' Hey, Linas here! Welcome back to a ' weekly free edition ' of my daily newsletter. Each day, I focus on 3 stories that are making a difference in the financial technology space. Coupled with things worth watching & most important money movements, it's the only newsletter you need for all things when Finance meets Tech. The First One-Person Unicorn and the Race to Own the AI Agent Layer '' [how a solo founder built the fastest-growing open-source project in history, and what comes next for OpenClaw, OpenAI, & the AI OS race] The Android of Commerce - How Google Is Building the Interface Between AI & Money '' [why recently introduced WebMCP is a game-changer, how it stacks perfectly into Google's Android of Commerce playbook, things worth watching, what's next for FinTechs/Banks/Payments companies, etc. + bonus deep dives into Google's UCP, how I built an AI OS to run startup with Claude, and how AI is eating software today] Coinbase in 2025: crypto's toll booth operator is building a highway, but the traffic is cyclical '' [deep dive into their latest financials, breaking down the most important facts & figures, understanding what they mean, and whether COIN 0.00%' is worth your time and money in 2026 and beyond + bonus dive into their biggest competitor Robinhood inside]...

Good morning & happy Thursday! Today, we're diving deep into digital asset pioneer Coinbase, which is building a crypto highway, yet the traffic is too cyclical (deep dive into their latest financials, breaking down the most important facts & figures, understanding what they mean, and whether COIN 0.00%' is worth your time and money in 2026 and beyond + bonus dive into their biggest competitor Robinhood inside), and ElevenLabs that became the first company to insure their AI Agents (how this changes the paradigm, what this means for Finance/FinTech, Insurance, etc. firms deploying agents & Agentic AI in general + ElevenLabs pitch deck teardown inside). So without further ado, let's jump straight into the fascinating stuff '' Earnings time ' Digital asset pioneer Coinbase COIN 0.00%' recently delivered a respectable FY2025 with $7.2B in total revenue (+9% YoY) and $2.8B in Adjusted EBITDA, proving its business model is more resilient than prior cycles suggested. But the Q4 GAAP net loss of $667M, expanding opex, and the recent ~50% decline in total crypto market capitalization from the early-October peak expose an unchanged core vulnerability: this remains a business whose fortunes track crypto asset prices and speculative retail sentiment ''''...

If it lands in its current price range of $18 to $20 a share, it will enter the day valued at $1.26 billion on the high end ' raising $102.6 million for itself and about $108 million for its selling shareholders. Should investor interest be high, it could wind up pricing higher. That means a bigger valuation and more money raised. The company, which offers software to sell life insurance, is backed by Sequoia, Accel, Alphabet's venture capital arm GV, Softbank, General Catalyst, and Heroic Ventures. Sequoia and Accel are not selling shares in the IPO, the company disclosed. Ethos was a rising startup star in the pre-AI era, raising one big round after another through 2021. In its early rounds, it was backed by a who's who of family offices, including those of Will Smith, Robert Downey Jr., Kevin Durant, and Jay Z, the company told TechCrunch in 2018. Ethos is profitable and has been for years, its IPO documents disclose. In the nine months ending September 30, Ethos generated almost $278 million in revenue and just under $46.6 million in net income....

Dec. 15, 2025 ' the deadline for enrolling in a marketplace plan through the Affordable Care Act for 2026 ' came and went without an agreement on the federal subsidies that kept ACA plans more affordable for many Americans. Despite a last-ditch attempt in the House to extend ACA subsidies, with Congress adjourning for the year on Dec. 19, it's looking almost certain that Americans relying on ACA subsidies will face a steep increase in health care costs in 2026. As a gerontologist who studies the U.S. health care system, I'm aware that disagreements about health care in America have a long history. The main bone of contention is whether providing health care is the responsibility of the government, or of individuals or their employers. The ACA, passed in 2010 as the country's first major piece of health legislation since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, represents one more chapter in that long-standing debate. That debate explains why the health law has fueled so much political divisiveness ' including a standoff that spurred a record-breaking 43-day-long government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, 2025....