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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: Schwab To Debut Crypto ETF
Charles Schwab Corporation’s (NYSE: SCHW) asset management division, Schwab Asset Management, announced the debut of the Schwab Crypto Thematic ETF (NYSEARCA: STCE) on August 4 on the New York Stock Exchange. The ETF will be listed on the NYSE and trade under the symbol STCE.
FinTech: Payments Software Provider Global Payments To Acquire EVO Payments For $4B
Payments software firm Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) has agreed to acquire payment technology and acquiring solutions firm EVO Payments (NASDAQ: EVOP) for $4 billion in an all-cash transaction valued at $34 per share. The acquisition will allow Global Payments to expand into new territories such as Poland, Germany, Chile, and Greece, as well as scale-up in existing markets, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Alternative Investments/ESG: New ESG Gold ETF From Sprott To List August 2
Sprott Asset Management LP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sprott Inc. (NYSE: SII), today announced the launch of the Sprott ESG Gold ETF (NYSEARCA: SESG) that will begin trading on the NYSE ARCA with effect from August 2, 2022. The new ETF will invest solely in gold (“Sprott ESG Approved Gold”) that satisfies the ESG and provenance standards developed by Sprott. (Financial Post)
Artificial Intelligence: Protecting Tigers In India
India’s majestic tigers are vulnerable to poachers, injury, accidents and illness, and faced with the threat of a shrinking habitat as humans muscle into their territories. India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has been using AI for helping in the mammoth task of protecting these magnificent animals, but is now looking to take the role of the technology to a new level.
Liquid Alternatives: Takeaways From The AMG Q2 Earnings Call
Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE: AMG) is a leading partner to independent active investment management firms globally. AMG’s strategy is to generate long-term value by investing in a diverse array of high-quality independent partner-owned firms. The company’s Q2 Earnings Call on Monday, August 2, had some valuable takeaways for alternatives investing, particularly liquid alternatives.
Artificial Intelligence: Tampa General Hospital Uses An AI Platform For Patient Transport
At the 1,041-bed Tampa General Hospital the complex task of managing its operational flow, including the processes of admitting, moving and discharging patients, has been made more efficient through the use of Enroute, an AI platform. The new system is a marked improvement over the earlier, manual process where a dispatcher scheduled all of the runs throughout the hospital.
FinTech: Australia’s Up Bank Launches Savings Product To Avoid Buyer’s Remorse From BNPL
Up’s new BNPL-killer product seeks to answer the demand for a savings-based alternative to BNPL from more than half (57%) of young Australians. The new “Maybuy” product from Up lets people budget and save for a desirable item they’ve found online, and buy it when they achieve their savings goal.
Alternative Investments/Digital: The KuCoin Crypto Exchange Launches An ETF Zone For NFTs
Seychelles head-quartered, global cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin announced July 29 the launch of its NFT ETF Trading Zone that will allow the listing of 5 NFT ETFs covering hiBAYC, hiPUNKS, hiSAND33, hiKODA, and hiENS4 as underlying assets as a beginning. The ETFs shall be denominated in USDT, another first for KuCoin, rather than Ether (ETH). The exchange intends to improve the liquidity of NFT assets and lower the investment threshold of blue-chip NFTs for over 20 million users, as well as alleviate risks of holding these assets individually.
Alternative Investments/Digital: The Schwab Crypto Thematic ETF To Debut On August 4
The Schwab Crypto Thematic ETF (NYSEARCA: STCE), launched by Schwab Asset Management, the asset management arm of The Charles Schwab Corporation, will start trading on or about August 4, 2022. It will provide investors with global exposure to companies that may benefit from the development or utilization of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.
Venture Capital: Enko, Which Uses AI To Discover Crop Protection Molecules, Raises $70M
Enko announced its $70 million Series C funding round led by agrochem company Nufarm with participation by Anterra Capital, Taher Gozal, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Eight Roads Ventures, Finistere Ventures, Novalis LifeSciences, Germin8 Ventures, TO Ventures Food, Endeavor8, Alumni Ventures Group and Rabo Food & Agri Innovation Fund.
FinTech: Plaid And Gemini To Collaborate On Crypto Payments
The market cap for cryptocurrencies surpassed $1T in 2021, and venture funding in the field surpassed $25B. The interest in digital assets has grown tremendously over the past few years, both for consumers, businesses, and institutions. However, despite interest in the ecosystem growing, the crypto world has a lot of entry barriers – especially for the new investor starting out. The process is hard, particularly for first-time crypto buyers, involving uploading the right documentation, opening an account, and funding it. Exchanges must provide an easy account-opening process for all users – therefore, Plaid and Gemini are building an easier bridge between traditional finance and crypto worlds.
Digital Assets: Greek Police Launched Unsuccessful Operation To Nab Cryptoqueen Ruja Ignatova
Police in Greece attempted to arrest Ruja Ignatova, a Bulgarian wanted by Interpol, Europol, and the FBI, according to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, which cited well-informed police sources.
In 2017, Ruja Ignatova, the “Queen of cryptocurrencies,” disappeared without a trace after boarding a flight from Sofia to Athens. She is wanted for stealing at least $4 billion from unsuspecting victims through a complex fraud with the fake cryptocurrency OneCoin.
