Why Bitcoin is the Currency for AI

Since inception, ARK has researched and published thoughts on the cryptocurrency ecosystem within Big Ideas and through articles, whitepapers, monthly Bitcoin reports and podcasts. Now, in coordination with Bitcoin Park, ARK is pleased to introduce a monthly conversation with leaders in the Bitcoin space, to discuss everything happening in the rapidly-changing and still nascent Bitcoin ecosystem. Published through the For Your innovation podcast channels, this monthly series aims to be informative and enlightening, including experts with diverse viewpoints.
Guests on this month’s Bitcoin Brainstorm include:
Rod Roudi - Co-Founder, Bitcoin Park
Paul Itoi - CEO, Stakwork
Laolu (Roasbeef) Osuntokun - CTO and Co-founder, Lightning Labs
Kody Low - Head of Developer and Product Support, Fedi
Cathie Wood - CEO, CIO and Founder, ARK Invest
Yassine Elmandjra - Crypto Lead, ARK Invest
Frank Downing - Next Generation Internet Director of Research, ARK Invest
Key Points From This Episode:
00:00:00 Intro to the Bitcoin Brainstorm with Yassine and Rod
00:02:39 Introduction to this month’s guests
00:04:10 Cathie Wood explains the impact and importance of the convergence between and among technologies
00:12:32 Paul discusses how AI has revolutionized coding and computer engineering
00:19:40 Kody applies the coding revolution to Bitcoin and explores how Bitcoin and AI are converging
00:26:42 Cathie and Laolu discuss Lightning HTTP 402 Protocol (L402) and internet payment flow generally
00:30:24 Frank and Paul explain that Bitcoin could be useful as money because it cuts out traditional intermediaries in payment processing and could decrease counter-party risk
00:39:00 What are some of the use cases of micro-payments and how do they compare to larger payments like monthly subscriptions
00:51:27 Kody explains why the first rendition of L402 used special cookies know as macarons
00:53:16 Frank and Laolu discuss the constraints of ChatGPT and what the potential of AI agents can be outside the walls of a chat window, if given a budget and proper integration points
01:01:30 Through the example of a web development project, Paul describes how Bitcoin and generative artificial intelligence are converging today
01:06:55 What does the next generation of knowledge workers look like with micro-payments allowing for more efficient payment allocation?
01:14:48 Closing thoughts and remarks on Bitcoin’s unique impact on artificial intelligence today
Important Links Mentioned in This Episode:
- AI4ALL Hackathon website: bolt.fun/tournaments/ai4all/o...
- AI for All: Powering APIs and Large Language Models with Lightning: lightning.engineering/posts/2...
- How (Actually) Open AI Wins: hivemind.vc/ai/
- AI & Bitcoin: ten31.vc/content/ai
- Nostr: nostr.com
- LangChain: www.langchain.com/
- AI4ALL Hackathon website: bolt.fun/tournaments/ai4all/o...
- AI for All: Powering APIs and Large Language Models with Lightning: lightning.engineering/posts/2...
- How (Actually) Open AI Wins: hivemind.vc/ai/
- AI & Bitcoin: ten31.vc/content/ai
- L402: docs.lightning.engineering/th...
- Lightning Network: lightning.network/
- Stakwork: www.stakwork.com/
- Replit: replit.com/
- Fedi: www.fedi.xyz
- Bitcoin Park: bitcoinpark.com
- ARK Bitcoin Brainstorms: ark-invest.com/podcasts/?foll...
More FYI Podcasts: ark-invest.com/podcasts/
To learn more about ARK: arkinv.st/ARKInvest
For more updates, follow us on:
Twitter: arkinv.st/3corDiY
LinkedIn: arkinv.st/1f7AiVX
Facebook: arkinv.st/3r4EDOU
Instagram: arkinv.st/39td8bO
Disclosure: arkinv.st/39rzF94

[@alexandrelamarre7586]

Anyone else watched at half speed when Roasbeef was talking? lol.

