Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk: Japanese financial giant SBI agrees to acquire Bitbank, a top 10 Japanese crypto exchange by trading activity, for ~$289M, with the deal set to close in October  —  Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings said it agreed to buy cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank for around $289 million.

Tripp Mickle / New York Times: Source: Intel has promised to deliver SpaceX and Apple a toolkit this fall to test its 14A node before they make final commitments to produce chips with Intel  —  At a tech conference in San Francisco this week, admirers surrounded Lip-Bu Tan, the chief executive of Intel …

Julie Bort / TechCrunch: Insurance tech startup Corgi denies accusations that it used Papermark's open source software code to develop its software and present it as its own  —  Y Combinator-backed insurance tech startup Corgi became embroiled in yet another controversy earlier this week when Papermark …

The proposed billionaire tax is set to appear on the California ballot in November. Caroline Brehman/Bloomberg/Getty Images California's proposed billionaire tax is headed to the ballot in November. Billionaires are bracing for the possible 5% tax, and could leave the state even if it doesn't pass. The measure is expected to draw a pricey campaign fight and, if passed, legal challenges. The California wealth tax is one step closer to becoming reality. The proposed tax measure, which would require billionaires to pay a one-time tax equal to 5% of their net worth, will appear on the ballot in November after opponents, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, failed to cut a deal with the union behind it before the June 25 deadline. Now the 200-plus billionaires in California — which has more of them than any other state and most countries — are facing the reality that the tax could become law. The ballot measure is expected to spark a pricey campaign fight and likely legal challenges, as Newsom and others have vowed to continue fighting it. Advisors to the ultrawealthy say their clients are already bracing themselves for the wealth tax, and that billionaires are making moves out of California regardless of the outcome of the ballot measure. "The cat's out of the bag," David Lesperance, a lawyer who advises the ultrawealthy on immigration, citizenship, and taxes, told Business Insider. Lesperance said he had seven clients move out of California before January 1, 2026, as the measure is written to retroactively apply to billionaires who were living in the state as of that date. Several high-profile billionaires made moves to reduce their California ties ahead of that deadline, including Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Although the tax has been framed as a one-time, 5% tax, Lesperance said his clients "always assumed it wasn't one time, it was the first time." So, even if they're already going to get hit with this tax, they may not stick around to wait for the next one. Michael Cole, managing partner at R360, an exclusive, invite-only club for ultra-high-net-worth families, said the ultrawealthy have long felt burned by California and that many of them have already migrated out of the state. He said the wealth tax could be the final straw, calling it "another example of people feeling like California is at the leading edge of undue tax onto those that succeed." The billionaire tax is likely to face legal challenges if passed Cole said one concern with the wealth tax is that it's unclear how 5% of a person's net worth will be determined, adding that it could be a logistical and administrative headache, especially for anyone whose wealth is tied up in private companies. He said there are cases of founders whose assets may total over $1 billion but are almost entirely tied up in stock, adding they could "have to pay $50 million of cash when the value of the company has never been realized yet." If the measure passes, legal challenges are widely expected, with some arguing its overall constitutionality. Proponents of the tax say it's necessary to offset federal funding cuts. Caroline Brehman/Bloomberg via Getty Images Kristin Yokomoto, a private wealth and family office services attorney in FBT Gibbons' Newport Beach office, said some of those arguments could be about due process, the retroactive application of the tax, and the nature of the tax being applied to net worth rather than income. Some individual situations could be challenging to address, for instance, how to consider out-of-state assets or what happens if a couple worth over $1 billion goes through a divorce. Newsom, who has long opposed the tax, on Friday advocated instead for a federal wealth tax — one that would be harder for billionaires to evade by leaving the state. While passing a federal wealth tax is still unlikely at this stage, Lesperance said it's already on the radar of his clients, whom he helps assess their best options for pursuing citizenship abroad. Proponents of the tax, from which most of the revenue is planned to go toward healthcare services, say it's necessary to offset federal funding cuts. Some left-leaning opponents, including healthcare and labor groups that generally support raising taxes on the wealthy, have argued that the proposed measure is not a sustainable, long-term solution. Lesperance said some of his clients are funding lobbyists to work on tax solutions that will serve them better and also satisfy California, adding, "The art of taxation is plucking the golden geese with the least amount of hissing." Read the original article on Business Insider

