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Businesses operating in Santa Cruz County must register with the county clerk. Lookout Santa Cruz reviews the public filings from local businesses to report on new businesses starting in the area.

Here is what’s new in local business recently.

New businesses

• INERTIA COMPONENTS was registered at 1334 Brommer St., Suite B6, Santa Cruz, by Zana Fabrication LLC as a limited liability company on April 13.
• VITALITY MEDICINE was registered at 52 Tanglewood Trail, Santa Cruz, by Evelyn Skultety as an individual business on April 13.
• CHARLIS DELIVERY SERVICE was registered at 2 Loma Prieta Ave., Freedom, by Janet Munoz as an individual business on April 14.
• STALLED 2 SALES was registered at 17 Saint Francis Dr., Watsonville, by Pfv Media LLC as a limited liability company on April 14.
• WILLOWPOND WELLNESS PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES was registered at 6530 Highway 9, Felton, by Susan Jane Gulbe Walsh as an individual business on April 15.
• ED’S CONSTRUCTION SERVICES was registered at 55 Miller Rd., Royal Oaks, by Everardo Mendoza as an individual business on April 15.
• FRANKY FIREWOOD SALES was registered at 142 Hall Rd., Watsonville, by Daisy Silva-Saldana as an individual business on April 15.
• SANTA CRUZ TECH CO was registered at 228 Trescony St., Santa Cruz, by Nathan Margolis as an individual business on April 15.
• CreativeMornings Santa Cruz was registered at 165 Spaten Way, Santa Cruz, by Emily Rose Antflick as an individual business on April 16.
• BAYVIEW PET CARE PET SITTING AND DOG WALKING was registered at 250 Southwood Dr., Scotts Valley, by Jake Thull as an individual business on April 16.
• MICHELE CHILDS ENVIRONMENTAL was registered at 15065 Bear Creek Rd., Boulder Creek, by Michele Lyn Childs as an individual business on April 16.
• TOPSIDE SERVICES LLC was registered at 144 Bay St., Santa Cruz, by Topside Services LLC as a limited liability company on April 16.
• CLEANING SOLUTIONS MOPA was registered at 120 Raymond St., Santa Cruz, by Alfredo Moya Fonseca as a co-partnership on April 17.
• GARDENS OF EDEN was registered at 2071 Huntington Dr., Aptos, by Robert William Rule as an individual business on April 17.
• ADAMS SPEECH THERAPY was registered at 332 Linden St., Santa Cruz, by Laura Elliott Adams as an individual business on April 17.
• JULIO’S LANDSCAPING was registered at 1099 38th Ave., Spc #39, Santa Cruz, by Julio Hernandez Torres as an individual business on April 17.
• LOQUAT HEALTH was registered at 2955 Park Ave., Soquel, by Olivia W.r. Baker as an individual business on April 20.
• DEGRANDE MARKETPLACE was registered at 120 Gail Dr., Felton, by Donna Degrande as an individual business on April 20.
• CHRYSALIS BLOOM THERAPY was registered at 684 30th Ave., Santa Cruz, by Jessica Marie Ignacio as an individual business on April 20.
• LONE OAK REAL ESTATE was registered at 501 Soquel Ave., Suite J, Santa Cruz, by The Rezzato Group LLC as a limited liability company on April 21.
• J AND J DESIGN PRINTING was registered at 70 Mariposa Ave., Suite B, Watsonville, by Jesus Duarte Orozco as an individual business on April 21.
• RANCHO CERRITOS MHP was registered at 2121 Kralj Dr., Watsonville, by Jc Rancho LLC on April 21.
• WESTSIDE WINDOWS was registered at 10 Sunlit Lane, Santa Cruz, by Blue Echo, Inc. as a corporation on April 21.
• TRADER KIKI was registered at 16 Crescent Dr., Scotts Valley, by Kacey Lee Lewis as an individual business on April 21.
• CROSSFIT APTOS was registered at 7960 Soquel Dr., D1, Aptos, by Strong Ever After LLC as a limited liability company on April 22.
• LEM O’NADI was registered at 934 Lake Village Dr., Watsonville, by Nadia P. De La Torre as an individual business on April 22.
• 410 EXTRACTS was registered at 236 Encinal St., Santa Cruz, by SC Bloom Network Inc. as a corporation on April 22.
• SMALL TOWN COOKIE CO. was registered at 260 Villa Way, Boulder Creek, by Rebecca Wels as an individual business on April 22.
• THE CAN BUDDY was registered at 207 Spring St., Santa Cruz, by Matthew Peter Stelling as an individual business on April 22.
• HEALTHY ROOTS TREE CARE was registered at 2317 Vine Hill Rd., Santa Cruz, by Josias M. Harder as an individual business on April 22.
• WILLOW WORKS was registered at 5980 Highway 9, Felton, by Mariana Catarina Timmer as an individual business on April 22.
• OCEAN MAHJ was registered at 506 Hampstead Way, Santa Cruz, by Merilee Colle Ferdinand as an individual business on April 22.
• SANTA CRUZ PAINT CO. was registered at 3912 Portola Dr., S1, Santa Cruz, by Artt Paint Supplies LLC as a limited liability company on April 22.
• HARVEY WEST STUDIOS was registered at 119 Coral St., Santa Cruz, by 180 Supportive Housing, LLC as a limited liability company on April 22.
• JOHNNY’S ROAD DAWGS was registered at 1326 El Rancho Dr., Santa Cruz, by John Gambardella as an individual business on April 23.
• XDALLAS DESIGN was registered at 1646 Dolphin Dr., Aptos, by Dallas John Macdonald as an individual business on April 23.
• SWINGLINE TREE SERVICES was registered at 11560 Clear Creek Rd., Brookdale, by Feliciano, Jr., Gerard as an individual business on April 23.
• THE SAWMILL was registered at 15520 Highway 9, Boulder Creek, by Alex Lewis Consulting LLC as a limited liability company on April 23.
• SMARTWIRE was registered at 153 Marine Parade, Santa Cruz, by Robert Brian Hubbard as an individual business on April 24.
• METICULOUS MAID was registered at 14785 Big Basin Way, Boulder Creek, by Rachael A. Danckert as an individual business on April 24.
• Pantoja’s Junk Hauling & Removal was registered at 737 Glemar St., Watsonville, by Jesus E Pantoja Flores as an individual business on April 24.
• ROOTS BOUTIQUE SALON was registered at 2920 Park Ave., Suite C, Soquel, by Kelli Butcher as an individual business on April 24.
• Taproot Massage and Wellness was registered at 412 Cedar St., Suite A, Santa Cruz, by Julie Gallant as an individual business on April 24.
• KARINA GARCIA CPR TRAINING was registered at 582 Arlene Dr., Watsonville, by Karina Garcia as an individual business on April 24.
• MACKENZIE DONALDSON HAIR was registered at 2920 Park Ave., Suite C, Soquel, by Mackenzie Donaldson as an individual business on April 24.
• MID-COAST CHARTERS was registered at 111 Rogers Ave., Watsonville, by Kavi Treesong-engel as an individual business on April 24.
• On Point Wellness was registered at 879 41st Ave., Santa Cruz, by Jordan Michael Boerner as an individual business on April 25.
• FELTON DONUTS AND PASTRIES was registered at 6259 Graham Hill Rd., Felton, by Veasna Chuop as a business operated by a married couple on April 25.
• LAND AND LEAF ADVISORY, MOUNTAIN FLOWER FARMS, PURE AQUASCAPES was registered at 110 Brookwood Dr., Santa Cruz, by Sgid, Inc. as a corporation on April 25.

