Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) share prices tumbled as much as 8.4% following its Q4 earnings report as the market came away disappointed with the tech giant's cloud computing revenue growth rate. Like a number of other large tech companies, Alphabet is also set to ramp up its artificial ...

Alphabet Shares Tumble on Cloud Revenue Shortfall. Is This a Buying Opportunity for the Stock?

In regular hours, a wave of dip buying lifted stocks after a wild day for financial markets, with big tech leading the way. Following a slide fueled by uncertainties over a trade war, the S&P 500 rose almost 1%. A Bloomberg gauge of the “Magnificent Seven” megacaps climbed 1.7%. Meta Platforms ...

Tech Hit in Late Hours as Alphabet, AMD Tumble: Markets Wrap

DeepSeek Unveiled: Chipmakers Tumble, Nasdaq on Edge

DeepSeek AI Debut Sparks 10% Dive in Taiwan Semiconductor Stock

The declines followed Zuckerberg's appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast, where he expressed his view on the timeline for quantum computing adoption.

Quantum Computing Stocks Tumble After Mark Zuckerberg Backs Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's 'Practical' Comments: QUBT Down 9%, RGTI Falls 16% And IONQ Loses 15% - D-Wave Quantum (NYSE:QBTS), IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) - Benzinga

Tumble

tumble

When MicroStrategy's stock plummeted 55% from its November high, most focused on the price drop itself. But they missed something far more important: A potential $8.2 billion debt bomb that could force the liquidation of nearly 500,000 Bitcoin. Here's the uncomfortable truth: MicroStrategy created the most aggressive leveraged Bitcoin position in history, and now the bill might be coming due. Think about it. Right now: MicroStrategy holds 499,096 Bitcoin worth $43.7 billion
They've borrowed $8.2 billion to acquire it
Their stock has crashed 55% in three months
Their debt covenants have a "fundamental change" clause But here's what everyone misses: This isn't just about Bitcoin. It's about financial engineering that could collapse. The Great Bitcoin Gamble Let's break down what's actually happening: MicroStrategy's entire business model relies on a flywheel effect: Borrow money through 0% convertible notes
Buy Bitcoin and drive price higher
Sell new shares at premium and buy more Bitcoin
Repeat But here's where it gets interesting: This flywheel only works in one direction. The Debt Structure Consider MicroStrategy's debt: $8.2 billion in convertible notes
Most maturity dates between 2027-2032
$3 billion due in 2029 alone
Conversion prices ranging from $39.80 to $672.40 These convertible notes contain a critical trigger – a "fundamental change" clause that could force early redemption if shareholders approve "any plan or proposal for the liquidation or dissolution of the Company." The Technical Trigger Here's the billion-dollar insight: If Bitcoin's value falls significantly, MicroStrategy's assets could slip below its liabilities, creating a perverse incentive for shareholders. Think about it: If Bitcoin falls 50%+ and stays down
Convertible notes can't be converted (underwater)
Debt comes due starting in 2027
Shareholders might prefer liquidation to pay themselves first The Michael Saylor Factor Saylor currently holds 46.8% of voting power, making a liquidation vote difficult. He insists they wouldn't sell "even if Bitcoin fell to $1." But this ignores market realities: Creditors have legal rights
Stock can't raise capital if it collapses
The flywheel needs constant new money
Cash flow can't cover interest payments The Market Verdict MicroStrategy's stock has experienced wild swings: Up 500% in the Bitcoin bull run
Down 55% in the recent correction
Now trading around $252, down from $560+ in November While the company's average Bitcoin purchase price is $66,357, their ability to service debt doesn't depend on being profitable – it depends on continued capital market access. The Real Questions The true vulnerabilities aren't about forced liquidation today. They're about: Can MicroStrategy refinance debt in a Bitcoin bear market?
Will investors keep buying shares if Bitcoin falls further?
What happens when convertible notes mature underwater?
How sustainable is a "never sell" strategy with massive debt? The Bitcoin Cult Factor As we noted in our analysis of Saylor's approach, he's positioned Bitcoin not as currency but as "digital gold" – a philosophical stance that's created cult-like devotion. The investment thesis relies on a permanent, upward trajectory. "If Bitcoin reaches $3M it would mean that something really bad is going on out there." But the flip side is troubling: What if it falls significantly and stays down? The Potential Endgame Three scenarios emerge: Bitcoin rises enough to make all convertible notes profitable, solving the problem
Bitcoin trades sideways, creating refinancing challenges when debt matures
Bitcoin falls significantly, potentially triggering a liquidation decision The Ultimate Irony Here's the greatest paradox: While Saylor positions Bitcoin as a hedge against monetary instability, he's built perhaps the most leveraged, fragile Bitcoin position possible. Welcome to the great MicroStrategy experiment. The question isn't whether Bitcoin has long-term value. The question is: Can a public company hold billions of it through debt without ever selling? The flywheel that took MicroStrategy to the moon works in both directions. And gravity is a powerful force. When MicroStrategy's stock plummeted 55% from its November high, most focused on the price drop itself. But they missed something far more important: A potential $8.2 billion debt bomb that could force the liquidation of nearly 500,000 Bitcoin. But they missed something far more important: A potential $8.2 billion debt bomb that could force the liquidation of nearly 500,000 Bitcoin. Here's the uncomfortable truth: MicroStrategy created the most aggressive leveraged Bitcoin position in history, and now the bill might be coming due. MicroStrategy created the most aggressive leveraged Bitcoin position in history, and now the bill might be coming due. Think about it. Right now: MicroStrategy holds 499,096 Bitcoin worth $43.7 billion They've borrowed $8.2 billion to acquire it Their stock has crashed 55% in three months Their debt covenants have a "fundamental change" clause MicroStrategy holds 499,096 Bitcoin worth $43.7 billion They've borrowed $8.2 billion to acquire it Their stock has crashed 55% in three months Their debt covenants have a "fundamental change" clause But here's what everyone misses: This isn't just about Bitcoin. It's about financial engineering that could collapse. But here's what everyone misses: This isn't just about Bitcoin. It's about financial engineering that could collapse. The Great Bitcoin Gamble Let's break down what's actually happening: MicroStrategy's entire business model relies on a flywheel effect: Borrow money through 0% convertible notes Buy Bitcoin and drive price higher Sell new shares at premium and buy more Bitcoin Repeat Borrow money through 0% convertible notes Buy Bitcoin and drive price higher Sell new shares at premium and buy more Bitcoin Repeat But here's where it gets interesting: This flywheel only works in one direction. But here's where it gets interesting: This flywheel only works in one direction. The Debt Structure Consider MicroStrategy's debt: $8.2 billion in convertible notes Most maturity dates between 2027-2032 $3 billion due in 2029 alone Conversion prices ranging from $39.80 to $672.40 $8.2 billion in convertible notes Most maturity dates between 2027-2032 $3 billion due in 2029 alone Conversion prices ranging from $39.80 to $672.40 These convertible notes contain a critical trigger – a "fundamental change" clause that could force early redemption if shareholders approve "any plan or proposal for the liquidation or dissolution of the Company." The Technical Trigger Here's the billion-dollar insight: If Bitcoin's value falls significantly, MicroStrategy's assets could slip below its liabilities, creating a perverse incentive for shareholders. If Bitcoin's value falls significantly, MicroStrategy's assets could slip below its liabilities, creating a perverse incentive for shareholders. Think about it: If Bitcoin falls 50%+ and stays down Convertible notes can't be converted (underwater) Debt comes due starting in 2027 Shareholders might prefer liquidation to pay themselves first If Bitcoin falls 50%+ and stays down Convertible notes can't be converted (underwater) Debt comes due starting in 2027 Shareholders might prefer liquidation to pay themselves first The Michael Saylor Factor Saylor currently holds 46.8% of voting power, making a liquidation vote difficult. He insists they wouldn't sell "even if Bitcoin fell to $1." But this ignores market realities: Creditors have legal rights Stock can't raise capital if it collapses The flywheel needs constant new money Cash flow can't cover interest payments Creditors have legal rights Stock can't raise capital if it collapses The flywheel needs constant new money Cash flow can't cover interest payments The Market Verdict MicroStrategy's stock has experienced wild swings: Up 500% in the Bitcoin bull run Down 55% in the recent correction Now trading around $252, down from $560+ in November Up 500% in the Bitcoin bull run Down 55% in the recent correction Now trading around $252, down from $560+ in November While the company's average Bitcoin purchase price is $66,357, their ability to service debt doesn't depend on being profitable – it depends on continued capital market access. The Real Questions The true vulnerabilities aren't about forced liquidation today. They're about: Can MicroStrategy refinance debt in a Bitcoin bear market? Will investors keep buying shares if Bitcoin falls further? What happens when convertible notes mature underwater? How sustainable is a "never sell" strategy with massive debt? Can MicroStrategy refinance debt in a Bitcoin bear market? Will investors keep buying shares if Bitcoin falls further? What happens when convertible notes mature underwater? How sustainable is a "never sell" strategy with massive debt? The Bitcoin Cult Factor As we noted in our analysis of Saylor's approach, he's positioned Bitcoin not as currency but as "digital gold" – a philosophical stance that's created cult-like devotion. The investment thesis relies on a permanent, upward trajectory. "If Bitcoin reaches $3M it would mean that something really bad is going on out there." But the flip side is troubling: What if it falls significantly and stays down? The Potential Endgame Three scenarios emerge: Bitcoin rises enough to make all convertible notes profitable, solving the problem Bitcoin trades sideways, creating refinancing challenges when debt matures Bitcoin falls significantly, potentially triggering a liquidation decision Bitcoin rises enough to make all convertible notes profitable, solving the problem Bitcoin rises enough Bitcoin trades sideways , creating refinancing challenges when debt matures Bitcoin trades sideways Bitcoin falls significantly , potentially triggering a liquidation decision Bitcoin falls significantly The Ultimate Irony Here's the greatest paradox: While Saylor positions Bitcoin as a hedge against monetary instability, he's built perhaps the most leveraged, fragile Bitcoin position possible. Welcome to the great MicroStrategy experiment. The question isn't whether Bitcoin has long-term value. The question is: Can a public company hold billions of it through debt without ever selling? The flywheel that took MicroStrategy to the moon works in both directions. And gravity is a powerful force.

