The University of Texas at Austin has surpassed 5,000 advanced NVIDIA GPUs, solidifying its position as the academic leader in high-performance computing for open-source artificial intelligence. The new Horizon supercomputer, funded by the National Science Foundation and hosted at the Texas Advanced Computing Center in Round Rock, Texas, incorporates over 4,000 cutting-edge NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs in Dell PowerEdge servers, making it the largest academic system nationwide when operational next year. This expansion empowers researchers to train publicly releasable large language models rivaling proprietary counterparts, accelerating discoveries in healthcare, materials science, and national security. “Our combination of computing power, facilities and breadth of research expertise is unrivaled,” said UT President Jim Davis. “This is a next-level system designed for large-scale generative AI,” added Adam Klivans, director of the UT-led NSF Institute for Foundations of Machine Learning. Partnerships with Dell Technologies and NVIDIA highlight the commitment to transparent, society-benefiting innovation.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY SHARE TO X
Global electricity demand is forecast to surge 40% over the next decade, driven by economic expansion in emerging markets, widespread air-conditioning adoption, and AI-powered data centers in advanced economies. According to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook, authored by Casey Crownhart, renewables are rapidly gaining ground: solar and wind are expanding rapidly, with coal generation poised to peak and decline by decade’s end. In the US, data centers will drive half of near-term demand growth, yet globally they remain dwarfed by industry and appliances. Investment in data centers will exceed $580 billion this year alone, surpassing global oil supply spending. “Together, solar and wind were the leading source of electricity in the first half of this year,” Crownhart notes, signaling an accelerating shift toward cleaner, more resilient generation and energy independence.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY SHARE TO X
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) has introduced the Bitcoin for America Act, enabling individuals and corporations to pay federal taxes in bitcoin, with those payments directly bolstering the newly established U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The legislation builds on President Trump’s executive order creating the reserve from forfeited assets. “The Bitcoin For America Act will position our country to lead—not follow—as the world navigates the future of sound money and digital innovation,” Davidson stated. In remarks to the Bitcoin Policy Institute, he emphasized taxpayer choice, noting payments in bitcoin could redirect funds from traditional spending toward the reserve. “This would be a way to say, yeah, let’s talk about what kind of government we ought to have,” Davidson added, highlighting greater individual freedom. The bill advances the bitcoin industry’s integration into national financial infrastructure, signaling policy momentum.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY SHARE TO X
Kent Halliburton, CEO of bitcoin mining-as-a-service firm Sazmining, lost over $200,000 in bitcoin after an elaborate in-person scam orchestrated by two suave representatives of a purported Monaco family office, as detailed by Joel Khalili in WIRED. Lured to luxurious Amsterdam hotels with cash-filled envelopes and lavish dinners, Halliburton was persuaded to send funds via a newly created Atomic Wallet, enabling scammers to capture his seed phrase and deploy an automated sweeper script. Blockchain analysis by Chainalysis and CertiK traced the funds through mixers and bridges, highlighting sophisticated laundering tactics. Though devastating, Halliburton kept Sazmining solvent through loan extensions and vendor delays. “It wasn’t a death blow,” he reflected, lamenting on the loss as a now learning opportunity amidst rising threats.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY SHARE TO X
