The recent Coinbase State of Crypto Summit, which took place last Thursday, sparked lively debates among attendees, especially with respect to the potential interaction of blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and artificial intelligence (AI).
One of the major discussions during the conference, in which venture capitalists and AI specialists exchanged opinions, was whether AI and cryptocurrency will soon become intertwined.
Concerns have been voiced regarding the future of the sector, particularly in the United States, due to the regulatory difficulties the crypto industry is now facing, as seen by recent lawsuits brought by the U.S. SEC against significant platforms like Binance and Coinbase. The pricing performance of digital assets has also been influenced by increasing regulatory pressure.
However, although cryptocurrencies continue to be a hot issue with important financial ramifications, developing technology like AI has gotten even more attention.
Experts examined the parallels and discrepancies between cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence (AI) at the Coinbase Summit, examining how consumers, developers, and investors may profit from their confluence.
The fundamental tenet of the cryptocurrency sector is that users are the only owners and controllers of their assets. Similar to that, blockchain technology gives consumers the ability to manage their own data, identity, and other things. This is different from how contemporary social media sites like Facebook and Instagram exploit user data in ways that could go against the will of the users.
Traditional banks, in contrast, exercise great control over their customers’ money, sometimes blocking accounts simply on the slightest suspicion of odd behaviour. The cryptocurrency sector contests such authority and promotes user ownership and agency over their funds and data. Fred Wilson from Union Square Ventures underlined the relevance of this theory to AI and how it goes beyond the Web 3.
Wilson stressed the value of giving people control over their data, including the option to choose which AI models may access and make use of it. According to him, “Users are going to need agency over data and increasingly the way they want it shared across assets.”
Wilson and many other experts believe that AI has the ability to improve prospects in the blockchain sector. Struck Crypto’s founder and managing partner, Adam Struck, hypothesized that AI would spur renewed interest in blockchain technology. Notably, Struck Crypto has been actively investigating AI, especially ever since the ChatGPT bot first appeared.
Sam Altman from OpenAI co-founded Tools for Humanity, a cryptocurrency firm that just received funding from CoinFund, another significant figure in the industry. The business received $115 million in funding successfully, demonstrating practical applications for combining AI and cryptocurrency. Alex Felix, the chief investment officer of CoinFund, underlined how blockchain technology might make AI more transparent and decentralized.
One initiative attracting interest is Tools for Humanity’s Worldcoin, a digital money that makes use of an individual ID created by scanning users’ eyes, sometimes known as “proof of personhood.” Secure payments may be made using this cutting-edge technology when paired with Worldcoin. According to Tools for Humanity’s director of product, Tiago Sada, “For us, it started with where the world is heading with AI, and the way to solve that was through crypto.”
The developing link between AI and cryptocurrency technologies was the topic of stimulating conversations during the Coinbase Summit. The fusion of AI with blockchain has the ability to open up new options, promote user agency, and improve transparency and decentralization inside AI applications while the crypto sector deals with legal constraints.
