Biotech’s Cheat Code

Biotech Illuminates the “Code of Life”

“The code of life is written in DNA,” remarked geneticist Francis Collins in the early 2000s, as the world marveled at the completion of the Human Genome Project.

For decades, scientists dreamed of reading the entire human genome — every sequence, every instruction that makes us who we are.

Yet for most of the 20th century, this was a fantasy, as sequencing even a small stretch of DNA was slow, painstaking and outrageously expensive. Enter the American biotech company Illumina…

Founded in 1998 in San Diego, Illumina began as a humble startup with a vision: to make DNA sequencing fast, affordable and accessible.

At the time, sequencing a single human genome cost nearly $100 million and took years. Most experts believed that bringing the cost down to even $10,000 was a pipe dream.

But the biotech’s founders were undeterred by the odds…

Illumina imagined a future where genetic information could transform medicine, a “cheat code” to understand life itself.

One monumental breakthrough came in 2007, when Illumina acquired Solexa, a British company with a revolutionary sequencing technology.

This was arguably the moment that put Illumina on the map because Solexa’s “sequencing by synthesis” approach allowed scientists to read millions of fragments of DNA at once, dramatically increasing speed and slashing costs.

Within a few years, Illumina’s machines became the gold standard in genomics labs worldwide.

Source: Illumina Inc.
A state-of-the-art DNA sequencing machine at a Solution Center in São Paulo, Brazil…

All to say, Illumina’s impact was immediate and profound.

Suddenly, researchers could sequence entire genomes in days instead of years. The cost plummeted from millions to thousands — and kept falling. By 2014, Illumina announced it could sequence a human genome for under $1,000, a milestone that once seemed impossible.

This was much more than an engineering feat; it was a scientific revolution. By making sequencing accessible, Illumina opened the door to personalized medicine — where treatments could be tailored to a person’s unique genetic makeup. Cancer, rare disorders and even infectious disease could be understood at the molecular level.

But the story doesn’t end there: As Illumina’s technology matured, its influence spread beyond medicine. “Our products are used for applications in the life sciences, oncology, reproductive health, agriculture and other emerging segments,” notes Illumina News Center.

Some significant examples?

• Genetic testing companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA rely on Illumina’s platforms to bring DNA insights to millions of consumers

• Agricultural scientists use Illumina’s tools to breed hardier crops and healthier livestock

• And conservationists sequence endangered species to help save them from extinction.

Today, Illumina stands at the forefront of genomics, having turned the dream of affordable, rapid DNA sequencing into a reality.

As Illumina CEO Jacob Thaysen puts it: “We see a future where you know you have a disease before you have a single symptom. Where you can fight it with the right weapon, a medicine tailored to your specific biology.”

Illumina’s now leading the charge into a new era where artificial intelligence and multiomics — integrating genomics with data on proteins and more — are poised to redefine what’s possible in medicine.

Through collaborations with industry leaders like Nvidia and Tempus, Illumina is harnessing AI to make clinical research and drug discovery faster, more affordable and more precise than ever before.

For investors and innovators alike, Illumina’s story is a testament to the power of vision, perseverance and scientific ingenuity.

Biotech looks to the future, and Paradigm’s own tech-investing whiz Ray Blanco believes the possibilities are staggering. Thanks to companies like Illumina, science-fiction scenarios are now within reach.

As a cancer survivor himself, Ray understands the importance of the U.S. biotech sector — including one microcap stock he’s currently eyeing — for patients and investors alike.

[We may be days away from a major turning point in cancer treatment, according to Ray Blanco.

For decades, treatments like chemo and radiation have been the standard, despite their harsh side effects. Now a new approach offers hope for safer, more effective therapies…

The FDA is expected to make a critical announcement that could bring this groundbreaking new discovery to the forefront — one that challenges everything we thought we knew about fighting cancer.

At the heart of this breakthrough is a small biotech company, valued under $1 billion, poised for explosive growth if the FDA announcement goes as expected on Tuesday, July 22, 2025.

To see Ray’s presentation about why he believes this small biotech could signal the end of cancer treatment as we know it, click here now. Don’t miss your chance to learn more about this potentially life-changing — and portfolio-changing — development.]

Bitcoin’s Halving: You Are Here

“Remember when Bitcoin hit $100,000 earlier this year? That was just the warm-up act,” claims Paradigm’s crypto evangelist James Altucher. “The main event is about to begin, and it's going to make early investors very, very wealthy.

“How do I know this? Because three massive catalysts are converging right now…

“First, we're in crypto's perfect timing window,” says James. “Most people think the Bitcoin ‘halving’ immediately triggers a boom, but they're wrong.”

[Bitcoin’s halving is an event that occurs roughly every four years — or every 210,000 new blocks added to Bitcoin’s blockchain — when the reward ‘miners’ receive is cut in half.

With the most recent halving in April 2024, this process reduces the rate at which new Bitcoins are created, increasing scarcity.]

“History shows,” James continues, “crypto follows three distinct phases after each halving. We're now entering the final ‘mania phase’ — when life-changing gains typically happen.

“Second, Wall Street's floodgates have opened,” he adds. “BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF accomplished in months what took gold funds decades.

“Now every major financial institution is racing to launch their own crypto funds. This isn't millions or billions — we're looking at TRILLIONS of dollars pouring into crypto.

“Third, we have the most pro-crypto White House in history. Trump personally owns nearly $10 million in crypto and is establishing a U.S. Bitcoin reserve. His goal? Make America ‘the crypto capital of the world.’

“When government support meets Wall Street money at the perfect market timing, what happens?” James asks. “An explosion of wealth that creates thousands of new millionaires practically overnight.”

Just like that, Bitcoin breached its high-water mark today, surpassing its January record…

In terms of Ethereum, Bitcoin’s younger brother is getting some attention, too — the second-place crypto is up almost 4% to $2,585.

