Vladimir Okhotnikov

  Digital Megacities: A Revolution in Education, Tourism and Business The largest cities like Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Seoul are looking to move their processes into virtual space. Many people are wondering: why is this necessary? Imagine being able to apply for a residence permit in the Emirates without leaving your home, or attend a business conference in Seoul and then immediately open a company there - all in virtual space. Digital twins of cities open the door to innovative tourism. You will be able to explore the sights before a real trip or visit places that are physically inaccessible. Education is also reaching a new level. For most, it will become possible to attend lectures at the best universities in the world without leaving their hometown. In the metaverse, language barriers are erased, time zones and distances become insignificant. Yes, there are skeptics who consider these projects utopian and expensive. But I am convinced - this is the future. Metaverses will not repla...

Welcome to the Recession: New Reality, Old Tricks Didn't you know that the recession in the US has already begun? And it started back in July! There is a soup set of indicators that the Fed regularly feeds to the average person (for example, GDP data). Such statistics only partially reflect reality: all this data has already been taken into account by the market, so they are useless for an investor or trader. But there are also leading indicators that are unfamiliar to the general public. One of them is the Sahm rule [Sahm Recession Indicator] , named after a smart lady from the Fed who developed it. Here's the gist of it : If the three-month moving average expressing the unemployment rate is more than 0.5% higher than the minimum value of this indicator over the past year, then the recession is already built into the market structure . ” By the way, the rule has always worked like a Swiss watch. So, everything is lost? The world is about to fall into the abyss of the Great De...

  Emotional AI Is a New Trend in Technology Imagine an artificial intelligence that not only responds to your requests, but also understands your emotions! "Emotional AI" may become a new trend in the world of neural networks. Why is this necessary? Think about it: there is a huge difference between an angry and an indifferent message with the same text: "Does this make sense?!" An ordinary bot may not catch this difference, but emotional AI can do it easily! How does it work? The technology uses a camera, microphone and other tools to "read" your mood. Imagine how much more natural communication with virtual assistants will become! Interestingly, giants like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services are already offering developers access to such technologies. And OpenAI recently announced a version of GPT-4o that can recognize emotions and even breathing rhythm! Do you think we are ready for AI that will be not only smart, but also emotionally sensitive? #A...

  Scam-as-a-Service: Why Many Users Give Green Light to Scammers When we sign approvals entering services we are often less vigilant than we should be. Meanwhile, malicious actors work hard to lull our attention. Inferno Drainer, a phishing tool surging now in popularity, is being used by over 40,000 dApps. Users sign permissions, allowing the tool to access and control their tokens. The result? An alarming scale of theft.  Many dApps (decentralized applications) require authorization to interact with your wallet. They may offer rewards for staking, entice you with better token swap percentage, or provide services that seem beneficial to you. These services need your permission to manage and transfer your tokens. And you grant this permission without a second thought since you believe it’ll bring you rewards. You don’t even realize that this seemingly harmless transaction is an open door for scammers. The Inferno Drainer tool is waiting for the moment to exploit your trust....

  Why Bitcoin Has Fallen in Price The leading cryptocurrency has fallen in price from $60,000 to $59,200 at the end of August. And not only Bitcoin. Of the top ten largest cryptocurrencies, Solana (SOL) and Dogecoin (DOGE) have fallen the most — by 8% and 6%, respectively. Some analysts believe that this is a natural process: August and September are historically weak months for the crypto market, and growth should not be expected during this period. However, it seems to me that it is difficult to call the reasons that caused the fall of the cryptocurrency market natural. Among the main theses, one can only highlight the bankruptcy of FTX. Now we are reaping the fruits of investor mistrust. Another reason is the US Federal Reserve's announcement to raise interest rates by 0.75%. This led to an increase in government bond yields and a decrease in investor interest in cryptocurrencies, traditionally considered risky assets. At the end of September, we are expecting events that will v...

  Prediction markets work better than experts  In a world filled with experts of all kinds, prediction markets have suddenly emerged as a powerful tool for forecasting the future.  A week ago, Bloomberg integrated Polymarket election data into its Terminal. This is the most popular financial data platform for institutions with about 350K subscribers throughout the world. This move revealed a surprising truth. It turned out that prediction markets are more accurate than experts. How can that be? I was very surprised to hear that.   The reason is that experts rely on their specialized knowledge to make forecasts. Though experts can provide valuable insights, their predictions may not be that accurate. Actually, they perform even worse as they are heavily biased. Sometimes overconfidence is in the way. It clouds their judgment. Even statistical methods work better. What’s bad is that they create a false sense of security since you think you are protected by their l...

An Unusual Twist in the Challenge of Mass Crypto Adoption It’s hard to break old habits for people. Change often meets resistance, even when it’s positive. This resistance is deeply rooted in human nature, a reluctance to step into the unknown. What is this? Fear? This hesitation persists even in the face of financial hardships. Even when people see that those who embrace change find more opportunities for growth and success, they still resist. It’s hard for me to understand.  This is what I think when I read about the disappointment of El Salvador’s head of state, Nayib Bukele. He admitted in the interview: "Bitcoin has not experienced the widespread adoption we had hoped for." The global community rejoiced when El Saldavor made Bitcoin legal tender. They hoped it would be an ideal example for other countries. Now it’s time to look back and draw conclusions from this experience. As a reminder, the country started buying bitcoin on a daily basis in 2022. The timing was perfec...