Latest / Connecting the Dots / Fortnite Stays Out, Fusion Goes Big, and Markets Move

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Fortnite Stays Out, Fusion Goes Big, and Markets Move · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarful Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Dots, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Welcome back. You are listening to Connecting
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  the Dots, your daily shortcut to being ridiculously
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  well informed. I'm Alex. And I'm Morgan. Good
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  morning. And happy Thursday, December 18th, 2025.
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  It is a classic moody morning here in Sacramento.
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  It really is. That dense fog we had earlier is
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  finally starting to lift. But it looks like we're
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  in for a mostly cloudy day, high of about 56.
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  Definitely a day to stay inside. You know, naturally,
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  we're seeing two big weather stories out in the
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  Plains and the Rockies. They are dealing with
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  some really intense high winds that's causing
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  whiteouts up north and some really dangerous
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  fire weather down south. And closer to home.
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  Yeah, for us here on the West Coast, Northern
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  California and Oregon are Bracing for another
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  atmospheric river, so heavy rain and unfortunately
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  the potential for some flooding. High impact
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  weather, but maybe some low impact markets. Let's
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  jump into the numbers. The close yesterday was,
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  well, slightly optimistic. It was. The Dow Jones
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  closed at 48 ,174 .19. That's up just a tiny
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  bit, 0 .15%. And the S &P 500 was pretty much
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  the same story, closing at 6 ,784 .94 for a gain
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  of 0 .10%. Very quiet. Very quiet for traditional
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  finance, but if you look over at digital assets,
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  that's where the real movement was. Bitcoin showed
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  a lot of strength, closing at 88 ,142 .74. That's
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  a jump of 2 .26 % for the day. That's a pretty
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  robust gain. Volatility is always the name of
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  the game there, but that shows some serious interest.
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  Absolutely. And that energy is actually a great
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  segue into our first couple of stories today.
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  We're seeing technology, regulation, and finance
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  collide in some really unexpected ways for sure
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  but before we get into our morning star report
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  we really need to thank the sponsor that helps
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  All right. Let's jump into our first big story.
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  It's a few that just will not die. And it's back
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  in the headlines. Epic Games versus Apple. The
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  battle for the iPhone has officially gone global
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  again. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney just announced that
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  Fortnite will not be returning to iOS in Japan
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  in 2025. And this is huge, because Japan just
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  put a major antitrust law into effect that was
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  supposed to stop exactly this kind of thing.
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  Okay, so if the law is there to stop Apple's
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  dominance, why is Sweeney refusing? Why isn't
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  Fortnite just back on the platform? Well, because
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  Apple complied with the letter of the law, but,
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  uh... Definitely not the spirit. Sweeney is calling
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  it a travesty of obstruction. A travesty of obstruction.
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  Wow. So Apple did permit alternative app stores,
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  which the law required. But, and this is critical,
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  they did not allow app downloads directly from
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  the web. Ah, so you still have to go through
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  a store. You do. And the real kicker, it's the
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  fees. It always comes down to the fees, doesn't
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  it? Let's talk about them. Apple is imposing
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  what they're calling competition crushing fees.
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  So if a developer uses a third -party payment
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  system in their app, Apple still takes 21%. 21%.
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  And what about purchases made outside the app?
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  If the purchase is made on the web, through,
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  say, a link from the app, Apple still wants 15%.
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  You know, that sounds a lot like if you owned
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  a retail store and your landlord said, sure,
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  use your own cash register, but I still get 21
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  % of every single sale. That analogy is completely
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  spot on. It makes no sense. It just eliminates
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  the whole reason to use a third party processor.
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  That's exactly Epic's argument. These huge percentage
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  fees have nothing to do with covering Apple's
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  actual costs for IP or app review. They're designed
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  specifically to make it financially impossible
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  for anyone to compete with Apple's own 30 % cut.
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  And we've seen this exact playbook before, right?
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  Here in the U .S. We have. When a U .S. judge
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  ruled Apple had to allow external payment links,
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  they did. But then they immediately tried to
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  slap high commissions on those outside sales
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  anyway. And the court didn't like that? Not at
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  all. Yeah. The appeals court was clear. They
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  said Apple can get fair compensation for its
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  IP for the labor, but they can't just use percentages
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  to block all outside commerce. Which brings us
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  to Sweeney's core proposal, and I think this
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  is the key insight. He's not saying it should
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  be free. Right. He's saying, look, if you want
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  an app to go through review with custom lengths,
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  maybe there's a fee of, say, a few hundred dollars.
