Created in 2009, Bitcoin was the world’s first cryptocurrency — digital currency that exists only in electronic form. There are no physical banknotes or coins. Traditional currencies, such as the U.S. Dollar or Japanese Yen, are considered centralized currencies. Each nation’s central bank, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, establishes monetary policy and manages the supply of money in their financial system.
Mark M. Grywacheski
Kevin Schmidt
Cryptocurrencies are decentralized currencies. No single government owns the cryptocurrency or provides regulatory control or oversight. There are also no restrictions on who can create them. By the end of 2017, the number of cryptocurrencies had grown to nearly 1,400. Today, there are more than 22,000 yet Bitcoin remains the most widely known.
In its first few years of existence, the price of a single Bitcoin was less than $0.10. On Tuesday, Bitcoin reached a record-high $68,783, according to cryptocurrency website CoinMarketCap. This broke the previous record of $66,002 set back in October 2021. Since Jan. 1, 2023, the price of Bitcoin has risen 315%. The meteoric rise in Bitcoin’s price over the years quickly gained the attention of both individual investors and Wall Street financial powerhouses. Many other cryptocurrencies have also surged to once-unimaginable new highs.
People are also reading…
Accordingly, Bitcoin’s rise to prominence has been less as a new-age form of currency and more as a high-risk alternative investment. Let’s be honest, have any of you actually used Bitcoin to buy goods and services at your local store? OK, let me make it easier. Do you even know anyone who has?
According to cryptocurrency historians, the first time Bitcoin was used in a commercial transaction was back on May 20, 2010. Now, one might wonder what was purchased at this historic and groundbreaking moment. Was it a car or maybe a new television or stereo? Was it for new stylish clothing? Was it to buy airline tickets for that dream vacation? No … it was for pizza. A man named Laszo Hanyecz used 10,000 Bitcoin to buy two pizzas from Papa Johns. At Tuesday’s record-high price of $68,783, those same 10,000 Bitcoin would now be worth $687,830,000.
Though nations around the world have tried to crack down on the wild-west nature of the cryptocurrency industry, claims of fraud, corruption and price manipulation remain rampant. One recent scandal was the collapse of FTX Trading Ltd. (FTX), the former Bahamas-based company founded by American Sam Bankman-Fried. FTX operated as a cryptocurrency exchange — where cryptocurrencies could be bought and sold — and also ran a cryptocurrency investment hedge fund. In early 2022, FTX was valued at $32 billion. Months later, the company collapsed and filed for bankruptcy. It is now essentially worthless. Bankman-Fried was ultimately convicted of multiple felonies including wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.
Cryptocurrencies also make for a lousy form of currency. Perhaps their greatest weakness is their extreme price volatility. In a single day, Bitcoin’s price can quickly rise or fall by 5%-15%. In the 12 months from November 2021 to November 2022, Bitcoin’s price fell 76%.
In the world of trade and commerce, buyers and sellers need stability of currency. For example, a U.S. $10 bill in your wallet or bank account will still be worth $10 the next day, week, month or year. That’s why the U.S. Dollar is the world’s de facto currency. The U.S. Dollar remains a symbol of global strength and stability. It is the most liquid currency and is readily accepted for trade around the globe. In fact, roughly 45% of all the U.S. currency in circulation is located outside our country, including 80% of all $100 bills. Nearly 90% of all foreign currency transactions include the U.S. Dollar.
There’s no guarantee the rise in Bitcoin’s price will continue. But for now, investors are rejoicing and celebrating in their gains. But as history has shown, investing in Bitcoin can be a rollercoaster ride filled with its share of ups and downs.
Google has temporarily halted its new artificial intelligence model, Gemini, from generating images of people. This comes after it faced criticism for portraying historical figures such as politicians and German World War II soldiers as people of color. Google has acknowledged the need for adjustments to Gemini, which had been generating images with varying ethnicities and genders. “We’re working to improve these kinds of depictions immediately. Gemini’s AI image generation does generate a wide range of people. And that’s generally a good thing because people around the world use it. But it’s missing the mark here,” said Google in a statement. The move comes amid ongoing concerns about bias in AI, with previous examples showing negative impacts on people of color. As efforts to mitigate bias continue, experts emphasize the complexity of the issue and the need for ongoing improvement in AI technology.
