๐ Weekly Journal: Everything You Need to Know About Liberland
[6 min read] Your weekend guide to getting ahead on the digital frontier. Today, the usual market news & how Liberland is building a reimagined nation state built around blockchain technology
Welcome to this weekโs Weekly Journal ๐, your guide to the latest news & innovation in emerging technology, digital assets, and our exciting path to the Metaverse. This is week 97 of the 520 weeks of newsletters I have committed to, a decade of documenting our physical and digital lives converge.
New subscribers are encouraged to check out the history & purpose of this newsletter as well as the archive.
- Ryan
๐ Digital Assets Market Update
To me, the Metaverse is the convergence of physical & virtual lives. As we work, play and socialise in virtual worlds, we need virtual currencies & assets. These have now reached mainstream finance as a defined asset class:
๐ฅ๐บ๏ธ 7-day heatmap below, showing the current share of the market for the top cryptocurrencies, and their change in price over the last week.
๐ญ Crypto Fear and Greed Index is based on volatility, social media sentiments, surveys, market momentum, and a few other bits and pieces.
๐๏ธ Interesting news from this week
In a bold fusion of politics and cryptocurrency, the tiny self-proclaimed Eastern European micronation of Liberland has elected blockchain entrepreneur Justin Sun as its acting Prime Minister through a blockchain-based election. Sun, known for founding the Tron blockchain, was nominated by Liberland's President Vรญt Jedliฤka to lead the libertarian nation. Despite his controversial reputation and legal challenges, Sunโs crypto expertise aligns with Liberlandโs vision of decentralisation. The micronation, founded in 2015 on disputed land between Croatia and Serbia, seeks to leverage blockchain governance, positioning itself at the frontier of the emerging metaverse-driven world.
At a recent Tesla event, Elon Musk showcased Optimus, a humanoid robot designed to take on everyday tasks like teaching, babysitting, and bartending. While reports suggest Tesla employees controlled the robots during the event, Musk's vision points to a future where autonomous robots seamlessly integrate into daily life. In the context of the emerging metaverse, where digital and physical worlds increasingly converge, it seems a matter of *when*, not *if*, AI-powered machines will perform such roles autonomously. As with past innovations, the timeline may be uncertain, but the potential is undeniable.
Generative AI tools are rapidly gaining traction, reflecting the rise of technologies shaping the emerging metaverse. OpenAIโs ChatGPT dominates the landscape, accounting for 82.5% of web traffic in March 2024, with over 2.3 billion visits. Chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity lead in popularity, followed by image-generation tools such as Midjourney. The only AI video tool in the top 15 is Runway, backed by Google and Nvidia, which is pioneering the video generation space. As major players like Meta and OpenAI expand into AI video, these tools will likely play a pivotal role in metaverse content creation. (source)
๐ Read of the Week
Liberland is fascinating because it is an example of whats to come as we transition to societies that reject traditional nation states and seek alternatives - be it borderless nations or other liberty-first jurisdictions. Liberland sees itself as a beacon of freedom and innovation at the heart of Europe. Situated on a 7 kmยฒ territory between Serbia and Croatia, Liberland was founded in 2015 by Vรญt Jedliฤka with a bold vision: to create the freest nation on Earth, where individual liberty, decentralised governance, and economic opportunity reign.
Liberland is more than just a micronationโitโs an experiment in the future of governance, powered by cutting-edge blockchain technology. With a growing global community of over 700,000 applicants for citizenship, Liberland is fast becoming a hub for innovators, entrepreneurs, and visionaries looking to build a society that values freedom and voluntary cooperation above all else.
This weekโs โRead of the Weekโ is their brochure.
๐ฅ Watch of the week
In this recent interview, Vรญt Jedliฤka, the founder of Liberland, shares his bold plans for the worldโs first blockchain-powered micronation. Jedliฤka outlines how Liberland is leveraging decentralised technology to build a society based on individual freedom, minimal governance, and economic opportunity.
AI ๐จ๐ค๐ตโ๐ผ
In the Metaverse, AI will be critical for creating intelligent virtual environments and avatars that can understand and respond to users with human-like cognition and natural interactions:
Geoffrey Hintonโs Nobel Prize on Tuesday for machine learning brings into focus the transformative yet potentially perilous nature of artificial intelligence. He likened AIโs disruptive potential to the Industrial Revolution but cautioned that, unlike physical dominance, AI may surpass human intellectual capabilities. His warning echoes historical concerns from other laureates, like those involved in the development of nuclear energy, antibiotics, and genetic engineering. Each saw their pioneering work as a double-edged swordโenabling remarkable advances while posing significant risks if misused.
Hinton joins a lineage of innovators urging caution. From nuclear proliferation to antibiotic resistance and genetic modification, the common theme is the urgent need for ethical guardrails as technology evolves. As we advance towards an AI-driven future, especially within the emerging metaverse, these warnings resonate even more. The metaverse will intertwine AI, digital identities, and immersive environments, amplifying both its potential and the risks of unintended consequences. The call for thoughtful, measured deployment of AI technologies within this new frontier mirrors past lessons and emphasises the importance of proactive stewardship to mitigate harm while unlocking innovation.
Thatโs all for the free version this week! If you have any organisations in mind that could benefit from learning about emerging technology, be sure to reach out. Educational workshops are one of many consulting services I offer.
DCA With Me ๐ค
Dollar Cost Averaging is an investment strategy in which an investor regularly invests a fixed amount of money into a particular asset/asset class at regular intervals, regardless of its current market cycle. By doing so, the investor can reduce the impact of market volatility and potentially earn a better return over time. Motto = time IN the market beats trying to time the market
To experiment with this, I invest $50 NZD into a Digital Asset every week. Each week I will choose an asset that seems underpriced in the short term and has positive long-term potential. My timeframe is 3-5 years. I donโt give financial advice but if you want to follow along with me you can use my easycrypto.co.nz referral link to support this newsletter. Letโs dive into this weekโs pick:
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