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Forbes
11 minutes ago
- Forbes
Burgeoning Hedge Strategy Amplifies Commercial Technology In Defense
ATLANTIC OCEAN - MAY 14: In this handout released by the U.S. Navy, An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air ... More System (UCAS) demonstrator launches from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) May 14, 2013 in the Atlantic Ocean. George H.W. Bush is the first aircraft carrier to sucessfully catapult-launch an unmanned aircraft from its flight deck. The Navy plans to have unmanned aircraft on each of its carriers to be used for surveillance and be armed and used in combat roles. (Photo by U.S. Navy via Getty Images)Advancing the Mix of Defense Capabilities The President's defense budget, released in June, embraces a vision of balancing traditional platforms with new digital technologies—a 'Hedge Strategy'—at a pivotal moment for military modernization. This "high/low" approach, enables the U.S. military to complement its arsenal of (high) expensive defense platforms of ships, tanks and planes with new capabilities such as small, inexpensive, AI-enabled and upgradeable unmanned systems (low). Hedge Strategy is a term coined by Rear Admiral (retired) Lorin Selby and me in a paper we co-authored in 2022. Later that year, Rep. Ken Calvert, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee—Defense (HAC-D), called for adopting new technologies—predominantly commercial technologies—as a hedge strategy and provided increased funding for the concept. Today, the vision is becoming a reality on a much larger scale. America's military arsenal now includes an increasing inventory of unmanned systems across air, sea, and ground, along with a proliferated constellation of small satellites. Harnessing leading commercial technologies, these capabilities weren't mature enough to be on the battlefield a decade ago but have proven instrumental in Ukraine and other recent conflicts. In fact, in describing the War in Ukraine a few weeks ago, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Colin Kahl, observed that this war is a surprising mix of the trenches and artillery shells of World War I with World War III. We haven't left the industrial age of armaments behind, but armaments are now complemented by drones and emerging digital technologies which, in combination, are game-changing capabilities a modern military cannot live without. This photograph shows the first batch of Ukrainian made drone missiles "Peklo" (Hell) delivered to ... More the Defence Forces of Ukraine in Kyiv on December 6, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. December 6, 2024 marks the 33th anniversary of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP) (Photo by GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images) Recognizing this, Congress has strongly supported the organizations within the Defense Department which focus on commercial capabilities such as the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), whose budget has increased ten-fold in the last three years to $2 billion for FY26, and the Office of Strategic Capital, which now can offer up to $4 billion in loans for component technologies like batteries and rare-earth magnets that are critical for defense. The Defense Department must pivot quickly to adopt new capabilities to augment what's in place and do so with more cost-effective technologies. In other words, our military must shift from expending the U.S. Navy's multi-million dollar missiles to neutralize Houthi low-cost drone attacks. Additionally, we must embrace more nimble and asymmetric warfare like Ukraine's recent Operation Spider's Web. Systems that provide low-cost, attritable mass, better tactical situational awareness, and optimized decision-making by fusing multi-modal data in real-time all reinforce the mix shift towards new capabilities. Traditional primes like Lockheed Martin and L3Harris, along with emerging primes like Anduril, are advancing lower-cost, mass produced munitions to improve defense-offense cost ratios. SANA'A, YEMEN - NOVEMBER 13: Mock drones and missiles are displayed at an exhibition on November 13, ... More 2024, in Sana'a, Yemen. Yemen's Iran-allied Houthis announced on Tuesday that they launched a significant attack by drone and ballistic and cruise missiles on US Navy vessels, while they were navigating at the Bab al-Mandeb strait off the Yemeni coast. (Photo by)$1 Trillion for Defense The appropriations landscape today is multifaceted. For the current fiscal year—FY25–Congress did not pass a defense budget, so the Defense Department operates under a Continuing Resolution which is less efficient than an on-time budget since a CR usually means no annual spending increases (regardless of inflation) and no new program starts. For next fiscal year—FY26, which begins this October—the President submitted his budget four months late which puts a burden on Congress to appropriate funds on time. The FY26 budget request at $831.5 billion is only slightly larger than last year's $825 billion. WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 03: Members of the House walk up the steps outside the U.S. Capitol during the ... More procedural vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 03, 2025 in Washington, DC. