Ray Blanco:

Fresh off Defeating State THC Ban, Texas Hemp Industry Faces Wipeout Under Federal Deal To End Shutdown

As part of the spending deal to end the government shutdown, federal lawmakers approved a provision cracking down on hemp products containing THC, restoring a ban Texas Republicans sought to impose earlier this year.

The funding package, passed by the U.S. House and signed into law by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, includes language banning the sale of hemp-derived products with more than 0.4 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive element in marijuana. The measure would criminalize almost all consumable hemp products nationwide.

The provision was added at the last minute to a bill that provides yearlong funding for the Department of Agriculture. It closes what proponents of the ban call a “loophole” from the 2018 farm bill that allowed the hemp industry to take off without federal regulations. 

Unless Congress reverses course, the ban is set to start a year after the legislation goes into effect. Opponents of the provision warn it will effectively shut down Texas’ $8 billion hemp industry and the thousands of jobs associated with the sale of consumable THC products.

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Davis Wilson:

Sam Atlman-Backed Exowatt Wants To Power AI Data Centers With Billions of Hot Rocks

Energy company Exowatt’s is attempting to generate power at one cent per kilowatt-hour with its P3 device, a simple box the size of a shipping container topped with a clear awning that draws solar power.

Exowatt is basically repackaging a technology that’s been around for decades. Known as concentrated solar power or thermal solar power, it uses the Sun’s energy to heat materials that are good at storing or transporting thermal energy. In cases where that thermal energy is stored for an extended period of time, those materials tend to be derived from or resemble rocks — hence the technology’s nickname of “rocks in a box.”

Each P3 device consists of a metal box topped with lenses that focus the sunlight into a tight beam. That beam then heats a special brick inside the shipping container. A fan blows air over the brick to carry the heat to another box which contains a Stirling engine (a piston-driven device that converts heat to mechanical energy) and a generator.

If Exowatt can deliver on its promise of delivering cheap solar power that generates electricity 24-7, it could upend the data center market and broader energy world, delivering round-the-clock power at very low cost.

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Greg Guenthner:

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Buys $30 Million in Circle Shares Ahead of Potential Arc Token

Ark Invest, the investment firm of noted tech investor Cathie Wood, added more than $30 million worth of shares of stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) on Wednesday. It accumulated 353,328 total shares of CRCL across three of its actively managed ETFs, and now holds nearly 3 million total shares valued around $255 million.

Ark’s latest buy comes amid a major fall in Circle’s share price, which has dropped by more than 20% in the last 5 trading days.

Wood’s CRCL dip buy mirrors her firm’s actions from last week, when it purchased shares of Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) amid a broader slide in its share price. The firm added around $9 million worth of BitMine, expanding its exposure to around $260 million despite the fact that BMNR has fallen around 30% in the last month. 

The firm also maintains exposure to other crypto-related equities, like Robinhood (HOOD) and Coinbase (COIN), and operates its own Bitcoin ETF. 

Wood famously predicted that Bitcoin would reach a price of around $1.5 million per coin by 2030, but last week cut her target to $1.2 million on account of the rapid rise of stablecoin use.

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