Russian companies are using bitcoin to evade Western sanctions, thanks to a new law, the country's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov confirmed in a television interview.

Why it matters: Russia's economy has been hampered by difficulties in making and receiving international payments, even with countries like China that don't use the U.S. dollar as their reserve currencies.

Catch up quick: The Kremlin last month created an experimental legal framework for cryptocurrency miners, which includes a provision whereby approved entities can use crypto for international trade.

• It also could be a boon for Russian energy companies, which now can sell to a power-hungry group of domestic bitcoin miners.

Reality check: Just because Russian companies are allowed by their government to make payments in bitcoin, that doesn't necessarily mean all other countries will accept it — both due to their own laws and pressure on domestic banks from Western financial regulators.

The bottom line: This development could create a challenge for President-elect Trump, who is both a crypto convert and advocate for U.S. dollar dominance.

Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, is raising around $3 billion for its third growth equity fund, Axios has learned from multiple sources.

Why it matters: Founders Fund has backed some of the world's most valuable tech startups, including SpaceX and Stripe.

• It also will have access to the incoming White House, thanks to Thiel's longtime support of President-elect Trump and the firm's numerous investments with Elon Musk.

Catch up quick: Founders Fund in 2022 raised $3.4 billion for its second growth equity fund and $1.8 billion for its eighth early-stage fund.

• Early last year it split the early-stage fund in half, due to a perceived dearth of opportunities, and hasn't yet begun investing what it now calls "Fund IX."
• There were also talks about splitting the growth fund, but that didn't happen and now most of that money has been invested — including in capital-intensive AI companies.

Behind the scenes: Founders Fund hasn't provided prospective investors with an official size target for the new effort, but has said that $3 billion would be the approximate size.

• A firm spokesperson declined comment.

The Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins each have agreed to sell minority ownership stakes to private equity, the first such deals in National Football League history.

Why it matters: The NFL had been the last major U.S. sports league to allow institutional investors to hold stakes in teams, approving new rules back in August.

Zoom in: Ares Management led the Miami deal, while Arctos Partners led the Buffalo deal.

• Each transaction is for a 10% stake, which is the maximum amount allowed under the NFL's new policy.
• The Miami Dolphins are majority-owned by real estate developer Stephen Ross, and the Ares investment also includes stakes in Hard Rock Stadium and the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix. Joining Ares are Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai and investor Oliver Weisberg.
• The Bills are majority-owned by billionaire businessman Terry Pegula, and Arctos is being joined by a group of individuals that includes former pro athletes Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Jozy Altidore.

Catch up quick: Arctos and Ares are two of four private equity groups that were approved to buy ownership stakes.

• The other two: Sixth Street and a consortium made up of Blackstone, Carlyle, CVC Capital Partners, Dynasty Equity and Ludis, a platform founded by former NFL star Curtis Martin.
• Other funds will be approved in the coming months, although there is no set timeline.

Elsewhere: The NFL also approved the sale of a minority stake in the Philadelphia Eagles at an $8.3 billion valuation, although private equity would not be involved in that deal, according to CNBC.

Fidelity mutual funds marked up the value of their X Holdings shares by 32.37% in October, the largest monthly increase since helping Elon Musk buy the company in 2022.

The big picture: Even with the valuation boost, Fidelity believes X is worth nearly 72% less than the $44 billion purchase price.

Behind the scenes: Fidelity, which began marking down the company's shares just a month into Musk's stewardship, doesn't necessarily have any inside information on the X's financial performance, despite being a shareholder.

• It also doesn't disclose how it determines valuations of privately held companies.
• Comparable companies like Meta and Snap didn't experience similar stock price boosts in October, with Meta actually losing value.

Zoom in: The most likely explanation for X's price increase relates to xAI, a separate Musk company that is training its large language model on X data.

• Fidelity invested in xAI's $6 billion Series B round, and held those shares at cost for months until marking them up by around 70% in October.
• The Series B investment was new money, but there have been reports that X Holdings has a significant equity stake in xAI. If so, that could help explain the X Holdings increase.

The bottom line: Fidelity reports on a one-month lag, which means the new mark does not reflect the reelection of Donald Trump, or Musk's informal role in his upcoming administration.

The Justice Department will ask a judge to require that Google divest its Chrome browser, according to Bloomberg.

Why it matters: This could be the first big test of tech antitrust policy under Trump 2.0.

• This comes three months after the judge ruled that Google violated antitrust law to maintain its search monopoly, and would be DOJ's proposed remedy.
• Google already plans to appeal, which means the case will bleed way past Jan. 20, and even the divestiture decision isn't expected until next summer.

The big picture: Presidents often start legal battles they won't be around to finish, betting on the inertia of federal bureaucracies.

On the one hand: Trump has no love lost for Google, which he threatened to sue during the campaign.

• Same goes for Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz, who's called for breaking up Big Tech companies.

On the other hand: Trump ran on a deregulatory agenda, which helped pry free a lot of donation dollars from Silicon Valley investors.

• Dealmakers have convinced themselves that the next White House will have a much lighter touch on antitrust, but forcing Google to dump Chrome could switch the signals.
• It's not exactly like blocking a new merger, but it could chill future Big Tech acquisitions.

The wildcard: The original case was actually filed during Trump's first term, although the Chrome request would come from Biden's DOJ.

• There's no particular reason to believe past is prologue here, given Trump's reversals on the TikTok ban and crypto being a "scam."

Zoom in, per Bloomberg: "Owning the world's most popular web browser is key for Google's ads business. The company is able to see activity from signed-in users, and use that data to more effectively target promotions, which generate the bulk of its revenue. Google has also been using Chrome to direct users to its flagship AI product, Gemini, which has the potential to evolve from an answer-bot to an assistant that follows users around the web."

The bottom line: Google is the world's fourth-largest company by market cap, with a market cap of nearly $2.2 trillion. It would take two presidents to break it up, but only if they both want to take the fight.