New York Times: Sources: the CFTC began an extensive investigation of Polymarket earlier this year; the agency's former acting head killed a separate investigation in July 2025  —  Last year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission overruled its enforcement attorneys and killed a separate inquiry into whether …

Financial Times: Sources: Apple is lobbying the Trump admin for clearance to buy memory chips from US-blacklisted Chinese company CXMT to ease pressure from rising chip prices  —  The iPhone maker wants Trump administration to sign off on purchases to ease pressure from rising chip prices

Kelcee Griffis / Bloomberg: Sources: SpaceX and Charter have held executive-level talks on a consumer mobile phone offering, which would help SpaceX become a DTC mobile phone provider  —  SpaceX and Charter Communications Inc. have held executive-level talks about partnering on a consumer mobile phone offering, according to people familiar with the matter.

Police bodycam footage shows the moments after Domo CEO Joshua James was arrested on suspicion of DUI. Authorities said James left the roadway and hit a mailbox. In the video, officers question him at the scene before telling him he would be charged with DUI and leaving the roadway. Read the original article on Business Insider

Over 100 companies and government agencies are reportedly authorized to use Mythos 5, including their non-American employees.

@anthropicai: Anthropic says the US government is allowing Mythos 5 to be redeployed to critical infrastructure operators, and is working to restore general access to Fable 5  —  Since June 12, we've been working closely with the US government to restore access to Claude Mythos 5 and Fable 5. Today, the government notified us that Mythos 5, our strongest cybersecurity model, can be redeployed to a set of US organizations that operate and defend critical

Mesh came out of stealth in February with a $50 million Series A.

After weeks of negotiations, the White House permitted Anthropic to grant access to its most advanced AI model to a select group of US companies and government agencies.

Tyler Katzenberger / Politico: Sources: Meta lobbyists are urging California lawmakers to exempt social media platforms from legislation that would increase penalties in child-harm cases  —  Meta's plea comes as it faces hundreds of lawsuits accusing the company of failing to protect kids' safety on its platforms.

