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Its been almost 400 years since the leaders of New Amsterdam (now New York City) confronted a growing threat on their streets: people moving too fast. In 1652, the colonial council passed what may be North Americas first speed limit: No wagons, carts or sleighs shall be run, rode or driven at a gallop within this city of New Amsterdam, with Broadway (then a commercial corridor) as the lone exception. Violators were fined the equivalent of $150 to $200 in todays dollars, and repeat offenders could face corporal punishment. European settlers understood that speed in a dense environment is a recipe for disaster. In the 1780s, engineer James Watt used spinning flyweights to automatically regulate his steam engines to keep them from running too fast. This low-tech speed limiter became the blueprint for other automotive safety mechanisms. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"","headline":"Urbanism Speakeasy","description":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit urbanismspeakeasy.com.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.urbanismspeakeasy.com\/","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}} In 1901, the British Wilson-Pilcher car came equipped with a mechanical governor, limiting how fast the engine could rev. It was one of the first consumer automobiles to feature speed-limiting technology, and almost a century before modern cruise control. In 1923, Cincinnati nearly became the first U.S. city to require speed governors on all vehicles, but the proposal to cap speeds at 25 MPH failed. Auto industry lobbyists warned that mechanical limiters would reduce car sales and infringe on driver freedom. So-called Motordom still holds to that defensive position, but theyve expanded their propaganda to dismiss speed as a problem, or as you see in many car commercials, embrace speed as something their product delivers. Drivers are forcing the government to put its foot down When modern Americans are faced with a conversation about taking a foot off the gas, they tend to react by pressing their hands against their ears and giving a la-la-la-la-la, I cannot hear you, speeding is fine. The problem is, most people dont understand the dangers of driving fast in populated areas like cities and suburbs. Because they dont understand the connection between speed and safety, its only natural that theyll claim speed limiting devices are just another case of an authoritative government, elitist central planning, nanny state overreach, etc. The comments below followed a March 27, 2025 Washington Post article, and theyre hardly outliers on this topic: Another step to enslavement. The nanny state rides yet again. Big brotherism at its worst. So anyone late to an appointment has no way to get the car moving a little faster. That sounds like a grim future, particularly since so many speed limits are set pathetically low! Technology thats used to change driver behavior comes down to this fundamental issue: licensed drivers routinely choose not to govern themselves, demonstrating a need to be governed by an outside force. I dont like that we find ourselves in a situation where doors are opened for government authorities to force companies how to make a product. But we dont have to invite or even demand action by state and federal agencies if we (anyone who ever drives a motor vehicle) would simply behave better behind the wheel. Speed ruins far more lives than well ever know It’s widely known among transportation professionals that police reports focus on issues other than speed even when speed causes a calamity. For example, if someone is driving 40 MPH on a city street, and a driver who was texting says the pedestrian “came out of nowhere,” this is not classified by police as speed being a factor. But speed was a fundamental factor if the driver didn’t see or react in time to stop for the pedestrian. In the US, about 16 million people smashed their cars into each other last year, sending roughly 40,000 people to the morgue and another 2.5 million to emergency rooms. Speed is a fundamental factor in severe traffic crashes, regardless of what the police report says. Speed matters because it amplifies mistakes People will always make mistakes, but the most consequential driving errors are amplified with increased speed. Mistakes like being distracted by a child in the backseat and drifting into another lane quickly elevate the risk to the driver, passengers, and anyone else nearby when going fast. Three important things are much safer on city streets at 25 MPH than 40 MPH: What you see. Your field of view (what engineers call the cone of vision) shrinks as you accelerate, meaning you no longer clearly see the sidewalks, pedestrians, dogs, drivers about to leave a parked car, someone about to run a red light on a cross-street, etc. When you react. You dont have as much time to react to any of the events listed above. In one second, you travel about 2 car lengths at 25 MPH, but 4 car lengths at 40 MPH. Thats just one second. Think about how often drivers fiddle with their phone for one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi. Where you stop. Even under ideal weather and pavement conditions, the moment you spot a potential danger and hit the brakes, it takes a lot more distance to stop from 40 MPH than 25 MPH. The difference between 165 feet and 85 feet can be the difference between a dead pedestrian and a close call. Speed matters because it makes crashes more severe In addition to making crashes more likely to occur, high-speed driving also increases the amount of carnage in crashes. Physics explains: [crash energy = () × (mass) × (speed)]. That squared value is everything. When you double your driving speed, the crash energy quadruples. Even a small speed increase like 5 or 10 MPH greatly magnifies the force of impact. Despite decades of signage and PSAs, people keep driving too fast in the exact places where caution matters most: neighborhoods, school zones, commercial districts, and crosswalks. Technology exists to govern people who refuse to govern themselves. But Im hoping you dont force the hands of lawmakers. Instead, I hope you (and everyone else operating a motor vehicle) will slow down in populated areas. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"","headline":"Urbanism Speakeasy","description":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit urbanismspeakeasy.com.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.urbanismspeakeasy.com\/",colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}}
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On Wednesday morning, the cancer diagnostics biotech firm Caris Life Sciences rang Nasdaq’s opening bell in New York, marking the company’s awaited initial public offering. The diagnostics company’s IPO follows the successful debut of fintech companies like Chime Financial and Circle Internet Group, and will test whether investors are ready to embrace biotech companies despite declines in the sector for the last six months. Here’s what to know about the listing. What is Caris Life Sciences? Founded in 2008 by David Dean Halbert, the healthcare company utilizes next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning for precision medicine. Through molecular analysis, Caris specializes in cancer diagnosis and treatment. According to a recent filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Irving, Texas-based company currently has over 1,700 employees and over 100 biopharmaceutical partners. The company incurred net losses of $281.9 million and $341.4 million in 2024 and 2023, respectively, on revenue of $412.3 million and $306.1 million. It is expecting additional losses in the future. When is Caris Life Sciences’s IPO? Caris Life Sciences shares are expected to begin trading on Wednesday, June 18, with the offering expected to run through June 20. What is Caris Life Sciences’s stock ticker? Caris Life Sciences will trade its stock under the ticker CAI. What is the IPO price for CAI? CAI shares were priced at $21, above their previously planned range. The IPO price was planned between the $19 and $20 range, up from the previous $16 and $18 planned price. The current pricing would value Caris Life Sciences at around $5.9 billion. What exchange will the stock trade in? CAI will trade its shared on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. How many shares are available? Caris Life Sciences’s IPO will offer 23,529,412 shares. Founder and CEO Halbert is also set to retain 41.7% of ownership following the IPO.