Have news that should be in Lookout Briefs? Send your news releases, including contact information, to news@lookoutlocal.com.

MORE LOCAL COVERAGE

The post Santa Cruz County business filings: Week of April 28 appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

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Residents living in the Bonnie Brier community have lost their main access point since the part of the road leading to the bridge washed out in February 2025.

Santa Cruz County leaders say the collapsed bridge is not their responsibility to repair.

“A year ago, on about the fourth of February, I was the last person to drive over the road and the bridge, and then the whole road collapsed, the abutments went backwards,” said Kathy Tracy, a retired special education teacher who moved to Bonnie Brier 32 years ago.

Lanktree Lane crumbled on one side of a 100-year-old bridge, cutting off some emergency services from 21 households. The only other access is across a bridge too small for full-size ambulances or firetrucks. 

Residents living in the Bonnie Brier community have lost their main access point since the part of the road leading to the bridge washed out in February 2025. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

BOULDER CREEK >> The tiny, tight-knit community of Bonnie Brier is tucked away in the redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Founded in 1905, today there are about 30 homes with some families that have lived there for  generations. 

The Boulder Creek neighborhood is isolated and tranquil, surrounded by trees and set back from the roads. Bear Creek flows through the neighborhood.

Like other isolated, mountain neighborhoods in the county —  in Bonny Doon, San Lorenzo Valley and the Soquel hills — Bonnie Brier is accessible only by privately owned roads and bridges. 

In February 2025, one of two ways in and out of the neighborhood failed after a rainstorm washed away part of the road. Lanktree Lane crumbled on one side of a 100-year-old bridge, cutting off some emergency services from 21 households. The only other access is across a bridge too small for full-size ambulances or firetrucks. 

A year later, the road has not been repaired and residents are racing to track down the original owner that constructed the bridge and may still be responsible for its maintenance. 

Bonnie Brier residents have invested in maintaining the bridge over the years, but the cost to repair the failed road is more than they can afford as many are low-income and seniors. The estimated cost is up to $1.5 million, according to Kathy Tracy.

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Lanktree Lane, which connects to Bonnie Brier’s bridge, is still washed out in Boulder Creek on Feb. 27, 2026. The Bonnie Brier neighborhood is made up of three subdivisions and spans across Bear Creek.

Residents have turned to the county for help to repair it, but the road is privately owned despite being publicly accessible, and the county said it’s not their responsibility. 