Michael Saylor Has Built A House of Cards That Could Tumble Down

مايكل سيلور بنى بيتًا من ورق قابل للانهيار

মাইকেল সায়লর এমন এক তাসের ঘর তৈরি করেছেন যা ভেঙে পড়তে পারে

Michael Saylor ha construït un castell de cartes que podria caure

Michael Saylor ha construido un castillo de naipes que podría derrumbarse

マイケル・セイラーは崩れ落ちる可能性のあるトランプの家を建てた

Michael Saylor បានសាងសង់ផ្ទះកាតដែលអាចដួលរលំបាន។

Nanangana tranon'ny karatra mety hirodana i Michael Saylor

Michael Saylor Yubatse Inzu yamakarita Yashobora Kugwa

Michael Saylor postavil domček z kariet, ktorý by sa mohol zrútiť

Michael Saylor waxa uu dhisay guri kaadhadh ah oo dumi kara

Мајкл Сејлор направио је кућу од карата која би се могла срушити

Michael Saylor, Yıkılabilecek Bir Kart Evi İnşa Etti

Andreas Antonopoulos mentioned once if he would be in prison he would reinvent an offline version of the Bitcoin consensus algorithm by playing Sudoku. Doing a role-play like this on Bitcoin meetups makes a lot more sense than you would initially think, let me explain why. In Andy Hunt’s book, he told a story of how he learned wall climbing. Firstly, he paid a lot of money for a lesson then the instructor told the group: “go climb wall” and went for a cup of coffee. After half an hour of climbing the wall and cursing the lazy instructor, he came back and started explaining how to climb the wall. The explanation made a lot more sense after some experience, than it would have meant before that. The reason is because there are If you cannot identify which one was which in the wall-climbing class you were not paying attention my dear reader. The Pragmatic Thinking and Learning two primary ways of learning: synthesis and analysis. Role-playing is a similar synthetic learning experience. Since playing Sudoku requires people and you are just a loner in front of your screen, I will not go down the role-playing rabbit hole, I just offer a similar synthetic learning experience. We are going to go through how to use a pre-alpha version of TumbleBit in Classic Tumbler Mode with HiddenWallet as the receiving output wallet without deep theoretical stuff. Just follow me and get a first-hand experience with an experimental technology. A couple of notes before we start. Yes, yes, I know, if I wanted to follow the example of the wall-climbing teacher I should have started the whole with this article, however at the time the softwares were not there. Understanding TumbleBit series If you happen to read this article, let us say half a year later from its creation you will have extra difficulties, or shall I say challenges to overcome, presented by the changes in these rapidly evolving softwares. This is not the way how HiddenWallet will integrate TumbleBit. That will be a user-friendly way. This is only using HiddenWallet as the output wallet of NTumbleBit which you could think of something like TumbleBit Core. For reference, up to date instructions for NTumbleBit can be and HiddenWallet can be . You can of course go through them, however those are not as funny and layman friendly as this article. found here found here 1. Install a bunch of development tools Yes, by the end of this article you are going to become a hardcore programmer, we will not choose the easy of simply running executables. (a-b) Git and .NET Core For both HiddenWallet and NTumbleBit you will need and present on your system. .NET Core is the cross platform, opensource .NET framework. It enables us to write code in our favorite language, C#, while Git is a super complicated tool with only one purpose, to make the coordination of programmers harder with each other. Git .NET Core (c) Bitcoin Core For NTumbleBit you only need . Do not stop right here, you are going to use it on the testnet, which is significantly less cumbersome than the mainnet, therefore you can give it a try for your learning. Bitcoin Core After you installed and downloaded it, create/edit your bitcoin.conf: # Run on the test network instead of the real bitcoin network.testnet=1

# server=1 tells Bitcoin-Qt and bitcoind to accept JSON-RPC commandsserver=1

# RPC user and passwordrpcuser=bitcoinuserrpcpassword=bitcoinpassword Finally, execute bitcoind or bitcoin-qt, allow it catch up with the network and acquire 3+ testnet coins to it. Google is your friend. (d) Node.js For HiddenWallet you need present on your system, since its graphical user interface is written with Electron, which is written in Node.js.At the time of writing if you are on Windows you can just and then no need to install Node.Node is the server side JavaScript. Because of .NET Core is relatively new and there is no good way to write cross platform GUI in it I was forced to write it in another language, therefore creating one more requirement for you. Node.js download the binaries for HiddenWallet (e) Tor is the tool that only pedophile terrorists use and by downloading it will of course automatically make you one of them as well.At the time of writing this article, Tor is not yet integrated into NTumbleBit, although it probably will be in a couple of days when I have time for that, however it is integrated in HiddenWallet. In HiddenWallet if you are using the you can skip this step, those binaries are shipped with built in Tor support, however if you use OSX or Linux you need to make sure Tor is in your PATH. Tor release binaries for Windows 2. Get HiddenWallet (a) The easy way: for Windows users and extract the archived folder: Download the release binaries 2. Run HiddenWallet, then close it instantly without generating new wallet. Running it once will create a config file for you. Because you are working on the testnet you have to edit it beforehand, I will give you more instructions about this later. (b) The little less easy way: for non-Windows users Fire up a terminal or the command line and clone the repo with Git, restore the needed packages, build and publish the API software with .NET Core, make sure Tor is in the right place, install the needed npm packages and start the GUI. git clone [https://github.com/nopara73/HiddenWallet.git](https://github.com/nopara73/HiddenWallet.git) cd HiddenWallet/HiddenWallet/HiddenWallet.API dotnet restore dotnet build Find your platform identifier and replace . If you get an error here, do not worry, just add your platform identifier to the tag in the `HiddenWallet.API/HiddenWallet.API.csproj´ file. dotnet publish -r win7-x64 --output bin/dist/current-target here win7-x64 <RuntimeIdentifiers> Only on Windows: — Copy and unzip to directory. Quick note on unzipping, the final path to tor.exe has to be: and not: HiddenWallet.Packager/tor.zip HiddenWallet.API/bin/dist/current-target current-target/tor/Tor/tor.exe current-target/tor/tor/Tor/tor.exe cd ../HiddenWallet.GUI) npm install npm start Close it instantly without generating a new wallet. Running it once will create a config file for you. Because you are working on the testnet you have to edit it beforehand, I will give you more instructions about this later. 3. Setup and Run NTumbleBit (a). Clone & Restore Fire up a terminal or the command line and clone the repo with Git. Then restore the needed packages with .NET Core: git clone https://github.com/NTumbleBit/NTumbleBit/cd NTumbleBit/dotnet restore (b) Run the client Run the client once, it will generate your default configuration files. cd NTumbleBit.CLIdotnet run -testnet (c) Edit the config file The client’s configuration file can be found in the user’s home directory at on non-Windows platforms and on Windows.Depending on what rpc credentials you used make your config file look like this: .ntumblebit/TestNet/client.config %appdata%\NTumbleBit\TestNet\client.config rpc.url= rpc.user=bitcoinuserrpc.password=bitcoinpasswordtumbler.server= outputwallet.extpubkey=tpubDCeHeZ4A66VU78YDJ1yKtnR7uVPf8rRU1thtCXtyzZ3XQXBqc3HFaqMPH1fxESjFvR4CyhyDqT3NuNKSnWc5HC6dD8cePbTaEUU6HF1MUNDoutputwallet.keypath= http://localhost:18332/ http://testnet.ntumblebit.metaco.com Leave the outputwallet.keypath empty and get your own extpubkey from HiddenWallet so you can change the outputwallet.extpubkey.How do you get that? You already ran once HiddenWallet and closed it, therefore you must have a Config.json file generated for you: Open it: Set the network to TestNet and set CanSpendUnconfirmed to True. Even though it is dangerous, it makes testing easier, and since you are working on TestNet you do not need to care for security. Generate a wallet: Decrypt it: And get your extpubkey: HiddenWallet is a full block spv wallet to protect your privacy, it does not ask a remote server or nodes about what transactions it is interested in, it rather asks all the transactions the Bitcoin network has and locally selects those which it is interested in, therefore not exposing it to third parties. This comes with the inconvenience of long syncing times: Now you are all set up and ready to use TumbleBit on the testnet! 4. Tumble! Make sure your Bitcoin Core has already caught up with the testnet chain. to it, over 1 tbtc, and start tumbling: Get some testnet coins cd NTumbleBit.CLIdotnet run -testnet By running NTumbleBit.CLI, after each cycle HiddenWallet will receive some coins. The denomination of the testnet server is 1 tbtc.It will take twenty four blocks to get your first coin in your HiddenWallet, followed by one coin every two blocks.In the future, depending on the liquidity TumbleBit will be much faster than this and the denomination can change as well. We still have not started to figure out the sweet spots and optimal parameters. Do not forget that this is TumbleBit’s Classic Tumbler mode, the Payment Hub mode will be way more powerful, faster and cheaper.By pressing you can stop the NTumbleBit.CLI process and running it again with command it will tell the CLI not to start tumbling more coins but to finish those that are in process.You can see if money is still being tumbled by checking Bitcoin Core’s watch only addresses. Once the process is over, there should be no money on watch only addresses. Enter dotnet run -testnet -onlymonitor Final notes That is it! That is where we are today. I know it is still scary, complicated and cumbersome, however it is getting easier and easier and progress is being made every day. I hope you at least enjoyed it and learnt something.

Understanding TumbleBit Part 5: Try It Out!

