Treasury and Fed Push Banks to Test AI Model—Despite Active Lawsuit
On April 12, 2026, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned executives from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley to a meeting where they encouraged the banks to test Anthropic’s new Mythos model for detecting security vulnerabilities, according to Bloomberg. This is a remarkable move given that Anthropic (a San Francisco-based AI lab backed by Google and Salesforce) is currently battling the Trump administration in court over the Department of Defense’s designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk—a label imposed after the company refused to let the government use its models without usage restrictions.
Anthropic announced Mythos this week but said it would limit access because the model, despite not being trained specifically for cybersecurity, is too effective at finding security flaws. Some observers called this hype or simply smart enterprise sales strategy. Meanwhile, U.K. financial regulators are reportedly discussing the risks posed by Mythos, according to the Financial Times.
The contradiction is sharp. One arm of the government is suing Anthropic while another is quietly promoting its products to the most systemically important financial institutions in the country. For investors, this signals that regulatory coherence remains a luxury—capital will flow to capability, not consistency.
Slate Auto’s Journey from Bezos-Backed Stealth to 150,000 Reservations
On April 8, 2026, TechCrunch revealed that a secretive electric vehicle startup called Slate Auto had been operating in Troy, Michigan for three years with backing from Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) and Mark Walter (owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers). The company planned to launch an ultra-cheap, customizable electric pickup truck starting at around $25,000. By April 24, Slate unveiled the truck in Long Beach, California, promising a base price under $20,000 with the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. The base model offered just 150 miles of range, no power windows, no infotainment screen, and not even paint—but everything was customizable, including the number of seats and the vehicle’s overall silhouette.
By May 12, Slate had surpassed 100,000 refundable $50 reservations. By December 16, that figure reached 150,000. But on July 3, the Trump administration’s tax-cut bill set a September end-date for the $7,500 federal EV credit, forcing Slate to pull its “under $20,000” language from the website. On March 9, the company swapped CEOs, bringing in former Amazon Marketplace VP Peter Faricy to convert reservations into orders ahead of a late 2026 production launch at a former printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana.
The trajectory is textbook startup momentum—until the policy rug gets pulled. Investors should note that Slate’s appeal rested heavily on subsidies, not just product innovation. Without the credit, the company must prove its marketplace model for customization can drive margins.
US Oil Independence Collides with $4 Gasoline and Strait of Hormuz Tolls
Over the past month, US households paid $8.4 billion more for gasoline compared to prices before President Donald Trump’s attack on Iran began, according to a report by Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee. Despite Trump’s assertion that the United States, as the world’s biggest oil and gas producer, doesn’t rely on tankers Iran blocked from passage through the Strait of Hormuz, gasoline prices flipped above $4 per gallon for the first time in four years. Under the two-week ceasefire agreement announced last week, Iran was to reopen the Strait, but most tankers remained blocked while the sides sparred over details. Iran has made clear it intends to maintain control over the passageway for 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, and reportedly already began charging multimillion-dollar crossing fees for tankers.
Oil prices will remain elevated at least through the end of 2026 even if the conflict is fully resolved by the end of April, the US Energy Information Administration said on April 9. The global crude oil price, known as Brent, averaged $103 per barrel in March and was forecast to reach $115 before falling below $90 by year-end. After the ceasefire news broke, oil saw its biggest daily decline since the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping below $95 a barrel.
The United States produces about 13 million barrels of crude per day but consumes 20 million barrels per day of petroleum products. Last year, crude imports totaled 6.1 million barrels per day, with about 8 percent coming from the Persian Gulf. US refineries—especially those on the Gulf Coast and in California—are configured to process heavy, sour crude, while the fracking boom delivered light, sweet crude. Much of US international trade in oil is aimed at swapping higher-quality crude to buy lower-quality crude, which means the United States is fully integrated into a global market in upheaval.
For energy investors, the lesson is clear: production leadership does not equal price immunity. The only way to decouple from global disruption is demand destruction, and that requires a policy commitment the current administration has explicitly rejected.
Anthropic’s Mythos Sparks Debate Over Hype Versus Enterprise Strategy
Anthropic’s Mythos model announcement this week included a claim that access would be limited because the model is too effective at finding security vulnerabilities—despite not being trained specifically for cybersecurity. Some observers suggested this was hype or simply a smart enterprise sales strategy. The timing is notable given the simultaneous push from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for banks to test the model, as well as the ongoing legal battle between Anthropic and the Department of Defense over supply-chain risk designation.
For enterprise buyers, the pattern is familiar: a product claim designed to generate urgency, followed by selective access to marquee customers. Whether Mythos lives up to the hype will depend on independent validation, not marketing copy. But the fact that two of the most powerful financial regulators in the world are endorsing the model before that validation exists suggests the sales strategy is already working.
Investors should watch whether Mythos becomes a revenue driver or a distraction. Anthropic’s core business remains large language models for general use, not cybersecurity. Expanding too quickly into adjacent verticals can dilute focus—or unlock new growth. The next six months will reveal which path Anthropic has chosen.
The through-line in today’s signal is simple: policy incoherence creates arbitrage. The same government suing Anthropic also promotes its products. The same administration touting energy independence presides over $8.4 billion in higher gasoline costs. The same EV subsidies that enabled Slate Auto’s pitch vanished mid-game. For capital allocators, this environment rewards agility over conviction. Position for capability, not coherence—and assume the rules will change before the game ends.
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