The founder of DEX ShapeShift has launched a new AI platform that’s meant to be a safer and more neutral alternative to ChatGPT and Claude.
“Crypto + AI” is personified by Erik Voorhees. His career has spanned the eras. In 2012, when Voorhees launched the blockchain-based gambling game “Satoshi Dice” — which once accounted for half of all Bitcoin transactions — he pioneered a novel use case for cryptocurrency.
The founder of the decentralized exchange ShapeShift is now applying the ethos of bitcoin to the next wave of AI, launching Venice.AI with the humble goal of “unfettered civilizational advancement.” In announcing Venice on May 10, Voorhees explained that the app is similar to ChatGPT or Claude but “without all the Orwellian stuff,” and that Venice doesn’t censor conversations or “inject bias, safetyism, or political propaganda.”
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Somewhat amazingly, Venice seemed to ship instantly. It’s now live, creates uncensored images, and is part of the open-source Morpheus network. And as Voorhees says, “You can use Venice even without an account, in less than five seconds, from anywhere on earth via desktop or mobile.”
The co-founder of NEAR is working to create a full ecosystem for decentralized AI.
There are many in the Web3 space who have only recently jumped into AI. Illia Polosukhin isn’t one of them. Long before he co-founded the decentralized app blockchain protocol NEAR, Polosukhin worked at Google as an AI researcher and co-wrote the seminal 2017 paper “Attention is All you Need,” which is widely credited as pioneering the “transformer” technology that powers popular large language model (LLMs) AI apps such as ChatGPT. His AI credentials are impeccable.
“AI is a really powerful force,” Polosukhin told me in 2023, “but what we don’t want is it to be controlled and biased by a single company.” So now Polosukhin is marrying his original love (AI) with NEAR’s mission of decentralization, working to create an entire ecosystem for decentralized AI, from compute to training to agents.
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At NEAR’s recent [Redacted] conference in Bangkok, there were literal signs everywhere showing just how seriously Polosukhin is taking this: “AI is NEAR.”
This profile is part of CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2024 package. For all of this year’s nominees, click here.
Anton Tkachev proposed “assessing the feasibility of creating a strategic BTC reserve in Russia by analogy with state reserve in traditional currencies.”
A deputy in the Russian parliament proposed the creation of a strategic bitcoin (BTC) reserve to tackle sanctions imposed on the country, state-owned news agency Ria reported on Monday.
Anton Tkachev of the New People party, which formed in 2020 and has 16 out of the 450 seats in the State Duma, asked Finance Minister Anton Siluanov to “assess the feasibility of creating a strategic bitcoin reserve in Russia by analogy with state reserve in traditional currencies.”
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The reserve would help counter the threat posed to Russian financial stability by sanctions, inflation and the volatility of traditional currencies that the country holds, such as the Chinese yuan, U.S. dollars and the euro, according to the proposal.
“In conditions of limited access to traditional international payment systems for countries under sanctions, cryptocurrencies are becoming virtually the only instrument for international trade,” Tkachev said in the proposal.
The proposal appears to echo U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to establish a strategic BTC reserve as a store of value to alleviate the pressures of the country’s national debt.
The negative vote was expected even as MicroStrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor tried to convince Microsoft shareholders otherwise.
Microsoft (MSFT) doesn’t appear to be adding its name anytime soon to the list of corporate entities holding bitcoin (BTC) after its shareholders voted against a proposal that would have directed the board of directors to study such a move.
Titled “Assessment of Investing in Bitcoin,” the proposal was put forward by the National Center for Public Policy Research. The think tank group suggested that Microsoft should consider diversifying 1% of its total assets into bitcoin as a potential hedge against inflation. According to the latest data by Bloomberg, Microsoft holds $78.4 billion of cash and marketable securities on its balance sheet.
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The board last month had urged shareholders to vote against the proposal.
The preliminary vote result was announced minutes ago at the company’s annual meeting.
Shares of MSFT were trading for $446 in the minutes after the decision was announced, roughly flat for the day. Already under pressure on Tuesday, bitcoin prices fell a bit more following the news, now lower by 4% over the past 24 hours to $95,700.
Michael Saylor gets involved
A 3-minute presentation by Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Bitcoin Development Company MicroStrategy (MSTR), which has seen its stock price surge as much as 2,500% since adding bitcoin to the company’s treasury strategy more than four years ago, was meant to convince shareholders otherwise.
Saylor argued that Microsoft had surrendered $200 billion in capital over the past five years by issuing dividends and stock buybacks instead of purchasing bitcoin.
From the beginning, though, Microsoft’s board had concerns over bitcoin due to the inherent volatility of the asset. The company, according to the board, prioritizes stable and predictable investments to mitigate as much risk as possible.
