2024-11-20 18:00

Barry Silbert will be the CEO of Yuma, a new DCG company focused on incubating and building new businesses within Bittensor’s decentralized AI ecosystem. DCG chief and Yuma CEO Barry Silbert said he believes Bittensor could be as transformative as bitcoin. Yuma will operate as an accelerator for startups looking to explore Bittensor, and as an incubator to partner up and build subnets. Digital Currency Group (DCG), an early champion of cryptocurrencies and the digital asset industry, is now turning its attention to AI as well. Not just any artificial intelligence, but a decentralized version that drives the Bittensor ecosystem. The conglomerate led by Barry Silbert has unveiled a new company, Yuma, focused on incubating and building new businesses that use decentralized AI to perform tasks and earn rewards. At its core, Bittensor is a decentralized network for AI that creates incentives for people to contribute data and computing power for activities ranging from text translation and data storage to predicting the structure of complex protein chains. “If you ask five people: 'What is Bittensor?' You will get five different answers,” Silbert, a cryptocurrency OG investor and evangelist, said in an interview. “If you remember early bitcoin, some people would say it's money, some people would say it's gold. Some people would say it's this blockchain [...] The way that I look at Bittensor is as the World Wide Web of AI.” There's no doubt AI is a foundational technology with all sorts of possibilities, but it also has the potential to hand way too much power to the Microsofts, Facebooks and Googles of this world as users shovel their data in the corporations mighty computers. Decentralized AI may help avoid that, not only when it comes to harnessing vast untapped computational resources, but also removing some of the tech’s opaque and creepy reputation. Bittensor’s native cryptocurrency, $TAO, is used to incentivize an army of decentralized workers: either miners contributing advanced computing services to certain tasks or validators assessing contributions for quality and allocating rewards. This interest in AI didn’t happen overnight. DCG made its first investment into Bittensor in 2021. More recently, DCG’s asset management firm, Grayscale, added funds dedicated to AI including the $TAO token. Underscoring his belief in the project, Silbert will step into the CEO position at Yuma, which will have some 25 employees on day one. In some respects, the Yuma incubation and design studio is to Bittensor what Joe Lubin’s Consensys model was to Ethereum. But rather than owning 100% of the subnets grown under Yuma’s auspices, it's more like the Y Combinator model of a venture capital firm mixed with an accelerator, Silbert said. “There are two flavors of subnet partnerships,” Silbert said. “We are doing an accelerator, so if you are a startup or an enterprise who has an idea and wants to explore the world of Bittensor and launch a subnet, we will help you. Then we have a subnet incubator, where we will partner up with somebody to build from scratch a new subnet.” So far, Yuma has five subnets that are live. Four went through the accelerator program and one through incubation. Another nine are in development and should go live in the coming weeks, one of which is in incubation and rest in the accelerator. The current roster constitutes a good mix of use cases, said Evan Malanga, Yuma's chief revenue officer. “We've got human detection, like bot detection subnets,” Malanga said in an interview. “We have time series prediction subnets coming online. We've got a few academic ones as well; AI research, leveraging the miners in the subnets to go do that work for them, some security ones, and a role-play one. And sports predictions. Lots of sports predictions.” https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/11/20/digital-currency-groups-barry-silbert-bets-big-on-ai-blockchain-bittensor/

2024-11-20 16:38

Wang was one of the key cooperating witnesses with U.S. prosecutors in Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial, earning him a “world of credit,” a judge said on Wednesday. Gary Wang, the former chief technology officer at FTX, was spared prison time by a judge on Wednesday. Wang immediately met with prosecutors after FTX's collapse in 2021. His cooperation deserved a "world of credit," the judge said. He was the last FTX executive to be sentenced. Former FTX chief technology officer and close friend of Sam Bankman-Fried, Gary Wang, won’t have to serve prison time for his involvement in the crypto exchange’s fraud scheme, The New York Times reported. Wang pled guilty to four criminal counts in December 2022, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit commodities fraud. It is thanks to his extensive cooperation with U.S. prosecutors in putting Bankman-Fried behind bars that Wang has avoided prison time, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who has presided over the entire FTX case, said. Wang immediately met with prosecutors after FTX’s collapse, making him one of two key cooperating witnesses in Bankman Fried’s trial, alongside former Alameda Research CEO and Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison. For that, he deserved a “world of credit,” Kaplan told Wang during his sentencing. Wang was the last FTX executive to be sentenced after Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison in September. Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering at FTX, was also spared prison time in October. The harshest sentence was received by Ryan Salame, who is spending seven and a half years in prison for campaign finance fraud. Wang, in a brief statement before his sentencing, said he was “deeply sorry” for his role in FTX’s fraud. “There are so many things I could have done differently,” he said. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/11/20/former-ftx-cto-gary-wang-wont-have-to-serve-prison-time-judge-rules/

