The future of AI and cryptocurrency represents a convergence of two transformative technologies that have the potential to reshape global finance and digital interactions. AI’s ability to process vast amounts of data, detect patterns, and optimize decision-making complements the decentralized and transparent nature of blockchain technology
Together, they can create sophisticated ecosystems where AI agents facilitate secure, autonomous transactions, manage digital assets, and enhance blockchain scalability. For example, AI can optimize the efficiency of blockchain networks by predicting transaction congestion and dynamically adjusting fees, fostering smoother operations and reducing costs.In the coming years, AI is likely to play a critical role in addressing some of the biggest challenges faced by the cryptocurrency industry. Enhanced fraud detection and security mechanisms powered by AI could significantly mitigate risks such as hacking and manipulation.
But Ellison has found the fountain of youth both personally and professionally. After being divorced several times, Ellison was reported this month to be involved with a 33-year-old woman. And at a meeting with analysts in Las Vegas in September, Ellison was as engaged as ever, mentioning offhand that the night before, he and his son were having dinner with his good friend Musk, who's advising President-elect Donald Trump (then the Republican nominee) while running Tesla and his other ventures.
His big financial boon has come from Oracle, which has maneuvered its way into the artificial intelligence craze with its cloud infrastructure technology and has made its databases more accessible.
Collaboration between developers, policymakers, and academic researchers will be essential to establish ethical guidelines and safeguard measures for AI applications in the crypto space. Initiatives such as Stanford’s partnerships with blockchain firms reflect the importance of interdisciplinary efforts in shaping a responsible and secure integration.Looking ahead, the synergy between AI and cryptocurrency could redefine not only financial systems but also broader aspects of economic and digital life. AI-powered decentralized autonomous organizations could emerge as self-governing entities that dynamically adapt to market conditions, optimizing operations without human intervention.
Furthermore, AI-enhanced smart contracts could enable complex agreements that react to real-time data inputs, expanding the use cases of blockchain technology. As these innovations evolve, the interplay between AI and crypto will likely pave the way for a more efficient, secure, and inclusive digital economy.
ChatGPT creator OpenAI said in June that it will use Oracle's cloud infrastructure. Earlier this month, Oracle said it had also picked up business from Meta.
Startups, which often opt for market leader Amazon Web Services when picking a cloud, have been engaging Oracle as well. Last year, video generation startup Genmo set up a system to train an AI model with Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) in Oracle's cloud, CEO Paras Jain said. Genmo now relies on the Oracle cloud to produce videos based on the prompts that users type in on its website.
Moreover, AI-driven analytics will enable more robust regulatory compliance, helping organizations adhere to evolving global standards. These capabilities are particularly crucial as the adoption of cryptocurrencies grows and demands for both security and trust in decentralized systems increase.However, the fusion of AI and crypto also introduces complexities that will shape their future. Issues such as ethical considerations, algorithmic biases, and the risk of centralization in AI-controlled systems must be addressed to ensure that these technologies fulfill their potential without compromising foundational principles like decentralization and transparency.
"Oracle produced a different product than what you can get elsewhere with GPU computing," Jain said. The company offers "bare metal" computers that can sometimes yield better performance than architectures that employ server virtualization, he said.
In its latest earnings report earlier this month, Oracle came up short of analysts' estimates and issued a forecast that was also weaker than Wall Street was expecting. The stock had its worst day of 2024, falling almost 7% and eating into the year's gains.
"Oracle Cloud Infrastructure trains several of the world's most important generative AI models because we are faster and less expensive than other clouds," Ellison said in the earnings release.
For the current fiscal year, which ends in May, Oracle is expected to record revenue growth of about 10%, which would mark its second-strongest year of expansion since 2011.
Despite these challenges, the integration of AI agents into digital asset systems is not without potential solutions. Robust encryption, multi-factor authentication, and the use of decentralized infrastructures can enhance the security of AI-managed systems. Furthermore, partnerships between academia, industry, and regulatory bodies—such as Stanford University’s collaboration with blockchain innovators—are essential for developing frameworks that combine innovation with security.
As AI systems mature and their limitations are better understood, the potential for secure, reliable AI agents in the digital asset space will likely increase, but their adoption will depend on continuous advancements in security and ethical safeguards.
Jain said that when Genmo has challenges, he communicates with Oracle sales executives and engineers through a Slack channel. The collaboration has resulted in better reliability and performance, he said. He said Oracle worked with Genmo to ensure that developers could launch the startup's Mochi open-source video generator on Oracle's cloud hardware with a single click.
"Oracle was also more price-competitive than these large hyperscalers," Jain said.
'That's going to be so easy'
Three months before its December earnings report, at the analyst event in Las Vegas, Oracle had given a rosy outlook for the next three years. Executive Vice President Doug Kehring declared that the company would produce more than $66 billion in revenue in the 2026 fiscal year, and over $104 billion in fiscal 2029. The numbers suggested acceleration, with a compound annual growth rate of over 16%, compared with 9% in the latest quarter.
