Bitcoin loses 5% in a few minutes during the Asian Session. The other top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization do even worse. Ethereum just over 7%, BNB less than 6% and Solana the same. Certainly not a situation of great collapse and great panic, although the decline was vertical. Bitcoin fell below $66,500, which very far from the disaster that many are talking about on social media. "Bitcoin (BTC) faced selling pressure during Asian trading hours on Tuesday as upbeat U.S. factory data lifted the dollar index (DXY) to the highest since mid-November" - Coin desk says.
The dollar is stronger, so-so Asian markets and that's probably why Bitcoin pays the bill. But, all things considered, Bitcoin is not performing badly even for risk assets and we have to see this movements as a temporary correction that does not change the fundamentals. The Asian markets, which may be responsible for this moment of difficulty for Bitcoin, are actually ending the day on a positive note. Hong Kong makes +2.35%. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback’s value against major fiat currencies, topped the 105 mark for the first time over four months, taking the four-week gain to 2.58%.
Macro data has provided further support for rate cuts in the USA which will perhaps be postponed even beyond June. Markets now price the chance that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in June at just over 50%. Something that only 1 week ago was priced at over 60%, just to have a perspective of what is happening also in terms of sentiment. Although cryptocurrency enthusiasts are often excessively reactive to movements, it should be remembered that Bitcoin is a mere -10% from historical highs, just as the daily losses of the entire sector should be assessed with a bit of a sense of proportion.
SOURCE: CoinDesk
PHOTO CREDITS: Art Rachen
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
Recently from Bloomberg Mark Gurman revealed a possible agreement between Apple and Google to bring Gemini to iPhones. However the journalist has now provided further details on the partnerships that the Cupertino company could also start with OpenAI and Anthropic to include AI features in iOS 18.
It has to say that Apple has been developing its Ajax model for a few years. The point here is if the iPhone parent company is considering to ask for help to speed up the launch of AI features with iOS 18. According to Gurman, the Cupertino company has contacted Google, OpenAI and Anthropic to integrate their respective models into the new version of the operating system. The idea would be to use Gemini, GPT or Claude for the chatbot (basically an enhanced version of Siri), while Ajax will manage other activities (in China an agreement with Baidu is possible). But why would Apple ask multiple providers for external support? A possible exclusive partnership with Google would certainly end up under the scrutiny of the authorities. The billion-dollar contract signed for the default search engine is one of the topics covered during the antitrust trial against the Mountain View company (which also pays a significant percentage of advertising revenue).
Interestingly, Apple can leverage generative AI services without having to deal with the huge costs of running models, instead shifting some of that responsibility to its partners. This could open up new monetization opportunities for the company, as well as accelerate the deployment of AI capabilities without having to directly invest in expensive infrastructure.
The other new could be on the support for the Messages app that would significantly improve iPhone users' messaging experience, allowing them to enjoy more advanced and interactive features. Additionally, a refreshed design and more customizable home screen could help maintain user interest and further differentiate the iPhone experience from that of competitors. The 2024 World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) promises to be very interesting, with many expectations for the innovations that Apple will present. It remains to be seen how these new features will be received and how they will influence the future of the smartphone market.
READ ALSO ---> "What to expect from Eu AI Act"
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
The Meta Economist meets professor Andrea Bertolini to make an interesting analysis about the EU AI Act. Bertolini is the Director of the European Center of Excellence on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Regulation (Eura) and professor of private Law at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. His research starts from private law to technological regulation (robotics and AI) and bioethics, with a comparative and law and economics approach.
The Italian Newspaper la Repubblica just inserted professor Bertolini among the 500 italian researchers that counts on AI subjects.
The European market is still relevant - says Bertolini - and European citizens are still much of interest for even non-European companies, that anyone who will want to do business in Europe or with European citizens will have to abide by and comply with AI Act and all European legislation. So this should provide Europe the possibility of influencing the global development and production of AI systems. Because if an American company wants to bring their AI based product to the European market and have European users use that product, then they will have to comply with the AI Act".
And even if that is true, European technical research in the field of artificial intelligence is not as advanced as that occurring in the US and maybe China, Europe decided to regulate it before other Countries and that's the advantage now. About this and other topics we focused on this interview.
