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OpenAI’s $6.4 Billion Hardware Gamble Exposes the Closed AI Trap

OpenAI just spent $6.4 billion acquiring io, Jony Ive’s nascent hardware venture. As someone who grew up idolizing the Jobs-Ive partnership—Mac Addict subscription, Marathon on shareware, one of everything they ever made—I understand the allure. But this move reveals OpenAI’s existential crisis: they’re playing a game they’ve already lost.
The Distribution Kings Have Already Won
Let’s be clear about the consumer AI endgame: Google and Apple will dominate, with Microsoft trailing on desktop and maybe, eventually, phones. They have what OpenAI desperately lacks: hardware expertise, distribution channels, and capital scale that dwarfs even OpenAI’s eye-watering funding rounds.
Hardware isn’t just another moat—it’s a moat where your competitors have decades of experience and you’re learning to swim. Leaning into your weakness is how you get your head chopped off by companies that do this in their sleep. Apple ships hundreds of millions of devices annually. Google’s Android runs on billions. OpenAI is acquiring a company that’s never shipped anything.
The Roads Not Taken
There are paths OpenAI could pursue but won’t. NSFW applications. Deep companionship that pushes beyond its sanitized ChatGPT. Autonomous agents that live in Discord servers, slide into iMessages, become actual digital beings inhabiting the internet. But they won’t touch these opportunities—too hard to monetize, too dependent on competitors’ platforms, too scary to contemplate the distribution possibilities.
These niches are ripe for smaller, higher-risk players, especially in open source. While OpenAI chases Apple’s shadow, scrappy teams are building the AI experiences people actually want but can’t get from buttoned-up corporate platforms.
The Burning Platform
Instead, OpenAI is stuck in a brutal position. They’re desperately driving traffic to their website. Building an app that needs Siri’s permission to exist. Pouring money onto the fire just to keep pace with competitors who can afford to burn cash indefinitely. Google and Anthropic match their capabilities while Microsoft—their supposed partner—hedges every bet.
The $6.4 billion for io isn’t strategy; it’s desperation. While much good may come of it, the moment felt like bought-attention, beneath a company that built the fastest growing product of all time in a very understated way. When your competitive advantage evaporates and your partners start looking elsewhere, you grasp for anything that might create a moat. Even if that moat is in territory where you’re hopelessly outgunned.
READ MORE: Shaw Walters: ‘We’re Going to Automate All of the Jobs’
The Open Alternative They Won’t Take
Here’s what would make me champion OpenAI: make the hardware and models truly open. Let me personalize it, customize it, develop on it, make it genuinely mine. I want to be able to trust this device that I have such an intimate relationship with. Let them create a platform where thousands of developers can build the AI experiences OpenAI is too risk-averse to attempt.
I have no confidence in their corporate bravery, even with Sam at the helm. They’re chasing the same closed ecosystem playbook that Apple perfected decades ago, except without Apple’s advantages.
If I wanted a beautiful locked-box with an AI inside, I’ll wait for Apple’s version. At least it’ll work with my other devices.
The Infrastructure Imperative
AI isn’t another consumer product. For many, it’s a life coach, a source of truth, a friend. This intimate relationship demands transparency, ownership, and control that closed systems can’t provide.
Open-source AI projects already match or exceed OpenAI’s performance while running on local hardware. ElizaOS, Mistral, and others prove that community development outpaces corporate R&D. While OpenAI burns billions on beautiful hardware, open communities are solving real problems today.
The security argument for closed systems has collapsed. When AI becomes as critical as electricity or water, proprietary control becomes actively dangerous. Switzerland mandates open-source for government systems because transparency enables security. Every Equifax-scale breach reinforces this truth.
The Beautiful Box We Could Own
Here’s the opportunity staring OpenAI in the face: be the anti-Apple. While Google and Apple lock users into their ecosystems, OpenAI could build something revolutionary—truly open hardware running truly open models. Imagine Ive’s design genius creating devices we can actually modify, customize, and make our own.
This isn’t just idealism; it’s strategy. OpenAI can’t out-Apple Apple or out-Google Google. But they could pioneer something neither incumbent would dare attempt: premium hardware that respects user sovereignty. Beautiful devices that developers can extend. AI companions that users genuinely own.
The $6.4 billion io acquisition doesn’t have to be a defensive play. It could be the beginning of a new paradigm—one where OpenAI leads by opening up rather than locking down. They have Ive’s design excellence, Altman’s vision, and a moment in history where people are hungry for alternatives to Big Tech’s surveillance capitalism.
I want OpenAI to succeed. Not as another walled garden, but as proof that open systems can be as elegant as closed ones. That user empowerment and beautiful design aren’t mutually exclusive. That the future of AI can live in a box we actually own, modify, and understand.
The choice is theirs: become another also-ran in the closed ecosystem race, or pioneer the open future we desperately need.
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Bitcoin Pushes Toward $107K Even as Trump Sends National Guard to Los Angeles

