🦈DeepSeek Unveils DeepSeek V3

☀️Good morning. It's Friday, Dec. 27, and we're covering, Waymo Leads U.S. Robotaxi Market As Tesla And Zoox Push To Catch Up, Chinese AI Firm DeepSeek Unveils Powerful Open Model, DeepSeek V3, Finland Seizes Russian Oil Tanker Suspected Of Sabotage In Undersea Cable Outage, and much more. First time reading? Sign up to get this newsletter: Sign up here. 

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MARKETS

Cryptocurrency Prices by Market Cap

• The global cryptocurrency market cap today is $3.31 Trillion, a 2.46% decrease in the last 24 hours.

• The total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $121.51B, which makes a 2.99% increase.

• The total volume in Defi is currently $9.03B, 7.43% of the total crypto market 24-hours.

• The volume of all stablecoins is now $112.98B, which is 92.98% of the total market 24-hour volume.

• Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 56.94%, a decrease of 0.20% over the day.

Bitcoin's Record-Breaking Year Faces End-of-Year Challenges

Bitcoin's record-breaking year is ending on a cautious note as its rally slows. The cryptocurrency traded at $95,600, marking a 3% drop from the previous day, while other tokens like Ether and Dogecoin also struggled. Investor enthusiasm had been buoyed by President-elect Donald Trump's pro-crypto stance, including potential plans for a national Bitcoin reserve, but skepticism remains about the feasibility of such measures. (Read Deeper)

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Waymo Leads U.S. Robotaxi Market As Tesla And Zoox Push To Catch Up

In 2024, Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous vehicle subsidiary, solidified its dominance in the U.S. robotaxi market, completing over 5 million driverless trips and expanding its service to major cities like Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The company received a $5.6 billion investment from Alphabet and formed key partnerships with Hyundai and Geely to enhance its fleet. Despite public incidents and scrutiny, Waymo continues to scale and plans to expand to Austin, Texas, Atlanta, and internationally to Tokyo.

Takeaway: Competitors like Tesla and Zoox are working to catch up. Tesla unveiled its Cybercab robotaxi concept and aims to deploy driverless vehicles by 2027, although regulatory challenges have delayed its plans. Zoox, owned by Amazon, has begun public testing in California and plans to expand its service to more cities. On the other hand, General Motors decided to exit the robotaxi market, shifting focus to personal autonomous vehicles after significant investment in its Cruise division. (Read Deeper)

Asian Stocks Edge Higher As Yen Remains 5-Month Low

Asian stocks showed modest gains on Friday, with the yen remaining near five-month lows as investors looked ahead to 2025. The dollar stayed firm, supported by expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will take a cautious approach to rate cuts, while the Bank of Japan might raise rates soon. The yen has struggled in 2024, down over 10% against the dollar, prompting concerns of potential intervention from Japan if it approaches 160 per dollar.

Why It Matters: Global markets are awaiting further economic developments, including the Fed's policy decisions and stimulus efforts in China. Meanwhile, gold prices are set for strong annual gains, and oil prices held steady. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield reached its highest level since May, at 4.57% on Friday. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which tracks the U.S. currency against six major peers, was at 108.11, near the two-year high it touched last week. (Read Deeper)

TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE

Chinese AI Firm DeepSeek Unveils Powerful Open Model, DeepSeek V3

Chinese AI firm DeepSeek has released its latest model, DeepSeek V3, touted as one of the most powerful open AI models available. With 671 billion parameters trained on a dataset of 14.8 trillion tokens, the model excels in diverse tasks, including coding, translation, and writing, and outperforms competitors like Meta’s Llama 3.1 and OpenAI’s GPT-4o in several benchmarks, including coding competitions.

Why It Matters: DeepSeek claims to have trained the model in just two months using Nvidia H800 GPUs, despite U.S. export restrictions on advanced chips. Impressively, the training cost was only $5.5 million, significantly lower than other major models like GPT-4. Regulatory constraints limit the model. In compliance with Chinese internet regulations, DeepSeek V3 avoids politically sensitive topics and aligns its outputs with "core socialist values." (Read Deeper)

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Completes Historic Close Approach To The Sun

NASA's Parker Solar Probe completed the closest-ever approach to the Sun, passing within 3.8 million miles (6.1 million km) of its surface on December 24. The spacecraft entered the Sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona, during its mission to gather data about Earth's star. Despite enduring extreme temperatures of up to 1,800°F (982°C) and speeds reaching 430,000 mph (692,000 km/h), the spacecraft is "safe" and operating normally.

