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(Bloomberg) — France opened a hub for testing electric air taxis as it seeks to introduce the world’s first service with the new category of aircraft in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Aeroports de Paris, which runs the French capital’s major airports, will operate the facility alongside UK-based Skyports Ltd., a leading developer of so-called vertiports, as flying-taxi bases have been termed.

The hub at Pontoise Cormeilles aerodrome, unveiled Thursday, combines a passenger terminal, take-off and landing area, mission control zone and hangar, all as close as possible to the configuration envisaged for 2024.

Volocopter GmbH, a German developer of electric vertical take-off and landing craft or eVTOLs, as flying taxis are known, carried out a flight integrated with conventional air traffic as part of the launch, and said the push to be ready for the Olympics is driving its technology forward.

“I am fully convinced we can make it,” Chief Executive Officer Dirk Hoke said in an interview at the launch. “All our team gets up in the morning just for this goal. It’s the most challenging road map you can imagine.”

The most critical milestone will be to get regulatory authorization by the second quarter of 2024, right before the games start, Hoke said.

Floating Vertiport

Two flying taxi routes are planned for the games, one from Charles de Gaulle and Le Bourget airports to central Paris, where a vertiport will be positioned on a barge on the Seine river, the other from the Saint-Cyr aerodrome near Versailles into the city.

The project is also backed by RATP Group, which provides public transport in the Paris area, and the DGAC aviation regulator, as well as the transport ministry and Ile-de-France region.

ADP Chief Executive Officer Augustin de Romanet said the opening of the test site marks “a new decisive step in the development of electric air mobility,” and that work will include development of multiple use cases for the hub, including health and logistics applications.

Valérie Pécresse, president of the Paris Region, said in a statement she wants the city to be known for the first passenger eVTOL flight, adding that the Olympics are “an incredible opportunity to showcase and launch this project.”

Rome, Singapore

Volocopter plans to offer its VoloCity model for the games for flights spanning around half an hour. The company aims to commence services in Rome by the end of 2024, with Singapore, Miami and Los Angeles to follow.

Elsewhere in the Paris region, there’s interest in deploying flying taxis in the spa town of Enghien-les-Bains, located on a lake and boasting luxury hotels and the only casino of the region.

Flying taxis are emerging as a new transport market, with developers raising hundreds of millions of dollars.

The French project adds to a growing list of planned bases around the world including those being promoted by Skyports rival Urban-Air Port, which showcased a demonstration vertiport in Coventry, England, last spring.

–With assistance from William Wilkes.

(Updates with comments from Volocopter CEO starting in fourth paragraph)

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(Bloomberg) — El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings have lost 60% of their value amid this week’s sell off of the digital coin after Binance Holding Ltd.’s withdrew its offer to buy FTX.com.

The country’s 2,381 Bitcoin are now worth $41.5 million at current prices, below the roughly $105 million the government paid to purchase them, based on calculations by Bloomberg using Tweets from President Nayib Bukele. Bitcoin rose on Thursday, paring Wednesday’s declines. 

The government doesn’t publish data on its Bitcoin holdings. Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said in an interview on Wednesday with local television program Frente a Frente that the government has not sold any of its Bitcoin and has therefore not realized any loss. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said on Twitter Thursday that Bukele informed him the country has no Bitcoin on FTX. 

El Salvador’s representatives at the finance ministry and the presidency didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. 

“It’s not going to affect us. We haven’t sold any of our possessions,” Zelaya said. “You can’t realize a loss when you don’t sell. No financial decision maker would make the decision to sell when things are down.” 

 

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(Bloomberg) — Japan’s government has ordered FTX.com’s local subsidiary to suspend some of its operations, saying it has no structure in place to properly offer cryptocurrency exchange services to users.

The Kanto Local Finance Bureau instructed the unit to pause client services until Dec. 9, according to a statement released Thursday. The company is also not allowed to accept new assets from clients over that period.

The move follows the dramatic downfall of crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, who on Wednesday told investors that his troubled exchange FTX may have to seek bankruptcy if it doesn’t get a bailout. He is shutting down Alameda Research, the trading house at the heart of his digital-asset empire, in an attempt to save the exchange. 

