Evening digest: Bitcoin steadies, Goldman Sachs to start layoffs in April

On Thursday, Bitcoin traded around $69,000-$70,000. 

Goldman Sachs is reportedly looking to start job cuts in April, while OpenAI announced it will acquire Astral, and Uber announceda  partnership with Rivian.

Bitcoin holds steady amid broader market selloff

Bitcoin drifted between $69,000 and $70,000 as escalating tensions in Iran and across the Middle East rattled global markets and pushed oil prices higher.

The conflict, which has impacted energy infrastructure, kept inflation concerns elevated and dampened investor sentiment.

Traditional markets came under pressure, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both falling nearly 1% to fresh 2026 lows.

Gold dropped 5% to around $4,500 an ounce, while silver declined 6.6%, marking a sharp pullback after recent gains.

In contrast, crypto markets remained relatively stable.

Bitcoin was trading near $70,500, down about 1.1%, while other major tokens such as ether, XRP, BNB, and solana also posted modest declines of under 1%.

Crypto-linked stocks showed mixed performance with Coinbase reversing weakness to trade 1% up, Strategy falling 0.78%, and Circle declining 3%.

Goldman Sachs shifts to rolling layoffs

Goldman Sachs is preparing to begin a new round of job cuts next month, reported Business Insider marking a departure from its traditional annual workforce reduction strategy.

Instead of conducting a large-scale “Strategic Resource Assessment” (SRA), the bank plans to implement smaller, rolling layoffs through the spring and summer.

The approach is designed to give divisional leaders more flexibility in managing staffing decisions.

The cuts are expected to affect all business units, including investment banking and asset management, though they will be smaller than last year’s reductions, which targeted up to 5% of the workforce.

"Regular, consistent head count management is nothing out of the ordinary for a public company," a Goldman Sachs spokesperson said. "We are constantly assessing our performance and talent across divisions."

OpenAI deepens AI coding strategy with Astral deal

OpenAI announced plans to acquire Astral as it intensifies its focus on AI-powered coding tools and enterprise applications.

The deal will integrate Astral’s Python-based developer tools into OpenAI’s Codex platform, enhancing its functionality for software development tasks such as writing code, fixing bugs, and automating testing.

Codex has seen rapid growth, with more than 2 million weekly active users and significant increases in usage this year.

The platform has evolved from a command-line assistant into a broader ecosystem integrated into ChatGPT and other tools.

The acquisition comes amid intensifying competition from Anthropic, whose Claude models have gained traction among enterprise customers.

Anthropic’s CEO has said enterprise users account for roughly 80% of its business, highlighting the importance of this segment.

Uber partners with Rivian for robotaxi expansion

Uber is accelerating its autonomous vehicle ambitions through a partnership with Rivian Automotive, committing up to $1.25 billion to support a large-scale robotaxi rollout.

The agreement includes an initial $300 million investment and plans to deploy up to 50,000 autonomous vehicles by 2031.

Uber and its partners are expected to purchase at least 10,000 autonomous versions of Rivian’s R2 electric vehicle, with the option to expand significantly.

The rollout is set to begin in cities such as San Francisco and Miami in 2028, before expanding across the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Rivian is developing its own autonomy technology, including advanced perception systems and machine learning capabilities, to support the deployment.

The partnership reflects renewed momentum in the robotaxi sector, which has faced delays in recent years but is regaining traction as AI and computing capabilities improve.