Author: Werner

Freelance crypto content editor, strategist and writer since the very top of 2017's bull run.  Based in Cape Town, SA and previously lived in Asia for a decade. I'm a big believer in the good that decentralized network technology and ethical AI can bring to make the world a more fair and transparent place.

The Biggest Crypto Narratives of Q2 2024

Posted on by Werner

As we enter the second quarter of 2024, the cryptocurrency market is gearing up for what is expected to be an explosive phase of the 2024 bull run. 

The narratives that drove the market in the previous months have evolved, and new trends are emerging, which will force crypto holders to take a long hard look at their portfolios and probably make some changes.

Let’s take a look at the hottest sectors in crypto for Q2 2024 and what to expect.

Please note, nothing in this article should be considered financial advice and any readers planning on investing should do their own research. Crypto assets are highly volatile in price and you could lose everything if you invest. 

Bitcoin Ecosystem

Surprisingly, some of the most cutting-edge developments are taking place on the world’s original crypto chain, which has been known to adapt to new tech with great difficulty. 

The Bitcoin ecosystem is seeing significant development after its Taproot upgrade enabled DeFi and smart contract development. The last year has been up-only for smart contract-powered layer-2 networks like Stacks, and of course the creation of Casey Rodarmor’s Bitcoin Ordinals protocol, which has now led to over 60 million inscriptions and thousands of Ordinal projects. 

These projects are bringing new functionality to the Bitcoin blockchain, enabling new decentralized applications and unique digital assets. Rodarmor’s latest project Runes kicks off next month and promises to solve a lot of the congestion issues caused by BRC20 tokens. 

Memecoins

With Bitcoin is in price discovery mode post-$70k, memecoin mania has broken out all over crypto and shows no signs of abating, 

They continue to capture the attention of crypto traders that resemble a cult, with animal-themed projects like Pepe, Dog Wif Hat (WIF), Bonk, Shiba Inu, Ballz, and Brett making millionaires (and ‘brokies’) of degen traders. While these projects all lack fundamental value, they can generate significant short-term gains and serve as a gateway for new users entering the crypto space who don’t understand the difference between zero-knowledge and optimistic rollups and frankly don’t care. All they care about is whether to ‘ape’ (buy) or ‘jeet’ (sell). 

Layer-1 Chains

One of the key sectors to watch is the Layer-1 blockchain space. While established players like Ethereum, Cardano and Solana remain relevant, newer entrants such as TON (the Telegram chain), Avalanche, Arweave, Fantom, Near, and Sui are gaining traction with various narratives. 

These platforms are attracting attention due to features such as TON’s bullish tokenomics, Arweave’s decentralized storage solutions, Fantom’s high-performance blockchain, Near’s focus on AI (Fantom recently featured on a Jensen Huang-led panel at a major AI conference last week), and Aptos and Sui’s groundbreaking Move programming language, inherited from the defunct Facebook currency project Diem. 

Layer-2 Chains

Another notable trend is the rise of Layer-2 solutions, particularly those built on Ethereum. Ethereum’s recent Dencun upgrade that introduced Proto-danksharding (EIP4884) was a huge boon to Layer-2 solutions because it has now dramatically lowered their transaction fees, opening up new applications. 

Optimism stands out as a promising project. Coinbase’s Base blockchain is built on top of its OP Stack, and as Base begins to gain adoption, Optimism is expected to see increased usage and value capture. Base’s royalty payments fund them directly, and the prestige of providing the foundation of the technology for the Coinbase chain helps raise their profile.

Zero-knowledge proof rollups, supposedly technologically superior to optimistic rollups, continue to accumulate market share, and with the recent launch of StarkNet and others like Polygon Era and ZkSync building like mad (the latter expected to launch and airdrop its token later this year) the Layer-2 wars are far from over.

Credit: Tesfu Assefa

DEXs

This week it was announced that Coinbase would go to court with the SEC, while centralized exchange KuCoin was charged by US authorities for a litany of serious financial crimes such as breaking Anti-Money Laundering regulations. With many centralized exchanges still not offering sufficient KYC regimes, expect this housecleaning to continue to clear the way for TradFi firms to enter the market. 

This means that the flight to self-custodial solutions continues, having started with the collapse of FTX and others in 2022. In particular, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are also poised for growth, with ‘perpetual DEXs’ like GMX and Aveo leading the charge. These platforms offer users the ability to trade leveraged positions without centralized intermediaries. 

Traditional DEXs, in particular Solana-based ones such as Jupiter, Orca, and Cosmos-based ones like Raydium and Astroport, are also expected to cash in on increased trading activity brought about by the memecoin and AI crypto narratives.

DePIN and AI

The AI and decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) sectors are closely intertwined and present significant opportunities. Projects like Bittensor and Akash Network are at the forefront of decentralized AI hardware and cloud computing, respectively. Other notable projects in the DePIN space include AIOZ, and Render, which focus on various aspects of decentralized infrastructure. 

Crypto AI pioneer SingularityNET is also expected to continue its impressive growth this year as its ecosystem and marketplace expands and likely takes on some of its peers as new partners.

Crypto Gaming

Crypto Gaming is another sector that can finally surge back to investor awareness after two years in the doldrums. Projects like ImmutableX, Injective and Beam are building the infrastructure necessary to support the next generation of blockchain games, by offering features such as gas-free NFT minting, custom-tailored gaming blockchains, and strong partnerships with established gaming companies.

Real-world Assets (RWAs)

If you follow any crypto discussions on social media and news outlets, you’ll know that RWAs have been touted as a massive new market for crypto, after BlackRock Larry Fink’s espoused the benefits and future potential of the technology. 

Real-world assets (RWAs) are increasingly being tokenized on the blockchain, and several projects are charging forwards in this sector. Ondo, Centrifuge, and Pendle are some of the key players in the RWA space, offering a range of financial products and services, including borrowing, lending, and yield generation.

Cross-chain interoperability is becoming increasingly important as the blockchain ecosystem matures. Projects like THORChain are building the infrastructure necessary to facilitate seamless asset-transfer across different blockchains, enabling greater liquidity and user adoption.

Conclusion

Q2 2024 will almost certainly be marked by some explosive volatility, as forces such as the Bitcoin Halving, a potential Fed reduction of interest rates, and the run-up to the 2024 US Presidential Elections continue to shape market behavior. 

It is essential for investors to remain informed and adaptable, and maintain a strong understanding of their risk exposure and what they’re willing to lose. By understanding the key narratives and projects driving the market, investors can position themselves to capitalize on the potential gains. Hold on to your hat, or sell your dogwifhat, it’s going to be a wild ride.

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Coinbase Report: Are Crypto AIs a Mirage Or For Real?

Posted on by Werner

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been making rapid strides in recent years, with breakthroughs like ChatGPT, Midjourney and Claude capturing the public imagination. At the same time, the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology is expanding, vying for the attention of a still-young digital economy. Can these two cutting-edge fields co-exist and aid each other’s evolution? The question presents both exciting opportunities and complex challenges.

A new report by Coinbase, a leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange, which also launched the surging Base layer-2 network, delves into the current state of the crypto-AI landscape. The report highlights that while there is significant potential in the overlap between technology’s two brightest sectors, the path to widespread adoption is not that straightforward. Different sub-sectors within this intersection have vastly different opportunities and development timelines.

One key observation is that decentralization alone is not enough for an AI product to succeed in the crypto space. It must also reach feature-parity with centralized alternatives. Crypto-based AI solutions must offer compelling advantages beyond just being decentralized.

The report also suggests that the value of AI tokens may be overstated due to the current hype around AI. Many AI tokens may lack sustainable demand-side drivers in the short to medium term, despite the excitement surrounding them.

Key Trends in Crypto AI

Open Source Models Carry On

The AI sector has a thriving open-source ecosystem, with platforms like HuggingFace.co hosting a wide range of publicly-available models. This open-source culture coexists with a competitive commercial sector, ensuring that non-performant models are quickly weeded out.

Credit: Coinbase’s Institutional Market Intelligence Report, March 6, 2024

Smaller AI Models Gain Traction

Despite this, smaller AI models are increasing in quality and cost-effectiveness. Fine-tuned open-source models can even outperform leading closed-source models in certain benchmarks. This trend, combined with the open-source culture, enables a future where performant AI models can be run locally, offering a high degree of decentralization.

AI Integrations Strongly Benefit Existing Platforms

The report notes that existing platforms with strong user lock-in or concrete business problems are well-positioned to “disproportionately” benefit from AI integrations. 

  • For example, GitHub Copilot‘s integration with code editors enhances an already powerful developer environment. Similarly, embedding AI interfaces into various tools like mail clients, spreadsheets, and CRM software are natural use-cases for AI.
  • In such scenarios, AI models augment existing platforms rather than creating entirely new ones. 
  • AI models that improve traditional business processes internally often rely on proprietary data and closed systems, making them likely to remain closed-source.

Hardware and Compute Trends

In the AI hardware and compute space, there are two distinct trends:

One is shifting computation from training to inferencing: with more models now available, the focus moves towards making queries to these already-trained models. This trend favors platforms that can reliably run production-ready models securely.

A second, related trend is that the competitive landscape around hardware architecture is evolving, with new processors from Nvidia, Google, and Groq potentially shifting cost dynamics in the AI industry. Cloud providers that can quickly adapt, procure hardware at scale, and set up associated infrastructure stand to reap the rewards of these developments.

