When Aravind Srinivas took the stage at YCombinator’s AI Startup School, the Perplexity AI chief executive had a bracing message for the roomful of would be founders: assume the giants will clone your best ideas, and build as if they already have.

Srinivas knows the playbook firsthand. Perplexity launched in December 2022 as an “answer engine” whose chatbot could crawl the live web—a capability missing from ChatGPT and Google’s Bard at the time. Within months, Google added real time search to Bard (now Gemini), OpenAI rolled out browsing for ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude followed suit in 2025.

“They raise tens of billions, they need fresh revenue, and they will copy anything that’s good,” Srinivas told the audience. “You’ve got to live with that fear.”

From Answer Engine to Browser Challenger

Rather than retreat, Perplexity has doubled down on speed and differentiation. On 9 July the company unveiled Comet, an AI centric browser that bakes Perplexity’s answer engine directly into the navigation bar, promising instant summaries, live web citations, and personalized context. Srinivas claims the integration barrier is high enough that “Big Tech cannot copy Comet” as quickly as it mimicked Perplexity’s earlier chat features.

Hours after Comet’s debut, Reuters reported that OpenAI is quietly developing its own Chrome style browser, signaling that a new front—what Perplexity’s communications chief Jesse Dwyer calls “Browser War III”—is about to erupt. Both OpenAI and Google, he warned, could lean on their incumbent platforms to “drown out” smaller rivals by bundling browsers with other must have services.

The Copycat Economy

Srinivas’s cautionary lesson taps into a broader reality of the AI boom. Deep pocketed firms under shareholder pressure to justify multibillion dollar capital expenditure lines now view nimble startups as live idea labs. Meta recently snapped up voice tech outfit PlayAI, while Google lured Windsurf’s CEO and R&D team for a reported $2.4 billion licensing pact.

In the same week, Cognition Labs acquired Windsurf’s remaining assets to fortify its own autonomous coding tool, Devin—a flurry of split deals that showed founders can be dismembered as readily as they’re acquired.

Perplexity, backed by Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, has itself fielded overtures; Srinivas told Business Insider he has no intention of selling. Instead, he is betting on pace: Perplexity mandates internal use of AI coding agents to cut prototyping from days to hours, and it ships upgrades to its engine weekly. The goal, he says, is to iterate faster than a giant can integrate.

Stakes for Users—and the Web

Dwyer argues that if dominance in AI browsers coalesces around one or two “everything companies,” consumers could face the same choice limiting bundling that defined earlier browser battles. “Browser wars should be won by users,” he wrote in a company blog, “not by monopolistic tactics that force a product onto the market.”

Perplexity’s strategy is to keep its engine open to the public web while layering premium features—such as larger context windows and image analysis—behind a subscription tier. Comet extends that posture: live citations next to every answer, side by side comparisons of sources, and a data privacy pledge not to track users across sites.

Whether that will be enough against incumbents with vast distribution remains to be seen. Google commands roughly two thirds of global browser share via Chrome, while Microsoft pushes Edge through Windows defaults. If OpenAI enters the fray backed by Microsoft, competition could hinge not just on innovation, but on regulatory scrutiny of bundling practices—a replay of antitrust debates from the late 1990s browser wars.

Lessons for Founders

For the students at YC’s event, Srinivas distilled his advice to two imperatives: work incredibly hard and ship relentlessly, assuming knock offs will appear. “Speed is your moat,” he said. Differentiation must come from product depth—like Comet’s integrated answer layer—rather than from any single feature that a trillion dollar rival can replicate overnight.

Yet he closed on a note of guarded optimism. Innovation cycles move faster than ever, he said, and a nimble startup can still outrun the giants by pivoting before the copy lands. In a market where the cost of experimentation is collapsing, the next breakout advantage is likely to be cultural—an ability to live with the fear of being copied and still keep building.

Coinbase’s shares reaching a record high of $398.50 with a market cap exceeding $100 billion reflects strong market confidence in the cryptocurrency exchange, likely driven by increased crypto adoption and recent acquisitions like Deribit and Liquifi, which enhance its institutional offerings.