“It’s been that way since [the roads] were created in the early 1900s and they’ve never been a part of our system,” said Matt Machado, director of the county’s community development and infrastructure department. “We don’t have any ownership.”

Their only alternative is the private Monte Vista bridge, which runs through a nearby neighborhood but has a six ton weight limit. Most ambulances weigh that much or more. 

The Boulder Creek Fire Protection District has some vehicles with basic medical supplies that can cross the Monte Vista bridge, including SUVs, pick-up trucks, and a Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV). These are likely the vehicles to be used in the case of an emergency where the department will have to cross Monte Vista bridge but no major firefighting equipment would be able to access those residents.

Bonnie Brier neighborhood in Boulder Creek on Feb. 10. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

“A year ago, on about the fourth of February, I was the last person to drive over the road and the bridge, and then the whole road collapsed, the abutments went backwards,” said Kathy Tracy, a retired special education teacher who moved to Bonnie Brier 32 years ago. 

With the safety of their community at risk, Tracy and other residents formed an executive committee within the Bonnie Brier Improvement Association, which she said has been around since the 1950s. The five-person committee has spent nearly a year researching the history of the area and believe the bridge was originally owned by a family. 

Tracy’s husband, Terry, has amassed hundreds of pages of historical documentation on Bonnie Brier. They are also working with an attorney to track down the family lineage and discover who is responsible for it today.

Until ownership is determined, the bridge will likely remain unusable, with parts of the fallen concrete road still littered at the creek’s edge.

From left, Terry and Kathy Tracy and Roberta McPherson pose for a portrait at Bonnie Brier bridge in Boulder Creek. They each have a role in the Bonnie Brier Improvement Association. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

History of Bonnie Brier 

J.C. McMullen founded the Bonnie Brier subdivision in the early 1900s, according to an article from the Santa Cruz Mountain Echo published in 1916. The earliest bridge on a map was recorded in 1905, when Bonnie Brier received its name and seal. It was in 1916 that the bridge was officially acknowledged by the County as a public highway, because technically half of the bridge is on Brier Drive. 

McMullen, who was President of the Oakland State Savings Bank, developed Bonnie Brier. Bonnie Brier is made up of three subdivisions. From Tracy’s research on the area, she said Bonnie Brier’s main bridge was originally a wagon bridge before it was recognized as an official bridge.

When trying to attract visitors to the area, McMullen advertised Bonnie Brier in local papers as a summer getaway for people working in Oakland and San Francisco. 

At the time, Bonnie Brier was for people who “love the restful woodland county, but who shrink from the supposed horrors of ‘roughing it,’” according to The Santa Cruz Mountain Echo article. The article stated 20 plots of land had been sold to “some of the best people in Oakland and vicinity, all of whom have bought with the intention of building villa homes.”

Roberta McPherson, 79,  first moved to Bonnie Brier in 1967 with her husband and their dog. She remembers hearing about the previous neighbors repairing the Bonnie Brier bridge before she moved to the community. “What’s different (today) is there’s always kind of this underneath feeling, because we know that we don’t have emergency services. The other bridge gets us across to Bear Creek Road, but it doesn’t have what we really need to be safe,” McPherson said. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

Roberta McPherson, 79, is the current Treasurer of the improvement association. When McPherson moved to Bonnie Brier with her husband in 1967, she remembers paying $10 dues to the association. As a young couple, they were drawn to the area because they wanted to live somewhere where their Alaskan Malamute would have enough space. 

“Back then, most of the houses were vacation homes, and they were empty most of the year. There weren’t fences around all the yards, and the dogs went from one neighbor to the other,” McPherson said. “We would have dogs come visit us, and our dog would go and visit our neighbors.” 

Some of her favorite memories include spending time with her husband in nature and raising their daughter together. There were a lot of kids growing up alongside each other at that time, she said. 

“The thing that is the most special is the neighbors. I have wonderful neighbors, and I really enjoy being a part of this neighborhood,” McPherson said.

McPherson’s husband, Fred, passed away seven years ago. She now lives alone in the house they bought together. Before his death, the pair would often spend time in nature photographing native plants and wildlife. 

Not having access to the Bonnie Brier Bridge hasn’t scared McPherson off, and she chooses to stay like many of her neighbors. She’s dealt with many hardships during her time in the neighborhood. In the 1970s, there was a snowstorm that was heavier than usual. Then in the 1980s there were the mudslides and the ‘89 earthquake. And in 2019 after her husband’s death, she dealt with the CZU fires.

Now, the community is faced with the impacts of their damaged bridge. She said it could be something that tears a community apart — but not this one.

“We have a really good neighborhood, good neighbors, and we have a real desire to take care of each other,” McPherson said. 

The fallen bridge

The bridge connects Lanktree Lane with Brier Drive, with most of the 65 residents on the side of the bridge that is no longer accessible. Brier Drive was shown as a public highway on original maps and land deeds from 1905. On the Lanktree side is where part of the asphalt road washed out and fell into Bear Creek, which flows beneath the bridge. 