Credit: Tesfu Assefa

Crypto’s Role in the AI Pipeline: Four Stages

The Coinbase report next examines crypto’s potential impact on four stages of the AI pipeline: 

1) data collection and management

2) model training and inferencing

3) output validation

4) tracking

1) Data Collection and Management

Historical blockchain data is a rich source of training data for AI models. However, commercial models tend to use proprietary datasets, posing challenges for decentralized data marketplaces, which need to compete with both open-source data directories and corporate silos.

Decentralized storage also faces hurdles in the AI industry. While decentralized storage can offer potential cost savings, it currently lacks the tooling, integrations, and predictable costs of mature cloud systems. Regulatory and technical challenges around sensitive data storage on decentralized platforms remain significant barriers.

2)  Model training and Inferencing

In the model training and inferencing stage, decentralized compute solutions like Render and NuNet aim to leverage idle computing resources to provide an alternative to centralized cloud providers. While some projects have seen increased usage, long-term success faces strong competition from established players. Technical limitations like network bandwidth constraints also pose challenges for decentralized compute networks.

3) Output Validation

Validating AI model outputs, and ensuring trust is another area where crypto-based solutions are being explored. However, the complexity of model benchmarking and the increasing feasibility of running models locally on consumer hardware raise questions about the demand for trustless inferencing solutions.

4) Tracking

Finally, the importance of tracking AI-generated content and proving online identity is growing. While decentralized identifiers and on-chain data hashes can help address these issues, centralized alternatives like KYC providers and AI watermarking techniques are also being developed.

Trading the AI Narrative

 Growth in the past year (Credit: BanterBubbles.com)

Despite the challenges, AI tokens have outperformed major cryptocurrencies and AI-related equities in recent months. The report suggests that AI tokens benefit from strong performance in the crypto market and in the AI industry, leading to upside volatility even during bitcoin drawdown periods. Hype drives demand, and investors will be piling in for some time to come. 

However, the lack of clear adoption forecasting and metrics has enabled speculative trading that may not be sustainable in the long run. Eventually, as in every crypto cycle, price and utility will need to converge, either through rising use-cases or falling prices.

Looking Ahead

The marriage of AI and crypto is still in its very early stages, and is likely to evolve rapidly as the broader AI sector develops. A decentralized AI future, as envisioned by many in the crypto industry, is not guaranteed. Crypto-based solutions are technically feasible, but to drive adoption they must provide meaningful advantages over centralized alternatives.

The AI industry itself is undergoing swift changes, fighting more and more headwinds as public opinion often turns against it. Therefore it is crucial to navigate this space carefully. Deeper examination of how crypto-based solutions can offer substantially better alternatives, or at least a clear understanding of the underlying trading narrative, is essential for investors and entrepreneurs alike.

As the AI and crypto landscapes continue to search for a sustainable symbiosis, ongoing research and experimentation will be vital to unlocking the potential of this area while meeting its challenges. 

The future of decentralized AI is still being written, and it will be shaped by the ingenuity and perseverance of the innovators working at the forefront of these transformative technologies.

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Bitcoin Ordinals: A Quick Guide

Posted on by Werner

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) used to be the sole domain of Ethereum and other smart contract networks like Cardano and Solana. During the 2021 bull run, the world caught crypto JPEG fever thanks to collections like Crypto Punks, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and 2024 darling Pudgy Penguins (now in a Walmart near you), and Ethereum was the infrastructure that captured most of the value. 

In early 2023, a new challenger kicked open the saloon doors, making a crazy entrance into the Wild West of crypto: Ordinals. The crazy part comes with that it lives on the Bitcoin blockchain, which is notoriously slow (only seven transactions per second) and with a hardcore Bitcoin maxi community strongly resistant to any change. 

Despite this, it’s been up only for Bitcoin Ordinals, as over 64 million have been minted by the time of this article. 

What are Bitcoin Ordinals? 

Ordinals in their current form were introduced by Bitcoin developer Casey Rodarmor on 21 July 2022 with the publication of his Ordinal Theory paper.

Bitcoin Ordinals are a way of assigning a unique identifier to each satoshi (sat), the smallest unit of Bitcoin, based on the order in which it was mined. By assigning an ordinal number to each sat, it becomes possible to create unique, distinguishable assets on the Bitcoin blockchain. This means that every single sat can be individually tracked and associated with specific data, such as images, videos, or other digital artifacts. 

According to Rodarmor, Ordinals’ genesis can be traced back to Satoshi Nakamoto’s creation of the Bitcoin blockchain in 2009. That means that especially early Ordinals have a historical significance within the blockchain’s timeline. He also noted that the concept of ordinals was independently discovered multiple times, predating the NFT boom by nearly a decade, most notably:

  • Litecoin creator Charlie Lee’s 2012 proposal on the Bitcoin Talk forum to integrate proof-of-stake using the ordinal algorithm
  • jl2012’s introduction of a decimal notation scheme that mirrored key features of ordinals.

Although neither proposal was fully realized, they underscore the enduring interest and potential of ordinals within the Bitcoin community, long before their recent surge in popularity.

Rodarmor wrote,

These independent inventions of ordinals indicate in some way that ordinals were discovered, or rediscovered, and not invented. The ordinals are an inevitability of the mathematics of Bitcoin, stemming not from their modern documentation, but from their ancient genesis. They are the culmination of a sequence of events set in motion with the mining of the first block, so many years ago.

How do Bitcoin Ordinals work?

Creating a Bitcoin Ordinal involves ‘inscribing’ data onto a specific sat, hopefully the rarer the better. This is done by embedding the inscribed data into the witness data of a Bitcoin transaction, using the ordinal number of the sat as a reference point.

To understand how this works, let’s break down the technical details:

  1. Ordinal numbers: Each sat is assigned an ordinal number based on its position in the blockchain. The first sat in the genesis block is assigned the number 0, the second sat is assigned 1, and so on. This numbering scheme continues sequentially throughout the entire Bitcoin blockchain.
  2. Inscribing: An inscription is the process of embedding data (such as an image or video) into a Bitcoin transaction using the ordinal number of a specific sat. This is done by including the data in the witness data of a taproot script-path spend.
  3. Taproot and SegWit: Bitcoin Ordinals leverage comparatively new upgrades to the Bitcoin protocol, specifically Taproot and Segregated Witness (SegWit). These provide more flexibility in the types of transactions that can be recorded on the blockchain, making it possible to embed larger amounts of data.
  4. Transfers and ownership: Once an inscription is made, the associated sat can be transferred or sold just like any other Bitcoin. The ordinal number and associated data remain linked to the sat throughout its lifetime on the blockchain.

Credit: Tesfu Assefa

Rodarmor Rarity Index

According to the Rodarmor Rarity Index, created by Casey Rodarmor, the developer of Ordinal Theory, satoshis can be classified into different categories based on their rarity. About 99% of sats are considered Common Sats. 

Uncommon Sats are the first sat of each newly mined block, occurring roughly every 10 minutes. Rare Sats are the first sat of the block mined after a Bitcoin network difficulty adjustment, which happens every 2,016 blocks or about two weeks. Epic Sats are the first satoshi mined in the block immediately following a Bitcoin halving event, occurring every 210,000 blocks or roughly four years. 

Legendary Sats are the first satoshi mined when a difficulty adjustment and halving event coincide, which will happen only once every 24 years, with the first instance scheduled for 2032. Finally, the Mythic Sat is the first-ever satoshi mined by Satoshi Nakamoto in the genesis block in 2009.

Magic Eden Rare Sats

Magic Eden drive most Ordinals sales, and have created their own version of the Rodarmor Rarity Index. Let’s go over it: 

  • Nakamoto Sats: Highly sought-after sats mined by Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
  • First Transaction Sats: Sats originating from the first-ever Bitcoin transaction on January 12, 2009, when Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 Bitcoins to Hal Finney.
  • Palindrome sats: Sats whose numbers can be read the same forwards and backwards (e.g., 16661 or 23832), adding a layer of rarity and curiosity.
  • Vintage Sats: Sats mined within the initial 1,000 blocks of the Bitcoin blockchain, marking the dawn of Bitcoin.
  • Pizza Sats: Sats from the iconic transaction on May 22, 2010, where a programmer paid 10,000 Bitcoins for two Papa John’s pizzas worth $27 at the time, and thereby created a monetary value for BTC.
  • Block 9 Sats: Some of the oldest sats in circulation, mined in one of the earliest blocks and offering a tangible connection to Bitcoin’s beginnings.
  • Block 78 Sats: Sats from the block mined by Hal Finney, marking the first instance where someone other than Satoshi Nakamoto (or is it???) contributed to the blockchain’s growth.

The Essential Ordinals and Rare Sat Tool Case

Some of the best tools for exploring the world of Ordinals include Ordpool.space for tracking Ordinals in the mempool, Liquidium.finance for Ordinals DeFi, and Ordiscan.com for checking your wallet for assets like runes. 

Geniidata and Ord.io are popular Ordinals explorers, while Sating.io and Automated Sat Hunter by Deezy Labs helps you scan your wallet for rare sats. For launching your own Ordinals project, consider Ordzaar, and for inscribing data, Ordinalsbot is the go-to. 