Other than the tech-heavy Nasdaq, up 0.40% to 19,225, the Dow and the S&P 500 are in the red, down 0.75% to 42,355 and down 0.10% to 5,935 respectively.

As for commodities, crude is down 0.75% to $61.54 for a barrel of West Texas Intermediate. But like crypto, precious metals are in the green. The yellow metal is up 0.90% to $3,315 per ounce while silver’s gained 1.35% to $33.64.

Why Millennials (Heart) Layaway

Klarna, the Swedish fintech giant known for its “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) service, is facing mounting financial pressure despite rapid growth.

In the first quarter of 2025, Klarna’s net loss more than doubled, reaching $99 million — up sharply from $47 million in the same period last year. The company’s consumer credit losses, reflecting customers who failed to repay their installment loans, also swelled by 17% to $136 million, compared to $117 million a year ago.

These losses come even as Klarna’s revenue climbed 13% to $701 million and its user base hit 100 million active customers, underscoring the tension between expansion and profitability.

Klarna attributes the surge in losses to a mix of restructuring costs, depreciation and share-based compensation tied to its now-paused plans for a U.S. IPO.

The company’s leadership points out that, relative to the total value of loans issued, credit losses remain low — rising slightly from 0.51% to 0.54%.

Nonetheless, the absolute increase in unpaid debts signals growing strain among BNPL users, a trend mirrored across the industry as more Americans turn to installment loans for everyday purchases, including groceries.

This financial stress is set against a backdrop of record U.S. consumer debt, which rose by $167 billion to $18.2 trillion in the first quarter of 2025.

Even still, traditional credit balances like credit cards and auto loans fell post-holiday, while delinquencies in student loans and BNPL products surged.

Now here’s the story the mainstream is missing entirely…

Regardless of warning signs, BNPL continues to resonate, especially among millennials.

As Neil Howe and Christian Ford observe at the Demography Unplugged Substack, millennials are flocking to payment plans for everything from beauty products to big-ticket experiences like Coachella — where an estimated 65–70% of attendees this year used installment options for tickets costing over $499.

• Howe and Ford note: “Despite the mainstream media’s shocked reaction, this is classic millennial risk aversion.” [Emphasis ours]

Rather than taking on revolving credit card debt with high interest, millennials prefer transparent payment plans that resemble old-school layaway plans. “They prefer payment options with fixed terms, no compounding interest and clear boundaries around risk.”

For millennials, the worst-case scenario with BNPL isn’t spiraling debt — it’s a canceled purchase and perhaps a credit for future use. This structure, as Howe and Ford put it, “is a far safer bet than carrying a 20% APR on a credit card.”

The appeal of spreading out payments, avoiding big one-time hits to their bank accounts and steering clear of traditional credit risk explains why BNPL is becoming millennials’ go-to method for both small and increasingly large purchases.

As Howe and Ford conclude: “What started as a tool for lipstick and leggings is fast becoming a preferred way to fund life’s bigger splurges.”

Update: Nuclear Flashpoint

The Indo-Pakistan conflict has subsided for the moment, but Jim Rickards warns escalating tensions have brought the world to “the brink of an existential war between two nuclear-armed powers.”

Jim contends if the situation deteriorates toward nuclear confrontation, “It’s not inconceivable that the U.S. or perhaps a joint U.S.-Russia mission would attack and destroy both the Pakistani and Indian nuclear weapons systems in a way that did not set off a nuclear explosion.”

The goal, he stresses, would be to “eliminate an existential threat to the human race,” not to choose sides.

He advocates for a “game theory approach” in which this potential response is communicated in advance to both countries, aiming to deter escalation.

Yet Jim is clear-eyed about the challenges: “Pakistan’s politics are perennially unstable, and India’s ruling party has staked out a nationalist pro-Hindu platform. Those realities make compromise more difficult.”

He suggests that U.S. mediation may be necessary, especially as “the last thing the world needs is a shooting war between two nuclear-armed powers.”

For investors, Jim advises prudence: “Reduce exposure to risky assets like stocks and increase allocations to safer assets including Treasury notes, cash and gold.”

Recession? No Desk Jockeys Required

Forget government wonks: If you want to know whether a recession is looming, just ask a brothel manager, bartender or hairdresser.

Catherine De Noire, in fact, who manages a legal brothel in Europe, swears when business drops and clients start haggling over prices, she knows belts everywhere are tightening. (Heh, figuratively speaking, of course.)

This year, her brothel’s earnings have plunged, with even top earners taking home half of last year’s pay. “There are significantly fewer clients coming in, and the sex workers are reporting noticeably lower earnings,” De Noire says, chalking it up to a global sense of economic anxiety.

But the economic crystal ball doesn’t stop at the red-light district. Enter the “Beer Index”...

Source: The NBWA Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI)

According to Jack Buffington, an assistant professor at the University of Denver: “Sales of craft beer have significantly declined,” Buffington points out, and that’s a classic sign of recessionary jitters

Since beer is a “discretionary and social expense,” he says, when times get tough, people swap pricey craft brews for bargain six-packs. And skip the bar altogether.

Then there’s the “Brunette Index.” When salon clients start abandoning expensive bleaching for natural, low-maintenance brunette shades, stylists know purse strings are tightening. Fewer blondes on the street? It might be time to brace for an economic downturn.

So if you notice quieter brothels, fewer pints of craft IPA and a sudden surge of natural brunettes, don’t wait for the next Fed meeting. The real economic signals are in plain sight — just follow the tips, taps and roots.

Take care, reader! We’ll be back with another 5 Bullets tomorrow…

Best regards,

Emily Clancy
Associate editor, Paradigm Pressroom's 5 Bullets