A seismic shift is underway at Berkshire Hathaway, as Warren Buffett, arguably the most celebrated investor of the modern era—formally announced Saturday that he will step down as CEO by the end of this year, handing the reins to Greg Abel, the company’s vice chairman of non-insurance operations.

The moment, though long expected, landed with weight and poignancy during Berkshire’s annual shareholders meeting in Omaha. Buffett, 94, made the announcement with his signature humility, addressing the thousands of loyal shareholders who had gathered from around the world to witness what has now become a historic farewell.

“Tomorrow, we’re having a board meeting of Berkshire, and we have 11 directors. Two of the directors, who are my children, Howie and Susie, know of what I’m going to talk about there. The rest of them, this will come as news to, but I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end,” Buffett said during the final minutes of the meeting.

Though he had named Abel as his successor in 2021, Buffett’s decision to publicly confirm the timeline caught even some board members off guard—including Abel himself, who appeared surprised by the timing.

The announcement marked the formal close of an era that began in 1965 when Buffett purchased a struggling New England textile mill and transformed it into one of the most successful conglomerates in American history. Today, Berkshire Hathaway is a $1.2 trillion behemoth, with more than 60 subsidiaries across insurance, railroads, utilities, manufacturing, retail, and consumer goods.

Buffett Celebrated, Abel Endorsed

The response from the business world has been swift and emotional. Executives, investors, and admirers have poured out tributes to Buffett while expressing confidence in Abel’s ability to preserve and grow the Berkshire legacy.

“There’s never been someone like Warren, and countless people, myself included, have been inspired by his wisdom,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. “It’s been one of the great privileges of my life to know him. And there’s no question that Warren is leaving Berkshire in great hands with Greg.”

A Canadian at the Helm

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Abel joined Berkshire in 2000 when it acquired MidAmerican Energy, where he eventually rose to CEO. He earned Buffett’s trust over the years through his steady leadership, operational rigor, and deep commitment to the company’s decentralized philosophy.

In 2018, he was named vice chairman overseeing all non-insurance businesses, a role that positioned him to succeed Buffett. Abel now stands at the center of the conglomerate’s future, tasked with steering a vast and complex web of businesses, from BNSF Railway to Dairy Queen and Geico.

Buffett himself offered resounding praise for his successor, describing Abel as a hands-on leader who works harder than he ever did.

“It’s working way better with Greg than with me,” Buffett said to laughter and applause. “Because, you know, I didn’t want to work as hard as he works. I could get away with it because we’ve got a very good business.”

Capital Strategy Will Remain

One of the most pressing questions among shareholders has been whether Berkshire’s patient, value-oriented approach to investing will change. Abel answered that directly, promising continuity in the company’s capital allocation strategy.

“It’s really the investment philosophy and how Warren and the team have allocated capital for the past 60 years,” Abel said. “Really, it will not change. And it’s the approach we’ll take as we go forward.”

Abel will also inherit the stewardship of Berkshire’s massive cash reserve, which now stands at $347 billion—an enormous war chest that gives the company power to seize opportunities, particularly during market downturns.

Buffett’s Future Role

Although Buffett will step down as CEO, he indicated he will still be available in an advisory role, especially in times of crisis or major opportunity. What remains undecided is whether he will also step down as chairman of the board. That matter is expected to be discussed at the board meeting scheduled for Sunday.

Buffett has previously said his son, Howard Buffett, would take on the role of non-executive chairman in the event of his death, to help preserve the company’s unique culture. It remains unclear whether the current transition alters that succession plan.

“I think they’ll be unanimously in favor of it,” Buffett said of the board’s expected support for Abel as CEO.

Director Ron Olson, who serves on Berkshire’s board, described the moment as both surprising and inspiring.

“It surprises me, but it impresses me,” Olson said. “I am very anxious to see Warren become the Charlie Munger for Greg Abel.”

