The combination of crypto and AI has Been getting a lot of Buzz recently According to vanc crypto AI revenues are Projected to reach $10.2 billion doll by 2030 do you agree with that Projection uh such a great question kick It off I I think and I was talking to The team at vanck about this I think That's on the low end of where we might End up if uh if I remember correctly From that report they were projecting Something like 6 trillion in in AI Driven productivity uh over by by 2030 And if decentralized AI serves as the Backbone for everything that needs to Get built on top with AI I believe those Numbers are the very low end of the Spectrum in terms of what we might Expect but we're starting to see some Really cool Tech and infrastructure Getting built so we're expected to see That uh you know we'll expect to see That play out really Well interesting so last month okx Ventures released a report about the Potential of crypto and Ai and the Report says the merging of the two Technologies is giving rise to new Applications and Innovations Encompassing areas like model training AI agents metaverse gaming and robots as A service in a nutshell what is your Outlook for crypto and Ai and do you see A lot of potential tied to the merging
Of the Technologies absolutely uh if you look At the progression of AI to date uh it's Been largely driven by centralized Entities right so the amount of Innovation and horsepower whether it's Access to data access to Talent OR Access to resources has been largely Controlled by a select few uh on the Other hand when we look at decentralized Blockchain-based networks we really Thrive on certain ethos and principles Like Decentralization um uh transparency Auditability Etc so as we look forward While we're starting to build out the Infrastructure in a very collaborative Manner today there's just so much that Needs to get built if you look at some Just like pointed use cases today right Data Provence Talia you and I are having This conversation at some point this Data might get used to train a model how Does CNB how do we get credit for Something like that or we look at Training of models for medical purposes For legal purposes or for finance those Can't be trained on public data they Need to be trained on private they need To be trained on private data and we Have is for things like this in the World of blockchain like fully Homomorphic encryption we have zero Knowledge for attestation of proofs Etc
So uh I'll pause there but I'm really Bullish on where we can take all the Work that's been done in the world of Blockchain Primitives and really putting That to work when it comes to AI so I recently interviewed the chief Scientist at chain link Labs who argued That the often touted uses for bringing Ai and blockchain together aren't Actually all that useful some of what he Calls misleading narratives include that Blockchain can combat misinformation Caused by generative Ai and that Blockchain can bring privacy to AI do You think these narratives can be Considered misleading are there any Concerns you have tied to the Convergence of AI and Crypto yeah I I look at it as a a glass Half full opportunity right I think with The sort of the blast radius of what We're encountering today uh it doesn't Feel particularly good whereas the kind Of Primitives we have in the world of Blockchain actually can serve legitimate Use cases right we have seen uh Situations where there have been Elections held in various countries and We have been able to use certain Primitives like zero knowledge to be Able to test to the source of certain Media types and ensuring that those Actually came from the sources that they Were that they truly actually came from
How do we put these to work at scale Right so I would say the technology is There and it is really up to us to put These to work now and bring them to the Masses so while it's completely fair to Be questioning these principles uh I Think what is incumbent upon us now is To build out these products and put them To work because you know we've been Building them out for quite some time Now so I I definitely appreciate the Skepticism but I'm confident that the Technolog is going to play out as we Hope it Will and realistically speaking how long Do you think that could potentially take Uh you know we're seeing we're star to See shoots of this emerge today uh it it Is you know one of those adoption curves That were're sort of in this in the in The thick of right now you know if you Look at sort of like how Venture Capital Evolves sometimes right we tend to place Bets on where we think that the puck is Going where technology will be in a few Years and that is you know we're in sort Of like that infrastructure layer of of Making sure that there's some Primitives We need to put them to work for AI and Then we start to see the usage start to Show up here when certain use cases come Up I'll talk about a very specific examp Example we've had this concept of Decentralized compute networks for for
Several years now aash network is one of These examples but uh if you look at Where the pressing need sort of came up With akos today it was with training of These models right we trading models is A very expensive compute intensive task Whereas we have decentralized Blockchainbased networks that I actually Deliver the same level of efficacy at You know anywhere from a fourth uh to You know four to a sixth of the cost That would be for centralized server so Maybe a more succinct and to Simply put This I would say the technolog has been There what's starting to show now is Like the the the painkiller use case and How these start to come together so we Starting to see those come together Today and as more of these start to come Up we'll start to see the technology Adoption start to pick up but as as as a Venture capitalist we're placing those Bets on where the technology we think is Going to go in the next few years but Also really partnering with people who Are truly living and embodying that Future Today now you are a light speeed Venture Partner and of course the founder of Canonical crypto and early stage fund Investing in crypto and web3 Infrastructure so I'm curious to get Your take on what crypto VC Trends have Been gaining traction and how much of