[@dutch7182]

Great content. Btw ppl play back at 0.75 speed when Olaoluwa speaks unless you have squirrel ears👌🏼. Thank you!

[@chriskii12344]

Hahhaa too true…

[@levaughnhardie7727]

He is a robot!!😂😂😂

[@guykot5586]

Wow he is like on 1000x

[@yogamac]

I had to speed it up. 🐿️

[@nicolas395]

Roasbeef speaks so fast I had to rewind and listen again. I don't even understand how someone can think / speak at such speeds.

[@regimesoftruth]

some nerves i think

[@DamiDigs]

This was an absolutely insane conversation deep diving into the convergence of AI and BITCOIN enlightening us on deployed solutions and what's to come.👏🏿

[@DEO777]

Mr. Saxophone, You need to use less filler words (ie "you know", "like", "right") and slow down.

[@ZZ-ev2ed]

Hahah was looking for this comment. I thought I had turned up the speed!

[@ericmorrison8772]

or maybe you could stop taking life too seriously.... just a thought an observation

[@middan86]

Checked my playback speed each time the lightning labs guy was speaking... Great talk!

[@TravisBall1]

Any way to see this panel hit this topic (and related) regularly? Maybe once a month? Things are moving so quickly on these fronts, I'd love to hear this panel regularly to discus different aspects of these topics. Great job all!

[@CobyBabani]

GREAT IDEA !!!

[@walterblake1]

Amazing conversation! it really painted a picture of what is to come

[@newnormal_earth]

Replit is awesome, thanks Cathie!!

[@web2yt488]

Roast beef is one of the only dudes on the internet that I can't watch at 2x

[@ranli9607]

Amazing seminar, thanks everyone!

[@mikearia718]

Loved this video! Looking forward to more videos of this manner 👍

[@nnn-pr3vr]

Thought the guy at 23:00 was speaking fast ▶and then the guy at 24:00 came along ⏩

[@aomgq8346]

right？

[@backseatstudios6903]

The most important podcast I've heard this year 👍

[@Cough0x]

love your analysis Cathie! bitcoin will dominate the future

[@patricethomas7703]

Laolu is so excited about this... you can tell. Good stuff!!

[@Venom-rc9fk]

Great interview! Thank you, team.

[@firsttenor76]

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

[@thePlum]

The futurism is Bright

[@pat_attack]

Don’t you want a money that gets stronger over time instead of debasing away like the dollar? Learn about bitcoin.

[@matviko]

What a great comment!

[@thedevdidit]

Best time to buy

[@kongakau5058]

​@@pat_attack111211112112122212212

[@Jules-me8ws]

love love love this session, very insightful..

[@johnmerlino7011]

Such smart people, unbound in their thinking, makes me think differently but realize that the path from lab (POC AI systems) to commercialization and monetization of AI use case-based offerings will be a long one. What will seem to make sense with scale will not in the lab and the lab costs will be very high for startups since $1 of every $6 spent on AI will be infrastructure. $5 will be spent on design, setup, model, data of POC per use case. Infrastructure will include facilities (space/power/cooling/circuits for connectivity and switching), AI software licensing servers/storage (Tier 0 and 3), POC workstations with GPU systems, etc. all using a very huge electric resource of ~40kw per Rack 24x7x365, and people skilled in mgt, design, software development, testing, data, etc. These are huge projects and costs. The time and cost of 'getting in then out of the lab' should not be underestimated prior to accessing a scaled AI service for delivery.

[@levaughnhardie7727]

Roas Beef is a robot!! He needs to slow down so I can catch his drift!!😂😂😂

[@franklumpuy7477]

Great education. Please keep on doing it.

[@CobyBabani]

One of the most interesting conversations I've listened to this year, thank you for compiling these guests together, KUDOS !

