Aug 12, 2021 Sign Up

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"I read a lot of history, and I know that once upon a time, a coin was worth $5 if it had $5 worth of gold in it. Now we have paper that is just backed by fiat... Maybe in the new world, something gets backed by consensus." — Lloyd Blankfein

Good morning! In a surprise turn of events, hackers behind one of the biggest crypto heists ever, returned over one-third of the stolen funds and pledged to return the entire amount. The hackers also posted a Q&A online, explaining motivations for the attack as “for fun :).” 

“I am not very interested in money! I know it hurts when people are attacked, but shouldn’t they learn something from those hacks?” one of the posts said. The hackers said they were negotiating with the Poly Network team and that they “would like to give them tips on how to secure their networks.” (2021 keeps getting weirder)

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1. Story of the Day: Sir, this is a Wendy's

The Chicken Tendies are back! Wendy’s released Q2 earnings yesterday that crushed Wall Street’s estimates and raised its 2021 forecast.

Wendy’s also announced that it will open 700 ghost kitchens across the US, UK and Canada by 2025 through a partnership with start-up Reef Technology. Wendy’s and Reef piloted eight ghost kitchens in Canada before making this development plan. The companies expect to open roughly 50 of the ghost kitchens this year. Each unit is expected to bring in $500k to $1m in sales.

Also known as virtual, cloud or dark kitchens, ghost kitchens are meant to address the demand for off-premise restaurant dining. The facilities fulfill delivery orders placed through third-party delivery apps like DoorDash. Companies say they help restaurants cut down on costs by using less labor and square footage and being in less desirable locations — like parking lots, in Reef’s case.

Short Squeez Takeaway: The clever units will allow the company to expand more into urban locations, and Reef is responsible for buying the kitchens and hiring workers. Reef has raised more than $756 million, including an investment from SoftBank. More investment and more orders might be coming its way soon.

Source:  CNBC

2. Markets Rundown

• Stocks ended mostly higher Wednesday, with S&P 500 closing at records, after data showed inflation, while still running hot, moderated in July.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Upstart Holdings ($UPST) +26% on strong Q2 earnings.
• (+) Unity Software ($U) +13% after beating earnings and raising full year guidance.
• (–) Wix.com ($WIX) -17% as uncertainty clouds its business prospects; lowered Q3 guidance.
  

3. Top Reads

A Message from Polymarket: Another One Bites the Dust

New York governor down, California governor next to go? The effort to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom has dominated headlines in the Golden State for months. Newsom will make history as the second California governor ever to face a recall election.

A recent poll showed that only 36% of registered voters would vote to recall Newsom. However, among likely voters, 47% favored Newsom’s recall. If Democrats don’t show up to keep Newsom in office, this could be a real nail-biter.

Will Gavin Newsom be Governor by end of the year?

The rollout of new pandemic-related health orders may sway more voters to support the recall. “It’s going to be very difficult for any Republican candidate to beat Gavin Newsom. But Covid sure can,” says Dan Schnur, a politics Professor at Berkeley.

Once as low as 6%, the odds that Newsom is ousted is now trading at 26% on Polymarket. Can he fight off the recall or will he suffer a fate similar to Andrew Cuomo?

Use code “OWS” to get your first trade reimbursed up to $100!

4. Book of the Day: An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk

Is it worth swimming in shark-infested waters to surf a 50-foot, career-record wave? Is it riskier to make an action movie or a horror movie?

Most people wouldn't expect an economist to have an answer to these questions--or to other questions of daily life, such as who to date or how early to leave for the airport. But those people haven't met Allison Schrager, an economist and award-winning journalist who has spent her career examining how people manage risk in their lives and careers.

In An Economist Walks into a Brothel, Schrager equips readers with five principles for dealing with risk, principles used by some of the world's most interesting risk takers. When you start to look at risky decisions through Schrager's new framework, you can increase the upside to any situation and better mitigate the downside.

5. Daily Visual: Where People Are Self-Employed Around the World (% of self-employed workers in 2019)

Source: Statista

6.  Daily Acumen: Hidden Leverage

After years of tests, Lockheed engineers finally built a stealth plane. They could fly their prototype without radar picking it up. It was a miracle.

Then one day, it just stopped working.

“You lit up the radar like a Christmas tree” an engineer tells a test pilot in the book Skunkworks. “They saw him coming from 50 miles away.”

No one could figure it out. They hadn’t made any changes to the plane’s design.

A screw hadn’t been secured tightly enough during maintenance, its head extending a few millimeters above the plane’s surface. That was maybe half a drill spin less than ideal. It was more than tight enough for the plane to operate. But on radar, it “appeared as big as a barn door.”

There’s a lot of hidden leverage in the world – tiny things that seem inconsequential but operate in a tightly wound system where one flaw can bring everything down.

Source: Collaborative Fund

7. Memes of the Day

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