Prior to the bridge collapsing, the bridge had been through decades of slow erosion, compounded by annual rainstorms. Still, the redwood deck that wagons and eventually cars would cross is still intact. Green moss can be seen growing out of the cracks. There are still chunks of asphalt and other debris in the creek leftover from when it collapsed last year.

Chunks of asphalt and other debris lay in Bear Creek on Feb. 10. Bonnie Brier residents jumped into action the moment the bridge was damaged by a buildup of rain water from previous storms. “We call ourselves the Bonnie Brier Improvement Association. It’s all voluntary. We go out and clean the roads and maintain the roads. We’ve done all of that for years and years and years, as long as I know and longer. But bridge collapsed, we don’t have the money for that,” said Kathy Tracy, resident and member of the association. 

Boulder Creek Fire Protection District Chief Mark Bingham said he was aware of the situation from the moment the bridge failed, and sent an emergency response team to the scene. His priority was to alert everyone in the area that the bridge was no longer an accessible exit.

Bingham, who’s worked for Boulder Creek Fire Protection District since 1998 and has been chief since 2020, said the district works tirelessly to keep isolated communities like Bonnie Brier safe. Boulder Creek has many hard-to-reach communities, he said, and the district has recently invested in smaller, four-wheel drive vehicles instead of traditionally large fire engines to navigate the rough terrain — and potentially small bridges.

“We’re constantly looking at what the right model is for our firefighting apparatus,” Bingham said.

Chief Mark Bingham at the Boulder Creek Fire District station on Mar. 11. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

The Bonnie Brier advocates 

Kathy Tracy is a woman who cares a lot. She is passionate about where she lives, and this passion has propelled her into leading the effort to protect Bonnie Brier. One example of her dedication to the community is her application to Firewise USA. 

Firewise is a voluntary national program under the National Fire Protection Association, and Tracy felt that being part of it would help to make Bonnie Brier residents safer as they wait for a new bridge. Becoming a Firewise community helps neighbors organize to mitigate wildfire risk and make homes safer, in an effort to also bring down the cost of insurance.  

Her house, which she lives in with her husband, Terry, is surrounded by about 50 redwood trees on their property, she said. A tall staircase leads to her front door and upon entering, where visitors are met with beautiful works of art and spilling light filling up the living room through the many windows.

Kathy and Terry are proud of the home they’ve built up together. Now in their 60’s, they have been through a lot while living in Bonnie Brier. From repairing their roof, to creating an enclosure for their rescued pet parrot, they’ve taken on many projects. They also enjoy the simple enjoyment that comes from walking their dog together. 

But beyond their home projects, the Tracy’s are also leading the way on the bridge repair effort. Both Kathy and Terry have their roles in the Bonnie Brier Improvement Association. Kathy is secretary and Terry is president. The association, including McPherson and others, has worked nonstop on solutions since the bridge was lost. They’ve held monthly association meetings, met with different government agencies and worked on grant applications, and now are waiting for the lawyer to track down the potential owner.

The resounding fear Kathy hears from neighbors is the financial toll self-investing in the bridge repairs will have if they can’t secure funding elsewhere. But she said they also fear not having easy access to emergency services and relying on one way out – leaving the community in a bind. 

“People are saying they’re going to have to take out second mortgages. They’re going to have to take from their retirement funds in order to help pay for this, which our community, for the most part, is going to try to do their best because we all know we need fire service,” Kathy said. “We need ambulance services here, but it’s going to take a big hit, and we might lose a lot of residents once that bridge is fixed.”

Santa Cruz Local reporter Amaya Edwards spent months reporting this story as part of an enterprise project in collaboration with her fellowship at Catchlight Local. She embedded with the residents of Bonnie Brier who have been cut off from their main access bridge for more than a year. Her goal was to capture why they call such an isolated neighborhood their home and what makes it so special to them. There are dozens of similarly isolated areas around Santa Cruz County that are equally vulnerable to being cut off like Bonnie Brier. Amaya will continue to cover these communities and highlight solutions as these situations become increasingly commonplace due to a myriad of reasons, including climate change and dilapidated infrastructures. 

Questions or comments? Email info@santacruzlocal.org. Santa Cruz Local is supported by members, major donors, sponsors and grants for the general support of our newsroom. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Learn more about Santa Cruz Local and how we are funded.

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The post Boulder Creek Community has one way in and one way out appeared first on Santa Cruz Local.

One of the Trump family’s biggest crypto plays is in turmoil. Investors are furious. The value of its digital tokens is tanking. And no one seems to know what exactly is going on with its finances.

When it was unveiled 20 months ago, World Liberty Financial was pitched as a firm that would provide a new, blockchain-based way to bank. But it has yet to launch a consumer platform to do much of that, and the price of one of its few offerings—a digital asset that would ostensibly let owners vote on the company’s big financial decisions—has cratered in recent weeks, losing 50 percent of its value since January. And now, following a nasty war of words, the company is being sued by one of its major investors: erstwhile Trump-crypto super-fan Justin Sun.