Read also---> The EU AI Act is law by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
STRASBOURG - A few hours ago the European Parliament approved the AI Act, the first law in the world to regulate the development and use of artificial intelligence systems, with 523 votes in favour, 46 against and 49 abstentions. Before the official approval, the text must be approved by the Council of the European Union. The two institutions had reached a political agreement on the contents of the law in December. The law indicate the ways in which it is permitted to use artificial intelligence systems to protect the privacy and other rights of European citizens in many different applications of AI, from systems for hiring new staff in companies to the algorithms that make self-driving cars work, passing through facial recognition by law enforcement and the spread of online disinformation. There will be 6 months for suppliers and users of artificial intelligence systems and buyers to adapt the regulation. In two years all the rules will become operational. The sanctions for those who won't respect the law's rules will start from 1.5% of global turnover, equal to 7.5 million euros, up to 7%, equal to 35 million euros.
Users and companies will have to ensure that the product purchased has already passed the required assessment and conformity procedure, that will be provided with a European conformity mark and accompanied by the required documentation and instructions. The rules do not apply only in the case of research and development activities that precede the sale, to systems intended exclusively for military, defense or national security purposes and to free and open-source models, which are not artificial intelligence models with risks systemic.
The law was initially proposed by the European Commission in 2021, but it took a long time especially due to the notable technological development carried out by several companies in the last two years: the innovations have forced the European Union to take into account possible new problems in a sector in full expansion and with still blurred contours. Now the next step will be lead by the Council
The regulation provides for other prohibitions in the use of AI, for example it will not be allowed to use technologies to calculate the "social score" of each individual, a practice increasingly experimented in China where each citizen is assigned points based on behavior, which it gives the possibility of accessing particular services that are precluded to those with low scores. It will be prohibited to develop algorithms that can cause physical or psychological damage to individuals, or with the ability to manipulate their behavior even in a subliminal form. Another important point of the law deals with the technological systems on which chatbot services such as ChatGPT are based. Two levels of rules have been foreseen distinguishing between high-impact AI and all other artificial intelligence systems. High-impact AI refers to systems with considerable computing power: according to initial information, at the moment only OpenAI's GPT-4 falls into this category. High-impact AI systems must comply with rules regarding the transparency of AI training processes and the sharing of technical documentation before being put on the market. All other systems must comply with these rules only from the moment the services are marketed.
Summarizing, the application of AI in Europe will ban all the actions that are dangerous for citizens such as:
In these days in Italy is taking place the European Robotics Forum 2024, which this year is held in Rimini. It is the most important annual event in the EU Robotics for those who do research in robotics, and those who do business, and those who work at universities in various sectors. Andrea Bertolini, Director of the European Center of Excellence on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Regulation (Eura) and professor of private Law at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, is a notable AI researcher and during the EU Robotics Forum organized a workshop in collaboration with Kilometro Rosso, Fraunhofers and other universities. As Ansa reported: "An epochal document which is the first in the world to take up the challenge of the safety of products linked to artificial intelligence and which in the future will have to be implemented and constantly updated".
This is the first technical presentation of the AI Act, just approved, with a guest from the European Commission who participated in the drafting of the act. Her name is Tatiana Evans. She is based in Brussels and she made the first technical presentation of the act after its approval. "We are prepared to train engineers - says Bertolini - and those who have no knowledge technique of legal issues. We prepared a video class on various technology regulation issues to train them, to make them understand what is important in research and in development of their technologies and their applications. After explaining the Act, we presented the courses which organized with the European Commission and which will be made available to engineers for free through a platform to which everyone, not just engineers, actually will be able to access to train on various aspects of technology regulation".
We will talk with Andrea Bertolini in a video interview on TME TV, about the AI Act and the training courses linked to its applications.
SOURCE: IlPost, Wired
READ ALSO ---> "What to expect from Eu AI Act"
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
Disney and Epic Games will collaborate to create an open and persistent game universe, bringing together characters from Star Wars, Marvel, Avatar and Pixar. The Walt Disney Company is taking a $1.5 billion equity stake in Epic Games to build what it calls a "persistent universe," less than a year after shuttering its Metaverse division. Founded in 1991, Epic Games is an American company founded by CEO Tim Sweeney. The company is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina and has more than 40 offices worldwide. Today Epic is a leading interactive entertainment company and provider of 3D engine technology.