I will show you how the Tumbler forwards your bitcoins without the ability of exit scamming on you. “Meh, this is already boring, I stop reading there.” — Do not make that immature decision just yet. What if I tell you, by the end of this article you will have all the knowledge to build a trustless ShapeShift? In , I described why TumbleBit is important, in I described how far this idea can take us and in I finally described how the first key attribute of TumbleBit can be achieved: . In this article I define the missing piece, the second key attribute of it: . What I express here is not only the basic concept what TumbleBit is built on but the basic concept of payment channels, payment hubs and lightning network. If you are interested in any of those, stick around! Part 1: Making The Case Part 2: The Endgame Part 3: Not Even The Tumbler Can Breach Your Privacy anonymity trustlessness State of Development I cannot avoid first addressing the question you guys are most interested about. When can I use it?While the is pretty much ready and you can use it in an extremely impractical way through a CLI interface and Bitcoin Core, TumbleBit needs liquidity and this will not achieve it.On the other hand integrating TumbleBit into an existing Bitcoin wallet is a no-go as well. The problem is that The solution is to build a Bitcoin wallet that does not ruin full node level privacy and not as cumbersome as a full node. This is where and comes in. We are both working on a dedicated TumbleBit wallet independently.Without going into much details I just drop a part of the road map of my HiddenWallet here: TumbleBit core protocol if the wallets that your peers are using in the mix are screwed up from a privacy point of view, even if you are using TumbleBit in the correct way, with a fullnode, your anonymity is screwed up because of your peers. HiddenWallet BreezeWallet — Full Block Downloading SPV Ready, unstable — TumbleBit integration, Classic Tumbler Mode I am currently working on it. — 10–100x performance increase. Transaction Filtered Block Downloading Release stable version. The Cool Crypto Stuff Note: I only describe here the basic idea of how trustless coin exchange works and of course not the full TumbleBit protocol. More specifically I am describing how a unidirectional payment hub works. The above illustration shows how a unidirection payment hub works. If you already understand it then sorry, I just wasted two minutes of your life by making you read the introduction and asking you to stop reading here. If not, stick around and you will see the magic. First imagine wants to send 1 BTC. How does she do that? Well she sends 1 BTC to Bob. I hope you can follow. Alice Bob Next introduce the . Hub Now Alice wants to send 1 BTC to Bob through the Hub. I know that is pretty pointless, however it will make sense. How does she do that? First Alice sends 1 BTC to the Hub, then the Hub sends 1 BTC to Bob. So far so good, we just introduced a second pointless transaction, so we can pay twice as much network fee and we can wait twice as much time as we would usually do. However, it gets even worse. What if the Hub decides to steal Alice’s money and it does not forward the coins to Bob. Let us try to solve that issue, shall we? Let us say Alice and the Tumbler are sending some special transactions instead of regular transactions, which will not solve the issue for now, although it will bring us closer to the solution. As you can see the transactions we introduced are . escrow transactions What does this really mean? Let us examine Alice’s transaction to the Hub. The transaction says: “Hey, I am a transaction and I can talk. I am coming from Alice’s wallet and going to Hub’s wallet, however, I am not quite there yet, just somewhere in between. The thing is, Hub cannot spend me alone. It can only spend me with Alice together. If the transaction that is attempting to spend me is not signed by both Alice and the Hub that transaction will be rejected by the Bitcoin network. However, there is more. If I will not be spent within one month I will let Alice spend me without Hub’s signature.“ Similarly the transaction from the Hub to Bob: I decided not to write it down what this transaction exactly said, because it was apparently Chinese, and I am too lazy to translate it. You must figure out from the box above. What do we have now? We just made four transactions in order to transfer 1 BTC from Alice to Bob through the Hub. That is four times a normal transaction fee. In fact, it is even more, because the escrow transactions are bigger than the normal transactions, not in money but in actual size, in bytes, which is what actually matters when you pay the transaction fee in Bitcoin. What did we solve? Nothing, the Hub can still steal our coins. Wait, why four transactions? Think about it, the escrow transaction is not a transaction from Alice to Hub. It is a special transaction somewhere in the middle. Therefore there must be another transaction that spends that transaction to the Hub’s wallet. We will call this a . claim transaction Do you remember what the Escrow1 transaction said? Did it not feel a little strange? It did not talk much about itself, rather it was talking about the transaction that wants to spend it, the claim transaction.Now, I have a question. Do you know how do we call it when Alice signs the Claim1 transaction, however the Hub not yet? It is called . Then the Hub can steal your coins, can it not? Yes, it can, however, that is the last problem we will solve. For now, let us : opening a payment channel close the payment channel Exactly the same things happen in the payment channel between Hub and Bob. Pretty neat, huh? You just mastered a super complicated illustration.Now let us get back to the problem we just discovered. The Hub will be able to steal Alice’s money if Alice signs the Claim1 transaction before the Hub signs Claim2 transaction to Bob. If Hub signs Claim2 transaction first, then Alice can just refuse to sign Claim1, wait until Escrow1 expires and she can refund it back to herself and Bob can take Claim2 transaction. I think the proper cryptographic terminology of this situation is .Is there something we can do to escape this situation?If only we could just say that Alice signing Claim1 and Hub signing Claim2 must happen at the same time then all our problems would be solved. Catch-22 Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to do this. For example, with : hash locks Only Hub knows X. If we say Claim2 cannot happen without X, then Hub can sign Claim2 without being worried that it will be defrauded by Bob: If Bob wants the claim transaction to happen it must learn X. How does Alice learn X? Claim1 transaction must include the hash lock that uses the same X. Notice that Alice signed Claim1 as well, and when she signed Claim1 the Hub was able to steal her money without paying Bob. This time it should be the same, since only the Hub knows X, right? Hub can just spend Claim1 transaction by signing it and . In that very moment when the Hub provided X, Alice learnt X and told Bob, who is now able to spend Claim2 transaction. providing the X Yes, this is the time for your first “aha moment”, because you just mastered atomicity. Time for your second “aha moment” because you just realized that now you fully understand this super complicated illustration I bothered you with in the beginning of my explanation. What did we achieve? We figured out how we can send money from one place to another through a third party, using payment channels. That is stupid, why would anyone want to do this complicated shame, when you can just directly send bitcoins? Well, what if Bob would rather receive Litecoin, instead of Bitcoins, what would change? Absolutely nothing. It does not matter if Escrow2 and Claim2 happens on Litecoin or Bitcoin. Now that is how a decentralized crypto exchange could work. Still do not get it? Do not worry, watch the first four minutes in this video where Ethan Heilman, the creator of TumbleBit explains this concept for you: I happened to write one more part of this series, check it out: Understanding TumbleBit Part 5: Try It Out!

Understanding TumbleBit Part 4: Not Even The Tumbler Can Steal Your Coins

I am very excited, not only because it is my birthday today, but also because I am announcing the first release of HiddenWallet, which I believe is a major step down the road of making Bitcoin anonymous again. Download and read more about HiddenWallet on GitHub! What is TumbleBit and HiddenWallet? In a nutshell is a trustless Bitcoin mixer, where the tumbler cannot steal your coins, nor it can deanonymize you. Why does TumbleBit need a dedicated wallet? Why not just integrate it to Electrum or to Blockchain.info or to some other wallet? The problem is, Why does a full node provide more privacy, than a normal Bitcoin wallet? At first glance, they are leaving similar tracks on The Blockchain, but that’s not the only aspect of your privacy you want to protect. Blockchain surveillance companies or various third parties can reestablish the links between your wallet addresses by combining blockchain and network analysis techniques. This is not just theoretical threat, it is reality today and they are in this. If you are using a full node as your personal Bitcoin wallet, you defeat the possibility of network analysis, because it doesn’t only asks for data from third parties that it needs, like address balances, but asks for all the a data the Bitcoin network have, like all the blocks, so the other nodes cannot figure out which data it needs. You can on this topic, if you want to dive deeper. TumbleBit I would like to also point out TumbleBit is not integrated yet, it’s the next step on the roadmap. if the wallet, what your peers are using in the mix is screwed up from a privacy point of view, even if you are using TumbleBit in the correct way with a fullnode, your anonymity set is screwed up, because of your peers. extremely successful read my research However running a Bitcoin full node is cumbersome and it is expected to get much worse over time as Bitcoin is pressured to scale, but we can do better, if we our only requirement is to keep the full node level privacy, that’s where HiddenWallet and full block downloading SVP wallets come in.Interestingly this is the type of SPV wallet that Satoshi described in his whitepaper, but none of today’s SPV wallets implemented. HiddenWallet doesn’t store the blockchain and doesn’t validate the blocks, rather it’s using merkle proofs, like other SPV wallets to make sure a transaction is valid. Unlike other SPV wallets and like full nodes it downloads full blocks, so an curious listener has no idea what information we are interested in, therefore it cannot reestabilish the link between our wallet addresses. This is the kind of privacy that is needed for the ideal working of TumbleBit. Roadmap — This feature provides full node level privacy against network analysis with SPV security. Full Block Downloading SPV Ready, unstable. — TumbleBit is a Bitcoin mixer where not even the Tumbler can steal your coins, nor deanonymize you. TumbleBit integration, Classic Tumbler Mode Next up. — 10–100x performance increase, while still keeping full node level privacy against network analysis, but replacing SPV security to trusted full node security. Transaction Filtered Block Downloading Release stable version. TumbleBit Paymen Hub Mode? JoinMarket integration? Stealth addresses support?