2024-11-20 16:00

Sky's Solana rollout has been a smashing success. Will it last? Solana traders are quickly embracing the newest stablecoin to join their decentralized finance (DeFi) fray: USDS, issued by Sky (formerly MakerDAO). Less than a day into launch, USDS's circulating supply on Solana has already surpassed $89 million. Such launch day largesse puts the coin formerly known as DAI well ahead of the other recent entrant, PayPal's PYUSD, as Solana's fastest-growing stablecoin out of the gate. The heady growth is about as preordained as anything could be in DeFi. Sky is spending $2 million a month to incentivize traders that swap into USDS and deploy it, said Rooter, the pseudonymous leader of borrow and lend protocol Save, which is handing out 400,000 worth of USDS a month to suppliers of the new stablecoin. "With Sky heavily incentivizing it's no surprise" that USDS is growing so fast, Rooter said. USDS lenders on Save, Drift and Kamino are chasing yields in excess of 20% because of the rewards boosts provided by Sky. The rate juicing makes USDS farming competitive with USDC, the most popular stablecoin on Solana. It's not uncommon for new token issuers to boost their asset's initial adoption through incentive payouts. PayPal's stablecoin also benefitted from juiced initial yields. Rooter said that program spent around $10 million. "Onboarding a new stable has a formula now: start with liquidity, start with supply then grow borrowing," said Marius Ciubotariu, co-founder of Kamino, which is giving hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of USDS a week to liquidity providers and lenders. Sky is going a step further by incentivizing traders to move their money into Solana via Wormhole, a token bridging service. That's further boosting circulating supply. Yield-chasing stable farmers are a fickle type, and the free money won't last forever. When incentives start to dry out the USDS converts may swap back into USDC or other stablecoins, as they did with PYUSD, said Rooter. "It's all about making inroads while the incentives are live, getting brand recognition or integrations," he said. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/11/20/juiced-usds-yields-woo-solana-traders-to-skys-stablecoin/

2024-11-20 09:42

The company's stock is now up over 500% year-to-date, approaching a $100 billion market cap. MicroStrategy has broken into the top 100 U.S. publicly traded companies by market cap, with its capitalization now approaching $100 billion. Shares are up another 6% premarket after bitcoin moved to a new record high and the company upsized its latest capital raise to $2.6 billion from $1.75 billion. Disclaimer: The analyst who wrote this piece owns shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR). Self-described bitcoin development company MicroStrategy (MSTR) has just breached into the top 100 U.S. publicly traded companies, currently sitting in 97th place. The company jumped 29 places on Tuesday's performance, which saw a 12% price surge through $400 a share. The impressive gain coincided with bitcoin hitting new all-time highs of over $94,000. Shares rose further on Wednesday morning as bitcoin (BTC) added to its record high and the company upsized its 0% convertible debt offering to $2.6 billion from the previously announced $1.75 billion. Proceeds are to be used to purchase more bitcoin. At press time, the stock was higher by 6.6% premarket and 528% year-to-date. The company has now issued six convertible notes, maturing from 2027 to 2032, with this latest offering the largest so far. As of Nov. 18, MicroStrategy held 331,200 bitcoin, which would make their current stack worth over $30 billion versus close to a $100 billion market cap. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/11/20/microstrategy-breaks-into-the-top-100-us-public-companies-by-market-cap/