Bitcoin is again outperforming, sliding just 3% back to $95,000.
Cryptocurrencies continued to this week’s decline on Tuesday, with altcoins in near-freefall as bitcoin (BTC) slid further from the $100,000 level.
Among the worst-hit cryptos were XRP, Polkadot (DOT), Litecoin (LTC), Aptos (APT) and Cardano (ADA), down 15%-18% over the past 24 hours, extending Monday declines. The CoinDesk 20 — an index of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding memecoins, stablecoins and exchange coins — tumbled almost 10% Most cryptos in the index plunged by double-digit percentage amount at the minimum, though Ethereum’s ether (ETH) and Solana’s SOL fell just 8% and 9%, respectively.
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Bitcoin, in comparison, held up relatively well compared to the rest of the market, dipping to $95,000 and down nearly 3% over the past 24 hours.
Cryptocurrencies had already plunged on Monday, triggering one of the largest leverage flushes in years liquidating over $1.5 billion of bullish derivatives positions. Tuesday’s fall so far forced $450 million in liquidations across all digital assets, mostly bullish bets, CoinGlass data shows. Open interest for bitcoin futures remains at record high at almost $58 billion, though it has decreased 6.8% from Sunday.
This week’s sell-off followed a month-long breakneck rally in crypto prices after Donald Trump’s election victory in early November. Some altcoin majors doubled or more in price, while bitcoin crossed the $100,000 threshold for time ever.
Bitcoin’s market cap dominance, which shows BTC’s share of the total cryptocurrency market, spiked to 57.9% on Tuesday, its strongest reading since late November, underscoring the general risk-off move from altcoins towards BTC.
Bitcoin dominance (TradingView)
The market moves could be in anticipation of inflation data coming on Wednesday, according to Youholder Chief of Markets Ruslan Lienkha. “The market anticipates a slight uptick in inflation,” he told CoinDesk in an email. “However, if CPI reveals figures higher than expected, it could intensify the ongoing correction across financial markets. In such a scenario, the timing and likelihood of Federal Reserve rate cuts will become a critical focus heading into the new year.”
Stocks, though, haven’t suffered the same way crypto has. After modest declines on Monday, the major U.S. average are flat today.
Tether services can now be offered in the Abu Dhabi Global Market by authorized firms, the company said Tuesday.
Tether’s stablecoin USD₮ has been recognized as an accepted virtual asset in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the company announced on Tuesday.
The approval from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority means that companies which are licensed can offer pre-approved USD₮ services in Abu Dhabi’s Global Market. Though, the release did not say what those approved services might be. CoinDesk reached out to Tether for comment.
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Tether ‘s USD₮ exceeded a $138 billion market cap but the company wants to continue advancing its growth, the statement said.
“By bringing USD₮ to the forefront of ADGM’s regulated virtual asset framework, we are not only validating the importance of stablecoins as critical tools for modern finance but also opening new doors for collaboration and growth across the Middle East,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, in a press release.
The United Arab Emirates has been praised for being a crypto hub. Abu Dhabi, its capital, started regulating crypto activities including those undertaken by exchanges and custodians in 2018 ahead of most regulators. The European Union will begin enforcing its rules in the coming days and the U.K. by 2026.
Circle, another stablecoin issuer, is also diving into the Middle East after incorporating a company in the ADGM, it said in a statement.
The approval is a necessary step towards the public launch of the RLUSD token, which is currently in test mode on Ethereum and XRP Ledger.
XRP, the native token of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) network, surged during the U.S. afternoon hours on Tuesday as Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the company’s much-anticipated stablecoin obtained regulatory approval from the New York Department of Financial Services.
“This just in…we have final approval from NYDFS for RLUSD! Exchange and partner listings will be live soon,” Garlinghouse posted on X.
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XRP rallied 10% following Garlinghouse’s announcement in a broader crypto market bounce, erasing today’s losses. The token was up 6.8% over the past 24 hours, outperforming bitcoin (BTC) and the broad market CoinDesk 20 Index. The XRPL network was developed by engineers who later established Ripple, and the company has long been associated with products and services using the token.
Ripple laid out its plans in April to enter the quickly growing stablecoin market with its heavily regulated, short-term U.S. government bond-backed cryptocurrency. Stablecoins are a key piece of infrastructure in the crypto economy, and increasingly used for global payments, which is one of Ripple’s business focuses. The two largest issuers, Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC), currently dominate the almost $200 billion stablecoin market. The sector, however, is forecasted to grow to trillions of dollars over the next few years, and Ripple is vying for a piece of that.