Introducing HiddenWallet : Full Block SPV TumbleBit Wallet — Testing Release

In I talked about the importance of privacy in general, the state of privacy in Bitcoin and compared TumbleBit with other alternatives. In I outlined the endgame, highlighting the potential of what can TumbleBit eventually achieve, . You do not need to read them in order to understand this article. Part 1: Making the Case Part 2 a trustless, instant, free, anonymous, scalable payment system on top of Bitcoin In Part 2 I have likewise outlined the two main problems that TumbleBit solves: How can we hide who sends who from the Tumbler? Anonymity: How can we prevent the Tumbler from stealing? Trustlessnes: In this article I will address and make you understand the basic idea behind TumbleBit’s solution to the first problem. Why can the Tumbler not link your bitcoins together? While my previous articles were hopefully exciting and a lot of fun to read, this one will be another kind of fun. This one aims to give you an “aha” moment. A technological epiphany. If it fails, feel free to comment “you suck.” The Problem: Traditional Bitcoin Tumblers Firstly, I would like to quickly recap what traditional mixers are. If you are an expert or have already read Part 1 feel free to skip this section. The usage of centralized Bitcoin mixers is heavily discouraged on “mainstream” Bitcoin forums because of their ability to steal your bitcoins and the frequent exit scams. Ironically on the deep web they are the most popular options, because if they happened not to be malicious, they provide the strongest and easiest privacy achievable today. Simply put, they are practical. You send them some bitcoins and they send back completely unrelated ones. The problem is that the mixer can easily or worse, . steal your money deanonymize you The Solution for Deanonymization Now this is where it gets interesting. TumbleBit provides a fascinating solution. It is based on from 1999. David Chaum’s blind signatures _Here's the basic idea of blind signing in Chaumian e-cash: Let's suppose that a central issuer (Chaumian e-cash is…_bitcoin.stackexchange.com How does Chaum style e-cash work? (all the Wiki links are broken) Do not run away just yet, I will not go into the math. If you are not willing to go through the above links, and I would say 99% of you are not, I expect you to believe me. The math is there and it is right! Now let us get down to business and examine how Roger donates 1 bitcoin to Gregory through TumbleBit. Tumbler’s perspective I want to play a game. I created a bunch of puzzles. I pay 1 bitcoin for every solution. Additionally, I solve any puzzle for 1 bitcoin. So far it does not make much sense, right? Notice that the Tumbler said it solves any puzzle, not just the puzzles it created. This will be important, keep on reading. Roger’s perspective Awesome, I can use this game, to pay anonymously to Greg. I choose a puzzle and blind it. Then I make the Tumbler solve this blinded puzzle for 1 bitcoin. After the Tumbler solved it, I unblind this blinded solution. Finally, I give this solution and the original puzzle to Greg. Starting to understand it? Greg’s perspective Roger says, I can redeem this solution for 1 bitcoin from the Tumbler. And indeed. Thanks Roger! Put it all together If you have not understood it yet, do not worry, I hired the best illustrator to make it easier for you: p: puzzles: solutionp’ : blinded puzzles’: blinded solution Roger blinds a puzzle, makes the Tumbler solve this blinded puzzle for 1 bitcoin, unblinds the blinded solution. He then gives the original puzzle and the solution to Greg, and he redeems 1 bitcoin from the Tumbler with them. The key insight is when Greg and the other 800 payees come to redeem a bitcoin with their own solutions, the Tumbler cannot link the blinded puzzles and the blinded solutions together, which it previously solved for Roger and the other 800 payers, with the real ones. This is the main idea behind TumbleBit’s anonymization technique. Of course, the final algorithm differs a lot since TumbleBit furthermore solves the issue of trust what complicates this scheme. What do you think? Are David Chaum, who introduced blind signatures, and Ethan Heilman, who applied them to Bitcoin, amongst the coolest cryptographers in the world? Would you like to know how TumbleBit tackles the coin stealing issue? Find out in the next Understanding TumbleBit episode !

Understanding TumbleBit Part 3: Not Even The Tumbler Can Breach Your Privacy

In , I talked about the importance of privacy in general, the state of privacy in Bitcoin and compared TumbleBit with other alternatives. You do absolutely not need to read that in order to make sense of this article. To recap, take a look at this tweet: Understanding TumbleBit Part 1: Making the Case Today I will speculate on the SSJ God level. And maybe, just maybe you will feel like it all makes sense and become more excited than ever about the future of Bitcoin.In this article I will outline the idea, the dream, the vision, the end game of TumbleBit, On top of Bitcoin. a trustless, instant, free, anonymous, scalable payment system. Ok, but how soon? At the moment there are multiple implementations, a from the creators in C++, a from them in Python. And there is a in .NET Core, a production ready TumbleBit: Classic Tumbler Mode, you know the Super Saiyan one. However, it is yet untested, undocumented, user unfriendly and undeployed. Others are planning to implement it as well. proof of concept more advanced codebase NTumbleBit TumbleBit: Classic Tumbler Mode Generally Ethan Heilman and the other cryptographers from Boston University are concentrating more on the theoretical, the academic part, while and me are on the practical, the implementation part.In the end all of us are in daily contact, working together and helping each other. For example, I just executed a brilliant and well-planned social engineering attack on Ethan: Nicolas Therefore I can provide you the opportunity to contribute if you want: 199G7vQxuSYRNRrcM7qatY2kRH69g7qmpo Using a payment hub vs on-chain mixing There is a fundamental problem with on-chain mixing. Consider how mixing works, you send the Mixer some bitcoins and it sends back completely unrelated ones: Imagine you bought two bitcoins. One to and one to buy from the Silk Road, therefore you send 1 BTC to a mixer and buy the socks. However, that is not how Bitcoin works. You actually have to spend all your 2 BTC. You spend 1 BTC to the mixer and 1 BTC change goes back to you. If you later acquire another 1 BTC and decide to buy something for 1.5 BTC that transaction would look like this: hodl alpaca socks You are joining coins together. This is not ideal from a privacy point of view. This is one of the main reason why the blockchain surveillance companies are thriving. Therefore any bitcoin mixing that often visits the Bitcoin blockchain is not ideal. Why do we not send all our bitcoins to CoinBase and keep transacting inside their system? Wait a moment, we now have instant transactions! Even better, we have just reclaimed our privacy, too! There are two problems, though. One, CB can steal our coins, and two, CB can deanonymize us. We only have an instant, free, scalable payment system, although we want a , instant, free, , scalable payment system. This payment system would be CoinBase: Super Saiyan God mode, or in a lamer name, CoinBase, bi-directional payment hub mode. trustless anonymous CoinBase: Super Saiyan God The question is, Or rather how do I convince you that it is possible? how do we take a centralized mixer, like CoinBase to Supa Saiya-jin Goddo level? Trustless Using bi-directional multiparty payment channels, we can make CoinBase trustless. I will not go into the details, you can read up on it at many places, I would just like to point out the fact for this to work CoinBase has to have at least as much bitcoins as much volume goes through it. This is a very real economic bottleneck and will probably result many CoinBase hubs, or let us say TumbleBit hubs from now on. On the other hand, this is a positive Bitcoin price pressure, so keep hodling. Anonymous How can we hide who sends who inside the payment hub from the payment hub? TumbleBit provides a fascinating solution for this. It is based on from 1999. David Chaum’s blind signatures _Here's the basic idea of blind signing in Chaumian e-cash: Let's suppose that a central issuer (Chaumian e-cash is…_bitcoin.stackexchange.com How does Chaum style e-cash work? (all the Wiki links are broken) I should mention the SSJ God level is not carved in stone yet, or shall I say that it is not written in whitepaper? Its achievability is uncertain at this point, only the SSJ3 level is certain, what I totally dismiss in this article, because it is about the end-game, not the middle-game of TumbleBit. What do you think? Will the creators go from a day’s long running, Bitcoin full-node requiring, untested, undocumented, user unfriendly, undeployed CLI software to a trustless, instant, free, anonymous, scalable payment system? Find out in the next Tumble Bit Z episode… Part 3: Not even the Tumbler can breach your privacy. How?

Understanding TumbleBit Part 2: The Endgame — Instant, Anonymous, Scalable Payment System On Top Of…

I believe TumbleBit is the most exciting innovation in the Bitcoin space that does not rely on any protocol change, therefore it works with today’s Bitcoin. Bear with me, because it is just a matter of time until you will be able to use it. If you think about the properties of a good money Bitcoin does a great job compared to other alternatives. Durability, portability, divisibility, scarcity, acceptability and fungibility. We can do better, much better. is related to that is constantly growing. is poised to solve the issue, since it will enable instant transactions and the mainstream might not even know if a confirmation is a sheep or a cow. Acceptability user adoption, Lightning Network portability is aiming to make Bitcoin again. Yes, there was a time when Bitcoin was more fungible, however, nowadays the Blockchain surveillance industry and AML/KYC regulations are threatening our magical internet money. TumbleBit fungible Who needs privacy? I have nothing to hide Bitcoin gives you a choice to be your own bank. This way of using it requires a more privacy aware approach than using traditional institutes because they provide you privacy against your neighbors and your stalker ex-husband. If we do not improve Bitcoin’s fungibility you can start practicing to live a perfect life, where you not only comply with the rules of your government but with the expectations of every other human being as well you ever get contact with during your time on this world. TumbleBit is not ready, what else can I use? Change addresses The Bitcoin Blockchain links every transaction you make to your Bitcoin address and the other person’s Bitcoin address. Fortunately, you can have infinite amount of addresses, thus if you make sure you generate a new address every time you want to receive bitcoins that is a good start. Choose your Bitcoin wallet wisely Using a like CoinBase and Circle or a like Blockchain.info would be ideal if they would care about your privacy, however they do not. Even if they do, you should not trust them. Bitcoin bank, web wallet, By using an , like MultiBit, Electrum, Mycelium and BreadWallet you are less vulnerable towards the wallet providers themselves, although curious third parties are able to link your addresses together . SPV wallet with surprising effectivity If you want to achieve the best privacy and you can afford to use a wallet that functions as a . This way there are much less things you need to worry about. full node Use TOR One, is to hide your IP address behind TOR. Another is to obfuscate/ anonymize/ mix/ tumble your bitcoins: Centralized Bitcoin mixers The usage of centralized Bitcoin mixers is heavily discouraged on “mainstream” Bitcoin forums, because of their ability to steal your bitcoins and the frequent exit scams. Ironically on the deep web they are the most popular options, because if they happen not to be malicious they provide the strongest and easiest privacy achievable today. They are practical. You send them some bitcoins and they send back completely unrelated ones. The problem is that the mixer can easily or worse: . steal your money deanonymize you CoinJoin/ JoinMarket A Bitcoin transaction can have multiple inputs and multiple outputs. The idea of (CJ) is that if multiple parties are joining their inputs and outputs together then nobody can tell which input belongs to which output. CoinJoin CJ without fixed amounts does not provide privacy. Therefore, this scheme needs great liquidity. This is what solved by incentivizing the participation in a way that liquidity providers can charge fees. JoinMarket today. JoinMarket You can use CoinShuffle/ ShufflePuff You might have heard about It is fully decentralized CoinJoin and is an almost production ready implementation of it from Mycelium. JoinMarket is a little less decentralized, because it uses a central server where its peers can communicate. Because the server can learn and steal absolutely nothing, the benefits of CoinShuffle over JoinMarket, if there are any, are not clear to me. CoinShuffle. ShufflePuff Example of a JoinMarket transaction in the Bitcoin testnet Compared to traditional mixers, CoinJoin based techniques your coins and there are no mixers used, there is . This sounds great in theory, however it has its serious challenges in practice. Here is an excerpt from for a more in-depth understanding on those challenges, however feel free to skip it if you are not interested in it. It is just some super boring cyber wizard stuff: prevent stealing no central party to deanonymize you TumbleBit whitepaper CoinShuffle and CoinJoin perform their mix in a single transaction, making them particularly vulnerable to DoS attacks where a user joins the mix and then aborts, disrupting the protocol for all other users. Decentralization also makes it easy for an attacker to create many Sybils and trick Alice A into mixing with them in order to deanonymize her payments. Moreover, Bitcoin’s maximum transaction size, 100KB, limits these systems to 538 users per mix. How does TumbleBit fit in? Centralized mixers are like Freeza, CoinJoin is like Goku in its base form.Goku cannot beat Freeza like this, however he is fighting in the right way at least: honestly. Goku, just like JoinMarket is not able to cheat. 1. Classic tumbler mode: Super Saiyan You can think of TumbleBit as a bitcoin mixer that only handles fix amounts, although it does not have the ability to steal your coins and deanonymize you, on the other hand it is much more than that.Classic Tumbler is just the first mode that can work. This mode is the simplest one and it is planned to be implemented first. If the technology of centralized mixers is like Freeza, then think of the first mode of TumbleBit as Super Saiyan Goku. 2. Uni-directional payment hub mode: Super Saiyan 3 From an end user perspective, the second mode could work somehow like this. You can join the TumbleBit payment hub as a payer or a receiver.By joining as a payer you might deposit 3 bitcoins.You do not need to be online to stay connected to the hub. As a payer you can send bitcoins, let us say 0.1 denominations to any receiver, instantly. When you finished your business, you can close the connection.If you are a payer you do not need to spend all 3 bitcoins of yours.If you are a receiver you do not need to close the channel after every 0.1 bitcoins you receive. The most important thing to note is that . The only thing that makes it less practical is that you have to use fixed denominations. you are transacting anonymously and instantly 3. Bi-directional payment hub mode: Super Saiyan God There is a third mode as well, maturing in the head of the creators, that has not been published yet, although it is probably possible to make the payer and the receiver make the same person. Therefore, by joining the TumbleBit hub you can send and receive money anonymously, instantly for free. Is that not the marketing selling point of Bitcoin? Note that the amounts have to be fixed in this case as well. Can the fixed denominations constraint be eliminated in the future? Maybe we will come up with a way. The third mode of TumbleBit is the Super Saiyan God mode. Its power levels are so high that we are not even able to understand its limitations at this point. An interesting problem Finally, I would like to talk about an interesting problem that applies to the Lightning Network as well. The problem with TumbleBit is not the lack of liquidity, rather too much of it. In order for TumbleBit to work the Tumbler Hub has to put many bitcoins into escrow. If it cannot, some people will not be able to use it. Therefore, the growing of TumbleBit is actually a direct Bitcoin buying pressure. How will the creators handle this situation? Is TumbleBit poised to be the next big thing in Bitcoin? Am I going to write the second part of this article series? Find out in the next Dragon Ball Z episode… If you have found this post useful and you would like to know more about TumbleBit, feel free to upvote, like, tweet, comment, share or provide any feedback. I need some motivation to create the next part. Part 2: The Endgame — Instant, Anonymous, Scaleable Payment System on Top of Bitcoin