Takeaway: NASA confirmed the probe's successful operation, with more detailed data expected by January 1. The Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, has been gradually getting closer to the Sun, using Venus flybys to adjust its orbit. This historic achievement by the Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA's ongoing efforts to deepen our understanding of the Sun and its effects on the solar system, including Earth’s space weather. (Read Deeper)

AROUND DE WORLD & POLITICS

Finland Seizes Russian Oil Tanker Suspected Of Sabotage In Undersea Cable Outage

Finnish authorities seized the Eagle S, a Cook Islands-registered oil tanker suspected of damaging undersea infrastructure, including the Estlink 2 power cable and multiple internet lines connecting Finland and Estonia. The tanker, believed to be part of Russia's "shadow fleet" evading sanctions, allegedly dragged its anchor, causing the disruptions.

Takeaway: The outage of the 170-km Estlink 2 interconnector, critical for electricity supply, could take months to repair, though Estonia has assured sufficient power availability. International organizations like NATO and the EU have condemned the incident, highlighting the need for enhanced protection of undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. ( Read Deeper )

Israeli Jets Strike Yemen Targets In Retaliation For Houthi Attacks

Israeli fighter jets struck multiple sites in Yemen on Thursday, targeting infrastructure linked to the Iran-backed Houthi movement in retaliation for recent attacks. The strikes hit Sana'a International Airport, Ras Isa oil port, power plants, and other sites in the Houthi-controlled areas, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said these actions were in response to the Houthis using civilian infrastructure for military purposes, including smuggling weapons from Iran.

Takeaway: The strikes also caused significant damage to the airport, where a World Health Organization (WHO) delegation was present. Although a WHO staff member was injured and at least two people were killed, the delegation members were unharmed. The attack coincided with a speech by the Houthi leader, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, who declared that Yemen would continue supporting Gaza despite Israeli actions. (Read Deeper)

ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

Chelsea’s Defeat To Fulham Proves Maresca’s Title Denial Right

Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Fulham highlighted why head coach Enzo Maresca has consistently denied that his team was a Premier League title contender. Despite having a chance to close the gap on Liverpool, Chelsea's failure to beat Everton and their late collapse against Fulham exposed their lack of a winning mentality. Fulham’s victory, their first at Stamford Bridge since 1979, came after Chelsea dropped their intensity in the second half, leading to defensive errors. A controversial play by Pedro Neto helped Fulham equalize, and a late defensive breakdown allowed Rodrigo Muniz to score the winner. (Read Deeper)

‘Squid Game’ Creator Teases Future Plot Twists And Season 3 Details

The conclusion of Squid Game Season 2 left viewers reeling with the devastating death of Gi-hun's best friend, Jung-bae, as The Front Man (In-ho) killed him right before Gi-hun’s eyes. This brutal moment, marking a pivotal point in Gi-hun’s journey was planned as part of a broader story arc that spans both Seasons 2 and 3, according to creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. Hwang explains that this death was necessary to show Gi-hun's repeated failures and sets the stage for his character’s emotional arc in Season 3. (Read Deeper)

PODCAST(WHAT WE ARE LISTENING TO)

• Social Capital: The Currency Of The New Rich," Dan Koe explores the concept of social capital as a vital asset for creators, founders, and solopreneurs aiming to transform their passions into independent work. (Listen)

EXTRA BREVITI

• Russian Air Defenses Likely to Have Downed Azerbaijani Plane. (Read More)

• Microsoft and OpenAI Set Financial Definition for AGI, Report Reveals. (Read More)

• Bluesky announced on Christmas that it is testing a trending topics feature, now available on both its desktop and mobile apps. (Read More)

• Fisker, the electric vehicle (EV) startup founded by Henrik Fisker, faced a series of setbacks that ultimately led to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. (Read Deeper)