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Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, slammed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He also said the cryptocurrency exchange is looking to invest more outside of the U.S.

Carlos Jasso | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Now that President Trump has announced plans for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, crypto industry leaders can focus on what else they want to hear from the new administration on Friday.

Just over six weeks into his second White House term, Trump is hosting his first Crypto Summit, a nod to an industry that played a major role in his election victory in November. No executive was more central to that effort than Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

Once a Silicon Valley entrepreneur focused on onboarding the world to digital assets, Armstrong has spent the last year transforming himself into crypto’s ambassador in Washington, D.C., funneling millions into elections, building alliances, and ensuring the digital currencies market has a seat at the table.

“My goal in attending this is really just, first of all, to thank President Trump for helping make the United States the crypto capital of the world,” Armstrong told CNBC ahead of the meeting. “I think he’s lived up to that campaign promise so far, and we’ve seen a lot of work getting done here in a positive way.”

Joining Armstrong at Friday’s summit, which is being led by White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, will be Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, and Chainlink’s Sergey Nazarov, among others. They’re planning to discuss digital asset regulation as well as the mechanics of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which Trump announced late Thursday by way of executive order.

Armstrong, whose company helped the crypto sector raise and direct $250 million into the 2024 election cycle, outpacing Wall Street banks and the oil industry, has been instrumental in shaping the new administration’s approach to digital assets. Crypto’s push to unseat opposition lawmakers and install pro-crypto candidates paid off handsomely, flipping key seats and cementing the sector as a major political force in Washington.

Trump signs executive order to establish U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve

Several million dollars were funneled directly to Trump’s campaign and inaugural fund, a sign of just how much was riding on his victory.

At Friday’s summit, Armstrong says his top priority will be pushing forward new laws.

“From our point of view, the next step in the United States that’s the most urgent is getting legislation passed,” he said. He specifically pointed to stablecoin regulation and broader market structure reforms.

Momentum for regulatory clarity is already shifting in crypto’s favor. The Senate this week voted, with strong bipartisan support, to overturn two Biden-era regulations that the industry opposed. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, called the wins a gateway for more comprehensive legislation.

Crypto’s wish list

For Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, a key issue is how the U.S. can use blockchain technology to maintain its dominance in global finance.

“Really what matters for financial systems is assets,” said Nazarov, whose company provides a blockchain-based platform for digital assets. “Does the U.S. generate the largest collection of the best base assets that are then wrapped, rewrapped, and repackaged by others? That’s how I define global leadership of a financial system in this new model.”

Nazarov said the U.S. must ensure that key financial markets – treasuries, investment funds, and real estate – are tokenized. He sees that as the defining financial shift of the next 50 years, similar to the move from paper-based markets to internet-based financial products.

Robinhood’s Tenev has emerged as one of the most vocal advocates for tokenization, arguing that blockchain technology can democratize private markets and break down barriers to investment in the world’s most valuable companies. In a Washington Post op-ed, he pointed out that companies like OpenAI, SpaceX, and Stripe are worth hundreds of billions of dollars combined but remain inaccessible to everyday investors, with profits concentrated among a small group of insiders.

“Crypto technology can unlock new ways to trade and invest in all assets, from digital to real-world,” he told CNBC ahead of the event. “Tokenization will transform investing, but we need regulatory clarity to make it happen.”

Under current SEC rules, only accredited investors, people with over $1 million in net worth or $200,000 in annual income, can participate in private markets. Tenev says that reforming these outdated rules and creating a security token registration framework would level the playing field for retail investors, giving them access to high-growth opportunities that have long been reserved for venture capitalists.

Robinhood CEO and co-founder Vlad Tenev and co-founder Baiju Bhatt pose with Robinhood signage on Wall Street after the company’s initial public offering in New York City on July 29, 2021.

Andrew Kelly | Reuters

Prior to Thursday’s executive order, the big debate in the industry was what kind of strategic reserve Trump would propose. The announcement ends speculation over whether the reserve would include multiple cryptocurrencies. While Trump’s initial post on Truth Social named five tokens — bitcoin, ether, XRP, Solana’s SOL token and Cardano’s ADA coin — the final order limits the reserve to bitcoin.

SOL, ether and bitcoin all fell around 5% late Thursday, while ADA plunged nearly 12%.

