News

Arif Khan on the future of crypto-AI

Published

7 months ago

7 May, 2024

It seems like the vibrant world of “Crypto + AI” has arisen out of nowhere in the last 12 months, but don’t tell anyone Arif Khan, CEO of Alethea AI. He’s been here since 2017, when he was part of the core team of SingularityNET, one of the OG AI + Web3 projects. (It existed before Web3 was even called Web3.)

For Khan, decentralized AI is more than just hype, more than an abstraction, and more than a trendy trend: it’s fundamental, and it’s the future. And it can make our daily lives easier. “I think in five years we will have autonomous AI agents on-chain making crypto transactions and managing a lot of our lives,” Khan predicts. “In 5-10 years, we will be managing our financial lives, our emails, and the administrative issues of things like paying bills. All of this can be done on-chain and natively.”

Arif Khan, CEO of Alethea AI, is one of this year’s speakers Consent festival in Austin, Texas, May 29-31.

Ahead of Consensus, where he speaks on stage about AI, Khan shares his vision for how Alethea will help unlock that future, why decentralized AI is so important, and why at Consensus it’s “fun to hang out with the editorial team.” and journalists”. (That last one might deserve a fact check, but we appreciate the sentiment.)

The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

What is your vision for Alethea?

Arif Khan: Our main goal is to create a Web3 infrastructure for generative AI. Imagine a Venn diagram with two circles: the Web3 world and the AI world. [ARIF shares his screen on our Zoom to show the below image.] The Web3 world is a scarcity-focused world, while the generative AI world is abundance-focused. So it’s at the intersection of combining those two things that you get what we call the AI protocol, where any generative asset, whether it’s an AI character or an AI agent, is tracked and monetized. There’s a provenance around it.

We started our first collaboration long before ChatGPT became popular, when GPT-3 was still in private beta. We created an AI character or agent, version 0.1, let’s say. We called it Alice, which is a smart NFT. An NFT that can talk to you, learn, interact and communicate.

So this is a work of art, but at the same time you can interact and communicate with it. So it’s no longer a static image, it has an AI component. We’ve come a long way since then, but the goal is to build this in a way that’s ethical and open, and that’s going to be really important.

Why is decentralized AI so important to you? What does Web3 bring to the table?

One of the principles of Web3 is ownership. You know the meme: Not your keys, not your coins. So it’s very simple to map it out and look at it from an AI perspective: if it’s not your data, not your models, not your input, and if you’re not part of the equation, it’s not yours.

If you can build ownership into the design structure of what you’re building, then you’re kind of reversing the power dynamic. And that means, for example, at a very, very basic level, it means that if you’re a creator, if you own an asset, or if you own aspects of your words – and if you’ve licensed it, or it’s part of a chain of provenance, you are now part of an equation where for everything that is trained on it, you get some level of compensation across the board. This is very complex to achieve on a large scale.

It’s fair to say that the production of an Alethea model might be similar to the output of something centralized, like OpenAI, but the foundations are very different and built in a decentralized way, which confers benefits that are harder to see on the surface?

I think you’re right, but I’ll just zoom in [and correct] a zone. I was one of the first angel investors on the team that created Stable Diffusion. And it was a quantum leap for the open source approach. At the time it was the only model capable of competing with DALL-E, a commercial model built by a larger company. He could punch well above his weight class. It was built by the open source community and open source researchers.

What I’m trying to say is that at every single level, whether at the GPU level, whether at the model level, whether at the agent level – at every single level, if you use decentralization and open ethics, you have a huge opportunity to innovate. You’re not stuck with centralized control.

Ah, so if I understand correctly, you are saying that by decentralizing you are more likely to get better results?

Yes. And the word “likely” to produce better results is crucial, because you will regularly see many open source failures.

Yes, it’s difficult. But this is an integral part of the process. You get terrible results along with great results.

What can you tell us about Alethea’s partnership with Amazon Web Services?

So, there are three parts to our ecosystem. There are the GPU clusters, there is the model side and then there are the agents.

On the GPU side, we have started working with several vendors to diversify GPU access. And AWS has been a very helpful partner in helping us test and scale these GPUs. We continue to diversify our GPU sources and it was also an opportunity to learn from an amazing team.

Give us an AI prediction. How might the world look different thanks to artificial intelligence in, say, five years? Or 10?

I think in five years we will have autonomous on-chain AI agents making crypto transactions and managing much of our lives. In 5-10 years, we will be managing our financial lives, our emails, and the administrative hassles of things like paying bills. This can be done on-chain and natively.

In two parts: What excites you most about AI, and what terrifies you most about AI?

What excites me most is its democratizing potential, such as the opportunity for each of us to have our own AI agent.

What terrifies me is that with this comes enormous responsibility, right? Fire can heat a house or it can burn a village. So we just have to be careful how we use it.

Outside of Alethea and Singularity, what do you consider the most promising projects in Crypto + AI?

Morpheus is a very interesting open source project. I really like the way they position themselves. And the other one that was very interesting to watch is Bittensor. From an application perspective, they’ve created a really interesting economics, where people can plug in at the application layer, at the GPU layer, at the model layer. And I’m sure there are many more that I miss; there are so many amazing entrepreneurs and community builders.

