In today’s edition we discuss ESPN Bet is coming to New York, Gold & Bitcoin prices are surging, X is debuting a YouTube video app clone, the Oscars are serving Brad Pitt’s Fleur de Miraval Rosé, and Rihanna and A$AP Rocky’s Beverly Hills home. 

YouTube

Is Jay-Z Getting Ready To Drop A New Album In 2024?

Business

Bitcoin who? Gold is still trader’s favorite go-to in the world of precious metals, and gold has been experiencing new highs almost in lockstep with Bitcoin.

As of Monday, March 11, 2024 at 11:30 AM EST gold was trading at $2,189.20 per troy ounce.

Bitcoin is up 64.14% year to date, or +28,331.20 for the year, and is trading at $72,503.20 ss of Monday, March 11, 2024 at 11:35 AM EST (because I like to be exact when quoting prices).

The price of an ounce of gold is up 5.63% year to date, predominantly due to concerns that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting rates in the second half of 2024. The logic there is that many believe gold to be a hedge against inflation, believing it will hold its value over time in the face of inflation.

I personally believe that while Bitcoin is going to continue an upward trajectory for some time to come, eventually I believe the price of Bitcoin will stabilize and someday move in lockstep with the price of gold. When that time comes Bitcoin’s place in the world of “safe financial assets” will be cemented, and investors will seek out Bitcoin for safety as they do now with gold in times of economic upheaval. Again, that’s my long term belief, but as always DYOR.

There’s a gold rush on Wall Street

Tech

To paraphrase the famous quote from Oscar Wilde, is copying is the sincerest form of flattery?

Elon Musk seems to think so. Following his acquisition of Twitter, since renamed X, Elon Musk hasn’t been shy about his stated ambition of turning X into his version of the everything app similar to Chinese apps WeChat and Weibo.

Back in February when Elon Musk was courting MrBeast to share his videos on the X platform and begin monetizing them, Elon shared that he wanted to feature more video content on his platform.

Now X is rumored to be preparing to launch their own cloned version of YouTube for smart TVs including Samsung and Amazon smart TVs.

The introduction of their own video app for smart TVs makes sense. Ever since they signed partnerships with former Fox commentator Tucker Carlson and former CNN anchor Don Lemon, they’ve needed a way for mainstream consumers to be able to view and consume their longer-form content in their own living rooms. A YouTube clone for smart TVs will certainly accelerate their expansion into video, and help to add eyeballs that advertisers can peddle their ads to.

This is fresh on the roll out of video and audio calling on the X platform, and just last week X announced they were about to receive payment licenses in New York and California.

The transformation of X into an everything app is already underway.

Musk says X's long-form videos will soon be available on smart TVs

Entertainment

Can anyone ever really get enough of Brad Pitt?

I’ll go ahead and answer that for you with an emphatic “No!”

And that’s a good thing, because Brad Pitt’s Fleur de Miraval Rosé is going to be served at Oscars

Fleur de Miraval Rosé Champagne was named as one of the best Champagne Rosé in the world in 2020 for their 2013 Côtes de Provence Rosé Miraval.

Brad Pitt’s Fleur de Miraval Champagne Rosé was served at last night’s Oscars.

According to winemaker Alexis Blondel, who is the assistant Chef de Cave in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, he says Fleur de Miraval Champagne Rosé is “a perfect champagne to be poured at the Oscars. In ER3, we use wine from like 2000 — vintage — and it has this beautiful almond-y creaminess, with this sweet citrus, white strawberry, beautiful fresh fruit. It's extremely delicate, it's beautiful.”

And it better be beautiful, because at $300 a bottle I’m not drinking a Champagne that tastes like Brut or some other low-budget Champagne.

Brad Pitt’s Fleur de Miraval Rosé to be Served at Oscars

Real Estate

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky have become a power couple in the entertainment industry, and they reside in a 22,000 square foot estate in Beverly Hills that is perfect for them to raise their two kids RZA and Riot Rose.
They purchased the home in 2021 for $13.8 million, and it has 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, a gorgeous infinity pool, lounge areas, and multiple fire pits. There’s a gourmet chef’s kitchen with white marble countertops, herringbone wood flooring and two islands each with its own gold hardware sink. And in case they want to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner the kitchen comes with a large wine fridge, a modern fire-burning stove, and two ovens.

What I love the most is how the indoor space flows so smoothly into the outdoor entertaining space with slide away doors. A really nice touch is the home gym also opens up to the backyard - I would kill to have that option for my home gym!

If I had to pick my favorite interior decorating touch it would be the covered cabanas that look like they’d be perfect for taking a late afternoon nap on.

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky's mansion in Beverly Hills is everyone's dream house

Sports

ESPN Bet is coming to NYC.

The deal was announced after

Penn Entertainment, which operates the sports betting platform that ESPN Bet is built on, announced they will be paying Wynn Resorts $25 million for market access. That’s the same amount that Wynn Resorts paid in 2021 for the New York state mobile sports betting license.

Penn Entertainment paid “$1.5 billion deal over 10 years, plus $500 million in stock warrants, to license one of the most recognizable brands in sports: ESPN.” according to a report on CNBC.

While FanDuel and DraftKings have the majority of market share, ESPN Bet was able to gain a nearly 8% market share by the end of the NFL season.

ESPN Bet plans launch in New York, the largest U.S. betting market

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

— Chris