After Kehring and CEO Safra Catz spoke, it was Ellison's turn. The company's chairman, technology chief and top shareholder strutted onto the stage in a black sweater and jeans, waved to the analysts, licked his lips and sat down. For the next 74 minutes, he answered questions from seven analysts.
"Did — did he say $104 billion?" Ellison said, referring to Kehring's projection. Some in the crowd giggled. "That's going to be so easy. It is kind of crazy."
Oracle's revenue in fiscal 2023 was just shy of $50 billion.
The new target impressed Eric Lynch, managing director of Scharf Investments, which held $167 million in Oracle shares at the end of September.
Oracle is still far behind in cloud infrastructure. In 2023, Amazon controlled 39% share of market, followed by Microsoft at 23% and Google at 8.2%, according to industry researcher Gartner. That left Oracle with 1.4%.
But in database software, Oracle remains a stalwart. Gartner estimated that the company had 17% market share in database management systems in 2023.
Ellison's challenge is to find opportunities for expansion.
While AI systems are designed to learn and adapt, their security is only as robust as the algorithms, training data, and safeguards embedded within their design.One significant concern is the vulnerability of AI agents to exploitation. These vulnerabilities often stem from inadequate safeguards, lack of ethical frameworks, or flaws in the underlying programming. Addressing these weaknesses requires rigorous testing, secure development practices, and constant updates to counteract emerging threats.
Another challenge lies in the opacity of many AI systems, particularly those employing machine learning algorithms that operate as “black boxes.” This lack of transparency makes it difficult to predict or understand how AI agents might behave in specific scenarios, creating a potential risk in high-stakes environments such as digital asset management. Transparency and explainability are critical for building trust in AI agents, allowing users and developers to identify and address potential vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
Are AI Agents Ready For Prime Time When it Comes to Digital Assets
The security of AI agents in managing digital assets is a topic of growing importance as these technologies become more integrated into cryptocurrency ecosystems. AI agents are increasingly tasked with executing transactions, managing wallets, and optimizing trading strategies, offering significant advantages such as real-time data analysis and automation. However, their effectiveness hinges on their ability to safeguard digital assets against manipulation, fraud, and other threats.
Last year, he visited Microsoft headquarters in Redmond Washington, for the first time to announce a partnership that would enable organizations to use Oracle's database through Microsoft's Azure cloud. Microsoft even installed Oracle hardware in its data centers.
In June, Oracle rolled out a similar announcement with Google. Then, in September, Oracle finally partnered with Amazon, introducing its database on AWS.
Despite these challenges, the exploration of AI in digital asset ecosystems is progressing rapidly, with growing interest from academia, industry leaders, and blockchain developers. Initiatives like Stanford’s research partnership with AI16z are pivotal in understanding and mitigating risks while unlocking the full potential of autonomous agents in cryptocurrency systems. As these technologies mature, they could reshape the landscape of digital finance, providing innovative solutions to longstanding issues such as inefficiencies, security gaps, and accessibility barriers, while simultaneously redefining the roles of humans and machines in economic systems.
However, the integration of AI as digital agents also presents significant risks and challenges. Recent incidents where AI bots were manipulated into mismanaging digital assets, such as an instance where a user tricked an AI agent into transferring $50,000 in cryptocurrency, underscore vulnerabilities in these systems. These cases reveal the critical need for robust safeguards, ethical guidelines, and fail-safes to prevent misuse or exploitation of autonomous agents. The risk of AI misjudgment or manipulation introduces a layer of complexity that could undermine trust in these systems if not adequately addressed.
One of the key advantages of AI in this space is its ability to process vast amounts of data in real-time, enabling more informed decision-making and improving transaction execution speed. The partnership between Stanford researchers and the team behind AI16z, a blockchain-powered AI bot, highlights the potential of combining AI and decentralized technologies to create intelligent, self-governing agents capable of enhancing the functionality of blockchain networks. These systems could provide a decentralized infrastructure for asset management and trading, reducing reliance on traditional intermediaries and lowering transaction costs for users.
Oracle and Amazon had exchanged barbs for years. AWS introduced a database called Aurora in 2014, and Amazon worked hard to move itself off Oracle. Following a CNBC report on the effort, Ellison expressed doubt about Amazon's ability to reach its goal. But the project succeeded.
In 2019, Amazon published a blog post titled, "Migration Complete – Amazon's Consumer Business Just Turned off its Final Oracle Database."
How are AI Agents Impacting Digital Assets?
The intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital assets is emerging as a transformative domain, with AI agents increasingly being explored as facilitators and managers of digital currency systems. This overlap is fueled by initiatives like the partnership between Eliza Labs and Stanford University’s Future Digital Currency Initiative (FDCI), which investigates how autonomous AI agents can impact the functionality, security, and scalability of digital asset ecosystems. These AI agents are envisioned to perform tasks such as executing transactions, managing wallets, and optimizing investment strategies, with potential to streamline operations while introducing new efficiencies.
