May 25, 2026 · PM edition

The Government Wants In On Everything - Including Your Portfolio

When the government starts buying tech stakes and sportsbooks start writing the news, the only honest price discovery left is Bitcoin.

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Full recap

Good morning. The U.S. government, not content with controlling your tax bracket, your drug supply, and your foreign policy, is now quietly buying stakes in quantum computing companies. Traders on Kalshi think IonQ, Micron, and Anduril are next. Nothing says 'free market' like Uncle Sam sliding into your cap table uninvited. Prediction markets, meanwhile, are thriving despite a regulatory fog thick enough to choke a lawyer. Companies are doubling down on the space in earnings calls, which is the corporate equivalent of saying 'yeah we know the cop is watching, but the poker game is too good.' The irony? The most honest pricing mechanism in finance might be the one Washington is most desperate to control. Treasury yields are spiking and the 'risk-free' label is finally getting the public roasting it deserves. Turns out lending money to a government running trillion-dollar deficits has some... nuance. Bond investors are sprinting toward intermediates, BBBs, and high yield like they just found out the buffet closes in ten minutes. On the geopolitical chessboard, the U.S. is pushing American AI into Asia following the Trump-Xi summit. Nothing like selling your algorithmic infrastructure to a continent that includes your main rival. Bold strategy. We'll check back in five years when the AI is filing patents in Mandarin. Over in sports, the Knicks and Cavaliers are locked in an Eastern Conference Finals that every sportsbook in America is using as a money printer. CBS Sports has dropped not one but TWO promo code articles for Monday alone - BetMGM and DraftKings both want your first bet so badly they're practically proposing. The house always wins, but at least they're buying dinner first. The Charles Schwab Challenge is also live at Colonial Country Club, where a golf model that's 'nailed 17 majors' is making picks. A financial giant sponsoring a golf tournament while bond markets convulse is the most on-brand thing that's happened all week. Charles Schwab: helping you lose money in two sports simultaneously. Here's the thread tying it all together: everyone - governments, sportsbooks, prediction markets, bond desks - is in the business of pricing the future. The difference is that one of them has to be honest about the odds. Spoiler: it's not the one with the printing press.

Highlights

  • U.S. government is now a venture capitalist - IonQ, Micron, and Anduril reportedly on the watchlist. Your startup pitch deck should include a line for 'federal equity partner.'
  • Treasury yields surging means the 'risk-free' asset class is having its midlife crisis in public - bond investors are fleeing to high yield, which is the fixed income equivalent of leaving your spouse for someone interesting.
  • CBS Sports published two separate sportsbook promo code articles for the same Monday games - at some point the sports content and the gambling content are the same content, and nobody's pretending otherwise.

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