In a official statement, Disney said the multi-year project — subject to regulatory approval — will be a gaming experience that interacts with Fortnite, Epic's flagship game. The project will be a “universe of games and entertainment,” allowing users to “play, watch, shop and interact with content, characters and stories” from Disney assets. Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games, stated that the two companies will "build a persistent, open and interoperable ecosystem", while Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, stated that "this marks Disney's largest entry into the world of games". Disney added that "players, gamers and fans will be able to create their own stories and experiences." Epic's game engine, Unreal Engine, will power the so-called universe, but no details on the project's launch date have been shared.
Disney's move comes less than a year after it dismantled its Metaverse division in March 2023, cutting about 50 workers in an effort to reduce operating expenses. This choice is going to the direction, for Disney, to become part of one of the huge metaverse, without having the possibilities to own its space in the metaverse without using Fortnite. That's the turning point here. Is this the destiny of metaverse? Or maybe there's an alternative. Better said, we need the bravery to create independent metaverses, where data and users can run with precise rules and privacy.
The partnership announcement comes on the same day as Disney's Q1 2024 results, following a string of major box office and streaming flops in 2023. For the quarter ended December 30, 2023, Disney posted revenue of $23.6 billion, narrowly beating the estimates of Zacks Wall Street analysts. However, revenue growth remained flat compared to the $23.5 billion reported in the same quarter a year earlier. Disney said it will pay a dividend of 45 cents per share, a 50% increase from the last paid in January. Its stock price closed the day at around $99, according to Google Finance, but jumped nearly 7% to over $105 in after-hours trading. Epic's Sweeney has been focusing on the metaverse for some time and in May 2023 he joked about the idea that the latter was "dead", citing the 600 million monthly active users across multiple metaverses. However, four months later, in September, Epic cut its headcount by 16% — about 830 people — saying that unrealistic revenue expectations from the metaverse caused it to spend "way more" than it could afford. Epic has already collaborated on similar projects in the past.
SOURCE: Cointelegraph
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
The number of startups and new companies led by women saw a slight increase from 8.3% in 2022 to 8.6% in the third quarter of 2023. A research by Bitget discovered that the gender gap is present also in this new workfield and this is due to the investments. Over the past two years, a research team has been studying, based on qualitative and quantitative data, to provide a transparent overview of the gap in investments received by male- and female-led blockchain startups between 2022 and 2023.
Some characteristics that emerge from the research are that:
•There is a strong need for incubators capable of nurturing start-ups founded by women and promoting a more inclusive and encouraging environment for their development
• Fundraising by blockchain startups declined 70.1% per quarter between Q1 2022 and Q3 2023.
•During the study period, blockchain startups raised $27.85 billion, with female-led blockchain startups securing only 6.34% of overall funding
•The number of female-led blockchain startups has declined by 45.2% since the start of 2022, but is already showing a recovery
The data about female-led blockchain startups is influenced, as Il Sole 24 Ore reported - by overall investment trends, the cryptocurrency market situation, investor sentiment and investor prejudices. At the end the result is that more than 90% of funding going to male-led projects. In relation to these numbers, the exchange therefore decided to launch the Blockchain4Her initiative, that allocates 10 million dollars to promote gender diversity and inclusiveness in the blockchain sector.
Gender bias has been proven to have a determining effect on investments, as statistics indicate that male-led startups have attracted $27.85 billion, while female-led blockchain startups have raised $1.77 billion, only 6.34% of the total amount. Based on this information, the amount of investments in start-ups has decreased, but does not present the same constant downward trend recorded in the previous year. Quantitative indicators of startup operations also decreased.
The new economic system was born with an equality and democratic aim. We need this to be also in order to create the same opportunities for new companies that wants to open this market crating jobs. The disparities highlighted by the study underlines that we must proactively work to create an ecosystem where talent and potential are the only criteria, without gender bias. Every work sector needs to become an inclusive environment, where everyone, regardless of gender, enjoys equal opportunities.
SOURCE: Il Sole 24 Ore
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder, has spoke out on the use of new AI tools, such as OpenAI's Sora, and has turned on the enthusiasm for this new crypto segment. According to the founder of Ethereum, we will very soon see a real fusion between artificial intelligence and blockchain, in which AI will not be limited to a secondary role, but will become a key player in the ecosystem. AI will become a protagonist, for example, in DAOs, decentralized autonomous organizations, but also in the research and development of new systems.
