Before diving into today’s email, I filmed a quick video last week breaking down Notebook LM. They’re a killer new platform built off of Google’s Gemini product. Feel free to check it out below:

Click here to check it out now.

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Today’s Menu

• DeepSeek’s New AI Image Model Beats DALL-E 3

• Bitcoin Rebounds as Markets Brace for FOMC Decision

Markets

TODAY IN AI

DeepSeek’s New AI Image Model Beats DALL-E 3

Fresh off its viral R1 launch, Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is back—this time with Janus-Pro, an open-source multimodal AI that outperforms DALL-E 3 and Stable Diffusion in key benchmarks.

Here’s why Janus-Pro is making waves:

Available in 1B and 7B parameter versions, it generates high-quality images from text with industry-leading accuracy.

It outperformed major competitors on GenEval and DPG-Bench, setting a new standard for open-source image generation.

Released under an MIT license, developers can use and modify it freely for commercial projects.

The timing is no coincidence—DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model already rattled the industry by delivering OpenAI-level performance at a fraction of the cost. Now, Janus-Pro is adding fuel to the fire, challenging assumptions about who truly leads in AI.

The U.S. AI giants have dominated—until now. Is DeepSeek forcing a global paradigm shift in AI development?

^{Today In Crypto}

Bitcoin Rebounds as Markets Brace for FOMC Decision

Bitcoin is up 4% in the past 24 hours, bouncing back from Monday’s sell-off, which saw $1B in futures liquidations and an 8.5% drop in the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20). The broader crypto market has surged 6.5%, with XRP leading the way (+9.5%), followed by strong gains in SOL and DOGE.

The recent turbulence was partially fueled by DeepSeek’s AI breakthroughs, which rattled U.S. equity markets and spilled over into crypto. But all eyes are now on Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, where traders expect no immediate rate-cut signals. Historically, Fed decisions have heavily influenced BTC’s trajectory, as investors rotate in and out of risk assets.

Meanwhile, Metaplanet, a Tokyo-listed investment firm, just completed the largest Bitcoin-focused capital raise in Asian equity history, issuing 21M shares to raise $745M for BTC purchases. The firm, which follows a "Bitcoin-first, Bitcoin-only" strategy, now holds 1,762 BTC, ranking as the 15th-largest corporate Bitcoin holder. Its stock jumped 3% on the day and is up 16% YTD.

With macro volatility looming and institutions doubling down on BTC, the coming days could set the tone for crypto’s next big move.

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Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

Damon James