Ellison looked back on the history between the two companies at the analyst meeting in September.
"I got kind of got cute commenting about Amazon uses Oracle, doesn't use AWS, blah, blah," he said. "And that hurt some people's feelings. I probably shouldn't have said it."
He said a friend at a major New York bank had asked him to make sure the Oracle database works on AWS.
"I said, 'Great. It makes sense to me,'" Ellison said.
The multi-cloud strategy should deliver gains in database market share, said analyst Siti Panigrahi of Mizuho, which has the equivalent of a buy rating on Oracle shares. Cloud deals related to AI will also help Oracle deliver on its promise for faster revenue growth, he said.
"Oracle right now has an end-to-end stack for enterprises to build their AI strategy," said Panigrahi, who worked on applications at Oracle in the 2000s.
So far, Oracle has been mainly cutting high-value AI deals with the likes of OpenAI and Musk's X.ai. Of Oracle's $97 billion in remaining performance obligations, or revenue that hasn't yet been recognized, 40% or 50% of it is tied to renting out GPUs, Panigrahi said.
Are AI Agents the Future of Digital Assets?
The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital assets is transforming cryptocurrency systems, with AI agents being explored for tasks like transaction execution and wallet management to enhance efficiency and scalability. Partnerships like that of Eliza Labs and Stanford University’s Future Digital Currency Initiative are advancing this intersection, while projects such as AI16z highlight the potential for decentralized, self-governing AI agents to optimize blockchain networks. However, vulnerabilities, as demonstrated by incidents of AI manipulation, expose critical risks requiring robust safeguards to maintain trust in these systems. Despite challenges, the rapid development in this field holds promise for reshaping digital finance by addressing inefficiencies and introducing innovative solutions.
Panigrahi predicts that a wider swath of enterprises will begin adopting AI, which will be a boon to Oracle given its hundreds of thousands of big customers.
There's also promise in Oracle Health, the segment that came out of the company's $28.2 billion acquisition of electronic health record software vendor Cerner in 2022.
Yoshiki Hayashi, Marc Benioff and Larry Ellison attend the Transformative Medicine of USC: Rebels with a Cause Gala in Santa Monica, California, on Oct. 24, 2019.
Unlike rival Epic, Oracle Health lost U.S. market share in 2023, according to estimates from KLAS Research. But Ellison's connection to Musk, who is set to co-lead Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, might benefit Oracle Health "if there is a bigger push towards modernizing existing healthcare systems," analysts at Evercore said in a note last week. They recommend buying the stock.
For now, Oracle is busy using AI to rewrite Cerner's entire code base, Ellison said at the analyst event.
"This is another pillar for growth," he said. "I think you haven't quite seen it yet."
Hours earlier, Ellison had put in a call to Marc Benioff, the co-founder and CEO of Salesforce. Benioff knows Ellison as well as anyone, having worked for him for 13 years before starting the cloud software company that's now a big competitor.
"It was awesome," Benioff said in a wide-ranging interview the next day, regarding his chat with Ellison.
Benioff spoke about his former boss's latest run of fortune.
"Larry really deeply wants this," Benioff said. "This is very important to him, that he is building a great company, what he believes is one of the most important companies in the world, and also, wealth is very important to him."
AppLovin entered the year with a market cap of about $13 billion and was best known for investing in a collection of mobile gaming studios that had produced titles like "Woody Block Puzzle," "Clockmaker" and "Bingo Story."
As it exits the year, AppLovin's valuation has soared past $110 billion, making it worth more than Starbucks, Intel and Airbnb. At Tuesday's close, AppLovin shares are up 758% this year, far surpassing all other tech companies.
While AppLovin went public in 2021, riding a Covid-era wave of excitement in online games, the business is now centered around online ads and booming profits from advancements in AI.
Last year, AppLovin released the updated 2.0 version of its ad search engine called AXON, which helps put more targeted ads on the gaming apps the company owns and is also used by studios that license the technology. Software platform revenue in the third quarter increased 66% to $835 million, outpacing total growth of 39%.
Net income in the quarter soared 300%, lifting the company's profit margin to 36.3% from 12.6% in the course of a year.
AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi, whose net worth has swelled past $10 billion, is even more excited about what's coming. On the company's earnings call in November, Foroughi raved about a test e-commerce project that allows businesses to offer targeted ads in games.
"In all my years, It's the best product I've ever seen released by us, fastest growing, but it's still in pilot," he said.
After climbing 346% in 2023, it was hard to imagine MicroStrategy's stock finding another gear. But it did.
The company's share price has jumped 467% this year on the back of a bitcoin-buying strategy that's made founder Michael Saylor a crypto cult hero.
In mid-2020, the company announced a plan to start buying bitcoin. Up to that point, MicroStrategy had been a middling business intelligence software vendor, but since then, its purchased over 444,000 bitcoins, using its ever-increasing share price as a way to sell stock, raise debt and buy more coin.
Drums part of combined installation equipment
Kiverov stressed that the spent fuel drum cools spent fuel assemblies unloaded from the reactor in a non-reactive environment.
