https://thetell.news/ Everyone reports what happened. We report what follows. en Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 https://thetell.news/2026/08/monad-put-up-to-60-million-on/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/monad-put-up-to-60-million-on/ Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Crypto THE TELL Three months before the first investor unlocks, Monad offered to buy early holders out at a set price. Almost everybody declined — and that answer is more interesting than the offer. https://thetell.news/2026/08/treasurys-stablecoin-rules-answer-a-question-exchanges/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/treasurys-stablecoin-rules-answer-a-question-exchanges/ Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Policy THE TELL The GENIUS Act said stablecoins need a licensed issuer. Treasury has now proposed the part that matters more to ordinary users — the rules for everyone in between, the exchanges and apps doing the actual selling. https://thetell.news/2026/08/the-occ-said-yes-to-world-liberty/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/the-occ-said-yes-to-world-liberty/ Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Policy THE TELL A federal regulator has cleared the way for the Trump family's crypto venture to become a nationally chartered trust company. The same week, ten Senate Democrats put their names to legislation about corruption in banking applications. Both things are about the same piece of paper. https://thetell.news/2026/08/anthropics-revenue-run-rate-is-now-65b/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/anthropics-revenue-run-rate-is-now-65b/ Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Money THE TELL The number is $65 billion. The word carrying it is "annualized." https://thetell.news/2026/08/the-people-who-built-openai-are-leaving/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/the-people-who-built-openai-are-leaving/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The big story THE TELL Brad Lightcap joined in 2018, when OpenAI was a research lab with no product and no revenue. This month he posted that he is leaving. https://thetell.news/2026/08/the-best-ai-model-in-the-world/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/the-best-ai-model-in-the-world/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Models THE TELL Two years ago, having the best model on the market was a fortune. On August 12 it became a discount. https://thetell.news/2026/08/for-three-years-the-maths-said-ai/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/for-three-years-the-maths-said-ai/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Money THE TELL The case against AI companies was never emotional. It was arithmetic: every new customer made the bill bigger. Growth was the problem, not the cure. https://thetell.news/2026/08/two-announcements-landed-the-same-week-together/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/two-announcements-landed-the-same-week-together/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Money THE TELL Google said Gemini passed a billion monthly users. ChatGPT made its strongest free model the default, after cutting the price by 80%. https://thetell.news/2026/08/ai-agents-moved-50-billion-then-you/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/ai-agents-moved-50-billion-then-you/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Crypto THE TELL Two hundred million payments. Sixty-nine thousand agents doing the buying. Around $50 billion in volume — on a payment code that sat unused in the web since the 1990s. https://thetell.news/2026/08/5-billion-went-into-ai-this-week/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/5-billion-went-into-ai-this-week/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Money THE TELL Databricks raised $5 billion at a $190 billion valuation — Coatue leading, with Blackstone, MGX, T. Rowe Price and Sixth Street alongside. The largest round of the week by a distance. https://thetell.news/2026/08/a-drug-designed-by-ai-just-worked/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/a-drug-designed-by-ai-just-worked/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Good news THE TELL Not in a simulation. In a Phase IIa trial, in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis — a disease that scars the lungs and, for most people who get it, shortens life to a handful of years. https://thetell.news/2026/08/someone-asked-the-question-everyone-deploying-ai/ https://thetell.news/2026/08/someone-asked-the-question-everyone-deploying-ai/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Research THE TELL Not "can it do the job". The other one: can it be left alone to do the job?