There are also many risks in Buterin's vision as Coin Desk reported: "Buterin suggested using AI to improve code audits and reduce bugs in blockchain projects. Moreover AI-assisted code audits can adapt and learn from new information, making them more effective than current automated tools. Human inspection can be combined with AI systems to create a strong system for detecting vulnerabilities, developers said. In 2023, crypto users lost an estimated $2 billion to hacks and scams, with Ethereum experiencing the highest losses due to its extensive ecosystem and high-profile projects".
The launch of Sora, the new ChatGpt editor of videos from text, took place last Friday, but crypto tokens linked to the artificial intelligence sector continue to pump. The best AI cryptos are the latest market trend and projects like Fetch.Ai and Ocean Protocol. OpenAI's new extension creates realistic videos from text-based instructions. Not a real novelty, but it was enough to trigger a new wave of interest in artificial intelligence. Consequently, cryptocurrency trading is also doing well, especially in the AI sector where Fetch.Ai and Ocean Protocol are recording very interesting double-digit gains.
SOURCE: CoinDesk
PHOTO CREDITS: Mariia Shalabaieva
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
Torrevieja, a tourist center in the Spanish province of Alicante, will allow shops to accept cryptocurrency payments, paving the way for greater adoption. Torrevieja is a city of nearly 90,000 inhabitants and aims to become one of the first cryptocurrency-friendly locations in Spain. The city, in alliance with Apymeco will encourage the use of cryptocurrency as a payment option and provide courses for shops interested in learning how to receive and use cryptocurrency.
Last week, the city revealed a multi-phase plan to become a cryptocurrency-friendly location with the help of Apymeco, the local merchants association. Jorge Almarcha, president of Apymeco, said: "In Spain, since 2015, it has been legal to pay with cryptocurrencies. However, it was not until today that we wanted to democratize its use as a means of payment in standard, neighborhood and traditional commerce".
We can say that Torrevieja will play a central role for the studies e for the models of crypto economy that will also contribute to create new job titles. There will be three phases towards this crypto "transition" that will help bulding a solid future of this new decentralized economy.
SOURCE: Bitcoin.com
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
With the word "ICO" we mean a crowdfunding system in the financial sector. Despite a long time history, in these day the web 3 is talking about ICOs linked to a revolutionary Bitcoin Dogs project recently announced. The launch is scheduled for February 14th, 2024 and it will be the world's first ICO on the Bitcoin blockchain. With pre-salt set to debut next week, the new project aims to gain significant traction with its fresh approach.
To support the growth of the platform, Bitcoin Dogs will distribute 900 million 0DOG tokens during a 30-day flash presale. Beyond the obvious investment appeal, these tokens will give holders access to an exclusive collection of NFTs and an engaging social gaming ecosystem. Using the paradigm-shifting Ordinals protocol, players will store their NFTs on the Bitcoin BRC-20 blockchain, offering a new level of security and reliability when stacked up against competitors Solana and Ethereum.
The question is: could the 0DOG token represent an investment opportunity with profits of 50x-100x? Will it enter crypto history as the world's first presale on the Bitcoin blockchain?
From initial public offerings (IPOs) to crowdfunding platforms to initial coin offerings (ICOs), the world of fundraising has undergone enormous transformations.
Let's go back to the history of ICOs, as we told before in this article, 2013 is the year where this story begun. The first ICO was launched in 2013 for the launch of the Mastercoin cryptocurrency. In 2014, an ICO was added to the Ethereum cryptocurrency. The ICO is very popular. Last year 2017 was released about 20 months ago and the ICO for a new web browser called Brave generated about $35 million in 30 seconds. There are at least 18 websites that track ICOs.
Just to clarify, the first ICO was launched to be re-founded by new cryptocurrencies, but the current ICO is used to qualify. Typically these tokens are sold to be stored, with the existence of the token and the defined behavior of the mathematical algorithm. If there is a difference between similar tender offers, the acquisition of the token is not regulated by the government and does not guarantee ownership or other conditions.
SOURCES: BitPanda, Blockchain News
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