[@johnmerlino7011]

FYI - Nvidia AI GPUs are not the same as crypto GPU models. While GPUs used for crypto mining can work in AI farms with either custom models or slightly adjusted models, they have different specifications compared to GPUs used for AI training. Crypto mining GPUs have tons of hash power but less vRAM, while AI GPUs have abundant vRAM and less hash power. Nvidia is a major player in both AI and gaming, offering higher performance and resolutions for gaming and providing powerful hardware for AI. Nvidia's GPUs are used for deep learning and AI tasks, and they have superior drivers with frequent updates, CUDA, and cuDNN to accelerate computation. Nvidia also announced a new chip designed to run artificial intelligence models, the GH200, which has the same GPU as the H100.

[@ianbaxter6278]

Excellent conversation - thanks!

[@diesel2526]

ARK needs to research Bittensor/TAO. Bitcoin's monetary policy can be applied as an incentive for competitive LLMs, rather than using GPUs to just solve cryptographic puzzles. Within such a network, AI/intelligence becomes the commodity. The token being a symbol of that resource. I don't see why these two functions need to be separated, except to justify Bitcoin's ongoing existence and to create two separate energy bills.

[@VeganTrove]

Thanks Ark

[@michaelholmes8848]

Slow down mate. Right.

[@lateonbrakes]

😂 I thought my playback speed was at 1.25x for a moment

[@ZZ-ev2ed]

For real hahahah

[@tudorbucharest]

😂 I need what he takes. Watch this movie Limitless (2011). They have overclocked the brain 🧠 I respect he is smart don’t get me wrong. Greetings from Romania 🇷🇴 we can follow him we are smart here in Eastern Europe 😅

[@TheStylogicalMap]

This is incredible info. Thank you for holding space to showcase guidance on these incredible innovations 🎉

[@Standskeleton]

Just great

[@John-wf5if]

This was a fantastic chat.

[@PhilKingstonByron]

With FASB Fair Value Accounting rules, Operating Companies will now be able to keep Bitcoin on the Balance Sheet, and allocate into operations for AI pay-to-use costs, without the clip of exchange into USD and credit card limits. And with a Spot Bitcoin ETF, companies will easily be able to pull Bitcoin directly into their Treasuries. Which incidentally, is why Bitcoin derivatives (Futures) wont be able to control or suppress the Bitcoin price (as done with gold), because the pay as you use model will require "real" Bitcoin and not derivatives.

[@anotherone9880]

Roasbeef with 0,75x speed

[@StevenSpragueSKS]

Metering, microtransactions, store of value with sync of encrypted txn logs was pioneered and deployed in early 90's. This became the foundation for trusted computing the hardware key protection for micro payments. Understand trusted computing, wave system Corp. And Rivetz. Putting the tool in place to enable machine money with policy. ...... lightning is awesome but still need to give machines security. It is already built into 2 to 3 billion devices.

[@brayo2]

Amazing!!!

[@Pikminiman]

My notes for future reference: Services allow AI APIs to be placed behind micropayment gates, paying incrementally per API call or compute task. AI agents can hold Bitcoin wallets and keys, enabling them to autonomously pay for resources and services needed to complete tasks. Bitcoin payments remove friction for distributing and monetizing AI services globally. Don't need credit cards or complex signup flows. Open-source AI models combined with micropayments may enable a more decentralized AI compute market, with individuals reselling access to their own fine-tuned models.

[@therealestmc85]

This is already on the way on the internet computer using Elna and Bitcoin.

[@cindyvicentino]

thanks 🔥

[@Jimi_seun]

Doesn’t ethereum basically do the same thing or other cryptos for that matter? Doesn’t have to be specifically bitcoin right

[@beanieny]

Loved it. Can Rousbeef slow down his speaking though? I want to hear every word, but my brain can't keep up with his.

[@4LoveOfOllie]

Why is Laolu on 1.5X speed?

[@RichardBoase]

@ARKInvest2015 BTC isn’t Bitcoin. It’s an orthogonal side-chain with a GIANT security hole (SegWit). So BTC isn’t the currency for AI, because hashes on BTC are far too expensive.