The order marks the U.S. government’s first formal recognition of bitcoin as a strategic asset. The reserve will be funded exclusively through bitcoin seized in criminal and civil forfeiture cases, ensuring taxpayers bear no financial burden.

Non-bitcoin assets will be placed in a separate Digital Asset Stockpile managed by the Treasury Department.

Nic Carter of Castle Island Ventures said the decision cements bitcoin’s status as a global asset, “somewhere in the realm of gold.”

Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley, who will also be at Friday’s summit, called the development “a huge moment for both crypto and American leadership on the global stage.”

“By holding bitcoin and other digital assets for the long term, the White House is taking a future-forward approach to bolstering American economic competitiveness — not just for the decade ahead, but for the next century,” said McCauley.

Trump announces U.S. strategic crypto reserve including bitcoin, solana, XRP and more

The bitcoin audit

For David Bailey, CEO of BTC Inc. and one of the key figures credited with influencing Trump’s embrace of bitcoin, the priority is understanding the size of the country’s bitcoin ownership.

“One is to figure out how much bitcoin America holds, and what we can do as an industry to help the government secure it,” he said.

The Treasury Department must now conduct a full audit of the government’s holdings, estimated at 200,000 bitcoin. Sacks confirmed that the government will not sell any bitcoin from the reserve, positioning it as a permanent store of value.

Bailey, who convinced Trump to keynote the biggest bitcoin conference of the year in Nashville in July, is also pushing for bitcoin-backed Treasury bonds, arguing that integrating bitcoin into the U.S. debt system could strengthen the country’s balance sheet and attract more buyers.

“If we mix bitcoin reserves with U.S. bonds, we could create significant demand by giving investors exposure to bitcoin’s performance,” he said.

Armstrong told CNBC that Coinbase would “absolutely” step up to be a crypto custodian for the government in the context of a national reserve, adding that the company already works with various parts of the government on crypto custody and trading.

“We’re always happy to continue doing that,” Armstrong said.

Coinbase's chief policy officer on why he thinks the crypto voter will be 'decisive' in the 2024 election

Ryan Gilbert, a fintech investor, said the reserve will send a strong message to institutions that bitcoin is here to stay.

“We’re also seeing that this is going to be the mirror image of a lot of corporations that have looked at their treasuries and started to invest in bitcoin,” he said, pointing to Saylor and Strategy as early adopters. “I think this will spark a whole new wave of confidence in the asset, both from corporations and the U.S. government.”

Saylor’s company has amassed a roughly $43 billion stash of bitcoin, accounting for almost all of its market cap.

“I think this executive order is well considered and auspicious for the United States, the crypto industry, and bitcoin,” Saylor told CNBC.

The move faces some pressure from Democrats. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter to Sacks ahead of the meeting, raising conflict-of-interest concerns and questioning whether Sacks had advance knowledge of Trump’s Truth Social post that initially floated a multi-coin strategic reserve.

Warren called on Sacks to disclose any financial holdings in bitcoin, ether, solana, and other assets included in the reserve, noting that his firm, Craft Ventures, was heavily invested in these tokens through Bitwise as of Jan. 1. She also pressed for public disclosure of his government ethics filings, which, as an unpaid special government employee, he has to file but isn’t required to make public.

Sacks said this week on X that he sold “all my cryptocurrency and my crypto-focused funds” before joining the administration.

After the summit, many of the attendees will regroup at an off-the-record event hosted by Coinbase, along with invited members of the administration. Armstrong is gearing up to play the long game.

“The fight for crypto here is more urgent than ever,” Armstrong said. “If the U.S. leads on this front, I think the rest of the G20 could be pretty inspired by it, and that has a lot of domino effects downstream.”

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Rad Power gives RadRover 6 Plus e-bike an extra battery at $1,399, Exclusive renewed Anker SOLIX F3800 at $1,999, EcoFlow, more

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April 10, 2025

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Rad Power gives RadRover 6 Plus e-bike an extra battery at ,399, Exclusive renewed Anker SOLIX F3800 at ,999, EcoFlow, more