Liquid Alternatives: Investors Vote For Liquid Alts in 2022 Amidst Troubled Bond And Stock Markets
There is a spike in inflows into liquid alts funds during 2022. According to a 2019 study by Greenwich Associates, liquid alts then had a market share of 4% among institutional investors, ranging from a high of 6% among public pension funds to a low of 2% among corporate programs and outsourced CIOs in the…
Artificial Intelligence: DeepMind’s AlphaFold AI Software Releases Database Of 200M Protein Structures
In a defining moment for AI computing, a 200x expansion in the number of proteins included in Alphabet’s Deepmind’s database was announced Thursday, which the company says will significantly speed up drug development and other innovation. This week, Deepmind added over 200 million protein structures to its database, up from 1 million, and including predicted structures for plants, bacteria, animals, and other organisms.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Pando Asset Lists A Crypto Basket ETP On Swiss SIX
Pando Asset makes its debut in the European market with an ETP comprising the following six cryptos: 39.6% bitcoin, 27.3% ethereum, 11.9% binance, 8.1% solana, 7.3% cardano and 6% polkadot. The ETP listed on the Swiss SIX Exchange and has a total expense ratio of 2%.
Venture Capital: Fifth Wall VC Raises $500M To Decarbonize Real Estate
Venture capital firm Fifth Wall has raised $500 million for its inaugural Climate Fund that seeks to help decarbonize global real estate through investments in software, hardware, renewable energy, energy storage, smart buildings, and carbon sequestration technologies. Investors included American Homes 4 Rent, BBVA, British Land, Camden Property Trust, CBRE, Cosan, The Durst Organization, Equity Residential, Hilton, Host Hotels & Resorts, Hudson Pacific Properties, Invitation Homes, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Kimco Realty Corporation, Lineage Ventures, MGM Resorts, NZ Super Fund, Osgoode Properties, and UDR, among others.
FinTech: LendingClub Reports Blockbuster Q2 With Solid Growth In Loans And Interest Margins
“Our strong execution, marketplace bank model, member and data advantages, and our continued focus on prudent underwriting have all contributed to an incredible first half of the year with records set for both revenue and profitability,” said Scott Sanborn, LendingClub CEO, when announcing LendingClub’s (NYSE: LC) Second Quarter results. “Despite the more challenging economic backdrop and increased uncertainty, we are well positioned to navigate through this dynamic environment.”
Artificial Intelligence: Supercar Looks For Its Self-Driving EV? Apple Hires Lamborghini Top Executive
Apple is making strides toward the development of its self-driving vehicles, as it has reportedly hired Lamborghini veteran Luigi Taraborrelli as a senior manager on its electric vehicle team. At Lamborghini, Taraborrelli has worked on the Urus, Huracan, and Aventador in addition to limited-edition Huracan Sterrato off-road vehicle and Asterion concept cars.
Venture Capital: FTX Ventures And Jump Crypto Lead $150M Series A Round In Aptos
Aptos Labs announced its $150 million Series A round led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto. New investors coming aboard included Apollo, Griffin Gaming Partners, Franklin Templeton, Circle Ventures, and Superscrypt founded by Temasek. Existing investors a16z crypto and Multicoin also participated. The valuation of the firm in this round was double that of its March valuation of $1 billion.
FinTech: Virgin Money UK Launches Slyce, A BNPL Card
British bank Virgin Money (LON: VMUK) launches Virgin Money Slyce, a buy now, pay later credit card. The card will allow customers to spread their payments over several months. The bank will conduct credit checks on potential users before allowing them to use the card. The BNPL card also offers cash back for certain retail purchases, including H&M, Sweaty Betty, Space NK and more.
Alternative Investments: As Single Stock ETFs Become The Flavor Of The Season, Innovator Launches The Hedged TSLA Strategy ETF (TSLH)
Innovator Capital Management, which pioneered Defined Outcome ETFs, listed the Innovator Hedged TSLA Strategy ETF (ticker: TSLH) on July 26th, on the Cboe. It is the first ETF to provide long exposure to a single stock, in this case Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), with an inbuilt system of risk management and protection against the volatility of the stock.
Artificial Intelligence: Suit Claims A Chicago Man Was Wrongfully Imprisoned Based On ShotSpotter AI
After spending nearly a year behind bars, Michael Williams filed a lawsuit against the city of Chicago over the shooting of a man in his car in 2017. Prosecutors withdrew the charges against the 65-year-old after they discovered insufficient evidence. The human rights advocacy group at Northwestern University said the city’s law enforcement relied solely on ShotSpotter technology and ignored other leads in the investigation.
Artificial Intelligence: AI-Enabled Bionic Leg Sleeve Assists Differently-Abled People With Their Walking
CIONIC and Yves Behar’s fuseproject design firm have joined forces to create the Cionic Neural Sleeve, a FDA-cleared bionic leg wearable that uses artificial intelligence to improve human mobility in real time, powered by CIONIC’s AI algorithms.
Digital Assets: Coinbase In Hot Water As The SEC Probes Trading Of Tokens That Should Have Been Registered As Securities
According to a Bloomberg report, the well-known cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) is facing a new Securities and Exchange Commission investigation regarding whether American investors were permitted to trade digital tokens that should have been registered as securities, a source said. Therefore, the SEC is reportedly investigating whether Coinbase violated securities laws.