[@Ayeshahasancookingvlog]

Very nice ❤

[@redriverpost]

We live in a trust-less world. That’s why this is necessary

[@ajh18042]

A very important conversation was had here, but with the totally wrong technology. Ethereum is the correct technology for all these use cases.

[@FactsYall]

I think they mean blockchain writ large when they throw the B word around

[@nothumanwebsites]

Kathy is bitcoiner to the bone of course they will promote it, but yep ETH and SOL (visa payments) are most focused to payments and they faster

[@whatsgood22022]

False. They mean Bitcoin. Ethereum is proof of stake and that makes it prone to censorship and manipulation.

[@ericmorrison8772]

wrong, wrong , wrong.... yoi guys need to put in another 1000 hrs of research

[@Pokhara_Lakeside]

Maybe i like have 4 companies involved in the transaction? It gives me security if something goes wrong. If you pay with bitcoin you can never get it back.

[@rustyknowles11]

Holy frickin cow!!!

[@JamesNeilMeece]

How does Fed Wire change things?

[@CampTeslaFun]

This was SO good. Thank you.

[@OnionKnight541]

great talk. but people said, "right?" 10,389 times.

[@ReflectionOcean]

The convergence of Bitcoin and AI is creating a new era of productivity and specialization. Agents can now use Bitcoin as a form of payment within AI systems, allowing them to become more autonomous and interact with real-world services. This empowers individuals to become their own startups and offer their specialized skills to a global audience. The barriers to entry have collapsed, and anyone can participate and contribute to the Bitcoin and AI ecosystem. The future of work will involve managing programming agents, leveraging open-source tools, and creating a network of specialized models that can be accessed and paid for using Bitcoin. This convergence will bring increased productivity, a reimagining of traditional work structures, and a more efficient allocation of resources. Developers are encouraged to explore and innovate in this space.

[@andi91324]

I was always asking myself why the IETF had no plans to implement a distributed ledger technology as native to the internet and part of their protocol families, any idea why?

[@corynardis3005]

such a tool didn't exist until Bitcoin.

[@ericmorrison8772]

xrp will be the dlt

[@kevinosterling]

SPOILER: ¿How will your Lightning Network node pay to a Smart Contract ? ... yep

[@seawolf3565]

Chargebacks as a bug not a feature of the current financial system 🤔

[@Mr_Hundredaire]

R-Beef speaks in 2x

[@Jesse-ly8nl]

Use case is WAY too niche - these are edge use cases and is not a strong value proposition.

[@collinsum7350]

Superb talks!

[@jenniferburns1061]

Omg he talks so fast!!!! 😂

[@Shizzymynizzy]

👍

[@charleshamel2797]

As a buyer, my credit card number circulating is a risk of fraudulent, unauthorized transactions. A lightning wallet does not have that risk.

[@GaryBernstein]

Why not ETH? It’s more programmable

[@emanuelnunes2325]

Great talk, I loved it! the future is bright :) One suggestion: not all the assistance is native English-speaking, Lalu (I think that's how it's spelt) speaks so fast that it's hard to keep up, if you can speak more slowly I think the rest of the world will thank you ;)

[@sergio16bcn]

Emanuel, remember you can alter the playing speed and you can also ressort to subtitles. Saludos!

[@user-yh8wp2ic6o]

Don't think central banks would ever allow bitcoin or any digital currency outside of their control to gain considerable market size

[@charleshamel2797]

BTC is currently 23rd by market cap when compared to fiat currencies; above Israel and Sweden currencies, for example.

[@Bphoenix8]

Such is the beauty of Bitcoin. It never asked to exist. It just exists. Nobody "allowed" it to exist, and nobody can just put the genie back in the bottle regardless of fiat-based resources or geopolitical power to attempt such a feat.

[@whatsgood22022]

It’s already too big for them to stop. If they were gonna stop it, they should have done it in way earlier.

[@ericmorrison8772]

allow??? central banks will bend the knee just like everyone else...

[@guykot5586]

Ok. Can someone explain me what is the diff of paying with crypto to credit card? Why is crypto more safe ?

