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Today’s Menu

• Ilya Sutskever's startup lands massive $2B funding despite zero product details

• Bitcoin shows surprising stability amid conflicting White House signals on technology tariffs

Markets

TODAY IN AI

Ilya Sutskever's startup lands massive $2B funding despite zero product details

Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), co-founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, has reportedly secured a staggering $2 billion funding round at a post-money valuation of $32 billion. This places the months-old startup among the highest-valued private companies in the world despite having no concrete product roadmap.

The Financial Times reports that Greenoaks led the round with a $500 million investment, joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz. According to a separate Reuters report, tech giants Alphabet and Nvidia have also backed SSI, though their investment amounts remain undisclosed.

What makes this valuation particularly remarkable is that SSI appears to be selling investors primarily on vision and pedigree rather than tangible technology. The company has maintained a laser focus on building "superintelligence" that surpasses human-level AGI while ensuring "safety always remains ahead." Sutskever previously told investors that SSI has "identified a different mountain to climb," suggesting a novel approach to AI development without providing specific technical details.

Strategic takeaway: This extraordinary funding round signals that elite AI researchers now command unprecedented capital based largely on reputation alone. The sixfold increase in SSI's valuation since September 2024, combined with reports of Mira Murati's Thinking Machines planning its own raise, demonstrates that investors are placing massive bets on researchers with OpenAI pedigrees regardless of product specifics. This suggests we've entered a new phase of the AI funding cycle where technical talent and vision can outweigh conventional metrics like revenue, product-market fit, or even a clearly articulated technology roadmap.

^{Today In Crypto}

Bitcoin shows surprising stability amid conflicting White House signals on technology tariffs

The cryptocurrency market is demonstrating remarkable resilience as conflicting White House statements on technology tariffs continue to roil traditional markets. Despite President Trump sending markets on a weekend rollercoaster with contradictory messaging about China tariffs, Bitcoin has maintained relative stability around $84,500.

The confusion stems from recent policy shifts regarding Chinese technology exports. While China still faces a substantial 145% tariff on most exports to the U.S., the White House quietly exempted electronics—including smartphones and semiconductors—reducing tariffs on these products to 20%. However, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick subsequently clarified that these products would soon face new tariffs under a separate semiconductor-focused policy expected in the next 1-2 months.

Adding to the disorder, President Trump contradicted his own administration by claiming there was never an exemption at all, only that electronics had moved to a "different tariff bucket." This communication chaos has left U.S. businesses struggling to plan investments in an environment where policy can change dramatically within 48 hours.

Meanwhile, recent economic data showed U.S. inflation cooling more than expected, with CPI rising just 2.4% year-over-year—the lowest in four years. While this would typically drive significant gains in risk assets, the market remains fixated on trade war developments, with Bitcoin showing only modest gains of approximately 3.17% since the CPI data release.

Strategic takeaway: Bitcoin's relative stability during this period of intense policy uncertainty suggests the asset may be maturing as a potential hedge against geopolitical and economic volatility. While traditional markets struggle with the unpredictability of tariff policies, Bitcoin's decentralized nature may be insulating it somewhat from these concerns. However, with more sector-specific tariffs reportedly on the horizon, cryptocurrency investors should remain prepared for continued market turbulence as global trade tensions evolve.

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Until next time,

Damon James