🥸 Center-console spyware

…and crypto scammers come for OpenAI (again) (VCG/Getty Images) No more carpool karaoke   Presented by Hey Snackers, Pro wrestling icon John Cena and Dame Judi Dench may be teaming up to take on Siri. The two actors, along with others, [reportedly]( struck a deal to lend their voices to Meta’s AI chatbot. The S&P 500 hit a [fresh record]( yesterday with Nvidia closing up 4% after CEO Jensen Huang [completed]( his sale of 6M shares. What didn’t rally: consumer confidence, which fell this month by the most in three years as Americans stressed over jobs and inflation.   BACKING-OUT [The US proposes a ban on Chinese car tech as the world’s top economies split lanes]( No peeking allowed… US regulators have determined that China shouldn’t be able to hear you belting out Celine Dion in your car. The Commerce Department [proposed a ban]( on Chinese and Russian software and hardware in web-connected cars on US roads. The goal is to protect national security by keeping American data safe from foreign car tech that uses microphones, cameras, Bluetooth, and GPS. Meantime, carmakers in the States like GM and Tesla have [controversially tapped]( center consoles to get data about Americans’ driving habits. - Stalled: The ban would be the latest hit to China’s EV industry, which has rapidly [expanded globally]( but whose growth has been stunted in the US by measures like President Biden’s 100% tariffs. - Unplugged: Last year, China’s BYD sold more EVs globally than Tesla. Though the brand’s $10K cars aren’t sold in America, the budget rides can technically be imported. The proposed ban would make it even harder to get Chinese cars in. The silicon curtain… is thickening between the world’s top two economies as the US restricts China-made tech. The Biden admin tightened trade with Chinese chip companies, restricting the sale of advanced US-made semiconductors to the mainland. In 2022, the US banned imports of new telecom equipment from Chinese cos including ZTE and Huawei. And of course there’s the ongoing [divest-or-ban](situation with TikTok. The US says these crackdowns stem from national-security concerns as economic and diplomatic relations erode. THE TAKEAWAY Breaking up can be hard… As China became an economic and manufacturing superpower in the ’90s, it built strong trade ties with the US. But they’re unraveling: Mexico beat out China last year for the first time in two decades to become America’s top trading partner. Some experts say the growing divide could hurt consumers, leaving Americans with fewer affordable made-in-China goods. [Read this online](   Presented by EnergyX Last Call to Ride the Lithium Wave The “white gold”1 mines in North and South America are still untapped — and a wave of demand for lithium may be on the horizon. Lithium is one of the most critical and short-supplied commodities in our economy, as the key component in batteries for phones and EVs. EnergyX has honed their extraction technique for nearly a decade, and [they’re accepting investors for a limited time](. Their patented tech extracts lithium 300% more efficiently than conventional methods — [where it typically takes 12+ months, EnergyX need just two days](. They earned a $5M DOE grant toward a recently-announced US lithium plant and 100,000+ acres of lithium-mining rights in Chile. The energy storage market is projected to reach $546B by 20352 — and riding the lithium wave could make EnergyX an industry leader. [Become an early investor before October 3.](3 Presented by EnergyX Last Call to Ride the Lithium Wave The “white gold”1 mines in North and South America are still untapped — and a wave of demand for lithium may be on the horizon. Lithium is one of the most critical and short-supplied commodities in our economy, as the key component in batteries for phones and EVs. EnergyX has honed their extraction technique for nearly a decade, and [they’re accepting investors for a limited time](. Their patented tech extracts lithium 300% more efficiently than conventional methods — [where it typically takes 12+ months, EnergyX need just two days](. They earned a $5M DOE grant toward a recently-announced US lithium plant and 100,000+ acres of lithium-mining rights in Chile. The energy storage market is projected to reach $546B by 20352 — and riding the lithium wave could make EnergyX an industry leader. [Become an early investor before October 3.](3   HACKED-AI [OpenAI’s X account pushed a fake token as crypto scams soar in the US]( Posting through it… Scammers took over one of OpenAI’s X accounts this week and used it to hype a fake “$OPENAI” token. The gold-checkmarked account shared links to an OpenAI look-alike site seemingly designed to steal users’ crypto. The bogus pitch: OpenAI users could claim a free token that’d grant them access to future beta projects. The posts were up for at least an hour, and came the same day that OpenAI [reportedly]( warned