Latest / Connecting the Dots / Nvidia’s China Strategy, Blackwell GPU Expansion, and Circle’s Blockchain Ambitions

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Nvidia’s China Strategy, Blackwell GPU Expansion, and Circle’s Blockchain Ambitions · 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 Snarfl 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. Hi there, and welcome to Connecting the
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  Dots. I'm Alex. And I'm Morgan. Great to be here.
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  It is Tuesday, August 12th, 2025. And we're here,
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  as always, trying to cut through some of the
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  noise, sift through the data. Yeah, and really
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  deliver the insights from tech and finance that
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  actually matter to you. Exactly. So before we
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  dive into the tech stuff, let's get a quick look
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  at the bigger picture. Here in Sacramento, well,
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  it's another sunny one, high of 95 degrees airy
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  today. Pretty standard for August here. Nationally,
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  it looks like some heavy rain down in the southern
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  Appalachians and the central Gulf Coast. And
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  that heat just won't quit out west and up in
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  New England either. Oh, right. And we need to
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  keep an eye on Tropical Storm Aaron. They're
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  saying it could become a major hurricane this
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  weekend out in the Atlantic. Yeah, definitely
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  something for the East Coast to monitor closely.
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  OK, shifting to the markets. Pretty upbeat day
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  today, actually. Yeah, how do we do? The Dow
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  Jones closed strong, 44 ,405 .46. That's up over
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  354 points just today. Nice. And the week. Looking
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  good there, too. Up more than 680 points since
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  last Monday, August 4th. OK. OK. S &P 500 keeping
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  pace. Yep. Closed at 6410 .65. That's up about
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  15 and a half points today. And ahead of good
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  week, too, right? A really good week. Up almost
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  139 points since the 4th. That's over 2 .2 percent.
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  Wow. All right. And Bitcoin. Well, see I checked
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  Bitcoin still climbing closed at a hundred nineteen
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  thousand one hundred eleven point zero nine So
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  up just under half a percent today, but it's
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  up like four point three five percent since August
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  5th So yeah positive signs across the board really
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  good good push I could say the Sanford. Well
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  my San Francisco Giants boy What happened yesterday
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  another loss? Yeah lost one four to the Padres
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  in the 11th. Ouch Padres again Yeah, you Darvish
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  was just On fire for them and their guy Jackson
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  Merrill went three for four just couldn't get
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  anything going tough break always next game though
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  That's what I keep telling myself. Okay enough
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  sports woes, right? Let's talk tech the real
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  shifts are happening there. Anyway, we've got
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  three big stories from snarfles morningstar That's
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  our internal snarkle tech article report. Yeah,
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  and these aren't just you know headlines These
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  are things really shaping business. Maybe your
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  investments even just how you use tech day -to
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  -day Exactly. So let's get right into the first
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  one. It's well, it's causing quite a stir. Yeah,
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  this one involves former President Trump in video
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  and a pretty controversial chip deal with China.
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  Okay, so what happened is President Trump announced
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  this specific arrangement in video. and AMD too,
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  they get to sell certain AI chips to China. We're
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  talking the H20 from NVIDIA and the MI308 from
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  AMD, right? These are the sort of stripped down
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  ones. Exactly. The ones designed to comply with
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  existing export controls, although Trump apparently
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  called them obsolete. Yeah, yeah. So they get
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  the export licenses. Yeah. But what's the catch?
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  The catch is they have to pay the US government
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  15 % of the revenue from those sales. 15%. Just
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  straight off the top. Apparently. The reports
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  say Trump initially wanted 20%. Wow. And Jensen
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  Hong, Nvidia's CEO, actually went to the White
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  House, showed diagrams, and argued it down to
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  15. That negotiation must have been intense.
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  It feels less like policymaking and more like,
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  I don't know, a business deal. Well, and that's
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  precisely the controversy, right? This is a huge
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  shift, a reversal really, from the national security
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  first approach we saw under Trump's first term
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  and under Biden too. Yeah, for years it was all
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  about restricting China's access, even if it
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  hurt U .S. company sales there. Exactly. Now
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  it seems like there's a willingness to let them
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  sell, but only if they, well, pay up. It's like
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  a direct pay to play fee. But is that even legal?
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  I mean, aren't tariffs and fees supposed to go
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  through Congress or, you know, formal regulatory
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  stuff? That's the massive question mark. Generally,
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  yes. Doing it via an ad hoc White House meeting
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  that raises serious flags. You've got groups
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  like the Government Accountability Office, the
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  Office of Government Ethics, kind of scratching
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  their heads. Because you're basically singling
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  out specific companies for a special fee just
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  to access a market, it sets a really weird precedent.
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  Definitely unusual. But from an investor angle,
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  they seem to like it. Well, yeah. I guess 85
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  % of something is better than 100 % of nothing,
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  right? If the alternative was a total ban. That
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  seems to be the thinking. It gives Nvidia and
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  AMD access to that huge Chinese market again.
