Three Things (3/6)

Digital gold reaches an all-time high

Bitcoin reached an all-time high Tuesday, riding a new frenzy surrounding the world's largest cryptocurrency that rivals its last boom in 2021. The record was set as bitcoin briefly climbed to $68,991, exceeding the previous high of $68,789 established over two years ago. Bitcoin is now riding a new wave of excitement sparked by the series of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds that started trading in January.

What’s unfolding is a simple supply and demand exercise – add in the upcoming halving and it creates an interesting Econ 101 lecture. Given that nearly everyone who has ever bought Bitcoin is now in profit, there are decent odds we see some amount of profit taking. The question investors will begin asking now is how much higher can the cryptocurrency go?

Physical gold reaches an all time-high

Digital gold wasn’t the only gold hitting all time highs, on Tuesday. The price of physical gold also touched an all-time high as fund buying combined with speculation over a Federal Reserve pivot and geopolitical and financial risks underpinned a rally in the precious metal. 

The rising risk of a stock market correction — as seen by weak US manufacturing data last Friday — may have persuaded some investors to move out of equities and into gold. Gold has most traditionally been used as a safe store of value during periods of tumult and it appears that investors are heading back to their familiar recession hedge in the face of uncertainty. 

Startup funding

Perplexity, an artificial-intelligence startup aiming to challenge Google’s dominance in web search, is finalizing a new funding deal at around a $1 billion valuation, doubling their valuation in two months. The company uses AI to provide direct answers to search queries as opposed to using blue links riddled by advertisements. Visits to its mobile and desktop app grew 8.6% in February to around 50 million users, according to preliminary estimates.

The funding frenzy for the one-year-old startup is a remarkable example of the enthusiasm among some venture capitalists who think AI could challenge the status quo. The total addressable market for a company like Perplexity is enormous so it makes sense that VCs are piling in. Past efforts to disrupt Google’s search monopoly haven’t been fruitful (h/t Microsoft) but investors are betting big that a new age of search has officially arrived. 

Disclosures:

As of writing, BTC is a holding in Titan Crypto and GOOGL and MSFT are holdings in Titan’s Flagship strategy.

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