Buyers still might be getting something valuable: the opportunity to put money directly into the first family’s pockets.

But amid the chaos, World Liberty Financial (or WLFI, for short) has emerged as one of the Trumps’ most effective sources of enrichment during the 47th president’s second term in office. They’ve reportedly raked in more than $200 million by selling shares in the company and the tokens it produces. And even if the price of these assets falls, buyers still might be getting something valuable: the opportunity to put money directly into the first family’s pockets.

For a lot of folks older than Barron Trump (the company’s official “DeFi visionary”, all this is pretty baffling stuff. So let’s explain it, starting from the beginning.

What exactly is World Liberty Financial, anyway?

World Liberty Financial was founded by the Trump family and a small group of associates—including the Witkoff family—in 2024, at the height of the presidential campaign, as a decentralized finance, or DeFi, company. DeFi refers to crypto-based financial services platforms that, in theory, take all of the traditional operations of a big bank and move them onto the blockchain, the digital ledger behind well-known crypto products like bitcoin.

The Trumps initially held as much as 86 percent of the company, but in 2025, shortly before Trump’s inauguration, they sold a big chunk to the brother of the United Arab Emirates’ ruler. But the Trumps still control the company and the majority of the digital governance tokens that it has issued.

But what does WLFI actually do?

Supposedly it’s going to free the world from meddling, controlling, and woke banks—and from Wall Street financiers. The idea behind DeFi is that most of the transactions that people currently do through banks—lending and borrowing money and transferring funds, for example—can be carried out on the blockchain more cheaply and transparently.

When the Trumps announced they were establishing World Liberty, they leaned hard into the idea that they would be liberating the masses from the “financial elites.”

DJT: For too long, the average American has been squeezed by the big banks and financial elites. It's time we take a stand—together. #BeDefiant https://t.co/DuEtfRfrjt pic.twitter.com/txPz5FVSsK

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 22, 2024

Despite the dramatic imagery, that hasn’t yet happened; the company’s website still says its app is “coming soon.”

Are companies like WLFI really going to revolutionize the economy?

Perhaps one day, but some experts are skeptical. Corey Freyer, director of investment protection at the Consumer Federation of America, says that the whole concept of DeFi is suspect. Theoretically, it offers a human-free way of banking, but it’s extraordinarily difficult to scale a totally anonymous and automated experience in a user-friendly way, he explains.

“There are these huge, huge tech barriers to getting into DeFi that make it, even for the crypto-curious, ultimately, too complex,” says Freyer, who was the chief crypto adviser to Gary Gensler, President Joe Biden’s crypto-skeptical chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. “What it has become useful for is money laundering and illicit financing.”

World Liberty Financial hasn’t been accused of participating in any such crimes. It hasn’t done much of anything at all, other than issuing two kinds of crypto assets. (More on those below.)

So that means the Trumps aren’t making much money from this project?

LOL.

World Liberty Financial has been extraordinarily lucrative for the Trump family. Shortly after the company launched, it began selling something called WLFI tokens. These tokens are digital assets that (again, in theory) allow the holder to vote on key decisions made on how to run the company. They’re not exactly cryptocurrency, but—like a meme coin or an NFT (both of which Trump also markets)—they can be resold. In other words, they have some value as long as someone is willing to buy them. And some people are always willing to buy what Trump is selling. In total, the sale of the tokens has raised more than $550 million, and Trump and his family personally collected a portion of that—the president’s last financial disclosure listed his take at $57 million, as of June 2025.

The Trump family has also cashed in another way: through sales of the company’s privately held stock. While the aforementioned WLFI tokens offer holders some voting rights, they don’t convey an ownership stake in the company itself. If you want a share of the business, you have to buy the company’s actual stock. These shares aren’t publicly listed, and when the company was created, the Trump family owned as much as 86 percent of them. But four days before Trump’s January 2025 inauguration, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan—the brother and national security adviser to the UAE’s leader—paid $500 million to purchase 49 percent of the company. According to reports, the Trump family cleared at least $187 million from the sale.

Wait…what?? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?

To put it mildly, yes.

Sheikh Tahnoon, sometimes known as the “spy sheikh” for his role in managing his country’s intelligence efforts, has also worked for years as an intermediary in international politics. He has visited the White House and has been involved with high-level regional negotiations—with the Trump administration.

He’s also an extremely influential investor. He chairs the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the emirate’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund. He has his hand in a slew of investments, including in SpaceX, Blackrock, Waymo, Sotheby’s, Savage X Fenty, and the Manchester City soccer club. That’s not all—he’s also spearheading the UAE’s financial involvement in data centers and AI, through which he has invested in OpenAI, TikTok, and Affinity Partners, the investment firm run by presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. (In 2021, Kushner also banked a $2 billion investment in this venture from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund).

One thing that World Liberty Financial has accomplished is the creation of a stablecoin called USD1. It’s a kind of cryptocurrency that’s not supposed to fluctuate in value; instead, it’s pegged to the price of the US dollar. Stablecoins—there are quite a few—are potentially useful for investors or currency traders who want to move money between different cryptocurrencies.