2024-11-20 09:41

The broker raised its price target on the stock to $51 from $30 while maintaining its outperform rating on the shares. Robinhood is expected to benefit the most from crypto deregulation in the U.S., the report said. Bernstein raised its price target for the trading platform to $51 from $30. The company's acquisition of crypto exchange Bitstamp is expected to boost the value-added crypto services it can offer, the broker said. Robinhood (HOOD) is set to be the biggest beneficiary of regulatory tailwinds from a potentially pro-crypto U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under a Donald Trump administration, broker Bernstein said in a research report Wednesday. The broker raised its price target for the popular trading platform to $51 from $30 while maintaining its outperform rating on the shares. The stock was more than 2% higher at around $36 in early trading. Bernstein noted that Robinhood has operated a "regulatory-constrained crypto business" and has listed only 19 cryptocurrency tokens to date. The California-based company has made no revenue from staking, lending, derivatives or stablecoins. "But under a potentially new pro-crypto SEC, this looks set to change, and we expect HOOD to be the biggest beneficiary of crypto regulatory tailwinds," analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote. The trading app can drive higher revenues by listing new tokens and introducing new crypto product lines to target the wider opportunity, the authors wrote. Robinhood's acquisition of Bitstamp and its European platform should "further boost value added crypto services," the authors wrote, as exchanges can offer staking, stablecoin access and lending. The trading platform added solana (SOL), pepe (PEPE), cardano (ADA) and XRP (XRP) last week following Trump's win in the U.S. presidential election, and now offers trading in 19 cryptocurrencies for American clients. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/11/20/robinhood-is-the-top-crypto-deregulation-trade-bernstein-says/

2024-11-20 08:46

South Korean traders are known for pushing euphoric rallies on tokens, contributing to buying pressure and possibly influencing prices. XRP and Dogecoin (DOGE) have seen significantly higher trading volumes than Bitcoin on South Korean exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb. XRP and DOGE have experienced over 100% price increases in the past two weeks, driven by factors like favorable U.S. regulatory changes for XRP and endorsements from figures like Elon Musk for DOGE. While South Korean trading frenzy might indicate market froth, XRP's price stability above $1 suggests potential for further gains. Trading volume in XRP and dogecoin (DOGE) is much higher than that of bitcoin (BTC) on South Korean crypto exchanges this week, a frenzy that may have helped raise prices of the two tokens in the crazed market. CoinGecko data shows XRP and DOGE have cumulatively accounted for as much as 30% of trading volumes on Upbit, the country’s biggest exchange, and nearly 20% on Bithumb in the past 24 hours. That is unusually higher than usual leader bitcoin and indicates a short-term demand for the tokens in the country. Part of these volumes could be attributed to wash trading, however, where automated programs continuously trade a token to give the illusion of a heavily traded market. Upbit led XRP volumes in dollar terms across all global exchanges in the past 24 hours, including venues such as Binance and Coinbase, the data shows. (These trades were placed against Korean won but have been converted to U.S. dollars at current exchange rates). Binance and Coinbase, however, lead DOGE trading volumes across global exchanges. XRP and DOGE were the best-performing majors in the past weeks as BTC hit new lifetime highs. Both tokens are up more than 100% in the past 14 days, data shows, with their futures products surging to yearly highs. In crypto circles, South Korean traders are known for pushing euphoric rallies on tokens, contributing to buying pressure and possibly influencing prices. Gains in XRP started last week as the shifting U.S. regulatory climate supported growth in tokens related to companies hampered by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) actions (XRP is closely related to Ripple Labs). Meanwhile, DOGE has surged following a Republican win at the U.S. elections and a renewed promotional push by technocrat Elon Musk — who has been picked to lead the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) non-governmental unit under a Trump administration. As such, attention from South Korean markets may mark a local top for tokens as it a sign of froth, as a CoinDesk analysis previously noted. However, CoinDesk markets analyst Omkar Godbole sees growth in XRP prices in the near term. “XRP is holding steady above $1 after a powerful rally—the strongest in three years! While intraday charts hint at a possible pullback, it could set the stage for another upward move,” Godbole said. “Momentum indicators on longer charts are firmly bullish. Key supports to watch out for are 96 cents and 65 cents. Resistance looms at $1.26 and $1.40, echoing the supply zone from September 2021,” he added. XRP trades at just over $1 as of Asian afternoon hours Wednesday. DOGE is just under 40 cents. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/11/20/dogecoin-xrp-trading-volumes-flip-bitcoins-in-south-korea/