“The drums are part of the combined installation equipment, which means that with their installation at the MBIR nuclear research reactor it is possible to pour concrete onto the area of the central hall flooring of approximately 100 square meters, and start to install the equipment at a height of +11.900 meters,” added Kiverov.
Additionally, the MBIR core basket was de mothballed and turned over at the reactor unit. A holding frame with a basket is currently installed at a height of +13.200 meters in the central hall, and the welding of a core containment device, known as a core catcher, is currently underway, according to a press release by the company.
The work on the company’s construction site is progressing as planned in line with the schedule for this large-scale project.
It's now the world's fourth-largest holder of bitcoin, behind only creator Satoshi Nakamoto, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust and crypto exchange Binance, with a stockpile valued at close to $44 billion. MicroStrategy's market cap has swelled from about $1.1 billion when it was just a software company to $80 billion today.
While the rally was long underway prior to November, Trump's election victory last month added fuel. The stock is up 57% since then while bitcoin has gained about 44%. Trump once called bitcoin a "scam," but he was the industry's preferred choice in this election and was backed heavily by some of the leading players, including Coinbase.
Rosatom has maintained that the construction of the MBIR reactor at the site of RIAR JSC is a significant long-term project for the development of the experimental base of Russia’s nuclear industry. The project is expected to ensure Russia’s leadership in the development of innovative reactor technologies for the next 50 years. The project is part of the comprehensive program “Development of Equipment, Technologies, and Scientific Research in the Nuclear Energy Use in Russia.”
Russia’s new reactor is expected to replace the existing BOR-60 research facility and provide the nuclear industry with state-of-the-art research infrastructure for the next half century. Its innovative features will enhance exploration of the technologies of two-component nuclear energy, as well as of closed nuclear fuel cycle, while also accelerating and justifying the development of safe fourth-generation nuclear power plants, as per the release.
"With the red sweep, Bitcoin is surging up with tailwinds, and the rest of the digital assets will also begin to surge," Saylor told CNBC soon after the election. He said bitcoin remains the "safe trade" in the crypto space, but as a "digital assets framework" is put into place for the broader crypto market, "there'll be a surge in the entire digital assets industry."
“The introduction of cutting-edge technologies and hi-tech equipment allows Rosatom and its affiliates to expand into new market sectors, boosting the competitiveness of the nuclear industry and the Russian industry as a whole,” added the company in the release.
Palantir had a lot of big runs in 2024 on its way to a 380% gain in its stock price. One of its best stretches came last month, when the software company boosted its revenue outlook a day ahead of the presidential election.
The company, which sells data analytics tools to defense agencies, bumped up its target for 2024, with fourth-quarter guidance that blew away analysts' estimates. Palantir also topped results for the third quarter, leading CEO Alex Karp to declare in the earnings release, "We absolutely eviscerated this quarter, driven by unrelenting AI demand that won't slow down."
Technological and user experience challenges
One of the primary obstacles to realizing the metaverse vision is technological advancement. Immersive VR requires extensive graphic rendering, which remains beyond the reach of the mass market. Additionally, high costs and physically unpleasant effects—such as nausea and eye strain—make prolonged use of VR devices uncomfortable for many users. These factors hinder the seamless integration of multiple platforms, preventing users from fluidly moving between different virtual environments.
While numerous businesses strive to establish a presence in the metaverse, many may fail as consumers encounter fragmented and inconsistent experiences that do not resonate with their expectations. The challenge lies in creating a cohesive and user-friendly metaverse that can accommodate diverse applications and user needs.
The stock jumped 23% on the earnings report and then another 8.6% the next day after Trump's win. Palantir co-founder and board member Peter Thiel was a big Trump booster in the 2016 campaign and helped organize a meeting with tech execs at Trump Tower soon after that election. Karp was one of the attendees.
Karp, however, openly backed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in the 2024 campaign. He told The New York Times in a story published in August that Thiel's earlier support of Trump and the backlash that followed made it "actually harder to get things done."
Applications in key sectors: Education, healthcare, and retail
Despite its challenges, the metaverse holds significant potential across various sectors:
Education: Immersive VR experiences can revolutionize learning by simulating visits to ancient sites or facilitating complex scientific explorations. This interactive approach makes learning more intuitive and engaging, particularly for children. Platforms like EngageVR have already begun experimenting with virtual classrooms, demonstrating the transformative potential of the metaverse in education.
Healthcare: Augmented and virtual reality applications in healthcare are groundbreaking. VR can train surgeons, offer virtual consultations, and provide therapeutic care for patients with PTSD. Recent studies have shown that VR environments can help manage pain in hospital settings. Additionally, virtual headsets are being used to treat anxiety, indicating a promising future for VR-based medical treatments. However, limitations such as mobility constraints and high costs remain significant barriers.
