作者 | Pritam Bordoloi

Compiled by Xu Jiecheng

Is cryptocurrency dead? The answer to this question depends on who is answering it. A crypto enthusiast will give you a hundred different reasons why cryptocurrency is not dead. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman both have a keen interest in cryptocurrency and its potential role in shaping the future world.

Musk has been a supporter of cryptocurrency for a long time, and the cryptocurrency Worldcoin founded by Sam Altman has also recently announced its launch. Interestingly, both Musk and Altman are staunch believers in artificial intelligence, and now these two technology leaders are actively involved in the work of revitalizing cryptocurrency while leading their companies to invest heavily in artificial intelligence.

01 Attracted by the future

As some of the world's most visionary entrepreneurs, it can be said that Musk and Altman are attracted by ideas and innovations about the future when it comes to cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency represents an evolving digital landscape that may play a crucial role in shaping the future digital economy.

Altman's idea for Worldcoin seems to come from a dystopian concept. In the future, a biometric device will scan the user's iris and determine whether the user is a human or an artificial intelligence through a uniquely verifiable digital identity. According to Altman himself, the concept of Worldcoin will apply to the very distant future.

Worldcoin will be a global identity database based on human iris biometrics, interacting with Worldcoin tokens, linked to all financial transaction data of every person in the world, and managed by a centralized non-profit organization that supports enhanced censorship policies and has the ability to collect sensitive data.

Altman also admitted that there are still many uncertainties in Worldcoin, but he believes that once people understand the feasibility of this technology and the importance of cryptocurrency in the world economy in the future, they will be open to Worldcoin. Although many issues such as ethics and privacy still need to be resolved in cryptocurrency, many people are now working hard to promote progress in these areas.

02 Preparing for the post-AGI era

On the other hand, the premise of Worldcoin is intriguing. Altman said that the goal of Worldcoin is simple - to build a global financial and identity network based on personal proof in the era of artificial intelligence. The founders of Worldcoin, including Alex Blania and Max Novendstern, believe that the achievement of general artificial intelligence (AGI), that is, AI surpassing human intelligence, will trigger a surge in productivity and subsequent dramatic wealth creation.

Now, this is what makes Worldcoin interesting, its creators believe that the wealth generated by AI should be equally distributed among all citizens of the world in the form of cryptocurrency (universal basic income), and this seems to be the way to go. It is also important to note that both Musk and Altman predict that AGI will arrive around 2030.

However, not everyone agrees with this idea. Akshay Bajaj, co-founder of DeFiVerse, believes that Worldcoin seems a bit overrated at the moment. "I think Worldcoin will have to prove itself to be more than just a fancy idea. It turns out that processing so much data on a global scale will be a huge challenge. There will definitely be some objections from governments across multiple jurisdictions. And the main role of cryptocurrency at the moment is still hype."

So far, Worldcoin has raised about $250 million in funding and has received support from several venture capital firms and several well-known investors. Nevertheless, in addition to getting rid of uncertainties, startups must also overcome many regulatory challenges. In addition, in the post-AGI era, whether the current financial system will really be subverted, no one can give a definite answer at present.

03 A more realistic approach

On the other hand, Musk's plans for cryptocurrency seem more realistic than Altman's. "In the coming months, we will add X (Twitter)'s full communications capabilities and the ability to manage the entire financial world," he said.

In fact, as early as when Musk just took over Twitter, some people speculated that he would introduce cryptocurrency to Twitter. And this speculation was soon confirmed. According to relevant reports in April 2023, as part of a partnership with social investment company eToro, Twitter will allow users to trade stocks and cryptocurrencies on the platform.

Musk's vision is to build Twitter into an AI-driven, global platform that covers all fields. Musk said the plan will start with supporting fiat currencies and integrate cryptocurrencies at a later time if necessary. This clearly means that Musk's vision of a future world driven by AI includes potential use cases for cryptocurrencies.

In fact, Musk had earlier said that the current banking system is not "real-time and inefficient" and does not match today's digitally connected world. Musk mentioned that the solution to this problem is cryptocurrency. So it will not be long before Musk's idea is implemented on Twitter.

"Elon Musk has been very positive about crypto. I hope he will talk about Ethereum or Bitcoin as well," Bajaj said. Previously, Musk said that his space company SpaceX will accept Dogecoin as a payment method, a cryptocurrency he has supported for quite some time. Meanwhile, Tesla also bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and said that the automaker will accept crypto payments.

04 Other Technology Leaders

Due to the influence of Musk and Altman, many cryptocurrency supporters firmly believe that they will become the "saviors" of cryptocurrency. But in fact, there are many technology leaders like them who are also supporting the "revival movement" of cryptocurrency. For example, Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, is now actively involved in his own cryptocurrency project. Earlier this year, Dorsey revealed that his company Block (formerly Square) is developing bit key-a cryptographic hardware into which users can transfer their passwords, enabling them to control their Bitcoin in a secure and user-friendly way.

However, unlike Altman, Dorsey is a firm believer in decentralization. After Twitter, he even created a new generation of decentralized Web3 social platform BlueSky. Therefore, he does not seem to be interested in Altman’s ideas about the Worldcoin project.

Interestingly, Worldcoin is not the first platform to advocate the idea of ​​universal basic income. EToro founder Yoni Assia said he was honored by Worldcoin’s approach, which he modeled after his own GoodDollar, a universal basic income platform. Like Dorsey, Musk also supports a decentralized approach and has said that BlueSky is an interesting idea.

In short, today, when the concept of the metaverse is gradually forgotten by people, the pool of cryptocurrency is gradually rippled under the stirring of many technology leaders. Whether you believe it or not, when the evolution of technology drives us through these unknown waters, unprecedented new possibilities will also come with it.