Debanking and the dissensions heard around Davos

Hello from Davos, Switzerland, on the last day of the World Economic Forum. The hottest discussions of the last 24 hours focused on two subjects. First, jaws were on the floor when President Trump, during a question and answer session attended by Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, claimed to Moynihan’s face that his institution had debanked conservatives. The bank is now working to repair the damage.

Second, the tech community here can’t stop talking about an AI model from Chinese startup DeepSeek that’s as powerful as ChatGPT and allegedly uses much less computing power. (We have more on both of these below.)

And on a more personal note, a very unusual thing happened yesterday: a coin called “Sorkincoin” appeared after BlackRock’s Larry Fink joked on CNBC that there should be one. It appears some viewers created it – and the token has since surpassed $160 million in trading volume. Please know that I have absolutely no affiliation with the piece in any way. —André

“Brian got beat up.”

For a few minutes at least, it seemed as if the air had been sucked out of the main hall of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.

President Trump had just dodged a softball question from Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan and lashed out, accusing the credit giant of systematically depriving many of his supporters, a hot-button issue among conservatives.

“Brian got beat up.” That’s how one prominent executive described the frosty exchange with DealBook’s Lauren Hirsch. Rebroadcasts of the presidential rebuke continued late into the night, including over drinks.