LEGAL TALENT WARS, PANCAKESWAP’S $325B FLEX, AND GOOGLE’S AI BACKLASH

7th July, 2025

London law firms are bleeding and booming as the partner hiring war breaks records. Meanwhile, PancakeSwap has just posted a jaw-dropping $325B in monthly volume, and Google is in hot water over its AI Overviews. Also in the mix: Peter Thiel’s new bank for crypto rebels. Plus — U.S. stocks are flying high as Trump’s tariff deadline creeps closer. All this and more in today’s read-and-eat.

Major Headlines 

• EU publishers accuse Google’s AI Overview of stealing traffic

  
  

• Google’s AI Overviews feature is under formal EU scrutiny after a group of independent publishers filed an antitrust complaint accusing the tech giant of abusing its dominance in online search. The complaint, submitted to the European Commission and UK’s CMA, argues that Google’s AI-generated summaries—now shown above traditional search results in over 100 countries—divert traffic, readership, and ad revenue from original content creators. The publishers claim Google uses their content without consent to train its AI and generate summaries, with no real opt-out option. They’re also calling for immediate interim measures to limit the damage. Google responded by insisting its AI tools drive billions of clicks daily and help more users discover new content. Still, this latest challenge signals rising regulatory pressure over AI-powered content and search. Reuters 

  
  

• Peter Thiel’s Erebor wants to be Silicon Valley Bank 2.0 — for crypto and AI

  
  

• Peter Thiel, Palmer Luckey, and other tech heavyweights are teaming up to launch Erebor — a new bank designed to serve crypto, AI, and defense startups shunned by traditional lenders. Modeled after the now-defunct Silicon Valley Bank, Erebor has applied for a U.S. national bank charter and aims to provide tailored financial services to venture-backed firms. According to the Financial Times, Erebor’s founders include Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and Thiel’s Founders Fund, with Owen Rapaport and Jacob Hirshman tapped as co-CEOs. The bank is expected to hold stablecoins on its balance sheet and focus on emerging tech sectors like crypto and AI — all of which have faced growing scrutiny and de-risking from traditional banks post-SVB collapse. It’s a bold play to rebuild a financial bridge for high-risk, high-reward innovation. Financial Times 

  
  

• London law firms hit partner hiring record as US rivals escalate talent war

  
  

• Partner hiring in London law firms has surged to a record 349 moves in H1 2025 — up 30% from last year — as US and UK firms battle for top legal talent, according to Edwards Gibson. Kirkland & Ellis and White & Case led with 10 hires each, while Paul Weiss added seven and Fladgate topped the chart with 12, including a 25-person team from collapsed firm Memery Crystal. But while some firms bulked up, others bled talent: A&O Shearman lost 15 London partners, White & Case lost nine, and Paul Hastings shed seven. The push is largely driven by US firms doubling down on private capital practices in London, chasing deal flow across Europe. Despite economic and geopolitical headwinds, recruiters say the hiring frenzy shows no signs of slowing. Non-Billable

  
  

• PancakeSwap smashes monthly record with $325B in trading volume

  
  

• Decentralized exchange PancakeSwap just pulled off its biggest flex yet — clocking a record-breaking $325 billion in trading volume for June 2025. That’s nearly double May’s $173B and the highest monthly volume in the platform’s five-year history. It also makes PancakeSwap the largest DEX by 30-day trade volume, according to DeFiLlama. The Q2 stats are just as impressive: $529B in total volume (up 158% from Q1), $1.8 trillion in lifetime trading volume, and 7.4 million unique users onboarded in just three months. The surge is largely thanks to new infrastructure rollouts — including cross-chain swaps, which let users trade across BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Arbitrum without bridges or switching dApps, and the April launch of PancakeSwap Infinity, featuring lower gas fees and customizable liquidity pools. BNB Chain remains the platform’s powerhouse, recording $356B in Q2 volume — more than Ethereum and Solana combined. But activity on Ethereum is also climbing fast, with $30B in volume on Base, $25B on Arbitrum, and $21B on mainnet. To cap it off, PancakeSwap recently debuted v3 liquidity pools on Solana, offering cheaper trades and better yields — cementing its status as the DEX (Decentralized exchange) to beat in 2025. Reuters

  
  
  
  

Minor Headlines 

• Ripple applies for U.S. national bank charter Reuters

  
  

• OpenAI warns Robinhood’s tokenized equity listings are unauthorized Coindesk

  
  

• BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF now outperforms its S&P 500 fund Coindesk

  
  

• Bitcoin volatility hits 2-year low, weakening its original appeal Bloomberg

  
  

• Wall Street group urges SEC to reject crypto exemption bids Bloomberg

  
  

• X (Twitter) blocks Reuters accounts in India amid censorship row TechCrunch

  
  

• Trump tariff deadline looms with U.S. stocks at record highs CNBC

  
  

• Researchers inject hidden AI prompts to manipulate peer review TechCrunch

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