hope my kids understand the joy you get from doing hard things. I want a space where they can sit with frustrations and build resilience; I know that will serve them well in life.




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I won $28 million in the Powerball when I was 21. One choice saved me from becoming a broke lottery winner.

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The holiday season may have most of us ready to slow down, but the stakes for Wednesday night’s Powerball are just heating up. The top prize for Wednesday night’s drawing is estimated to be $1.7 billion, making it the sixth-largest jackpot in Powerball history.

If there is a winner on Wednesday, it could feel like a Christmas miracle, but former Powerball winner, Timothy Shultz, said there’s also a slim chance of going broke within a few years, despite amassing that amount of wealth.

Schultz won $28 million in 1999 while working at a gas station and retired a multimillionaire by the age of 21. In an effort not to become one of the unfortunate winners who eventually lose it all, he put a specific plan in place.

Consulting wealth professionals is the first step Schultz took after winning the Powerball

“Suddenly, I’d gone from a gas station attendant to retired at 21,” Shultz told Business Insider in a 2024 interview. “I felt like I was holding a magic wand. Everything was possible, but I also wanted to be financially responsible.”

He said, “At 21, I had no idea what to do with that kind of money and was lucky I sought professional guidance. I didn’t want to become a statistic of lottery winners going broke within a few years.”

Before turning in the ticket, he said he consulted with wealth professionals to understand how much he could afford to spend and give to others. “I helped many people, but also wanted to live within my means.”

Investing the money helped him maintain his wealth

Before he received any of the money, he established a plan with advisors to invest it conservatively, ensuring the returns could last him a lifetime. “I mostly invested in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds,” he said.

Emily Irwin, a Wells Fargo advisor who guides lottery winners on how to spend their money, told Business Insider in a 2023 interview that this is exactly what winners should do.

She also advised assembling a team of financial planners as soon as possible and that, “You must carefully consider experts specializing in high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth tax planning.” Irwin also said winners should interview several candidates, as these advisors will most likely be in their lives for years.

Other ways the 1999 Powerball winner spent his money

The first thing Shultz purchased with the money was the latest video game system. A luxury, he said, he “couldn’t afford before winning.” The next thing he did was set up his investments.

After establishing his investments, Schultz said he helped his family, bought vehicles, and traveled. He even went back to college to study film and broadcast journalism, a dream come true for him

But after winning, and still being surrounded by other struggling college students, Shultz felt pressure to pay for friends’ vacations, meals, or anything they did together.

He said, “When you win the lottery, people don’t view the money as something you’ve earned. A family member explicitly told me I got something for nothing by winning the lottery and should keep giving them and others money.”

Despite his successful investments, he still has one regret

These days, Schultz said he spends most of his free time exercising and working on his podcast and YouTube channel, “Lottery, Dreams, and Fortune,” which highlights the story of other lottery winners. “YouTube brings in some money, but I can live off my investments,” he said.

Despite making great investment choices, Schultz still regrets overlooking one specific investment.”I wish I had invested in bitcoin a few years ago, but that’s my only regret about how I’ve spent the winnings,” he said.

Still, Shultz’s initial decision to seek professional financial help set him up for years of success.

Correction: December 23, 2025 —An earlier version of this story misstated the details of the next Powerball drawing. It is for $1.7 billion on Wednesday night.




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Polly Thompson

Elon Musk’s Starlink is adding 20,000 new users a day as it hits 9 million customers

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Moving at superspeed isn’t limited to SpaceX’s rockets.

Elon Musk’s satellite and rocket company has secured one million new customers for its Starlink internet in under seven weeks and is now active in 155 markets, the company wrote in a post on X on Monday evening.

“Starlink is connecting more than 9M active customers with high-speed internet across 155 countries, territories, and many other markets,” the company said.

In a similar post from November 5, SpaceX said Starlink had 8 million customers, meaning that its customer base has expanded at a rate of more than 20,000 per day since that date.

SpaceX, which uses a constellation of more than 9,000 low-orbit satellites to provide its Starlink internet connection, including to remote areas, is reportedly planning to go public next year at a valuation of $1.5 trillion.

Elon Musk, who founded the company in 2002, said this month that the satellite network was “by far” the largest driver of SpaceX’s revenue.

The numbers close an explosive year of growth for SpaceX. In a December 2024 progress report, SpaceX said Starlink had 4.6 million customers, and by August 2025, the number was up to 7 million.