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E-Commerce
The world’s three best-selling makers of bitcoin mining machinesall of Chinese originare setting up manufacturing footholds in the United States as President Donald Trump’s tariff war reshapes the cryptocurrency supply chain. Bitmain, Canaan, and MicroBT build over 90% of global mining rigsessentially computers dedicated to number-crunching that produces bitcoin. Establishing U.S. bases could shield them from tariffs but risks stoking security concerns the U.S. has with China in areas as varied as chip making and energy security. “The U.S.-China trade war is triggering structural, not superficial, changes in bitcoin’s supply chains,” said Guang Yang, chief technology officer at crypto tech provider Conflux Network. Moreover, for U.S. firms, “this goes beyond tariffs. It’s a strategic pivot toward ‘politically acceptable’ hardware sources,” Yang said. Bitmain, the biggest of the three by sales, started U.S. production of mining rigs in December in a “strategic move” following Trump’s presidential electoral win a month earlier. Canaan started trial production in the U.S. with the aim of avoiding tariffs after Trump on April 2 announced his so-called Liberation Day levies, senior executive Leo Wang told Reuters. The initiative is exploratory as the volatile tariff situation precludes heavy investment, he said. Third-ranked MicroBT in a statement said it is “actively implementing a localisation strategy in the U.S.” to “avoid the impact of tariffs”. The trio dominate a sector analysts estimated to be worth $12 billion by 2028. It is the upstream of a business chain that extends through the energy-intensive process of mining bitcoin, the supporting IT infrastructure and the trading platforms. U.S. rival Auradinebacked by top bitcoin miner by market value, MARA Holdingshas been lobbying to restrict Chinese supplies to stimulate competition in hardware. “While over 30% of global bitcoin mining occurs in North America, more than 90% of mining hardware originates from China representing a major imbalance of geographic demand and supply,” said Auradine’s chief strategy officer, Sanjay Gupta. Consultancy Frost & Sullivan estimated the top three held 95.4% of the hardware market in terms of computing power sold as of December 2023. When it comes to Chinese mining rigs, “hundreds of thousands of them connected to the U.S. electrical grid” is a security risk, Gupta said. Canaan’s Wang said mining rigs do not threaten security because “they are useless if not applied to bitcoin mining”. Still, manufacturers could suffer “collateral damage” from U.S. restrictions on high-tech sales to Chinese firms, he said. Underscoring the risk, Bitmain’s AI affiliate, Sophgo, has been blacklisted by the U.S. government on security grounds. Bitmain did not reply to a request for comment. FIRST-MOVER China once dominated the entire bitcoin value chainfrom rig-making through mining to tradinguntil its government banned cryptocurrency activity on the Chinese mainland in 2021 citing risk to financial stability. Miners, traders and exchanges moved abroad. Shielded by their role as technology manufacturers, however, Bitmain, Canaan and MicroBT continued to dominate in hardware. They fended off Western rivals partly due to first-mover advantage in developing high-performance chips tailor-made for mining. Canaan has since moved its headquarters to Singapore from Chinathough it still has Chinese operationsand set up a pilot production line in the U.S., a market that contributed 40% of revenue last year. “The rationale is to try to reduce the cost for both us and our customers,” said Wang, Canaan’s vice president of corporate development and capital markets. The prospect of tariffs means “we have to explore all alternatives”. The U.S. this year imposed a 10% baseline tariff on imports from many countries plus an extra 20% on imports from China. It has also said it could increase tariffs for Southeast Asian countries where Chinese rig makers have set up assembly plants. CHOKE POINT Trump has promised to be the “crypto president” who popularises cryptocurriencies’ mainstream use in the United States. Son Eric Trump together with energy and technology firm Hut 8 launched miner American Bitcoin with the goal of building a strategic bitcoin reserve. The president’s crypto-friendly policies, however, can only highlight China’s outsized role in bitcoin infrastructure, potentially putting rig makers in the crosshairs. China’s hardware dominance “creates a choke point for U.S. miners,” said John Deaton, a U.S. crypto-law attorney. “If China restricts exports or manipulates supply . . . it could disrupt bitcoin’s network stability and affect U.S. users and investors,” Deaton said. The biggest miners by market valueMARA, Core Scientific, CleanSpark, and Riot Platformsare all U.S.-based, so over-reliance on hardware of Chinese origin “is potentially problematic”, said Ryan M. Yonk, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research. Chinese rig makers might be setting up shop in the U.S. but in the short term, U.S. miners will still buy rigs from China and be stung by higher import costs, said Kadan Stadlemann, chief technology officer at crypto platform Komodo. “But this isn’t about hurting the industry. It’s about forcing a long-overdue shift,” he said. Samuel Shen and Vidya Ranganathan, Reuters
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