🪖WWIII: June 22, Issue 30

📈 Capitol (and Capital) Gains The U.S. Senate just passed the GENIUS Act in a 68-30 bipartisan vote, laying the groundwork for regulating stablecoins and nudging the U.S. closer to becoming a crypto heavyweight. Backed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (who predicts the sector could balloon to $3.7 trillion by 2030) the bill aims to modernize the financial system and clarify the legal standing of digital assets. The bill now heads to the Republican-controlled House. If it passes there, it then heads to Trump’s desk.

📈 Steel Deal Sealed: After 18 months of drama, delays, and a dash of political pushback, Nippon Steel has officially acquired U.S. Steel for $14.1 billion, marking a historic shift in the industry. Under the agreement, Nippon gains full ownership but keeps U.S. Steel’s name and Pittsburgh HQ intact, plus, it handed a “golden share” to the U.S. government, giving it veto power over key decisions to ease national security concerns. The Japanese giant pledged to invest $11 billion in American steel operations by 2028, including a shiny new $1B mill.

📈 KKR Buys Australia’s Off-grid Energy Provider: Global investment firm KKR is set to buy Australia’s Zenith Energy, a company that supplies hybrid and off-grid power to remote mining sites and communities. The deal will help Zenith grow its renewable energy projects, especially in remote areas across Australia. Zenith currently operates 710MW of power across 15 sites and recently secured $1.24 billion in funding to expand further. The purchase is expected to close by late 2025, with KKR seeing it as a big step in boosting clean energy across Australia.

📈 Best Performing Market in Asia: South Korea’s stock market has climbed back to a $2 trillion valuation for the first time in three years. The Kospi index (SK’s main stock market index tracking the KRX) is up 23% this year, making it Asia’s best-performing market, and is now just 10% below its all-time high from 2021. Main reasons cited are the recent election of President Lee Jae-Myung, whose reform plans have sparked optimism, and chip giants Samsung and SK Hynix.

🌎 Trump Sets Two-Week Timer: President Donald Trump said Thursday he’ll decide within two weeks whether to involve U.S. forces directly in the Israel-Iran conflict, noting a “substantial chance” to renew stalled nuclear negotiations. Meanwhile, the White House confirmed he’s considering targeted strikes on Iran’s heavily fortified Fordo uranium facility.

🌎 Politically Motivated Shooting by Police Impersonator: Former Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot at their Brooklyn Park home in a politically motivated attack easily Saturday. Authorities say the shooter posed as a police officer to gain entry. An FBI and state investigation is underway.

🌎 Trump Admin Flip Flops on Worksite Raids: Just days after pausing immigration raids on industries heavily reliant on undocumented labor, and with Trump himself admitting that the crackdown was taking “very good, long time workers away”, the administration has now ordered ICE to resume aggressive enforcement at farms, restaurants, hotels, and food plants.

💼 OpenAI is Coming for Palantir: After receiving its first ever US Government contract the creators of ChatGPT will develop “frontier AI capabilities” for national security and war to the tune of $200 million. This marks a large change in the ethos of OpenAI, intially established “for the good of humanity” it is moving towards a for-profit structure as it chases after positive net income (which is not expected until 2029).

💼 The Trump Phone - Made in China? The newly annouced T1 smartphone made by the Trump Organization has likely been designed and will be made in China according to experts from the International Data Corporation. And even if it is assembled in the US it is likely a large proportion of parts will be manufactured abroad. For those interested, it’s marketed as a 6.8 inch, $499 ($799 AUD) phone running the Android operating system.

💼 China’s MiniMax M1, Max on Power, Mini on Cost: The newest development in the GenAi landscape is MiniMax’s M1 AI model that apparently only cost ~$500k to train (roughly 200x less than OpenAI’s $100m for ChatGPT) but is on par with the best models from Anthropic, OpenAI and DeepSeek. While independent verification of these claims hasn’t been made, if it’s true it would establish China as an AI powerhouse.

💼 The Zuck Wants in on the Action: With MetaAI being described as “a convenient but unimpressive virtual assistant” Zuckerberg has been attempting to increase Meta’s AI capabilites. His first step? Poaching. OpenAI employees have been offered up to $100 million in bonuses according to CEO Sam Altman but “so far, none of our best employees have taken them up on that”.

🤪 Holy Gene Pool: Turns out new Pope, Pope Leo XIV, isn’t just the leader of the Catholic Church, he’s also spiritually aligned with the Billboard Hot 100. Genealogists from the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami and American Ancestors reportedly traced Pope Leo XIV’s lineage back to the 1500s, where he shares a maternal ancestor with Justin Bieber and Madonna.

🤪 Captain Cook’s Vessel Found: After 25 years of deep-sea sleuthing, Aussie researchers say they’ve found HMS Endeavor, a boat used by Captain Cook to explore Australia. Resting off Rhode Island and labelled as wreck RI 2394, only 15% of the ship remains.

🤪 Explain This Using Value Investing, Nerds: Regencell Bioscience $RGC ( ▼ 1.48% ), a Hong Kong herbal medicine company focused on ADHD and autism treatments using traditional Chinese medicine, has surged over 64,000% this year with no apparent reason. The company has reported zero revenue since inception and recently posted a US$4.4 million loss for 2024. Despite no major news, its stock soared 434% in a single day, pushing its market value past US$20 billion.