Palmer Luckey, Jensen Huang, Elon Musk, and more have commented on California's billionaire tax proposal. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images; Isaac Wasserman/NCAA Photos via Getty Images; Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images Many wealthy business leaders have publicly reacted to the California wealth tax proposal. State labor groups proposed a 5% tax on California residents with assets exceeding $1 billion. Some billionaires, like Larry Page, have taken action to relocate. Some of the biggest names in business are speaking up about California's billionaire tax proposal. Others are physically relocating. The measure proposes a one-time 5% tax on California residents with assets exceeding $1 billion. The measure was certified for the November 2026 ballot on June 25 after receiving enough valid signatures. If the proposal passes, the tax would apply retroactively to all California residents as of January 1. Proposed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West labor union, the bill attempts to fill a projected multibillion-dollar state budget deficit. California is home to some of the biggest companies — in both value and prestige — in the US. The state boasts Hollywood and Silicon Valley, although some of the industries' key players have relocated. In a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom obtained by Business Insider, attorney Alex Spiro wrote that his clients would "permanently relocate" if the tax becomes law. Spiro has previously represented billionaires and celebrities. Newsom said he opposed the one-time wealth tax for the state but advocated a nationwide billionaire tax instead. Here's how several business leaders and politicians have reacted to the tax proposal: Bill Ackman PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images The billionaire CEO of Pershing Square Holdings wrote on X in December that he was "opposed to wealth taxes because they effectively represent an expropriation of private property," which can have "unintended and negative consequences." However, he said he's in favor of a "fairer tax system." For example, Ackman wrote that an individual who had amassed a billion dollars or more in wealth could pay no personal income tax by living off loans secured by their company's stock. A change in the tax code could fix that problem, he wrote. "One shouldn't be able to live and spend like a billionaire and pay no tax," Ackman wrote. As for California's "budget problems," Ackman wrote that the issue wasn't a lack of tax revenue — it was about "how the money is being spent." Ben Horowitz Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for WIRED Investor Ben Horowitz criticized the wealth tax during an interview with TBPN. Horowitz, who relocated from California to Las Vegas in 2021, said the tax was the "best strategy" to break the state's streak of birthing some of the most successful entrepreneurs. "It's been so hard to break the Silicon Valley network effect, but this is the best strategy I've seen," he said. The Andreesen Horowitz cofounder said that founders in Norway left the country because of its unrealized capital gains tax. "Norway's got a lot of extremely smart people, great entrepreneurs, but they all left," he said. Jensen Huang Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang doesn't seem to be losing sleep about it. Huang, who was ranked the ninth-richest person in the world with a net worth of $155 billion as of January 6, told Bloomberg TV that the tax hadn't crossed his mind while "trying to build the future of AI." "I've got to tell you, I have not even thought about it once," Huang told Ludlow. "We chose to live in Silicon Valley, and whatever taxes they would like to apply, so be it. I'm perfectly fine with it." Nvidia is based in Silicon Valley because "that's where the talent pool is," he said. Ro Khanna Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images The Congressman for California's 17th district, which covers much of Silicon Valley, said that the proposal was "good for American innovation." After receiving thousands of comments on a December 26 post bidding a sarcastic goodbye to those threatening to leave the state, Khanna explained his support in a seven-paragraph X post on Saturday. He wrote that Nvidia would be built all over again, even with the wealth tax. "Jensen [Huang] wasn't thinking I won't start this company because I may have to one day pay a 1% tax on my billions," Khanna wrote. "He built here because the talent is here." Khanna argued that innovation would be further stifled by the "political dysfunction and social unrest" that comes with wide wealth gaps. In a statement to Business Insider, Sarah Drory, a spokesperson for Rep. Khanna, wrote that the representative has "always supported a modest wealth tax on billionaires to deal with staggering inequality and to make sure people have healthcare." "He has advocated for common sense workarounds for startup founders whose companies are not profitable and who have illiquid stock," Drory wrote. Palmer Luckey Palmer Luckey's Spotify includes heavy metal, Celtic punk, and lots of Kelly Clarkson. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images The billionaire Oculus founder and Anduril cofounder wrote in a December X post that the tax would force founders to "sell huge chunks of our companies." Luckey wrote that he made money from Oculus — which he sold to Facebook in 2014 — and paid hundreds of millions in taxes on it. Then he used the "remainder" to start Anduril, he wrote. "Now me and my cofounders have to somehow come up with billions of dollars in cash," Luckey wrote. Luckey also wrote that the policy made no provision for companies that funnel revenue back to research and development, rather than paying cash incomes sizable enough to cover the tax. "You are effectively forcing companies to immediately pivot into profit obsession over mission or long-term sustainability," he wrote. Elon Musk Elon Musk says AI may render most job skills obsolete, yet he still supports college for his sons because it offers social growth and broad learning that they cannot obtain elsewhere. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images The Tesla CEO reposted another user's X post that commented on the tax, saying that his stocks weren't wealth. Musk wrote in his December post that his "wealth" was mostly tied up in Tesla and SpaceX shares. "This means my 'wealth' can only increase due to producing more products and services for the public," he wrote. While not directly commenting on the California tax, Musk wrote that he was a "maker," unlike "taker" politicians like Sanders. Musk said in 2020 that he had moved from California to Texas. Gavin Newsom David Dee Delgado/Getty Images for The New York Times The governor of California has spoken against the wealth tax. At The New York Times' Dealbook conference in December, Newsom said that California had to stay competitive with other states. "People of that status, they already have two or three homes outside the state," he said. "You've got to be pragmatic about it." If the tax passes as a ballot measure, Newsom would not be able to veto it. Alexis Ohanian David Becker/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated The Reddit cofounder wrote on X that addressing the "rapidly increasing wealth gap" will be required to "preserve our republic," but that the billionaire tax wouldn't help. "The answer is definitely not taxing unrealized gains," he wrote in December. Three days later, Ohanian replied to his post, writing that he had received death threats. He wrote that he doesn't oppose taxation, but he is against a tax proposal that is "objectively broken" and makes Democrats look "financially illiterate." Larry Page Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images The billionaire Google cofounder is cutting ties with California. Page converted several entities from California to Delaware incorporation, including his family office and Flu Lab LLC, Business Insider first reported. One Aero, which funds Page's flying car ventures, lists its principal office in Florida. A source close to Page told Business Insider that the Google cofounder had already left the state. Whether Page's move is temporary could not be learned. The New York Times reported in December that Page had told people he was considering moving out of California in response to the proposed billionaire tax. David Sacks Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The White House AI and crypto czar took aim at California's government several times on social media. Red states like Texas and Florida don't employ state income taxes, let alone wealth taxes, Sacks wrote in an X post in December. "Democrats steal everything, then blame job creators for their 'greed,'" he wrote. Sacks said in an October episode of the "All-In" podcast, which he co-hosts, that a wealth tax "always backfires" because the tax benefits are outweighed by wealthy residents leaving. In January, Sacks made a bold prediction on X. Austin, he wrote, would overtake San Francisco as the American tech hub, while Miami would overtake New York as the finance hub. After the measure was approved in June to advance to the November ballot, Sacks criticized the California governor in an X post for failing to stop the bill from moving forward. "See ya'll in Texas," Sacks wrote. Garry Tan Seb Daly/Web Summit via Getty Images The CEO of startup accelerator Y Combinator wrote in a December X post that the tax would "kill little tech in California." Unicorn startup founders become a "paper billionaire" around the $5 billion valuation point, Tan wrote. The proposed tax is on unrealized gains, meaning founders would be put on the line before their wealth is liquid, Tan wrote. If the tax passed, Tan wrote that Y Combinator would consider opening Austin or Cambridge programs. Three days later, Tan explained why Y Combinator hadn't yet opened an Austin branch. "It is much more likely that people create successful PMF unicorns staying in SF Bay Area at a rate of 2.5x more," he wrote on X. "NYC is about 2x." Peter Thiel Nordin Catic/Getty Images for The Cambridge Union The billionaire investor, who cofounded PayPal and Palantir, recently opened a Miami office. Thiel Capital opened a Wynwood office in December, per a press release. The office will "complement Thiel Capital's existing operations in Los Angeles," the firm said. The announcement came days after The New York Times reported that Thiel was considering spending more time out of state in response to the tax proposal. Update: December 30, 2025 — This story was updated to reflect how much Palmer Luckey said he paid in taxes when he sold Oculus. It was hundreds of millions, not millions of dollars. Read the original article on Business Insider