Conclusion

Bitcoin Ordinals represent a significant development in the evolution of Bitcoin, enabling the creation of unique, NFT-like digital assets native to the Bitcoin blockchain. While the concept is still relatively new, it has the potential to unlock a wide range of use cases and drive innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem, which includes anything from digital art to gaming to even digital identity. With Bitcoin layer-2 chains also improving in leaps and bounds, the future looks extra-ordinally bright (sorry, couldn’t resist!) for this new digital asset class. 

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Can AI Aid in the Recovery Of Lost Bitcoin?

Posted on by Werner

Every time Bitcoin hits a new all-time high, we hear that about ‘about 20%’ of the Bitcoins minted are lost, never to be recovered, with some seriously sob stories thrown in for good measure. They were lost for various reasons, and more continue to go missing, albeit less often these days. Most of those missing Bitcoins have been lying dormant for several years. In Bitcoin’s early days, stashes of Bitcoin weren’t seen as the honeypots they are today, and people got careless, only to pay the ultimate price of losing their BTC. Now, with the age of AI upon us in 2024, can new technologies help retrieve those missing fortunes? 

Careless Early Miners

In the early years of blockchain, from 2009 to 2014 or so, some individuals had found a hobby using spare PCs to mine Bitcoin. This wasn’t terribly lucrative in fiat terms at the time, but many of those miners racked up what would now be enviable collections of dozens, hundreds, or thousands of Bitcoins. By now, most of us have heard about the missing hard drives that contain many millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. These days, one solitary Bitcoin is worth a tidy sum in fiat money, and accumulators speak of ‘stacking Sats’ (1 SAT = 0.00000001 BTC) rather than accumulating full Bitcoins.

Recovery Efforts

Have any of those stray Bitcoins been recovered? Yes, a small percentage of them have, and there is hope that state-of-the-art decryption techniques and the latest GPUs can be put to use to reclaim more of them. Companies have been set up to assist people in recovering missing Bitcoin wallets, and these efforts have seen some modest success in cases where there is at least a bit of a trail that could lead to the missing Bitcoins.

Bitcoin cryptography is strong. A private key represents a unique number between 1 and 2 to the power of 256. That’s more than the total number of atoms in the universe. With current technology, a brute force attack to test a colossal number of potential keys until landing on the right one would take millions of years.

Is it hopeless? Is it not even worth trying? That depends. If the owner of missing Bitcoins has any hints at a seed phrase, records of where it may have been transferred to or stored, or a physical storage device, that could greatly cut down the time it would take to get to a positive result.

AI to the Rescue?

Artificial Intelligence has been a hot topic of conversation for a while now, and cryptocurrency is not immune from AI influence. When it comes to cracking a Bitcoin wallet, the brute force method will be futile on its own, but AI models are being developed that can drastically shorten the time it takes to crack a private key. 

With machine learning and the most powerful GPUs, patterns can be identified within vast collections of data that can significantly bring down the time it takes to uncover encryption keys.

Enter PassGPT, a cutting-edge password guessing AI model that could be the saviour that unlocks your lost millions. Built on OpenAI’s GPT-2 architecture and trained on millions of exposed credentials, PassGPT has a unique edge over other password-guessing tools. By using a technique called progressive sampling, it constructs passwords one character at a time, making it 20% more effective than even the most advanced GAN models.

But PassGPT isn’t just a one-trick pony. It can analyse password strength, identify patterns, and even guess passwords in multiple languages. And it can come up with new passwords that aren’t even in its training data.

So, how could this help you recover your lost Bitcoin? By adapting PassGPT to focus specifically on Bitcoin wallet passwords and feeding it data on common password patterns used by crypto enthusiasts, its effectiveness could be supercharged.

Of course, this technology raises some security concerns, but when used responsibly, it could be a lifeline for those who have lost access to their Bitcoin due to a forgotten password. As generative AI continues to evolve, solutions like PassGPT could become an invaluable tool in the ongoing challenge of balancing security and accessibility in the world of cryptocurrency.

Side-Channel Attacks on Hardware Wallets

Hardware wallets are a common and extremely secure way to store private keys offline. When used judiciously and prudently, they work very well – and best practices should be followed to ensure that private keys are backed up in another separate location, just in case the device goes missing or the owner becomes incapacitated. If an older or less sophisticated hardware wallet has become inaccessible, a side-channel attack offers a glimmer of hope.

A side-channel attack is a method of exploiting any physical characteristics of a hardware wallet that can be detected via electronic sensors. Characteristics including timing, power consumption patterns, and electromagnetic and acoustic emissions which can sometimes reveal enough information to obtain fragments of the PIN code to access the wallet or crack the private keys. Although only fragments may be uncovered, they can still drastically reduce the time taken for cracking tools (including AI and machine learning) to search for the private key.

Technology is advancing all the time, and different hardware wallets will have different levels of vulnerability to side-channel attacks. One of the most well-known hardware wallet makers, Ledger, claims that its wallets are immune to such attacks, so mileage of side-channel attacks may vary. Ledger’s main competitor, Trezor, also claims that crypto functions have been re-written by their cryptography professionals to eliminate such vulnerabilities. Additional measures such as ‘secure elements’, which ensconces the private key permanently inside a computer chip, also makes breaking cold storage encryption near impossible. 

Credit: Tesfu Assefa

Limitations of Silicon

The silicon computer chips that power all of our digital devices have progressed at an astounding rate over the years, roughly in line with Moore’s Law. Taiwan Semiconductor and Samsung are planning to produce 1.4-nanometer chips by around 2027. These chips will lead to some astounding AI performance, but we are getting awfully close to the physical limits of silicon, and we will have to seek other technologies for computing power to continue advancing beyond silicon.

The Quantum Solution/Threat

Currently lurking in the waiting-room of the future is quantum computing. Right now, it’s cumbersome, expensive, and is years from being available commercially, but boy can it compute. It has been expected that quantum computers will be able to compute 158 million times faster than the most advanced existing silicon-based computer.

Researchers at the Centre for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering of Imperial College London have calculated that a quantum computer with 1500 or more error-corrected qubits will be able to crack a Bitcoin private key. IBM has published a roadmap where they reckon computers with thousands of error-corrected qubits will be a reality by around 2029.

Opposingly, at the popular hacking news website, Hackernoon, they estimate that it would still take a quantum computer 10³² years of a brute force assault to hack Bitcoin. Some developers are proposing a Bitcoin encryption upgrade to ensure quantum resistance, but that would likely require at least a soft fork to implement.

Conclusion

The possibility of AI and quantum computing helping to retrieve lost Bitcoins are very exciting to some people, but threatens to destroy the value of Bitcoin, since the available supply could swell by a few million BTC, especially if they crack Satoshi’s wallet. The biggest fear is quantum computing though, and it’s good to see Bitcoin core devs putting contingency plans in place. 

Till then, good luck to the likes of James Howells, who has been trying to retrieve a hard drive with 8,000 Bitcoin on it for over a decade. That’s around $560 million right now. 

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Bitcoin Hits All-Time High Notes in Early 2024

Posted on by Werner

Bitcoin is back into your friends’ and family’s chats, as the world’s most valuable digital asset edged its prior all-time high price record in dramatic fashion. The months of sustained growth that also saw other crypto niches like AI cryptocurrencies (riding the artificial intelligence trend) and memecoins (easy-to-understand mainstream tokens) balloon in value appeared unstoppable after most of the Grayscale spot ETF redemptions were done and investors are frothing at the sky-high predictions they are starting to hear across social media and cable news. 

After spending over two years trading far far below its November 2021 peak, Bitcoin defied the naysayers by skyrocketing past $73,000 to set a new supreme price milestone of $73,750 on March 14th.

This latest achievement capped an extraordinary bull run for the crypto market leader, which saw its price increase by over 50% so far in 2024 amid frenzied trading activity. On the day it reached its new record high, $100+ billion worth of Bitcoin changed hands as investors pile in, hoping to ride the wave higher.

Credit: Coinglass

Bitcoin’s new personal best above $73,000 follows on from record-setting earlier in the month, when it hit $69,000 for the first time on 5 March. That proved too great to turn resistance into support, and caused a cascade of liquidations, with its price plunged by double-digits, falling over 15% to $59,000, before paring some of the losses in a rebound to a V-shaped recovery to the new high, and to the $71,000 where it currently trades. 

This whiplash-inducing price action underscores the intense tug-of-war still playing out across crypto markets, where TradFi whales have now entered the ring and brought with them some heavy bags to throw around. 

So what forces converged to propel the world’s largest cryptocurrency to such lofty new heights in the first quarter of 2024? As is often the case in these bullish periods, the rally was fueled by the perfect storm of optimistic narratives and real-world regulatory and economic developments. We already covered many of these in last year’s 2024 Crypto Bull Run article, and I recommend you go revisit it. 

Bitcoin spot ETFs create insatiable BTC demand

Credit: The Block

Restoring interest back in Bitcoin this year were the highly-anticipated launches of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by major financial players like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale. After years of denial by US regulators, multiple spot Bitcoin ETFs finally received approval in January 2024.

These ETFs allow institutional and retail investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin’s price movements through a regulated, familiar product that directly holds the underlying crypto assets. Huge sums of investment capital flooded into these ETFs right out of the gate, creating immense buy pressure in the spot Bitcoin markets as the funds raced to accumulate enough BTC to back their fund shares.

Just two months after launching, the Bitcoin spot ETFs had already vacuumed up a staggering combined total of over $45 billion in assets under management, representing around 684,000 Bitcoin tokens: over 3% of the total circulating supply. Inflows showed no signs of stopping, with BlackRock’s fund alone reaching $10 billion in just seven weeks.