The big break for USD1 was a May 2025 agreement between an investment firm owned by Sheikh Tahnoon (who had yet to be revealed as a World Liberty investor) and Binance, the controversial crypto exchange. In that deal—just months into Trump’s second term—the sheikh’s firm used USD1 to complete a $2 billion investment in Binance. The massive transaction gave USD1 instant credibility.

OK, but what’s the difference between WLFI tokens and USD1?

They are both digital assets issue by World Liberty, but they serve two very different purposes. Unlike USD1, the WLFI tokens aren’t pegged to the dollar, which means their value can fluctuate wildly. And overall, that value has fallen dramatically. Also unlike USD1, a WLFI token gives the holder the right to vote on matters related to the operation of the firm. In that way, it’s similar to a traditional share of stock, but, again, unlike a stock, the token doesn’t give you an ownership stake in the company. So a token is only useful if there is something meaningful to vote on.

So what exactly are the WLFI holders voting on?

World Liberty Financial hasn’t held many meaningful votes, notes Molly White, a prominent crypto researcher. She estimates there have been about 10 votes in all. “There have been a [few] but not on anything major,” she says. “They didn’t hold a vote on whether to create the stablecoin, it’s been on sort of minor things.”

Something that arguably should have received a vote, Freyer says, is the Trumps’ compensation. But that detail—written into the company’s founding principals, or protocol—was never subjected to a token-holder plebiscite.

“One thing that’s pretty locked down in the protocols is the share profits that the Trump Organization gets from its participation,” Freyer says, noting the Trumps were guaranteed to get 75 percent of the WLFI tokens to start off with. “In most DeFi protocols, that would be the thing that you can vote on if you don’t like. In this one, it’s untouchable.”

Why has the price of WLFI tokens been collapsing?

WLFI first hit the market last August, at $0.45. That turned out to be its peak price. Since then, it’s fallen more than 80 percent, with a particularly dramatic plunge earlier this month. It’s currently hovering a bit above 7 cents per token.

Some of the recent collapse seems to be linked to investor worries about a series of loans that World Liberty Financial received from friendly companies. In exchange large cash infusions, World Liberty offered up massive amounts of WLFI tokens as collateral. Now investors are trying figure out what’s going on, and their fears appear to be contributing to a downward spiral in the token’s value.

“I think a concern is that it’s not clear why they would do this, and there are potentially concerning reasons,” says Molly White. “What are they doing, and why are they doing it, and is something bad happening? And I don’t think it’s clear.”

Why would investors worry about these loans?

This part gets pretty complicated.

Back when the company and all the tokens were created, there were fairly strict rules prohibiting insiders and early buyers who got big blocks of tokens from selling them off quickly. That’s meant to create stability in the token—to avoid the infamous “rug-pull” danger that crypto traders dread.

But some investors are starting to worry that the World Liberty loan deals could drive down the token price, and that fear seems to have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. These loans are indeed complex. Last summer, World Liberty’s founders—including CEO Zach Witkoff, the son of Donald Trump’s special envoy for Middle East peace—entered into a deal with a crypto services company called Alt5, a publicly traded firm. Alt5 said it would sell $1.5 billion in shares of its own company and use the proceeds to buy WLFI tokens. As part of the deal, World Liberty would get shares in Alt5, and World Liberty executives, including Eric Trump, would take over top jobs at Alt5. Neither Alt5 nor World Liberty Financial returned requests for comment.

More recently, World Liberty has started borrowing money from Alt5, using WLFI tokens as collateral. It’s a circuitous and not-entirely-easy-to-follow set of transactions, but it essentially allows World Liberty to get its hands on more cash than it previously had access to.

World Liberty struck a similar deal with a company called Dolomite, in which World Liberty borrowed $75 million from Dolomite and put up WLFI tokens as collateral. The two firms are independent from each other, though one of Dolomite’s top executives is also an adviser to World Liberty. The transaction might be a good deal for World Liberty—cash in exchange for collateral in the form of an asset it just created—but for Dolomite, it seems like a risky bet on the value of WLFI tokens. Indeed, since that deal was consummated, the token price has dropped by more than 20 percent.

In other words, after essentially creating the WLFI tokens out of thin air, World Liberty is now using them as collateral to borrow actual money. Is it a good idea?

“It depends on who you ask,” White says. “Whether you think that’s a genius financial strategy or a very questionable one, it is a very common crypto strategy.”

The fact that these deals were made with companies that have connections to WLFI executives is making some token-holders nervous. White says there are fears in the market that someone is trying to cash in, but, she adds, no one seems to know exactly what is going on.

Earlier this month, World Liberty took steps to shore up confidence, proposing new restrictions on the sale of tokens by insiders. The company has also dismissed concerns about its dealings, saying they are merely the product of “FUD” (crypto/investor speak for “fear, uncertainty, doubt”).