Where companies have adopted AI—and where they are planning to do so in the near future
Where companies have adopted AI—and where they are planning to do so in the near future
On Nov. 30, 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a chatbot driven by artificial intelligence. The app spread like wildfire. Not only did it provide an entertaining companion to chat with, but it also showed promise as a piece of productivity software.
ChatGPT allows users to ask questions about myriad topics and get useful responses in a way that search engines like Google cannot provide. Similar technologies have emerged in all kinds of domains, including image generation, language translation, transcription, computer programming, and more.
Firms across the U.S. are embracing artificial intelligence. To find out which regions are the most enthusiastic about AI, Verbit analyzed data from surveys taken by the Census Bureau in December 2023. Overall, 4.9% of businesses said they were using AI to produce goods or services in the past two weeks, while 6.7% say they plan to within the next six months.
Unsurprisingly, information technology companies are the most eager to use artificial intelligence—22% of respondents from American tech companies said they had used AI for their products or services within the past two weeks. That number actually understates AI’s impact in the field. A survey of computer programmers conducted by JetBrains, a software company, found that 77% of respondents used ChatGPT, while 46% used GitHub Copilot, an AI coding assistant.
Professional, scientific, and technical services were the second-most likely type of firm to respond that they used AI tools, according to the Census Bureau. Law firms are using tools to scan through thousands of past cases. And, according to Tess Bennett, a technology reporter for Financial Review, consultants and accountants are using AI to create PowerPoint presentations and conduct exploratory data analysis.
Top adopters
Some businesses have been quicker to adopt AI than others. Companies in Rhode Island lead the way on this front—8.7% of businesses in the state are currently using AI, nearly twice the rate of companies in the United States as a whole.
Companies on the West Coast and the Southwest tended to be more AI-friendly, while companies in the Rust Belt were likelier to have the lowest interest in using AI tools.
This story matches the Census survey numbers with data on what kinds of companies each state has within its borders and the education level of its workforce to understand why these disparities across states exist.
In general, states with a higher share of businesses in the technology sector also were likely to have more businesses use AI to produce goods and services. However, the weak correlation suggests that despite all of the hype surrounding AI, companies have still been slow to change their practices to adopt the technology.
Getting on the bandwagon
Businesses in Washington D.C., were the most likely to say they planned to adopt AI in the next six months, at 13.7%. Meanwhile, about 9% of businesses in Maryland, Alaska, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Florida said they planned on implementing AI. Alabama and Delaware were the least enthusiastic about AI adoption—only 3.3% of businesses in the two states reported plans to implement AI.
This analysis of Census data found a much stronger correlation between how many of a state’s firms are in the tech sector and their willingness to implement AI in their business practices in the near future.
Similar trends were found when it came to states with highly educated workforces—in general, the higher the share of a state’s residents with college degrees, the more likely its businesses were to say they were planning on implementing AI. Artificial intelligence might be the future. But Census data reveals it is still early days.
Story editing by Ashleigh Graf. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn.
This story originally appeared on Verbit and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
Mark Grywacheski is an expert in financial markets and economic analysis and is an investment adviser with Quad-Cities Investment Group, Davenport.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. Any prices or quotations contained herein are indicative only and do not constitute an offer to buy or sell any securities at any given price. Information has been obtained from sources considered reliable, but we do not guarantee that the material presented is accurate or that it provides a complete description of the securities, markets or developments mentioned. Quad-Cities Investment Group LLC is a registered investment adviser with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission.
Eugen Boglaru is an AI aficionado covering the fascinating and rapidly advancing field of Artificial Intelligence. From machine learning breakthroughs to ethical considerations, Eugen provides readers with a deep dive into the world of AI, demystifying complex concepts and exploring the transformative impact of intelligent technologies.