As Buffett stood before the sea of investors—many of whom have built careers, fortunes, or philosophies around his teachings—he received one final standing ovation. It was a symbolic handoff, a moment that closed a chapter in corporate America while beginning another, with Abel at the helm and Buffett, for now, still watching closely from the wings.

Who is Greg Abel?

Berkshire Hathaway is preparing for its first leadership change in 60 years after 94-year-old Warren Buffett announced that he will step down as CEO at the end of 2025. Canadian Greg Abel, confirmed as Buffett’s intended successor in 2021, assumed a broader role at the company in 2018 thanks to a promotion that tasked him with supervising Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses. Now, pending board approval, the 62-year-old will oversee a conglomerate with nearly 400,000 employees.

• A native of Edmonton and former hockey player, Abel has worked closely with Buffett since 2000 when Berkshire acquired MidAmerican, where he was president. He rose steadily through the ranks, most recently as vice chairman, and was worthan estimated $484 million in 2021.

• Buffett has praised Abel’s business acumen and leadership, saying in 2023, Abel “does all the work and I take all the bows.”

• Abel plans to uphold the company’s core investment philosophy and maintain its “fortress of a balance sheet” to avoid outside financial reliance.

Warren Buffett, the 94-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, opened the conglomerate’s 60th annual shareholders meeting with a forceful critique of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, warning that weaponizing trade risks global backlash and economic turmoil.

Speaking to 40,000 attendees at the CHI Health Center, Buffett declared, “It’s a big mistake in my view when you have 7.5 billion people who don’t like you very well, and you have 300 million who are crowing about how they have done.”

As economists echo his fears of a tariff-driven U.S. and global recession, Buffett revealed Berkshire’s $347.7 billion cash reserve, citing scarce investment opportunities amid market volatility. The meeting, a magnet for investors worldwide, also intensified focus on Buffett’s succession as he nears 100, with shareholders grappling with the future of a $1 trillion empire without its legendary leader.

Addressing the top shareholder concern, Buffett denounced Trump’s tariffs, including a 10% universal import duty imposed on April 2 and 145% levies on Chinese goods by April 9, which have unsettled global markets.

“We should be looking to trade with the rest of the world. We should do what we do best and they should do what they do best,” he urged, advocating for cooperative trade rooted in comparative advantages.

He warned that antagonizing other nations undermines global stability.

“The world will be safer if more countries are prosperous,” he said.

While acknowledging the goal of balanced trade, Buffett criticized the execution, noting widespread tariffs are not the solution. His remarks, aired live by CNBC, responded to questions curated by reporter Becky Quick, reflecting investor anxiety over trade disruptions impacting Berkshire’s businesses, from BNSF railroad to Shaw Industries.

Economists Amplify Recession Concerns

Buffett’s warnings resonate with economists sounding alarms over the tariff war’s economic toll. The levies, effectively a tax on importers, have spiked consumer prices—apparel by 17%, vehicles by 8.4%, food by nearly 3%—slashing household purchasing power by $2,100 annually, per JPMorgan estimates. Inflation is forecast to reach 4% by summer, with core PCE potentially hitting 4.7%, threatening the 70% of U.S. GDP driven by consumer spending.

The S&P 500 shed $6 trillion in early April, including a 4.8% drop on April 3, reflecting market jitters. Goldman Sachs pegs recession odds at 45%, Reuters at nearly 50% within a year, with global growth projected at a mere 1.4% for Q4 2025, the weakest since 2008 outside the pandemic, per the World Bank.

Globally, the tariffs are dragging economies like Japan, South Korea, and Canada toward recession, with China’s GDP growth expected to slip to 4.4%. China’s retaliatory 84% tariffs on U.S. goods and restrictions on rare earth exports have escalated tensions, while allied nations face duties like 24% on Japan. Brookings Institution analysts estimate a $400 billion annual hit to U.S. economic output, with Moody’s Analytics warning of stagflation—high inflation paired with sluggish growth—as unemployment could climb to 4.5%.

