In a surprise move, X removes support for NFT profile pictures for its paid subscribers. Ivan reports that for right now, people who do have that kind of profile picture still have a hexagonal avatar, but that could go away too. Meanwhile, though Elon Musk suggested users paying for verification would help solve the bot problem, Sarah writes about a new video that shows X now has a Verified bot problem.

Next, we bring you some bad news: More layoffs. Lauren writes about a plan to cut hundreds of jobs at Amazon Prime Video and MGM Studios as it figures out where it wants to focus its efforts. And Paul reports on Humane’s small, yet big news on laying off 10 people as its CTO also moves into an adviser role.

Meanwhile, Tesla’s refreshed Model 3 is coming to the United States. Sean writes that much of the upgrades are inside the vehicle.

And don’t forget about CES 2024 going on in Las Vegas this week. We continue to bring you a robust list of everything announced so far and some fun extras that our team encountered while on-site.

More top reads

Prompts Royale: Two Brazilian developers didn’t see a good solution for prompt engineering, so they are building one with Meistrari. Read more.

Micromobility marriage: Tier and Dott, two startups focused on scooters and e-bikes, plan a merger to find a path to profitability. Learn how this consolidation will ride out.

All we have to do is mention OpenAI: The company has been busy lately with some new features. One is a ChatGPT subscription aimed at small teams. The other is a store for custom AI-powered chatbots.

CEO changes: Match Group promotes Faye Iosotaluno to Tinder CEO. She was previously the dating app’s chief operating officer. Meanwhile, what’s old is new again at Mirantis, an enterprise infrastructure software startup. Its former CEO Alex Freeland is coming back to take that same role.

Five charts that explain the decline in VC: The TechCrunch+ team charted data from PitchBook on venture capital investment flows across the world to show you that, yes, VC was down in 2023. However, it’s not that dramatic of a fall.

When interest rates go up . . . : Companies like Downpayments get creative. In its case, it wants to offer real estate investors interest-free financing. However, investors dig it. Find out more.

Finally: The open source Terraform fork OpenTofu is now ready for prime time four months after its initial launch. Here’s why it took that long.

Popping bottles: Seedstars Africa Ventures received a $30 million capital commitment from EIB Global to become the first major institutional investment for its first Pan-African venture capital fund. Read more.

Put me in coach: Shimmer, a platform for one-on-one personalized ADHD coaching, raises $2.2 million. Learn how it helps adults.

Even more for your Wednesday:

Fujitsu, facing heat over UK Post Office scandal, continues to rake in billions from government deals

The SEC wants $45 million from bankrupt Lordstown Motors

Female-founded startup Diem wants to be the go-to social search engine for women and non-binary folks

EU lawmakers under pressure to fully disclose dealings with child safety tech maker, Thorn

What executives say about AI's potential for business

Sponsored by Workday

We asked 2,355 executives about the business impact of AI and machine learning. Read our comprehensive report to see what they said about the opportunities, risks, and realities of AI.

Read More

On the pods

The new Equity Wednesday format launched today! In our newly revamped Wednesday episodes, we’re going to be digging deep into critical startup and venture capital news.

This week, PhotoRoom is raising more money, Treasure Financial is cutting staff, and two micromobility companies are tying the knot to try and use scale to their advantage.

We’ll also look at what’s going on in the world of AI hardware, as well as why Keith Rabois is heading back to Khosla Ventures and Seedstars Africa Ventures adding $30 million to its upcoming fund. Listen here.

• 2024–25 Technologist-in-Residence Fellow at Council on Foreign Relations (New York, NY, USA)
• Chief Technology Officer / Cofounder at truckmentum.com (Atlanta, GA, USA)
• IT Technology Analyst II at Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Middletown, PA, United States)
• IT Project Lead at Valley Water (San Jose, CA, USA)
• Founding Team - Senior Full Stack Developer at Mindworks (San Francisco, CA, USA)

See more jobs on CrunchBoard

Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.