SharpLink Gaming’s purchase of 24,371 ETH on Monday, valued at approximately $73.25 million via Coinbase Prime, adds to its aggressive Ethereum accumulation strategy, bringing its total holdings to around 294,000 ETH. This move, part of SharpLink’s pivot to an Ethereum-focused treasury, aligns with a broader trend of public companies diversifying into crypto assets, though Ethereum remains less popular than Bitcoin for corporate treasuries.

The transactions highlight growing institutional interest in Ethereum, with SharpLink staking most of its ETH to generate yield, positioning it as the largest publicly traded ETH holder. The record-high share price of Coinbase at $398.50 and its market cap surpassing $100 billion, coupled with SharpLink Gaming’s purchase of 24,371 ETH, carry several implications.

The surge in Coinbase’s valuation signals robust investor confidence in the crypto exchange’s growth, likely fueled by its strategic acquisitions (e.g., Deribit and Liquifi) and expanding institutional services. This could solidify Coinbase’s dominance in the crypto market, attracting more institutional and retail investors, but it also raises expectations for sustained performance amid regulatory and market volatility risks.

SharpLink Gaming’s significant ETH purchase, increasing its holdings to ~294,000 ETH, reflects a growing trend of public companies diversifying treasuries with cryptocurrencies. Unlike Bitcoin, which dominates corporate crypto holdings, SharpLink’s focus on Ethereum suggests confidence in its long-term utility, particularly for DeFi and staking yields. This could inspire other firms to follow suit, boosting Ethereum’s institutional adoption.

SharpLink’s aggressive ETH accumulation and staking strategy may contribute to Ethereum’s price stability or upward pressure by reducing circulating supply. However, large corporate purchases could also increase market concentration risks, potentially leading to volatility if such entities liquidate holdings.

Both Coinbase’s milestone and SharpLink’s ETH purchases may draw regulatory attention, especially in jurisdictions tightening oversight of crypto exchanges and corporate crypto holdings. This could impact future operations or investment strategies for both entities. Coinbase’s stock surge and SharpLink’s ETH bet may fuel bullish sentiment in the crypto market, encouraging speculative trading.

Analysts from firms like Argus Research and Oppenheimer have issued bullish ratings, with price targets up to $400, citing Coinbase’s promising growth and higher margins. Positive regulatory news, such as the dismissal of an SEC lawsuit and the passage of the GENIUS Act for stablecoins, has reduced uncertainty and fueled share gains.

Partnerships like the integration with Copper’s ClearLoop network and acquisitions like Liquifi enhance Coinbase’s institutional appeal and service offerings. However, some risks remain, including a projected 44% drop in Q2 trading volume and concerns about overvaluation, as noted by H.C. Wainwright’s downgrade to Sell.

Shares hit a record high of $398.50 on July 14, 2025, with a 59-100% year-to-date increase, though some analysts suggest the rally may be priced in. However, this could amplify risks of corrections if macroeconomic factors (e.g., interest rate hikes) or crypto-specific events (e.g., hacks or regulatory crackdowns) shift sentiment. These developments underscore the maturing crypto market but highlight ongoing risks tied to regulation, volatility, and market concentration.

The video lecture provides a compelling case for the transformative potential of Agentic AI in the business world, as demonstrated by Odion AI. It highlights how this advanced form of artificial intelligence moves beyond theoretical discussions to offer practical, demonstrable solutions for critical business challenges.

The presentation meticulously outlines common pain points experienced by growing enterprises, including inefficient customer support, time-consuming manual reconciliation processes, issues with unclaimed dividends in asset management, and slow KYC onboarding. For each of these problems, Odion AI presents its Agentic AI solutions, showcasing how these intelligent agents can automate complex tasks, improve efficiency, and enhance customer experience across various modalities (chat, voice, video) and functions (support, finance, sales, research).

Largely, Odion AI’s specialized, multi-agent systems deliver services across many service areas. It is engineered for high accuracy, domain-specific tasks, and possesses advanced capabilities like “vision” to interact with web interfaces like a human, overcoming limitations such as rate limits and login requirements. Today in Nigeria, it supports financial institutions, brokerages and more.

Lecture summary is available here.

