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Chipmaker AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) has unveiled a range of innovative AI solutions spanning from data centers to personal computers. The AMD Instinct MI300 Series features data center AI accelerators, while the ROCm 6 open software stack introduces new features supporting Large Language Models (LLMs). Additionally, the Ryzen 8040 Series processors come equipped with Ryzen AI capabilities.
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Alternative Investments/Digital Assets: Bitcoin Funds By CI Financial And Skybridge
Canadian mutual fund manager CI Financial Corp has floated a US$72 million bitcoin fund. The IPO of the closed-ended fund issued units at US$12.88 ($10) each. These will list on the Toronto Stock Exchange in both USD and Canadian dollars. Meanwhile, an SEC filing reveals that Skybridge Capital, the wealth management firm run by Anthony Scaramucci, is launching Skybridge Bitcoin Fund L.P.
Digital Assets: Clayton’s Parting Shot At Crypto – SEC To Sue Ripple
The SEC will likely sue Ripple, CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Chris Larsen, according to Fortune. The SEC will charge the defendants for selling XRP tokens, which it alleges are unlicensed securities. XRP ranks third in the pecking order of cryptocurrencies with a market cap of $23 billion. The SEC would make the case that XRP is a security and it needed to be registered as an investment contract prior to its sale.
FinTechs: Call For Regulating Australian Buy-Now-Pay-Later Fintechs
In an article titled “Fintech Risk in 2021,” Halverson warns of heightened fintech risk in 2020 following free central bank “helicopter” money, overenthusiastic private equity and venture capital firms, and exuberant stock markets. In particular, he points to fintechs offering buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) products that have captured consumers’ fancy and encouraged them to increase their indebtedness.
Venture Capital: OneTrust, The Privacy And Compliance Platform Raises $300M
OneTrust is a fast-growing provider of privacy, security, and compliance software. The startup, which was launched in 2016, announced Monday its raise of $300 million in a Series C funding round that valued it at $5.1 billion. TCV led the round, with existing investors such as Insight Partners and Coatue also chipping in.
Artificial Intelligence: Stripchat Applies AI To Automatically Categorize LiveCam Sex Acts
Stripchat is using AI as a high-level marketing tool to make its live adult webcam streams more customer-focused. The webcam platform successfully developed AI to categorize live streams by the kind of sex act and present them accordingly on the main page of its website. It’s a win-win both for users and the cam models. Site traffic nearly doubled in 2020.
Digital Assets: MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Binge Buying > $1B
MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), the business intelligence firm led by bitcoin evangelist CEO Michael Saylor, announced this morning that it had bought about 29,646 additional bitcoins for about $650 million in cash. The average price works out to approximately $21,925 per bitcoin, all-inclusive of fees and expenses.
Alternative Investments/Digital Assets: Suspected Russian Hack Attack Ignites Cybersecurity ETFs
A nation-scale bad actor is said to be responsible for the security breaches last week that have compromised untold numbers of victims ranging from government agencies to corporates. The modus operandi was to infect thousands of systems through SolarWinds, a third-party software vendor. Investors may keep an eye on cybersecurity stocks and ETFs.
Artificial Intelligence: Researchers Use AI To Detect Deadly Malaria Mosquito
AI can differentiate and detect the Anopheles mosquito, which is responsible for malaria, from other species of mosquitoes with near-total accuracy, according to researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
FinTech: Chinese Regulators Keep Up Rhetoric Against (Very Large) Fintechs
The barrage of regulatory voices against the “fintech-that-shall-not-be-named” continues. In the latest call to hobble giant fintechs such as the Ant Group, former finance minister Lou Jiwei said regulators should restrict the number of banks that they can partner with.
Venture Capital: Brazilian Lender Creditas Raises $255M To Fuel Expansion
Brazilian fintech and lender Creditas announced Friday fundraising of $ 255 million led by impact investor LGT Lightstone. This fifth Series E round valued the start-up at $ 1.75 billion, more than double the valuation of $750 million it secured last year in a D round.
Liquid Alternatives/Hedge Funds: New OYSTER Stable Return SICAV Fund Replicates Hedge Fund Returns
The OYSTER Stable Return SICAV fund will provide investors with an all-weather strategy focused on delivering stable hedge fund returns to institutional and retail investors with competitive fees, daily liquidity, and transparency.
The fund aims to use liquid exchange trade products to replicate the portfolios of leading hedge funds. At an annual management fee of only 0.8%, the fund will use a proprietary replication process.
