UK Regulator Proposes Allowing Cryptocurrency for Gambling Payments

On February 27, OpenAI—the artificial intelligence firm—announced it has closed a new funding round totaling $110 billion, with a pre-money valuation of $730 billion. Multiple media outlets have confirmed this round as the largest single corporate financing in global history, far surpassing the company’s $40 billion record set in 2025. Key investors in the round include Amazon (contributing $50 billion), Nvidia ($30 billion), and SoftBank ($30 billion). OpenAI stated the massive capital will primarily fund three priorities: accelerating AI infrastructure development, expanding computing power, and researching next-generation cutting-edge models—all to advance its "AI for everyone" mission. Post-money valuation is expected to exceed $840 billion once the round wraps up. This landmark funding underscores the unprecedented demand for massive capital in the AI industry, further solidifying OpenAI’s leading position in global AI competition.

Feb. 27 — OpenAI has landed an additional $11 billion in new funding, pushing its valuation to $730 billion. The company noted that the stake in OpenAI Group held by the OpenAI Foundation is now worth more than $180 billion. ChatGPT boasts over 900 million weekly active users, while the Trinium4 is slated to begin deliveries in 2027.

On February 27, OpenAI announced a new $110 billion investment round at a $730 billion valuation, with investors including Amazon ($50 billion), Nvidia ($30 billion) and SoftBank ($30 billion). OpenAI will partner with Amazon (AMZN.O) to build customized models, leveraging 2 exaflops of compute capacity from AWS Trainium chips via Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure. SoftBank’s total investment in OpenAI is expected to hit $64.6 billion, giving it an approximate 13% post-transaction ownership stake in the company.

Gold prices climbed on Friday, February 27, as uncertainty over U.S. tariff policies and escalating U.S.-Iran tensions boosted the precious metal’s safe-haven appeal—putting it on track for a seventh straight monthly gain. ANZ analyst Soni Kumari noted: “Two factors are supporting gold: current market uncertainty around tariffs, and the U.S.-Iran situation.” Lin Trang, Senior Market Analyst at XS.com, commented: “Recent rounds of negotiations have produced no clear outcome, leaving geopolitical risks in place but not escalated. As a result, gold prices remain elevated but lack the momentum for a sustainable uptrend.” (FX678)

**Feb 27: U.S. January PPI Update** - PPI (month-over-month): 0.5% | vs. expected 0.3% | prior revised to 0.4% (from 0.5%) - PPI (year-over-year): 2.9% | vs. expected 2.6% | prior 3.0% - Core PPI (month-over-month): 0.8% | vs. expected 0.3% | prior revised to 0.6% (from 0.7%) This aligns with U.S. financial news conventions: concise formatting, clear separators for "vs. expected/prior," and streamlined numerical notation (dropping trailing zeros like 0.30→0.3).

On February 27, OpenAI announced it has raised $1.1 billion in new funding at a $73 billion valuation. (Golden Ten)