Bitcoin ETFs, OpenAI’s GPT Store and the latest trouble at Carta | Equity Podcast

This episode is sponsored by Morgan Stanley atwork visit morganstanley.com Assessment to get your free transaction Readiness assessment [Music] Today hello and welcome back to equity Tech crunches podcast about the business Of startups where we unpack the numbers And the Nuance behind the headlines this Is Alex good morning today is January 8th 2024 it's the first real week of the Year so if you are just knocking off the Cobwebs and getting back into work don't Worry you are not alone on the equity Front don't forget that this week we'll See the first of our rejiggered Wednesday episodes they're going to be Shorter punchier more filled with Startup Adventure news look for that get Ready get excited I am today on the show We have stocks and crypto Bitcoin ETFs Are probably finally actually really Coming this week we think the latest Drama at Carta a key rocket launch and Open ai's GPT store is supposed to Launch this week let's Go starting off as we do with the world Of money if you spin that globe and take A look at the stock market over in Asia Shares are mostly down today what's Driving that well the fall of zongji in China is a major negative Catalyst look That up if you want in Europe Shares are Down but not by much and here in the US

Tech stocks are flat in pre-market Trading and the big news is actually not A tech story but it's the latest set of Issues at Boeing an American company That appears unable to build airplanes That stay in one piece as they fly these Days this comes after the company had Issues with planes that did not stay in The sky not a good look shares of Boeing Are off about 7.5% in pre-market trading Now on the earnings front only one name You need to know Taiwan semiconductor Better known as t SM will drop its Numbers on Thursday and if you are into Banking well a lot of reports there will Drop on Friday just in case you wanted To Know and then there was crypto where the News is good and not so good at the same Time Bitcoin is up about 5% in the last Week that's the good news the less good News is that other major Cryptocurrencies are flapped down over The same time period this leads to a Very obvious question what is driving The diverging performance of different Blockchain tokens well I think the Answer here is upcoming Bitcoin ETFs Which I promise will'll get into in just One moment now elsewhere in crypto spot Trading levels are at their strongest Point in the last year this is helping a Lot of people inside the world of crypto Data from the Block for example

Indicates that coinbase saw just under $70 billion do worth of trades in December that's up from 50 billion in November and about 31 billion in October That's some wrapping gains coinbase Stock is up on that news and we expect It will drive more Venture Capital Activity in crypto before you know [Music] It and now time for my favorite part of The show as I tell you every week it's Big news that matters I don't want to Jinx it everybody but I'm pretty sure That this is Bitcoin ETF week after so Very much back and forth and drama we do Appear to be nearing the endgame for the Launch of Bitcoin spot ETFs in short if Bunch of products get approved this week As we expect we will see American Consumers offered a pathway to owning Bitcoin inside their regular investment Accounts and providers are lining up to Feed at what they clearly hope will be Lots of demand there's so much hope for Demand that we are seeing a fee War Break out amongst the companies working To get their own Bitcoin spot ETFs into The market what does that mean for you Well you're going to be able to buy Bitcoin from a spot ETF once they are Approved for a fee of as low as 25 bips Or about 0.25% and some of the offered ETFs According to documents that dropped this

Morning are going to offer a fee break Until they reach a certain AUM threshold What does that mean well that some of The Bitcoin ETFs that we are looking at Are offering lower fees to begin with And then once they reach a total amount Of assets managed say $5 billion the Prices will go up but again people want To earn that early demand will this all Prove enticing sure I guess but an open Question is how much demand there will Be for owning Bitcoin as a managed Investment product instead of on one's Own on one hand the pro side it's easier Than handling the stuff yourself there's Less cyber risk you don't have to worry About clicking on the wrong link and Draining your account and hell it's in Your Fidelity or Vanguard account what's Easier than that on the other hand how Not decentralized is it to get the World's largest financial players aboard To help people purchase a little Exposure to an asset class through Traditional Finance rails so much for a New system Bitcoin is rallying lately Thanks to ad joining the ranks of the Boring and understood assets of the World what happened to not your keys not Your coins if these spot ETFs take off It will be hard to reconcile the ethos Of crypto with its lived reality so long As number goes up I doubt that there Will be too much whining but it's

