breaking the tech oligopoly with decentralised ai

gate so as to influence the rating of thecreator of that agent in other platforms(where they may have created otheragents). The model of ‘normal’ networkbehaviour used to help identify anom-alous network phenomena from a cyber-security perspective would be built fromdata across multiple decentralised net-works, so that harmless phenomena seenin one network would not be judgedanomalous the first time they are seen inanother.

NETWORK OF NETWORKSIn this vision the decentralised AI ecosys-tem would be a network of networks - adecentralised network of inter-operatingdecentralised-AI networks, where DAIA asan organisation mediates the interoper-

ation of the networks. To the extent thatsome of the individual AI agents in thesenetworks are also ‘internally’ networks -e.g. neural networks, or OpenCog cogni-tive hypergraphs - then we have a net-work of networks of networks. This is complicated but such complica-

tions are hardly unknown. The internet isby definition a network of networks - that'sthe ‘inter’ - and if one has local area net-works participating in the internet, onehas a network of networks of networks. The dcentralised AI economy funda-

mentally possesses more flexibility, adap-tiveness and intelligence than theold-school big-companies-plus-big-govern-ment approach. This is why it – ulti-mately - is likely to prevail.

Dr Ben Goertzel, co-founder and CEO ofblockchain-based AI marketplaceSingularityNET, in conversation with James Bowater

TokenMarket was started in 2016,driven by the belief that theprocess of financing the most

exciting, technology start-ups isinefficient, unnecessarilycomplicated and reserved for theselect few.By using best-in-class blockchain

technology we are making it possiblefor all classes of investor, to find,research and invest in tomorrow’snext tech unicorns. We are here toredefine the £77bn-a-year start-upand growth financing market.Today, TokenMarket is a leading

platform for raising growth capital,with more than £240m invested inmore than 30 carefully vettedblockchain projects via utility tokensales. Over this time we have securely

delivered tokens to more than250,000 individual wallets across 153countries, democratising thefundraising process. Something

simply not possible with traditionalinfrastructure.To achieve our highly selective

dealflow, TokenMarket’s team ofprofessionals review thousands ofcompanies each year, ensuring theymeet with our highly selectivemanagement criteria and duediligence process. By leveraging ourglobal network, we are able tosource what we believe to be themost interesting companies, giving

After being accepted into the FCASandbox Cohort 4, we will beproviding a platform for early-stagecompanies to raise capital via issuingdigital shares, represented as tokenson the Ethereum blockchain(tokenised equity).The intention is to use blockchain

technology to allow start-ups to issueand manage shares to a wider pool ofinvestors, at an earlier stage. Thinkcrowdfunding 2.0 or, as we like todescribe it, crowdfunding on steroids.This not only gives all investor

types the ability to invest alongsidelarger VCs and private-equity groups,but the potential to list publicallysooner. One of the major concernsfor investors and founders alike isthe typical time taken to realise areturn, which can be from five toeight years.With the emergence of several,

recently launched tokenised securityexchanges and soon, TokenMarket’sown non-custodial exchangeoffering, we hope to provide thesecompanies and investors with theoption of a quicker and lessexpensive option.TokenMarket will be launching this

platform by practising what wepreach and raising capital for ourown STO offering in March. Enablinginvestors for the first time toinvesting in TokenMarket shares.

28 TUESDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2019FEATURE CITYAM.COM 29TUESDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2019 FEATURECITYAM.COM

them into networks-of-networks. Each ofthese networks is based on secure mes-saging between distinct, distributed com-ponents, with systems for managingidentity of network nodes and decidingwhich proposed transactions are valid. Insuch a system, enabling direct interactionbetween two nodes living in different net-works generally requires modest addi-tional software effort. In early 2018, Toda.Network founder

Toufi Saliba, my SingularityNET co-founder Simone' Giacomelli and Ifounded an industry organisation calledthe DAIA, the Decentralized AI Alliance.The goal is to pull together the variousprojects building systems at the intersec-tion of AI and blockchain, so as to pursueshared goals in a collaborative way. DAIAnow has dozens of members, unified bythe alliance’s mission to articulate andmaintain standards for interaction be-

Just as the sun comes out and we all feela thawing of Crypto Winter tosomething more like like Crypto

Spring, a face-slap woke us up. A fairlymajor red-screen day took place onSunday, led by BTC reversing last week’sgains with a circa 11% drop.