Headlining today’s Green Deals is Rad Power’s newly launched Earth Day Sale with up to $699 in savings on a solid lineup of e-bikes, including returning accessory bundles on its latest models. One notable – and popular – standout is the brand’s RadRover 6 Plus Step-Thru Fat Tire e-bike that comes along with an extra battery for double the travel time at $1,399. We’ve also secured an exclusive $680 off deal on the refurbished Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power Station that is down at $1,999. Lastly, we’ve got the latest flash offers from EcoFlow’s ongoing Easter Sale and Mega Sale for the rest of the day, which include a bundle for the DELTA 2 Portable Power Station with a waterproof bag for $449, as well as two DELTA Pro Ultra Extra Batteries down at $4,599. Plus, all the other hangover Green Deals are in the links at the bottom of the page, like yesterday’s new low price on the Heybike ALPHA e-bike, and more.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Rad Power is launching an Earth Day Sale through April 23 with up to $699 in savings on a selection of e-bikes, including the ongoing RadRunner lows we’ve been seeing repeat over the last few events since February. The headliner for this sale though is the popular bundle of the RadRover 6 Plus Step-Thru Fat Tire e-bike with an extra battery for $1,399 shipped. The e-bike on its own would normally cost you $1,599 without the $200 price cut here, only beaten out by the $1,299 rate from September and the $1,199 low we saw at the top of 2025, though these did not offer the extra battery valued at $499. Despite being the third-lowest price we have tracked overall, this is the largest amount of savings we have seen on this model bundled with the battery. Be sure to add both to your cart for the automatic discount to be applied.

I’ve been hopping aboard my parent’s RadRover 6 Plus e-bike during visits and it’s not hard to see why it’s so popular among riders with its durability and lineup of features, which can be elevated further with additional add-on gear, which my parents went all-out on. Without all those extra bells and whistles, it starts with a 750W brushless geared hub motor that is powered by the semi-integrated 672Wh battery to reach top speeds of 20 MPH while carrying you up to 45+ miles when its five levels of PAS are activated – which is doubled to 90+ miles with the extra battery. If you’re going a shorter distance and not in the mood to do any pedaling, there is the option to ride on pure electric power with the throttle, though keep in mind this cuts down its mileage.

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It’s a solid option for folks who enjoy on-street and off-road treks alike, as the fat Kenda Juggernaut puncture-resistant tires stand up well to swampy terrain during my visits while the electrical system is protected thanks to the water-resistant connectors. You’ll also get it arriving stocked with a Shimano 7-speed derailleur, hydraulic brakes, fenders above both tires, an LED headlight and taillight with brake lighting (and auto-on functions for both), and a LCD display.

Rad Power’s other Earth Day e-bike discounts:

Rad Power’s ongoing low prices (while supplies last):

Rad Power accessory bundles on newest e-bikes:

  • RadExpand 5 Plus Folding e-bike: $1,899
    • 20 MPH for up to 60+ miles
    • comes with any accessory under $200
    • discounts applied when added to cart
  • Radster Road Commuter e-bike: $2,199
    • 28 MPH for up to 65+ miles
    • comes with any accessory under $200
    • discounts applied when added to cart
  • Radster Trail Off-Road e-bike: $2,199
    • 28 MPH for up to 65+ miles
    • comes with any accessory under $200
    • discounts applied when added to cart
  • RadWagon 5 Cargo e-bike: $2,399
    • 28 MPH for up to 60+ miles
    • comes with any accessory under $200
    • discounts applied when added to cart
Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power Station

Score an exclusive $680 in savings on a refurbished and expandable Anker SOLIX F3800 power station at $1,999

We’ve secured an exclusive deal for our readers at Wellbots on a refurbished Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power Station for $1,999 shipped, after using the code 9TO5RB300 at checkout. This renewed unit is getting brought down from its $2,679 price tag to $2,299 with the initial discount, which drops even lower thanks to our exclusive $300 in additional savings. It’s a solid option for those who want to save a bit more, as a new model normally goes for $3,999 at full price and is currently discounted to $2,599 right now, giving you $600 more in savings ($680 in all) while providing you with the brand’s expandable setup that you can invest more into down the road.

Coming with a two-year warranty, this refurbished Anker SOLIX F3800 station is a well-rounded option to cover camping, tailgating, home backup emergencies, and more. It starts at a 3,840Wh LiFePO4 capacity that can be further scaled up to 26.9kWh with its appropriate expansion batteries. It boasts 15+ port options to cover a variety of needs – including RV and EV power too thanks to the included L14-30R and NEMA 14-50 ports – with a steady output of 6,000W that can surge up to 9,000W.

