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Today’s Menu

• Perplexity throws crumbs at publishers while dodging copyright lawsuits

• Bitcoin's $900M liquidation bloodbath wipes out 200,000 traders in brutal selloff

Markets

TODAY IN AI

Perplexity throws crumbs at publishers while dodging copyright lawsuits

Perplexity just unveiled what they're calling a "revolutionary" $42.5M publisher revenue-sharing program, but let's be honest—this looks more like panic mode than innovation. The AI search company is now offering publishers 80% of proceeds from a $5 monthly Comet Plus subscription, launching this initiative right as they're getting absolutely hammered by copyright lawsuits from News Corp's Dow Jones and cease-and-desist orders from Forbes and Condé Nast. Coincidence? Not a chance.

The program pays publishers when their articles generate traffic via Perplexity's Comet browser, appear in searches, or get used by the AI assistant—basically admitting they've been profiting off publisher content without compensation this whole time. CEO Aravind Srinivas is trying to spin this as "the equivalent of Apple News+ for AIs and humans," but the math is brutal: splitting revenue from a measly $5 subscription across multiple publishers feels like throwing pennies at a burning building.

The timing couldn't be more obvious—this isn't some altruistic gesture toward the media industry, it's a desperate attempt to make legal problems disappear with money. Publishers are already struggling financially in the AI era, and now they're supposed to be grateful for scraps from a subscription that costs less than a fancy coffee? The economics here are insulting.

This revenue-sharing model might be one of the first to acknowledge that AI agents are clicking content as much as humans, but it also exposes how little AI companies actually value the content they've been scraping for free. When your big publisher peace offering is splitting revenue from a $5 subscription, you're basically admitting you never took content creators seriously in the first place.

TODAY IN CRYPTO

Bitcoin's $900M liquidation bloodbath wipes out 200,000 traders in brutal selloff

Bitcoin just experienced what can only be described as a complete and utter massacre, plunging below $110,000 and wiping out all of last week's gains in spectacular fashion. The carnage was so intense it triggered nearly $900 million in liquidations across crypto markets, with Bitcoin hitting a seven-week low near $109,000—down more than 11% from its all-time high just two weeks ago. Over 200,000 traders got absolutely destroyed in 24 hours, most of them late longs who probably thought they were buying the dip.

The domino effect was merciless: Ethereum got crushed even harder, tumbling 7.4% to $4,371 after flirting with $4,900 earlier in the day, while XRP fell 4.8%, Solana plunged nearly 10%, and BNB dropped 4.2%. According to Rachael Lucas at BTC Markets, "selling pressure intensified as a large holder offloaded 24,000 BTC, triggering a wave of liquidations"—proving once again that crypto markets are still at the mercy of whale movements and overleveraged positions.

This isn't just rotation between assets anymore—it's full-scale risk-off panic mode. Presto's Rick Maeda nailed it: "Alts sold off faster than majors and stablecoin inflows stayed flat, signaling risk-off across crypto rather than capital shifting within the sector." The pain extended beyond spot markets too, with crypto ETFs bleeding $1.43 billion in outflows last week, the largest exodus since March.

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Until next time,

Damon James