The Federal Reserve, projecting -2.4% GDP growth for Q1 2025, may hold rates at 4.25–4.50%, compounding pressures. These risks amplify Buffett’s call for trade collaboration, aligning with academic and economic consensus on the dangers of protectionism.

Berkshire’s Cash Fortress and Investment Pause

Buffett disclosed that Berkshire Hathaway holds $347.7 billion in cash, a record sum fueled by $158 billion in stock sales over two years, including trimmed stakes in Apple, and robust cash flows from subsidiaries.

“I just don’t see many attractively priced investments that I understand these days, but I predict that one day Berkshire will be ‘bombarded with opportunities that we will be glad we have the cash for,’” he told attendees, per Morningstar.

The stockpile reflects Buffett’s disciplined value investing ethos, wary of overpaying in a market warped by tariff uncertainty and elevated valuations. Shareholders, questioned by Quick alongside vice chairmen Greg Abel and Ajit Jain, pressed for insights on deploying this capital, particularly for Berkshire’s trade-sensitive businesses like retail and logistics.

The Succession Question

The meeting, Buffett’s 60th leading Berkshire, sharpened focus on succession as he approaches his centennial. At 94, Buffett remains sharp, engaging the crowd with humor despite using a cane and shortening the Q&A by two hours.

“I enjoy figuring out where to invest Berkshire’s money too much,” he has long insisted, signaling no retirement plans unless incapacitated, as noted by CNBC. Greg Abel, 62, was named Buffett’s CEO successor, and Ajit Jain, 73, overseeing insurance, taking prominent roles.

Shareholders expressed confidence in Abel’s operational acumen and Jain’s insurance expertise but acknowledged Buffett’s irreplaceable presence. Haibo Liu, a Chinese investor at his second meeting, camped overnight to honor Buffett,

“He has helped me a lot. I really want to express my thanks to him,” he said, fearing this could be his final appearance.

Linda Smith, 73, attending her 20th meeting, predicted resilience, saying, “I think even if he dies, these businesses will retain their value,” but foresaw a temporary stock dip. “Good businesses and good people will come back,” she added, eyeing the exhibit hall’s displays of Geico, Pilot truck stops, and Duracell.

Despite tariff concerns, Buffett reiterated his confidence in America’s future.

“America has been going through revolutionary changes ever since its birth and the promise of equality for all, which wasn’t fulfilled until years later,” he reflected, adding, “Nothing that is going on today has changed my long-term optimism about the country.”

His quip, “If I were being born today, I would just keep negotiating in the womb until they said, ‘You could be in the United States,’” drew laughter, encapsulating his belief in the nation’s resilience.

Do you know that one can now build a mobile app (end-end) in just one hour? Thanks to AI.

I’m here to tell you all about it.

Meet Tolu, a 26-year-old fashion and wellness blogger with zero programming background. One night, she sketched out an idea for a digital platform called GlowGrid, a tool to help Gen Z and millennial women track skincare progress with AI and community support. She pitched the idea to a developer friend who quoted her $12,000 and a 3-month timeline.

Discouraged but not defeated, Tolu dove into the world of vibe coding. Within two weeks, using a mix of Lovable, Glide, and Notion, she had a working prototype. Three months later, she had 500+ beta users and her first investor call. Wild.

She never wrote a line of code—but she built something real. Now that’s vibe coding.

Imagine constructing a stunning website, a functional mobile app, or a compelling prototype simply by dragging, dropping, and visually configuring elements. That’s the essence of vibe coding – to translate your ideas directly into tangible digital products. It’s about the sentiments of creation, the satisfaction of seeing your vision materialise without being bogged down by lines of code.