We close with some reflections on Consensus. Any favorite memories from past conferences?

I remember meeting Michael Casey six or seven years ago at Consensus in New York, at an after-dinner event. And there was a physicist or a mathematician: Eric Weinstein, who is now quite popular on Joe Rogan. And he was joking about the statistics and making some controversial points. It was like a melding of minds, and it was great to be in the presence of thinkers who are really pushing the boundaries.

Favorite parties or events at Consensus?

There are many, but I think it’s always fun to hang out with the editorial staff and journalists.

It’s a really fun group of people. So I try to follow them wherever they go. They’re going to the Cool Kids Party, right?

I’ve never been mistaken for a Cool Kid, but we’ll take that. Thanks and see you in Austin!

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News

Cryptocurrency Price August 1: Bitcoin Dips Below $65K; Solana, XRP Down Up To 8%

Published

4 months ago

1 August, 2024

BlockChainBulletin Staff

Major cryptocurrencies fell in Thursday trading following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep its key interest rate unchanged. Overnight, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate at 5.25-5.5% for the eighth consecutive time, as expected, while also signaling the possibility of a rate cut at its next meeting in September. The unanimous decision by the Federal Open Market Committee reflects a continued wait-and-see approach as it monitors inflation trends.

CoinSwitch Markets Desk said: “Bitcoin has fallen below $65,000 after the US Federal Reserve announced it would keep interest rates unchanged. However, with markets now anticipating rate cuts at the next Federal Reserve meeting in September, the outlook for a Bitcoin rally by the end of the year has strengthened.”

Meanwhile, CoinDCX research team said: “The crypto market has plunged after the Fed decision. Tomorrow’s US unemployment rate announcement is expected to induce more volatility, with the ‘actual’ figure coming in higher than the ‘expected’ one, which is positive for cryptocurrencies.”

At 12:21 pm IST, Bitcoin (BTC) was down 3.2% at $64,285, while Ethereum was down nearly 4.5% at $3,313. Meanwhile, the global market cryptocurrency The market capitalization fell 3.6% to around $2.3 trillion in the last 24 hours.

“Bitcoin needs to clear its 200-day EMA at $64,510 to consolidate further. Otherwise, a retest of $62,000 could be in the cards,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus.

Altcoins and meme coins, such as BNB (3%), Solana (8%), XRP (5.7%), Dogecoin (5%), Cardano (4.6%), Avalanche (4.3%), Shiba Inu (3.8%), Polkadot (3.4%), and Chainlink (4%) also saw declines.

The volume of all stablecoins is now $71.64 billion, which is 92.19% of the total cryptocurrency market volume in 24 hours, according to data available on CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 54.99%. BTC volume in the last 24 hours increased by 23.3% to $35.7 billion.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, opinions and views provided by experts are personal. They do not represent the views of the Economic Times)

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News

Altcoins WIF, BONK, RUNE, JUP Down 10% While Bitcoin Drops 4%

Published

4 months ago

1 August, 2024

BlockChainBulletin Staff

Altcoins WIF, BONK, RUNE and JUP drop 10% as Bitcoin recedes 4%

Altcoins dogwifhat, Bonk, THORChain, and Jupiter have suffered losses of more than 10%, while Bitcoin is down 4% in the last 24 hours.

After a period of relative calm yesterday, July 31, Bitcoin (BTC) price action has seen a drastic change as the cryptocurrency dropped by more than $3,500, bringing its value to $63,300. At the same time, altcoins mirrored this trend, with the total value of liquidated positions rising to nearly $225 million over the course of the day.

Initially, the week started on a positive note for Bitcoin, which reached its highest point since early June, hitting $70,000. However, this peak was short-lived, as it was quickly rejected, leading to a substantial decline, with Bitcoin falling below $65,500.

The cryptocurrency managed to regain some stability, trading comfortably at around $66,800. However, following a Press conference According to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, the value of Bitcoin has fallen again to $64,300, down more than 3% in 24 hours.

BTC Price Chart 24 Hours | Source: crypto.news

The recession coincided with a relationship from the New York Times stating that Iran had called for retaliatory measures against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, increasing the risk of further conflict in the region.

Meanwhile, on the economic front, the Federal Reserve decided to keep its benchmark interest rates in place, offering little information on a planned September rate cut. Powell also hinted that while no concrete decisions have been made on the September adjustment, there is growing consensus that a rate cut is likely.

Amid Bitcoin’s decline, altcoins have suffered even more significant losses. For example, dogwifhat (Wife) saw a 12.4% drop and (DISGUST) has suffered a 10% drop. Other altcoins such as THORChain (RUNE) also fell by 10%, while Jupiter (JUPITER) and the Ethereum naming service (ENS) decreased by 8% and 9% respectively.

Among the largest-cap cryptocurrencies, the biggest losers are Solana (SOL) with a decrease of 8%, (Exchange rate risk) down 6%, Cardano (ADA) down 4%, and both Ethereum (ETH) and Dogecoin (DOGE) recording a decrease of 4.4%.