The full lecture with other demos are at Blucera.com.

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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has cautioned the United States against underestimating the European Union’s readiness to retaliate if the U.S. imposes 30% tariffs on EU goods, which could severely impact Germany’s export-driven economy. Speaking on July 13, 2025, Merz emphasized the need for EU unity and open communication with U.S. President Donald Trump to find a swift solution.

He noted that while the EU is refraining from immediate countermeasures, it is prepared to respond if necessary, aligning with France’s stance on potential retaliatory measures. Merz highlighted that Trump’s previous tariff threats to other countries often served as negotiation tactics, suggesting a deal could still be reached before the August 1, 2025, deadline.

Germany, as the EU’s largest economy, relies heavily on exports, particularly to the U.S., with €157 billion in goods exported in 2024. A 30% U.S. tariff could disrupt key sectors like automotive (e.g., Volkswagen, BMW), machinery, and chemicals, leading to reduced trade volumes, job losses, and economic slowdown. Other EU nations with significant U.S. trade, like France and Italy, would also face economic strain.

The EU exported €472 billion in goods to the U.S. in 2024, and tariffs could disrupt supply chains, increase costs, and dampen growth across the bloc. Merz’s warning signals the EU’s readiness to impose counter-tariffs, potentially targeting U.S. goods like agricultural products, tech, or energy exports (e.g., liquefied natural gas). In 2018, the EU responded to U.S. steel tariffs with duties on $3 billion worth of U.S. goods, such as bourbon and motorcycles.

A similar or larger response could escalate tensions into a full-blown trade war. A trade war would harm both economies, with the U.S. facing higher consumer prices and the EU grappling with export declines, potentially worsening global economic instability amid existing inflationary pressures.

Merz’s comments suggest the EU is using the threat of retaliation as leverage to negotiate a deal before the August 1, 2025, deadline. By highlighting Trump’s past use of tariff threats as a bargaining tactic, Merz indicates openness to dialogue, which could lead to exemptions or reduced tariffs if the EU offers concessions, such as increased U.S. imports or trade policy adjustments.

A U.S.-EU tariff dispute could push the EU to strengthen trade ties with other partners, like China or ASEAN, to offset losses. However, this risks further straining transatlantic relations and weakening the Western economic alliance at a time of geopolitical challenges, including competition with China and Russia’s ongoing influence. The dispute could also disrupt global supply chains, particularly in industries like automotive and tech, where U.S. and EU firms are deeply integrated.

Trump administration appears focused on protectionist policies to boost domestic manufacturing and reduce trade deficits. Trump’s proposed 30% tariffs on EU goods align with his broader agenda, which includes 60% tariffs on Chinese imports. This approach prioritizes U.S. interests but risks alienating allies. The EU, led by figures like Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, views tariffs as a threat to its economic model and global trade principles.

The EU’s unified stance, as Merz emphasized, aims to counter U.S. pressure but reflects internal concerns about maintaining competitiveness and cohesion. While Merz calls for EU unity, member states have varying priorities. Export-heavy nations like Germany and the Netherlands are more vulnerable to U.S. tariffs, pushing for a strong response, while smaller or less trade-dependent states may prefer de-escalation to avoid economic fallout.

The tariff threat amplifies political divisions within the EU. Populist and protectionist parties in countries like Italy or Hungary may sympathize with Trump’s approach, complicating the EU’s ability to present a united front. The dispute exacerbates a broader divide between protectionist and free-trade advocates. The U.S. shift toward protectionism contrasts with the EU’s commitment to multilateral trade agreements, potentially weakening institutions like the World Trade Organization.

Emerging economies may exploit this divide, with countries like China or India positioning themselves as alternative trade partners, further reshaping global economic alliances. Merz’s warning underscores the high stakes of a potential U.S.-EU tariff dispute, with significant economic and geopolitical implications. The divide reflects differing U.S. and EU economic priorities, internal EU challenges, and a broader global shift toward protectionism.

While negotiation could avert escalation, failure to reach a deal by August 1, 2025, risks a damaging trade war, with ripple effects across global markets. The EU’s ability to maintain unity and leverage its collective economic weight will be critical in shaping the outcome.