Bitcoin Halving

Another major factor driving Bitcoin’s rally has been the building anticipation of the next ‘halving’ event for the cryptocurrency, expected in April 2024. This systemic halving of Bitcoin’s mining reward happens automatically every four years, resulting in a 50% reduction in new supply hitting the market. The latest halving will see BTC rewards drop to 3.125, which is down four halvings from 2011’s block rewards of 50 BTC. With over 19 million Bitcoin already mined (and possibly a quarter lost) there is less and less to go around.  Previous halvings reliably preceded massive price increases as the decreasing supply dynamic helped fuel further buying demand.

Many analysts and industry experts have forecasted Bitcoin to surge well past $100,000 within 12-18 months after April’s halving, based on the historic patterns of past cycles where prices eventually climbed 10× or higher following the supply shocks. Speculators piled in early to front-run the perceived upside.

FASB Accounting

Bitcoin’s rally also got a boost in late 2023 from the official embrace of long-awaited new accounting rules for US public companies around cryptocurrencies. Starting in 2025, new FASB guidance will allow businesses to value certain crypto assets at fair market value on their balance sheets each reporting period, marking a huge upgrade from the current treatment of Bitcoin as an ‘indefinite-lived intangible asset’.

This rule change laid the groundwork for even broader institutional adoption of Bitcoin, removing one of the final barriers for public companies and investment funds looking to add exposure without complex workarounds.

US Elections, SEC and Interest Rate Cuts

Another important consideration to make is the impact of US policymakers’ adoption of Bitcoin and crypto. While the SEC under Herr Gensler views most cryptos as securities, it views Nakamoto’s coin as a commodity thanks to its proof-of-work origins. The Fed, whose monthly FOMC meetings became horror movie nights for crypto investors in 2022 and 2023, will likely soon have to relent and start reducing those inflation-crunching high interest rates, or combat a recession next. And of course, America will decide on the next President this year, and this should see crypto bashing through Operation Chokepoint 2.0 this year. Even Donald Trump is warming to Bitcoin now. 

Credit: Tesfu Assefa

What’s different this time round? 

While the Bitcoin frenzy and associated wildly optimistic price forecasts provoked understandable flashbacks to the 2017 and 2021 crypto bubbles for market veterans, the 2024 rally did have some key fundamental differences.

This time, sustained upward price pressure came not from shadowy derivatives platforms like FTX and opaque stablecoin ecosystem hazards like you-know-who, but from transparent, battled-hardened regulated funds and publicly-traded companies allocating directly to Bitcoin’s core layer-1. Record volumes and open interest levels on trusted exchanges – centralized and decentralized, spot and derivative – reflected genuine liquidity.

And whereas the 2021 peak was fueled by hype around experimental blockchain technologies and corporate marketing gimmicks, Bitcoin’s 2024 renaissance had the more grounded narrative of finally fulfilling its long-awaited promises as a now matured value reservoir and decentralized financial network, emboldened by the embrace of legacy institutional capital via ETFs, which may soon extend to Ethereum.

Of course, only time will tell if Bitcoin can maintain these lofty price levels or if the market mania will once again dissolve into despair. It’s easy to get caught up in the FOMO, and even easier to hit that sell button at a loss when market euphoria wears off and those 20% drops or weeks of sideways action break your resolve. 

But in its latest epic price run, crypto’s top dog (sorry Doge) demonstrated its incredible ability to capture imaginations and animate markets around the world like no other asset.

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Crypto AI Revenues Could Exceed $10 Billion by 2030

Posted on by Werner

The integration of crypto incentives and blockchain technology with artificial intelligence (AI) could drive widespread adoption and advancement of decentralized AI and AI cryptos over the next decade, according to a new report by digital asset manager VanEck. Its timing couldn’t be better as we’ve been seeing an absolute explosion of AI-related cryptocurrency prices so far in 2024, the most recent rally coming on the back of OpenAI’s Sora launch.

In a recent in-depth report ‘Crypto AI Revenue Predictions by 2030’, VanEck analysts made several bullish predictions about the growth and the revenue potential of businesses operating at the intersection of crypto and AI. While any predictions should be taken with a grain of salt, considering where we’re at in the current crypto 2024 bull cycle, the report asks a lot of important questions and offers some surprising answers in the process. 

Van Eck analyst Gabor Gurbacs has taken a controversial stand against AI, predicting its misuse will result in the biggest spam attacks the world has ever seen. Gurbacs sees Bitcoin as its only salvation, so read on to find why. 

Public Blockchains Uniquely Positioned to Aid AI Progress

The Van Eck report is extremely bullish on the benefits that blockchain can bring to AI. He feels that AI and AI Agents “provide the raison d’être” for blockchain technology. It’s a big statement, but backed up by some sound reasoning: blockchain networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum possess several key attributes that make them well-suited to address existing challenges facing the AI industry, most notably:

  • Transparency – Being public ledgers recording all transactions, blockchains enable oversight related to data usage, model ownership, etc. This supports trust and accountability.
  • Immutability – Records made on blockchains cannot be altered afterwards. This immutability lends integrity to data used for critical model training and testing.
  • Ownership – Tokens, NFTs, and smart contracts allow us to clearly define ownership rights related to data, models, and even model outputs.
  • Adversarial Testing Environment – The adversarial, incentivized environments of crypto networks that financially reward hacking and optimization force rigorous, real-world testing of systems.

He projects that these properties of blockchain will speed up the adoption of, and trust in, AI over the next seven years.

Crypto Market Share of AI Could Reach Billions Annually

Applying economic and productivity growth assumptions to previous McKinsey research, Van Eck predicts a total addressable market (TAM) for global productivity gains enabled by AI automation will clock a crazy $5.85 trillion in 2030. Assuming 33% adoption by businesses worldwide, annual AI revenues could top $250 billion within the decade.

Moreover, the report forecasts crypto’s potential market share across major AI business categories:

  • Software: $6.27 billion
  • Infrastructure/Compute: $1.9 billion
  • Identity: $878 million
  • Safety/Compliance: $1.12 billion

Tallying these up, it’s predicted that annual crypto AI revenues could approach $10.2 billion by 2030 in VanEck’s base case. Under more aggressive assumptions about adoption and market capture, AI cryptocurrencies’ stake could exceed $50 billion.

How blockchain helps AI solve identity issues 

Artificial intelligence is increasingly critical to the global economy, akin to an essential utility. Web2 giants like Amazon and Google dominate current AI infrastructure, while blockchain technology supports specific, high-demand needs with its decentralized approach, offering flexibility and customization for AI development. This scenario positions blockchain as a dynamic adjunct in the AI infrastructure market, similar to how ride-sharing platforms like Uber complement, rather than replace, traditional transport services.

The importance of secure AI identities is rising, with blockchain playing a key role in preventing Sybil attacks by establishing verifiable digital identities. This defense is crucial as AI applications extend into areas like autonomous vehicles and healthcare, where safety is paramount. 

Blockchain’s immutable records serve as reliable “proofs of safety,” essential for high-stakes accountability and compliance. Despite blockchain’s potential to revolutionize AI safety and identity verification, a significant portion of this market is expected to stay centralized, preferring established reliability and trust in sensitive sectors.

Bitcoin miners find surprising synergy with the AI sector

Bitcoin miners, traditionally focused on mining proof-of-work cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, are diversifying into the AI sector due to their shared high energy consumption needs. These miners have historically invested heavily in energy infrastructure, often utilizing cost-effective but carbon-intensive power sources. This positions them uniquely to offer lower-cost energy solutions for AI’s backend infrastructure, contrasting with Big Tech’s move towards renewable energy and vertically integrated operations. 

As AI’s energy demands potentially outpace current projections, bitcoin miners’ cost advantage in electricity could become increasingly significant, prompting a shift towards providing high-margin AI services, particularly in GPU provisioning.

Companies like Hive, Hut 8, and Applied Digital are leading this transition, with some reporting substantial revenue growth from AI-related operations compared to traditional bitcoin mining. 

For instance, Hive’s AI operations are notably more profitable on a per-megawatt basis. However, despite the promising shift and potential for revenue diversification, bitcoin miners face challenges in scaling up for AI, including skills gaps in data center construction, the need for a specialized salesforce, and limitations imposed by network latency and bandwidth in remote locations. These hurdles could impede their pivot to AI, despite the opportunities in the sector.

Credit: Tesfu Assefa

Notable Blockchain Use Cases Emerging Across the AI Landscape

Public blockchains and crypto token incentives have already sparked solutions addressing several pressing needs for progress across the AI landscape:

Decentralized Compute/Infrastructure

Projects like Akash, Render and Bittensor provide decentralized cloud computing platforms and infrastructure to help supply scarce GPUs for AI model training and deployment. This helps to pull down current limitations around access, cost, security, and customization options.

Model Optimization

Protocols like Numerai use tokenized incentives to organize data science competitions aimed at building optimized models for tasks like quantitative finance or natural language processing. Crypto tokens reward the most accurate and effective models.

Data Integrity

Emerging zero-knowledge proof solutions from startups like MODA allow AI model owners to mathematically prove certain claims about data usage or model performance without revealing proprietary intellectual property or sensitive information. This supports copyright protections and model accountability.

