Issue #62

Workers quit rather than commute, experts warn of an AI bubble, Trump trade war costs trillions, and more. 

News from March 27 - April 3, 2025

Bitcoin Could Replace The Dollar

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said cryptocurrencies could replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency due to US debt. 

In his letter to shareholders, he warned that central banks might think the US won’t pay back its $36.2 trillion debt, leading them to buy alternative currencies like Bitcoin. This would trigger a collapse in US Treasuries and the dollar, which comprises 59% of world currency reserves. 

His 2025 letter to shareholders: “By 2030, mandatory government spending and debt service will consume all federal revenue, creating a permanent deficit. If the U.S. doesn’t get its debt under control, if deficits keep ballooning, America risks losing that position to digital assets like Bitcoin.”

Source

Trump Trade War Costs Trillions

Economists have warned that a global trade war could cost the global economy 1.4 trillion dollars. 

The economists at the Aston Business School said US tariffs and the retaliatory measures imposed by other countries could lead to higher prices, reduced competitiveness, and fragmented supply chains. This comes after months of declining US tech stocks, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 share index falling to their worst lows in several years. 

No US trading partner is expected to emerge unhurt by the tariffs, which will come into force next week on what Trump calls ‘Liberation Day.’ Trump said he isn’t worried that the tariffs will push allies into closer ties with China, which recently agreed to closer economic integration with Japan and South Korea. Trump: “We’re going to be very nice, relatively speaking, we’re going to be very kind.” 

Source

Trump’s Sons Mine Bitcoin

Donald Trump’s sons founded a Bitcoin mining venture in partnership with the digital infrastructure company Hut 8. 

The new venture, American Bitcoin, was founded by a group of investors, including Donald Jr and Eric Trump and will be led by the co-founder of Tinder and the chief executives of Hut 8. It aims to become the world’s largest Bitcoin miner and build a large strategic Bitcoin reserve. Hut 8 will manage the operations and provide all its ASIC computer chips in exchange for 80% of American Bitcoin’s stock. 

This comes after Melania Trump released a coin and Donald Trump released a series of NFTs. Donald Jr: “Simply buying Bitcoin is only half the story. Mining it on favorable economics opens an even bigger opportunity.” Hut 8’s valuation went up after the announcement, then suddenly dropped. 

Source

Bulletin Board

• H&M Uses AI Models. Swedish fashion giant H&M will use AI-generated digital twins of 30 models in ads. These digital clones, created by another Swedish firm Uncut, will be initially used in social media posts, with each post featuring a watermark to show it was AI-generated. H&M says their models will retain rights over their digital likenesses and be reimbursed at rates pre-agreed with agents. Fashion giants Hugo Boss and Levi Strauss & Co. have previously dabbled with AI-generated models to widespread criticism. Source
• Workers Quit Rather Than Commute. Nearly half of all UK professionals would quit if their boss issued a return-to-office mandate, according to a poll of 8,000 people conducted by recruitment company Hays. 58% of these people were women, and 48% were men, with the cost of commuting being the primary factor in quitting. The survey found that hybrid working 3 days a week in the office was the preferred working pattern, with three-quarters of the workforce in favour. The survey found that while big brands like Amazon and Santander have issued return-to-office mandates, only 8% of employers have done so. Source
• Germany Gets 1 Trillion For Free. The conservative German Chancellor Merz secured a deal in parliament that will make available an extra €1 trillion for public spending. This extra trillion euros was previously untouchable because defence spending was subject to the country’s constitutional brake. However, after Trump said he wouldn’t defend Europe from invasion, the German parliament agreed to hundreds of billions in extra defence and infrastructure expenditure. The bond markets responded favourably. Alexander Wynaendts, Chairman of Deutsche Bank: “You could even say we got a trillion euros at no additional cost… We simply don’t have the time to squander this opportunity.” Source
• ChatGPT Fakes Studio Ghibli. Since ChatGPT launched its new image-generating feature last week, social media feeds were flooded with memes in the style of Studio Ghibli, the iconic Japanese animation studio known for the film Spirited Away. The memes, including those of Musk, Trump and Sam Altman, proved so popular that ChatGPT’s servers went down. Many have voiced concerns over training AI on copyrighted works. AI fans disagreed. X user: “AI creators deserve protection, not punishment. Expression is sacred. Imagination is not illegal. If I have to be a martyr to prove that, so be it.” Source 
• Experts Warn of An AI Bubble. Experts warn that a rapid rise in the value of AI companies will cause a bubble and crash the economy. Tech companies still spend enormous sums of money building data centres, even after Chinese-owned DeepSeek’s success, which generates responses at a fraction of ChatGPT’s computing power. Fears of such a bubble haven’t scared the industry. Donald Trump announced $500 billion in funding for an AI infrastructure project. ChatGPT just closed the world’s biggest private tech deal in history: $40 billion in funding at a £300 billion valuation. Joe Tsai, Chairman of Alibaba: “I start to see the building of some kind of bubble”. Source

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