US Has 3x More Immigrants Than Any Country. 9 of 10 New Jobs Going to Immigrants. Why it matters: Labor market data that explains wage pressure and housing demand better than most economic reports. New analysis shows the United States hosts 3 times more immigrants than any other country on Earth. One in six immigrants on the planet lives here. Currently, approximately 9 out of 10 new jobs created are going to immigrant workers. The data helps explain persistent wage pressure in entry-level positions and sustained housing demand in major metropolitan areas. Immigration policy is economic policy. These numbers are moving faster than most traditional economic indicators can track. INSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY DOJ Indictment: SPLC Paid Reluctant White Nationalists to Stay in Hate Groups Why it matters: $4 million in donor money allegedly used to pay people to remain in organizations the SPLC claims to oppose. A DOJ superseding indictment reveals the Southern Poverty Law Center allegedly paid reluctant white nationalists and KKK members thousands in donor money to stay in hate groups. According to court documents, SPLC paid "F-9" (a neo-Nazi National Alliance affiliate) over $1.2 million while F-9 was in a romantic relationship with an SPLC employee. F-30, a Nazi/KKK/Aryan Nations leader, received $70,000+ after asking to leave the movement. The SPLC allegedly kept them on salary to host rallies and recruit. F-31 and F-32, KKK members who wanted out in 2010, were reportedly bribed to stay. Funds reimbursed cross-burning materials. F-37, connected to Unite the Right, allegedly received $300,000+ and was in the leadership chat for the Charlottesville rally. F-42, a Neo-Nazi National Alliance chairman, reportedly received $155,000+ while simultaneously appearing on SPLC's own "Extremist File" webpage. Total allegations: $4 million+ funneled through fictitious entities, shell accounts, and fake "Rare Books" employment covers. The SPLC built $787 million in assets promising donors it was fighting hate. Charges include wire fraud, false statements to banks, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. The SPLC calls the program "legitimate intelligence-gathering" that has been discontinued. The case raises questions about institutional accountability and donor transparency across advocacy organizations. MARKETS Partners Group Gates Evergreen Private Equity Fund. Contagion Spreads. Why it matters: First major sign the liquidity scare is jumping from private credit to private equity. Partners Group just gated an EVERGREEN PRIVATE EQUITY fund, marking the first major sign that liquidity scares are jumping from credit to equity. Blackstone, KKR, Apollo, Ares, and Blue Owl all fell more than 5%. Reuters Breakingviews called it a "private-market liquidity scare enters new phase." Q1 data shows approximately $14 billion was requested from gated funds, with only $7 billion honored. This escalates the Cliffwater story from yesterday and suggests the illiquidity premium built into private markets is being tested by actual withdrawal demand. MACRO BOJ June Hike Confirmed. Ueda Cites Iran Energy Shock as Driver. Why it matters: Tightening into an oil shock creates carry trade unwind risk for global risk assets. Bank of Japan Governor Ueda's Kisaragi-kai speech confirmed the central bank "must keep raising rates." Reuters sources confirm a June 25bp hike to 1.0%, explicitly citing the Iran energy shock as the primary driver. The move opens the door to more frequent hikes. Japanese Government Bonds reflect the shift: 40-year bonds hit 3.765%, 30-year at 3.855%. The combination of energy-driven inflation and aggressive monetary tightening creates significant carry trade unwind risk for leveraged positions in global risk assets, including Bitcoin. AI/ENERGY Berkshire's Greg Abel: Data Centers Already 8% of Peak Load, Going 50% Higher Why it matters: Warren Buffett's successor is putting his stamp on Berkshire with massive AI infrastructure conviction. Berkshire's Iowa utility (MidAmerican Energy) is ALREADY at 8% peak load from data centers while most utilities are hoping to reach 5-10%. Abel sees that growing 50%+. The same day, Alphabet upsized its AI capital raise to $84.75 billion from $80 billion. Berkshire invested $10 billion in Alphabet's private placement and tripled its stake in Q1. Abel invested $16.8 billion in two days (Taylor Morrison plus Alphabet). This is Warren Buffett's successor putting his stamp on Berkshire with AI infrastructure conviction. The full Alphabet raise: $30 billion underwritten public offering, $40 billion at-the-market program, $10 billion Berkshire private placement. Alphabet's Q1 capex hit $35.7 billion in a single quarter (2x year-over-year). Full-year guidance: $180-190 billion. AI Lindy AI Switches 100% from Anthropic to DeepSeek. Saves Millions. Why it matters: Chinese AI models applying "significant margin pressure" on Western API providers. Flo Crivello, CEO of Lindy AI, switched all traffic from Anthropic to DeepSeek v4. The move saves millions in API costs while performance actually increased on core use cases. Crivello noted Chinese models are applying "significant margin pressure" on API pricing. Separately, DeepSeek just took the top spot on a major US business spending index in June. The Financial Times reports companies are swapping out expensive American AI options in favor of "more affordable Chinese alternatives" providers. The switch connects to broader competitive dynamics as Chinese AI models achieve performance parity at significantly lower costs. This ties to Brandon Carl's analysis of 16 headwinds facing Western tech companies as global AI competition intensifies, which we covered in yesterday's Brief. SPONSORED Lygos Bitcoin-native financial infrastructure. Lygos provides sophisticated treasury management, lending, and custody solutions built specifically for bitcoin businesses and high-net-worth individuals. No fiat conversion required. Visit Lygos Finance SPONSORED Bitkey The self-custody hardware wallet from Block built for everyday use. Multisig security with mobile plus hardware plus recovery key. Designed so that losing one key does not mean losing your bitcoin. Use code TFTC20 for 20% off. Get Bitkey ⚡ FREEDOM TECH CORNER Start Stacking Sats This Paycheck Why it matters: The 100 million sat stackers goal starts with you taking action. If the lead story resonated with you, here's how to act on it. Set up automatic bitcoin purchases from your paycheck. Pick an amount you can sustain: $50, $100, $250, whatever works for your budget. Dollar-cost average consistently rather than trying to time the market. Download River Financial or Swan Bitcoin for automatic recurring purchases. When you've accumulated enough to justify the transaction fees, move your sats to self-custody using Sparrow Wallet. DATA SNAPSHOT Bitcoin Price $63,587 Sats per Dollar 1,572 Block Height 952,340 Network Hashrate ~1,050 EH/s Daily Transaction Fees $1.2M ⚡ Looking for the best Bitcoin-only products and services? Browse BitcoinProducts.com If this landed, forward it to someone who could use more signal and less noise. The Bitcoin Brief is free, always will be. See you tomorrow, Marty Bent Follow: @MartyBent · @TFTC21 Nostr: primal.net/marty YouTube: TFTC · Podcast: tftc.io/podcast

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If you're not paying attention, you probably should be. Caught up with @jvisserlabs to discuss the emergence of the agentic economy, whether or no...