New Bitcoin High, Inflation Rollercoaster, Perplexity Bid

Inflation reports had markets in a total rollercoaster, but we know all you really care about is that Bitcoin hit a new high.

This Week in Crypto

Big week all around!

Bitcoin touched new heights (yet again!):

• Bitcoin rose to $124,496 on Wednesday, surpassing its July record of $123,193. 

• Bitcoin’s rally is powered by increasing certainty in the Fed’s rate cuts, sustained institutional buying, and moves by the Trump administration to ease investment in crypto assets. 

• Bitcoin has increased almost 32% so far in 2025.

And ETH also had a main character moment:

• Ethereum surged over the weekend to its highest level since December 2021, after breaking $4,000 for the first time since December 2024.

• And last week, ether ETFs saw greater inflows ($326.83 million) than bitcoin ETFs ($246.75 million).

However, both coins took a hit on Thursday:

• July’s wholesale inflation data came in much hotter than expected, impacting both coins.

• Bitcoin dropped by 3.7%, while ETH fell 4.1%.

Following last week’s more lackluster performance across the crypto market, trading activity picked up a fair amount this week. 

• Global crypto market capitalization increased 6% over the past 7 days. 

• ETH topped crypto whales’ buy list this week, with a 270% surge in large-holder netflow. 

• Total crypto market capitalization now exceeds $4.11T as of yesterday. 

This Week in TradFi

U.S. markets had a classic Jekyll and Hyde week - starting strong on Tuesday, dropping Thursday, and then rising again today.

• On Tuesday, the July inflation report came in cooler-than-expected, boosting markets as investors anticipated a September rate cut. 

  • The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both hit new closing highs, with hopes that the Fed was close to a monetary easing cycle.

• However, on Thursday, July's wholesale inflation data came in much hotter than expected, sending everyone back to reality.

  • Producer prices increased the most in three years in July, due to a surge in the cost of goods and services. 

• The Dow then opened at a record high this morning, as UnitedHealth’s shares jumped after Berkshire Hathaway raised its stake in the company.

  • The Dow rose 0.55% at open, while the S&P 500 rose 0.14% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.01% at open. 

On the international front:

• European shares hit a near five-month high today, driven by a largely positive earnings season.

  • The STOXX 600 index rose 0.3%, driven by miners and chemical stocks.

• Euro zone industrial output dropped more than expected in June, though overall economic growth held up in Q2.

  • Industrial output fell 1.3% MoM in June, driven by a big dip in Germany and weaker consumer goods production.

• Ukraine’s trade deficit widened to $18.5B in the first six months of the year, compared with a deficit of $12.4B in the same period last year.

• And British goods exports to the U.S. fell to their lowest level in more than three years in June. 

  • Sales of British goods to the U.S. fell to 3.9B pounds during the month, down by 0.7B pounds from May and 20% lower than a monthly average of 4.9B pounds in 2024.

• Hong Kong’s economy expanded by 3.1% YoY in Q2, driven by a surge in rush shipments after a temporary easing of U.S. tariffs.

• Gold prices inched up today, but are headed for a weekly loss, after hot inflation data lowered rate-cut expectations.

  • Spot gold rose 0.2% this morning, but was down around 1.6% for the week.

This Week in Tech

Perplexity has offered to buy Chrome from Google for $34.5B in cash (unsolicited!).

• Perplexity told TechCrunch that the terms of the offer include a commitment to keep Chrome’s underlying engine, Chromium, open source and continue to invest in it.

• Perplexity also promised to leave Chrome as users’ default search engine, rather than making its AI-powered option the default.

• The offer comes during an ongoing antitrust case - in March the Department of Justice proposed that Google should be forced to sell Chrome, after a judge ruled that the company acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search.

• However, Google has not agreed to sell Chrome and has promised to fight the ruling.

And lots of news from automobile tech this week:

• Musk confirmed over the weekend that Tesla had disbanded the team working on its Dojo AI training supercomputer. 

  • “Once it became clear that all paths converged to AI6, I had to shut down Dojo and make some tough personnel choices, as Dojo 2 was now an evolutionary dead end,” Musk posted on X.

• Ford said Monday that it will invest $2B to transform its Louisville Assembly Plant into a factory capable of making the next generation of affordable EVs - beginning with a pickup truck that should be available in 2027.

  • The company’s EV division is currently struggling - with a loss of $1.3B in Q2 of 2025, and sales of its top two EVs falling.

• Revel has shut down its ride-hailing service in New York City. Moving forward, the company will focus on its EV charging business, which currently includes five stations in NYC and SF. 

As usual, below are some fundraising announcements, M&A, and tech personnel changes that caught our eye:

• Canadian AI startup Cohere has hired long-time Meta research head Joelle Pineau as its chief AI officer.

• Igor Babuschkin, cofounder of xAI, announced his departure from the company on Wednesday.

• Github CEO Thomas Dohmke announced on Monday that he will be stepping down as CEO and departing the company entirely at the end of the year.

Indian startup Pronto has raised an $11M Series A, at a valuation of $45M.

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Disclaimer: None of the above is financial advice, seriously.