Artificial Intelligence And Faketoshi

The news from Planet Ruby—Friday, February 23, 2024

• Signal: Adam Back
• Noise: CSW

AI Storms Ahead

It's been a huge week for AI. Nvidia earnings came in well above expectations, thanks to its positioning as the leading AI chip manufacturer, causing its value to soar to $1.7 trillion: Above that of Google's parent company, Alphabet.

Nvidia alone has driven around quarter of the S&P 500's gains this year, helping to push it to another all-time high this week, close to 5100, along with the Dow Jones.

Then there was OpenAI's new text-to-video platform, Sora, which generates jaw-droppingly high-quality output. Sora's capabilities have been as divisive as they are impressive.

All of this points to a future in which AI plays a major role. Unfortunately, a key indicator suggests this will not be good for humans.

Meanwhile the dollar is cooling off following that CPI spike to almost 105. Confirmation of a head-and-shoulders pattern will happen if the DXY breaks 101, at which point there could be a long way to fall.

Bitcoin Rangebound

BTC has been unable to pick a direction this week, remaining in a range between around $51,000 and $52,500. (At the time of writing, it's trading just under $51k.) This is despite the ETFs hoovering up thousands of bitcoins every day, and putting in some huge trading volumes, though one day this week saw small net outflows.

Bitcoin Dominance is also treading water at 53%, waiting to pick a direction. ETH has outperformed, topping $3,000 before pulling back.

COPA Trial Sees Big Guns On The Stand

This week, Hashcash inventor Adam Back and early Bitcoin dev Marti Malmi have been in court, giving evidence in the trial that will determine (in legal terms, anyway) whether Craig Wright is Satoshi. Both were cool and precise on the stand, in stark contrast to Wright's chaotic performance. Back schooled Wright's lawyer in how Bitcoin actually works in practice, rather than in theory.

What comes across strongly on Twitter is the utter polarization between the two sides in this case: The BSV community, who passionately believe Wright is Satoshi, and the mainstream Bitcoiner viewpoint. Each are absolutely convinced that the witnesses put on the stand have supported their viewpoint, and that the judge's decision will confirm this. It is remarkable that people can view the same events and interpret them completely differently with such consistency.

When the trial concludes, in mid-March, there will be some almighty cognitive dissonances to resolve.

Finally, the ECB has declared the impending death of Bitcoin. Again.

What's New In The SKALEVERSE?

SKALE continues to power forwards, with February's transaction volumes set to eclipse January's and put in an all-time high, along with unique active wallets.

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