Some observers blame the Six NationsRugby and last weekend’s equally major footballmatches. Highly doubtful unless they just switched of theiralgorithmic trading! Others feel that it’s more of a naturalpullback after the past - very bullish - two weeks. At the time ofwriting, BTC is trading at US$3,822.74; Ethereum (ETH) isholding steady at number two position at US$139.80, withthird placed Ripple (XRP) at US$0.3046 Overall market cap hasended up pretty much identical since last week’s Crypto AMatUS$129.29bn (data source: www.CryptoCompare.com).

Casting my eyes across the Pond, there has beenadvancement in the US state of Wyoming since previouslyreporting about their blockchain, crypto and digital assetslegislation. The state announced on 20 February that threebills had passed. This significantly paves the way for banks tobe able to legally be custodians of digital assets.

Sticking with Wyoming, which is where sleeping protocolgiant Cardano’s engineering company IOHK now is domiciled.Not only has IOHK now publicly announced its first majorsummit in Miami on the 18-19 April - where visitors areexpecting huge news. But also (and even more significantly) ithas also announced the transition from operating OuroborosCLASSIC to Ouroboros GENESIS. This means Cardano ismoving from a centralised to decentralised platform.

Tonight, I’m attending the launch, in Covent Garden, of ourfriends at Wirex who tomorrow release their major overallupgrade, ‘Wirex 3.0’. Speaking of Wirex, I noted that AdamAmos from Pigzbe - a piggy-wallet - just bought, using his Wirexcard, the first pizza in Wallo (WLO) the digital currency ofPigzbe. It’s a great achievement for this young company anddemonstrates how we can use blockchain technology in thereal world - something so many projects sadly lack.Crypto AMcontributor Nick Ayton, Founder & CEO of

Chainstarter Ventures, is helping host and sponsor the eighthRitossa Global Family Office Summit in Dubai on 2-4 March -the world’s largest gathering of private wealth. He is takingwith him UK-based SimplePay Ltd, who are delivering SmartCity solutions for unifying 50 payments types including crypto.“We are taking SimplePay to Dubai as part of their STO [stocktransfer order] process and we intend to build on the $5mraised so far, and expect to get a term sheet commitment foranother $15m during the closed private event,” explains Nick.

tween different decentralised AI net-works, and foster collaborative softwaredesign and development work on toolsthat are useful for multiple decentralisedAI projects. Among the directions underearly consideration as shared softwareprojects are formal logic-based systemsfor automatically checking the correct-ness of smart contracts, and machine-learning based cybersecurity tools, andan AI-based reputation and rating systemfor decentralised network participants.If DAIA succeeds in its mission, then

various decentralised AI networks will beable to operate, from the end-user pointof view, almost as if they were one net-work. An AI agent operating within Sin-gularityNET would be able to outsourcework to AI agents operating within anumber of other decentralised AI plat-forms, and a rating of the quality of anagent within one platform would propa-

Trust Artificial Intelligence (AI)will be the dominant force inthe global economy over thenext few decades - but who willcontrol the AI?

At present, the answer is: a handful ofmassive tech companies, operatingclosely in co-ordination with the US andChinese governments. But these are still early days, and it's far

from guaranteed that the current tech-biz overlords will succeed in ruling theemerging AI-powered global brain - anymore than Wang Computers, Honeywelland IBM were pre-destined to retain lead-ership in the PC and internet eras.Today's tech giants have built their AI

empires largely on the backs of Big Datasurreptitiously gathered from customersas narrow AI algorithms extract specificsorts of predictive value from this data.This continues to be a powerful method-ology for growth and profit, but may facemore obstacles going forward.Consumers and companies in other

markets are now aware of the value oftheir data and the power of AI to manip-ulate their decision-making, and areviewing Big Tech's business models andproducts with new scepticism.It is at least feasible that the global AI

market five-to-10 years hence will be dom-inated not by conventional software com-panies, but rather by novel modes oforganisation that integrate the capabilityof AI to transform traditional enterpriseswith the power of decentralised humanand computing networks. This may seemoutlandish, but consider the significantdifferences between the business modelsof Google, Facebook and Tencent versusthe business models of tech giants of the1970s and 1980s.