Understanding TumbleBit Part 1: Making The Case

After months, actually years of waiting, Tesla finally unveiled its robotaxi last October. Much analysis went into the new self driving car. The company unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi with two gull-wing doors and no steering wheel or pedals. The “Cybercab” is a two-seater and low slung, a design far from the idea of a taxi right now, causing experts to criticize it, since a taxi usually has space for more than two passengers. “When you think of a cab, you think of something that’s going to carry more than two people,” Reuters quoted Jonathan Elfalan, vehicle testing director for the automotive website Edmunds.com. “Making this a two-seat-only car is very perplexing.” The design caused Tesla’s stocks to tumble by 9%. But buyers were already lining up. Palo Alto, home to Tesla’s engineering headquarters, is in talks with the carmaker to deploy a fleet of robotaxis in the city. It’s interesting to see the change in the auto consumer as the world is being pushed towards automated cars Elon Musk says the Cybercab, built without a steering wheel or pedals, will start production by 2026 or 2027. But we know Tesla and deadlines aren’t often in sync. The fact that the design is an FSD (Full Self Driving), is also raising concerns about regulations. It’s interesting to see the change in the auto consumer as the world is being pushed towards automated cars. A design like Tesla’s Cybercab, which is an FSD, means a tectonic shift in how the consumer perceives an automobile. Research is ongoing into the influence of anthropomorphism and social responsiveness in the transition from human to automated driving. Research also says that drivers are more likely to engage in non-driving activities, such as checking their phones or eating a sandwich, when using partial automation systems, with some easily skirting rules set to limit distractions. Tesla is not the only one to offer driverless rides. As of September, Uber and Waymo have begun to offer driverless ride-hailing trips in Austin and Atlanta. Other concerns at another level. The US is cautious about Chinese software in US autonomous and connected vehicles. The automated vehicle is a piece of formidable machine that can accomplish much damage if hacked. Meanwhile, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is entering the automobile space as well. Japan’s Toyota announced tying up with China’s Tencent while Nissan will team up with Baidu. The separate announcements from two of Japan’s biggest automakers at the Beijing auto show highlight the importance of AI for carmakers. What Today’s Drivers Want: AI As per Continental Mobility Study 2024, the majority (54%) of younger drivers in countries like Germany China, France, Japan and the US, cars are a status symbol. They’re particularly enthusiastic about technological advances in cars. They look forward to the benefits self-driving cars will offer in terms of being able to read, play video games or work (51% of 25 to 34-year-olds). In addition to autonomous driving, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of digital voice assistants is very popular with this group. “The findings show that the response to new technologies such as automated driving, large displays and AI in cars varies greatly between generations and also between countries. That’s why we aim to provide customized solutions – market-specific, tailor-made and modular,” says Philipp von Hirschheydt, Continental Executive Board member responsible for the Automotive group sector, commenting on the survey findings. Around two-thirds of younger people up to the age of 34 also believe that state-of-the-art technologies should be mandatory in newly registered cars to make traffic safer, a perception that signals approval of the EU directive requiring certain advanced driver assistance systems in new cars, which has been in force since July 2024. Another future technology that is particularly popular with younger people is AI assistants in cars. Almost three-quarters of respondents (74 %) between the ages of 18 and 34 would welcome an AI voice as a service that, like a virtual travel companion, that provides useful information about sights and restaurants along the route, finds the nearest gas or charging station, searches for free parking spaces or even compiles personal messages. *“Younger people in particular have changing expectations of cars. These are closely linked to pioneering technologies such as automated driving, which deliver new user experiences.” *— Philipp von Hirschheydt “Younger people in particular have changing expectations of cars. These are closely linked to pioneering technologies such as automated driving, which deliver new user experiences,” explains Philipp von Hirschheydt, adding, “At Continental, we’re already equipping cars with AI. Together with our partner Google Cloud, we have developed a virtual companion for drivers. We are particularly proud to be one of the first automotive suppliers worldwide to integrate Google Cloud applications directly into our vehicle computers.” AI-Powered Virtual Travel Companion, Large Displays The comparison between countries reveals a widespread openness to highly automated and autonomous driving in Asia across all age groups. In China, nine out of 10 respondents (90 %) view the relevant technologies as a useful development, while in Japan, almost three- quarters (72 %) share this sentiment. In France (60 %) and the USA (56 %), more than half of those surveyed have a positive attitude. In Germany, around one in two respondents (49 %) feel the same. An AI-powered virtual travel companion is particularly popular in China, where nine out of 10 respondents (91 %) say they would like to have such a service. In the US (66 %) and Japan (63 %), around two-thirds express this wish, while in France (58 %) and Germany (57 %) more than half would be happy to have the technology. There is broad agreement across all countries on the ideal size of a car display for infotainment content. Most people prefer larger displays (China 90%, Germany 81%, France 79%, and the US 80%, and Japan 69%). However, preferences differ significantly when it comes to technological details. While the Japanese and German prefer a simpler display on car screens, a slight majority in the US favor more colors. Voice control is particularly popular in Japan and China, while the number is significantly lower in Germany. Navanwita Bora Sachdev, Editor, The Tech Panda After months, actually years of waiting, Tesla finally unveiled its robotaxi last October. Much analysis went into the new self driving car. Tesla The company unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi with two gull-wing doors and no steering wheel or pedals. The “Cybercab” is a two-seater and low slung, a design far from the idea of a taxi right now, causing experts to criticize it , since a taxi usually has space for more than two passengers. long-awaited robotaxi “Cybercab” experts to criticize it “When you think of a cab, you think of something that’s going to carry more than two people,” Reuters quoted Jonathan Elfalan, vehicle testing director for the automotive website Edmunds.com. “Making this a two-seat-only car is very perplexing.” Reuters The design caused Tesla’s stocks to tumble by 9%. But buyers were already lining up. Palo Alto, home to Tesla’s engineering headquarters, is in talks with the carmaker to deploy a fleet of robotaxis in the city. Tesla’s stocks to tumble is in talks with It’s interesting to see the change in the auto consumer as the world is being pushed towards automated cars It’s interesting to see the change in the auto consumer as the world is being pushed towards automated cars It’s interesting to see the change in the auto consumer as the world is being pushed towards automated cars It’s interesting to see the change in the auto consumer as the world is being pushed towards automated cars It’s interesting to see the change in the auto consumer as the world is being pushed towards automated cars Elon Musk says the Cybercab, built without a steering wheel or pedals, will start production by 2026 or 2027. But we know Tesla and deadlines aren’t often in sync. The fact that the design is an FSD (Full Self Driving), is also raising concerns about regulations. It’s interesting to see the change in the auto consumer as the world is being pushed towards automated cars. A design like Tesla’s Cybercab, which is an FSD, means a tectonic shift in how the consumer perceives an automobile. Research is ongoing into the influence of anthropomorphism and social responsiveness in the transition from human to automated driving. Research also says that drivers are more likely to engage in non-driving activities , such as checking their phones or eating a sandwich, when using partial automation systems, with some easily skirting rules set to limit distractions. influence of anthropomorphism likely to engage in non-driving activities Tesla is not the only one to offer driverless rides. As of September, Uber and Waymo have begun to offer driverless ride-hailing trips in Austin and Atlanta. Uber Waymo driverless Other concerns at another level. The US is cautious about Chinese software in US autonomous and connected vehicles. The automated vehicle is a piece of formidable machine that can accomplish much damage if hacked. Chinese software in US autonomous Meanwhile, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is entering the automobile space as well. Japan’s Toyota announced tying up with China’s Tencent while Nissan will team up with Baidu . The separate announcements from two of Japan’s biggest automakers at the Beijing auto show highlight the importance of AI for carmakers . Toyota Tencent Nissan Baidu the importance of AI for carmakers What Today’s Drivers Want: AI What Today’s Drivers Want: AI What Today’s Drivers Want: AI As per Continental Mobility Study 2024 , the majority (54%) of younger drivers in countries like Germany China, France, Japan and the US, cars are a status symbol. They’re particularly enthusiastic about technological advances in cars. They look forward to the benefits self-driving cars will offer in terms of being able to read, play video games or work (51% of 25 to 34-year-olds). In addition to autonomous driving, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of digital voice assistants is very popular with this group. Continental Mobility Study 2024 “The findings show that the response to new technologies such as automated driving, large displays and AI in cars varies greatly between generations and also between countries. That’s why we aim to provide customized solutions – market-specific, tailor-made and modular,” says Philipp von Hirschheydt, Continental Executive Board member responsible for the Automotive group sector, commenting on the survey findings. Around two-thirds of younger people up to the age of 34 also believe that state-of-the-art technologies should be mandatory in newly registered cars to make traffic safer, a perception that signals approval of the EU directive requiring certain advanced driver assistance systems in new cars, which has been in force since July 2024. Another future technology that is particularly popular with younger people is AI assistants in cars. Almost three-quarters of respondents (74 %) between the ages of 18 and 34 would welcome an AI voice as a service that, like a virtual travel companion, that provides useful information about sights and restaurants along the route, finds the nearest gas or charging station, searches for free parking spaces or even compiles personal messages. *“Younger people in particular have changing expectations of cars. These are closely linked to pioneering technologies such as automated driving, which deliver new user experiences.” *— Philipp von Hirschheydt *“Younger people in particular have changing expectations of cars. These are closely linked to pioneering technologies such as automated driving, which deliver new user experiences.” * — Philipp von Hirschheydt *“Younger people in particular have changing expectations of cars. These are closely linked to pioneering technologies such as automated driving, which deliver new user experiences.” * *“Younger people in particular have changing expectations of cars. These are closely linked to pioneering technologies such as automated driving, which deliver new user experiences.” * “Younger people in particular have changing expectations of cars. These are closely linked to pioneering technologies such as automated driving, which deliver new user experiences,” explains Philipp von Hirschheydt, adding, “At Continental, we’re already equipping cars with AI. Together with our partner Google Cloud, we have developed a virtual companion for drivers. We are particularly proud to be one of the first automotive suppliers worldwide to integrate Google Cloud applications directly into our vehicle computers.” AI-Powered Virtual Travel Companion, Large Displays AI-Powered Virtual Travel Companion, Large Displays AI-Powered Virtual Travel Companion, Large Displays The comparison between countries reveals a widespread openness to highly automated and autonomous driving in Asia across all age groups. In China, nine out of 10 respondents (90 %) view the relevant technologies as a useful development, while in Japan, almost three- quarters (72 %) share this sentiment. In France (60 %) and the USA (56 %), more than half of those surveyed have a positive attitude. In Germany, around one in two respondents (49 %) feel the same. An AI-powered virtual travel companion is particularly popular in China, where nine out of 10 respondents (91 %) say they would like to have such a service. In the US (66 %) and Japan (63 %), around two-thirds express this wish, while in France (58 %) and Germany (57 %) more than half would be happy to have the technology. There is broad agreement across all countries on the ideal size of a car display for infotainment content. Most people prefer larger displays (China 90%, Germany 81%, France 79%, and the US 80%, and Japan 69%). However, preferences differ significantly when it comes to technological details. While the Japanese and German prefer a simpler display on car screens, a slight majority in the US favor more colors. Voice control is particularly popular in Japan and China, while the number is significantly lower in Germany. Navanwita Bora Sachdev, Editor, The Tech Panda Navanwita Bora Sachdev, Editor, The Tech Panda Navanwita Bora Sachdev, Editor, The Tech Panda