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  It lets them compete with companies like Huawei,
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  who've actually been gaining ground because of
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  the US restrictions. So how's China taking it?
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  They need the chips, but paying a fee to the
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  US can't sit well. It seems mixed. On one hand,
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  yes, they need these for their AI ambitions.
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  On the other, there's probably resentment about
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  this fee. Plus, those old security concerns about
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  alleged backdoors keep popping up, though Nvidia
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  flatly denies them. So connecting the dots here.
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  Is this the new normal? Are we going to see these
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  kinds of digital tariffs for other strategic
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  tech? It's the big question. Analysts think it's
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  maybe less likely for things like software because
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  semiconductors are just so uniquely critical,
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  so strategic. But the precedent is set. What
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  if next time, for the more advanced chips, Trump
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  asks for 30 % or 50? It definitely opens that
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  door. It's a whole new phase of tech diplomacy
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  or maybe tech transactionalism. Fascinating stuff.
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  OK, so from these high stakes global deals, let's
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  zoom right down to the desktop level because
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  that same tech, AI tech, is getting way more
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  accessible. Yeah, this next story is also about
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  Nvidia, but it's about bringing that power, that
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  Blackwell GPU power directly to professionals,
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  but maybe in smaller offices or studios. OK,
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  so what do they announce? At Sigratch, they rolled
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  out an expansion of their professional Blackwell
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  GPU lineup. The key things are two new GPUs for
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  compact workstations. The RTXPRO 4000 SFF and
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  the RTXPRO 2000. SFF meaning small form factor.
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  Exactly. And the big deal is they're both just
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  70 watt cards. Super energy efficient. So you
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  don't need some crazy power supply or special
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  wiring. Precisely. No auxiliary power connectors
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  needed. You can basically slot these into existing
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  maybe smaller professional desktop PCs without
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  a major overhaul. Okay, that is a big deal for
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  smaller firms or departments. And they didn't
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  forget the bigger setups either. There's also
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  new RTXPRO 6000 server edition for enterprise
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  data centers. All this should be available later
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  this year 2025. So this is really about like
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  democratizing access to serious AI power. That's
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  a great way to put it. It brings high -end AI
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  and graphics right to your desk without needing
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  massive infrastructure changes. Think design
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  studios, engineering firms, even medical offices.
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  And for the IT folks, the CIOs, this makes on
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  -premise AI much more feasible, right? Absolutely.
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  Less reliance on the cloud, which can mean lower
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  costs, definitely lower latency. And better data
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  privacy. That's huge. Crucial. If you're working
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  with sensitive medical images or proprietary
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  engineering models or financial data, keeping
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  it local is often a requirement or at least highly
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  preferred. These GPUs make that possible with
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  real power. Okay, but what about the actual performance?
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  Are these stripped down cards still powerful?
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  Oh yeah, the gains are significant. The RTX Pro
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  4000 SFF, they're saying up to 2 .5 times the
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  AR performance and 1 .7 times the ray tracing
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  speed of its predecessor, plus 20 gigs of memory.
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  and the 2000. The RTX Pro 2000 Blackwell, the
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  smaller one, still gives you like 1 .6x faster
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  3D modeling, 1 .4x faster CAD, 1 .6x faster rendering,
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  and it's got 16 gigs of the newer faster GDDR7
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  memory. So real tangible speed ups for professionals.
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  And we're already seeing examples. Thornton Tomasetti,
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  the engineering firm, their structural analysis
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  is running almost 3x faster. That's huge for
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  productivity. Or the government of Cantabria.
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  Fine -tuning AI models twice as fast. Mile -high
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  flood district, using them to handle massive
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  simulation data sets. It enables new workflows.
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  So it really pushes AI from being just this big
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  cloud thing to something you can have right there
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  on your machine doing complex work. Exactly.
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  It supports things like generative urban design,
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  smart devices like baby strollers getting smarter
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  with real -time processing robotics. It brings
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  the power to the edge. So NVIDIA is basically
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  putting a slice of that supercomputing power
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  right onto our desk, tailored for specific jobs.
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  That's a big shift toward more distributed AI.
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  It really is. It could unleash a lot of innovation
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  at that local level. OK, fascinating. We'll shift
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  gears one more time for our third story, moving
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  into digital finance and stable coins with Circle.
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  Right, Circle. They issue USDC, probably the
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  biggest US -based stable coin. They just dropped
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  their Q2 2025 financial results. And how did
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  they look? Stablecoins have been huge. The top
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  line looks fantastic. Revenue was $658 million.
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  That's up 53 % year over year. 53%. Wow. And
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  the amount of USDC out there just exploded. Up
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  90 % year over year. It was $61 .3 billion at
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  the end of Q2. And it's apparently up to $65
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  .2 billion already by August 10th. And get this.