The Japanese regulator said FTX’s decision to halt withdrawals of assets by clients means that it doesn’t have the necessary structure to provide crypto exchange services in a manner deemed appropriate under domestic standards. The government has asked the company to submit a business improvement plan by Nov. 16. 

For crypto market prices: CRYP; for top crypto news: TOP CRYPTO.

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(Bloomberg) — Troubled crypto exchange FTX.com resumed withdrawals on the platform, according to blockchain data, after halting such activities on Tuesday because of “liquidity crunches” cited by its co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

The withdrawal activities halted around Tuesday morning in New York, according to Telegram messages on FTX.com’s customer supporting group and blockchain data provided by data firm Nansen. At the time of publication, FTX.com appears to have fulfilled millions of dollars worth of withdrawal requests by users. Nansen and Kaiko, another blockchain data firm, both confirmed the resumed activities. FTX processed $8 million worth of withdrawals in an hour on Thursday, Nansen said.

The resumed activities bring renewed hope for frustrated traders and investors whose assets were stuck after Bankman-Fried shocked the digital-asset industry on Tuesday, announcing that he was in talks with rival Binance to sell FTX. Sequoia Capital wrote down the full value of its $214 million investment in FTX. A smaller venture fund Multicoin Capital was also impacted.

Binance eventually walked away from the deal, citing “a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations.”

Representatives of FTX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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(Bloomberg) — Fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried is shutting down Alameda Research, the trading house at the heart of his digital-asset empire, as he seeks last-ditch financing to save his troubled crypto exchange FTX.com. 

Bankman-Fried, who on Wednesday told investors that FTX may have to seek bankruptcy if it doesn’t get a rescue, announced the move in a series of tweets on Thursday, adding that FTX is “spending the week doing everything we can to raise liquidity.” 

Bankman-Fried’s downfall was swift, with a hastily-agreed rescue by rival Binance Holdings Ltd. falling apart, US authorities looking into FTX’s dealings and a prominent investor writing down its stake in the company to zero. Alameda Research was a crucial part of his crypto empire, although questions around its balance sheet had been swirling after an article by CoinDesk earlier this month. 

“There is no way that Alameda could operate right now, even if FTX wasn’t in deep trouble,” said Colin Platt, a cryptocurrency consultant. “It is a business that relies on having the confidence of its counterparties, and confidence in Alameda has been irreparably harmed.”

FTX Hurtles Toward Bankruptcy With $8 Billion Hole, US Probe

Co-founded by Bankman-Fried in 2017, Alameda started off as a lucrative arbitrage trading firm and quickly grew into one of the largest market makers of digital tokens globally. The Bahamas-based firm also became a force across the entire crypto ecosystem, with investments in decentralized lending, venture-backed companies and projects and even, it seemed, providing distressed lending. 

FTX-Alameda Relationship

As its influence spread, so did concerns over potential conflicts of interest, particularly its relationship with FTX and the lack of sufficient regulatory guardrails compared to traditional finance.

Alameda was originally based in Berkeley, California, before uprooting for Hong Kong and ultimately the more crypto-friendly Caribbean.

Bankman-Fried’s announcement that Alameda is closing capped a roller-coaster week that saw his creation come apart in a matter of days and sparked a rout in the broader market. The trouble started on Sunday, when Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the Binance founder and chief rival, announced plans to sell about $530 million worth of FTT, the native coin of FTX. 

FTX saw about $5 billion of withdrawals that day, Bankman-Fried said in his Thursday Twitter thread. He also miscalculated his sense of “users’ margin” on the platform, he tweeted. 

On Tuesday, Zhao and Bankman-Fried both took to Twitter to reveal that they’d reached a tentative deal for Binance to buy FTX. A day later, Zhao pulled out and Bankman-Fried dropped the bombshell to FTX.com investors that it faced a shortfall of up to $8 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. 

FTX is now in the process of trying to raise fresh liquidity, “every penny” of which will go toward making users whole alongside investors, he added. FTX.US isn’t financially impacted, and is “100% liquid,” he said. 

Because of its wide reach in the crypto industry, the closure of Alameda could ripple through markets. The sudden collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin project in early may set in motion a cascade of failures that reverberated through the sector for months. 