The VC interest is focused on the Convergence of AI and blockchain Technology yeah uh I have been Exclusively focused on this intersection Because I feel this technology is AI is Is one of those technologies that you Know we're not going to be we're going To be T you and I in two years for Having this conversation we're still Going to be talking about this and I I I Think it is it's far too promising and Important for for there not to be Focused on it so that's been my area of Focus but there's just so much so much More that needs to get built you know Obviously with the kind of Tailwinds That have happening with ETFs with with Solana hitting certain high high Thresholds lately with various upgrades Happening in the world of ethereum There's a lot of infrastructure that's Getting built in and around this but We're also starting to see certain Consumer Trends pick up farcaster for Example which is a web3 native social Networking platform is having a moment They're having record usage on their Platform uh proud to have been an Investor from the earliest days there um But we starting to see shoots like this Emerge whether it's social whether it's Gaming or true manifestations of Finance Coming to life um you know we're Starting to see some companies you know
Not that scale avability we feel like We' hit that point where we can reliably Use blockchain networks for payments We're starting to see trfi and and Blockchainbased finance come together so These are some interesting areas with Sty developments and Investments going Into infrastructure middleware developer Tooling and at the very top of the stock Finance gaming social we're starting to See Investments full there as well so in A nutshell what's your investment Outlook for crypto what are some of the Hottest sectors you touched on some but What else are you paying attention To uh you know for me it's still it's Still about the basics and I grew up Building and evangelizing developer Infrastructure and to me a signal uh That is very promising for any Technologies when developers flock to it That's when you know that you're Starting to build something that needs To get that that starts to compound in Terms of what it can offer to the world Right so we saw this initially with Cloud-based platforms like AWS and azure You start to see another wave happen With mobile became another platform and I think with AI now this is truly Another platform blockchain again two Very loaded heavyweight platforms that Are coming together so to me you know to Peel another layer of this or to to you
Know descend uh this plan a little bit More I'd say you know I would love to See more focus on you know privacy Preserving machine learning Concepts Using blockchain Primitives I think data Provenance is a huge issue it continues To be a problem today we solve for that How do we fight things like Disinformation misinformation or deep Fakes that are emanating um but in a Nutshell I would say we have such Beautiful technology that that needs to Be put to work for some of the things We're seeing out there today and I'm Really excited about that and really Starting to put our our rails to work in Incredible Way so are you noticing there's more Interest in crypto now that Bitcoin hit A new all-time high above $73,000 in Recent weeks and it's spot Bitcoin ETFs Started trading here in the US have you Seen a shift in sentiment from Investors that that is definitely a Provider for awesome Tailwinds for Activity from an investment perspective Coming back in which is also closely Tied to developer activity Founders Getting back into The Fray and wanting To build here as well so absolutely That's that's been uh you know that's Been a huge uh proponent for us um on The flip side I I was reflecting on this Uh you know I uh in my career you know
Usually we tried to make bets that are Several years out and the the pros and Cons of operating crypto are that Sometimes we anchor a lot on price and You know when this tends to happen you Know there's like in you es and flows That happen with price and that's Related to our investment Trends as well But over a long enough time Horizon Right again we're having this Conversation five 10 years out these Small episodic moments will will feel Like such small blips relative to how Much the price will have appreciated and How grateful I think we'll all be that Uh we were able to do some incredible Things on these you know what feel like Nent platforms today so it is uh while a Lot of it is predicated on price today Over a long enough time frame as more Developers and more Founders come in We're going to see some really cool Tech Being built which is really going to Work for us in the Future now in a recent report from JP Morgan the bank's Global Market strategy Team argued that the price of Bitcoin Will slide following this having citing Overbought conditions Prices still well above the banks Comparison to gold and subdued Venture Capital funding new research from Deutche Bank also says not to expect the Post having Bitcoin rallies so do you
Agree what's your take on what we can Expect yeah you know as I think as uh Someone said uh you know history tends To rhyme but doesn't repeat right so if You were to follow that I'd say it to be Completely CED I I don't know what's Going to happen you know I feel like uh You know if we were to reflect back on This post having you know there's Obviously three very incredible Scenarios it price could go up it could Stay flat it could go down but I I'm More interested in what I think is going To happen in the next 9 12 24 months Where uh again the price is invariably You know there may be some imminent Pressure on Supply post having but over A long enough time frame as ETF flows Continue to grow and I know you captured This really well tell in a previous Report as well I think we're looking at What 12 B ion in inflows now and that is Going to continue to grow as as mass Adoption starts to happen over a long Enough time frame I believe that we are You know the price action is going to be Favorable for for all of us so uh this Is kind of a non-answer to your question And some somewhat tongue and cheek but I'm trying to not pay attention to the To the micro but pay more attention to The macro and of the multimodal factors That could Implement that could impact Price whether it's it's beyond crypto
Obviously there other factors whether It's Wars or or various other Catastrophes that could cause these es And flows but but on a broad enough time Frame uh you know price will will Appreciate as we've seen you know I First started mining Bitcoin back in 2012 and here here we are you know like Almost 12 years later how much the price Is appreciated I would never have been Able to forecast that but as we look Forward I think we're going to start to See more price appreciation start to Happen and it certainly will be very Interesting to see if that does in fact Happen Anand a founder of canonical Crypto thank you very much joining us And for that comprehensive Insight thank you so much