So far, the token’s price hasn’t recovered. But Corey Freyer, the Consumer Federation of America expert, says that the token’s most tangible value may be as a way to ingratiate oneself to Trump. The president receives transaction fees on the sale of tokens, which, in Freyer’s view, makes them something akin to a potential “Starbucks Card for presidential bribery.”

Have any of WLFI’s investors sued?

Funny you should ask.

For months, World Liberty Financial has been engaged in a brutal fight with crypto mogul Justin Sun. Sun has always courted publicity—he is the guy who spent $6 million to buy a banana taped to the wall at Art Basel. (He ate the banana). He runs his own crypto exchanges, which attracted attention—and a civil fraud lawsuit—from the Biden-era SEC. In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, Sun sided with Trump, and shortly after the election, Sun announced he was purchasing $25 million of WLFI tokens .

In the days before Sheikh Tahnoon’s huge investment, Sun’s purchase was a major deal—the first significant investment in a World Liberty project. Sun followed up with another $50 million in WLFI token purchases. He also became the top investor in the president’s separate $TRUMP meme coin.

By last spring, Sun had established himself as the poster boy for the crypto industry’s full embrace of—and investment in—Trump. That embrace worked out well for the industry. The Trump administration slashed regulations and enforcement. In February 2025, the SEC agreed to put its lawsuit against Sun on hold while negotiating a settlement. A year later, Sun settled the case for a relatively paltry $10 million.

Yet Sun’s friendly relationship with World Liberty Financial didn’t last. Last fall, when he should have been eligible to begin selling some of his WLFI tokens, World Liberty announced that it had frozen a number of accounts, including Sun’s. Since then, Sun has been unable to access his tokens.

The company declined to explain exactly why it took that step, though it has accused Sun of engaging in “misconduct that required World Liberty to take action to protect itself and its users.” The recent turmoil involving World Liberty’s loans and token price gave Sun a renewed opportunity to blast the company, saying he was its “first and largest victim.” World Liberty Financial’s X account posted a mocking response that concluded, “See you in court, pal.”

On Wednesday, Sun filed his lawsuit.

San Diego Comic Con 2024 cemented itself as one of the event’s most memorable installments the moment the MCU’s new Victor Von Doom unmasked himself. That’s when we all learned Robert Downey, Jr. is playing the iconic comic book character. No one expected the franchise’s first big screen hero to return as one of Marvel’s greatest villains. So who had the idea to bring RDJ back as Doctor Doom? Turns out it was the man in charge of the entire MCU, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige. Yes, Feige himself has wanted Downey as Doctor Doom for some time. But he’s not responsible for another big return that is also taking place. Downey helped talked Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo into also coming back.Marvel Studios

During an appearance with Omelete (which we first heard about at Deadline), the Russo brothers provided some insight into how one of Hollywood’s most shocking casting decisions happened. Joe Russo said, “That was Kevin [Feige].” Turns out the MCU’s head honcho never stopped thinking about a possible “what if” from 2005’s Fantastic Four. RDJ was considered for the role of Doctor Doom in that film. While fans have known about the sliding doors superhero moment, Kevin Feige decided to open it when given the chance.

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The Russos also said “that conversation” about the former Iron Man as Doctor Doom “was had a while ago.” Feige was apparently thinking about “Victor Von Downey” longer than anyone knew.

Despite Downey’s stunning casting, the Russos claim they weren’t onboard with their own MCU return initially. (We say “claim” because they always said they’d only return for Secret Wars.) How did they end up agreeing to helm both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars? “Robert tried to talk us into doing it and we said ‘no.’ We just didn’t have a story,” the brothers said. “We didn’t have a way in.” That lack of an “in” made them “resistant for a while.”

They say that changed when their “key” collaborator Steve McFeely came up with “a really powerful story.” It’s one they said “has to be told.” While they refused to say what that exact story is, we should expect it to center Downey’s villain the way the Russos Infinity War centered Thanos. “We love villains who think they’re the hero of their own stories,” said Joe Russo. “That’s when they become three dimensional and they become more interesting. And when you have an actor like Robert Downey, you have to create a well shaped, three-dimensional character for the audience.”

Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr. himself shared some thoughts on why he returned for Doom, offering at the 1:13:08 mark:

And so, again, what he really did was say, I want to go I want to cast against type supposedly because I know that Downy’s as much a Strauss as he is a Tony Stark or whatever. So really what it is too is sometimes the universe has this larger perspective and someone says, ‘Hey, guess what? I think you can do this thing that people have never seen you do very well and I’m and I’m betting on it.’ And then you go, ‘Oh s**t.’ So then there’s that sense of obligation can be the mother of deformity. But I think also appreciation for validation is demonstrated in perspiration. So I worked my ass off to make sure that I was so prepared. Sydney Lumett would have been happy exactly with the way I showed up to set.

