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Today’s Menu

• OpenAI CEO's candid dinner disclosures expose ambitious expansion strategy

• Crypto markets retreat ahead of Jackson Hole as liquidations surge

Markets

TODAY IN AI

OpenAI CEO's candid dinner disclosures expose ambitious expansion strategy

Sam Altman has provided rare behind-the-scenes insights during a dinner with reporters, revealing plans for trillion-dollar data center investments, potential Chrome acquisition interest, and acknowledgment that OpenAI possesses superior AI models constrained by computational limitations. The CEO admitted the company "legitimately just screwed up" GPT-4o's removal, with GPT-5 specifically designed to deliver warmer responses without becoming sycophantic.

Perhaps most striking was Altman's revelation that OpenAI has developed better models that cannot be offered due to compute constraints, with plans to spend "trillions" on data center infrastructure to overcome these limitations. He drew explicit parallels between the current AI investment frenzy and the dot-com bubble, characterizing current valuations as "insane" while maintaining that the underlying technology justifies massive capital commitments.

The discussion extended to potential acquisitions, with Altman expressing interest in Google Chrome should antitrust actions force its sale. He also reiterated confidence in OpenAI's collaboration with Jony Ive on consumer hardware, describing the upcoming device as "worth the wait" and emphasizing that "you don't get a new computing paradigm very often."

TODAY IN CRYPTO

Crypto markets retreat ahead of Jackson Hole as liquidations surge

Cryptocurrency markets are experiencing significant selling pressure with Bitcoin sliding below $115,000 and Ethereum falling to $4,220 ahead of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's Jackson Hole Symposium speech. The CoinDesk 20 Index has dropped more than 4.5% in 24 hours, with Bitcoin falling below its 50-day moving average after reaching a record $124,000 last week.

QCP Capital reported that "more than $400 million in long positions were liquidated overnight as BTC slid from 118k to 115k and ETH from 4,500 to 4,300," extending last week's 5% pullback amid over $1 billion in DeFi liquidations. Ethereum faces additional pressure from a record validator exit queue with 855,158 tokens worth over $3.5 billion seeking to leave the network.

Despite price weakness, institutional demand remains robust. BlackRock's ether ETF registered record trading volume of 364.25 million shares alongside record inflows of $2.32 billion last week. As Coinstash co-founder Mena Theodorou noted: "Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs clocked a record-breaking $40 billion in weekly trading volume—we're seeing the infrastructure solidify around crypto in real time."

Market structure indicators are flashing warning signals, with funding rates turning negative and the bitcoin-to-altcoin liquidations ratio reaching its lowest point since early 2024—a dynamic often observed at market tops. The combination of technical breakdown and defensive positioning suggests crypto markets are bracing for potential volatility from Powell's speech.

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Damon James