Can UK break crypto voodoo? 🇬🇧 🥴
UK wants to become a global crypto asset technology hub. Will it? Web3 VC funding gone down 82%. ‘Godfather of AI’ leaves Google to save us from AI. Crypto gets its own Shark Tank - Killer Whales.
Hello, y'all. The million dollar bet is now closed out by mutual agreement👇
What did you do for the larger good of humanity, eh? This is The Token Dispatch, show us some love on telegram 🤟
With American regulators breathing down the necks of major crypto brands, Web3 companies are eager to avoid the same fate in the UK.
Context: UK government wants the country to become a "global crypto asset technology hub." The Treasury said it wanted to regulate crypto exchanges like other traditional finance venues and, in February, laid out its first rules to regulate crypto.
This is what web3 firms have to say:
a16z (Brian Quintenz): they "enthusiastically embrace the UK's approach for a 'proportionate and focused, agile and flexible' regime."
Polygon Labs: they are "incredibly encouraged" to see the UK making steps to regulate the industry. And Chief Policy Officer Rebecca Rettig says the UK consultation was "excellent."
Coinbase: thinks the UK was "moving fast on sensible crypto regulation to both drive economic growth and consumer protection."
Binance: agrees that consumer protection, market integrity, and financial stability are crucial when it comes to regulation. However, they also caution against disproportionate regulation that could stifle innovation and growth.
Circle: agrees with the UK's objectives "to bring crypto assets into the UK regulatory perimeter and create proportionate and agile rules so that digital asset firms can thrive and provide innovative and cost-reducing financial services to the UK market."
Why not be like the US?
After the FTX fiasco, the SEC has been going all "Hulk Smash" on major crypto brands like Kraken, Bittrex, and Coinbase for allegedly selling unregistered securities.
And don't even get me started on Senator Elizabeth Warren's "anti-crypto army". She is teaming up with Kansas Senator Roger Marshall and is on a mission to make your crypto wallet illegal!
Meanwhile British MP Lisa Cameron says:
"I'm an advocate for getting regulation in place that makes the most of the potential of the sector whilst protecting consumers."
Cameron is on the same page as Sunak, who wants the UK to be a global hub for all things crypto. And, lawmakers from different parties are actually working together to make that happen! Cameron says even members of Parliament can't ignore what's happening in the real world.
"There's going to be very few people over the next 10 years that don't have some involvement in this sector."
A stand against fraud:
Apparently, fraud accounts for over 40% of crime in the UK, costing the government a £7 Billion a year! So, to tackle this problem, they're setting up a National Fraud Squad with 400 new posts. Rishi Sunak has announced that they're going to ban cold calls for financial products, including crypto.
Why not sponsor us, eh?
TTD Money🫰
Web3 VC funding gone down 82% year to year from $9.1 Billion to $1.7 Billion.
Venture capitalists are feeling the heat.
Even big players like Tiger Global, who were heavily invested in crypto, suffered major losses during the tech rout of 2022.
But it's not just crypto, even the “big four” is struggling.” KPMG's April Venture Pulse report shows that global VC investment fell to a measly $57 Billion in Q1 2023, compared to $200+ Billion just a year ago.
According to Marc Weinstein from Mechanism Capital, the days of seed valuations reaching the moon are over, and we're back to reality.
Weinstein's advice for struggling startup founders is simple: don't raise money at too high of a valuation during a bull market or risk the next bear market-crushing your dreams. Instead, focus on building a minimum viable product, discovering your customers, and iterating a version of your product or service that people will actually pay for.
TTD Blockquote 🔊
Geoffrey Hinton, one of the "godfathers of AI"
"Look at how it was five years ago and how it is now. Take the difference and propagate it forwards. That's scary."
An artificial intelligence pioneer has resigned from his position at Google so that he could openly express his concerns about how AI could cause significant harm to the world. In a New York Times interview, Hinton said that he now partly regrets his life's work. The benefits aside, he fears that the technology could be used irresponsibly, unleashing unintended consequences.
Good man #respect 🫡
TTD ChatGPT 💬
Banned: Samsung has prohibited its employees from using ChatGPT on company systems. Bloomberg reports.
Why? The company is concerned over employees feeding ChatGPT sensitive corporate information. Samsung says that the data sent to AI platforms like ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Bing are stored on external servers. And that makes it difficult to retrieve or delete, and could be disclosed to others.
Concern: A new survey by Kyodo News has revealed major concerns among the Japanese adults over the widespread use of AI chatbots.
According to the report, 69.4% of the local population want stricter regulation in the development of AI. However, Japanese officials openly expressed their support for OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
Jailbreak: Coinbase's head of business operations Conor Grogan claims to have discovered a “jailbreak” for the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT that allows it to calculate the probability of bizarre crypto price scenarios.
I ran this prompt 100 times on a wiped memory GPT 3.5 and 4 and GPT would return very consistent numbers; standard deviation was <10% in most cases, and directionally it was extremely consistent.
Good work. Good lad.
TTD Watch ▶️
CoinMarketCap, a leading cryptocurrency data provider, is launching a TV show similar to "Shark Tank".
The show is called - Killer Whales
What? The show will feature entrepreneurs pitching their crypto startups ideas to a panel of judges, comprising entrepreneurs, influencers and founders of Web3 companies. Check it out.
What do we know?
Produced in partnership with Web3 entertainment company Hello Labs
Submissions start on May 2, on Hello.one and CoinMarketCap.
Chosen applicants will go through rounds of interviews in Hollywood.
Filming for the show begins in June.
Show will be released across major streaming services.
Jonathan Isaac, Chief Marketing Officer at CoinMarketCap
“Killer Whales is a fun and exciting opportunity to bring the entrepreneurial energy of the Web3 space to homes all over the world."
#LFG
TTD Surfer 🏄
Bitdeer to raise $500 Million to set up Bitcoin mining operation in Bhutan, in a bid to expand its presence in the Asia Pacific.
BitFlyer fined $1.2 Million for failing to meet the state's cybersecurity requirement by New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
French Senate’s Economics Committee is in favour of allowing social media influencers to promote products of registered crypto companies.
If you like us, if you don't like us .. either ways do tell us✌️
If you dig what we do, show us some love on Twitter & Instagram🤞
So long. OKAY? ✋