Digital Assets: OSL The First Crypto Exchange To Be Licensed By Hong Kong’s SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) licensed OSL Digital Securities to operate a regulated brokerage and automated trading service for digital assets. OSL is now the world’s first SFC-licensed, listed, digital asset wallet-insured, Big-4 audited digital asset trading platform for institutions and professional investors, it said in an announcement.
Venture Capital: Verily, Alphabet’s Life Sciences Subsidiary, Raises $700M
Verily, an Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) subsidiary, focuses on life sciences and healthcare. It announced Thursday a $ 700 million funding raised from its existing investors. These included parent company Alphabet, Silver Lake, Temasek, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and others.
FinTech: Aussie “Buy Now Pay Later” (BNPL) Openpay Launches In The U.S.
Openpay (ASX: OPY), which calls itself a highly differentiated player in global BNPL, announced its US launch on Wednesday. The ASX-listed company already operates in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
Artificial Intelligence: Pepsi Deploys AI To Monitor Cheetos Quality
Pepsi (NASDAQ: PEP) goes to great lengths to ensure that its highly popular Cheetos Snacks always have the optimal crunch, lightness, and shape. Consistency of flavor, texture, and color is achieved through careful monitoring of the extruders that produce the delicious snack. Engineers need to constantly monitor variables such as the speed of the snack cutting tool, the ratio of cornmeal to water in the mix, snack lengths, bulk density, and other attributes. For the company, Cheetos is a billion-dollar brand that is produced in 22 countries in more than 50 flavours. No surprises then, that Pepsi decided to deploy AI for quality control of Cheetos’ production.
Digital Assets: Paxos Raises $142 Million in Series C Funding
Paxos, the blockchain infrastructure and financial technology firm that partners Revolut and PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) for cryptocurrencies, has raised $142 million in a Series C round.
Declaration Partners, an investment adviser to the family office of $230 billion private equity giant Carlyle Group’s co-founder David Rubenstein, led Paxos’ round. Mithril Capital, PayPal Ventures, RIT Capital Partners plc, Ken Moelis, Alua Capital, Senator Investment Group and others also participated.
Alternative Investments/Digital Assets: “This Is The Most Interesting Macro Trade I’ve Seen In My Career” (Eric Peters Of One River)
Bloomberg revealed Wednesday that hedge fund One River Asset Management was the newest bitcoin whale on the block after it bought up more than $600 million in cryptos. One River chief executive Eric Peters conducted his trades in bitcoin and ether quietly through November at prices below $16,000.
Artificial Intelligence: In Historic Spy Plane Flight, AI Plays Co-Pilot
On Tuesday, the U.S. Air Force conducted a path-breaking flight test. An AI algorithm (colorfully named ARTUµ in true Star Wars style) rode alongside U.S. Air Force Maj. “Vudu” on a U-2 Dragon Lady assigned to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base.
The aircraft flew on a reconnaissance mission during a simulated missile strike, with core tasks divvied up between human and algo.
Venture Capital: ABN AMRO Boosts Venture Arm’s Firepower By €50M
ABN AMRO has bolstered the cash arsenal of ABN AMRO Ventures, its venture arm, with an additional fund infusion of € 50 million. Last November, the bank topped up capital at the fund by € 50 million, taking it to € 100 million.
FinTech: GoCardless Within Kissing Distance Of Unicorn Status
GoCardless, a British fintech that processes direct debit and recurring payments for business customers, has raised $ 95 million in a round led by Bain Capital’s venture capital arm. The latest round valued the start-up at $ 970 million, a hair’s breadth away from the coveted unicorn benchmark of $ 1 billion.
Digital Assets: Bitcoin Scales $20K; Ruffer UK Bought £550M Of Bitcoin In November
Bitcoin is in the history books today after it suddenly sliced through the key $20,000 resistance like a hot knife through butter. It is now trading above that psychological level for the first time. As this is being written, the cryptocurrency is perched at $20,675, up 5.97%. It has now taken out its previous all-time high achieved on December 1, 2020.
Liquid Alternatives: The Wilshire Liquid Alternative Index Gains 3.19% in November
The index provides a representative baseline for the performance of the broader liquid alternatives space. This figure outperformed the 2.82% return from the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index in the month of November.
FinTech: IBM, GoDaddy Snap Up Fintechs
There’s been a spate of acquisitions of fintechs in the past month. IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced Tuesday its purchase of Montreal-based fintech company and payments platform, Expertus Technologies Inc. Meanwhile, web platform provider GoDaddy swooped on Poynt payments services.
Artificial Intelligence: Machine Learning To Identify Whale Sounds, Warn Ships
Southern resident Orca whales, also known as killer whales, are an endangered species. Researchers at Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada, propose to use AI to identify them by their sounds, and then warn approaching ships of their presence.