COMBINING AI AND BLOCKCHAINSince Ethereum made it feasible to rap-idly script new blockchain applications,dozens of new projects have emergedbringing AI and blockchain together,with a goal of creating AI networks wherethe ultimate control belongs to those pro-viding the data to feed the AI, or thoseproviding the AI algorithms or processingpower. DeepBrainChain has a frame-work wherein participants get tokens forusing their graphics processing units

(GPUs) to train deep neural nets. Shivom gives tools for secure uploading

of personal genomics data, and then al-lows individuals to obtain tokens for sup-plying their data to others for analysis,including AI-based analysis. Effect.ai is beginning with a platform

for decentralised human-based creationof training data for AIs, with a plan tomove on to an AI market place and a de-centralised back-end for popular deepneural net frameworks. DBrain providesa platform for decentralised human-based creation of training data, and a dis-tributed neural net platform for trainingneural net models based on this data. Last but I hope not least, the project I co-

founded in 2017, SingularityNET, has cre-ated a generic decentralised marketplacefor AIs, designed specifically to foster theemergence of beneficial general intelli-gence from the interaction among the

agents on the network. The beta versionof our platform is launching at the end ofFebruary, and like any early-stage plat-form company we have big plans to growthe communities of suppliers and usersfor the network.All these projects are very small and im-

mature compared to the tech giants dom-inating the commercial and consumer AIscene. But so was Google when I first vis-ited their California office way back in2000 - a time when very few suspectedthey would grow into a global AI giant pi-oneering self-driving cars and machinelearning-based healthcare and hostingthe research team solving computer Go.The upstart decentralised AI economy

has all kind of network effects on its side.The technical constructions and commu-nity dynamics associated withblockchain-based networks makes itstraightforward and appealing to connect

Designed by Phill Snelling,Bowater Media

In association with

CITY A.M.’SCRYPTO INSIDER

Crypto A.M. shines its Spotlighton TokenMarket

@CityAm_CryptoE:CryptoInsider@cityam.com

JAMES BOWATER

PARTNER CONTENT

Our series on AI, Blockchain, Cryptoassets and Tokenisation

Staying on top of the Fourth IndustrialRevolution is far from easy - and canbe overwhelming. While some re-

search still comes out of university andcorporate laboratories most now happensout in the wild - in start-ups and smallcompanies funded by the crowd, as wellas venture capital and, more recently, ini-tial coin offerings (ICOs).When once a trained staff, work-benches

and expensive equipment were all neededto even start work, in the digital age justan internet connection and somewhere toperch can be the starting point for not justa business but for the business of research.But this is why innovation, R&D, is no

longer a top-down institutionally drivenbusiness. Yes, there’s some of that too. Butthe Fourth Industrial Revolution is beingdriven principally by innovators and en-trepreneurs outside of those old institu-tional silos.If you’re looking for the foundations on

which to build the next great innovationyou will most likely look in vain in theuniversities of the world - which will catchup eventually no doubt. But they’re noteven in touch with, let alone the home of,most digital innovation. Whether it be infintech, blockchain or the Internet ofThings, to name but three, they are (byand large) bystanders. While out there, inthe wild, innovation roars away - includ-ing innovation in the way the innovationoccurs, and is funded. Crowdfunding is now an established

part of the innovation and business fund-ing scene, chugging away providing seedcapital for tens of thousands of ideas everymonth globally – yes, tens of thousands.Nor is this kind of innovation finished.Blockchain company SPRXS.io is innovat-ing still further, fractionalising the own-ership of new ventures right from the idea

stage.But how do you stay on top of all this if

universities are no longer the fount of allknowledge, as well as the fact that inno-vation and publishing has changed be-yond recognition? You need to becomenetworked on the web, for good or ill. Insome topic areas, including blockchain,most of the information out there is mereopinion, and/or of very low quality.Even if you’re looking purely within

your only ‘vertical’, whether it be financialtransactions, prop-tech, energy, crypto as-sets, stable coins - or the latest develop-ments in the regulation of these - wheredo you go, or how do you find the time,given the deluge of undigested informa-tion of often dubious provenance, to stayon top of the most important develop-ments in your field? Let alone those in ad-jacent fields, which may well impact yourown?Surveying members, the BBFTA con-

cludes that this is a crucial dilemma inwhat is already an increasingly decen-tralised world. So we have decided to dowhat we can in providing better and moretimely insights and valuable informationto both those working in the fields of fron-tier technologies, and those charged withmaking decisions in industries set to beimpacted by blockchain, distributedledger technology (DLT) and AI, etc.Which is why we've created a new serv-

ice, in collaboration with TeamBlockchain and my own team at Token In-telligence, to provide both daily bite-sizedinformation chunks on the latest develop-ments, plus weekly insights and updates.