You can recharge its own battery through an AC wall outlet, or connect up to its maximum 2,400W of solar input, which can refill the battery to 80% in 1.5 hours with ideal conditions. This refurbished model comes rated for 3,000 life cycles when charging up to 80% of its battery, giving you over 8 years of a lifespan were you to do so every single day. With the addition of EcoFlow’s home backup kit this station can cover sectional support for your home’s circuit breaker, or you could expand that to whole-home coverage with connections to roof panels when utilizing the home power panel instead.

– Units are Grade A Refurbished by Anker (Like new condition)
– 2 year warranty applies
– 30 day return policy

EcoFlow DELTA 2 Portable Power Station

EcoFlow flash sale offers DELTA 2 1,024Wh LiFePO4 power station with waterproof bag at $449, more

Running through the rest of the day as part of its ongoing Easter Sale and Mega Sale, EcoFlow has launched the third round of flash sale deals, with the first being the DELTA 2 Portable Power Station bundled with a waterproof bag for $449 shipped. Normally going for $999 outside of these sales, we have seen this power station on its own as low as $399 once before today, but you’re now getting it at $449 with the waterproof bag included to deliver one of the best values we have ever tracked. You’ll also find it matching in price over at Amazon, as well.

Perfect for those upcoming outdoor adventures, the EcoFlow DELTA 2 is an expandable unit that starts with a 1,024Wh LiFePO4 capacity and can go as high as 3,074Wh with the addition of expansion batteries. Its 15 port options cover your devices and appliances with a steady output up to 1,800W, which can surge up to 2,200W with the built-in X-Boost tech that also reduces its recharging times. Within 50 minutes of plugging it into a wall outlet you can have it back to an 80% battery while a full battery takes a little longer at 80 minutes. There’s also the option to connect up to its maximum 500W solar input to take advantage of the sun’s rays to refill its battery in as little as three hours. It also comes rated for 3,000 life cycles up to 80% of its capacity, meaning you could recharge it every day to that amount for over eight years.

The second offer during this flash sale is perfect for those with an existing DELTA Pro Ultra power station and are looking to expand, as you can grab two DELTA Pro Ultra Extra Batteries for $4,599 shipped. Considering that they are currently discounted to $2,499 each right now (down from $3,299 each), you’ll be saving an additional $399 here with the sales pricing and $1,999 off their regular pricing. By adding them to your existing setup, you’ll tack on an additional 12.2kWh capacity for even longer backup power support.

Be sure to check out the full (and differing) lineup of deals from EcoFlow’s ongoing Easter Sale and Mega Sale that are taking up to 65% off power stations through April 14.

Best New Year EV deals!

Best new Green Deals landing this week

The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.

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Pennsylvania dairy farm powers its new electric tractor with biogas

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1 hour ago

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April 10, 2025

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Pennsylvania dairy farm powers its new electric tractor with biogas

Farm Generates Biogas to Power Volvo Electric Compact Loader

An 800-head dairy farm in central Pennsylvania is the first in the United States to create a truly circular energy cycle by using recovered biogas to generate the electricity needed to charge the electric wheel loader that pushes feed to its cattle.

Molly Pitcher Dairy in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, uses a Volvo L120 electric wheel loader to feed its 800 head of dairy cattle each daily — and they’re showing other corporate farms that it’s possible to be more productive and more sustainable.

They’re accomplishing this first by deploying quiet, zero-emissions equipment assets that are better for both the health and safety of the farm’s employees and cattle, and second by powering those assets with electricity generated by methane-rich biogas that would otherwise be burned off or vented into the atmosphere.

The dairy uses a 1.5-million-gallon “anerobic digester” to recycles solid and liquid waste generated by the farm’s hundreds of cows (read: poop), producing energy-rich biogas that is used to generate electricity. Molly Pitcher Dairy actually generates enough electricity to power the farm, charge its wheel loader, and have enough left over to sell electrons back to their local grid.

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As for the Volvo L120 Electric wheel loader itself, the machine offers a 6-ton lifting capacity and quiet, precise, vibration-free operation, making it a valuable asset on job sites from construction sites to ports and logistic centers, and on through to waste management and recycling.

Volvo’s L120 Electric delivers between 5-9 hours of continuous on a single charge, depending on the workload. While that’s enough for a typical shift, when the Volvo does need to power up, it can charge from 10-100% in one hour 40 minutes with a 180 kW DC fast charger, or overnight with the same standard L2 (220/240V) outlet that any proper farm already has a welder plugged into.