Data from CoinGlass indicates that approximately 67,000 traders have been negatively impacted by this increased volatility. BTC positions have seen $61.85 million in liquidations, while ETH positions have faced $61 million. In total, the value of liquidated positions stands at $225.4 million at the time of writing.

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News

Riot Platforms Sees 52% Drop in Bitcoin Production in Q2

Published

4 months ago

1 August, 2024

BlockChainBulletin Staff

Riot Platforms posts 52% decrease in Bitcoin production for Q2

Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms has released its second-quarter financial results, highlighting a decline in cryptocurrency mined due to the recent halving.

Colorado-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Riot platforms revealed its second quarter financial results, highlighting a significant reduction in mined cryptocurrencies attributed to the recent halving event that took place in early April.

The company reported total revenue of $70 million for the quarter ended July 31, a decline of 8.7% compared to the same period in 2023. Riot Platforms attributed the revenue decline primarily to a $9.7 million decrease in engineering revenue, which was partially mitigated by a $6 million increase in Bitcoin extraction income.

During the quarter, the company mined 844 BTC, representing a decline of over 50% from Q2 2023, citing the halving event and increasing network difficulty as major factors behind the decline. Riot Platforms reported a net loss of $84.4 million, or $0.32 per share, missing Zacks Research forecast a loss of $0.16 per share.

Halving increases competitive pressure

The Colorado-based firm said the average cost of mining one BTC in the second quarter, including energy credits, rose to $25,327, a remarkable 341% increase from $5,734 per BTC in the same quarter of 2023. Despite this significant increase in production costs, the firm remains optimistic about maintaining competitiveness through recent deals.

For example, following the Recent acquisition Cryptocurrency firm Block Mining, Riot has increased its distributed hash rate forecast from 31 EH/s to 36 EH/s by the end of 2024, while also increasing its 2025 forecast from 40 EH/s to 56 EH/s.

Riot Platforms Hashrate Growth Projections by 2027 | Source: Riot Platforms

Commenting on the company’s financials, Riot CEO Jason Les said that despite the halving, the mining company still managed to achieve “significant operational growth and execution of our long-term strategy.”

“Despite this reduction in production available to all Bitcoin miners, Riot reported $70 million in revenue for the quarter and maintained strong gross margins in our core Bitcoin mining business.”

Jason Les

Following its Q2 financial report, Riot Platforms shares fell 1.74% to $10.19, according to Google Finance data. Meanwhile, the American miner continues to chase Canadian rival Bitfarms, recently acquiring an additional 10.2 million BITF shares, increasing its stake in Bitfarms to 15.9%.

As previously reported by crypto.news, Riot was the first announced a $950 million takeover bid for Bitfarms in late May, arguing that Bitfarms’ founders were not acting in the best interests of all shareholders. They said their proposal was rejected by Bitfarms’ board without substantive engagement.

In response, Bitfarms She said that Riot’s offer “significantly understates” its growth prospects. Bitfarms subsequently implemented a shareholder rights plan, also known as a “poison pill,” to protect its strategic review process from hostile takeover attempts.

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News

Aave Price Increases Following Whales Accumulation and V3.1 Launch

Published

4 months ago

1 August, 2024

BlockChainBulletin Staff

Aave price surges amid whale accumulation and V3.1 launch

Decentralized finance protocol Aave is seeing a significant spike in whale activity as the market looks to recover from the recent crash that pushed most altcoins into key support areas earlier this week.

July 31, Lookonchain shared details indicating that the whales had aggressively accumulated Aave (AAVE) over the past two days. According to the data, whales have withdrawn over 58,848 AAVE worth $6.47 million from exchanges during this period.

In one instance, whale address 0x9af4 withdrew 11,185 AAVE worth $1.23 million from Binance. Meanwhile, another address moved 21,619 AAVE worth over $2.38 million from the exchange and deposited the tokens into Aave.

These withdrawals follow a previous transfer of 26,044 AAVE from whale address 0xd7c5, amounting to over $2.83 million withdrawn from Binance.

AAVE price has surged over 7% in the past 24 hours amid buy-side pressure from these whales. The DeFi token is currently trading around $111 after jumping over 18% in the past week.

Recently, the price of AAVE increased by over 8% after Aave founder Marc Zeller announced a proposed fee change aimed at adopting a buyback program for AAVE tokens.

Aave v3.1 is available

The total value locked in the Aave protocol currently stands at around $22 billion. According to DeFiLlamaApproximately $19.9 billion is on Aave V3, while the V2 chain still holds approximately $1.9 billion in TVL and V1 approximately $14.6 million.

Aave Labs announced Previously, Aave V3.1 was made available on all networks with active Aave V3 instances.

V3.1 features improvements that are intended to improve the overall security of the DeFi protocol. The Aave DAO governance has approved the v3.1 improvements, which also include operational efficiency and usability for the network.

Meanwhile, Aave Labs recently outlined a ambitious roadmap for the projectwith a 2030 vision for Aave V4, among other developments.

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