What we know as the ideal thing to do before a product is built is to survey the market and build what the users want. Product teams in the past spend months engaging logic and syntax to build products tailored to solve their problems and sometimes, at the end of the six months or eight months, they launch and discover that they have over-exaggerated the user’s feedback. So, what do you do in a situation where the users do not know what they want and you have to think for them? This appears to be how the genius Apple products came into being and that’s what traditional vibe coding is all about – Building products according to one’s “vibes” and with whatever helps the developer’s creativity.

Vibe coding is a term that has been thrown around in the tech world for sometime now but has recently started gaining traction especially among solopreneurs, product builders and startup founders. More than just a no-code development — it’s a mindset.

At its core, vibe coding is about building tech-powered experiences without obsessing over syntax or long dev cycles. It’s intuitive. It’s visual. It’s about skipping all the preliminaries and protocols and getting your ideas into the world quickly—whether that’s a landing page, an app prototype, or a full-fledged SaaS product. Vibe coding focuses on the ‘feel’ of the product—the user journey, the storytelling, the flow—not just the logic. It’s where design, tech, and creativity collide without the gatekeeping of traditional programming.

Forget the rigid syntax and complex algorithms for a moment, in the dynamic world of digital creation, this is the new current emerging, one that emphasizes intuition, flow, and the sheer joy of building.  Vibe coding is about tapping into your creative energy and bringing your digital vision to life with remarkable speed and accessibility, primarily through harnessing the intuitive power of no-code tools.

 Popular Tools in the Vibe Coding Movement

 You’ve got to catch your own vibe

The world of no-code is constantly evolving, with new tools and features emerging regularly. To embrace vibe coding, explore the platforms that resonate with your project goals and creative style. Experiment, learn, and most importantly, enjoy the process of bringing your digital visions to life with the intuitive power of no-code. So, plug in, tune in, and let the creative vibes flow!

MetaMask, in collaboration with CompoSecure, Baanx, and Mastercard, launched the MetaMask Metal Payment Card, a premium, physical crypto debit card enabling tap-to-pay transactions directly from self-custody MetaMask wallets. Announced on April 28, 2025, the card eliminates the need for preloading funds or converting crypto to fiat before spending, with transactions authorized via smart contracts in under five seconds on the Linea network, an Ethereum-based zkEVM blockchain.

Supported tokens include USDC, aUSDC, USDT, WETH, EURe, and GBPe. The card is set for a global rollout in Q2 2025, with early access available in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the EEA, Mexico, Switzerland, the UK, and the US (excluding New York and Vermont). A limited-edition Metal Card offers premium rewards and exclusive perks. This partnership aims to bridge Web2 and Web3, making crypto spending seamless and secure.

Ledger Live now enables users to earn stablecoin yields directly from self-custody through a new integration with Kiln, announced on April 28, 2025. This feature allows users to generate passive income on stablecoins like USDC, USDT, USDS, and DAI with yields ranging from 5% to 9.9% APY, depending on the protocol used e.g., Aave, Compound, Morpho, Sky, Spark. The key advantage is that users maintain full control of their private keys, ensuring self-custody without transferring assets to centralized platforms.

This is facilitated through Ledger Live’s interface, where Kiln provides backend access to DeFi lending protocols, simplifying the process while prioritizing security. Only 4% of stablecoin holders currently earn yield, so this integration aims to make DeFi more accessible and secure for Ledger users.

On April 28, 2025, a suspected theft of 3,520 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at approximately $330.7 million, led to a 50% surge in Monero (XMR) prices, with the privacy coin reaching an intraday high of $339-$391, according to various sources. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT flagged the suspicious transfer from a potential victim’s wallet (address: bc1qcrypchnrdx87jnal5e5m849fw460t4gk7vz55g), noting that the stolen BTC was rapidly laundered through over six instant exchanges and converted into XMR to obscure the trail.

