“Spicy” AI chatbot Grok hasn’t been seen by the public yet, but it’ll be worth plenty after this securities issue.
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Elon Musk’s X-linked artificial intelligence modeler xAI has an agreement for the private sale of $865.3 million in unregistered equity securities, according to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission made on Dec. 5.
XAI filed the SEC’s Form D to allow it to engage in the private sale of securities without registration. The form is used to comply with Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, which provides exemptions to the standard rules. On the form, Musk is listed as the executive officer and director of the business.
The xAI Form D further clarifies that the securities will be sold to accredited investors with restrictions on their resale under Rule 506(b). The form also indicated that $134.7 million in such securities have already been sold, with the first sale taking place on Nov. 29. Thus, the company is seeking to raise $1 billion.
Related: Elon Musk AI project-inspired memecoin ‘Grok’ falls 74% on creator scam claim
XAI’s product, a chatbot called Grok, has not yet made its public debut, although there is a waitlist to use the prototype. In a post dated Nov. 4, its website describes Grok as “a very early beta product,” adding:
“A unique and fundamental advantage of Grok is that it has real-time knowledge of the world via the X [formerly Twitter] platform. It will also answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems.”
Musk announced the launch of xAI in July and claimed its goal was to “understand the universe.” He claimed Grok would perform better than ChatGPT and, in November, got into an online squabble over it with OpenAI (the creator of ChatGPT) co-founder and CEO Sam Altman. Musk was also a co-founder of OpenAI but left the company.
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SEC pushes deadline to decide on Grayscale spot Ether ETF
The commission said it will have until January 2024 to reach a decision on the spot Ether investment vehicle or institute proceedings to extend the deadline again.
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The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its decision on whether to approve or disapprove of a spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund, or ETF, offering from asset manager Grayscale.
In a Dec. 5 notice, the SEC said it would designate a longer period on whether to approve or disapprove of a proposed rule change that would allow NYSE Arca to list and trade shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Trust. The commission’s announcement was one of the first following an appellate court ordering the SEC to review Grayscale’s Bitcoin (BTC) ETF offering in October.
“The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action on the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised therein,” said the SEC. “Accordingly, the Commission […] designates January 25, 2024, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change.”
Related: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust aims for ETF shift to narrow discount
The SEC has never approved a spot BTC or ETH exchange-traded fund for listing on a U.S. exchange, though it has given the green light to investment vehicles tied to crypto futures. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart speculated that should the commission decide to approve a spot BTC ETF, it could move forward with simultaneous approvals of funds from multiple firms.
Grayscale first filed with the SEC to convert shares of its Grayscale Ethereum Trust into a spot Ether ETF in October, adding its name to the list of companies awaiting a decision from the regulator. At the time of publication, applications from firms on spot crypto ETFs included BlackRock, Hashdex, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck and Fidelity.
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