Is Tesla's Robotaxi a Bold Step or a Blunder? 

The title opens with new words never before heard in the Bitcoin world. Let’s dive in. Background You have heard it said how Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme. You have probably thought Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme. But it’s due to not realizing the idea of static and dynamic BTC. For example, right now it is $97k ish. Let's say I am holding 1 BTC. Then it goes to $100k next week. And I cash out. $3k easy. If I am a good human being with an analytical economics mind, I will wonder: Why did I make $3k just sitting on my ass? “Of course”, I made money because the person who bought from me at $100k got Bitcoin at the price they deserve. And whoever didn't buy should “Have Fun Staying Poor” . This is very toxic Bitcoin Maximalist thinking. Toxic maximalism is so 2022 (coz of FTX and Friends). At the latest. It is so old news even Saifedean Ammous doesn't bother crypto bros anymore. We're all moving on. The smarter me decides there must have been a lot of factors at play. Say: Saylor bought more.
More people discovered cheap international remittance with BTC.
A new ETF whale just jumped into the pool. Making a wave.
Bitcoin is scarce and now Bitcoin miners are moving to hodl their 2024 minings.
Trump made a statement and many people started moving crypto.
Some people's DCA habits are now hitting a nerve.
A new Bitcoin Circular Economy was created. Very good. Now, What do you notice with all the above examples? Bitcoin is moving! So while I and my bitcoin were sitted on our asses, dozens of people moved their bitcoins this way and that, while in-flowing more dollars, yen, shillings, etc into the Bitcoin ecosystem. That is why the price went up. So the price doesn't go up by magic. Finding good reasons to make Bitcoin more dynamic = Number go up. Static bitcoin = Number go down. Here’s the reverse scenario: I sat on my bitcoin.
You sat on your bitcoins.
Saylor sat on his bitcoins and didn't want to move more into his stash.
People stopped DCA-ing. The stash they have, they suffice, would be enough to retire on. They rather waited out the next 5 years.
Nothing cool happened. Basically. Price tumbles. So “Dynamic Bitcoin” is not really a new term. Same goes for “Static Bitcoin”. They are singular terms I came up with to explain all that stuff. BTC has to move if it is to give value to BTC. If BTC stops moving, then a pretty JPEG of it is more valuable that a real bitcoin. BTC is money, after all. It must move. Whether you and I DCA bitcoin or move it in a circular economy, whether a celebrity like Elon moves our buying habits or whether it is a relative we want to remit cash too, the bottom line is the movement. The movement of value, so that you and the person on the other end appreciate the good things that can happen courtesy of BTC. But moving Bitcoin even more than we are doing right now will require energy. It is the #1 way to make it really dynamic. There is plenty of energy to move Bitcoin Before there was Bitcoin, there was the 2008 financial crisis. Caused by a housing bubble. However, Investopedia reports that oil and gas prices fell dramatically, leading to a contraction in credit for the sector and falling revenues for oil and gas companies. By how much did prices fall? "Oil prices fell from $133.88 in June 2008 to a low of $39.09 in February 2009. Over the same time period, natural gas prices fell from $12.69 to $4.52.” - Investopedia. Let's unpack these figures. Firstly, oil is not like lavish housing. During a market crash, people will dump dreams of lavish housing fast. To keep staying in their tiny 2-room apartments/rentals. They will still want to use their cars. What if they've been laid off? Then they will drive around looking for work. They will also cook more food, since they are staying at home all the time. In other words, consumption of oil and gas is not what suffered. What suffered was the willingness to pay exorbitant prices for oil and natural gas. They were soon paying real prices. Same with food. Here's more data seen with an energy consumption graph for the period. Taken from Our World in Data. As the above images show, there is a miniscule dip in 2009 likely due to this financial crisis, and another miniscule dip in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic. The dips are so miniscule they account for less than 1% change in consumption. Meanwhile, prices are falling more than 70% ! What does this tell you? It's all a fugazi. Oil and gas prices are artificially high. Even right now. That is the truth. Crises always correct them so that they nearly match production costs. Just like in the world of bitcoin mining. Why do they hike and who hikes them? I can blame the oil and gas industry. Blame it and it's shrewd, greedy players. But the other person to blame is the person in the mirror. During a financial crisis, I revert to common sensible mode and only pay these fossil fuel moguls only what the oil is fairly worth. During good times, I tip to my heart’s content. I am a generous creature, a human. Even to billionaires. None of them ever forced me to pay more. As the customer, I set the price. Right. Fossil fuels are however getting cheaper. Which is why Exxon is no longer the most profitable company in the world. Maybe we discovered more reserves, or we found other things to care about more, but still, it is plentiful. Has to be. Otherwise, it would be very expensive. And Exxon and it's buddies would be quadrillion dollar corps controlling the entire world. People would fight for oil to the teeth, before they fought for Apple iphones. It's that important. Ask this guy if you don't believe me. Forced Dynamism is good In physics, there is something called a forced oscillation. Like when a playground swing is forced to start moving. In the same vein is the logic of turning stranded, “useless” energy resources into energy for bitcoin mining equipment. Even if you don't need the money or the energy. Yet. In case the energy is needed for other things, no problem. Cut off the mining equipment. It is a true hedge against the uncertainties of energy scarcity (like when fossil fuel supply is cut during wars). You have bitcoins mined, and you have a power source. Win-win. Bitcoin mining equipment is a big investment though. For modest players, companies like Rootstock have provided a way to increase the dynamics of one's bitcoins using EVM smart contracts on their RBTC coins. Basically, before Rootstock, we had to code all Bitcoin transactional logic ourselves, one logical movement at a time. E.g. If one wanted to trade BTC, one had to be available on one's PC / Phone in every trade. Pressing each button themselves, eyes opened and fingers alerted by a can of caffeine. Now with Rootstock, we can automate some actions. Go work our abs as our EVM robots work out those now dynamic BTC (called RBTC). BTW, RBTC > WBTC. Even if WBTC is also EVM compatible Bitcoin. Iykyk. Iydk, nyk. But if one is low on funds to play with, then Bitcoin evangelism is always there for them. It is the most accessible way to help keep the momentum in BTC, without spending cash. Be it fiat or crypto. So when you see a Bitcoiner preach BTC to you, and tell you to buy some, they are forcing dynamism. Don't chase them away. Give them a listening ear. It will go a long way in the fight for financial freedoms. Conclusion - Tokenizing BTC for Dynamism In a recent interview with Natalie Brunell, Michael Saylor said a few uncomfortable (fiat-ish) statements. For example, from 14:13 to 14:16 in the linked highlight, he says: “There's nothing wrong if Joe Rogan issues Rogan token” - Michael Saylor I wasn't happy. Saylor is my hero and I have 4 questions. Why would he say something like that? I mean why should Joe Rogan issue fiat tokens as he wants instead of buying, learning, or valuing BTC? Isn't this how FTX ruined us? I thought there is no second best? That said, Bitcoin itself is not a whatever token. That much I agree. Something else could be a token while BTC remains money and an asset. So if Joe Rogan tokenizes his content and pegs it to BTC, or buys BTC as a reserve for it, that would be ok. The dynamic ‘Rogan Token’, circulated alongside Joe Rogan's massively viewed content, would also infuse some momentum into their pegged BTC. Natalie concluded the interview nicely: Natalie*: So if I can summarize everything you just said … we are witnessing the digitization of fiat currencies, and eventually the tokenization of real world assets … with Bitcoin being really the pristine collateral and the deep store of value..