James Altucher:

Tesla Stock Pops 10% As Musk Touts ‘Successful’ Robotaxi Austin Launch

Tesla’s Model Y robotaxi finally hit the road this weekend, sending shares of the electric vehicle maker up 10% on Monday. The EV giant debuted autonomous rides in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, opening the service to a limited number of riders by invitation only.

One passenger in Tesla’s early access program for the Model Y robotaxis wrote on X that they did 11 rides with the service with “zero issues.” Musk reposted numerous firsthand encounters with the services.

Once considered a pioneer, Tesla is now trying to catch up to Alphabet’s Waymo in the West, and Chinese competitors including Baidu’s Apollo Go, WeRide and Pony.ai. Waymo has reported that it is now delivering more than 250,000 commercial driverless rides per week and surpassed 10 million trips last month. Apollo Go reported that it has surpassed 11 million trips.

Musk said last month that Tesla aims to have “hundreds of thousands, if not over a million” self-driving cars in the U.S. by the end of next year. In May, Musk first announced plans to launch the service in Austin, with later debuts set for Los Angeles and San Francisco.

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Davis Wilson:

Sam Altman Open to Ads on ChatGPT, Calls Instagram Ads ‘Kinda Cool’

It was only a matter of time before OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed the inevitable: ads in ChatGPT.

On the debut episode of OpenAI’s official podcast, Altman was asked whether ads might show up in ChatGPT. He didn’t dodge the topic. In fact, he sounded casually on board:

"We haven't done any advertising product yet. I kind of...I mean, I'm not totally against it. I can point to areas where I like ads. I think ads on Instagram, kinda cool. I bought a bunch of stuff from them. But I am, like, I think it'd be very hard to…I mean, take a lot of care to get right."

The idea that Instagram ads are "cool" never gets a proper follow-up in the episode, but the real takeaway is that the door to advertising in ChatGPT is cracked open.

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Chris Campbell:

COIN v. HOOD (+ X)

Robinhood’s not just for “stonks” and shiba coins anymore. And Coinbase? It’s not just the on-ramp for your college roommate’s crypto gambling addiction.

They’re both morphing into something bigger: One’s built on Silicon Valley charm. The other, on crypto roots. One has stocks. The other has a blockchain built on Ethereum.

If you're a crypto-first bull, betting on mainstream adoption, on-chain finance, stablecoins, tokenized stocks, and continued product innovation in DeFi—COIN is the play.

If you're a fintech pragmatist, preferring diversified revenue streams (stocks, options, crypto trading, interest income), huge retail reach, and a slightly lower valuation multiple—HOOD stands out.

BUT the first one to pull off the superfecta—tokenized stocks, seamless stablecoin payments, DeFi integration/effortless yield, and a user experience smoother than Apple Pay—wins. And they don't just win the market…

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