Solana is the homeland of memecoins, crypto wild turns, and more

WEB3
Crypto plays the ‘red light, green light’ game

• Metamask simplifies crypto tax reporting

  The self-custodial wallet has teamed up with CoinTracker, CryptoTaxHQ, ZenLedgerIO, CoinLedger, and KoinlyOfficial to streamline tax reporting.
  
  These partnerships enable the automatic collection of users' transaction data from their MetaMask portfolios, making the process easier, convenient and secure.
  
  Crypto regulations remain unexplored territory for many investors. With authorities tightening regulations, it's crucial to ensure proper and accessible tax reporting for everyone.
  

• BlackRock introduces 'BUIDL' - a digital asset fund on Ethereum

  The largest wealth manager in the world, overseeing $10 trillion, has announced its first tokenized fund issued on the Ethereum public blockchain, featuring its own token called 'BUIDL.'
  
  The fund will invest in cash, U.S. Treasury bills, and repurchase agreements, offering investors yields while holding tokens.

  
  BlackRock Financial Management, Inc., manages the fund, with Bank of New York Mellon serving as custodian. Securitize acts as a transfer agent and tokenization platform.
  

• SuperRare now offers Bitcoin Ordinals

  SuperRare is teaming up with Gamma, the Bitcoin Ordinals marketplace, to broaden its offerings beyond Ethereum-based collections.
  
  The first collection to be available on SuperRare from Ordinals will be "No Brainers" by the artist Killer Acid, with sales commencing on April 11.
  
  The Bitcoin Ordinals market has surpassed $1 billion in value, attracting the interest of established entities. These companies are now integrating it into their offerings to create more opportunities for artists in the crypto space.
  

• Japan is examining Bitcoin investments for its Pension Investment Fund

  As per the recent Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the country will initiate exploration into investments in illiquid assets. These assets include farmland, forests, gold, and Bitcoin, aiming to diversify its portfolio.
  
  Japan holds the world's largest state pension fund, valued at $1.4 trillion. This move is in line with the country's strategic efforts to promote Web3 and its existing policy allowing VC and investment funds to hold crypto assets.
  
  However, this does not ensure that it will invest in Bitcoin once the evaluation is finalized.
  

• Immutable teams up with Polygon Labs to announce a $100 million fund

  As a frontrunner in the web3 gaming sector, the platform is collaborating with Polygon to provide support and funding for early-stage gaming startups in the blockchain space, as well as infrastructure providers dedicated to web3 games.

  
  This initiative aims to accelerate the gaming sector in the decentralized space and shape its future by supporting new blockchain-based projects categorized as games.
  

• Starbucks sunsets its Odyssey NFT program

  However, users will still be able to buy, sell, and trade the stamps on the Nifty Gateway marketplace.
  
  The future of the program remains unclear, as the company plans to apply the lessons learned during the 15-month beta period, stating that there will be a new experience next month.

  
  Starbucks joined the web3 trend during the bear market noting all-time volume sales of $3.4 million across 27 collections. Winning use cases are still being discovered.

INSIGHTS
Why’s Solana in the spotlight?

The crypto world is becoming increasingly intrigued by Solana (SOL). Investors feel a blend of enthusiasm and caution due to Solana's reputation for low gas fees and its active community contributing to its growth.

It had briefly surpassed BNB, but it has now reclaimed the 5th position among the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization after surpassing the $200 mark.

But why has Solana been dominating our feeds lately?

In short: Solana, memecoins' heartland!

Data from Solscan indicates that while there were previously around ~3k tokens created per day on average, this number has surged, reaching an impressive 9,943 tokens on March 15th.

The Twitter user who survived a rug pull is now acting as a 2D detective and has conducted research revealing that the total SOL raised has exceeded >796,000 SOL ($149.2M) from 33 token presales.

There was this one particular memecoin that stole the show, and it’s Slerf.

Here’s the breakdown of this memecoin journey 👇

Anonymous Solana dev creates the Slerf Memecoin. The creator starts a presale. The memecoin raises $10 million worth of tokens during the presale.

Then, the creator made a mistake; not only did it burn the LP tokens, but also the remaining Slerf tokens that were supposed to be airdropped to investors!

But the creator didn’t forget to refund their deposit.