!summarize #sny #omarminaya #nymets #generalmanager
The future of AI and cryptocurrency represents a convergence of two transformative technologies that have the potential to reshape global finance and digital interactions. AI’s ability to process vast amounts of data, detect patterns, and optimize decision-making complements the decentralized and transparent nature of blockchain technology
Together, they can create sophisticated ecosystems where AI agents facilitate secure, autonomous transactions, manage digital assets, and enhance blockchain scalability. For example, AI can optimize the efficiency of blockchain networks by predicting transaction congestion and dynamically adjusting fees, fostering smoother operations and reducing costs.In the coming years, AI is likely to play a critical role in addressing some of the biggest challenges faced by the cryptocurrency industry. Enhanced fraud detection and security mechanisms powered by AI could significantly mitigate risks such as hacking and manipulation.
But Ellison has found the fountain of youth both personally and professionally. After being divorced several times, Ellison was reported this month to be involved with a 33-year-old woman. And at a meeting with analysts in Las Vegas in September, Ellison was as engaged as ever, mentioning offhand that the night before, he and his son were having dinner with his good friend Musk, who's advising President-elect Donald Trump (then the Republican nominee) while running Tesla and his other ventures.
His big financial boon has come from Oracle, which has maneuvered its way into the artificial intelligence craze with its cloud infrastructure technology and has made its databases more accessible.
Collaboration between developers, policymakers, and academic researchers will be essential to establish ethical guidelines and safeguard measures for AI applications in the crypto space. Initiatives such as Stanford’s partnerships with blockchain firms reflect the importance of interdisciplinary efforts in shaping a responsible and secure integration.Looking ahead, the synergy between AI and cryptocurrency could redefine not only financial systems but also broader aspects of economic and digital life. AI-powered decentralized autonomous organizations could emerge as self-governing entities that dynamically adapt to market conditions, optimizing operations without human intervention.
Furthermore, AI-enhanced smart contracts could enable complex agreements that react to real-time data inputs, expanding the use cases of blockchain technology. As these innovations evolve, the interplay between AI and crypto will likely pave the way for a more efficient, secure, and inclusive digital economy.
!summarize #beaniebabies #pyramidscheme #collectables
ChatGPT creator OpenAI said in June that it will use Oracle's cloud infrastructure. Earlier this month, Oracle said it had also picked up business from Meta.
Startups, which often opt for market leader Amazon Web Services when picking a cloud, have been engaging Oracle as well. Last year, video generation startup Genmo set up a system to train an AI model with Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) in Oracle's cloud, CEO Paras Jain said. Genmo now relies on the Oracle cloud to produce videos based on the prompts that users type in on its website.
Moreover, AI-driven analytics will enable more robust regulatory compliance, helping organizations adhere to evolving global standards. These capabilities are particularly crucial as the adoption of cryptocurrencies grows and demands for both security and trust in decentralized systems increase.However, the fusion of AI and crypto also introduces complexities that will shape their future. Issues such as ethical considerations, algorithmic biases, and the risk of centralization in AI-controlled systems must be addressed to ensure that these technologies fulfill their potential without compromising foundational principles like decentralization and transparency.
"Oracle produced a different product than what you can get elsewhere with GPU computing," Jain said. The company offers "bare metal" computers that can sometimes yield better performance than architectures that employ server virtualization, he said.
In its latest earnings report earlier this month, Oracle came up short of analysts' estimates and issued a forecast that was also weaker than Wall Street was expecting. The stock had its worst day of 2024, falling almost 7% and eating into the year's gains.
Still, Ellison was bullish for the future.
"Oracle Cloud Infrastructure trains several of the world's most important generative AI models because we are faster and less expensive than other clouds," Ellison said in the earnings release.
For the current fiscal year, which ends in May, Oracle is expected to record revenue growth of about 10%, which would mark its second-strongest year of expansion since 2011.
Despite these challenges, the integration of AI agents into digital asset systems is not without potential solutions. Robust encryption, multi-factor authentication, and the use of decentralized infrastructures can enhance the security of AI-managed systems. Furthermore, partnerships between academia, industry, and regulatory bodies—such as Stanford University’s collaboration with blockchain innovators—are essential for developing frameworks that combine innovation with security.
As AI systems mature and their limitations are better understood, the potential for secure, reliable AI agents in the digital asset space will likely increase, but their adoption will depend on continuous advancements in security and ethical safeguards.
Jain said that when Genmo has challenges, he communicates with Oracle sales executives and engineers through a Slack channel. The collaboration has resulted in better reliability and performance, he said. He said Oracle worked with Genmo to ensure that developers could launch the startup's Mochi open-source video generator on Oracle's cloud hardware with a single click.
"Oracle was also more price-competitive than these large hyperscalers," Jain said.
!summarize #bootesvoid #science
'That's going to be so easy'
Three months before its December earnings report, at the analyst event in Las Vegas, Oracle had given a rosy outlook for the next three years. Executive Vice President Doug Kehring declared that the company would produce more than $66 billion in revenue in the 2026 fiscal year, and over $104 billion in fiscal 2029. The numbers suggested acceleration, with a compound annual growth rate of over 16%, compared with 9% in the latest quarter.
