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Today’s Menu

• Anthropic explodes to $183B valuation in massive funding blitz that puts OpenAI on notice

• BitMine becomes Ethereum whale king with $8.1B hoard representing 1.5% of total supply

Markets

TODAY IN AI

Anthropic explodes to $183B valuation in massive funding blitz that puts OpenAI on notice

Anthropic just dropped the most audacious funding announcement of 2024, securing a colossal $13 billion round that catapults the Claude maker to a staggering $183 billion valuation—triple what it was worth just eight months ago in March. The round was co-led by heavyweights Iconiq, Fidelity, and Lightspeed, with backing from BlackRock affiliates and Qatar Investment Authority, essentially turning Anthropic into the most serious OpenAI challenger overnight.

The numbers behind this valuation explosion are genuinely mind-blowing: Claude Code, their developer assistant launched in May, is already generating $500 million in run-rate revenue after just months in market. This isn't some speculative bet on future potential—Anthropic is proving they can turn cutting-edge AI into massive revenue streams at unprecedented speed.

The funding round signals that institutional investors are betting big on a multi-horse race in AI rather than OpenAI's continued dominance. With this war chest, Anthropic can now compete directly with OpenAI on talent acquisition, compute resources, and product development without worrying about burning through cash reserves.

This valuation leap puts Anthropic in rarified air alongside the most valuable private companies in history, suggesting that investors believe the AI market is big enough for multiple $100+ billion companies. The real question is whether Anthropic can execute on this massive bet or if they just raised money at the peak of an AI bubble.

TODAY IN CRYPTO

BitMine becomes Ethereum whale king with $8.1B hoard representing 1.5% of total supply

BitMine Immersion just executed the most aggressive single Ethereum purchase in corporate history, buying 153,000 ETH worth $655 million to push their total stash above 1.86 million ETH valued at $8.1 billion. They now control 1.5% of Ethereum's entire supply, making them the undisputed king of corporate Ethereum treasuries—bigger than SharpLink, The Ether Machine, and even the Ethereum Foundation itself.

Fundstrat's Tom Lee is calling this Ethereum's "1971 moment," comparing it to when the U.S. abandoned the gold standard and unleashed massive financial innovation. His thesis is that as the real world goes digital, Bitcoin becomes the digital store of value while Ethereum becomes the infrastructure for everything else—stablecoins, tokenized assets, even AI systems running on-chain.

The supply math is getting genuinely scary for anyone not already positioned: ETH treasury firms and ETFs have absorbed nearly 5% of supply since June, ETF flows are outpacing Bitcoin's, and now the biggest corporate buyers are openly competing to lock up more. At today's ETH/BTC ratio of 0.038, Lee points out that a $250K Bitcoin would imply a $12K Ethereum.

BitMine's relentless accumulation strategy toward their stated goal of 5% ownership isn't just ambitious—it's potentially market-moving given Ethereum's relatively smaller supply compared to Bitcoin. With Wall Street not just buying ETH but actively building on it, this supply squeeze could create the kind of scarcity-driven price action that makes previous crypto rallies look tame by comparison.

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Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

Damon James