Join us at bbfta.org and let us help ensureyou have the skills and insights needed toprosper in this new era, or hear more atICOrad.io

Dozens of projectshave emergedbringing AI andblockchaintogether

According to MarketsandMarkets,the global blockchain market isexpected to grow from $1.2bn in

2018 to $23.3bn by 2023. This is not byrunning initial coin offerings (ICO) orsecurity token offerings (STO). The realopportunities for blockchain businessesaddress issues such as identity,provenance, transparency and financialliquidity across markets as diverse asagri-tech, insure-tech, retail, pharmaand more.

Successful blockchain entrepreneursunderstand the principles of blockchaintechnology as well as its limitations.There are significant resources thatmust be deployed to collect the datawritten into the blockchain as well asdesigning processes to allow for datacollection at the optimal points

with minimal friction.Blockchain technology can allow for

distrusting partners to work together,removing intermediaries andmiddlemen. This requires a detailedunderstanding of those participating inthe blockchain. Each stakeholder willboth contribute and receive value, andthis flow of value is described astokenomics. Getting the tokenomicsright will ensure that the ecosystem isactive - and grows - by providing aconsistent flow of value between allstakeholders.

Another opportunity is in developingdecentralised applications or Dapps. Tomake a successful business based on aDapp, entrepreneurs must understandnot only the challenges of building agrowing engaged community but also

technical implementation aspects ofwriting smart contracts and storing dataon a particular blockchain.

The opportunity today is in usingblockchain technology to createincremental business value acrossindustries, ecosystems andcommunities.

While crypto speculators are HODL’ingas the markets fluctuate, the realopportunities are in building theplatforms and the applications fortomorrow’s blockchain businessmodels. Don’t just HODL, BUIDL.

Where will you start to make money inblockchain?

For more information visitwww.blockchainrookies.com and checkus out on Twitter @igetblockchain

Troy Norcross, Co-Founder at Blockchain RookiesHOW TO MAKE MONEY IN BLOCKCHAIN

It was smiles all round for investors, lastweek as most cryptocurrencies postedstrong gains. The total cryptocurrency

market cap increased from $120.5bn to$135bn and trading reached 33.85 billion -a 10-month high. Giddy highs were short-lived, however. The market shed $17bn ina matter of hours on Sunday, bringingcapitalisation below $130bn once again.

Prior to yesterday’s correction, manycoins had seen double-digit growth. EOSwas up 38.68%, Maker up 24.36% andBitcoin up 10.04% as of Sunday morning.Waves posted a modest gain of 3%, whileEthereum was up 20.84%. XRP shruggedoff the news about the JPM stablecoinpotentially eating into its territory to posta decent gain of 6.60%.

Fundamentals for cryptocurrenciesremained strong going into the weekend,with many countries exploring theadoption of this nascent asset class. In afirst for both countries, Argentina andParaguay concluded a small export dealin which payment was settled withBitcoin.

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB)announced its aim to create a regulatorysandbox that will allow crypto andblockchain companies to operate in theKingdom on a trial basis for nine months.It’s no secret that Bahrain seeks to

position itself as a global fintech playerand cryptocurrencies form part of thisendeavour.

Even Zuckerberg and Musk have addedtheir two cents on crypto and blockchainintegration. The Facebook CEOannounced plans to explore howblockchain could integrate with theplatform’s login and data-sharing systems,while Musk stated that Bitcoin is betterthan paper money.

FBI investigations into the infamousBitconnect scheme failed to impact thebulls prior to Sunday’s plunge. The now-defunct open-source, high-yieldcryptocurrency has been labelled a Ponzischeme, with customer losses estimatedat ‘more than $1bn’.

Despite these fundamental elementshelping to bolster the price of crypto lastweek, Bitcoin met resistance at $4,200 onSunday and plummeted to $3,840. Majorcryptocurrencies swiftly followed suit, withXRP and Stellar losing 10%, Ethereum andLitecoin 14% and EOS and Bitcoin Cashdumping more than 15% each.

The dramatic correction elicited littlesurprise from analysts, many of whompredicted a plunge. However, theprospect of a new low for the cryptomarkets in 2019 continues to causeunease among investors.

WIREX MARKET VIEW

Staying on top of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Crypto shows its true colours

investors the ability to participate inearlier rounds of financing.With the platform for secure,

compliant and scalable token

issuance built, we are turning ourattentions toward disrupting themore traditional fundraising marketvia Security Token Offerings (STOs).

Ransu Salovaara,CEO, TokenMarket We're redefining

the £77bn-a-yearstart-up and growthfinancing market

BREAKING THE TECHOLIGOPOLY WITHDECENTRALISED AI