In today’s newsletter we discuss buying gold at Costco, WorldCoin’s emerging markets, NYC is sinking, Pokémon takes over Van Gogh museum, buying Japanese real estate, Saudi Pro League spends $1 Billion and isn’t done yet.

Business

“Hey hun, while you're at Costco can you pick up some more chips, and a 24-pack of toilet paper, oh yea and can you get one gold bar if they aren’t already sold out?” That’s how I imagine the conversation could have gone when Costco began selling 1 ounce gold bars for $1,900 (the most recent price for one ounce of gold on the spot market is currently $1,870 as of the writing of this newsletter).

A few things I should note: the gold bars are only available for current Costco members, and they are only available for purchase online for now.

Why is Costco selling gold bars you might ask? Marketing and PR. I mean, you’re reading about it right now, which means someone has written an article reporting about this marketing stunt, so it must be working, right?

Costco is selling gold bars and they are selling out within a few hours

Tech

WorldCoin, otherwise known as Sam Altman’s other other side hustle besides OpenAI, is doubling down on emerging markets despite the blistering criticism that his project (*cough* scam) is an invasion of privacy and that he is only targeting emerging markets because they don’t have the regulatory laws to protect their citizens.

So clearly you can see I’m not a fan of this idea. While it sounds noble, scanning people’s eyes to confirm their identity and giving them WorldCoins that they can then spend and have confidence in the identity they are doing business with, I just don’t trust a crypto company to keep people’s retina scans private and secure when nothing in the history of crypto has ever given people confidence in its security or the moral character of the people behind it.

Worldcoin doubles down on emerging markets amid wider criticism

Space

So NYC is sinking. No need to abandon the city (just yet), but there are parts that are slowly subsiding to their weight in time. With rising sea levels from global warming that can’t be a good thing to be happening to such a highly populated island that is the center of the financial world.

Before you get too concerned (or as is the case with most Americans and the topic of global warming - not concerned enough), you should know “that on average the metropolitan area subsided by about 0.06 inches (1.6 millimeters) per year – about the same amount that a toenail grows in a month.” (gross) So not too big of a deal, but when you extrapolate that out a hundred years I wouldn’t be buying oceanfront property in NYC anytime soon.

NASA-Led Study Pinpoints Areas of New York City Sinking, Rising

Entertainment

Somehow “Van Gogh, gotta catch ‘em all.” doesn’t have the same ring to it, but with Pokémon’s recent collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam they’ve designed a special event to “introduce young artists to Van Gogh’s work, and to teach people about the way he was profoundly influenced by Japanese art.”

The Pokémon franchise is worth an estimated $92 Billion dollars, and brought in $909.11 Million in 2020, although revenue has dropped to around $324.26 Million as of 2023. Meanwhile, the most expensive Van Gogh sold for $117.2 Million in 2022.

Pokémon are coming to the Van Gogh Museum to teach the world about art

Real Estate

I have a friend who lives in Japan, and when he was home here in the States of the Summer we hung out. Over a few drinks we got to talking about real estate in Japan. I was like “There’s such good deals to be had, and you should buy one of these houses for sale instead of renting.” But the reality is always different on the ground. Thing is he lives and works in Tokyo, and they don’t have ANY affordable or abandoned homes for sale unlike the Japanese countryside where people have been leaving behind beautiful homes in search of jobs in the city.

I’m telling this anecdotal story because Business Insider has this article out about a Canadian dad who who bought an old home in Japan for $23,000 for his family while they were living in Bali, Indonesia with his family. As you can guess, this isn’t a typical family that has set down roots in a nice Canadian town with a picket fence and two cats in the window. This family are adventures, and that’s exactly what buying a home in a foreign country turns out to be - an adventure. Trust me, I love me some adventure, but moving across the world to a country I don’t speak the language and buying a house is a little too adventurous for me when in our local real estate market here in Upstate New York houses are sold for cash only one day after hitting the market!

How to buy one of those cheap, abandoned houses in Japan, according to a Canadian dad of 2 who did it

Sports

Before you think that Saudi soccer clubs are done recruiting top talent from European leagues in what has already been a $1 Billion spending spree you better wake up. The Saudi soccer clubs are playing the long game here with the goal of to get the Saudi Pro League to where it aspires to be among the top 10 leagues in the world. I’m thinking they’ll need to spend a lot more than $1 Billion to make that a reality, but the good news is that they have the money. Now it’s a matter of the soccer talent wanting to make the move to the Saudi Pro League, and will fan follow.

Saudi soccer league says big-money player purchases are only the first step in a long-term strategy

So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris