News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
SpaceX reportedly shows prototype of smartphone to investors as IPO looms
Elon Musk denied the Wall Street Journal report, calling it 'utterly false,' but the implications for telecom and tech markets are hard to ignore The Wall Street Journal reported on July 1, 2026, that SpaceX showed a prototype of a slim, AI-driven device to select investors. The device was described as thinner than an iPhone, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, and deeply integrated with xAI technology. Elon Musk immediately denied it, taking to X to call the report "utterly false." What we know about the device According to the WSJ report, the prototype was presented to institutional investors and stakeholders as part of SpaceX's capital-raising efforts ahead of its anticipated IPO. The company has been preparing to go public, with its offering projected for June 2026. Musk denied SpaceX was developing a phone as recently as February 2026. That's barely four months before the company allegedly showed one to investors. The Starlink connection SpaceX's Starlink Direct to Cell initiative has been forging partnerships with telecommunications firms, positioning satellite-based mobile service as a complement to traditional cell towers. One of the most notable moves in this space has been a spectrum deal with EchoStar valued at $1 billion. Why crypto markets should pay attention There's no evidence linking this prototype to any cryptocurrency or blockchain technology. No wallet integration, no token, no decentralized anything. The research is clear on this point. The SpaceX IPO itself is a gravitational event for capital allocation. When one of the most anticipated public offerings in history hits the market, it pulls institutional money from other asset classes. Crypto has historically felt the effects of major tech IPOs as portfolio managers rebalance. Starlink reaching underserved populations with a low-cost, AI-powered device could expand the addressable market for mobile-first crypto products in regions where traditional telecom infrastructure has lagged.
Raymond James sets $800 price target on SpaceX, valuing company at $10.5 trillion
The Street-high target implies a 450% upside and would make SpaceX worth more than any company in history, and its 18,712 BTC treasury adds a crypto wrinkle worth watching. A Wall Street analyst just looked at SpaceX and essentially said: "This company should be worth more than the entire GDP of Japan." Raymond James analyst Brian Gesuale initiated coverage of SpaceX with a Strong Buy rating and an $800 price target, implying a market capitalization of roughly $10.5 trillion. The current Street-high target represents a potential 425-450% upside from SpaceX's recent trading levels around $145 per share. The numbers behind the moonshot thesis Gesuale's model projects SpaceX generating over $837 billion in revenue by 2031, with $696 billion in EBITDA. The analyst used a 27x exit multiple on discounted cash flows from 2031 to arrive at the $800 figure, anchoring the thesis to what he estimates is a total addressable market approaching $30 trillion in the long term. SpaceX debuted on public markets via the SPCX ticker in mid-June 2026. Shares initially surged more than 40%, pushing the company's market cap to approximately $2.5 trillion before the inevitable profit-taking set in. The stock has since pulled back to a 52-week low range of $138-$145. The bull case rests on SpaceX's positioning as what Gesuale calls a crucial industrial infrastructure player of the 21st century. Between Starlink's satellite internet constellation, the company's dominant launch services business, and the upcoming Starship launch planned for July 16, 2026, there's no shortage of catalysts on the calendar. The Bitcoin treasury angle crypto investors should watch Buried in the analyst note is a detail that bridges the gap between traditional aerospace investing and digital asset markets: SpaceX holds a confirmed 18,712 BTC on its balance sheet. That figure exceeds earlier estimates from prior blockchain tracking services, suggesting SpaceX has been quietly accumulating Bitcoin beyond what public trackers had identified. SpaceX's recent acquisition of xAI, the artificial intelligence company Musk founded in 2023, adds another dimension. The deal, completed in early 2026, combined with ongoing compute collaborations with Tesla, positions SpaceX at the intersection of space infrastructure, AI, and potentially decentralized compute networks. What this means for investors on both sides of the aisle For crypto investors, SpaceX's 18,712 BTC treasury means that every institutional dollar flowing into SPCX shares is, in a fractional sense, also a bet on Bitcoin. If Gesuale's thesis attracts even a portion of the capital it implies, the downstream effects on BTC demand through corporate treasury expansion could be material. If SpaceX's valuation compresses, management might face pressure to liquidate Bitcoin holdings to shore up the balance sheet. That scenario would create selling pressure in crypto markets at precisely the wrong moment. The Starship launch on July 16 will be the first real test of whether SpaceX can deliver on the kind of operational milestones that justify even a fraction of Gesuale's projections.
xAI installs unpermitted gas turbines for Colossus 2, polluting predominantly Black neighborhoods in Memphis area
Elon Musk's AI company faces lawsuit from NAACP and environmental groups over dozens of methane turbines operating without Clean Air Act permits Elon Musk's AI venture xAI has been running dozens of methane gas turbines without Clean Air Act permits to power its Colossus 2 data center, generating pollution that lands squarely on predominantly Black communities in the Memphis, Tennessee area. The NAACP, Earthjustice, and the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit on April 14, 2026, alleging that xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech are violating federal environmental law. Here's the thing: this isn't xAI's first time pulling this exact move. Its predecessor facility, Colossus 1, ran up to 35 unpermitted turbines before eventually receiving partial permits covering just 15 units. The numbers behind the pollution The scale of the unpermitted operation at the Southaven, Mississippi site is significant. Between 27 and 46 methane gas turbines have been installed, capable of generating up to 495 MW of power. The potential annual emissions paint a grim picture. The turbines could release over 1,700 tons of nitrogen oxides, 180 tons of fine particulate matter, 500 tons of carbon monoxide, and 19 tons of formaldehyde into the surrounding air each year. Those aren't just abstract numbers. Nitrogen oxides contribute to smog and respiratory disease. Fine particulate matter is linked to heart attacks and premature death. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen. All of it is settling over neighborhoods that already face disproportionately high asthma rates and poor air quality. The turbines have been active since late 2025, meaning months of unregulated emissions were pumped into the atmosphere before the lawsuit was even filed. Mississippi regulators have since issued permits covering some additional turbines, but operations began well before any approval was granted. Environmental justice meets AI's energy appetite The lawsuit frames this as a textbook environmental justice issue. The communities bearing the health costs of xAI's power generation are predominantly Black neighborhoods in the greater Memphis area. xAI's approach with Colossus 1 set a troubling precedent. That facility became operational in June 2024, running unpermitted turbines for months before regulators caught up. The fact that the company repeated the same playbook with Colossus 2, but at a potentially larger scale, suggests this isn't an oversight.
Grok gets creative tools as Musk pushes xAI deeper into image and video generation
The integration of Imagine into Grok's agentic mode signals xAI's aggressive expansion into autonomous content creation, with potential ripple effects across digital asset markets. Elon Musk just gave his AI chatbot a paintbrush. And a camera. And, if he's to be believed, eventually a director's chair. On July 8, Musk announced that Grok, the conversational AI built by his company xAI, will integrate the Imagine tool for autonomous image and video generation. The key detail: Grok will be able to call Imagine dynamically in "agentic mode," meaning the AI decides on its own when to generate visual content rather than waiting for explicit user commands. What Grok's agentic mode actually means The Imagine tool itself has been evolving rapidly. Grok Imagine Video 1.5 launched around June 16-17, bringing what Musk described as significant improvements in both quality and speed. Some updates have enabled image-to-video generation in under 15 seconds. Musk predicted that Grok could produce full movies by the end of 2026. The AI content creation arms race The competitive landscape in AI-generated video has intensified dramatically over the past year, with OpenAI's Sora, Google's Veo, and a constellation of smaller startups all racing to build tools that can produce broadcast-quality video from text prompts. What makes the Grok-Imagine integration notable isn't just the technology itself. It's the distribution. Grok lives inside X (formerly Twitter). If Imagine's video generation reaches even a fraction of that audience through agentic mode, xAI instantly becomes one of the largest deployments of AI video generation in the world. Where crypto and digital assets enter the picture Musk's announcement contained zero references to cryptocurrency, blockchain, tokens, or any digital asset infrastructure. Not a single one. xAI isn't launching a token. Imagine isn't minting NFTs. There's no on-chain component to any of this.
