Welcome back to your daily dossier talking AI, robotics, crypto, and the future of tech. 👾

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

🔬 Scientists are using machine learning to find new treatments for old diseases.
🚀 Tool for AI agents to browse the internet raises $17M.
👁️ MIT is building artificial muscles for soft robots to flex like a human iris.
🌪️ The U.S. Treasury has lifted sanctions on Tornado Cash after overstepping authority.
🔥 Coinbase is closing in on a multi-billion dollar deal for Deribit.

AI

• The Apple Watch may get cameras and Apple Intelligence

  • Apple plans to launch camera-equipped AI wearables, including a new Apple Watch and AirPods, by 2027.

  • Built-in cameras will power Visual Intelligence features, like scanning event flyers or identifying restaurants.

  • Mike Rockwell, now leading Siri’s AI revamp, is key to the development of these AI wearables and future AR glasses.

• Scientists are using machine learning to find new treatments among thousands of old medicines

  • A.I. models are helping doctors repurpose existing drugs to treat rare diseases, offering hope where traditional treatments have failed.

  • A patient once given weeks to live recovered after an AI-suggested drug combo.

  • Machine learning is scanning thousands of approved drugs to uncover overlooked treatments for rare conditions.

• Tencent’s Hunyuan T1 AI reasoning model rivals DeepSeek in performance and price

  • Tencent launched the Hunyuan T1 AI reasoning model, matching DeepSeek-R1 in price and outperforming it in benchmarks like MMLU.

  • T1 uses a hybrid architecture combining Transformer and Mamba, reducing memory use and boosting decoding speed by 200%.

  • While T1 lagged in some creative tasks, it excelled in language and is part of Tencent’s AI expansion alongside DeepSeek.

ROBOTICS

• MIT's artificial muscles for soft robots flex like a human iris

  • MIT developed a new ‘stamping’ method to grow artificial muscles that flex like a human iris, using muscle cells and 3D-printed hydrogel molds.

  • The light-responsive muscles contract in multiple directions, offering more natural movement for soft robots.

  • This cost-effective, reusable technique could enable biodegradable, flexible robots for tasks like underwater repairs or search-and-rescue.

• Chinese robot's kung fu moves will make your jaw drop

  • Unitree’s G1 humanoid robot can now perform kung fu moves with impressive precision, trained via simulation and reinforcement learning.

  • The robot features 23 degrees of freedom and uses Sim2Real to transfer virtual training to real-world actions.

  • Unitree aims for broader use in homes, factories, and hospitals, supported by an open-source dataset to enhance human-like motion.

• BlueHalo wins $30M follow-on contract with the U.S. Navy

  • BlueHalo secured a $30.7M U.S. Navy contract to support its MESR underwater robotic systems, following its acquisition of VideoRay.

  • Mission Specialist Defender ROV is designed for high-risk missions, offering modular design, precise control, and deep-water capabilities.

  • BlueHalo continues expanding its portfolio with autonomy, space-based laser comms, and defense systems with partnerships and acquisitions.

CRYPTO

• 'Current approach is clearly a failure': SEC crypto task force roundtable debates future regulation of digital assets

  • At the SEC’s first crypto task force roundtable, panelists criticized the agency’s past ‘regulation by enforcement’ approach as ineffective.

  • Participants debated what qualifies as a security, with some arguing investment intent alone shouldn’t trigger securities regulation.

  • The new task force, led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, signals a shift toward rethinking crypto regulation under new SEC leadership.

• Coinbase Could Be Near Multi-Billion Dollar Deal for Deribit

  • Coinbase is in advanced talks to acquire crypto derivatives exchange Deribit, potentially valued at $4–$5 billion, according to Bloomberg.

  • The deal would mark a major expansion into the crypto derivatives market, where Deribit saw nearly $1.2 trillion in 2024 trading volume.

  • The move follows eased U.S. crypto regulation and mirrors Kraken’s $1.5B acquisition of Ninja Trader to grow its derivatives business.

• Strategy Raises $711M to Buy More Bitcoin in Upsized STRF Perpetual Offering

  • Strategy (MSTR) raised $711M through an upsized sale of its 10% Series A Perpetual Strife Preferred Stock, exceeding its $500M target.

  • The new STRF stock offers a higher yield than previous issues and doesn’t convert to common shares.

  • The funds will likely be used to buy more bitcoin, pushing Strategy’s holdings beyond 500,000 BTC.

CONTENT

• 2025: The Dawn of Energy Abundance

  • 15 pioneers exploring how breakthroughs in nuclear and fusion energy could finally deliver on the 1954 promise of abundant, cheap energy.

  • The film argues that energy abundance—not just efficiency—is key to solving global challenges and unlocking human potential.

  • From industrial capacity to healthcare and global development, every leap in civilization has depended on accessing denser energy sources.

• 110,421 founders, investors, and leaders read this*

  • Founders and leaders that read Open Source CEO end up with 2.3x the cerebral horsepower of those that don’t.

  • 110k readers from Google, TikTok, OpenAI, and Deel love our deep-dive business content.

  • Subscribe here to see what it’s all about.

• Zero to ~$40M ARR: How Bolt's Pivot Changed AI product development forever

  • StackBlitz pivoted to launch Bolt, a web-based AI coding agent, hitting ~$40M ARR and 1M+ users in 5 months with a 15–20-person team.

  • Bolt’s speed and reliability come from WebContainer, a browser-based OS built over 7 years, enabling a smoother AI coding experience.

  • Claude 3.5 Sonnet model made Bolt's AI-generated code truly production-ready, unlocking the text-to-app market.

• Google Exited Founder, Building The AI Agent Era

  • Jacob Bank founded Relay.app to help anyone build AI agents that automate workflows across tools like Gmail, Slack, and Notion.

  • Relay.app integrates with everyday tools, features intuitive flowcharts, and includes “human-in-the-loop” controls for quality.

  • After 2 years of iteration, Bank sees Relay as the spreadsheet of the AI era—flexible, powerful, and built for retention.

AND MORE…

• US scraps sanctions on Tornado Cash, crypto ‘mixer’ accused of laundering North Korean money

  • The U.S. Treasury lifted sanctions on Tornado Cash after a court ruled OFAC overstepped its authority.

  • The decision follows legal challenges supported by Coinbase and reflects evolving views on regulating crypto technologies.

  • Despite lifting sanctions, the Treasury remains concerned about North Korea's use of crypto for illicit activities.

• OpenAI, Meta in talks with Reliance for AI partnerships: report

  • OpenAI and Meta are in talks with Reliance Industries to expand AI services in India, including possible ChatGPT distribution via Jio.

  • Reliance may offer OpenAI’s models to enterprise clients and is exploring hosting them locally to keep data within India.

  • Discussions include running AI models in Reliance’s planned massive data center in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

• Browser Use, the tool making it easier for AI ‘agents’ to navigate websites, raises $17M

  • Browser Use, a tool that helps AI agents navigate websites more effectively, raised $17M in seed funding led by Felicis.

  • The platform converts web elements into a structured, text-like format, improving AI agent reliability over vision-based navigation.

  • With growing demand from AI startups, Browser Use aims to be a key layer in enabling seamless web automation for AI agents.