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), President Donald Trump and other Republicans are scrambling to gather enough support to begin debate on Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill. (Photo by) However, Congress recently passed the Big Beautiful Bill (or Reconciliation) which includes $150 billion of additional and multi-year defense spending for the next five fiscal years with $133 billion planned in FY26. Defense spending in FY26 might include the regular appropriation of $831.5 billion plus $133 billion plus around $40 billion for nuclear refurbishment executed by the Department of Energy. This combination pushes top-line defense spending to a record $1 trillion. However, this level of spending, as a percentage of U.S. GDP (estimated at $30 trillion for 2026), is only 3.4% of the economy. Historically, the U.S. has spent much more on defense: 6% in the Reagan build-up, 9% in the Vietnam War and routinely 8-10% in the 1950s. The cost of fighting (and potentially losing) a major war with China is far more costly than what the U.S. spends on defense. With a nod to Ronald Reagan, President Trump's 'Peace through strength' policy means the U.S. must continue to invest to deter adversaries from initiating future wars. A $1 Trillion defense budget is likely to become the norm as geopolitical tensions suggest we will be in a great power competition with multiple capable adversaries for years to come. Our adversaries, especially China, recognize that new technologies can deliver battlefield advantage and our adversaries are sharing military technology and strengthening each other's supply chains. As a result, the race is on to invest in new capabilities and adopt them rapidly to yield a military edge. In addition, the U.S. must rebuild with its allies the ability to sustain manufacturing for the materiel needed in a conflict. Golden Dome, All Types of Unmanned Systems, and AI HawkEye 360 satellites gather signals intelligence data to provide governments with better ... More understanding of activity in regions such as the South China Sea. HAWKEYE 360, HERNDON, VIRGINIA Specifically, there are several initiatives fueling large spending increases that should benefit commercial technology vendors. Perhaps most visible is the President's Golden Dome estimated at three years and $175 billion or more to develop. The FY26 down payment on this initiative is $25 billion with two-thirds for more and better sensors from space that could detect enemy missiles, improvements in standardized satellite manufacturing, and better ways to search and process the increasing amount of space-based imagery. DoD will heavily leverage commercial solutions in delivering Golden Dome. Rendering of Albedo's Clarity-1 in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) capturing exquisite imagery For the first-time, there are large, dedicated budget lines for aerial, ground-based, maritime surface and underwater autonomous systems, totaling $16 billion including AI-based software to control them. A partial list includes $1.4 billion for small unmanned aerial vehicles like the first-person view drones in Ukraine, $2 billion for medium maritime surface autonomy, $.7 billion for underwater autonomy, $1 billion for one-way aerial attack drones, and $3 billion for systems to counter drones. Lightfish Security ASV features a small solid state radar and a high resolution day/night camera to ... More detect and identify vessels within a few miles and transmit the radar image and video real time to the user. Designed to be used in a constellation of multiple vessels to counter Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, monitor protected marine areas, secure our maritime borders and maintain overwatch on critical maritime infrastructure In AI-based software, spending will increase 50% from $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion according to defense data provider, Obviant. This should significantly expand the military's adoption of AI-based commercial applications such as modeling and simulation for logistics, analyzing the electromagnetic spectrum, code generation and modernization, and other AI-native applications like agentic workflows. The Pentagon's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office recently awarded four contracts (each worth up to $200 million) to the leading large language model providers so that, analogous to the Department's multi-cloud strategy, the Pentagon can make use of multiple models for better decision What? The upshot of this shifting mix of capabilities is a much more favorable environment for commercial technology adoption with opportunities for new vendors. The defense primes have consolidated 90% over the last 30 years to only five companies. While there are only one to three primes competing for major weapon systems, there are dozens of companies