Content:
Bitcoin Smashes $50k, But What’s Next?
Personal Journey Update
Weekly Fact
Quote of the Week
Bitcoin Smashes $50k, But What’s Next?
Bitcoin's recent surge past the $50,000 mark has left investors buzzing with anticipation, thanks to the introduction of new spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).
Key Points:
ETFs Propel Bitcoin Prices:
Recent introductions of Bitcoin ETFs have caused BTC prices to soar, with issuers purchasing over ten times the daily Bitcoin output. This surge has led to a daily price jump of approximately $1,000, or 2%.
Influence of ETF Issuers:
Marc van der Chijs, founder of Hut 8, highlights that ETF issuers' massive buying drives the uplift in BTC prices. Most price hikes occur right before the U.S. market opens, during the ETF settlement period.
Supply-Demand Imbalance:
ETFs are creating a supply and demand imbalance, with daily inflows significantly outnumbering new Bitcoin production. This prompts investors to offload their Bitcoin to meet ETF demands, further driving prices up.
Anticipated Price Growth:
Chijs predicts a consistent daily rise of $1,000 in Bitcoin's price in the coming weeks. He also points to two significant upcoming events that could accelerate price growth: the Bitcoin halving in April and the sale of new ETF shares expected to start in early May.
Impact of Bitcoin Halving:
The Bitcoin halving in April will reduce daily Bitcoin production by half, likely causing a surge in prices as ETFs compete for fewer Bitcoins.
Potential Price Targets:
Chijs optimistically predicts a new record high for Bitcoin, potentially reaching $100K in the next few months, barring any unforeseen major market disruptions.
Personal Thoughts:
The best thing about Bitcoin is it works on math.
If you know the math, you know Bitcoin’s price will continue to rise.
Simple supply and demand mechanics are what’s in play right now and with the halving quickly approaching, it’s going to start getting pretty wild.
BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Hits New High with $720M Daily Volume
BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has reached an impressive milestone, surpassing $720 million in daily trading volume on February 14, setting a new record for the fund.
Key Points:
Record Daily Volume:
BlackRock's IBIT achieved a record-breaking $720 million in daily trading volume on February 14, marking a significant milestone for the fund. This surge in volume positions BlackRock's total assets under management (AUM) to exceed $5 billion.
Unusual Investor Interest:
ETF analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted the unexpected resurgence in IBIT's trading activity, describing it as "breaking loose." This surge in volume deviates from the trend observed with other Bitcoin funds, suggesting strong and unusual investor interest.
Contrasting Trends:
IBIT's trading volume on February 13 was $493 million, entirely attributed to new investments, contrasting with the outflows experienced by the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) on the same day. GBTC reported $72.8 million in outflows, indicating a decrease in selling pressure.
Market Position:
Despite being the second-largest spot Bitcoin ETF by market cap, with over $5 billion in AUM, IBIT competes with some of the largest traditional funds in terms of daily volume. Balchunas highlighted IBIT's significant achievement, ranking in the top 7% of all ETFs in the U.S. by size, despite being in the market for only 23 days.
As BlackRock's IBIT continues to make waves in the crypto market, investors closely monitor its performance and its impact on the broader ETF landscape.
OpenAI Unveils Sora
OpenAI is breaking new ground in the realm of artificial intelligence with the introduction of its latest model, Sora.
Key Points:
Introduction of Sora:
Following the footsteps of tech giants like Google and Meta, OpenAI introduces Sora, a generative AI model designed to create videos from text prompts. Leveraging advanced algorithms, Sora can translate both brief and detailed descriptions, as well as still images, into captivating 1080p movie-like scenes.
Deep Understanding:
OpenAI claims that Sora possesses a profound comprehension of language, enabling it to accurately interpret prompts and generate characters that express vibrant emotions. The model not only comprehends user requests but also discerns how elements exist in the physical world, resulting in compelling and coherent video outputs.
Impressive Capabilities:
Sora boasts an array of impressive capabilities, including the ability to generate videos in various styles (e.g., photorealistic, animated, black and white) lasting up to a minute. Unlike traditional text-to-video models, Sora maintains reasonable coherence in its outputs, minimizing instances of "AI weirdness."
Challenges and Limitations:
Despite its advancements, Sora is not without its challenges. The model may struggle with accurately simulating complex scenes' physics and understanding specific instances of cause and effect. OpenAI acknowledges the potential limitations and continues to refine Sora's capabilities through ongoing research and testing.
Safety Measures:
Recognizing the potential for misuse, OpenAI has taken proactive steps to safeguard against exploitation. The company is collaborating with experts to identify potential vulnerabilities and develop tools to detect videos generated by Sora. Additionally, OpenAI is engaging policymakers, educators, and artists worldwide to gather feedback and explore positive use cases for the technology.
Personal Thoughts:
At first glance, Sora is making some incredible videos.
I’m yet to give it a go myself but from what I’ve seen other people achieve it’s pretty mindblowing.
We’re getting close now to videos being difficult to distinguish between what’s real and AI-generated and I don’t know if that’s cool or scary.
Personal Journey: Progress
If you read the personal journey section in the last newsletter you may remember that I was feeling calm about an upcoming event that has filled me with fear in the past.
That event is when my company gives Cambridge Uni material science students some practical experience with the material they are learning about.
This used to fill me with fear but this time around I haven’t lost a wink of sleep over it. I talked about how regular exposure to uncomfortable experiences and situations allows us to become familiar with the negative feelings these events create.
Due to the regular exposure to these negative feelings, your coping mechanisms become a habit as does the experience.
Just like all humans, we find comfort in habit thus making the whole situation a lot easier to deal with.
And it was, I found it so easy to talk without getting nervous or getting the dreaded imposter syndrome. As I was more relaxed my delivery was far more confident which made my presentation far more interesting and engaging.
Again like last week, it was nice to see a clear improvement in this area for myself because it’s something I’ve struggled with a lot in the past like a lot of people do.
I guess this is just a reminder, that to get better at anything you need to practice even if that means putting yourself in uncomfortable situations.
But remember to always look back at past experiences so you can acknowledge your improvements as this will motivate you to continue to get better.
Weekly Fact
The first photograph took over 8 hours
The very first camera was created by Louis Daguerre in 1826. The first photo taken took over 8 hours to expose. Daguerre was able to get that down to only 15 minutes by 1839.
Quote of the Week
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