With RLUSD, Ripple strives to leverage the company’s established position for payments services among institutions and serve as a key intermediary for real-world asset tokenization, Ripple President Monica Long told CoinDesk in an interview in October. Tokenization is a red-hot trend in crypto to place traditional financial instruments on blockchain rails for more efficient transactions.
RLUSD is in beta testing on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum networks. Ripple’s Long said earlier that the token has been “operationally ready,” only awaiting approval from regulators for the token’s public launch.
There are currently $41.7 million worth of RLUSD tokens on Ethereum and $10.4 million on XRPL, data compiled by analytics firm CryptoQuant shows.
Regulators from both countries are looking to collaborate to foster crypto innovation.
El Salvador and Argentina are partnering to help develop the crypto industry in Latin America.
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Juan Carlos Reyes, El Salvador’s top crypto regulator and president of the Comisión Nacional de Activos Digitales (CNAD), and Roberto Silva, the president of the Comisión Nacional de Valores of Argentina (CNV), on Tuesday signed an agreement for the two countries to collaborate on crypto regulation.
“At CNAD we have two core objectives, when it comes to international collaboration,” Reyes told CoinDesk in an email. “To share our expertise with international partners, enabling them to harness the benefits of a well-regulated industry. … [And] to broaden the international footprint of our regulated companies by forging strategic partnership agreements with nations worldwide.”
“This landmark agreement with Argentina holds particular significance, given the country’s standout reputation for pioneering innovative technologies and its remarkable rate of adoption,” Reyes added.
While the details of the deal are still unknown, Reyes stated on LinkedIn that the agreement aimed to enable the two regulatory bodies to share knowledge and experience, to spur crypto innovation.
“The joining of efforts between El Salvador and Argentina will lay the foundations for greater regional cooperation, promoting a favorable environment for the development of the digital asset industry,” he wrote.
Reyes previously told CoinDesk that El Salvador had a head start on most countries in terms of crypto regulation thanks to President Nayib Bukele making bitcoin legal tender in the Central American nation.
Argentinian President Javier Milei, meanwhile, has been ideologically open to cryptocurrencies and bitcoin and is popular among Argentinian crypto developers for his inflation-mitigating policies.
XRP whale exchange deposits hit a six-month high early Tuesday, indicating short-term bearish pressure.
XRP outperformed bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies, with dogecoin (DOGE) leading losses in the past 24 hours before the release of U.S. inflation data later Wednesday.
Bitcoin (BTC) remained steady around $98,000, while ether (ETH), BNB Chain’s bnb, and Cardano’s ADA fell by as much as 2%. Memecoin DOGE dropped 4%, even as shiba inu (SHIB) and floki (FLOKI) rose 1%. The broad-based CoinDesk 20 added 0.69%.
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is due to release November’s consumer price index (CPI) at 8:30 a.m. ET (13:30 UTC). Federal Reserve Chair Powell has said that incoming economic data will heavily influence interest-rate decisions —which may impact crypto markets in the new year. The previous month’s data showed that inflation remained a concern for the Fed.
XRP, meantime, surged as much as 7%, reversing losses since Monday, after related company Ripple Labs said it had received “final” regulatory approval to offer the RLUSD stablecoin in the U.S.
The stablecoin will be issued on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum networks, and could be used on decentralized finance (DeFi) applications that involve XRP, boosting the ecosystem.
Before the announcement, deposits from XRP whales to exchanges hit a six-month high early Tuesday, indicating short-term bearish pressure. Over the past 30 days, more than 2.66 billion XRP tokens moved to Binance, data from CryptoQuant shows. That is the most since April 2024.
“The large inflows suggest that big XRP holders are actively transferring XRP over the network,” CryptoQuant independent analyst maartunn said in a post. “Whale deposits can often signal potential shifts in strategy, as these players have significant amounts of assets at their disposal.”
Large movements of XRP to Binance preceded price drops in November 2023 and April 2024.
The tax increase will be significantly reduced during parliamentary work, lawmakers said.
Italy is set to trim its planned tax increase on crypto capital gains, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Two months ago, the government was intent on raising the tax to 42% from 26% by the end of December.
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“The tax increase will be significantly reduced during the parliamentary work,” lawmakers Giulio Centemero and Federico Freni, a junior minister at the Treasury, said in a statement according to Reuters.
The decision to increase the capital gains tax was inspired by the rising popularity of investments in crypto, especially bitcoin, which climbed above $100,000 last week. The “phenomenon is spreading,” Deputy Finance Minister Maurizio Leo told Bloomberg in October after announcing the news.
CoinDesk reached out to Centemero and Freni for a comment.