Global web traffic from users on SpaceX’s satellite-based internet service more than doubled in 2025, according to data from Cloudflare, a cybersecurity company that handles tens of millions of requests between users and websites every second.

Around two dozen airlines have also announced plans to use Starlink to offer high-speed WiFi on their planes, and SpaceX has signalled it could soon launch its own mobile carrier service powered by the satellite network.

SpaceX has successfully commercialized reusable rockets, a feat previously thought impossible by many within the space industry, and now launches more cargo into orbit than any other company.

It has also capitalized on opportunities that emerged as NASA and the Pentagon moved away from government-only spaceflight, and filled a massive unmet demand in global connectivity.

Led by Musk, who is the CEO and founder, SpaceX is also known for its intense, efficiency-driven culture.

SpaceX ultimately plans to fulfill its billionaire founder’s ambitious visions of colonizing Mars and putting data centers in space with its giant Starship rocket.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.




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Brooklyn man, 23, is charged in $15 million Coinbase ‘customer-care’ scheme

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A young Brooklyn man has been charged with stealing $15 million by impersonating a Coinbase customer care representative.

In a criminal complaint, Ronald Spektor, 23, is accused of tricking some 100 victims from across the United States into turning over the passwords for their cryptocurrency accounts, under the guise that their assets were at risk.

The “long term larceny scheme” began in April 2023 and continued until his arrest on December 4, the complaint alleges. Since then, Spektor has been held in Rikers Island, in lieu of bail set at $500,000 cash or $1 million bond.

Spektor faces top charges of grand larceny and money laundering, each carrying a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. He is also charged with possessing stolen property and the personal information of his alleged victims.

“Mr. Spektor has pleaded not guilty,” his attorney, Todd Spodek, told Business Insider. “We’re working to secure his release early next week and will challenge the charges in court.”

Some 70 victims have been interviewed by investigators with the NYPD and the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, the complaint alleges.

“Each Coinbase user confirmed that prior to the loss of their cryptocurrency, said Coinbase users were contacted over the phone by someone who purported to be a legitimate Coinbase employee,” prosecutors allege in the complaint.

“The purported employee informed them their assets were at risk and needed to be moved to a new wallet,” the complaint alleges, using the term for the applications that store cryptocurrency.

Believing they were communicating “with a legitimate employee,” the victims then gave Spektor their seed phrases — a sequence of 12 to 24 words that act like a password — and moved their cryptocurrency to wallets that Spektor controlled, the complaint alleges.

“Their cryptocurrency was immediately withdrawn without their permission,” the complaint continues. The stolen crypto then “passed through cryptocurrency wallets belonging to the defendant,” it says.

Last year, a Coinbase user in California lost more than $6 million, and another user from California lost $1 million, the complaint alleges.

Investigators traced more than $5 million in stolen funds to Spektor’s accounts with two online gambling services, the complaint alleges. Millions more were converted into cash or laundered through online coin swapping services, according to the complaint.

Spektor’s iPhone contained a wealth of incriminating evidence, investigators said.

The complaint alleges that this includes conversations on the online platform Discord in which he bragged “that he had made millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency through scamming, used social engineering to obtain Coinbase seed phrases, and had lost six million dollars worth of cryptocurrency through gambling.”

The phone also contained communications with his father from November 2024 in which “they discussed, in sum and substance, concealing the financial proceeds of the Coinbase scheme.”

The complaint continues, “Other messages show that the defendant asked his father to dispose of his hardware wallets” and asked his mother “to purchase a new hardware wallet.” Hardware wallets are devices resembling USB drives that store private cryptocurrency data offline.

Spektor’s Telegram handle was “@LOLIMFEELINGEVIL” and his account included discussions “of successful Coinbase phishing attacks, and efforts to recruit others to join the scheme,” the complaint also alleges.

According to the complaint, a Google account associated with Spektor contained “approximately 29 text messages containing personal identifying information in the form of tens of thousands of individuals’ email addresses and associated passwords.”

Spektor’s attorney, Spodek, told Business Insider that his client has been aware of the investigation by Brooklyn prosecutors’ Virtual Currency Unit “for over a year.”

“The allegations are speculative and based on incomplete information,” said Spodek, whose other cryptocurrency cases include Instagram influencer and crypto-scammer Jay Manzini (sentenced to seven years in prison last year) and Amir Bruno Elmaani (sentenced to four years prison in 2023).

“Once the full picture comes out, this case will look very different,” Spodek added.




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