Crypto execs embrace AI for use cases including stablecoin-slinging bots
May 31, 2023
Exploring the tech behind crypto
one block at a time
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Hi, Bradley Keoun here, editor of The Protocol.
In today’s issue of The Protocol, we’re covering the five-year-old, $500,000 bet on Ethereum’s future between Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin and Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song. We also write on crypto executives’ quick embrace of artificial intelligence or AI as a complementary technology, and highlight the black market that has reportedly sprung up in China for identity credentials from the iris-scanning identity protocol Worldcoin.
5 Years After $500K Ethereum Wager Between Joe Lubin and Jimmy Song, Who Won?
Back then, at CoinDesk’s Consensus conference in 2018: Joe Lubin (left), co-founder of Ethereum and the founder of ConsenSys, with bitcoin advocate Jimmy Song and former CoinDesk reporter Brady Dale. (CoinDesk)
A bet placed five years ago on the future of crypto, between Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin and the Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song, is now coming due – and with $500,000 on the line, CoinDesk has run the numbers on who might be the winning party.
The subtext for the wager was that Song didn’t expect Ethereum, the second-biggest blockchain after Bitcoin, to develop a thriving ecosystem by May 2023, and Lubin put money down on the prediction that it would, sealed with a handshake after a bravado-filled exchange on the stage of CoinDesk’s Consensus conference in 2018.
For Lubin to win, five or more applications built atop Ethereum needed to hold onto 10,000 daily and 100,000 monthly active users for at least six months in any 12-month period before May 23, 2023. A daily active user was defined as an on-chain transaction initiated by a single Ethereum address.
In other words: A handful of Ethereum apps needed to get, as Song put it, the sort of traction enjoyed by a minimally successful Android or iPhone app.
The upshot? Two blockchain data firms (Artemis and Nansen) say five decentralized apps (dapps) met the specified usage levels over the past half-decade – the bare minimum for a Lubin win.
So, if Lubin was the victor, he just squeaked by; it wasn’t a blowout. And he might’ve lost, depending on whom you ask.
Worldcoin, the crypto-powered identity protocol known for its iris-scanning orbs (and attendant criticisms), turned heads last week with its $115 million capital raise – and it was lost on no one that the project is backed by Sam Altman, co-founder of Open AI, the company behind the suddenly-popular generative AI tool ChatGPT. The lead investor in the deal, Blockchain Capital, wrote that “Worldcoin has a unique opportunity to become the biggest onramp to crypto.” That remark drew jeers from some corners of Crypto Twitter, with one poster responding that “Bitcoin will destroy your dreams of scamming the world.” Separately, CoinDesk’s Eliza Gkritsi and Lingling Xiang reported that a black market has emerged in China for “know-your-customer” verifications from the project’s World App, which offers wallet and ID services. The report, which cited social media and ecommerce sites, as well as the Chinese crypto site Blockbeats, noted that credentials often come from developing countries like Cambodia and Kenya. Worldcoin confirmed its team had “identified suspicious and potentially fraudulent activity whereby individuals were incentivized to sign up for a verified World ID that was then delivered to a third party’s World App rather than their own.”
Canto, a layer 1 blockchain, was designed for decentralized finance (DeFi) services like crypto lending, staking and liquidity provision. And as our Oliver Knight writes, Canto has been one of the hardest hit in the past month as liquidity dries up across the sector. Total value locked (TVL), or the amount of collateral deposited in the network, has fallen by 35%. Chalk it up to the fickle nature of crypto investors, who had piled into Canto after it launched last August as DeFi markets heated up. The blockchain’s native CANTO token is down 55% in six weeks.
Also:
Nansen, blockchain analysis firm, slashes 30% of headcount, and CEO acknowledges “taking on surface area” beyond the core strategy during a period of “breakneck growth.”
Multichain, one of the largest platforms for moving digital assets between the various blockchains, suspends cross-chain routes, says CEO Zhaojun (one-word name) is incommunicado, hampering “the necessary server access for maintenance.”
Here we highlight some of the latest blockchain tech upgrades:
BNB Chain, smart-contracts blockchain originally launched by Binance exchange, pushes toward June 11 Luban upgrade, including “FastFinality” that reduces transaction-block finalization to ~7.5 seconds from 45 seconds (versus 16 minutes on Ethereum 2.0).
European Central Bank publishes results of digital-euro prototyping exercise, based on centralized “back-end,” but with five different user interfaces; emphasizes these are to be used as “research tools and not as a basis for developing future payment solutions.”
Qredo, institutional-grade crypto self-custody platform, launches new version with dashboard, notification center, more granular control over team-member permissions.
Magic, startup offering non-custodial wallet infrastructure for enterprises including Macy’s and Mattel, raises $52M in strategic funding round. (PayPal Ventures, Cherubic, Synchrony, KX, Northzone, and Volt Capital)
Anoma Foundation, crypto infrastructure firm behind Namada blockchain, raises $25M in third funding round. (CMCC Capital, Electric Capital, Delphi Digital, Dialectic, KR1, Spartan, NGC, MH Ventures, Bixin Ventures, No Limit, Plassa, Perridon Ventures, Anagram and Factor.)
Transak, Web3 payments firm, raises $20M Series A funding. (CE Innovation Capital)
Deals and grants
Tribe Capital, venture capital firm, targets $100M for latest crypto fund, for early-stage investments of $500K-$3M in layer 1 and layer 2 ecosystems, focusing on security, scalability, liquidity and cross-chain compatibility.
Render Network, decentralized graphics processing network, sees RNDR token tracks tech stocks as broader crypto market decouples.
Data Corner
The CoinDesk Smart Contract Platform Index of 42 digital assets slipped 0.7% during May, though Ethereum’s ETH managed to eke out a 1.7% gain, and there were clear outliers. Kava’s KAVA token was the big gainer, followed by Tron’s TRX token. Cosmos’s ATOM slipped while laggards included OMG Network’s OMG. Optimism’s OP was the biggest loser, with prices sliding ahead of a $580M unlock that would double the circulating supply. Source: CoinDesk.