* Saylor*: I think so* So, Imagine all that economic activity sitting on top of only 21 million bitcoins. You bet, they'll be very dynamic. Like electrons. Very high frequency dynamism. Not because people are hodling their BTC stash. Because they are continually buidling on them and moving them, hence us, towards a better future. *** P.S. : When will the D.O.G.E start operations in the crypto space? The title opens with new words never before heard in the Bitcoin world. Let’s dive in. Background You have heard it said how Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme. You have probably thought Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme. But it’s due to not realizing the idea of static and dynamic BTC. For example, right now it is $97k ish. Let's say I am holding 1 BTC. Then it goes to $100k next week. And I cash out. $3k easy. If I am a good human being with an analytical economics mind, I will wonder: Why did I make $3k just sitting on my ass? Why did I make $3k just sitting on my ass? “Of course”, I made money because the person who bought from me at $100k got Bitcoin at the price they deserve . And whoever didn't buy should “Have Fun Staying Poor” . got Bitcoin at the price they deserve And whoever didn't buy should “Have Fun Staying Poor” . This is very toxic Bitcoin Maximalist thinking. Toxic maximalism is so 2022 (coz of FTX and Friends). At the latest. It is so old news even Saifedean Ammous doesn't bother crypto bros anymore. We're all moving on. The smarter me decides there must have been a lot of factors at play. Say: Saylor bought more. More people discovered cheap international remittance with BTC. A new ETF whale just jumped into the pool. Making a wave. Bitcoin is scarce and now Bitcoin miners are moving to hodl their 2024 minings. Trump made a statement and many people started moving crypto. Some people's DCA habits are now hitting a nerve. A new Bitcoin Circular Economy was created. Saylor bought more. More people discovered cheap international remittance with BTC. A new ETF whale just jumped into the pool. Making a wave. Bitcoin is scarce and now Bitcoin miners are moving to hodl their 2024 minings. Trump made a statement and many people started moving crypto. Some people's DCA habits are now hitting a nerve. A new Bitcoin Circular Economy was created. Very good. Now, What do you notice with all the above examples? Bitcoin is moving! So while I and my bitcoin were sitted on our asses, dozens of people moved their bitcoins this way and that, while in-flowing more dollars, yen, shillings, etc into the Bitcoin ecosystem. That is why the price went up. So the price doesn't go up by magic. Finding good reasons to make Bitcoin more dynamic = Number go up. Static bitcoin = Number go down. Here’s the reverse scenario: I sat on my bitcoin. You sat on your bitcoins. Saylor sat on his bitcoins and didn't want to move more into his stash. People stopped DCA-ing. The stash they have, they suffice, would be enough to retire on. They rather waited out the next 5 years. Nothing cool happened. Basically. I sat on my bitcoin. You sat on your bitcoins. Saylor sat on his bitcoins and didn't want to move more into his stash. People stopped DCA-ing. The stash they have, they suffice, would be enough to retire on. They rather waited out the next 5 years. Nothing cool happened. Basically. Price tumbles. So “Dynamic Bitcoin” is not really a new term. Same goes for “Static Bitcoin”. They are singular terms I came up with to explain all that stuff. BTC has to move if it is to give value to BTC. If BTC stops moving, then a pretty JPEG of it is more valuable that a real bitcoin. BTC is money, after all. It must move. Whether you and I DCA bitcoin or move it in a circular economy, whether a celebrity like Elon moves our buying habits or whether it is a relative we want to remit cash too, the bottom line is the movement. The movement of value, so that you and the person on the other end appreciate the good things that can happen courtesy of BTC. But moving Bitcoin even more than we are doing right now will require energy. It is the #1 way to make it really dynamic. There is plenty of energy to move Bitcoin Before there was Bitcoin, there was the 2008 financial crisis. Caused by a housing bubble. However, Investopedia reports that oil and gas prices fell dramatically, leading to a contraction in credit for the sector and falling revenues for oil and gas companies . reports leading to a contraction in credit for the sector and falling revenues for oil and gas companies By how much did prices fall? "Oil prices fell from $133.88 in June 2008 to a low of $39.09 in February 2009. Over the same time period, natural gas prices fell from $12.69 to $4.52.” - Investopedia. "Oil prices fell from $133.88 in June 2008 to a low of $39.09 in February 2009. Over the same time period, natural gas prices fell from $12.69 to $4.52.” - Investopedia. Let's unpack these figures. Firstly, oil is not like lavish housing. During a market crash, people will dump dreams of lavish housing fast. To keep staying in their tiny 2-room apartments/rentals. They will still want to use their cars. What if they've been laid off? Then they will drive around looking for work. They will also cook more food, since they are staying at home all the time. In other words, consumption of oil and gas is not what suffered. What suffered was the willingness to pay exorbitant prices for oil and natural gas. They were soon paying real prices. Same with food. real Here's more data seen with an energy consumption graph for the period. Taken from Our World in Data . Our World in Data As the above images show, there is a miniscule dip in 2009 likely due to this financial crisis, and another miniscule dip in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic. The dips are so miniscule they account for less than 1% change in consumption. Meanwhile, prices are falling more than 70% ! What does this tell you? It's all a fugazi. Oil and gas prices are artificially high. Even right now. That is the truth. Crises always correct them so that they nearly match production costs. Just like in the world of bitcoin mining. Why do they hike and who hikes them? I can blame the oil and gas industry. Blame it and it's shrewd, greedy players. But the other person to blame is the person in the mirror. During a financial crisis, I revert to common sensible mode and only pay these fossil fuel moguls only what the oil is fairly worth. During good times, I tip to my heart’s content. I am a generous creature, a human. Even to billionaires. None of them ever forced me to pay more. As the customer, I set the price. Right. Fossil fuels are however getting cheaper. Which is why Exxon is no longer the most profitable company in the world. Maybe we discovered more reserves, or we found other things to care about more, but still, it is plentiful. Has to be. Otherwise, it would be very expensive. And Exxon and it's buddies would be quadrillion dollar corps controlling the entire world. People would fight for oil to the teeth, before they fought for Apple iphones. It's that important. Ask this guy if you don't believe me. Forced Dynamism is good In physics, there is something called a forced oscillation. Like when a playground swing is forced to start moving. In the same vein is the logic of turning stranded, “useless” energy resources into energy for bitcoin mining equipment. Even if you don't need the money or the energy. Yet. In case the energy is needed for other things, no problem. Cut off the mining equipment. It is a true hedge against the uncertainties of energy scarcity (like when fossil fuel supply is cut during wars). You have bitcoins mined, and you have a power source. Win-win. Bitcoin mining equipment is a big investment though. For modest players, companies like Rootstock have provided a way to increase the dynamics of one's bitcoins using EVM smart contracts on their RBTC coins. Rootstock Basically, before Rootstock, we had to code all Bitcoin transactional logic ourselves, one logical movement at a time. E.g. If one wanted to trade BTC, one had to be available on one's PC / Phone in every trade. Pressing each button themselves, eyes opened and fingers alerted by a can of caffeine. Now with Rootstock, we can automate some actions. Go work our abs as our EVM robots work out those now dynamic BTC (called RBTC). BTW, RBTC > WBTC. Even if WBTC is also EVM compatible Bitcoin. Iykyk. Iydk, nyk. But if one is low on funds to play with, then Bitcoin evangelism is always there for them. It is the most accessible way to help keep the momentum in BTC, without spending cash. Be it fiat or crypto. So when you see a Bitcoiner preach BTC to you, and tell you to buy some, they are forcing dynamism. Don't chase them away. Give them a listening ear. It will go a long way in the fight for financial freedoms. Conclusion - Tokenizing BTC for Dynamism In a recent interview with Natalie Brunell, Michael Saylor said a few uncomfortable (fiat-ish) statements. recent interview For example, from 14:13 to 14:16 in the linked highlight, he says: “There's nothing wrong if Joe Rogan issues Rogan token” - Michael Saylor “There's nothing wrong if Joe Rogan issues Rogan token” - Michael Saylor I wasn't happy. Saylor is my hero and I have 4 questions. Why would he say something like that? Why would he say something like that? I mean why should Joe Rogan issue fiat tokens as he wants instead of buying, learning, or valuing BTC? I mean why should Joe Rogan issue fiat tokens as he wants instead of buying, learning, or valuing BTC? Isn't this how FTX ruined us? Isn't this how FTX ruined us? I thought there is no second best? I thought there is no second best? That said, Bitcoin itself is not a whatever token. That much I agree. Something else could be a token while BTC remains money and an asset. So if Joe Rogan tokenizes his content and pegs it to BTC, or buys BTC as a reserve for it, that would be ok. The dynamic ‘Rogan Token’, circulated alongside Joe Rogan's massively viewed content, would also infuse some momentum into their pegged BTC. Natalie concluded the interview nicely: Natalie *: So if I can summarize everything you just said … we are witnessing the digitization of fiat currencies, and eventually the tokenization of real world assets … with Bitcoin being really the pristine collateral and the deep store of value..* Natalie Saylor *: I think so* Saylor So, Imagine all that economic activity sitting on top of only 21 million bitcoins. You bet, they'll be very dynamic. Like electrons. Very high frequency dynamism. Not because people are hodling their BTC stash. Because they are continually buidling on them and moving them, hence us, towards a better future. *** P.S. : When will the D.O.G.E start operations in the crypto space? P.S. : When will the D.O.G.E start operations in the crypto space?

