👑 Nvidia's back

What’s going on here?

Nvidia’s shares ascended 4.3% on Wednesday, hitting a new record high and putting the chipmaker firmly back on the world’s-most-valuable-company throne.

What does this mean?

News of Nvidia’s stock rallying to new highs sounds familiar because… it is. Or, at least, it used to be – until this year, when the chip darling’s shares started slumping. The US president’s trade rules blocked it from China – a huge market – and DeepSeek’s surprise AI breakout didn’t help matters. But ever since Nvidia reported strong earnings at the end of last month, the stock has been looking up. And on Wednesday, two things happened. One: key supplier Micron posted its own strong results, together with a sunny forecast for AI. And two: Nvidia held an optimistic shareholder meeting, telling investors that it’s just getting started. So, for the first time since January, investors sent the stock to a new high.

Why should I care?

For markets: It’s all muscle (hopefully).

Nvidia has added $1.5 trillion in market value since April – the most a company’s ever grown in a single quarter. The chipmaker now makes up a huge chunk of the S&P 500: over 7%, in fact. But Wall Street’s not worried. Tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon have recently reiterated their commitments to AI spending, squashing concerns about a pullback. Plus, Nvidia has solid profit margins, a widening lead in the chip market, and the firm still looks cheaper than its Magnificent Seven peers.

The bigger picture: Nvidia’s next trillion-dollar play.

AI chips have been Nvidia’s claim to fame so far, but robotics could be its next big thing. The firm’s CEO cited both as big growth bets, calling them a “multitrillion-dollar opportunity” together. He sees legions of humanoid factory bots and autonomous vehicles as a big part of Nvidia’s future (even though robotics makes up only 1% of the firm’s revenue today). All those robots would need AI chips, see, and major carmakers – including Toyota and Mercedes – are already on board.

What’s going on here?

America’s housing regulator took a step toward letting borrowers include their US cryptocurrency stashes on federal home loan applications.

What does this mean?

This’d be the first time that digital currencies would be treated like stocks or bonds within the US mortgage system, and that’s a big deal. So far, folk have had to convert their crypto holdings into cash – incurring taxes – for them to be considered on federal home loan applications. But under this new directive, crypto held on US-regulated exchanges would be automatically counted. See, the US housing market has been lackluster lately. Mortgage rates and house prices are both high, putting buyers off. But with one in five Americans now owning crypto, this move could make home loans more accessible. And that could push the market back up – or so regulators hope.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: There’s an app for that.

If crypto does become fair game for mortgage approval, expect a new class of borrowers to emerge: asset-rich, cash-light, and tech-savvy. Probably younger buyers who’ve built wealth through digital assets and haven’t been able to fit into the old-school lending mold. For fintechs, it’d be a huge opportunity. Platforms like Milo, Ledn, and Figure could build crypto-native home loan products that plug directly into the federal system. And that could start to push mortgage brokers and legacy banks the way of the checkbook.

The bigger picture: When fringe becomes mainstream.

There’s a reason crypto hasn’t historically been counted toward mortgages: volatility. Its famous price swings probably aren’t going anywhere soon, so providers would need to figure out how to stress-test home loans backed by assets known to rise or crash 20% in a week. But if crypto can be tamed enough for federal home loans, it’ll be more than just an asset class: it’ll be financial infrastructure.