📔 Weekly Journal: Hans Zimmer composed a song for Web3 🎼🌐
[6 min read] Your guide to getting ahead on the digital frontier (& the weekend!). Today, the usual market news as well as the Zimmer composition that was inspired by the vision of a Web3 future
Welcome to this week’s Weekly Journal 📔, your guide to the latest news & innovation in emerging technology, digital assets, and our exciting path to the Metaverse. This is week 72 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.
Enjoy your weekend! 😎
- Ryan
Digital Assets Market Update
🔥🗺️ 7-day heatmap below, which shows the current share of market for the top cryptocurrencies, alongside total marketcap (USD) and the change in price over the last week. With the panic about Israel & Iran starting WW3, there have been more seller than buyers.
🎭 Crypto Fear and Greed Index is based on volatility, social media sentiments, surveys, market momentum, and a few other bits and pieces. Surprisingly this is still quite high, I think the market sees this as a healthy consolidation on the way up to $100k Bitcoin
Interesting news from this week🗞️
🎼 Renowned composer Hans Zimmer, known for iconic film scores, including "Inception" and "The Dark Knight," has created a track titled "The Tron Anthem" for controversial Tron founder Justin Sun. The three-minute composition, featuring Zimmer's signature style, was inspired by Sun and the vision of a Web3 future. Sun reportedly approached Zimmer two years ago, suggesting a soundtrack for the Tron blockchain ecosystem. Have a listen below:
📺 Prepare to explore NFTs from the comfort of your living room as Samsung unveils its Samsung NFT Gallery TV App on April 24. This innovative app, compatible with Samsung Lifestyle TVs, allows users to enjoy high-resolution digital artwork of their preferred NFTs. Samsung achieves this feat through a suite of integrations with OpenSea's marketplace, Polygon's layer-two blockchain, and Ledger's smart wallets. This launch is a component of Samsung's larger initiative, known as "GEN|3|GATE," aimed at enhancing digital experiences within metaverse gaming and beyond.
💸 The IMF's recent paper on Bitcoin cross-border flows reveals three key insights.
Firstly, increased Bitcoin activity correlates with investors shifting from risk assets, indicating its role as a hedge against global uncertainty.
Secondly, individuals use Bitcoin to escape economic instability and bypass capital controls.
Lastly, Bitcoin flows are more pronounced in emerging markets due to currency instability (Venezuela), with countries like Seychelles attracting attention for their favorable tax and regulatory environments. This underscores Bitcoin's function as a safe haven asset in troubled economies.
👓Read of the Week
This week’s very entertaining read is the perfect prelude to the Watch of the Week and the AI section this week:
It’s a reminder that applying an emerging technology without the guardrails in place is dangerous! Here is one of my favourites from just a few weeks ago:
New York City chatbot advises small businesses to break the law
An AI chatbot set up to help small firms quickly obtain advice on the legal obligations and regulations businesses have to adhere to in New York starts telling business owners to break the law.
The Associate Press reports that the AI tool “falsely suggested it is legal for an employer to fire a worker who complains about sexual harassment, doesn’t disclose a pregnancy or refuses to cut their dreadlocks”. It also provided incorrect information about the city’s waste and sewage regulations, and suggested restaurants were still within their rights to serve food accessed by rats.
In response to the controversy, the disclaimer displayed next to the chatbot has been strengthened. It now states that the chatbot cannot give legal advice.
🎥 Watch of the week
I loved this week’s video from ColdFusion: AI is everywhere. Is it all it's cracked up to be or is it one big scam? Well, as it is for most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle. In this episode we see how, despite some of AI's useful contributions, the hype has also impacted the tech industry negatively.
AI 🎨🤖🎵✍🏼
After watching the video above, it struck me that deceit surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) often manifests at two polar extremes: exaggerated functionality or understated impacts leading to job displacement. One notable example is Amazon's "just walk out" checkout system, initially portrayed as AI-driven but revealed to heavily rely on manual labour, showcasing how companies exaggerate AI capabilities for profit.
Conversely, the issue of job displacement due to AI adoption is downplayed, with companies still laying off staff in 2024 blaming COVID overhiring, and sometimes reporting profitable quarters. It’s no secret that many suspect AI efficiency gains are to blame. The narrative by these tech giants is that AI doesn’t replace jobs, it only makes people more productive. Their behaviour suggests otherwise.
To address this, transparency and accountability are crucial. Companies must be held accountable for deceptive practices, and ethical considerations should guide AI development to prioritise human welfare. Regulatory oversight and stakeholder demands for transparency are essential to ensure AI benefits society rather than exacerbating inequalities.
That’s 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 🤑
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 don’t 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. Let’s dive into this week’s pick:
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