producing unmanned systems, software. and space solutions. As the Department buys these new capabilities, there is a much-needed opportunity to expand the supply base. In addition, both the Congress and the Administration have been rapidly ordering changes to streamline the requirements, budget and acquisition processes that underlie the historically long timeframes to deliver new warfighter capabilities. The SPEED Act and FoRGED Act will include some of the biggest reforms in decades much of which will be incorporated in this year's National Defense Authorization Act. The President has already issued six Executive Orders to modernize defense acquisition, realize American drone dominance and rapidly increase shipbuilding capacity. The process changes incorporated in these Orders reinforce existing law that the military should buy commercial first wherever possible (rather than unique military items) and emphasize commercial methods of procurement (leveraging Other Transaction Authority vs. Federal Acquisition Regulations). Additionally, the Department should use a modular open-systems approach when designing large platforms that allows for substituting more capable subsystems on a faster cycle (rather than buying a set specification from a single vendor for decades). These changes create an inflection point for commercial technology adoption. UNITED STATES - MAY 06: Full committee hearing on the "Department of Defense at High Risk: The ... More Chief Management Office's Recommendations for Acquisition Reform and Related High Risk Areas." Witnesses: Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn testifies Location: 2118 Rayburn House Office Building. May 6, 2009. (Photo By Douglas Graham/) In an increasingly dangerous world, we are entering a new era of record defense spending and the adoption of commercial technologies to augment current capabilities. The Trump Administration is striving for real reform in what's being bought and how it's being bought—doubling down on acquisition tradecraft pioneered by the Defense Innovation Unit as described in the book Unit X. Consequently, these process simplifications make it more attractive for venture-backed companies to develop a defense business. Hedging existing military capabilities with solutions from defense tech vendors not only complements what defense primes can do with large platforms (ships, planes and tanks) but also brings more competition to defense procurement with companies that can ramp manufacturing quickly. Today's arsenal of democracy needs to not only be better stocked but also stocked with more modern capabilities. Additionally, the arsenal should include companies that can iterate capabilities with warfighter feedback since improvements on the battlefield now happen in hours not years. Ukraine demonstrates that wars are never won as rapidly as aggressors imagine before the conflict. Consequently, success requires new capabilities that evolve rapidly plus sufficient industrial capacity to sustain a war effort for years. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) ... More weather satellite Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U (GOES-U) lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, June 25, 2024. The United States on June 25 launched a new satellite expected to significantly improve forecasts of solar flares and coronal mass ejections — huge plasma bubbles that can crash into Earth, disrupting power grids and communications. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the satellite into orbit took off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:26 pm (2126 GMT), the US space agency announced. (Photo by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images)
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
ETH Treasury Race Heats Up as SharpLink and Bitmine Battle for Dominance
Two unlikely companies — SharpLink Gaming (SBET) and Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) — are redefining what it means to be an ETH-first corporation. Together, they've acquired more ETH than the Ethereum Foundation itself, propelling a growing trend among public firms treating ETH not as a speculative asset, but as a core part of their balance sheets. SharpLink Gaming, a Minneapolis-based fan engagement and iGaming performance firm, has emerged as one of the largest ETH corporate holders in the world. The company currently holds 280,706 ETH, a position currently worth just over $1 billion. SharpLink raised over $400 million through at-the-market (ATM) equity offerings to fund its accumulation strategy. Rather than sitting idle, the ETH is staked for yield. SharpLink also publishes an 'ETH-per-share' metric, positioning itself as a transparent bridge between regulated public equity markets and the decentralized finance ecosystem. But the title of largest ETH corporate holder now belongs to Bitmine Immersion Technologies. Chaired by longtime Wall Street strategist and Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, Bitmine has accumulated 300,657 ETH as of today, worth around $1.13 billion. Lee, who also