[@financeoholic]

That dude was talking at like 100mph....

[@Hypotemused]

stable excel?

[@ranjisam430]

who ends up paying the taxes on the accrued BTC.

I just put saxophone guy on 0.75x speed and he sounds great!

[@daviswiggins3909]

Tasha is a great narrator. Very calm and easy to listen to voice.

[@corynardis3005]

BTC world reserve currency in 2030

[@majestinostario1341]

I guess the gentleman that said AI will create more jobs than the printing press, internet etc must be kidding!

[@majestinostario1341]

He fails to understand AI exponential growth potential!

[@Emrico35]

can somebody make TLDW please? a summary would be great

[@topmaxdata]

Receive payments using Bitcoin? Really? With such high transactional fee? Why not Solana like tokens?

[@dalesnider8040]

Magnets, valence electron placements/orbits, quantum variability, entanglement, locking. Meh.

[@abcdef-un5by]

no counterparty risk....but the value may depreciate 30% by next day 🤣

[@fortunewinter]

Great research and podcast~

[@StevenSpragueSKS]

Kathy states risk but also consumer protection and decentralized compliance. That is the role of trusted computing .... consumer protection to reduce risk.

[@hongkitchong71]

doubled checked and I'm not on 1.5x

[@Jeferson_salvino]

#voltarebecapoll

[@creative8569]

Keep fighting the good fight Kathy BTC & ETH are the future!!!!

[@mfer134]

That dude talks fast

[@taccntb4345]

I'm other words... why did btc lose to Ethereum.

[@ericmorrison8772]

some questions dont deserve an answer

[@TheXotcooler]

The black guy with glasses speaks on x2

[@davidkilpatrick5170]

Great minds

[@ohhwesley9886]

hard to follow

[@alexandrelamarre7586]

So bullish on BTC. It's insane.

[@beaverdude]

AI will break the block Chain

[@R.E.A.L.I.T.Y]

The rot at the root of BTC is private hoarding. Its not a freely floating currency of exchange. If the “currency” of AI it is an essential resource inflated by artificial scarcity. Just like land.

[@MostAlpha]

AI will create its own currency, which will be more robust than any crypto humans can think off.

[@pat_attack]

You think AIs will trust each other enough to agree on a money?

[@MostAlpha]

@@pat_attack there will only be a single emergent AI.

[@pat_attack]

@@MostAlpha interesting- I haven’t done enough research on AI to discuss this with you.

[@charliecharliecharliecharl3784]

when we buy something with crypto there is no buyer protection , with credit cards and Paypal you can get refunded

[@robertoalberio622]

African guy speaks with 2.5X speed

[@ifh4030]

All this applies 10x to BSV and AI.

[@prancer1803]

BSV has been delisted and was created by a scammer

[@richardhollowayjr]

Would be better if it was actually about the whole industry not just a false advertisement for bitcoin. Its like saying all hamburger should be called McDonald's. Dumb approach.

[@erlendtre4437]

Bitcoin ≠ crypto.

[@MennoDeGruijter]

Realy don’t understand why Ark seems to be focusing only on Bitcoin. AI developments on other Blockchain ecosystems are so much further already because of them being easier to develop on top of.

[@nothingisgiven8364]

Algorand is the only quantum secure crypto

[@pat_attack]

Algo is a shitcoin and an unregistered security. Buyer beware.

[@brightideas5782]

I’ve been buying bitcoin when it was.30 cents I now have 89,000 Bitcoin and never sold , just think when it hits $1,000,000 a coin

[@The_Uncertainity_Principal]

U have 5 billion of bitcoin? Lmao

[@kentvivo4854]

wkkw it wont

[@PerisMartin]

Such an en-lightning conversation. See what I did there? :P

[@oooChickenatorXooo]

1:11:14 "convicted" That's not how that word works. Please speak English.

[@MrEvertonian20]

Hedera.

[@rajaradhakrisnan4015]

Brown guy talking too fast