“They are a major trading counterparty globally, depending on how they shut down, what kind of assets and positions they have it can have very very large effect,” said Rosario Ingargiola, the CEO of market infrastructure firm Bosonic, said of Alameda. 

Companies in deep financial distress must be careful about selling assets. If the company winds up in bankruptcy, scorned creditors can try to have recent deals unwound, arguing that they weren’t in the best interest of everyone with money at stake.

–With assistance from Emily Nicolle and Anna Irrera.

(Updates with background on Alameda.)

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(Bloomberg) — UK defense firm QinetiQ Group Plc said the war in Ukraine is lifting sales of products ranging from battlefield robots to communications systems as the edge provided by the latest military technology becomes clear.

The US has increased orders for the Talon robot, primarily designed for bomb disposal but also used in reconnaissance and other roles, Chief Executive Officer Steve Wadey said in an interview. Britain has boosted purchases of systems providing super-encrypted communications links to the front line.

Kyiv’s success in combating a Russian military holding a numerical advantage in headcount and armaments has also reinforced the importance of fielding state-of-the-art systems in areas such as surveillance, bolstering interest in QinetiQ’s suite of technology-led products, Wadey said.

“Countries have realized they need the technological advantage,” he said by phone. “So they’re looking at the next generation available.”

The CEO, who spoke Thursday after London-based QinetiQ reported an 18% jump in first-half orders, said he couldn’t comment on whether some sales were aimed at directly supplying Ukraine’s defense forces.

Laser Weapons

QinetiQ is also a key player in developing Britain’s first high-powered laser weapon, which has recently been undergoing test firing.

The DragonFire energy beam has been trialled at the Porton Down military research center in England, hitting long-range targets with pinpoint accuracy, the Ministry of Defense said Nov. 8. QinetiQ supplies the laser for the device.

Wadey said he’s also encouraged by progress on the Tempest program to develop a next-generation European fighter plane, a project that’s being led by BAE Systems Plc and with which QinetiQ is involved.

The shares fell 2.5% as of the close in London.

(Updates with comments on DragonFire energy beam in sixth paragraph.)

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(Bloomberg) — Business process outsourcing provider Ibex Holdings Ltd. is attracting preliminary interest from suitors including buyout firm CVC Capital Partners, people with knowledge of the matter said.

CVC has been speaking to banks about financing for a potential bid, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Shares of Ibex have risen 55% in New York trading this year, giving the company a market value of $366 million. 

Deliberations are ongoing, and there’s no certainty they will result in a formal offer, the people said. Ibex’s biggest shareholder is businessman Mohammed Khaishgi’s The Resource Group International Ltd., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Representatives for CVC and Ibex declined to comment. 

–With assistance from Faseeh Mangi and Kamaron Leach.

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(Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc. gained as much as 15% on news that Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy has embarked on a review of expenses, part of broader efforts to streamline the world’s largest e-commerce company. 

Amazon said in a statement to Bloomberg News that its annual operating-plan review will have a particular focus on trimming expenses this year as it copes with a slowing economy. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that the assessment was underway and that employees in certain divisions have been told to look for jobs elsewhere in the company because their teams are being suspended or shut down. 

“Our senior leadership team regularly reviews our investment outlook and financial performance, including as part of our annual operating plan review, which occurs in the fall each year,” the Seattle-based company said in the statement. “As part of this year’s review, we’re of course taking into account the current macro-environment and considering opportunities to optimize costs.”

The news boosted a stock that was already up on positive inflation news. The latest data on consumer prices came in better than expected Thursday, easing concerns about Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

Amazon shares rose as high as $98.69, marking their largest intraday gain since February. They had been down 48% this year, part of a rout that has hammered the biggest tech companies.

Already, Amazon has been taking increasingly aggressive steps to rein in expenditures. The company said last week that it was pausing “new incremental” hiring across its corporate workforce as it copes with a slower economy. Amazon has effectively stopped recruiting for new roles companywide, even at profitable divisions, such as its advertising business.

Amazon said Thursday that it remains confident in its overall operations, as well as initiatives such as Prime Video, Alexa, Grocery, Kuiper, Zoox and its health-care efforts. 