Digital Identity

Initiatives like WorldID (with its Worldcoin cryptocurrency) – spearheaded by AI thought leader Sam Altman from OpenAI and Sora – controversially leverage blockchain and biometrics to establish verified digital identity firmly linked to real humans. As automation increases, reliably determining humanity could help ensure security for computer networks and systems.

Conclusion

In summary, crypto-based networks already demonstrate clear potential to overcome some of the hardest barriers holding back innovation and mainstream adoption in artificial intelligence. However, integrating these two exponentially advancing technologies comes with persistent technical and adoption challenges.

If solutions continue maturing at their current brisk pace, crypto and AI seem well positioned to drive tremendous value for one another over the next 7 to 10 years. But uncertainties and speculation still cloud the most aggressive growth projections put forth. According to VanEck, the base case for 2030 remains strong, but the roadmap to billions in annual revenue still requires some visionary bets on both technologies to pay off.

Let us know your thoughts! Sign up for a Mindplex account now, join our Telegram, or follow us on Twitter. 

The A-Z of Crypto Tools To Explore DeFi and Web3

Posted on by Werner

Introduction

The crypto landscape has undergone some huge changes following 2020’s DeFi Summer and the ensuing 2021 bull run. Gone are the days when you could simply buy and sell (or HODL) the top ten coins at the most opportune times and retire soon after. With the 2024 crypto bull run starting due to the launch of Bitcoin spot ETFs and the looming Bitcoin Halving which could raise all boats, DeFi degens who want to strike it rich like early Bitcoin investors must now be smarter and look beyond the action on boring old centralized exchanges, in order to find those 10x and 100x opportunities. 

To do this, they use a plethora of innovative data research and trading tools that give them precise on-chain analytics, detailed airdrop gameplans, project news and announcements, and more. 

Here are some of the most popular ones, excluding trading bots, but please note that none of these are endorsed by Mindplex Magazine, and are shared for educational purposes only. Only connect your crypto wallets to any of these tools once you’ve done your research on them and always be vigilant against malicious phishing sites that could drain your entire portfolio. 

Airdrops.io: Timely Cryptocurrency Airdrops

  • Best feature: Timely information on cryptocurrency airdrops.
  • Cost: Gratis.
  • How it works: Community airdrops are a huge narrative in 2024, but it takes plenty of research to know which protocols to target. Airdrops.io is a dedicated platform for crypto enthusiasts looking for the latest airdrop opportunities. It provides detailed information about ongoing and upcoming airdrops, making it easier for users to participate and potentially receive free tokens. The site categorizes airdrops by type (such as DeFi, NFT, etc.), ensuring users can find opportunities that align with their interests and investment strategies.

Artemis.xyz: Comprehensive Crypto Analytics

  • Best feature: Aggregates data from various sources for comprehensive analytics.
  • Cost: Gratis
  • How it works: Artemis.xyz stands as a comprehensive analytics platform, aggregating data from exchanges, social media, and more, to offer investors a broad view of the market for well-informed decision-making.

BanterBubbles: Visualizing Crypto Performance

  • Best feature: Visualizes performance of cryptocurrencies in a unique format.
  • Cost: Free
  • How it works: BanterBubbles offers a visually engaging way to comprehend market trends, using bubbles to represent performance data, making it an intuitive tool for grasping market dynamics at a glance. BanterBubbles goes beyond the original CryptoBubbles by featuring niche sector views and an interactive comment section that pools together research from the Crypto Banter community.

Chainalysis: The Crypto Detectives

  • Best feature: Advanced blockchain analysis for tracking the flow of digital assets.
  • Cost: Freemium
  • How it works: Chainalysis is renowned for its blockchain analytics tools, providing transparency and insight into the movement of digital assets, essential for compliance, research, and understanding complex blockchain ecosystems.

CoinAlyze: Spotting Altcoin Trends

  • Best feature: Spotting changes in open interest.
  • Cost: Gratis
  • How it works: CoinAlyze caters to those focused on the derivatives market, offering critical data on open interest changes that can signal market sentiment shifts, essential for altcoin traders.

Coin Lobster: Simplified DeFi Analytics for Beginners

  • Best feature: Simplified analytics for beginners.
  • Cost: Free
  • How it works: Designed for simplicity, Coin Lobster breaks down complex DeFi analytics, providing insights into futures markets, liquidations, and significant trades, making it accessible for newcomers.

CoinMarketCap: Cryptocurrency Market Rankings

  • Best feature: Extensive database of cryptocurrencies with market rankings, price charts, and volume data.
  • Cost: Gratis.
  • How it works: CoinMarketCap and others like CoinGecko are leading cryptocurrency information websites that offer detailed data on thousands of digital currencies. It includes market cap rankings, historical data, exchange volumes, and more, serving as an essential research tool for investors looking to make informed decisions. Its user-friendly layout and comprehensive coverage of the crypto market have made it a go-to resource for both beginners and experts alike. These sites also compete with each other to roll out new features frequently. 

Coinstats.app: Real-Time Crypto Data

  • Best feature: Real-time crypto market data and portfolio tracking.
  • Cost: Gratis version available; premium plans offer additional features like advanced analytics and exclusive insights.
  • How it works: CoinStats.app is a comprehensive cryptocurrency portfolio tracker and market data provider that offers real-time price updates, news, and detailed analysis across thousands of cryptocurrencies. It’s designed to help investors manage their investments across multiple wallets and exchanges, providing a unified view of their portfolio’s performance. The platform’s intuitive interface and mobile app make it accessible for monitoring investments on the go. Please understand what you’re doing and don’t give portfolio sites like CoinStats unfettered API access to your exchange and private wallets and the ability to execute transactions on your behalf, as it could potentially be hacked. 

CryptoFees.info: Understanding Revenue Generation

  • Best feature: Insights into project revenue generation.
  • Cost: Gratis
  • How it works: CryptoFees.info offers a simple yet effective way to understand which DeFi projects are generating significant revenue, aiding investors in identifying sustainable and potentially profitable ventures.

CryptoQuant: In-Depth Market Insights

  • Best feature: Offers data on spot and derivatives markets, and on-chain metrics.
  • Cost: Free, with paid plans for additional features
  • How it works: CryptoQuant caters to the analytical needs of both institutional and individual investors, providing a wide array of data points including on-chain metrics, market analysis, and trading indicators for strategic investment planning.

DappRadar: Decentralized App Data Heaven

  • Best feature: Personalized tables for DeFi protocols.
  • Cost: Gratis
  • How it works: As a very popular DApp market explorer, DappRadar simplifies the discovery and analysis of NFT, DeFi, and more, making it easier for users to compare different protocols and streamline their investment strategies.

DeBank: The Web3 Messenger and Tracker

  • Best feature: Tracking of on-chain Web3 activity.
  • Cost: Gratis
  • How it works: DeBank provides a streamlined interface for portfolio tracking and on-chain activity monitoring, allowing users to follow influential investors and gain insights into prevailing market trends.

DeFi Llama: Onchain Alpha in One Spot

  • Best feature: Comprehensive tracking of TVL across various chains.
  • Cost: Gratis
  • How it works: A one-stop dashboard offering insights into the crypto market dynamics, DeFi Llama tracks the Total Value Locked across different chains, providing a macro view essential for spotting trends and identifying opportunities.

DeFiPulse: Tracking and Analytics for DeFi

  • Best feature: Tracking and analytics for DeFi projects and Total Value Locked (TVL).
  • Cost: Gratis.
  • How it works: DeFiPulse is a key resource for those interested in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. It ranks DeFi platforms based on the total value locked (TVL), providing insights into the most popular and successful projects. The platform also offers information on yield farming, lending rates, and other DeFi metrics, making it invaluable for investors looking to dive into the DeFi ecosystem.

Delphi Digital: In-Depth Crypto Research and Analysis

  • Best feature: Expert-led research and strategic insights into the crypto market.
  • Cost: Membership-based, with different tiers for individual and institutional access.
  • How it works: Delphi Digital stands out as a premier research boutique specializing in the digital assets market. The platform combines deep industry knowledge with data-driven analysis to offer comprehensive reports, investment strategies, and market forecasts. Catering to both individual investors and institutions, it provides actionable intelligence on various aspects of the crypto ecosystem, including DeFi, NFTs, and emerging blockchain technologies. 

DEXTools: Real-Time Data for DeFi Traders

  • Best feature: Insights and historical charts for informed decision-making.
  • Cost: Gratis
  • How it works: DEXTools is a robust platform offering real-time data from decentralized exchanges, equipped with features that support traders through insights, charts, and alerts, enhancing DeFi trading decisions.

Dune: The Community Research Hub

  • Best feature: User-generated scripts and data.
  • Cost: Gratis
  • How it works: Dune Dashboards empowers its users with the ability to create, share, and explore custom data visualizations, offering a decentralized platform for deep-diving into blockchain analytics through community-sourced insights.

Instadapp: DeFi Protocol Aggregator

  • Best feature: Seamless management of multiple DeFi protocols.
  • Cost: Free to access, with transaction fees applicable for certain actions.
  • How it works: Instadapp provides a unified interface that simplifies the management of assets across various DeFi protocols. It enables users to optimize their DeFi strategy by leveraging functionalities like asset swapping, leverage adjustments, and debt management in one platform, making it easier to navigate the complex DeFi ecosystem.

KyberSwap: Real-Time and AI Insights for Trading

  • Best feature: Real-time insights with Kyber AI.
  • Cost: Gratis
  • How it works: KyberSwap leverages AI to provide predictive market insights and trend analyses, offering a competitive edge to traders looking for real-time data to refine their strategies.