After Kehring and CEO Safra Catz spoke, it was Ellison's turn. The company's chairman, technology chief and top shareholder strutted onto the stage in a black sweater and jeans, waved to the analysts, licked his lips and sat down. For the next 74 minutes, he answered questions from seven analysts.
!summarize #evs #Technology
"Did — did he say $104 billion?" Ellison said, referring to Kehring's projection. Some in the crowd giggled. "That's going to be so easy. It is kind of crazy."
Oracle's revenue in fiscal 2023 was just shy of $50 billion.
The new target impressed Eric Lynch, managing director of Scharf Investments, which held $167 million in Oracle shares at the end of September.
Oracle is still far behind in cloud infrastructure. In 2023, Amazon controlled 39% share of market, followed by Microsoft at 23% and Google at 8.2%, according to industry researcher Gartner. That left Oracle with 1.4%.
But in database software, Oracle remains a stalwart. Gartner estimated that the company had 17% market share in database management systems in 2023.
Ellison's challenge is to find opportunities for expansion.
While AI systems are designed to learn and adapt, their security is only as robust as the algorithms, training data, and safeguards embedded within their design.One significant concern is the vulnerability of AI agents to exploitation. These vulnerabilities often stem from inadequate safeguards, lack of ethical frameworks, or flaws in the underlying programming. Addressing these weaknesses requires rigorous testing, secure development practices, and constant updates to counteract emerging threats.
Another challenge lies in the opacity of many AI systems, particularly those employing machine learning algorithms that operate as “black boxes.” This lack of transparency makes it difficult to predict or understand how AI agents might behave in specific scenarios, creating a potential risk in high-stakes environments such as digital asset management. Transparency and explainability are critical for building trust in AI agents, allowing users and developers to identify and address potential vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
Are AI Agents Ready For Prime Time When it Comes to Digital Assets
The security of AI agents in managing digital assets is a topic of growing importance as these technologies become more integrated into cryptocurrency ecosystems. AI agents are increasingly tasked with executing transactions, managing wallets, and optimizing trading strategies, offering significant advantages such as real-time data analysis and automation. However, their effectiveness hinges on their ability to safeguard digital assets against manipulation, fraud, and other threats.
Last year, he visited Microsoft headquarters in Redmond Washington, for the first time to announce a partnership that would enable organizations to use Oracle's database through Microsoft's Azure cloud. Microsoft even installed Oracle hardware in its data centers.
In June, Oracle rolled out a similar announcement with Google. Then, in September, Oracle finally partnered with Amazon, introducing its database on AWS.
Despite these challenges, the exploration of AI in digital asset ecosystems is progressing rapidly, with growing interest from academia, industry leaders, and blockchain developers. Initiatives like Stanford’s research partnership with AI16z are pivotal in understanding and mitigating risks while unlocking the full potential of autonomous agents in cryptocurrency systems. As these technologies mature, they could reshape the landscape of digital finance, providing innovative solutions to longstanding issues such as inefficiencies, security gaps, and accessibility barriers, while simultaneously redefining the roles of humans and machines in economic systems.
However, the integration of AI as digital agents also presents significant risks and challenges. Recent incidents where AI bots were manipulated into mismanaging digital assets, such as an instance where a user tricked an AI agent into transferring $50,000 in cryptocurrency, underscore vulnerabilities in these systems. These cases reveal the critical need for robust safeguards, ethical guidelines, and fail-safes to prevent misuse or exploitation of autonomous agents. The risk of AI misjudgment or manipulation introduces a layer of complexity that could undermine trust in these systems if not adequately addressed.
One of the key advantages of AI in this space is its ability to process vast amounts of data in real-time, enabling more informed decision-making and improving transaction execution speed. The partnership between Stanford researchers and the team behind AI16z, a blockchain-powered AI bot, highlights the potential of combining AI and decentralized technologies to create intelligent, self-governing agents capable of enhancing the functionality of blockchain networks. These systems could provide a decentralized infrastructure for asset management and trading, reducing reliance on traditional intermediaries and lowering transaction costs for users.
Oracle and Amazon had exchanged barbs for years. AWS introduced a database called Aurora in 2014, and Amazon worked hard to move itself off Oracle. Following a CNBC report on the effort, Ellison expressed doubt about Amazon's ability to reach its goal. But the project succeeded.
In 2019, Amazon published a blog post titled, "Migration Complete – Amazon's Consumer Business Just Turned off its Final Oracle Database."
How are AI Agents Impacting Digital Assets?
The intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital assets is emerging as a transformative domain, with AI agents increasingly being explored as facilitators and managers of digital currency systems. This overlap is fueled by initiatives like the partnership between Eliza Labs and Stanford University’s Future Digital Currency Initiative (FDCI), which investigates how autonomous AI agents can impact the functionality, security, and scalability of digital asset ecosystems. These AI agents are envisioned to perform tasks such as executing transactions, managing wallets, and optimizing investment strategies, with potential to streamline operations while introducing new efficiencies.
