Welcome to the Moast newsletter. We spend the week collecting news, trends, and other content that we think would be interesting to e-commerce founders and CMOs. Our goal is to provide value without sounding like a promo for our app. Helpful wether you use Moast or not.

Bernie Sanders introduced a bill this week that would force the largest AI companies to hand over 50% of their stock to a new public sovereign wealth fund, worth an estimated $7 trillion. It's the most aggressive version yet of an idea that's already been floated by OpenAI, Anthropic, and even Trump himself. Whether or not it goes anywhere, the politics of who owns AI's upside are heating up fast.

Here's what else caught our attention this week 👇

1/ DTC Headlines

Pinterest launches a standalone AI shopping app called Ask Pinterest

-> Ask Pinterest handles multi-step queries like planning a dinner party or styling a room over time.

-> It taps Pinterest's Taste Graph plus saved Pins and Boards, live now in limited US access.

-> Pinterest also rolled out a Business Assistant and new ad tools ahead of Cannes Lions this week.

What Pinterest's new AI shopping app means for product discovery →

StockX is entering live shopping with real-time auctions this summer

-> StockX Live brings timed bidding, sudden-death auctions, and giveaways to its 30M+ monthly visitors.

-> Most auctions start at $1, with live chat and direct buyer-seller interaction built in.

-> Live commerce keeps creeping into every vertical; resale just became the latest to adopt it.

Why live shopping keeps spreading into every retail category →

Etsy trolls Amazon with a "Shop Other Jeffs" campaign timed to Prime Day

-> The campaign features real Etsy sellers named Jeff, of which the platform says it has over 5,000.

-> It runs across broadcast TV, YouTube, TikTok, and out-of-home placements in three major cities.

-> A sharp example of a smaller brand borrowing a competitor's spotlight instead of fighting for its own.

How Etsy turned Prime Day into free marketing for itself →

ChatGPT hit 1 billion monthly users, but Claude and Meta AI are growing far faster

-> ChatGPT became the fastest app ever to reach a billion users, beating Google Maps' old record.

-> Claude grew 640% year-over-year and Meta AI grew 973%, dwarfing ChatGPT's 62% growth rate.

-> Scale still favors OpenAI, but the AI assistant market is no longer a one-horse race.

What ChatGPT's slowing growth rate signals for the AI assistant race →

World Cup 2026 has triggered the biggest brand collab arms race we've seen

-> Nike's X2 collection alone spans seven country-specific collaborators, from Palace to Jacquemus.

-> Adidas, Kith, Guinness, Levi's, and dozens more all launched limited drops tied to the tournament.

-> A reminder that one cultural moment can justify a brand's entire merch calendar for the quarter.

Every major brand cashing in on World Cup 2026 →

Aura's new e-ink photo frame is designed to not look digital at all

-> The $499 Ink frame uses six-color e-ink and a custom dithering algorithm to mimic a printed photo.

-> It's cordless, runs up to three months per charge, and syncs through the same app as Aura's LED frames.

-> A good case study in solving the "looks like a gadget" problem that's held digital frames back for years.

Why Aura bet on e-ink instead of another LED screen →

Allbirds finished its pivot to AI, sold its shoes, and renamed itself Smartbird

-> The shoe business sold for $43M; Smartbird raised another $100M to build AI infrastructure instead.

-> New CEO Nadia Carlsten starts with no employees, no office, and a $700K salary plus $9M in equity.

-> Allbirds also dropped its public benefit corporation status, the charter built around its sustainability pitch.

Inside Allbirds' full pivot from sneakers to AI infrastructure →

Trump threatens 100% tariffs on French wine over a tech tax dispute

-> The ultimatum: drop the 3% digital tax on US tech firms or face tariffs on all champagne and wine.

-> It contradicts Macron's office, which said last week the dispute was already resolved among G7 nations.

-> Worth tracking if you import or price anything tied to French goods; tariff whiplash is becoming routine.

What's actually driving the US-France tariff standoff →

Gary Vaynerchuk just became a partner at Dad Gang, a $35M hat brand built from $750

-> Dad Gang grew from a group chat and 100 hats into a community of over 1 million dads in four years.

-> Vaynerchuk will co-host a live "Dad Hour" series and help guide growth and content strategy.

-> A clean example of community-first branding scaling into real retail, now at 200+ Lids stores.

How three dads built a $35M brand before Gary Vee ever got involved →

Snap's new AR glasses cost $2,195, and investors are not thrilled

-> Specs pack dual waveguide displays, hand-tracking, and on-device AI, but at luxury-laptop pricing.

-> SNAP shares dropped over 5% the day after launch, adding to a stock already down 30% this year.

-> Snap's core audience is teenagers; the open question is who's actually buying a $2,195 face computer.

Why Wall Street didn't buy Snap's AR glasses pitch →

2/ Shopify

Shopify just shipped its biggest update of the year: 150+ changes to the admin

-> The Summer '26 "Everywhere Edition" puts Sidekick at the center of a redesigned admin home page.

-> The Universal Commerce Protocol is now on by default, making every store discoverable to AI agents.

-> Sidekick now connects to 15+ partner apps, including Klaviyo, so you can ask about campaigns right in the admin.

See Harley Finkelstein's full rundown of Shopify's update →

3/ What We Found Interesting

Meta's 2026 Holiday Playbook: "win hearts, then boost carts"

-> 82% of shoppers say they need to trust a brand before buying; 79% say convenience matters just as much.

-> Meta's pushing creator content hard — 71% of buyers purchase within days of seeing it on its platforms.

-> A useful framing for Q4 planning: build trust early, then make the purchase as frictionless as possible.

Meta's full holiday playbook breakdown →

4/ What We Found Helpful

How to add TikTok Reels to your Shopify product pages (the right way)

-> Pasting a TikTok or Instagram Reel URL imports it directly into your video library in seconds.

-> Tag products inside each video so viewers can add to cart without ever leaving the page.

-> Skip the manual embed code — it breaks mobile layouts and can't be tagged for direct checkout.

The full step-by-step guide to TikTok Reels on Shopify PDPs →