LunarCrush: Social Media Analytics for Crypto

  • Best feature: Real-time social media analytics and market sentiment.
  • Cost: Gratis, with premium features for advanced users.
  • How it works: LunarCrush collects and analyzes data from social media to gauge market sentiment and trends for various cryptocurrencies. By leveraging AI and machine learning, it offers insights into user engagement and sentiment, helping investors make informed decisions based on the social dynamics of crypto markets.

Nanoly.com: The APY Hub for DeFi Yield Chasers

  • Best feature: Maximizing staking returns.
  • Cost: Gratis
  • How it works: Nanoly directs users to the highest APY opportunities for staking their crypto, an invaluable resource for those looking to optimize their yield farming strategies in a risk-aware manner.

Nansen: Advanced Crypto and NFT Analytics

  • Best feature: Advanced on-chain data analytics.
  • Cost: Gratis, with paid advanced options
  • How it works: Nansen stands out for its wallet and token activity tracking, providing alerts and insights that help users make informed investment decisions, especially in the NFT space. By combining blockchain data with an array of proprietary analytics tools, users can identify emerging trends, track smart money movements, and uncover investment opportunities across various blockchain ecosystems. 

The platform’s dashboard offers visualizations of on-chain data, making it accessible for both novice users and experienced analysts. Nansen segments data into actionable insights, allowing users to monitor wallet addresses, decipher market signals, and follow the strategies of successful investors.

Credit: Tesfu Assefa

NFTGo.io: NFT Market Analytics and Discovery Platform

  • Best feature: Comprehensive NFT market analysis and trend tracking.
  • Cost: Gratis basic access; premium features for advanced insights.
  • How it works: NFTGo offers a wide array of tools and data for users to explore and analyze the NFT market comprehensively. The platform aggregates NFT data across multiple blockchains, providing insights into trading volumes, price trends, and market movements. Users can discover hot collections, track whale activities, and utilize rarity tools to assess NFT value. The platform aims to democratize access to NFT market data, making it easier for collectors, investors, and creators to make informed decisions. 

Nomis: Interest Rate Optimization

  • Best feature: Optimizing interest rates for savers and borrowers in DeFi.
  • Cost: Free to use, with possible fees for executing transactions.
  • How it works: Nomis serves as a platform for optimizing interest rates for users looking to either save or borrow in the cryptocurrency space. It aggregates and analyzes interest rates across various DeFi protocols, providing recommendations to help users maximize returns or minimize borrowing costs, thereby enhancing the efficiency of capital allocation in DeFi markets.

OnChainBlock: On-Chain Data and Analysis

  • Best feature: Detailed blockchain analytics for data-driven decision-making.
  • Cost: Free access to basic features; subscription model for advanced analytics.
  • How it works: OnChainBlock specializes in providing on-chain data and analysis across multiple blockchains. It offers tools for tracking wallet activities, transaction trends, and network health, catering to analysts and investors seeking to base their strategies on granular blockchain data.

SolanaCompass: Analytics for the Solana Ecosystem

  • Best feature: Dedicated analytics and insights for Solana blockchain.
  • Cost: Gratis, with potential premium features for specialized insights.
  • How it works: SolanaCompass focuses exclusively on the Solana ecosystem, offering analytics, project tracking, and network statistics to investors and developers. It provides real-time data on transactions, dApps, and token performance within the Solana network, enabling stakeholders to make informed decisions within this high-performance blockchain environment.

TokenMetrics: AI-Based Crypto Investment Research

  • Best feature: AI-driven cryptocurrency analytics and forecasts.
  • Cost: Subscription-based, with multiple tiers offering different levels of access and services.
  • How it works: TokenMetrics uses artificial intelligence to analyze and predict crypto market trends. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools, including market predictions, portfolio management, and investment strategies, tailored to help users from novice to expert maximize their investment potential by leveraging data-driven insights.

Token Unlocks: Capitalizing on Circulating Supply Changes

  • Best feature: Track token unlocks to capitalize on changes in circulating supply.
  • Cost: Gratis
  • How it works: Don’t become exit liquidity for early investors in a DeFi project who dump their vested tokens as soon as they receive them. Token Unlocks provides essential information on token release schedules, aiding investors in anticipating market impacts driven by fluctuations in token supply, a critical factor for strategic planning.

Uniswap Info: DeFi Trading at Your Fingertips

  • Best feature: Detailed analytics and trading volumes for Uniswap pairs.
  • Cost: Free
  • How it works: Uniswap Info delivers in-depth analytics for the Uniswap protocol, allowing traders to track performance, liquidity, and trading volumes, essential for anyone deeply involved in DeFi trading on Uniswap.

Youtube: Long-form Crypto Education and Insights

  • Best feature: Diverse content on crypto education, news, and analysis.
  • Cost: Free access to content; costs may vary for premium or exclusive content.
  • How it works: Crypto Youtube is an essential crypto research tool that encompasses a broad range of channels and content creators dedicated to cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology, and digital finance. Get anything from coin deep dives to detailed market analysis, project previews and reviews, and real-time news. You could almost say, hear about it on Twitter, learn about it on YouTube. 

Viewers can also find content tailored to various levels of expertise, from beginner tutorials on blockchain fundamentals to advanced trading strategies and technical analysis by following excellent channels such as CoinBureau.

Content creators range from experienced traders and crypto enthusiasts to blockchain developers and fintech experts, providing a rich tapestry of perspectives and insights. Channels may offer live streams, Q&A sessions, community discussions, and interviews with industry leaders. 

Be wary though of believing everything you hear. That’s because content creators, also called KOLs or influencers, are often very biased and shill the projects they’re invested in or getting paid by, as the controversial recent SatoshiVM launch highlighted again. 

Zapper.fi: Your DeFi Dashboard

  • Best feature: Manage and track your DeFi assets and liabilities in one place.
  • Cost: Free
  • How it works: Zapper.fi simplifies DeFi portfolio management, offering users a unified dashboard to track and manage their assets and liabilities across numerous protocols, enhancing the DeFi investment experience.

Messari: Crypto Data and Research

  • Best feature: Comprehensive crypto market data and in-depth research.
  • Cost: Gratis basic access; premium subscription for advanced insights.
  • How it works: Messari is one of the most respected names in crypto, thanks to the wealth of information it offers on cryptocurrencies and sectors, including market data, project overviews, and research reports. It aims to provide transparency and actionable insights to investors and market participants through tools for tracking, analyzing, and discovering trends in the crypto market. 

Conclusion

Each of the platforms in our A-Z DeFi Tool List (which we’ll update from time to time) brings a unique angle to how we can understand and manage our cryptocurrency investments and strategies. From protocol aggregators and market data providers to AI-driven analytics and dedicated ecosystem tools, the breadth of resources available to crypto enthusiasts and investors continues to grow, giving retail investors institutional-grade insights and opportunities that are there for the taking if you can connect the dots. 

Let us know your thoughts! Sign up for a Mindplex account now, join our Telegram, or follow us on Twitter. 

ERC-404 Unlocks Hybrid Features For NFTs

Posted on by Werner

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Ethereum exploded in popularity during 2021’s bull run, driven by record sales of flagship projects like CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Azuki and Moonbirds, and artists like Beeple. However, the dominant ERC-721 and ERC-1155 standards for NFTs have some limitations that have seen the crypto collectibles market crater after NFT prices came crashing down in 2022 and 2023. 

A new token standard called ERC-404 that aims to revolutionize NFTs with new features and improvements has captured the imagination and buy-in of NFT degens, and its earliest associated projects like Pandora are soaring in value. While it’s early days and the standard remains unaudited, it offers an innovation that could provide a massive shot in the arm for NFT trading and collectibility. 

In short, that’s because ERC-404 has hybrid features that combine the best of both cryptocurrency and NFT technology to create a new digital asset that enables fractionalized NFT ownership. Let’s jump in. 

What is ERC-404?

ERC-404 is a proposed new token standard for NFTs on Ethereum. It builds on the existing ERC-721 standard by adding functionality specifically for NFTs. The standard is currently still under development but shows enormous promise.

The ERC-404 standard opens the door to ‘dynamic NFTs’. Unlike regular NFTs, which have static content, ERC-404 NFTs can change and evolve over time. This unlocks entirely new use cases and possibilities.

For example, ERC-404 NFTs could represent characters in games that gain experience and evolve. Or they could represent dynamic digital artworks that change based on external data feeds. The possibilities are endless.

Why ERC-404 is an NFT Gamechanger

ERC-404 represents the cutting edge of innovation in the NFT space. Here’s how: 

1. More Flexibility & Use Cases

The dynamic nature of ERC-404 completely reimagines what an NFT can represent. Traditional NFTs have been quite limited and mostly focused on digital art. ERC-404 blows the doors wide open for NFT utilities and use cases.

2. Native Interoperability

ERC-404 NFTs can interconnect with other smart contracts and protocols. This makes them far more extensible and interoperable than regular NFTs. 

For example, a dynamic NFT character could directly integrate with a battle game dApp. The possibilities for creativity are endless.

3. Improved Functionality

The standard defines various new functions to manipulate and evolve ERC-404 NFTs over time. This extends to things like changing metadata, upgrading visuals, attaching tokens, and more.

