From Code to Coins: The Trends Driving 2025

AI Coding: The $630 Billion Feedback Loop

From Anthropic’s staggering $630 billion post-evaluation fundraise to the Windsurf drama—where an LLM shifted allegiance from OpenAI to Google—everything points to one force: the raw power of large language models in code generation.

“AI is real,” said Jamie Dimon, CEO of the largest U.S. bank, during a closed-door webinar. He wasn’t waxing philosophical—he was citing measurable gains in research and customer service productivity.

And it’s not just real—it’s profitable. Companies are putting serious money into AI coding platforms like Anthropic’s Sonnet and Claude. Anthropic reportedly hit $4 billion in annualized revenue by July 2025—a near 4x leap from the start of the year.

One investor justified the sky-high valuation with a comment that would make any spreadsheet blush: “We’re happy to pay 20x of 2025 projected revenue ~3B, given Anthropic is expected double its revenue YoY.” That rationale—optimistic as it may be—probably still underestimates the explosive demand for AI coding tools.

Why? Because it’s a classic flywheel effect: the more users write code with the model and provide feedback, the better it gets at writing code. And when AI can build better AI… well, buckle up.

Stablecoins: When Gift Cards Go to War

Visa and Mastercard shares stumbled after Amazon and Walmart unveiled their stablecoin blueprints—proof that nothing motivates innovation quite like a threat to a 30% return on equity.

For years, credit card companies have enjoyed a near-duopoly with wide moats and fat margins, essentially monetizing digital tollbooths. Value investors love them. Consumers... tolerate them.

But now comes the plot twist: stablecoins. Ignore the blockchain buzzwords for a moment—at their core, they’re just programmable gift cards or in-game currencies with global transfer capabilities, real-time settlement, and minimal fees. For large retailers, that’s music to the CFO’s ears: fewer fees, faster payments, and less dependency on the Visa-Mastercard tax.

No surprise, then, that the card networks have launched ad campaigns urging consumers to lobby lawmakers against stablecoins. “Think of the children (and maybe terrorists)!” they cry. Sure, there are real concerns—regulatory gaps, misuse by rogue states—but let’s not pretend there isn’t also a massive conflict of interest.

It’s not unlike when hotels claimed Airbnb was illegal and dangerous. Fast forward a few years—and count how many people now use Airbnb without blinking. Disruption always looks risky… until it doesn’t.

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