Billionaire-Backed Bitcoin Firm OranjeBTC to List on Brazil’s B3 Exchange

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OranjeBTC, a Brazilian cryptocurrency firm backed by some of the biggest names in global finance and crypto, will begin trading on Brazil’s B3 stock exchange next week, marking a major step in the mainstream adoption of bitcoin-linked companies in Latin America.

The move positions OranjeBTC to directly challenge Méliuz (CASH3.SA), the first Brazilian firm to adopt a bitcoin treasury strategy.

BITCOIN AS CORE TREASURY ASSET

Founded by Guilherme Gomes, OranjeBTC aims to attract domestic investors who might not be able to hold digital assets directly due to regulatory restrictions.
“Certain investors are prohibited from buying bitcoins directly,” Gomes explained. “Through OranjeBTC, they’ll be able to gain exposure to bitcoin via the stock market.”

The company currently holds 3,650 bitcoins in its corporate treasury—worth more than $420 million at current prices—and plans to increase its reserves as it expands.

“Bitcoin will change financial systems as we know them,” Gomes said. “Our main focus is bitcoin at the highest level — building infrastructure, knowledge, and value around it.”

STRATEGIC INVESTORS AND BACKERS

Before its public debut, OranjeBTC attracted investments from high-profile figures and firms, including:

  • Ricardo Salinas, the Mexican billionaire and owner of Banco Azteca,

  • Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders of Gemini,

  • FalconX, a leading crypto brokerage, and

  • Adam Back, a pioneering figure in bitcoin mining and CEO of Blockstream.

These heavyweight backers underscore growing institutional confidence in bitcoin-focused companies emerging from Latin America.

A REVERSE IPO STRATEGY

Instead of pursuing a traditional initial public offering, OranjeBTC is using a reverse IPO mechanism — listing its shares through Intergraus, an education-focused subsidiary already traded on B3.

This approach allows OranjeBTC to bypass the lengthy approval process typical of standard IPOs, speeding up its entry into public markets.

BITCOIN EDUCATION AND MARKET ACCESS

Beyond serving as an investment vehicle, OranjeBTC plans to use its education platform to help shareholders and retail investors better understand bitcoin markets and blockchain technology.

The company’s broader mission, according to Gomes, is to make bitcoin investment and knowledge accessible to everyday Brazilians, while building a strong local presence in the country’s fast-growing digital asset ecosystem.

With its debut on B3, OranjeBTC will become one of the few publicly traded companies in the world with bitcoin as its central treasury reserve, signaling a broader institutional shift toward digital assets in emerging markets.

Germany Turns to AI and Deregulation to Revive Its Struggling Economy

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Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz unveiled an ambitious plan on Wednesday to streamline bureaucracy, embrace artificial intelligence, and accelerate digitalization in an effort to restore the country’s economic strength after two years of contraction.

Speaking at the Borsig Palace in Berlin, Merz said the new measures mark a decisive shift toward modernization.
“We are, of course, aware of the problems facing the German economy at the moment,” he said, “but we aspire to return to the top.”

FROM FISCAL RESTRAINT TO INVESTMENT

Merz’s government has already broken with Germany’s long-standing tradition of fiscal restraint, approving a €500 billion infrastructure and defense package to stimulate growth in the only G7 economy that has shrunk over the past two years.

The new “Modernisation Agenda,” approved by the cabinet on Wednesday, outlines 23 priority projects aimed at cutting red tape, fostering innovation, and improving public services.

23 PROJECTS TO BOOST EFFICIENCY

Among the key reforms are:

  • A centralized digital vehicle registration system for faster processing.

  • A 24-hour business registration platform to simplify company formation.

  • AI tools for legal and visa verification procedures to speed up administration.

  • A faster process for recognizing foreign medical qualifications, to help fill gaps in healthcare staffing.

  • A new digital immigration agency to attract and integrate skilled foreign workers into the labor market.

Merz said the package will now be presented to the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament. “We are going to the German Bundestag with very concrete legislative proposals,” he added.

SAVINGS AND GROWTH TARGETS

Germany’s Ifo Institute estimated last year that excessive bureaucracy costs the country €150 billion annually in lost productivity. The government’s goal is to cut bureaucratic requirements by 25%, generating €16 billion in annual savings.

The government aims to fast-track the legislation through the upper house (Bundesrat) before its final session in December.

ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES

The cabinet also approved funding of €1.7 billion for the construction of a nuclear fusion reactor, marking Germany’s renewed push into cutting-edge clean energy research.
Additionally, a draft law to accelerate hydrogen infrastructure development by removing regulatory bottlenecks was given the green light.

Together, the measures reflect a major pivot toward technology, energy innovation, and pro-business reforms, signaling Merz’s determination to pull Europe’s largest economy out of stagnation through AI, science, and structural modernization.

Europe’s Top Weather Agency Opens Real-Time Data to Strengthen Global Extreme Weather Warnings

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The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), one of the world’s leading meteorological institutions, announced on Wednesday that it has opened access to its real-time data to help strengthen early warning systems for extreme weather events worldwide.

The move comes amid an escalating global climate crisis marked by increasingly severe heatwaves, floods, droughts, and storms. As accurate forecasting becomes critical for disaster preparedness, open access to quality meteorological data is being recognized as a global public good.

A MASSIVE EXPANSION OF OPEN DATA

The ECMWF, which is supported by 35 member and cooperating states, collects around 800 million weather observations every day and manages one of the largest meteorological data archives on the planet.

Under the new policy, the agency will make 16 times more data freely available than it currently does. However, users requiring large-scale data downloads will still incur service fees, the agency’s data policy lead said.

The change aligns with a broader European movement toward open data sharing, aimed at making high-quality weather information accessible to researchers, governments, and emergency responders across the globe.

SUPPORTING DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS

As preparations continue for COP30, the United Nations climate conference set to be held in Brazil in November, the focus on climate adaptation and resilience is intensifying — especially for developing nations hit hardest by extreme weather but with limited data infrastructure.

In support of these nations, ECMWF said it would waive data service fees for some early-warning projects affiliated with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The agency will also explore how artificial intelligence–based forecasting models could help nations with limited access to meteorological resources.

“If you have this disruptive technology, there’s always the danger that countries that are less well-resourced get left behind,” said Florian Pappenberger, ECMWF’s director-general-elect. “We’re aware that there’s a large part of the globe where accessing machine learning forecasts is challenging.”

The initiative underscores Europe’s effort to democratize access to environmental data and ensure that AI-driven climate forecasting benefits both wealthy and developing nations alike — a crucial step toward reducing global inequality in climate preparedness.