“This dairy runs 24/7, so the more electric that I can use, the better it is for us economically and for the environment. That is why I was interested in this new electric loader from Volvo,” says the farm’s owner, Keith Jones — but the most important customer feedback at Molly Pitcher Dairy came from the herd. Says Jones, “It took the cows a few passes with the loader to realize it was feeding time because they didn’t hear it driving down the barn aisles. It’s very quiet, and for the cows, that is very nice.”

Molly Pitcher Dairy is one of seven cattle farms across three states owned by the Jones brothers as part of a family business that also includes cattle harvesting and commercial trucking operations.

Electrek’s Take

We’ve written about the greenwashing of poop collecting before, but while experts on one end argue that the LCFS in particular awards credits to farmers at a much higher magnitude than the cost to operate and maintain a methane digester and experts on the other side argue that biomethane still creates burned emission the same way fossil fuels do, the fact remains that the carbon cost of burning biogas is net less than the conventional cost of burning fuel fossil fuels, if only because of the reduced carbon costs typically associated with their refining and transportation (the fact that the biowaste is generated regardless and otherwise wasted should also be considered, but needn’t be in order to realize an immediate “common sense” benefit here).

Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly better ways to power an EV — including wind and solar — but are there much better uses for hundreds of tons of cow poop? You guys are smart. Head down the comments and tell me what they are.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo CE.

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Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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Cracks are forming in Elon Musk’s armor of lies

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2 hours ago

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April 10, 2025

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Cracks are forming in Elon Musk's armor of lies

Tesla OpenAi XAI Elon Musk crack in armor of lies

As Elon Musk moves to dismiss a lawsuit from Tesla shareholders claiming he failed his fiduciary duties, OpenAI is now suing Musk and exposing lies, which could help Tesla shareholders.

It looks like cracks are forming in Elon Musk’s armor of lies.

Last year, Tesla investors sued Musk for breach of fiduciary duty and resource tunneling over the founding of xAI, a private AI company under his control.

Musk had previously stated that Tesla would be a major player in AI and that AI products would be critical to Tesla’s future, but in early 2024, the CEO threatened not to build AI products at Tesla if he didn’t get more control over the company by getting more shares.

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He also redirected NVIDIA AI hardware acquired by Tesla to xAI and hired Tesla employees to work at xAI.

In short, Tesla shareholders argue that Musk is in breach of his fiduciary duties to shareholders by creating a private company that competes directly with Tesla. The lawsuit also cites similar issues with Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.

This week, Musk and Tesla board members, who are also defendants in the lawsuit for not stopping Musk, have filed to try to dismiss the lawsuit (via Bloomberg):

The shareholder suit by a group of pension funds and other investors “is long on hyperbole but woefully short on well-pled facts,” the board members said in a court filing Monday. “Yet they cannot escape the undeniable reality: Tesla has thrived under this board and CEO, delivering astronomical returns to stockholders while advancing its mission to create sustainable abundance for all.”

It will likely take a while before the lawsuit moves through the court, but in the meantime, Tesla shareholders have found a strong ally: OpenAI.

Musk has long been tormenting OpenAI with lawsuits. Tesla’s CEO co-founded OpenAI as a non-profit in 2015 to develop an artificial general intelligence that positively contributes to humanity.

In early 2018, Musk resigned from OpenAI, citing “conflicts of interest with Tesla.”

At that time, Tesla’s CEO started pushing the automaker increasingly toward self-driving, which he often described as “real-world AI,” and the automaker began to compete for AI talent with OpenAI.

While he was seemingly on good terms with OpenAI after his departure, a few years later, he started publicly criticizing the organization for moving to a limited for-profit model, which they argued was necessary due to the billions of dollars required to build the compute training hardware to have an impact in the AI sector.

Musk even sued the company over the move and repeatedly publicly mocked them.

It hasn’t been clear how serious the legal actions have been since Musk even claimed that he would drop the lawsuit if OpenAI changed its name:

OpenAI has been defending itself with the release of some emails that show Musk actually agreed for years that the organization needed to move to a for-profit model.

Now, OpenAI has countersued Musk and released more details that show Musk has been misleading the public for years.

It also explains his latest moves at Tesla and xAI.

Musk’s AI effort went from OpenAI to Tesla to xAI

All the documents released by OpenAI as part of the countersuit paint a much clearer picture of Musk’s involvement with AI and how it evolved over the years.

