📔 Weekly Journal: Hamster Kombat: Telegram's Blockchain Triumph 🐹⚔️
[6 min read] Your weekend guide to getting ahead on the digital frontier. Today, the usual market news and also the blockchain game on Telegram that just hit 239 Million users 🤯
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 83 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
🌐 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:
🔥🗺️ 7-day heatmap below, showing the current share of the market for the top cryptocurrencies, and their change in price over the last week.
🎭 Crypto Fear and Greed Index is based on volatility, social media sentiments, surveys, market momentum, and a few other bits and pieces. The recent cryptocurrency market downturn (in part triggered by nation-states selling seized Bitcoin) has created a significant decline in investor sentiment, as reflected by the Fear & Greed Index plummeting to its lowest level since early 2023 when Bitcoin traded around $17,000. Sentiment swings, doing their thing.
🗞️ Interesting news from this week
🐹 Telegram CEO Pavel Durov hails Hamster Kombat as the world's fastest-growing digital service, boasting 239 million users ahead of its token launch. Durov sees this crypto game, integrated into Telegram, as spearheading a new wave of blockchain-powered mini apps accessible to over 900 million users directly within the messaging platform. He predicts these apps, leveraging Telegram's Open Network, will democratise blockchain technology. Hamster Kombat, known for its rapid user growth, attracts millions daily and has sparked international controversy, with Iranian officials criticising its popularity as Western influence aimed at Iranian youth seeking quick wealth.
📈 In Q2 2024, Web3 users reached a record high of 10 million daily unique active wallets (dUAW), marking a 40% increase from Q1, according to DappRadar. Web3 refers to the next generation of the internet that leverages blockchain technology to create a decentralised, user-controlled ecosystem, enabling greater privacy, security, and ownership over digital assets and data. Significant growth was seen across all sectors, with social apps driving a 66% rise. NFT marketplaces also surged, hitting $4 billion in trading volume, while Decentralised Fianance platforms Uniswap and Raydium saw user increases of 80% and 134%, respectively.
⚠️ Whoops! OpenAI's ChatGPT inadvertently disclosed its internal guidelines after a user greeted it with "Hi," revealing detailed instructions on the AI's behaviour and limitations. These guidelines included maintaining safety and ethical boundaries, limiting DALL-E's image generation, and specifying how ChatGPT should interact with web sources. The incident has sparked discussions on AI transparency and potential vulnerabilities. Some users exploited the information to bypass restrictions, highlighting the ongoing need for robust security measures in AI development.
🥽 Apple is developing a more affordable version of its Vision Pro headset, projected to launch by the end of 2025. This new model aims to cater to a broader market by offering a budget-friendly alternative to the premium Vision Pro. The cost reduction is expected to be achieved by incorporating larger but lower-resolution displays and eliminating some high-end features. Additionally, the affordable headset might require tethering to an iPhone or Mac for full functionality, leveraging the processing power of these devices instead of integrating advanced hardware into the headset itself
👓 Read of the Week
The OpEd “The Case for Crypto Index Funds” advocates for the adoption of crypto index funds, highlighting their appeal to institutional investors seeking diversified exposure to digital assets. With over a dozen funds ranging in size, these vehicles track baskets of cryptocurrencies, offering a balanced approach amidst market volatility. As traditional finance giants like Goldman Sachs enter the crypto space, index funds gain credibility for managing risk and optimising returns. They mitigate the volatility associated with individual crypto investments, aligning with strategies used in venture capital. Despite considerations around asset selection and volatility, index funds are positioned as a foundational tool for institutional portfolios navigating the complexities of digital assets' burgeoning market.
🎥 Watch of the week
This video, titled "The Metaverse: Possibilities of a Safer and More Civil Digital World," is crucial for anyone intrigued by the future of digital landscapes. It gathers experts from diverse backgrounds—pediatric medicine, child advocacy, technology—to explore profound questions about the metaverse's potential impact on society.
Central to this discussion is the urgent need to ensure the safety and civility of digital environments. As digital platforms become integral to daily life, protecting users, especially vulnerable populations like children, from online threats such as cyberbullying and inappropriate content becomes increasingly critical. The video examines how advanced technologies, particularly AI, can be harnessed to proactively identify and mitigate risks in digital spaces.
Moreover, the dialogue emphasizes collaborative approaches among stakeholders—from tech innovators to policymakers—to foster a metaverse that not only fosters innovation but also upholds ethical standards and societal well-being. By addressing these challenges head-on, the video offers valuable insights into shaping a metaverse that promotes positive digital experiences and inclusivity for all users. Great watch!
AI 🎨🤖🎵✍🏼
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:
Sometimes it’s nice to link abstract concepts back to real world applications. I enjoyed this article: “15 Real-World Examples of LLM Applications Across Different Industries”. A Large Language Model (LLM) is a type of artificial intelligence that can understand and generate human language. It's like a smart assistant that reads a lot of text, learns from it, and then can help with tasks such as answering questions, writing essays, or summarising information. LLMs are trained on massive amounts of data, allowing them to mimic human conversation and provide useful responses based on the information they have learned.
The article is worth a read, here is the short version:
Netflix: Auto-remediation for big data job failures.
Picnic: Enhanced search result relevance.
Uber: Personalised out-of-app communications.
GitLab: AI model validation and testing.
LinkedIn: Matching users with premium products.
Swiggy: New-user product recommendations.
Careem: Fraud reduction via pre-authorisation.
Slack: Secure corporate messaging with AI.
Picnic: Language barrier solutions for customer support.
Foodpanda: Demand and supply optimisation.
Etsy: Visual search and recommendations.
LinkedIn: Deepfake image detection.
Discord: Generative AI features.
Pinterest: Improved ad performance.
Expedia: Semantic search for travel accommodations.
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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