TWIST NEWS: AI Music, Circle’s IPO, TWIST500 and more! | E1972
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Jason and Alex kick off the show!
- Circle is undergoing major audits, unlike Tether which only had attestations.
- Tether's previous holdings in Chinese commercial paper raised concerns about stability, especially with rising inflation and interest rates.
- Tether recently boasted billions of dollars in annual revenue, potentially making stablecoin holders vulnerable due to missed interest opportunities.
- There are currently $12.8 billion worth of Tethers in circulation.
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- Alex Wilhelm and Jason Kakanis introduce the show and express their excitement for the day's discussions.
Ai-generated memes.
- AI-generated memes from Glyph's AI meme generator are gaining popularity, using a line drawing of a person to represent different individuals and make humorous statements.
- The new Claude AI, also known as Sonnet, demonstrates improved understanding and accuracy in responding to user requests.
- AI integration is expanding beyond enterprise use, with rapidly advancing capabilities.
- AI is improving, reducing hallucinations and adhering better to instructions.
- The speaker successfully used Claude 3.5 to research and write a podcast, saving time and effort while verifying the accuracy of the AI-generated content through citations.
The butler experiences.
- The speaker describes their experiences with butlers, including having a butler for three days in Italy and staying in a suite with a butler at the Ritz Carlton.
- Butlers provide various services such as greeting guests in the morning with their robe and coffee, laying out clothes, preparing newspapers, and serving port and cigars after dinner.
- The speaker highlights the luxurious feeling of having a butler take care of tasks like packing and unpacking bags and steaming clothes.
- The speaker expresses regret for not pursuing a career on Wall Street, as it would have likely afforded them the means to have a butler.
- Butlers were more affordable in the 1800s compared to today, and the speaker currently has a housekeeper who visits once a week.
- Butlers are skilled at chopping up lines of cocaine, but the speaker advises against asking them to prepare drugs.
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- LinkedIn Jobs helps businesses find the right professionals for their team faster and for free.
- LinkedIn has over a billion members in more than 200 countries, making it a great platform to reach potential candidates.
- LinkedIn's AI and machine learning algorithms help businesses find candidates who are not actively searching for a job.
- 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites, making LinkedIn the best place to post job openings.
- 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours when using LinkedIn Jobs.
- A new venture in Texas could shake up the landscape of American stock exchanges.
- Circle, the company behind the stablecoin USDC, is planning an IPO.
- Several new insurance options are being considered for the TWIST500.
- AI music is generating legal issues, with lawsuits involving companies like Sunno))) and Udio.
The Texan stock exchange.
- The Texas Stock Exchange, backed by investors like BlackRock, aims to provide more competition and flexibility compared to existing exchanges like NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange.
- Critics argue that the exchange may be politically motivated and seek to avoid regulations related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.
- ESG criteria, particularly board diversity and structure, diversity efforts, and anti-competitive practices, are under scrutiny.
- High taxation and overbearing regulations in states like California and New York have led to an exodus of companies and individuals to states like Florida and Texas, which offer a more favorable business environment.
- California's emphasis on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives and additional exit fees for selling expensive homes are causing annoyance and discouraging people from purchasing expensive properties in the state.
- The free market is addressing ESG-related issues, and while the Texas Stock Exchange may attract listings from Texas companies, a mass migration of companies from major exchanges is unlikely due to the favorable price-to-earnings ratios offered by US exchanges.
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- Squarespace offers built-in SEO tools to help users optimize their websites for search engines.
- Squarespace has specific SEO tools for eCommerce sites to help optimize product pages.
- Squarespace provides AI-powered tools to assist users in writing SEO-friendly copy.
- Users can tweak the AI-generated content to fit their needs.
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- The Long-term Stock Exchange (LTSE) aimed to provide long-term holdings and reduce the focus on quarterly reports and stock price fluctuations.
- The LTSE initially had three companies, including Twilio, Sauna, and ThreadUp.
- Despite the idea behind the LTSE, it did not gain significant traction among investors.
- The discount offered for long-term holding was not considered valuable enough compared to the liquidity of traditional stock exchanges.
- The LTSE's success may depend on attracting highly desirable companies like SpaceX or Stripe to its platform.
- Reducing compliance costs and regulations could make the LTSE more appealing to companies seeking a different set of rules.
- The decline in the number of public companies highlights the need for initiatives like the LTSE to encourage more companies to go public.
Circle’s pending IPO.
- Circle, the issuer of the stablecoin USDC, is preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) through a direct listing.
- Stablecoins, like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), are pegged to the US dollar and backed 1:1 with hard assets, making them a relatively safe investment.
- The rise of stablecoins has been seen as an endorsement of the US dollar, providing a dollar-equivalent option for people worldwide.
- Circle's strong compliance record and transparent practices distinguish it from other stablecoin issuers like Tether, which has faced criticism for its questionable assets and lack of transparency.
- The TWIST500 list of the top 500 most influential people in crypto was released, featuring Sam Bankman-Fried, Changpeng Zhao, and Vitalik Buterin among the top 10.
- Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to create music, with some AI-generated songs even making it onto the Billboard charts.
- The crypto market is experiencing a downturn, with Bitcoin and Ethereum seeing significant price drops.
- The crypto industry is facing regulatory challenges, with increased scrutiny from the SEC and CFTC.
- OpenAI's Jukebox can generate music in different styles and genres.
- It can create songs from scratch or extend existing ones.
- The AI was trained on a dataset of 1.2 million songs.
- The system can generate lyrics, melodies, and chords.
- Users can control the style, genre, and mood of the generated music.
- Circle, a cryptocurrency company, filed for an IPO.
- The company is valued at $9 billion.
- Circle operates a stablecoin called USDC, which is pegged to the US dollar.
- The company also offers cryptocurrency trading and custody services.
- Circle plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to expand its business and hire more staff.
- TWIST500 is a list of the top 500 startups in the world.
- The list is based on factors such as revenue, growth, and innovation.
- Some of the companies on the list include SpaceX, Stripe, and Airbnb.
- The TWIST500 is a valuable resource for investors and entrepreneurs.
- The US government is investigating Google over its advertising practices.
- The investigation is focused on whether Google is abusing its dominant position in the online advertising market.
- Google could face fines or other penalties if it is found to have violated antitrust laws.
- The company is also facing lawsuits from state attorneys general over its data collection practices.
Alex breaks down some amazing details around stable coins like Tether and crypto companies like CoinBase and Circle.
- Circle, the company behind the stablecoin USDC, filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with $112.8 billion in reserves.
- Coinbase's 5% yield on USDC holdings may impact Circle's revenue.
- Robinhood's customer acquisition strategy involves rewards and incentives, while benefiting from accelerated interest rate hikes due to its cash holdings.
- Stablecoins like USDC, with a market capitalization of over $50 billion, are gaining popularity for remittances, inflation hedging, and frictionless transactions.
- The TWIST500 website aims to identify and list the 500 most important private companies globally, excluding Chinese and biotech companies initially.
- Notable companies mentioned include Huntress (cybersecurity), Creatio (low-code software), Alterist (software for investment advisors), Clear Street (software for brokerages), Monad Labs (crypto unicorn), and Forecast (web3 crypto social network).
- Investors are betting on the potential of decentralized social media to disrupt traditional advertising-driven revenue models.