leads Bitmine's strategic vision, has drawn comparisons between his firm's strategy and MicroStrategy's Bitcoin playbook — raising capital, deploying into ETH, and staking for yield. Bitmine's approach goes even further, aiming to control up to 5% of ether's total circulating supply. Its operations leverage cash flow from industrial-scale crypto mining and hosting, while using financial instruments like ETH options to deepen its treasury. Backed by notable investors including Peter Thiel, Bitmine hopes to function as an ETH-native reserve institution. The rivalry burst into the open on Saturday when Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin weighed in on X, calling the contest between SharpLink and Bitmine a mix of 'cut-throat one-upmanship' and potential collaboration. 'We will both compete, hard,' he wrote, adding that while they might try to out-buy each other stacking ETH, they could also 'hold hands and collaboratively explain the paradigm shift to decentralization.' He ended with a challenge: 'Game on.' This corporate arms race appears to be shaping ETH's market momentum. Over the past 24 hours, ETH has climbed 6.5% to roughly $3,800, extending a seven-day rally of nearly 27%. That price action can, at least in part, be explained by the sheer scale of ETH accumulation underway at SharpLink Gaming and Bitmine Immersion Technologies. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
ActiveCampaign Named a Leader in IDC MarketScape: AI-Enabled Marketing Platforms for Small Businesses
CHICAGO, July 17, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ActiveCampaign, a leading autonomous marketing platform, today announced it has been named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide AI-Enabled Marketing Platforms for Small Businesses 2025 Vendor Assessment (doc # US53601925, July 2025). After a rigorous assessment of 8 vendors in the marketing automation industry, IDC's independent analysis positioned ActiveCampaign as a Leader based on its offering capabilities and strategic vision for the Small Business market. The IDC MarketScape report highlighted several key strengths for ActiveCampaign: "Powerful AI-driven personalization enables multichannel campaigns and advanced automations across email, SMS, and additional channels." "Seamless integration with 950+ applications allows businesses to streamline workflows and scale efficiently." "Advanced segmentation and robust reporting tools enable precise targeting and performance measurement." "A user-friendly interface combined with extensive integration capabilities empowers small teams to manage complex marketing tasks effectively." "We believe this recognition validates that every business deserves access to distinguished marketing automation that drives real impact," said Jason VandeBoom, Founder and CEO of ActiveCampaign. "Our autonomous marketing platform acts as a strategic partner. It uses AI to imagine high-impact campaigns, activate them across channels to accelerate time to value, and continuously validate results to drive ongoing optimization." In recent months, the company launched Active Intelligence, a major platform upgrade that embeds AI across every touchpoint to deliver more intuitive marketing orchestration. The update debuted alongside the Spring 2025 Innovation Keynote, where ActiveCampaign introduced over a dozen AI agents, expanded global messaging capabilities, and new ecosystem integrations. The company also excelled in G2's Summer 2025 Reports with 307 badges and first-place rankings in 91 reports, including the Marketing Automation Momentum Grid and multiple SMB-focused reports. Additionally, ActiveCampaign secured a 2025 Top Rated Award from TrustRadius for the eighth consecutive year, underscoring the platform's consistent delivery of exceptional business outcomes. About IDC MarketScapes IDC MarketScape vendor assessment model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of technology and service suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor's position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of IT and telecommunications vendors can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360-degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective vendors. About ActiveCampaign ActiveCampaign is the autonomous marketing platform for people at the heart of the action. It empowers teams to automate their campaigns with AI agents that imagine, activate, and validate–freeing them from step-by-step workflows and unlocking limitless ways to orchestrate their marketing. With AI, goal-based automation, and 950+ app integrations, agencies, marketers, and owners can build cross-channel campaigns in minutes–fine-tuned with billions of data points to drive real results for their unique business. ActiveCampaign is the trusted choice to help businesses unlock a new world of boundless opportunities–where ideas become impact and potential turns into real results. View source version on Contacts MediaSarah ScarlataMatter Communications on behalf of ActiveCampaignactivecampaign@ Sign in to access your portfolio