Most big tech companies are hitting the brakes on hiring plans, but Amazon is dealing with an especially severe pandemic hangover. The company almost doubled its headcount during Covid-19 restrictions to handle a surge in orders from home-bound consumers.

When shoppers returned to their previous habits this year, Amazon had to pare back its logistics operations. As the economic outlook darkened and it became clear that a slowdown in online sales growth was here to stay, the cutbacks spread to Amazon’s corporate offices.

When Amazon forecast its slowest-ever holiday growth last month, Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said the company was “taking actions to tighten our belt.” 

(Updates with statement in third paragraph.)

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(Bloomberg) — Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party declined a request by the opposition to back a bid to remove Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, but said it would continue to push for his dismissal. 

The opposition National Democratic Congress earlier this week urged members of the NPP to support its motion of censure against Ofori-Atta after more than half of the ruling party’s members of parliament last month called for the minister to be fired. Lawmakers began debating the opposition motion on Thursday afternoon.

“The majority cannot support the minority on the vote on censure,” Nana Ayew Afriye, a member of the NPP, told reporters at a briefing broadcast on Joy FM radio in the capital, Accra. “The course of the NDC is premised on falsehood and propaganda; their reasons are not justifiable.”

Ofori-Atta is under fire over his failure to deal with the West African nation’s economic crisis. Ghana’s currency plunged and yields on its eurobonds surged this year because of investor concerns about the sustainability of its debt. The decline in the cedi has pushed the annual inflation rate to more than 40%, sparking protests by traders and consumers, and the government has been forced to seek a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Read: Cedi’s Drop for Months Portends Deeper Losses for Ghana Currency

According to the motion of censure read in parliament on Thursday, the opposition wants Ofori-Atta removed for alleged conflict of interest and unconstitutional withdrawals from the government’s so-called Consolidated Fund to build a cathedral. Under the constitution, once a vote of censure is passed against a minister, the president may revoke their appointment if they don’t resign.

The motion requires a two-thirds majority to pass in the 275-seat legislature.

Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin said that an ad hoc committee is being established to investigate the allegations by the minority and provide Ofori-Atta with an opportunity to defend himself. Once the committee, which has seven working days has delivered its report to parliament, the motion will be debated further before a vote takes place, he said.

Last month, about 80 of the ruling party’s 137 lawmakers demanded President Nana Akufo-Addo fire Ofori-Atta over the nation’s economic crisis. It also called for the dismissal of the minister of state in the finance ministry, Charles Adu Boahen. 

“We are back to the original position we took and that is to say that the minister of finance will not be the one who must read the budget,” Afriye said. “We are going to be positively defiant and hold that posture until the action is taken.”

Ghana’s Public Financial Management Act requires the annual budget to be presented to parliament by Nov. 15.

Read: Why Ghana Went From Hero to Zero for Investors: QuickTake

–With assistance from Moses Mozart Dzawu.

(Updates with timeline for ad hoc committee in seventh paragraph.)

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(Bloomberg) — Miami-Dade County will explore “all legal remedies” if FTX.com, the beleaguered crypto exchange, can’t meet its obligations as part of a 19-year agreement for naming rights to the arena where the NBA’s Miami Heat play.

Miami-Dade “is currently reviewing and gathering information about FTX’s financial situation and possible next steps,” a spokesman for the county, which negotiated the transaction, said in an emailed statement.

FTX, the crypto exchange led by Sam Bankman-Fried, inked a transaction last year to take over naming rights for the arena in downtown Miami from American Airlines Group Inc. Under terms disclosed at the time, Miami-Dade would receive a net $90 million over 19 years to invest in programs including reducing gun violence. FTX had also committed an extra $5 million to the local community, according to a statement released at the time.

It was only last month that the FTX logo was placed on the arena’s roof. The Bahamas-based firm is now in the midst of a liquidity crunch that Bankman-Fried has said could force it into bankruptcy without a capital infusion.

The Miami arena is just one of FTX’s many sports deals. Major League Baseball umpires wear patches with the company’s logo as part of a sponsorship agreement, and FTX has a long-term partnership with Formula 1 racing team Mercedes-AMG Petronas.

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