Ellison looked back on the history between the two companies at the analyst meeting in September.
"I got kind of got cute commenting about Amazon uses Oracle, doesn't use AWS, blah, blah," he said. "And that hurt some people's feelings. I probably shouldn't have said it."
He said a friend at a major New York bank had asked him to make sure the Oracle database works on AWS.
"I said, 'Great. It makes sense to me,'" Ellison said.
The multi-cloud strategy should deliver gains in database market share, said analyst Siti Panigrahi of Mizuho, which has the equivalent of a buy rating on Oracle shares. Cloud deals related to AI will also help Oracle deliver on its promise for faster revenue growth, he said.
!summarize #nba
"Oracle right now has an end-to-end stack for enterprises to build their AI strategy," said Panigrahi, who worked on applications at Oracle in the 2000s.
So far, Oracle has been mainly cutting high-value AI deals with the likes of OpenAI and Musk's X.ai. Of Oracle's $97 billion in remaining performance obligations, or revenue that hasn't yet been recognized, 40% or 50% of it is tied to renting out GPUs, Panigrahi said.
Are AI Agents the Future of Digital Assets?
The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital assets is transforming cryptocurrency systems, with AI agents being explored for tasks like transaction execution and wallet management to enhance efficiency and scalability. Partnerships like that of Eliza Labs and Stanford University’s Future Digital Currency Initiative are advancing this intersection, while projects such as AI16z highlight the potential for decentralized, self-governing AI agents to optimize blockchain networks. However, vulnerabilities, as demonstrated by incidents of AI manipulation, expose critical risks requiring robust safeguards to maintain trust in these systems. Despite challenges, the rapid development in this field holds promise for reshaping digital finance by addressing inefficiencies and introducing innovative solutions.
Panigrahi predicts that a wider swath of enterprises will begin adopting AI, which will be a boon to Oracle given its hundreds of thousands of big customers.
There's also promise in Oracle Health, the segment that came out of the company's $28.2 billion acquisition of electronic health record software vendor Cerner in 2022.
Yoshiki Hayashi, Marc Benioff and Larry Ellison attend the Transformative Medicine of USC: Rebels with a Cause Gala in Santa Monica, California, on Oct. 24, 2019.
Unlike rival Epic, Oracle Health lost U.S. market share in 2023, according to estimates from KLAS Research. But Ellison's connection to Musk, who is set to co-lead Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, might benefit Oracle Health "if there is a bigger push towards modernizing existing healthcare systems," analysts at Evercore said in a note last week. They recommend buying the stock.
For now, Oracle is busy using AI to rewrite Cerner's entire code base, Ellison said at the analyst event.
"This is another pillar for growth," he said. "I think you haven't quite seen it yet."
Hours earlier, Ellison had put in a call to Marc Benioff, the co-founder and CEO of Salesforce. Benioff knows Ellison as well as anyone, having worked for him for 13 years before starting the cloud software company that's now a big competitor.
"It was awesome," Benioff said in a wide-ranging interview the next day, regarding his chat with Ellison.
Benioff spoke about his former boss's latest run of fortune.
"Larry really deeply wants this," Benioff said. "This is very important to him, that he is building a great company, what he believes is one of the most important companies in the world, and also, wealth is very important to him."
AppLovin entered the year with a market cap of about $13 billion and was best known for investing in a collection of mobile gaming studios that had produced titles like "Woody Block Puzzle," "Clockmaker" and "Bingo Story."
As it exits the year, AppLovin's valuation has soared past $110 billion, making it worth more than Starbucks, Intel and Airbnb. At Tuesday's close, AppLovin shares are up 758% this year, far surpassing all other tech companies.
While AppLovin went public in 2021, riding a Covid-era wave of excitement in online games, the business is now centered around online ads and booming profits from advancements in AI.
Last year, AppLovin released the updated 2.0 version of its ad search engine called AXON, which helps put more targeted ads on the gaming apps the company owns and is also used by studios that license the technology. Software platform revenue in the third quarter increased 66% to $835 million, outpacing total growth of 39%.
Net income in the quarter soared 300%, lifting the company's profit margin to 36.3% from 12.6% in the course of a year.
!summarize #space
AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi, whose net worth has swelled past $10 billion, is even more excited about what's coming. On the company's earnings call in November, Foroughi raved about a test e-commerce project that allows businesses to offer targeted ads in games.
"In all my years, It's the best product I've ever seen released by us, fastest growing, but it's still in pilot," he said.
After climbing 346% in 2023, it was hard to imagine MicroStrategy's stock finding another gear. But it did.
The company's share price has jumped 467% this year on the back of a bitcoin-buying strategy that's made founder Michael Saylor a crypto cult hero.
In mid-2020, the company announced a plan to start buying bitcoin. Up to that point, MicroStrategy had been a middling business intelligence software vendor, but since then, its purchased over 444,000 bitcoins, using its ever-increasing share price as a way to sell stock, raise debt and buy more coin.
