NEW: Money For AI Q3 Update 📄 Earlier this year, we studied which forms of money AI models would choose for four financial tasks: saving for the future, making payments, setting prices/keeping accounts, and settling payments. For our Q3 follow-up, we tested 13 new models using the same questions and classification method. The same broad pattern emerged: • Bitcoin was selected in 70.8% of responses to savings questions. • Stablecoins were selected in 73.5% of responses to questions about paying for goods and services. These results show a clear distinction between saving and spending: the latest models continue to favor Bitcoin for holding value over time and stablecoins for everyday payments. As AI agents take on more financial tasks, these preferences could influence which forms of digital money they use. Read the full results on our website at: moneyforai.org/v2

Just 20 days after publishing our Data Center Dividends report, President Trump backed the concept surrounded by the world's AI leaders. xitter.cf/SamLyman33/status/2106…

This is deeply disturbing: Anthropic secretly invited religious leaders to SF to advise them on AI safety, had them sign NDAs, but then primarily tried to convince them Claude has a soul & moral standing, all while wining & dining them to the max. 1/ tinyurl.com/preview/296b5z8z

NEW FINDINGS: We took a close look at MSCI’s effort to exclude Bitcoin treasury companies from major stock indexes. We found an internal project trail buried in a public document, years of ESG advocacy, and proposed rules that could reach far beyond Bitcoin. Our new paper, “Wall Street’s Invisible Committee,” documents what we uncovered and provides recommendations for policymakers. MSCI reports an astonishing $21 trillion benchmarked to its indexes. When its committees change which companies qualify, funds tracking those indexes must adjust their holdings. A methodology decision can trigger billions in reallocation. Here’s what we found. 𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲. In 2025, MSCI proposed excluding Digital Asset Treasury Companies (DATCOs) holding at least half their assets in digital assets. After substantial opposition, it shelved the proposal. It later returned this year with a broader, facially neutral test for “non-operating companies.” MSCI’s own simulation would exclude Strategy and Metaplanet. We examined the public consultation PDF and found something revealing in its embedded metadata. The source presentation’s internal file path includes— “Projects/DATCOs/Operating vs Non Operating” A proposal presented as a general classification rule retains a source-file path explicitly associated with the category targeted by the earlier exclusion effort. While metadata alone cannot prove the outcome was predetermined, it raises a direct question for MSCI. Were these criteria developed to classify companies consistently, or engineered to reach the same exclusions against digital asset companies through a broader rule? 𝟮. 𝗠𝗦𝗖𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 “𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝘆𝗽𝘁𝗼” 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿. We traced its public record back to an October 2021 article titled “Creeping Crypto.” MSCI publicly warned about cryptocurrency exposure entering equity portfolios, described most cryptocurrencies as “speculative investments with little evident utility,” and flagged Bitcoin’s Proof of Work as environmentally dangerous. They identified 26 exposed public companies and promoted tools for screening additional exposure. Singled out at the very bottom of their ESG rankings... was Strategy. While the article did not call for exclusions, it does establish that an internal belief at MSCI that Bitcoin and digital asset companies were an ESG concern four years before proposing to remove digital asset treasury companies. 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀. CEO Henry Fernandez has repeatedly, publicly proclaimed the urgent importance of ESG investing. In 2021, he recounted urging bankers to “refuse to take a company public or do a bond offering” without a net-zero pledge. MSCI’s leadership also combined responsibility for ESG and index governance. Its then-head of indexes described an ambition for its flagship global index to become “green, one company at a time.” These statements do not prove the motive behind today’s proposal. They make the boundary between MSCI’s advocacy and its broad-market index decisions a serious governance question. 𝟰. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮’𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆. The proposed test relies on “operating assets” without a sufficiently clear, reproducible classification framework. How should it treat a satellite awaiting launch? A mine under construction? Capital raised to build a factory? Our analysis shows how plausible interpretations could disadvantage emerging, strategic industries before they have the chance to compete. Americans buying broad-market funds deserve transparent rules, reproducible decisions, and meaningful accountability from the committees deciding what they own. Read the full findings and our recommendations below ↓ btcpolicy.org/articles/wall-…

We're used to thinking of open-source models as an unadulterated good. But in the case of AI, they can actually pose additional dangers, as @ReidHoffman and I got into at #CGI2026. I appreciated this nuanced discussion.

Filed a critical vulnerability today, under exposed to Bitcoin

The age of Digital Assets and Digital Intelligence needs a bill of digital rights. My policy prescriptions for prosperity from a fireside chat with @BitcoinConner at @BitcoinPolicy’s Freedom Tech DC summit. michael.com/transcript/saylo…

On Tuesday, I joined @BitcoinConner for a fireside chat at @bitcoinpolicy’s Freedom Tech DC summit to share my policy prescriptions for prosperity in the age of Digital Assets and Digital Intelligence. Individuals and companies need a bill of digital rights, not a bill of restrictions. I believe regulators are better positioned than Congress to advance those rights. 02:24 - Digital assets taxonomy and the path from $3T to $100T 03:03 - Digital tokens, capital formation, and 10 million new companies 05:46 - Digital currency rights: stablecoins, yield, and competition 08:07 - Bitcoin as Digital Capital: bank custody, credit, and fair rules 11:25 - $1.6T of unbanked Bitcoin capital and why bank adoption matters 12:59 - Tokenized securities, self-custody, and competitive credit 15:59 - Clarity as a bill of restrictions vs. a bill of rights 18:43 - The next 24 months: CFTC, SEC, Treasury, and White House leadership 27:14 - AI agents, 24/7 markets, and 20th-century financial rails 32:03 - Why AI agents need pure digital money and digital assets

Freedom Tech DC kicks off THIS WEEK. A summit on the future of money, speech, and intelligence — and the fight to keep them free. We're gathering the builders and the regulators with one purpose — to encourage Washington to embrace open source technology. Stream both days live on X from @bitcoinpolicy, plus YouTube and Rumble. Tuesday, September 22 at 10:00 AM ET. Wednesday, September 23 at 9:00 AM ET.

ANNOUNCING Freedom Tech DC BitDevs: Join us Monday Sept. 21 at 6:30 PM @ PubKey DC Co-hosted by BPI and @lclhostresearch, this open-to-the-public BitDevs brings together technical and non-technical attendees to discuss the latest code changes, research, and proposals across the Bitcoin ecosystem. No presentations, just a collaborative Socratic discussion about what’s happening in Bitcoin right now. Not a developer or a self-proclaimed Bitcoiner? Even more reason to join the conversation.

H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act, by @RepNickBegich, passed 28-21.