employees that hackers were targeting their socials. - Tried and (un)true: This week’s X hack wasn’t a first for OpenAI. Its chief scientist’s and CTO’s X accounts had been taken over before. - Trump card: Companies haven’t been the only targets in a slew of X breaches. Lara and Tiffany Trump’s X [accounts were hacked]( recently to post crypto-scam links. Bursting the social bubble… Crypto fraudsters aren’t just on social media. Earlier this month the FBI released a report detailing the $5.6B it said Americans lost last year to crypto-related fraud (a 45% year-over-year jump). The FBI said it got 69K+ crypto-related complaints, and that folks lost $3.9B to investment fraud (including “pig butchering” scams). Plus, an FTC report this month said consumers lost $110M to bitcoin-ATM scams last year — up nearly 10x since 2020. THE TAKEAWAY The cutting edge can leave some scarred… Consumers are often less familiar with new tech like crypto and AI, making those industries more appealing targets for scammers. In the case of OpenAI, scammers took advantage of investors’ hunger to get in on the AI boom. Bitcoin hodler MicroStrategy, cybersecurity firm Mandiant, and even ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin all recently had their X accounts hacked to push crypto scams. [Read this online](   ON SHERWOOD You’re not imagining it — online discounts are getting stingier. The average discount offered by online retailers in the US is down to 36% so far this year. [Read more.](   Presented by EnergyX GM Backed This Lithium Stock General Motors needs up to 414k tons of lithium/yr to meet its 2035 EV target. That’s why they led a $50M investment round in EnergyX, whose tech extracts [2-3X more lithium than other modern methods](. Now, they’re planning to produce 65k tons of lithium/yr. [Invest in EnergyX by 10/3](.3 Presented by EnergyX GM Backed This Lithium Stock General Motors needs up to 414k tons of lithium/yr to meet its 2035 EV target. That’s why they led a $50M investment round in EnergyX, whose tech extracts [2-3X more lithium than other modern methods](. Now, they’re planning to produce 65k tons of lithium/yr. [Invest in EnergyX by 10/3](.3   What else we're Snackin' - Caroline Ellison was [sentenced]( to two years in prison and must forfeit $11B for her role in FTX’s 2022 collapse. - TikTok’s [pulling the plug]( on its year-old music-streaming service, and instead will help users add viral songs on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. - Credit-rating agency Moody’s said the US could[risk its perfect]( (AAA) credit score if the next admin doesn’t do more to tackle the nation’s near $2T budget deficit. - The DOJ [sued]( Visa, the largest US card network, alleging it’s illegally maintained a monopoly in the debit-card market for over a decade. - Senators [grilled]( Novo Nordisk’s CEO over why the Ozemic and Wegovy maker charges so much for its weight-loss drugs in the US.   Snack Fact of the Day [Women account for just a third of Levi’s sales](   Wednesday - New-home sales - Earnings expected from Cintas, Micron Technology, and Concentrix Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and ethereum and shares of: Apple, GM, Nvidia, Tesla, and Visa Advertiser's disclosures: 1 Lithium is referred to as “white gold.”[Center for Strategic and International Studies](, August 2021. 2[“Global battery energy storage market could grow to $546B, says analyst,](” Renewable Energy World, 2020. 3 Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Start-up investments are speculative and involve a high degree of risk. Those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest in start-ups. Companies seeking startup investment tend to be in earlier stages of development and their business model, products and services may not yet be fully developed, operational or tested in the public marketplace. There is no guarantee that the stated valuation and other terms are accurate or in agreement with the market or industry valuations. Further, investors may receive illiquid and/or restricted stock that may be subject to holding period requirements and/or liquidity concerns. This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX’s Regulation A+ Offering. Please read the [offering circular]( and [related risks]( at [invest.energyx.com]( DealMaker Securities LLC, a registered broker-dealer, and member of FINRA | SIPC, located at 105 Maxess Road, Suite 124, Melville, NY 11747, is the Intermediary for this offering and is not an affiliate of or connected with the Issuer. Please check our background on FINRA's BrokerCheck.   [Instagram]( [Twitter]( [Sherwood Logo]( Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... [See more]( [Sherwood Terms and Conditions]( [Our Editorial Standards]( [Contact Us](mailto:hello@snacks.robinhood.com) [Advertise With Us](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com) [Unsubscribe]( [Privacy Policy](