Semafor: Letter: the US lifts its block on Mythos 5, allowing Anthropic to release it to more than 100 US institutions; sources: talks about Fable 5 are ongoing  —  THE SCOOP  —  The US government Friday lifted its block on Anthropic's powerful Claude Mythos 5 AI model, allowing the company to release …

<blockquote cite="https://www.hyperdimensional.co/p/what-should-be-done"><p>This is a bad state of affairs. Consider, in particular, some industry dynamics:</p> <ol> <li>Frontier models are trained at an enormous cost, and a significant fraction of that cost is recouped in the few post-release months that they are broadly available. After that period elapses, the models become sub-frontier, competition emerges, and margins compress. Every week of delay is eating into the narrow window that labs have to make their accounting work.</li> <li>The ongoing AI infrastructure buildout—the one that is, according to former US AI Czar David Sacks, <a href="https://fortune.com/2026/05/04/trump-ai-czar-david-sacks-american-gdp-economy/">essential to the US economy</a>, assumes a functionally global total addressable market for US AI services. No one is building $100 billion dollar data centers to serve frontier models to whatever 100 companies the US government will allow access. [...]</li> </ol></blockquote> <p class="cite">&mdash; <a href="https://www.hyperdimensional.co/p/what-should-be-done">Dean W. Ball</a>, 35 thoughts on what has happened and what America should do</p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/anthropic">anthropic</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/generative-ai">generative-ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/openai">openai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai">ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llms">llms</a></p>

Half-million-strong military will train on drones as “universal combat tool.”

Corgi became embroiled in controversy when Papermark accused it of stealing its software. Corgi says it did not, raising new questions about vibe coding.

His doctors went looking for cancer, then they saw the worms' heads.

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