This week in the tech and crypto world has been defined by a flurry of high-profile investments and strategic partnerships, showcasing the industry’s continued growth and evolution. These developments highlight the increasing convergence of traditional tech, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technologies as industry leaders seek to innovate through cooperation and substantial financial commitments.
Decentralized Recovery Alliance Welcomes New Founding Members
The Decentralized Recovery (DeRec) Alliance is happy to announce the addition of Hedera and Input | Output (IOHK), the engineering firm that created Cardano, to its list of founding members.
Together with current members Ripple, Algorand, Hashgraph, and XRPL, these blockchain companies want to streamline the adoption and recovery of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. The alliance was established in January 2024 with the goal of creating an open-source, standardized protocol for digital asset recovery in order to tackle one of the most important problems facing Web 3.
The DeRec Alliance is working to reduce the amount of work that Web3 users now have to do in order to secure their digital assets, accounts, keys, and passwords. The partnership aims to relieve users of the concerns related to self-sovereignty in the cryptocurrency realm by implementing a straightforward and safe recovery method.
Sutskever’s Safe Superintelligence Secures $1 Billion in Funding
Ilya Sutskever, the former head scientist of OpenAI, launched Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), an artificial intelligence business that has raised $1 billion from investors including NFDG, a16z, Sequoia, DST Global, and SV Angel. Despite having just ten workers, the firm is valued at $5 billion, according to the investment round.
The only product that SSI seeks to provide is a safe AI model with superintelligent capabilities. With its narrower emphasis, SSI sets itself apart from rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic, whose objectives for AI development are more general. The funds that this tiny team managed to get are evidence of the strong interest that investors have in AI safety research.
Less than a year after founding the company’s “Superalignment” AI safety effort, Sutskever left OpenAI in June 2024. His departure raised questions about internal conflicts at OpenAI over CEO Sam Altman’s direction and leadership, as did the departure of engineer Dan Levy.
Sakana AI Partners with Nvidia, Raises $100 Million
To improve Japan’s AI capabilities, chipmaker Nvidia and Tokyo-based artificial intelligence company Sakana AI have partnered. At the same time, Sakana AI concluded a $100 million Series A fundraising round headed by Nvidia, which included participation from New Enterprise Associates, Khosla Ventures, and Lux Capital.
Announcing Our Series Ahttps://t.co/0fdYxVBj8I pic.twitter.com/OgMRQP4U4W
— Sakana AI (@SakanaAILabs) September 4, 2024
Research initiatives, data center resources, and the development of efficient foundation model training techniques are all part of the collaboration with Nvidia. With the funds, Sakana AI plans to build buildings, recruit professionals, and create AI technologies that are environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and influenced by nature.
The goal of this collaboration is to overcome Japan’s present gaps in AI knowledge when compared to the top IT centers in China and the US. Through increasing research activities, events, and university outreach initiatives, Sakana AI wants to improve Japan’s place in the global AI environment by utilizing Nvidia’s technology and resources.
Aave and Sky Investigate a DeFi-TradFi Bridge Collaboration
Decentralized financial systems Aave and Sky (formerly Maker) are contemplating a joint venture named Sky Aave Force with the aim of bridging the divide between traditional and decentralized finance. The planned collaboration is the result of a governance proposal from Phoenix Labs that calls for the creation of SPK tokens in order to create an Aave platform market for Sky’s USDS stablecoin.
Turbocharging DeFi: Introducing Sky Aave Force pic.twitter.com/foY4LqQj6j
— Aave Labs (@aave) September 3, 2024
The strategy describes how a monthly distribution of up to 3.33 million SPK tokens would be used to encourage the development of an Aave v3 market for sUSDS, a yield-bearing token associated with Sky’s Savings Rate initiative. It also suggests adding a USDS Direct Deposit Module to Aave’s Lido Market, with a $100 million debt cap initially.
Through this partnership, Sky may be able to mint USDS right into Aave’s market without needing to meet the usual collateral criteria. With the aim of encouraging the uptake of Sky’s decentralized stablecoin ecosystem, both parties see this as a possible initial step toward further integration and making use of Aave’s standing as a top DeFi lending protocol.
Skyscanner and Travala Integrate to Provide More Travel Options
By connecting with the international travel marketplace Skyscanner, the cryptocurrency-focused travel platform Travala, has reached a noteworthy milestone in the use of cryptocurrencies. This represents the first time that Skyscanner has used a crypto-native application, which might expose Travala to the more than 110 million monthly users of Skyscanner.
Through this integration, Travala will have access to Skyscanner’s huge hotel database, which now numbers 2.2 million, greatly increasing the platform’s options. In order to satisfy changing traveler expectations, Sanja Vukik, head of hotels at Skyscanner, emphasized the value of providing a variety of payment options.
This collaboration is an important move toward bringing cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based travel apps to a wider audience. It fits with the expanding trend of creating cryptocurrency apps with real-world applications to encourage widespread adoption.
Mastercard and Mercuryo Collaborate to Enable Non-Custodial Crypto Spending
The multinational payment giant Mastercard has partnered with European cryptocurrency payments infrastructure operator Mercuryo to extend its support for non-custodial wallets. Thanks to this partnership, customers may spend cryptocurrency held in self-custodial wallets at more than 100 million Mastercard-affiliated retailers.
Through the collaboration, a debit card with euro values is made available that enables direct spending of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin from self-custodial wallets. This action expands on Mastercard’s August experiment with a cryptocurrency debit card that worked with the MetaMask wallet.
According to Christian Rau, the company’s commitment to enabling self-custodial wallets is furthered by this partnership. By encouraging a broader usage of self-custody solutions in the cryptocurrency field, the effort seeks to close the gap between traditional finance and cryptocurrencies.
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