Amazing to see how we've gone from Bitcoin in the early days being a neat Way to send money SS permission to later A religion and then today to fodder for A crop of fresh spot ETFs is your Company planning to go public or conduct A shareholder liquidity program within The next 18 to 24 months did you know That proactively planning for your next Private company liquidity event or IPO Can help you maintain greater control Over timelines and outcomes Morgan Stanley at work believes that when you Have the right technology and systems in Place working in harmony leading up to a Transaction you can prepare and execute With more accuracy and ease visit Morgan Stanley.com assessment to connect with Their issuer strategy and Excellence Team for a free assessment to find out If your company is transaction ready Again that's morganstanley.com Assessment to get your free assessment [Music] Today and now we have to talk about Carta again over the weekend Cara got Into yet another controversy this time Not over harassment allegations or suing Its former CTO but instead tchun reports That a prominent customer accused Carta Of misusing sensitive information that Startups entrust to the company in Pursuit of its own goals the claim has Raised wider questions about how CA

Operates even as the company argues that The incident was isolated now rewind the Clock this row dates back to Friday when Finished CE CEO Ki sainin posted on LinkedIn that he had received surprising News about linear the project management Software company he co-founded four Years ago and that raised $35 million in Funding last fall now linear is a carda Customer as many startups are and According to sarin earlier on Friday Without his consent or knowledge a Representative from Cara reached out to An angel investor in his company telling That person that Carter had a quote firm By order from an interested party at a Specific price now Carter has blamed This situation on a rogue employee Effectively with one of its board Members Matt Murphy telling techren that Quote there was a breach of this Protocol from an employee on the cter X Team that has been dealt with and which We learned from the protocol in question Of course is data segregation between The cap table side of the company and The part of the company that wants to Deal secondary transactions sardin However said the issue was not novel and Has happened to other companies that he Had has heard from the issue here I Think is not just how this happened once Or precisely how many times it has Happened in the past but how much can

Startups trust Carta to be a fair Defender of their information and cap Tables in the future when it also has Incentives to use that information to Try and make money off secondary Market Transactions don't forget that Carta X Ca's secondary market trading service Started executing transactions back in 2021 not a new product in other words CA Is a strange one it's it's at once a Very successful company it's a large Customer base lots of venture investment And a unicorn valuation and yet it Manages to keep shooting itself in the Foot so why no shakeup to its management I think it's because the company's CEO Henry Ward is one of its Founders and VCS are very very loath even today to OU Founders in case they wind up losing out On later deal flow anyways expect to Hear more about this as the week goes Along and CA after we get through this Please just do normal business thank You in happier news a launch was Successful this morning from the United Launch Alliance it sent up its very First Vulcan Centaur rocket now if you Don't know United launch Alliance or Ula It's a joint Boeing and locki Martin Program and CNN reports the company was Sending a Rover to the Moon I love space I love Rockets I love going to the Moon I rate this all as a very very cool Now why bring it up on the podcast well

I think today's launch shows that Ula is Going to be to some degree competition For SpaceX a private company that we Care about nothing sharpens products Like competent Rivals so here's hoping That you's launch this morning makes SpaceX and the larger space launch Industry cheaper faster and Safer skating on towards a close do not Forget that this is the week in which we Are supposed to get the launch of a Store for custom gpts from open AI in an Email viewed by Tech runch open aai said That developers building gpts will have To review its updated usage policies and GPT brand guidelines to ensure that Their own gpts are compliant before They're eligible for listing in the Upcoming store which is called Shockingly the GPT store they'll also Have to verify their user profile and Ensure that their gpts are published as Quote public now recall that this launch Was delayed after open AI went through a Massive leadership shakeup last year Which saw Sam Alman fired from the Company only to come back in mirr days While also seeing its board overhauled To better suit his goals and keep in Mind that the launch of the GPT store Will come as open AI is being sued by The New York Times over copyright Infringement matters I don't think that Lawsuit's going to slow the company down

So look for this on techwrench decom Once it launches we'll have all that you Need And that's our show for this fine and Cold and snowy Monday morning don't Forget if you want even more Equity Between now and Wednesday when we drop That new awesome show well we are Equity Pod over on X and threads if you need Even more of me I'm Alex over on X and We have two sister shows chain reaction And found chain reaction is all things Crypto while found is all about founder Stories and how they built what they did All right we'll talk to you soon we'll Talk to you on Wednesday Bye Equity is hosted by myself editorinchief Of Tech runch Plus Alex Wilhelm and Tech Runch senior reporter Mary and aeto we Are produced by Teresa loans solo with Editing by Kell Bryce Durban is our Illustrator and a big thank you to the Audience development team and Henry Pette who manages Tech wrench audio Products thank you so much for listening And we'll talk to you next Time