Now I’m dipping my toe back in there but I honestly feel like I’ve I don’t want to say I’ve earned the the right to be able to be granted access where no actor for hire has been. But I’ve always had this thing where I’m kind of, even in Chaplain it was about he transitioned from the silent era to talkies or did he? Because really it was but it was all to make The Great Dictator which was possibly the most important statement of his entire artistic career. And now having played Tony Stark for all those years, I’m coming back into Marvel again. Without Lewis Strauss and without Nolan’s endorsement, it wouldn’t make as much sense to say, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to hit that button again, but now I’m going to do it in this genre.’ But really, what’s interesting to me is digging into what happens backstage at the world, not being afraid of scale.”

Well, we guess that if the MCU had to cast Robert Downey Jr. in the MCU for the second time, it may as well be for a totally different role that’s lived rent-free for him in the minds of its makers. We’ll see how it all plays out when Avengers: Doomsday releases on December 18, 2026.

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Originally Published on March 24, 2025.

The post Casting Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom Was Kevin Feige’s Decades-Long Dream appeared first on Nerdist.

In many ways, the content on our screens has never been better. Just look at the upcoming Spider-Man Noir starring Nicolas Cage. The series looks like an incredible mix of genres, and just like a ton of fun. In fact, it will even air in black and white — a truly inspired touch for the release. But even though we’re looking at some of the coolest releases we’ve ever seen, the web of streaming platforms is becoming a stickier and more tangled web all around us. For instance, Spider-Noir will release on Prime Video in May, but it turns out it will FIRST release on a whole other streaming channel, MGM+.Prime Video

Even though Spider-Man Noir is a Prime Video series, it will first air on MGM+’s linear channel on May 25, 2026, BEFORE rolling out globally on Prime Video on May 27. But the catch is, to watch the series when it first releases, you’ll have to subscribe to MGM+, and that will cost you another $7.99/month as a Prime Video add-on. Of course, Amazon owns both Prime Video and MGM+, but different content lives on the different channels at different times. In this case, Spider-Noir will arrive early on MGM+ before rolling out on the more mainstream channel.

This Spider-Noir release cadence becomes even more complicated when we recall that all eight episodes of Spider-Noir will release at once, as a binge release. So if you really want to watch the series fresh and avoid spoilers, you’d better subscribe to MGM+ or plan extra caution for the two days before it arrives on Prime. We’re not sure we’ve seen this release tactic before, and we’re not sure we love it. But, the situation is what it is.

Click To View Gallery Prime Video Prime Video Prime Video

There’s a possibility that MGM+ will receive only 2 or so episodes of Spider-Noir for early release, but so far there’s been no confirmation of that speculation. All we know is that the series is slated for a binge release and it will release early on MGM+.

The synopsis for Spider-Noir shares, “Spider-Noir” is a live-action series based on the Marvel comic Spider-Man Noir. “Spider-Noir” tells the story of Ben Reilly (Nicolas Cage), a seasoned, down on his luck private investigator in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life, following a deeply personal tragedy, as the city’s one and only superhero.“

As mentioned, Spider-Noir will air on MGM+’s linear channel on May 25, 2026, before rolling out globally on Prime Video on May 27, 2026.

The post SPIDER-NOIR Will Release Early, If You’re Willing to Pay appeared first on Nerdist.

Beautiful. We finally know when Ted Lasso will officially head back to AFC Richmond. Apple TV announced the hit series’ fourth season will premiere this summer on August 5 via an all-new trailer. This latest look at the show promises an emotional return across the pond for the beloved mustachioed coach. But while he seems happy to be back, this promo suggests a lot of his old friends are not doing nearly as well. They might need Ted’s help more than ever.

The bloody wanker is back! And this time around he’s coaching AFC Richmond’s new women’s professional soccer club. What will that mean for both him and the people he cares about? Here’s the show’s official synopsis from Apple TV:

In season four, Ted returns to Richmond, taking on his biggest challenge yet: coaching a second division women’s football team. Throughout the course of the season, Ted and the team learn to leap before they look, taking chances they never thought they would. 

Apple TV

Season four will mark the return of star Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, and Jeremy Swift. Newcomers to the show include Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Faye Marsay, Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey, Abbie Hern, and Grant Feely. This trailer also includes the great Tracey Ullman. She is getting in on the football fun with a character that looks absolutely chaotic. Brilliant.

How will she help (or make things worse) for Coach Ted when he heads back to his old-new team? We’ll find out one episode at a time. Ted Lasso season four takes the pitch on Wednesday, August 5 with its premiere episode. It will then release new episodes every Wednesday until the finale on October 7. By then we’ll probably have had plenty of laughs, plenty of tears, and hopefully for Ted’s new soccer team plenty of wins.

The post TED LASSO Kicks Off Season 4 With Trailer and Release Date appeared first on Nerdist.

Apple is adding a new subscription option that lets app developers offer lower monthly pricing in exchange for a 12-month commitment.

Names, phone numbers, physical addresses also included in Shiny Hunters alleged data dump

Logistics technology company Pitney Bowes, which makes franking machines for US postage, is the latest scalp claimed by ShinyHunters and its ongoing spree of pay-or-leak attacks against major organizations.…