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  A reasonable fixed cost, something that actually
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  covers the work being done. Exactly. It separates
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  the cost of the service from the act of blocking
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  competition. And by insisting on percentages,
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  Apple is basically turning a legitimate Ikea
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  claim into a global monopoly policy. So what's
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  next for Epic in Japan? They're filing a formal
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  complaint with the Japanese Fair Trade Commission.
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  They're hoping the regulatory pressure just keeps
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  building country by country until this whole
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  model breaks. It's a fascinating story. The implications
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  for what you, the user, end up paying for software
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  are just huge. Absolutely. And moving from these
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  huge corporate feuds to nation state level threats,
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  our next story pivots to crypto security. The
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  numbers here are just startling. They really
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  are. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea,
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  the DPRK, has set a catastrophic new record for
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  crypto theft this year. That's right. North Korean
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  hackers stole a record $2 .02 billion in cryptocurrency
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  in 2025. Two billion. And that's a 51 % increase
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  over last year. It brings their grand total to
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  almost $7 billion. That is just staggering. It's
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  not just hacking. That's a major funding stream
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  for a nation state. What was the main driver
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  behind that record number? It was really a shift
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  in strategy. They're doing fewer attacks, but
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  they're going after much, much larger targets.
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  So quality over quantity. Exactly. There was
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  one single massive compromise of the buy -bit
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  exchange back in February. That one incident
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  was for $1 .5 billion. Wow. That one heist drove
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  the entire record. They accounted for 76 % of
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  all service compromises this year. They're going
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  straight for the big centralized exchanges. So
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  how are they getting in? I mean, these exchanges
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  are supposed to be fortresses. This can't just
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  be a simple phishing scam. No, it's military
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  grade sophistication. We're seeing two really
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  terrifying tactical shifts. First, the ultimate
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  insider threat. They are literally embedding
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  their own IT workers inside crypto companies
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  to get privilege access. That is next level espionage.
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  You can't build a firewall against someone who
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  already works inside the building. You can't.
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  And the second tactic is hyper sophisticated
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  social engineering. They're impersonating recruiters
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  from Big Web 3 and AI firms. So they're pretending
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  to offer jobs. Yes. They create these completely
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  fake, elaborate hiring processes. They draw on
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  a crypto professional. And the final step, the
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  technical screen, is actually a Trojan horse
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  designed to steal all their security credentials.
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  That's just insidious. It turns someone's career
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  ambition into a vulnerability. So, OK, they steal
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  this colossal amount of money. How do they actually
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  launder it? How do you turn two billion dollars
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  in crypto into cash? Well, what's fascinating
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  is how good they are at it. They're incredibly
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  sophisticated. Unlike other criminals who move
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  huge sums at once, the DPRK breaks their payments
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  into smaller pieces, usually under $500 ,000.
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  It's like breaking a million -dollar bill into
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  thousands of smaller notes to avoid suspicion.
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  That's a perfect way to put it. They're deliberately
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  trying to fly under the automated red flags.
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  And researchers have mapped out their playbook.
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  There's a pattern. A very consistent 45 -day
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  cycle after a major theft. First, they move the
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  funds through DeFi protocols and mixers to hide
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  the trail. Then, they systematically move it
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  towards regional cash out points, showing a strong
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  preference for Chinese language money services
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  and mixers. So they have facilitators on the
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  ground helping them. It seems so, and they actively
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  avoid the DeFi lending platforms that other criminals
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  tend to use, which shows they have a very specific
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  system. So here's the question for our listeners.
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  These are huge attacks. on big exchanges. What
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  does this mean for the average person who just
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  holds a little bit of crypto? And this is the
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  most important connection. The threat vector
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  is widening. Even though the dollar amount stolen
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  from individuals went down this year, the number
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  of successful attacks on personal wallets surged
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  to 158 ,000 incidents. So they're hitting more
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  people for smaller amounts? Exactly. 80 ,000
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  unique victims. It means if you hold any crypto
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  at all, You are a target. Your personal security,
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  especially being aware of these social engineering
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  tactics, is more important than it has ever been.
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  A very sober reminder. OK, let's pivot to our
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  third and final story. This one combines social
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  media, politics, and some of the most futuristic
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  technology imaginable. Get ready for this one.
