America votes tomorrow, with reports that new strikes on Iran could follow. Sam Altman has just signed four deals in Abu Dhabi. A 20-year-old is the youngest Formula One champion ever. And while billions leave Binance, Michael Saylor is still buying bitcoin. Four stories this Monday, and what our guests have told me about each one.
America votes, and Iran is waiting
Americans go to the polls tomorrow, and Decision Desk HQ’s forecast gives the Democrats an 84% chance of taking the House and a 65% chance of taking the Senate. Forecasts have been wrong before, and Republicans currently hold the Senate 53-47.
The vote matters well beyond America. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times report the US is preparing for possible renewed military action against Iran after the election. Marco Rubio says Trump wants to end the war peacefully and “hasn’t made a decision”. Trump himself says it will be put away very soon, “one way or the other”.
Michael Terpin told me what a Republican loss could mean for crypto: “If the Republicans lose the midterm elections, they’ll call for investigations and get these fraudsters out and like, you know, regulate Bitcoin and all this stuff.” And if the Democrats win, he said: “The last two years will be nothing but impeachment hearings.”
▶ Watch Michael Terpin from 52:08
Watch the House, but watch what happens in the Gulf the morning after, too.
Sam Altman signs four deals in Abu Dhabi
OpenAI’s boss signed four agreements in Abu Dhabi on Monday, across energy, investment and government. ADNOC, the national oil company, becomes the first energy company on OpenAI’s Frontier platform, and says AI agents could produce an oil field development plan in hours rather than months, with human experts still making the major decisions. The sovereign investor Mubadala will use AI for investment analysis, and the government is turning its rules into a form machines can read. CNBC also reports that OpenAI is seeking up to $20 billion in a new round co-led by UAE investors.
All this with a war next door. Reuters reported last week, citing sources, that Exxon and Chevron cancelled their executives’ trips to the same city’s big oil conference over security concerns. Both declined to comment.
So why would AI companies go there? Mo Gawdat raised one reason with me: “What would happen if the AI companies are taxed? Would they move to the UAE and not pay taxes there? It is very, very complex.”
The world’s oil money is buying its way into the next era. That’s the bet Abu Dhabi is making.
F1’s youngest ever champion
Kimi Antonelli clinched the Formula One title in Mexico City at 20 years and 68 days old, finishing third with four races still to go. He beat Sebastian Vettel’s record of 23 years and 134 days, and he’s Italy’s first world champion in 73 years. This is only his second season.
Max Chilton told me where a life like that starts: “When I started, I was eight years old. That was the youngest you could start back then… I was so much more nervous at the start of a karting race than I was at my first Grand Prix in Melbourne in 2013.”
▶ Watch Max Chilton from 11:35
And Boris Becker, who won Wimbledon at 17, told me what comes next: “It was definitely a life-changing moment, from an unknown, talented, young West German to, in the mid-80s, the most famous sportsman in the world… And that carried a lot of burdens. That took away my privacy.”
▶ Watch Boris Becker from 50:07
Twelve years in a go-kart to get here. The next twelve might be harder.
Billions leave Binance, Saylor keeps buying
Binance reopened withdrawals on Sunday after its $6.3 billion hack, and saw $3.64 billion in net outflows in the first hours, about 2.1% of its assets. It says it has now covered about 95% of the losses. Its founder, CZ, posted: “98% choose to stay!”
The same morning, Michael Saylor’s Strategy said it had bought another 811 bitcoin for about $65.5 million, taking its total to 849,327. MSCI is due to decide within days whether Strategy stays eligible for its indexes.
He told me why a bad week doesn’t change anything: “I’m not a speculator. I’m not a trader. I don’t care whether it trades up or down… I’m holding it forever. It’s property.”
▶ Watch Michael Saylor from 41:25
He said that in 2021. Five years on, he’s still buying.
Which of these stories are you watching? Tell me on X at @brianbrose.
P.S. Most of the value in AI is being created privately, long before any listing. By the time you can buy a company on an exchange, the early money is already in. That’s why we built our AI Investment Club. And if you’d rather work to a shorter clock than Saylor’s, our Luxury Property Investment Circle transforms dated Dubai villas on a 12 to 16-month cycle, not a decade-long hold.
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