The large-scale conversion caused a supply-demand shock in Monero’s market, given its lower liquidity compared to Bitcoin, driving the price spike. Trading volume surged by up to 500%, with open interest in XMR futures hitting a yearly high and over $1 million in short positions liquidated. However, XMR later retraced, trading between $263-$295 by the end of the day, still up 15-25% over 24 hours. ZachXBT dismissed speculation that North Korea’s Lazarus Group was involved, suggesting independent hackers targeted a longtime Bitcoin holder, likely an “OG Bitcoiner.”

FTX has initiated legal action against certain token and coin issuers, including NFT Stars Limited and KUROSEMI INC. (operating as Delysium), for failing to deliver contractually obligated tokens and refusing to cooperate in returning assets owed to the FTX estate. These lawsuits, announced on April 29, 2025, are part of FTX’s efforts to recover assets to repay customers affected by the exchange’s collapse in November 2022.

The complaints follow multiple unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue without litigation, and FTX has warned that additional lawsuits will be filed against other non-responsive token issuers. The FTX Recovery Trust is actively pursuing these actions to maximize asset recovery for creditors and customers.

MoonPay, a leading crypto payments company, has relocated its U.S. headquarters to New York City, opening a 5,000+ square-foot office in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. Announced on April 29, 2025, this move marks MoonPay’s largest U.S. office to date and serves as a hub for its growing U.S. workforce, which comprises nearly 20% of its global employees.

The relocation from Miami aligns with New York’s status as a finance and tech hub, joining other crypto firms like Coinbase and Gemini. MoonPay’s expansion follows a strong financial performance, with Q1 2025 being its most successful quarter, driven by a booming crypto market. The move also reflects strategic positioning amid increasing U.S. regulatory clarity for cryptocurrencies.

Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has received in-principle approval (IPA) from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to operate as a money services provider in the UAE, announced on April 29, 2025. This is not a full license but a significant step toward obtaining a Financial Services Permission (FSP), allowing Circle to offer regulated financial services in the region. The approval follows Circle’s incorporation of a legal entity in ADGM in December 2024, aiming to expand its presence in the Middle East and Africa.

USDC, with a circulating supply of $62 billion (up 40% in 2025), is the second-largest stablecoin, backed by US dollar reserves. Circle’s CEO, Jeremy Allaire, stated that the approval aligns with the UAE’s push for innovation in digital finance and strengthens Circle’s commitment to global stablecoin oversight, trust, and compliance. Circle also partnered with Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s tech ecosystem, to foster fintech innovation through ADGM’s digital regulatory sandbox, providing startups with resources and mentorship.

Tether has confirmed that its Tether Gold (XAUT) token is backed by 7.7 tons (246,523.33 troy ounces) of physical gold, as detailed in its first Q1 2025 attestation report. Each XAUT token is pegged 1:1 to one troy ounce of London Bullion Market Association (LBMA)-certified gold, securely stored in Swiss vaults. The acquisition supports XAUT’s market capitalization, which reached $770 million by March 31, 2025, and peaked at $853.7 million recently, driven by rising global demand for safe-haven assets amid economic uncertainty, inflation concerns, and geopolitical tensions.

Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, emphasized XAUT’s role as a digital, transferable form of physical gold, combining blockchain efficiency with gold’s stability. The attestation, conducted under El Salvador’s regulatory framework, aims to ensure transparency, though critics have raised concerns about Tether’s auditing practices, noting that the BDO Italia report lacks full compliance with international financial reporting standards.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved ProShares Trust to launch three XRP futures-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on April 30, 2025. These ETFs include the Ultra XRP ETF (2x leverage), the Short XRP ETF (-1x leverage), and the Ultra Short XRP ETF (-2x leverage). Unlike spot ETFs, these funds track XRP’s price movements through futures contracts, not direct ownership of the cryptocurrency.

They will be the second, third, and fourth XRP-tracking ETFs in the U.S., following Teucrium’s 2x Long Daily XRP ETF launched earlier in April 2025. ProShares’ separate application for a spot XRP ETF remains pending, alongside similar proposals from Grayscale, 21Shares, and Bitwise.