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  $5 .9 trillion in on -chain transaction volume
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  using USDC. Trillion. Just mind -boggling scale.
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  Revenues up, usage is way up. must be profitable.
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  Yeah, well, here's the twist. They reported a
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  net loss of $482 million for the quarter. Whoa,
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  wait, how does that happen with revenue soaring?
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  It's mostly an accounting thing tied to their
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  IPO earlier this year. It's not an operational
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  loss. Okay, explain that. So the vast majority
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  of that loss, like $424 million, was non -cash
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  stock -based compensation. Another $167 million
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  was from revaluing some convertible debt. These
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  are typical, often one -time hits when a company
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  goes public. Okay, so not money they actually
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  spent operating. in the quarter. Exactly. If
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  you look at their adjusted EBITDA, which strips
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  out those kinds of things and shows core operational
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  strength, that was actually up 52 % to $126 million.
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  Right. So operationally, they're doing really
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  well. It's just the IPO accounting makes the
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  bottom line look messy for now. Precisely. It's
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  not a red flag about the business itself. OK,
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  that makes sense. And besides the financials,
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  what else is new with Circle? It's pretty big,
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  actually. They unveiled their own new layer one
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  blockchain called ARK. Their own blockchain.
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  Why, there are tons of blockchains already. Well,
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  this one's designed specifically for stablecoin
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  finance. It's EVM compatible, so it works with
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  the Ethereum ecosystem. But here's the unique
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  part. It uses USDC itself as the native token
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  for paying transaction fees or gas. Oh, so you
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  don't need Ether or some other token just to
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  move your USDC around on their chain. You just
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  pay the fee in USDC. Exactly. It removes a huge
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  point of friction, especially for businesses
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  or even regular users who just want to use the
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  stable coin. Makes things much simpler. Yeah,
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  that actually sounds really useful. What else
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  does ARK offer? They're aiming for high performance,
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  sub -second settlement times, an integrated foreign
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  exchange engine for stable coins, and even opt
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  -in privacy features. It's really built for financial
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  applications. So this really connects the dots
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  on circle strategy, doesn't it? They're not just
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  the USDC issuer anymore. They want to be the
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  whole platform. That seems to be the goal. Leverage
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  that massive USDC supply and the trust they've
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  built to create a full stack financial ecosystem.
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  And the timing is interesting too, with regulations
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  becoming clearer. Absolutely. President Trump
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  signing the Genius Act recently, that created
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  a federal framework for stablecoins here in the
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  US. That clarity is a huge boost for the industry,
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  and especially for Circle as the biggest US player.
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  No wonder the stock jumped. You said CRCL surged
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  over 11 % pre -market. Yeah, despite that headline
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  net loss, investors are clearly looking past
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  the one -off IPO costs. They're seeing the revenue
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  growth, the USDC dominance, the strategic move
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  with ARK, and the clearer regulatory path. It
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  all points towards stablecoins becoming even
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  more integrated into finance, and Circle is positioning
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  itself right at the center of that. Makes perfect
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  sense. Another piece of the puzzle in how digital
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  money is changing things. Definitely. All right,
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  that brings us near the end for today's Connecting
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  the Dots. Quite a journey through tech, politics,
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  and finance. Yeah, we started with that really
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  unusual Trump NVIDIA AMD chip deal, selling to
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  China again, but with that 15 % fee changing
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  the rules of the game. Then we zoomed down to
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  the desktop with NVIDIA's new Blackwell GPUs,
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  like the RTX Pro 4000, SFF, and 2000. Bringing
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  serious, energy -efficient AI power right to
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  professional workstations. Making on -premise
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  AI and things like secure data processing much
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  more accessible across industries. And finally,
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  circles big quarter. Yeah. Huge revenue and USDC
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  growth that IPO -related net loss explained and
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  the launch of their ARK blockchain using USDC
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  for gas fees. Which could really streamline stablecoin
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  payments and build out their financial ecosystem.
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  These stories really show how interconnected
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  everything is, right? Global policy impacts chip
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  availability, which impacts the AI tools on your
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  desk, which ties into the digital finance platforms
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  we might use. It all connects, and the key thing
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  for you, listening, is seeing how these pieces
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  fit together to shape what's coming next in tech
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  and finance. Yeah, and thinking ahead, you know,
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  with AI getting more local and digital money
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  getting smoother, how does that empower maybe
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  smaller players, individuals to innovate in new
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  ways? Something to think about. Definitely food
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  for thought. We're here to help at Starful, so
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  reach out on our website if you have any more
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  questions. That's a wrap on today's top stories.
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  Remember, tech doesn't have to be complicated,
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  and we're here to help connect the dots. If you've
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  got questions or want to learn more, visit us
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  at snarfle .com. Thanks for listening, and we'll
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  catch you next time.