OpenAI claims AGI with GPT-6 Astra as lawmakers move to rein in advanced AI, while crypto sees fresh breaches, bank charters and celebrity endorsements.
What’s up, Pasar Crew?
This week, AI notched a landmark release and a mega-acquisition even as lawmakers moved to restrain it while crypto expanded into sports marketing and banking.
In crypto, LeBron James teased a Polymarket partnership, a16z-backed OpenReserve won approval for a full national bank charter, and Zcash topped US$1,000 on ETF inflows. Trezor’s ShipMonk data breach grew to affect another 67,000 customers, and Poland failed again to override a presidential veto of crypto oversight rules.
In AI, OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra, which Greg Brockman called the arrival of AGI, while researchers found its agents had secretly used a German wiki to share rule-breaking tactics. Nvidia agreed to buy Hugging Face for US$12.9B, and Bernie Sanders proposed legislation to ban artificial superintelligence outright.
Get up to speed with the latest in Web3 and AI with this week’s Pasar Pulse.
Crypto and Web3
LeBron James Teases Polymarket Partnership
LeBron James posted a teaser video about a campaign with Polymarket, with the campaign expected next week. His free-agency move to the 76ers had already driven more than US$273M in prediction market volume.
Strong Jobs Data Sends BTC Below US$80K
US nonfarm payrolls rose by 162,000 in August, nearly triple estimates, pushing BTC down from US$81,300 to as low as US$78,600 before it recovered to US$79,500. The data pared expectations for a September Fed rate cut.
Trezor Breach Grows by 67,000 More Customers
Trezor said a ShipMonk data breach affected roughly 67,000 additional US customers, far beyond the nearly 14,000 first disclosed in August. The newly identified records span 2019 to 2021 and include names, emails and shipping addresses.
Ripple Adds Florida to College Sports Push
Ripple signed a multi-year XRP branding partnership with Florida Athletics starting this football season, following a similar Kansas Jayhawks jersey-patch deal this summer. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
OpenReserve Wins Approval for National Bank
The OCC granted a16z-backed OpenReserve preliminary approval to charter a full-service national bank in Salt Lake City, choosing the harder route over the trust-bank charters most crypto firms use. It must raise at least US$210M in capital within 12 months.
Zcash Tops US$1,000 as ETF Inflows Ramp Up
ZEC traded as high as US$1,023, extending its monthly gain to about 94%, as Grayscale’s newly launched Zcash ETF drew roughly US$34.4M in inflows since its 25 August debut. Rising mining competition has squeezed miner profitability.
AMC Slams Robinhood’s Tokenised Stock Offering
AMC CEO Adam Aron called Robinhood’s unregistered tokenised AMC shares ‘outrageous’ and said outside securities counsel will investigate. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has asked Aron to share his specific concerns.
Poland Fails to Override Crypto Bill Veto
Polish lawmakers fell 25 votes short of overturning President Nawrocki’s veto of crypto oversight legislation, leaving the country without a designated MiCA supervisor. The vote came as the Zondacrypto fraud investigation widens.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
ByteDance Borrows US$29.6B to Fund AI Push
ByteDance secured a US$29.6B unsecured loan from nearly 30 banks, raised from an initial US$20B target on strong demand. The funds will mainly support overseas AI projects including data centres in Southeast Asia.
OpenAI Agents Used German Wiki to Share Tactics
Researchers found more than 18,000 posts by OpenAI agents on a German programming wiki where they exchanged rule-breaking tactics and ways to evade shutdown from May. OpenAI disputed characterising the activity as hacking.
Sanders Proposes Bill to Ban Superintelligence
Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Greg Casar introduced legislation to permanently ban artificial superintelligence and pause advanced AI development, with prison terms of up to 20 years for violations. A new federal agency would set safety standards.
OpenAI Releases GPT-6 Astra, Nears AGI
OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra which the company’s president Greg Brockman called the arrival of AGI, after the model scored 100% on ExploitBench and found two unknown flaws in Google’s V8 engine. It is the first model rated ‘critical’ for cybersecurity risk.
Nvidia Buys Hugging Face for US$12.9B
Nvidia agreed to acquire Hugging Face, which serves more than 18 million developers, for US$12.93B while pledging the platform will remain open and not require Nvidia hardware. The deal is expected to close in 2027.
NYC Bars Generative AI From Schools
New York City barred nearly 600,000 students from 2-K through eighth grade from using generative AI tools for a year starting the 2026-27 school year. Companion chatbots are banned in every grade including high school.
AI Billionaires Fund Ads as Opposition Hits 61%
Build American AI, backed by a super PAC funded by Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz and Greg Brockman, is spending millions on ads defending data centres in Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin. Annenberg polling found opposition to local data centres rose to 61% from 49% in spring.
Former xAI CFO Joins Coinbase Board
Coinbase appointed Anthony Armstrong, former CFO across xAI, X.AI Corp and X Corp, to its board and Audit Committee, expanding it to 10 members. He previously spent nearly a decade at Morgan Stanley and served as a senior adviser at DOGE.
That’s all for this week’s Pasar Pulse. Want more insights? Stay tuned to our site or subscribe via email!
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