Dispatch #155: The Best of Both Worlds

Sep 02, 2023โ€ข4 min read

In this patch of your weekly Dispatch:

  • Denial is denied โš–๏ธ
  • X has money in mind ๐Ÿ’ธ
  • ChatGPT to get โ€œsmashedโ€ ๐Ÿค–

The Big Idea

The Only Card Youโ€™ll Ever Need

It has been a founding principle for Nexo since 2018 โ€“ to assist cryptocurrency adoption by merging innovative digital asset management solutions within a user experience that defines financial services. Itโ€™s whatโ€™s helped us bring forward a world-first, the Nexo Card.

But thereโ€™s always a next step to take, an extra mile to go, another world-first to come.

The Dual Mode of the Nexo Card is here. Yes, tapping into cash from your digital assets without selling them is as easy as 1-2-3 with the Nexo Card, but Dual Mode adds a debit capability, all from a simple toggle within the Nexo app. Our Co-Founder and Managing Partner Antoni Trenchev says itโ€™s โ€œcustomer-centric innovation,โ€ and we think itโ€™s really cool. Hereโ€™s what it brings!

  • Itโ€™s for those who feel like buying that leather sofa with their crypto gains but also for those who need to keep it all in check, just the way it was back in university. Thatโ€™s what Dual Mode is for!
  • As citizens of the world, we need more than a single currency, so the Nexo Card Dual Mode allows payments in local currency (saving on FX fees) at 100+ million merchants globally.
  • The card uses the available EUR, USD and GBP stablecoin balance to guarantee seamless payments. Itโ€™s like a debit card, weโ€™re telling you.
  • Watch your balance grow with up to 9% interest annually, paid out daily with no spending necessary. We gotta stay true to our community.
  • Simply relax and transact when you need to, confident in the knowledge that Nexoโ€™s vigilant fraud detection and round-the-clock support safeguard your account like we always do.

To many more firsts!

The Latest Inโ€ฆ

Grayscale Sweetens the Market

Those of you keeping an eye on BTC charts (and their Nexo wallets) were pleasantly surprised by the 5% price boost earlier this week. Itโ€™s had to do with a pivotal development around Bitcoin โ€“ hereโ€™s the low-down.

  • A U.S. court has ruled against the SEC's rejection of Grayscale's Bitcoin ETF application, meaning that the regulator will have to further review the companyโ€™s filing.
  • The judge deemed the denial inconsistent and unlawful, after a decade of rejection of such applications by the SEC.
  • Viewed as a stride toward mainstream adoption, a spot Bitcoin ETF could enable exchange-based exposure to the asset. This ruling could also open doors for other ETF applications.

As Antoni told TechCrunch, the ruling is โ€œundoubtedly bullishโ€ for the possibility of a Bitcoin spot ETF and it has expedited the potential for approval.

The Latest Inโ€ฆ

Elon Sets up Shop

Say what you will about Elon Musk, but the man knows how to start a debate and fuel it further. Weโ€™re not talking about flying cars or life on Mars (yet?), but itโ€™s interesting for the future of (the) space. Rhode Island regulators have granted a currency transmitter license to X, formerly Twitter, marking a significant step in the companyโ€™s ambitions of becoming a major player in financial services, with a focus on cryptocurrencies. It may all sound a little tedious, but that potentially layers the ground for further cryptocurrency adoption.

The Latest Inโ€ฆ

Smashed with Precision

It was always going to get this way, wasnโ€™t it? ChatGPT has been getting all the glory, so itโ€™s only right that a contender emerges. With a threat, nonetheless, to smash ChatGPT โ€œ5xโ€, a claim that gains infinitely more weight coming from tech giant Google. Itโ€™s called Gemini.

  • Google is intensifying its AI pursuits with the development of its Gemini AI model, poised to outperform OpenAI's GPT-4 with enhanced computing power.
  • The claim centers on Google's access to superior processors and computing capabilities.
  • Gemini, a multi-modal AI model from Google's AI division DeepMind, can handle diverse inputs and generate both text and images.

OpenAI founder Sam Altman suggested that the claims emerged from Google's internal marketing materials, but weโ€™ve hardly seen the best of it.

The Weekโ€™s Most Interesting Data Story

Read the News, People

Bitcoinโ€™s price rise this week is glaringly obvious from the increase in the open interest on exchanges i.e. the total amount of capital in (US dollars) allocated in open futures contracts. It signals interest in the asset, which was reignited by the courtโ€™s ruling in the SEC vs. Grayscale lawsuit.

Hot Topics

What the Community Is Discussing

En route to become โ€œthe everything app.โ€

Numbers looking good?

Thereโ€™s one way to go about it all.

What to Watch for Next Week:

  • Is BTC trading back?
  • Whatโ€™s getting tokenized next?
  • Can AI do crypto trading?