Bitcoin (BTC) BTC maintained a steady climb Saturday as U.S. domestic tensions intensified.
Markets remained focused on crypto resilience despite unsettling headlines, including an immigration-related standoff in Los Angeles.
According to a report by CNBC, over 100 arrests have been reported as clashes continued between protesters and federal agents, prompting President Trump to authorize the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops. By Sunday morning, elements of the 79th Infantry Brigade had arrived on-site, according to Northern Command.
Further escalation came with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warning that U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton could also be mobilized if violence persists. Still, Bitcoin’s stability at $106,332 suggests crypto investors remain unfazed, treating the unrest as a regional event rather than a market-moving crisis.
Bitcoin traded within a narrow $1,057 range, from $105,043 to $106,101, and is currently hovering at $106,332. The price action showed a strong rebound after briefly dipping below $105,100, as buying interest re-emerged around the $105,400 support level, according to CoinDesk Research’s technical analysis model.
An early breakout attempt above $106,100 ran into selling pressure, creating a high-volume resistance zone. That move was short-lived as profit-taking set in, though the coin held onto its gains. The consolidation structure remains bullish, with the pattern of higher lows hinting at a potential push toward $107,000 if resistance breaks cleanly.
Despite broader macro headwinds, BTC continues to attract buyers during dips, underscoring its role as a perceived hedge amid rising uncertainty.
Technical Analysis Highlights
- BTC traded within a $1,288 range (1.22%) between a low of $105,043.65 and a 24-hour high of $106,332.
- Resistance around $105,900–$106,100 was broken as price surged beyond this zone with strong volume during the early afternoon.
- Support at $105,400 held firm through several retests, reinforcing bullish sentiment.
- A breakout to $106,332 occurred around 13:48, followed by minor profit-taking and stabilization above $106,000.
- The hourly chart shows an ascending trend with consistent higher lows, invalidating the earlier «pump and dump» interpretation.
- With momentum intact, BTC may test the $107,000 resistance level if current support near $105,800 holds.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
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Bitcoin Holds Above $105K Despite Donald Trump’s Threats Against Elon Musk

Bitcoin BTC held firm above $105,000 on Saturday despite an unusually combative and personal escalation in the Trump-Musk feud that could rattle traditional markets next week.
On Saturday, in a phone interview with NBC News, President Trump warned that there would be “serious consequences” if Elon Musk financially backed Democratic candidates running against Republicans who support the GOP’s budget bill. “If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” Trump said, adding later, “He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that.”
Trump, who has often boasted of past support from Musk, firmly dismissed the idea of mending ties. “No,” he said when asked whether he wished to repair the relationship. “I would assume so, yeah,” he added when asked if the rift was permanent.
Despite the intensifying feud between two of the most influential figures in U.S. politics and technology, Bitcoin remained unfazed. The cryptocurrency held onto earlier gains and continues to trade near weekly highs. The market’s composure suggests that traders may increasingly view BTC as a hedge against institutional dysfunction, or at least as an asset insulated from the partisan fallout that tends to impact equities more directly.
Technical Analysis Highlights
- BTC traded in a 24-hour range of $1,162 (1.13%), from a low of $104,624 to a high of $105,786, according to CoinDesk Research’s technical analysis model.
- Strong support formed at $104,800, where above-average volume confirmed buyer interest.
- Resistance at $105,200 was broken and has since flipped into a short-term support zone.
- Volume peaked at 378 BTC during key breakout moments, especially around 13:43–13:46 and 13:53.
- A short consolidation occurred between $104,300–$104,600 before the final surge to near highs.
- An ascending price channel remains intact, showing bullish structure despite intermittent pullbacks.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
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Ether Holds Steady Above $2,500 as ETF Demand Signals Institutional Confidence

Ether ETH has rebounded firmly from key support near $2,460, recovering losses and stabilizing above the $2,500 threshold amid broader market volatility.
The rally follows a higher low formation backed by above-average volume, signaling growing market confidence.
Institutional participation appears to be reinforcing the trend, with BlackRock’s ETHA ETF reporting $492 million in net inflows last week.
Total holdings now exceed $4.84 billion, reinforcing long-term bullish sentiment even as price action remains sensitive to geopolitical developments.
Traders are watching to see if ETH can challenge resistance in the $2,520–$2,530 range.
Technical Analysis Highlights
- ETH traded within a $72 range over 24 hours, from a low of $2,460.35 to a high of $2,532.41.
- A key support zone formed at $2,460–$2,470, where ETH bounced on strong volume during midnight hours.
- Final hour surge reached $2,515.11, backed by 5,919 ETH in volume.
- Higher low structure established with interim support at $2,485 and resistance at $2,503.
- Final retracement held support at $2,507, with price consolidating around $2,510 into the close.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
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