This improved functionality brings NFTs far closer to representations of real-world items and makes them compatible with DeFi.

How ERC-404 NFTs Work

The ERC-404 standard upgrades NFTs in two major ways: evolution and interoperability. 

‘Evolution’ refers to the ability for the NFTs to change attributes over time, like gaining experience or changing visual representations. The logic governing these evolutions is handled by a separate ‘Engine’ smart contract.

‘Interoperability’ refers to the ability to directly integrate the NFTs with other external smart contracts like games, marketplaces, etc. This could add in-game things like HP, SP, inventory slots, and more directly in the NFT token itself.

Example: Pandora and Replicants

The Pandora NFT collection has 10,000 unique digital collectibles called Replicants hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. Each Replicant acts as both an NFT and a crypto token. 

Owning a Replicant token lets you trade it on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap. You can buy as many tokens as you want – each one equals a fraction of a Replicant NFT. This makes the NFTs more affordable and liquid.

When you’re ready, you can redeem your Pandora tokens for the actual Replicant NFTs. The more tokens you have, the more NFTs you can claim. You can also choose to keep some tokens and redeem others. This makes Pandora more flexible for investors.

The key idea is that Pandora links NFT collectibles and crypto tokens together in a new way. This combines the scarcity of NFTs with the liquidity of tokens and has seen the value of Pandora tokens shoot up from $4,3000 to over $26,000 during the last seven days on CoinMarketCap.

Impact on NFT Trading & Liquidity 

ERC-404 is set to completely transform NFT trading, thanks to dynamic NFTs being more liquid. Whereas traditional NFTs tend to be static and illiquid once purchased, ERC-404 builds in interoperability and evolution by design.

This interoperability and upgradability make ERC-404 NFT markets far more dynamic and liquid compared to legacy NFTs. Traders can speculate on NFT evolutions, upgrades, integrations, and more.

Another benefit is the ability to use dynamic NFTs directly in other DeFi protocols via built-in interoperability. For example, putting them up as collateral for loans, depositing them in yield farms, and more.

Credit: Tesfu Assefa

Exciting ERC-404 Projects Already Underway

While ERC-404 is not launched officially yet, teams are already building out exciting projects on the standard, including:

  • DynamicPunks – Algorithmically generated evolving punks.
  • SmartChar NFT RPG – Customizable RPG character NFTs that level up.
  • NFTfi Guild – DeFi/NFT hybrid for asset management. 

(Please note these are not in any way endorsements of these experimental projects. Please do your own research.)

And many more projects are on the way. The community excitement for ERC-404 is enormous given its vast potential, but it’s important to do your due diligence and ensure you don’t open yourself up for rugpulls or phishing that could drain your wallet. Be very careful with which protocols you interact with. 

Final Thoughts

The introduction of ERC-404 marks a significant turning point in the NFT marketplace, promising to catalyze a shift towards greater mainstream adoption by boosting accessibility and liquidity. 

This innovative token standard is set to bridge the existing divide between fungible and non-fungible tokens, thereby facilitating a more fluid exchange across decentralized exchanges (DEXs), NFT marketplaces, and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. 

Moreover, ERC-404 paves the way for groundbreaking functionalities within the NFT space, including leverage trading, options contracts, and novel avenues for Metaverse interoperability and composability. These advancements can help to further integrate the NFT sector with the broader digital economy.

However, the advent of ERC-404 has its challenges and considerations. Among its most notable advantages are improving NFT liquidity and lowering the barriers to entry for investing in high-value NFTs. ERC-404 also promises to usher in new business models for NFT platforms, crucial for the market’s future, offering a more inclusive and dynamic ecosystem for creators, investors, and collectors alike.

Conversely, the ERC-404 standard raises several concerns that warrant attention. The code underlying ERC-404 has not undergone extensive auditing. It could potentially have undiscovered vulnerabilities, particularly in the mechanism for burning linked NFTs. This introduces a layer of complexity in wallet management and poses questions regarding the regulatory landscape surrounding these innovations.

This might do little to stem the rise of ERC-404, as adoption accelerates. NFT marketplace Blur quickly jumped on the bandwagon, and Telegram bot Banana Gun and new decentralized social media hotshot Farcaster are all implementing it. And new projects are shooting up on other chains like Bitcoin, Solana and Arbitrum.

The next 12 months promises to yield even more innovative applications of the ERC-404 standard across DeFi, gaming, Metaverse and other spaces. This hybrid standard opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for non-fungible tokens, setting them up for a seismic 2024. 

Let us know your thoughts! Sign up for a Mindplex account now, join our Telegram, or follow us on Twitter. 

Putting A DePIn In Crypto in 2024

Posted on by Werner

Introduction

The crypto hype cycle thrives on slightly outlandish, vague narratives that help to prop prices and investors’ heart rates up. LSDs, memecoins, RWAs, anything that you can add a -Fi to – as long as it sounds exotic, it’ll likely soon come to an exchange (DEX? CEX? yes please!) near you. 

The latest term on everyone’s lips in 2024 is DePIn, or Decentralized Physical Infrastructure, which sounds a little less catchy and comes with a few other monikers such as EdgeFi, Proof of Physical Work (PoPw), and Token Incentivized Physical Networks (TIPIN). 

It’s still early days, but DePIn isn’t a pipe dream like metaverse circa-2021 being touted to drive up the price of crypto assets like Ethereum and Cardano; it offers real global potential as Web3, or the decentralized internet, continues to take shape in tandem with the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. 

DePIn uses valuable crypto incentives to connect millions of users, and build new products that were simply out of scope previously. Some projects like frontrunners Helium, Filecoin and Render have been building and growing steadily for years, while new upstarts like Hivemapper offer some wild new practical use cases. We’ll cover all these in a follow-up article, but in the meantime, here is the DePIn leaderboard for the degens amongst you. 

An in-depth Messari report on DePIn tries to make sense of the field, and how it intersects with everything from crypto to artificial intelligence (AI) VC funds are investing heavily in anticipation of it touching everything from zk-rollups to memecoins (and who knows, the metaverse?) before 2024 is done. 

Before we dig in, let’s cover the basics. 

What is DePIn?

DePIn can be described as hardware-based decentralized networks that use cryptocurrency tokens as an incentive for participants to help build out and maintain decentralized physical infrastructure for uses like wireless communication, information storage, computing power, and data networking. 

DePIn projects require careful thought about the dynamics of the rewards system. Things like geographical considerations are relevant, e.g. building infrastructure in London must be better incentivized than in Lahore, to make the users generate real-world traction and real network effect. 

By the end of 2023, there were 650+ DePIn projects with a total market cap of over $20 billion and $15 million in onchain annual revenue, across six subsectors: compute (250), AI (200), wireless (100), sensors (50), energy (50), and services (25).

Messari’s Six DePIn sectors

As mentioned above, the Messari report divides DePIn into six distinct and occasionally overlapping technology sectors, which will also be covered in a future article: 

  • Compute 
  • Wireless
  • Sensors
  • Energy 
  • Services
  • AI

Centralized networks in these industries have already created trillion dollar global industries, but DePIn is capable of making these sectors more resilient and efficient, thanks to incentivising innovation and changing how networks generate and raise capital.

What separates DePIn from standard physical networks?

The decentralized incentive structure provided by crypto is the perfect accelerant for building out a physical infrastructure network. On-chain settlements are essential to employing the key features of what makes DePIn unique: namely its decentralized resiliency, and its use of crowdsourced capital. 

Using on-chain settlements to support and incentivize the physical deployment of devices aids in creating a flywheel effect that further bolsters the network’s resiliency to censorship and security threats. If cryptocurrencies were not involved, it would be nearly impossible to settle transactions due to needing to use multiple currencies and DePIns could not guarantee privacy or decentralization.. 

Why DePIn beats TradPin

Messari sees four distinct advantages that DePIn hold over traditional infrastructure:

  1. Upfront capital investment vs crowdsourcing

Traditional infrastructure projects require up to billions of initial capital. This bars nearly everyone from entering the market. DePIn favors raising capital via crowdsourcing, and incentivises providing assets and labor by paying out with fair token incentives. 

  1. Onchain settlements over outdated operating costs

An on-chain ledger that’s decentralized both reduces managerial costs and makes processing payments transparent and free of hassle if the network is international or relies on privacy.

  1. Removing single points of failure

Centralized networks, regardless of size or function, have multiple single points of failure. If these are non-functional or turned off, all services stop. Giant cloud servers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Cloudflare have had moments of malfunction that caused millions of dollars in damages. 

  1. Innovation requires experimentation

Traditional networks and hardware have arguably been stagnant for some time. Messari argues new tech can take decades to release and integrate, but DePIn rewards innovation and risk-taking with fair incentive models that reward forward thinking.

Credit: Tesfu Assefa

The DePIn flywheel

The Messari report lays out a clear pathway for networks to expand, a pathway they claim limits speculation that many crypto projects have trouble navigating. Unlike ‘pure’ crypto protocols, which don’t usually incorporate a hardware element or create a network, DePIn creates a system that releases tokens as network activity increases. This increased network activity increases demand to satisfy a larger userbase, further incentivizing network growth. Basically, the bigger a DePIn network gets, the stronger it gets. 

This cycle has been named the DePIn flywheel. It will hopefully keep the memecoin traders disinterested and allow the native token price to more accurately reflect the utility it provides. 

See below for a visualisation of how the flywheel makes networks more powerful as they increase in size.