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  Trump Media and Technology Group, PMTG. which
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  is the parent company of Truth Social, just announced
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  a massive $6 billion all -stock merger with a
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  Google -backed fusion energy company called TAE
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  Technologies. Stop. That is a huge leap. We're
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  going from social media posts to literally trying
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  to harness the power of the sun. What is the
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  vision here? The plan is to start construction
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  on what they're calling the world's first utility
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  -scale fusion power plant. They want it running
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  at a 50 megawatt capacity after the deal closes
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  in mid -2026. And the whole thing is a massive
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  bet on the power needs of the coming AI data
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  center boom. AI needs a staggering amount of
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  power, so I get the demand. But fusion? It still
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  feels like science fiction. What is this company,
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  TAE, that TMTG is merging with? Well, TAE is
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  a very serious player. They were founded way
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  back in 1998. They've raised 1 .3 billion from
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  huge backers like Google Research, who's been
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  a partner for a decade, and also giants like
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  Chevron. So they have real credentials. They
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  do. And crucially, they have already built and
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  safely operated five different fusion reactors.
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  They are deep in this science. And for anyone
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  who needs a quick refresher, what exactly is
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  fusion? Think of it as the same process that
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  fuels the sun. Instead of splitting heavy atoms,
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  like in traditional nuclear power, fusion forces
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  two light atoms together under extreme pressure
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  and heat. And that releases a huge amount of
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  energy. A huge amount. The promise is limitless,
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  clean power, but the challenge is getting more
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  energy out of the reaction than the massive amount
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  you have to put in to start it. Okay, let's talk
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  about the money. TMTG reported a $54 .8 million
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  net loss last quarter. So how does a company
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  that's losing money finance a $6 billion science
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  project? This is where it gets really interesting
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  and it comes down to TMTG's unique financial
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  strategy. Right. While their social media operations
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  aren't profitable, they have a very unusual digital
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  asset strategy. Based on Bitcoin? Right. They
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  reported generating $15 .3 million in realized
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  income just from something called option premiums
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  in the last quarter. Okay, let's unpack that
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  for a second. What's an option premium in simple
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  terms? Think of it this way. An option is just
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  a contract that gives someone the right to buy
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  or sell an asset like Bitcoin at a set price
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  in the future. TMTG sells those rights to other
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  people. The money they get paid immediately just
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  for selling that contract, that's the premium.
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  So they're getting paid cash upfront by playing
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  in the volatility of the crypto market. So the
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  company is using income generated from the volatility
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  of its crypto holdings to fund the clean limitless
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  energy of the future. That is the core insight.
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  The high -risk, high -reward digital economy
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  is literally fueling high -risk, high -reward
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  deep technology. Wow. This merger just shows
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  that the old rules of what a company is have
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  completely dissolved. We're in a world where
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  media influence and digital asset strategies
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  are now funding essential, futuristic infrastructure.
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  It is definitely an unusual business model, but
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  you can't say it isn't ambitious. An absolutely
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  amazing connection. Before we wrap up for today,
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  Just head over to skone .com. All right. Let's
• 12:50
  quickly recap the forces we explored today. First,
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  we saw the Epic and Apple Fee battle escalate
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  in Japan with Tim Sweeney fighting what he calls
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  competition -crushing fees that are designed
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  to obstruct, not compensate. Second, we covered
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  the critical threat from the DPRK, which set
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  a new record by stealing over $2 billion in crypto
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  this year, driven by massive heists and some
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  incredibly sophisticated social engineering tactics.
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  And finally, we looked at that massive $6 billion
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  merger, where Trump media is making a huge bet
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  on fusion power, using income from its Bitcoin
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  option strategy to fund the future energy needs
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  of the AI boom. It was a day that really showed
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  us that technology and finance are completely
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  inseparable from geopolitics and even basic physics.
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  The lines between a social media company, a spy
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  operation, and a power utility are just completely
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  blurring. It truly makes you wonder what piece
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  of physical infrastructure the next major digital
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  platform is going to buy. If fusion is on the
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  table, what's to stop a tech giant from merging
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  with a water utility? That's the question to
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  mull over this weekend. We're here to help it
• 13:55
  snorkel, so reach out on our website if you have
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  any more questions. That's a wrap on today's
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  top stories. Remember, tech doesn't have to be
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  complicated, and we're here to help connect the
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  dots. If you've got questions or want to learn
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  more, visit us at snarful .com. Thanks for listening,
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  and we'll catch you next time.