I’ll start with a clear timeline to make it easier to understand.

  • 2010s: Musk has long been fascinated with AI and emerged as one of the most prominent tech voices warning about its dangers.
  • 2015: Musk co-founds OpenAI as a non-profit to try to create a safe AGI.
  • 2017: Musk privately communicates to many people in OpenAI and the AI community that the company needs to switch to a for-profit model and raise billions to be successful due to the cost of AI hardware.
  • 2018: Musk attempted to get control of OpenAI and merge it with Tesla, but this was rejected by OpenAI’s board, which ultimately took investments from Microsoft to start its for-profit arm, as it gave the organization more independence.
  • 2018: Musk leaves OpenAI, citing a conflict of interest with Tesla.
  • 2018-2022: Musk positions Tesla as “the world’s leader in AI”, hires a ton of AI talent, and claims Tesla will “play an important role in AGI”.
  • 2022: Musk sells tens of billions of dollars worth of Tesla stocks, partly to buy an overpriced Twitter.
  • 2023: Shortly after the viral launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Musk creates a new private company, xAI, to develop AI products and compete with OpenAI.
  • 2024: A judge rescinds Musk’s $55 billion Tesla CEO compensation package, which would have increased his stake in Tesla back to where it was before he bought Twitter.
  • 2024: Musk threatens Tesla shareholders that he will not build AI products at Tesla unless he gets more control (aka more shares).
  • 2024: Musk hires Tesla employees for xAI and redirects shipments of AI training compute from Tesla to xAI.
  • 2024: Musk sues OpenAI to try to block its transition into a capped for-profit business.

OpenAI has all the receipts to prove this. I recommend reading all the emails because they give great insights into Musk’s persona and how he presents himself publicly versus what he says privately.

Here are some of the highlights to prove the timeline above:

Early on in the founding of OpenAI in 2015, it was proposed to be a non-profit linked to Y Combinator, Sam Altman’s company at the time, and Musk was already suggesting to make it a regular C corp:

OpenAI shared many internal emails and text messages between the teams, Musk, and Musk’s executive assistant/future baby mama, Shivon Zilis, discussing the need for much more capital, which will require a move to for-profit.

In 2017, as OpenAI was first configuring a potential for-profit arm, Musk tried to take control by asking for preferred shares and a supermajority:

Musk even filed for a new benefit corporation, a for-profit legal structure that aims to generate profits while positively impacting society and/or the environment.

Musk’s full-time money manager, Jared Birchall, is listed as the sole director of the new corporation.

OpenAI rejected Musk’s proposal as it would have given him complete control, but they insisted they still wanted to work with him.

In early 2018, Musk switched up his proposal to try to get OpenAI attached to Tesla:

This proposal also failed, as OpenAI felt this was also an attempt from Musk to gain complete control.

Musk then left OpenAI and focused his AI efforts on Tesla until he significantly reduced his stake in the company to buy Twitter on a whim.

Then, he founded xAI to become his main AI effort as a private company under his control while telling Tesla shareholders that the company was an “AI and robotics play.”

xAI recently absorbed X (Twitter), resulting in a $125 billion company based on Musk’s made-up valuation.

Electrek’s Take

This is extremely revealing. It clearly shows that Musk’s main goal is to have complete control over AI.

He tried to get control of OpenAI, but couldn’t make it work. He then tried to make it work with Tesla, but he screwed up by giving up some control (I’d argue he still has a firm hold on the public company) through the acquisition of Twitter.

He panicked after OpenAI launched ChatGPT and started xAI as a private company entirely under his control, devaluing Tesla in the process – hence the current shareholders’ lawsuit.

For years, Musk attacked OpenAI and lied to the public about disagreeing with the for-profit transition, when he was actually pushing for it since the very beginning. The only difference is that OpenAI was now a competitor to Tesla, and then xAI.

I want to be clear here. OpenAI is not completely clean, either. It obviously owes Musk something for the company’s original funding, but the emails also reveal that the organization tried to give him shares and pay him back, but Musk refused.

His refusal is likely linked to his believing that he could do more damage by suing OpenAI.

It looks like Musk believes that he is some sort of super genius who deserves to be the one in control of a potential future AGI, and he was willing to lie and cheat his way into making it happen.

Even if his intentions are good, that’s a scary thought.

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