IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Crypto's maturity in motion

A joint report by Coinbase Institutional and Glassnode, titled Guide to Crypto Markets, reveals that the crypto market is maturing, despite uncertainties—particularly around the upcoming U.S. elections.

This maturity is driven by the growth in liquidity and accessibility, largely thanks to stablecoin adoption, with their market cap reaching an all-time high of nearly $170 billion. Layer 2 advancements are also contributing, with Ethereum and Base seeing a rise in daily active addresses.

Key highlights from the report include Polymarket as a standout application showcasing blockchain’s potential to promote transparency, access, and trust in markets. Additionally, the number of token launches has surged 13x over the past year, with Solana leading the way.

Bitcoin remains the dominant player as the world’s most widely adopted cryptocurrency. U.S. spot BTC ETFs closed Q3 with nearly $60 billion in assets under management (AUM), while U.S. spot ETH ETFs—launched in July—finished the quarter with $7.1 billion in AUM.

Link to report

IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Tesla’s glimpse of tomorrow

If your feed has been buzzing with Elon Musk and robotic innovations, you’re not alone! Tesla just wrapped up its ‘We, Robot’ event, unveiling some exciting announcements that we’re breaking down for you below.

Cybercab: This fully autonomous robotaxi boasts a futuristic design and is expected to enter production before 2027, with a price tag under $30,000. Featuring butterfly doors and a large center screen, the Cybercab is set to offer significantly lower taxi fares of around $0.20 per mile.

RoboVan: Think of this as Tesla’s flexible take on the cyber aesthetic. The RoboVan can accommodate up to 20 passengers or be repurposed for goods transport, serving as a school bus or RV. It’s still in the prototype stage, so pricing details are not yet available.

Optimus Humanoid Robot: Another highlight was the Optimus robot, which entertained attendees by serving drinks and playing games. It’s promised to become an autonomous assistant for household tasks very soon.

Additionally, Musk shared his vision for an autonomous fleet that allows Tesla owners to contribute their vehicles when not in use, creating an opportunity for additional income.

The future looks bright—now, back to production!

source

IN THE SPOTLIGHT
BigTech goes all-in on nuclear

This week, the headlines are making waves with tech giants joining forces with nuclear energy companies to grab some stable, carbon-free power for their data centers—just in time for the AI tech boom.

Amazon has teamed up with Dominion Energy to explore small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) near Dominion’s current power station. Google is in on the action too, partnering with Kairos Power for the same goal. And let’s not forget Microsoft, which is joining forces with Constellation Energy, known for the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.

source

SUBSTRATES
What else is on the radar?

WEB3

• Uniswap launches Unichain as its L2 on Ethereum, utilizing Optimism’s OP Stack, with promises of blocks being built in just 250 milliseconds and introducing Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) as a new technology. The testnet is already live, with a public release set for 2025.

• Venmo integrates MoonPay, bringing 60 million U.S. users into crypto.

• Circle introduces USDC on the Sui blockchain.

• Ripple partners with MoonPay for the upcoming launch of its $RLUSD stablecoin.

• Blockstream raised $210 million in a funding round led by Fulgur Ventures to expand its operations and holdings, and to prepare for the next cryptocurrency market cycle.

• WorldCoin rebranded itself as World to focus on human verification in the age of AI and bots.

• Justin Sun is the new Prime Minister of Liberland, a micronation between Croatia and Serbia, founded by a Czech libertarian politician in 2015.

• VanEck launches a $30M early-stage fund focused on investing in FinTech, Digital Assets and AI startups at the pre-seed an seed stage.

AI

• OpenAI releases Swarm, an experimental framework for developers to build, orchestrate, and deploy multi-agent systems.

• Apple quietly announced a new iPad mini with built-in Apple Intelligence and the A17 Pro chip, priced at $499. It is currently available for pre-order and will be released in late October.

• Another quiet launch as Nvidia ships Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct, its new open-source AI model outperforming rivals on key benchmarks.

• Adobe introduces new AI features at its MAX conference, including Firefly as a text-to-video model and upgraded tools for Photoshop.

• Perplexity announces Internal Knowledge Search, a feature that lets users search internal files and the web simultaneously.

• Amazon premieres the AI Shopping Guides feature to make shopping quicker and simpler.

• Mistral AI celebrates its first anniversary with Mistral 3B and Mistral 8B, its new next-gen models.

• AMD unveils the MI325X, a new chip that challenges Nvidia's 90% market dominance.

• Boston Dynamics collaborates with Toyota Research Institute to advance the development of general-purpose humanoid robots to tackle real-world challenges.

• Strava debuts Athlete Intelligence, an AI coach that helps users achieve their workout goals by providing feedback, motivation, and celebrating wins.

• Nvidia marks the 25th anniversary of the GeForce 256, the first GPU that has paved the way for the company’s leadership in AI infrastructure today.

• The New York Times issues a cease and desist notice to Perplexity, demanding it stop accessing and using its content.

FROM THE REPOSITORY
Check this out!

• Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, shares his techno-optimistic vision for the future of AI in a 15,000-word essay titled 'Machines of Loving Grace.’

• 10 more crypto mysteries that didn’t stand the test of time.

• Vitalik Buterin outlines the possible future of the Ethereum protocol through two essays focused on the stages of The Merge and The Surge.

Use now or save for later:

• Podquest is AI search engine for podcasts.

• See how much money a crypto token needs to pump with PumpaNomics.

• Find, search and organize Reddit communities with GummySearch.

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Visual of the week: State of Crypto Settlements towards US Regulators in 2024.

SCOOPS OF THE WEEK