The creator calls for help, and a crypto exchange platform jumps in to become the custodian of the donation address.

Inspired by this initiative and driven by love for the community, more donations poured in, pushing the price up by 65x from $0.02 to a peak of $1.30. This surge also led to quick listings on several exchanges, facilitating the recovery of the investors’ burned funds.

The creator even decided to drop Soul-bound NFTs to the wallet addresses of affected presalers as well as refund contributors while the first wave of refunds for presale-affected users is starting.

Before sending this email, the $slerf price stands at $0.617 with ATH of $1.30 3 days ago.

Whether an honest mistake or a marketing ploy, it's certainly been an 'oh f*ck moment' turned into a happy ending, driving Solana to new records.

From 'oops' to 'yay,' it's proof that in crypto, even mess-ups can lead to big wins.

AI
“Compute is the currency of the future’’ @sama

• NVIDIA rules the new era of computing infrastructure

  CEO Jensen Huang presented their newest computing platform during the GTC 2024 developer’s conference. With the latest advancements, the NVIDIA Blackwell Platform features increased computing power capable of delivering unparalleled performance.
  
  For instance, the OpenAI GPT-4 model currently comprises 1.7 trillion parameters, whereas the latest Nvidia chip can deploy models with up to 27 trillion parameters.
  
  Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, and Oracle will be among the first to offer products powered by Blackwell, expected to ship later this year.

  
  As the infrastructure gets stronger, more sustainable, and cheaper, AI progress is set to grow.

• Mustafa Suleyman is the new CEO of Microsoft's AI division

  Mustafa Suleyman, former Google Executive and DeepMind co-founder, now heads Microsoft's AI consumer products and research, overseeing Copilot, Edge, and Bing.
  
  He's also the Executive Vice President of Microsoft AI, reporting to CEO Satya Nadella. Sean White, former Chief R&D Officer at Mozilla, takes over as CEO of InflectionAI.

  
  A strategic effort and AI talent battle to strengthen Microsoft's leadership in AI and advance its technologies in the competitive landscape of the AI industry.
  

• Microsoft Copilot for Security AI chatbot arrives in 2 weeks

  Priced at $4 per hour of usage with a pay-as-you-go model, the AI chatbot will aid security and IT professionals in cybersecurity tasks. During testing, security analysts reported a 22% increase in speed and a 7% improvement in accuracy using the new Copilot version. Additionally, 97% expressed intent to use the tool again for similar tasks.
  
  The new capabilities, including creating and saving custom promptbooks, knowledge base integrations, multi-language support, third-party integrations, and usage reporting, aim to assist IT professionals in identifying security threats faster while enhancing team expertise.
  
  This tool assists security and IT professionals in quickly identifying threats and bolstering team expertise.
  

• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) embraces AI

  In their 2024 roadmap, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unveiled three pilot projects aimed at testing AI across various missions, all while upholding people’s rights and privacy.
  
  These AI models will assist DHS in addressing security concerns, including child exploitation, disaster preparedness within communities, and enhancing training for immigration officers.

  
  The pilot programs utilize AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, in addition to collaborations with Meta, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, and Amazon.
  
  DHS plans to onboard 50 AI experts and will keep the public informed with timely updates on future developments.
  

• Mercedes-Benz employs humanoid robots

  The pilot project will test the performance of Apptronik's Apollo humanoid robots in Mercedes-Benz manufacturing facilities. These robots will handle repetitive, dull, and physically demanding tasks, including assembly kit delivery, component inspection, and more.
  
  Additionally, Apollo stands 173 cm tall, weighs 73 kg, and can lift loads weighing up to 25 kg.
  
  Finding reliable workers for manufacturing processes, particularly for physically demanding tasks, poses a significant challenge for companies.
  
  Can AI revolutionize these processes? Time will tell.
  

• Google DeepMind introduces TacticAI for better corner kicks

  In partnership with Liverpool FC, the AI assistant provides football experts with insights on corner kick tactics by optimizing scenarios and identifying patterns leading to success or failure.
  
  The model employs predictive and generative AI for accuracy and usability. Research demonstrated that TacticAI's suggestions were preferred over human-designed tactics 90% of the time.

SCOOPS OF THE WEEK

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