Bitcoin Slides To Six-Month Low As Markets Stumble

As AI takes the corporate world by storm, a company’s Chief Information Officer is typically tasked with ensuring the success of its adoption.

Forbes’ latest CIO Next List, out today, honors 50 executives using technology to make an impact in a range of sectors, from banks to retailers. Block’s CTO Dhanji Prasanna, for example, oversaw the creation of Goose, an open-source AI agent used by Anthropic, Databricks and Stripe.

Meanwhile, Curt Garner, Chipotle’s president and chief technology officer, helped build out the burrito chain’s digital business to more than a third of its revenue—after having started in the position when the restaurant still received some orders via fax machine.

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FIRST UP

Bitcoin fell to its lowest price since April’s “Liberation Day” on Monday, dropping below $90,000 and wiping away all 2025 gains. The latest selloff is a result of wider economic fears, the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow all slipped, and gold also pulled back.

MORE: Top crypto exchanges made millions off of transactions involving illegal funds from organized crime groups, an ICIJ report found, including at least $408 million in crypto that flowed into Binance from a notorious Cambodia-based group the Treasury Department labeled as “a primary money laundering concern.” The Trump Administration has been friendly to the crypto industry, dropping or rolling back legal proceedings in a number of high-profile cases.

WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Jeff Bezos will be a co-CEO of Project Prometheus, a new AI startup that has garnered $6.2 billion in funding, part of which came from Bezos himself, though details about the firm are limited. Elon Musk, who has sparred with Bezos for years, called the former Amazon chief executive a “copycat.” Musk founded xAI in 2023.

TECH + INNOVATION

More than a decade after pledging to develop 100 drugs in 10 years, biotech firm Recursion hasn’t brought a single drug to market, and its shares have tanked. Cofounder Chris Gibson stepped down as CEO last week, but its R&D chief Najat Khan will soon take over, and she will be charged with translating the potential of AI into actual drugs after years of failure.

MONEY + POLITICS

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered a reality check on President Donald Trump’s promised $2,000 tariff “dividend” checks, confirming they would need approval from Congress, and that high earners would be excluded. Trump has repeatedly floated the idea, suggesting last week that the payments could arrive next year.

David Richardson, the acting head of FEMA, will step down after just six months in the role following criticism for reportedly being inaccessible, especially during the Central Texas floods in July. Richardson assumed the position in May after the previous FEMA head was removed for pushing back against the Trump Administration’s suggestions that the agency be eliminated.

TRAVEL + LIFESTYLE

Economists are warning about a bifurcated economy, but even high-income Americans are cutting back on holiday travel. Credit card spending on airline tickets by high-income consumers has been falling—a red flag for airlines, which are increasingly relying on luxury travelers.

TRENDS + EXPLAINERS

President Donald Trump reversed course this month on tariffs for some agricultural products that can’t be grown or produced at scale in the U.S., including on staples like coffee, bananas and orange juice. Coffee only grows in certain parts of the world, and with major producers like Brazil and Vietnam facing tariffs as high as 50%, coffee prices had surged more than 40% year-over-year by September.

DAILY COVER STORY

How To Protect Your Portfolio With Crash-Proof ETFs

The stock market has been on a tear, but plenty of people are worried about a crash. According to the St. Louis Federal Reserve, a record $7.5 trillion is sitting on the sidelines in money market funds, up 57% from $4.8 trillion just five years ago.

Bruce Bond and John Southard of Wheaton, Illinois-based Innovator Capital Management have a remedy for scaredy-cat investors. Their $28 billion (assets) Innovator Fund specializes in bubble-protection ETFs, technically known among advisors as defined-outcome funds. They use options contracts to hedge against losses, which also limits upside returns, but it might be worth it for peace of mind. Innovator’s most popular funds are its U.S. Equity Power Buffer ETFs, which protect investors from the first 15% of the S&P 500 losses in a year, and currently offer an upside return of up to 13%.

Assets under management have exploded for Innovator since its first fund was introduced in 2018, even though it has been underperforming the indexes it tracks and has expenses 26 times higher than Vanguard and BlackRock S&P 500 ETFs. Moreover, investment gurus like billionaire quant Cliff Asness suggest that investors can simulate the downside protection of buffer ETFs more economically by allocating, say, 30% to Treasurys and 70% to stocks.

“If you’re going bowling, and that bowling ball represents your nest egg, wouldn’t you want to put the bumpers up, just to make sure?” asks Bond, Innovator’s CEO.

WHY IT MATTERS “The simplest and best thing to do for long-term focused investors for the last several decades has been just to invest as much as possible in a low-cost index fund regularly and leave it alone, but human nature and anxiety gets in the way of that a lot of the time,” says Forbes staff writer Hank Tucker.

“Innovator’s ETFs probably won’t do as well as the S&P 500 over the long haul, but for investors willing to sacrifice some potential returns in exchange for a lower risk of losing money, the firm delivers what it promises. It’s not the cheapest way to hedge against a possible AI bubble, but it’s one of the most straightforward and accessible options for protection.”

MORE It’s Not Just An AI Bubble. Here’s Everything At Risk

FACTS + COMMENTS

The maker of Ozempic and Wegovy slashed the drugs’ price Monday after President Donald Trump announced a deal with pharmaceutical companies to lower the cost of weight loss drugs. The Trump deal with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly would allow Medicare and Medicaid patients to purchase the drugs for a cheaper price on a new “TrumpRx” website:

$349: The new out-of-pocket monthly price of Ozempic and Wegovy, per Novo Nordisk

Up to $1,350: The cost of GLP-1 treatments per month before insurance

2.8 times: How much more the drugs cost in the U.S. compared to other countries, a 2024 study found

STRATEGY + SUCCESS

Black Friday is a great time to score deals, but it’s also important to make sure it doesn’t derail your financial goals. Set a non-negotiable budget for both gifts and yourself, based on your disposable income, and make a shopping list so you don’t fall prey to impulse purchases. Be wary of Buy Now, Pay Later payment methods, which can encourage overspending.

VIDEO

QUIZ

A site that pays licensing fees to President Donald Trump is selling merchandise with the official presidential seal, which could be a violation of federal law. What kind of product bearing the seal was featured on the site?

A. A video game controller

B. A beer pong set

C. A pint glass

D. Golf clubs

Check your answer.

Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Caroline Howard.