- Below is the latest edition of w3w, my free newsletter about emerging technology, including AI, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and more . If you would like to receive it in your inbox every Sunday, please subscribe here.
- I used several AI apps to assist production of this edition of w3w. Final edit 100% by me. For fuller detail, see the newsletter's commit history on GitHub.
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The World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai has been generating some headlines the last few days that are definitely worth highlighting:
- In remarks to the gathering, Chinese premier Li Qiang proposed establishing an organization to foster global cooperation on AI, calling on countries to coordinate on the development and security. (The Guardian)
- Li's comments echoed one of the key points in a new action plan on AI published by the Chinese government ahead of the conference. (CNBC)
- Huawei unveiled a new chipset dubbed the CloudMatrix 384 designed to rival the offerings of AI market leader Nvidia. (Reuters)
- Prior to the Shanghai conference, the White House published its own plan on AI, emphasizing laissez-faire regulation of the new technology in the U.S. (CNET)
On to the
Five Things: July 20-26, 2025
On to some notable headlines elsewhere regarding the technologies and trends reshaping the web:
- Exchange-traded funds holding ether have been on a roll, attracting far more investor cash last week than bitcoin funds. According to data from Farside Investorss, nine ETFs tracking ether garnered more than $1.8 billion in net inflows through Friday, continuing a 16-day positive streak. By contrast bitcoin ETFs added just $70 million in assets, including three out of the stock market's five trading days showing net outflows for the funds. Yikes. (Decrypt)
- Crypto's whales are on the move. Galaxy Digital said it recently sold $9 billion worth of bitcoin for an unnamed long-term tokenholder The transaction is believed to be the largest ever sale of bitcoinby a single investor... Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has recently trimmed its holdings in several major crypto-related stocks like Coinbase and Robinhood while rotating money into an Ether-focused treasury firm backed by Peter Thiel. Hmmm... CNBC reports that Tesla's buying and selling of bitcoin in recent years has often been terribly timed, effectively causing the automaker to missout on billions of dollars in market gains.
- Christie's, one of America's largest luxury real-estate brokerages, is launching a new unit to help clients purchase properties with digital currency. (New York Times)
- The state of Wyoming is weighing a proposal to issue its own stablecoin. The token may even offer a yield, exploiting what some state lawmakers say is a loophole in the recently passed federal Genius Act. (Decrypt)
- Scam updates: TRM Labs‘ Ari Redbord says the use of AI-generated voices, deepfake videos, and phony credentials to swindle crypto investors out of their tokens increased more than fivefold in the 12-month period through April... A New York judge granted two men accused of torturing and holding a crypto investor hostage in May bail of $1 million each pending trial... The Nashville television station WKRN reports that a local man has been charged with stealing $10 million in cash and crypto from the widow of country music legend George Jones... YouTube and Twitch streamer Kitboga has created a bitcoin ATM scam to ensnare other scammers who might target consumers through such kiosks. Kitboga says the ruse has so far wasted more than 4,000 hours of bad guys' time in an endless loop trying to redeem bogus credentials for bitcoin.
Market Snapshot
A quick look at some major indicators as of Friday's market close on Wall Street. For fuller detail, including additional indexes and asset classes, see my spreadsheet here.
| Indicator | Close | Weekly % | YTD % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | $116,649.05 | -0.7% | +24.3% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 23,272.25 | +0.9% | +10.8% |
| Gold | $3,335.60/oz | -0.7% | +26.9% |
| USD Index | 97.67 | -0.8% | -10.0% |
| 10-yr U.S. Treasury Yield |
4.386% | -0.05 | -0.19 |
Looking Ahead
- In her latest column, Rana Foroohar of the Financial Times lays out a worst-case scenario in which stablecoin-fueled crypto speculation could lead to another 2008-style financial crisis. Hmmm...
- Decrypt's Ryan S. Gladwin covered web3 gaming startups' recent woes, which have led to the shutdowns of several high-profile games this year. Among the big culprits: Heavy, perhaps unrealistic pressure to boost token prices rapidly after launch.
- The media industry is experimenting with AI -- but so are propagandists. Google's NotebookLM is adding featured notebooks from the Atlantic, the Economist, and other big-name organizations to demostrate how the app might be used to learn about an array of topics... On a more worrisome note, French journalist Jean-Marc Manach says AI has been used to generate more than 4,000 bogus news websites to game the algorithms for Google search and Google Discover. And 404 Media's Jason Koebler says AI has been contributing to a "traffic apocalypse" for news sites lately.
Odds & Ends
- An amateur stargazer in Australia has captured three breathtaking new images of distant nebula clouds light years away from earth. (Space.com)
- Chuck E. Cheese got pinched. Police in Tallahassee, Florida, arrested an employee in costume as mascot of the beloved children's pizzeria chain on felony charges of making fraudulent charges on customers' credit cards. (Tallahassee Democrat)
That's it for now. Thanks for reading the newsletter today! If you want to know more about w3w's history and (ahem) the author, that info is available here.
If you need to reach me directly, please email peter[at]w3w[dot]media.
Best wishes for a healthy and productive week ahead. 😊