Drums part of combined installation equipment
Kiverov stressed that the spent fuel drum cools spent fuel assemblies unloaded from the reactor in a non-reactive environment.
“The drums are part of the combined installation equipment, which means that with their installation at the MBIR nuclear research reactor it is possible to pour concrete onto the area of the central hall flooring of approximately 100 square meters, and start to install the equipment at a height of +11.900 meters,” added Kiverov.
Additionally, the MBIR core basket was de mothballed and turned over at the reactor unit. A holding frame with a basket is currently installed at a height of +13.200 meters in the central hall, and the welding of a core containment device, known as a core catcher, is currently underway, according to a press release by the company.
The work on the company’s construction site is progressing as planned in line with the schedule for this large-scale project.
It's now the world's fourth-largest holder of bitcoin, behind only creator Satoshi Nakamoto, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust and crypto exchange Binance, with a stockpile valued at close to $44 billion. MicroStrategy's market cap has swelled from about $1.1 billion when it was just a software company to $80 billion today.
While the rally was long underway prior to November, Trump's election victory last month added fuel. The stock is up 57% since then while bitcoin has gained about 44%. Trump once called bitcoin a "scam," but he was the industry's preferred choice in this election and was backed heavily by some of the leading players, including Coinbase.
Rosatom has maintained that the construction of the MBIR reactor at the site of RIAR JSC is a significant long-term project for the development of the experimental base of Russia’s nuclear industry. The project is expected to ensure Russia’s leadership in the development of innovative reactor technologies for the next 50 years. The project is part of the comprehensive program “Development of Equipment, Technologies, and Scientific Research in the Nuclear Energy Use in Russia.”
Russia’s new reactor is expected to replace the existing BOR-60 research facility and provide the nuclear industry with state-of-the-art research infrastructure for the next half century. Its innovative features will enhance exploration of the technologies of two-component nuclear energy, as well as of closed nuclear fuel cycle, while also accelerating and justifying the development of safe fourth-generation nuclear power plants, as per the release.
"With the red sweep, Bitcoin is surging up with tailwinds, and the rest of the digital assets will also begin to surge," Saylor told CNBC soon after the election. He said bitcoin remains the "safe trade" in the crypto space, but as a "digital assets framework" is put into place for the broader crypto market, "there'll be a surge in the entire digital assets industry."
“The introduction of cutting-edge technologies and hi-tech equipment allows Rosatom and its affiliates to expand into new market sectors, boosting the competitiveness of the nuclear industry and the Russian industry as a whole,” added the company in the release.
Palantir had a lot of big runs in 2024 on its way to a 380% gain in its stock price. One of its best stretches came last month, when the software company boosted its revenue outlook a day ahead of the presidential election.
The company, which sells data analytics tools to defense agencies, bumped up its target for 2024, with fourth-quarter guidance that blew away analysts' estimates. Palantir also topped results for the third quarter, leading CEO Alex Karp to declare in the earnings release, "We absolutely eviscerated this quarter, driven by unrelenting AI demand that won't slow down."
Technological and user experience challenges
One of the primary obstacles to realizing the metaverse vision is technological advancement. Immersive VR requires extensive graphic rendering, which remains beyond the reach of the mass market. Additionally, high costs and physically unpleasant effects—such as nausea and eye strain—make prolonged use of VR devices uncomfortable for many users. These factors hinder the seamless integration of multiple platforms, preventing users from fluidly moving between different virtual environments.
While numerous businesses strive to establish a presence in the metaverse, many may fail as consumers encounter fragmented and inconsistent experiences that do not resonate with their expectations. The challenge lies in creating a cohesive and user-friendly metaverse that can accommodate diverse applications and user needs.
The stock jumped 23% on the earnings report and then another 8.6% the next day after Trump's win. Palantir co-founder and board member Peter Thiel was a big Trump booster in the 2016 campaign and helped organize a meeting with tech execs at Trump Tower soon after that election. Karp was one of the attendees.
Karp, however, openly backed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in the 2024 campaign. He told The New York Times in a story published in August that Thiel's earlier support of Trump and the backlash that followed made it "actually harder to get things done."
Applications in key sectors: Education, healthcare, and retail
Despite its challenges, the metaverse holds significant potential across various sectors:
Education: Immersive VR experiences can revolutionize learning by simulating visits to ancient sites or facilitating complex scientific explorations. This interactive approach makes learning more intuitive and engaging, particularly for children. Platforms like EngageVR have already begun experimenting with virtual classrooms, demonstrating the transformative potential of the metaverse in education.
Healthcare: Augmented and virtual reality applications in healthcare are groundbreaking. VR can train surgeons, offer virtual consultations, and provide therapeutic care for patients with PTSD. Recent studies have shown that VR environments can help manage pain in hospital settings. Additionally, virtual headsets are being used to treat anxiety, indicating a promising future for VR-based medical treatments. However, limitations such as mobility constraints and high costs remain significant barriers.