 

The DePIN flywheel (Credit: Publish0x)

While they don’t elaborate, Messari claims the DePIn flywheel can generate up to $10 trillion in global GDP in the next decade and up to $100 trillion the decade after that. Yes, that’s such a large number that it’s hard to believe. Hopefully a better explanation is provided in the future to explain how they arrived at such a large number. 

Six DePIn Narratives in 2024 

Messari believes that this year we’ll see DePIns begin to experiment more deeply with unique crypto primitives such as zero-knowledge proofs, memecoins, onchain AI and gaming.

ZK-Verifiable GPU Clouds

What’s Coming: In just 1-2 years, we’re looking at GPU clouds that can verify on-chain activities using Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proofs. This isn’t just tech jargon. It means a new kind of economy where decentralized AI can do things centralized giants can’t.

AI’s New Battleground: Centralized vs. Decentralized

Google’s Play: Imagine Google giving away its AI genius for free. Why? Same reason they gave away their search engine gratis: to learn from how we all use it. Here’s the twist – as AI gets smarter, it’s not just about more power, but more data. The race is on for massive data collections, a real treasure trove for the AI giants. 

The Price of Privacy in AI

Right now, keeping AI inferences private (with ZK proofs) is pricey – 75 times more pricey than the usual way. For those embedding AI in blockchain contracts, this cost is a big hurdle. That’s the key to really bringing AI onto the blockchain stage.

Memecoins: Not Just a Laughing Matter

Memecoins, often seen as a joke, are now serious players in driving blockchain-based AI and DePIn adoption. Believe it or not, the top memecoins are worth more than the leading DePIns. Memes move the market.

Web3’s New Weapon: Vampire Attacks

The New Strategy: Thanks to ZK TLS (zero-knowledge transport-layer security) tech, blockchain projects (DePIns) can now launch ‘vampire attacks’ on traditional web apps. This isn’t just about stealing users; it’s about disrupting reputation systems and reshaping marketplaces and competitive landscapes.

Gaming Meets Real-World AI

Gaming, AI, and real-world infrastructure are merging in fascinating ways. From onchain speed tests to mapping apps, gaming is stepping out into the real world, blending daily activities with digital rewards.

Privacy’s New Frontier: The Rise of ATOR

ATOR (anonymous TOR) is a DePIn project aiming to give the Tor network a new lease on life, using tokens to motivate node operators. This could lead to faster, more efficient private routing, changing how we think about online anonymity.

Asia’s Blockchain Boom

Watch out for Asia’s DePIn ecosystem. It’s booming, and we might see some major players emerge in the next few years.

Let us know your thoughts! Sign up for a Mindplex account now, join our Telegram, or follow us on Twitter. 

Tokenomics: A Guide For Crypto Beginners

Posted on by Werner

It’s 2024, the bull market is back (or nearly back), and all of crypto and Web3 is predictably awash once again with new projects launching amidst much fanfare from a horde of new investors and the influencers shilling them. It’s nothing new, and anyone that experienced the ICO boom in 2017 and the bull market of 2020-2021 can tell you that if you don’t know what you’re investing in, you’re going to be left with a big bag of nothing at the end of the day. 

You could have the best project in the world, but if you don’t get the balance right for example between how many tokens you give early investors and when they unlock, your cryptocurrency is doomed. 

A fundamental concept to figure out for both project founders and investors is tokenomics: the study of the supply, demand, distribution, and valuation of cryptocurrencies. Get it right, and you could be the new big thing, get it wrong, and you’re dead in the water as soon as you launch. 

Understanding tokenomics

Let’s talk about the basics before we jump into the pie charts. Even if you are ready to invest, make sure you first understand how a token’s model affects its short-term and long-term price action. 

Here are some essential terms to understand for new retail crypto investors. 

Presales: seed rounds, private rounds and angel investors

Most token models, regardless of their current market cap or utilities, began relatively unknown and required investments from venture capitalists, founders, or early adopters taking a huge risk. This even more so during periods of low market interest, like 2022’s bear market. 

Presales

Tokens are sold to a select group of investors before the public sale. This phase allows the project to raise funds and generate interest before the public launch.

Seed Rounds

Seed round funding is typically provided by angel investors, venture capital firms, or strategic partners. In the context of crypto tokenomics, a portion of the tokens is allocated to seed round investors, usually around 10%. 

Private Round(s)

Private rounds in crypto tokenomics involve the sale of tokens to a limited group of investors – often institutional or accredited investors – before the public sale. This phase allows the project to raise a significant amount of capital and build strategic partnerships. The allocation of tokens in private rounds varies, but typically it’s a smaller percentage than the public sale. Private rounds are sometimes split between private and strategic rounds. 

Public Round

In the public round, tokens are sold to the general public, often following a well-advertised launch event. This model aims to distribute tokens widely and build a community. It’s a crucial step in the fundraising process for a cryptocurrency project. During the public sale, interested individuals can acquire tokens using widely-used cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. The public sale is essential for raising capital and fostering a sense of community among a diverse group of token holders. 

Here’s an example of a breakdown of Coin A:

Seed Round: Cost $0.03 per token (5% of total supply)

Private Round: Cost $0.05 per token (7.5% of total supply)
Strategic Round: Cost $0.08 per token (5% of total supply)

Public Round: Cost $0.12 per token (12.5% of total supply)

To compensate and return the favor to these investors for helping keep the lights on, tokens are usually reserved before the launch begins, often at a much lower price than what retail investors will pay during the ICO. However, these tokens are not just handed over with no strings attached, which brings us to our next topic:

Credit: Tesfu Assefa

Vesting schedules and token distribution

We don’t want early investors selling their tokens for a fraction of the price retail investors did: this would crash the price due to low overall liquidity. To prevent this, their coins are often released over time, on what is called a vesting schedule. In fact, when a coin is first publicly available during its ICO, a large majority of the full supply is usually still locked up until later, when more demand is present, or locked so it can only be received by common methods such as staking or providing liquidity to the token. 

To understand the distribution system of most tokens, let’s analyze the current degen darling, Solana (SOL), and how it was allocated during its launch.

Credit: Coinbase

Before you ask, SBF purchased his infamous stake in Solana for $0.20 per token during the founding sale, two years before the public auction began in March of 2020.

Notice that only 1.60% of the total supply was released during the ICO on Coinlist, but if we observe the chart below, besides staking rewards, very few new tokens were introduced to the market until December of the same year.

Credit: CoinGecko

Both early investors and ICO buyers consider the longevity of a token when they purchase a brand new token. If the team gets the proportions wrong, or plans to release tokens too quickly or too slowly, private and retail investors would consider the protocol greedy or even assume a slow rug pull (where the team fade away after raising funds) is waiting for them.

Cool story, what’s the takeaway?

When you’re looking up the tokenomics of a token, make sure you take into account the vesting schedule of that coin and plan your purchase accordingly. If you fully send a market buy order, but it’s the day before the early investor tokens unlock, how will your shiny new internet monies change in value? It will put you underwater immediately. 

This information is always immediately available on the project website, or the launchpad for both new and old tokens, so let’s cover what you need to be looking for before you start sprinting the first 100 meters of the 2024 bull market marathon. 

Green flags

Token disclosure: If there is missing data about how many of the tokens exist, how they are allocated post-ICO, the seed sale allocations, etc, steer clear immediately. This lack of information is common with scam and low market cap tokens, and it becomes an expensive lesson in doing your research if you impulsively buy newly tokens or random coins on trendy launchpads.

Supply and demand match up: even if the tokenomics looks great and there’s high demand, does the token actually have a use case? Will it sit in your wallet collecting dust until it’s sold later? Because if it is, that’s the case for everyone else as well. Functions such as staking, yield farming, and burn mechanics dictate how much of the supply is actively being productive or locked up, lowering the supply actively being traded.  

Team and community: Even if the token model looks promising and its use case is clear, are the community and team on the same page? A successful tokenomics model aligns the interests of the core project team with those of the community and early investors. This is hard to measure without going deep into the project’s Discord, Telegram group, or Twitter comments, but is time well spent. The difference between a hidden gem with 100x potential and a complete scam is often community involvement.

Red flags

Market cap is unsustainable: Have you ever looked at a token’s value and thought, “wow, this is criminally undervalued, why is that?” Immediately calculate or look up the fully diluted value (FDV), a key metric, which accounts for tokens still vesting or not yet active such as staking rewards or treasury holdings. 

Slow rugs or dishonest founders will try to mislead traders into thinking they’ve found a diamond in the rough, by gaming the system that ranks their token by market cap to appear undervalued. However, when you see a new token with an FDV worth a billion, tread carefully. 

Unclear use-case: Is it a gaming token, a utility token, or a meme? The use of a token will determine if its distribution model is thought out or copy pasted from DOGEcoin’s whitepaper. A gaming token that sold too much to seed investors? Prepare to fall down an escalator if the game doesn’t have enough players. A governance token that’s mostly held by founders or a DAO? Don’t expect your vote on proposals to be impactful. Consider if the distribution matches its use-case for long term success. And if you’re unsure, compare its model to one of a similar token.

Anon team: While it’s common in crypto for teams to protect their anonymity, this lack of transparency is also a risk that needs to be weighed carefully, as it opens investors up to new risks like rug pulls and just blatant scams. 

Remember

Crypto is about educating yourself and being your own bank. This means due diligence is paramount if you want to succeed as an investor or a founder.  

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