Editor's note: Cryptocurrencies have had a great year so far. But according to crypto expert Eric Wade, this rally is just getting started. As he explains in this piece – adapted from a recent issue of Crypto Capital – the crypto market is working hand in hand with one hot-topic technology. And it's going to be a key ingredient in crypto's mass adoption...
Cryptos and AI Are Merging Faster Than You Think By Eric Wade, editor, Crypto Capital
I mined my first cryptocurrency in 2013. I had a high-end laptop, so I figured I'd start accumulating bitcoin – the world's most popular cryptocurrency. Unfortunately, my laptop wasn't as powerful as I thought... I could let it run for days on end and only amass a nickel's worth of bitcoin. I was paying more than that for the electricity and the wear and tear on the laptop's cooling fans. So I resigned myself to just buying bitcoin whenever I could. But I wasn't ready to give up on mining completely. I knew it was a great way to get tokens and coins that could go on to soar in value. So over the next few years, I started building my own miners with powerful computing ability. And eventually, I was mining dozens of cryptocurrencies. Thanks to one tiny chip, my days of underwhelming laptop mining were far behind me. And as I'll explain today, the massive strides we're seeing in artificial intelligence ("AI") will make this process even easier – and transform the crypto space... You see, I learned that some cryptocurrencies could be profitably mined using the power of graphics processing units ("GPUs"), or computer graphics cards. GPUs are designed to handle challenging computations like processing video or running AI programs. That's why everyone from carmakers to movie studios to video-game players and AI developers are investing thousands of dollars into the newest and most advanced GPUs. So it makes sense that demand is high for the best and fastest GPUs... But these chips are difficult to manufacture. Only three companies make the chips in virtually all the top GPUs – Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel (INTC), and Nvidia (NVDA). I built my first miner with a Nvidia chip. As my mining operation grew, I expanded to include AMD chips. The Nvidia chips were easier to use, but AMD's powerful chips could pay themselves off quickly. Now, crypto miners can shop around for their preferred chips, like I did. But AI is virtually locked into using Nvidia... You see, Nvidia has built the Compute Unified Device Architecture ("CUDA") technology. It helps developers and programmers harness the full power of their chips. CUDA allows GPUs to easily process complicated workloads in parallel. Just imagine thousands of tiny computers all working together to solve whatever graphics, data processing, or machine learning work they're given. CUDA is so good that developers who use it see increased performance from their applications ("apps") compared with apps run on competing GPUs. In March, I spoke with Yan Zhang, the co-founder of Delysium (AGI), about CUDA's dominance. Before founding Delysium, Zhang was a senior software engineer at Nvidia working on its deep learning data pipeline for autonomous-vehicle AI technology. Zhang said CUDA is such an advantage for developers that it has become a default of sorts. Baseball great Yogi Berra might put it like this: Everyone is using CUDA because everyone is using CUDA. That's why news site ExtremeTech reported that Nvidia owns 98% of the data-center GPU market earlier this year. But Nvidia is also solidifying its lead in the space by finding and incubating cutting-edge technology startups... The Nvidia Inception program looks for projects that have a unique value proposition, sufficient technical expertise, and an attention-worthy potential impact. Then it helps these startups grow their technology, expertise, and marketing. And in turn, this ensures Nvidia will enjoy a new generation of projects that use its chips. AI will be a big driver for crypto adoption going forward. That's because this team-up offers numerous benefits to tech companies... Used correctly, AI can measure massive quantities of information to make superhuman predictions and decisions in almost every sector you can think of... health care, e-commerce, fraud detection, and more. For example, in a 2018 study, an AI system and 20 lawyers with decades of legal experience both reviewed five legal contracts. On average, the lawyers took 92 minutes to review the contracts and caught 85% of the mistakes. It took the AI system just 26 seconds – with 94% accuracy. AI can simply analyze more information faster... And the best way to securely store that much information is the blockchain. That's why we're seeing more users, companies, and governments integrate both crypto and AI to help run their systems, process transactions, store records, and plan major decisions. These two disruptive technologies are working hand in hand today. We'll see massive gains in this space because of it. And while Nvidia has a major edge today, the opportunities in both areas are likely to multiply. That makes now a good time to consider investing in crypto, before this part of the market really takes off. Good investing, Eric Wade
Editor's note: Eric is responsible for some of the biggest returns at our firm – delivering triple- and even quadruple-digit gains for his Crypto Capital subscribers. Now, he's stepping forward with an urgent prediction. A "super convergence" of crypto and AI is coming... But that's only one of three catalysts disrupting the space today. And he believes these three events could lead to the biggest crypto bull market yet... Click here to learn the details. Further Reading Some folks may think cryptos just aren't worth the hassle. They're too "complicated." But before you write them off completely, do your homework. You'll discover that this corner of the market is worth your attention after all... Read more here. It might seem like the only way to profit from the AI boom is by buying the big players. But in reality, AI is making its way into many industries. The real trick is finding the overlooked company with an edge... Learn more here. |
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