The Toxicity of Bitcoin Maximalist Thinking

Die toksisiteit van Bitcoin-maksimalistiese denke

سمية التفكير المتطرف في البيتكوين

Токсичността на биткойн максималисткото мислене

Toksiciteten af Bitcoin maksimalistisk tænkning

La toxicidad del pensamiento maximalista sobre Bitcoin

Bitcoinin maksimalistisen ajattelun myrkyllisyys

बिटकॉइन मैक्सिमलिस्ट सोच की विषाक्तता

ビットコイン最大主義的思考の毒性

Биткоинның максималистік ойлауының уыттылығы

Toxicity ya Bitcoin Maximalist Thinking

ความเป็นพิษของการคิดแบบสูงสุดของ Bitcoin

መርዛምነት ቢትኮይን ማክሲማሊስት ኣተሓሳስባ

Gradient Descent. Image taken from - https://community.deeplearning.ai/t/difference-between-rmsprop-and-adam/310187 What Is Gradient Descent? Gradient descent is like hiking downhill with your eyes closed, following the slope until you hit the bottom (or at least a nice flat spot to rest). Technically, it is a method to minimize an objective function F(θ), parameterized by a model’s parameters θ∈Rn, by updating them in the opposite direction of the gradient ∇F(θ). The size of each step is controlled by the learning rate α. Think of α as the cautious guide who ensures you don’t tumble down too fast. If this sounds like Greek, feel free to check out my previous article, Quick Glance At Gradient Descent In Machine Learning — I promise it’s friendlier than it sounds! 🙂 Circle back: An objective function is the mathematical formula or function that your model aims to minimize (or maximize, depending on the goal) during training. It represents a measure of how far off your model’s predictions are from the actual outcomes or desired values.
For example:In machine learning, it could be a loss function like Mean Squared Error (MSE) for regression tasks or Cross-Entropy Loss for classification tasks.The objective function maps the model’s predictions to a numerical value, where smaller values indicate better performance.In simpler terms:It’s like a “fitness tracker” for your model — it tells you how good or bad your model’s predictions are. During optimization, gradient descent helps adjust the model’s parameters θ to reduce this value step by step, moving closer to an ideal solution. Got it? 😄 Gradient Descent Variants Gradient descent isn’t a one-size-fits-all deal. It comes in three variants, each like a different hiker — some take the scenic route, others sprint downhill, and a few prefer shortcuts (like me 😅). These variants balance accuracy and speed, depending on how much data they use to calculate the gradient. 1. Batch Gradient Descent Batch gradient descent, the “all-or-nothing” hiker, uses the entire dataset to compute the gradient of the cost function: Imagine stopping to look 👀 at every rock 🪨, tree 🌴, and bird 🕊 before deciding where to place your foot 🦶🏽next. It’s thorough, but not ideal if your dataset is as big as, say, the Amazon rainforest 😩. It’s also not great if you need to learn on the fly — like updating your hiking route after spotting a bear 🐻‍❄️. Code Example: for i in range(nb_epochs):
    params_grad = evaluate_gradient(loss_function, data, params)
    params = params - learning_rate * params_grad Batch gradient descent shines when you have all the time in the world and a dataset that fits neatly into memory. It’s guaranteed to find the global minimum for convex surfaces (smooth hills) or a local minimum for non-convex surfaces (rugged mountains). 2. Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) SGD is the “impulsive” hiker who takes one step at a time based on the current terrain: It’s faster because it doesn’t bother calculating gradients for the entire landscape. Instead, it uses one training example at a time. While this saves time, the frequent updates can make SGD look like it’s zigzagging downhill, which can be both exciting and a little chaotic. 😅 Imagine updating your grocery list after each aisle — you get to the essentials faster, but your cart might look wild in the process. However, with a learning rate that slows down over time, SGD can eventually reach the bottom (or the best local minimum). Code Example: for i in range(nb_epochs):
    np.random.shuffle(data)
    for example in data:
        params_grad = evaluate_gradient(loss_function, example, params)
        params = params - learning_rate * params_grad 3. The Hero of the Day: Adam 🙌🏽 Now let’s talk about Adam — the “hiking guru” who combines the wisdom of Momentum and RMSprop. Adaptive Moment Estimation (Adam) is like having a smart guide who tracks the terrain and adjusts your steps based on past experiences and current conditions. It’s the go-to optimizer when you want to train neural networks and still have time for coffee. Why You’ll Love Adam Low Memory Requirements: It’s like carrying a lightweight backpack — efficient but still packed with essentials.


Minimal Hyperparameter Tuning: Adam works well out of the box, so you won’t need to fiddle with too many knobs (just keep an eye on the learning rate).


Practical Use: From improving product recommendations to recognizing images of cats on the internet, Adam powers machine learning systems that make your everyday tech smarter. How Adam Works Adam maintains moving averages of gradients (mt​) and squared gradients (vt​) to adapt learning rates for each parameter: Here’s the cool part: Adam corrects biases to ensure accuracy, and updates parameters using this formula: where m^t and v^t are bias-corrected estimates, and epsilon ϵ is a small number to prevent division by zero. Conclusion Adam is the Swiss Army knife of optimizers — versatile, efficient, and reliable. Whether you’re training neural networks to detect fraud or create next-gen chatbots, Adam helps you get there faster and with fewer headaches. So, embrace Adam, take confident steps, and enjoy the view from the summit of machine learning success! References: https://www.ceremade.dauphine.fr/\~waldspurger/tds/22_23_s1/advanced_gradient_descent.pdf https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/rmsprop-optimizer-in-deep-learning/ Gradient Descent. Image taken from - https://community.deeplearning.ai/t/difference-between-rmsprop-and-adam/310187 Gradient Descent. Image taken from - https://community.deeplearning.ai/t/difference-between-rmsprop-and-adam/310187 What Is Gradient Descent? Gradient descent is like hiking downhill with your eyes closed, following the slope until you hit the bottom (or at least a nice flat spot to rest). Technically, it is a method to minimize an objective function F(θ ), parameterized by a model’s parameters θ∈Rn, by updating them in the opposite direction of the gradient ∇F(θ). objective function F(θ The size of each step is controlled by the learning rate α. Think of α as the cautious guide who ensures you don’t tumble down too fast. If this sounds like Greek, feel free to check out my previous article, Quick Glance At Gradient Descent In Machine Learning — I promise it’s friendlier than it sounds! 🙂 Circle back: An objective function is the mathematical formula or function that your model aims to minimize (or maximize, depending on the goal) during training. It represents a measure of how far off your model’s predictions are from the actual outcomes or desired values. For example: In machine learning, it could be a loss function like Mean Squared Error (MSE) for regression tasks or Cross-Entropy Loss for classification tasks. The objective function maps the model’s predictions to a numerical value, where smaller values indicate better performance. In simpler terms: It’s like a “fitness tracker” for your model — it tells you how good or bad your model’s predictions are. During optimization, gradient descent helps adjust the model’s parameters θ to reduce this value step by step, moving closer to an ideal solution. Got it? 😄 Circle back: An objective function is the mathematical formula or function that your model aims to minimize (or maximize, depending on the goal) during training. It represents a measure of how far off your model’s predictions are from the actual outcomes or desired values. Circle back: objective function For example: In machine learning , it could be a loss function like Mean Squared Error (MSE) for regression tasks or Cross-Entropy Loss for classification tasks. machine learning loss function The objective function maps the model’s predictions to a numerical value , where smaller values indicate better performance. numerical value In simpler terms: It’s like a “fitness tracker” for your model — it tells you how good or bad your model’s predictions are. During optimization, gradient descent helps adjust the model’s parameters θ to reduce this value step by step, moving closer to an ideal solution. Got it? 😄 Gradient Descent Variants Gradient descent isn’t a one-size-fits-all deal. It comes in three variants, each like a different hiker — some take the scenic route, others sprint downhill, and a few prefer shortcuts (like me 😅). These variants balance accuracy and speed, depending on how much data they use to calculate the gradient. 1. Batch Gradient Descent Batch gradient descent, the “all-or-nothing” hiker, uses the entire dataset to compute the gradient of the cost function: Imagine stopping to look 👀 at every rock 🪨, tree 🌴, and bird 🕊 before deciding where to place your foot 🦶🏽next. It’s thorough, but not ideal if your dataset is as big as, say, the Amazon rainforest 😩. It’s also not great if you need to learn on the fly — like updating your hiking route after spotting a bear 🐻‍❄️. Code Example: Code Example: for i in range(nb_epochs):
    params_grad = evaluate_gradient(loss_function, data, params)
    params = params - learning_rate * params_grad for i in range(nb_epochs):
    params_grad = evaluate_gradient(loss_function, data, params)
    params = params - learning_rate * params_grad Batch gradient descent shines when you have all the time in the world and a dataset that fits neatly into memory. It’s guaranteed to find the global minimum for convex surfaces (smooth hills) or a local minimum for non-convex surfaces (rugged mountains). 2. Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) SGD is the “impulsive” hiker who takes one step at a time based on the current terrain: It’s faster because it doesn’t bother calculating gradients for the entire landscape. Instead, it uses one training example at a time. While this saves time, the frequent updates can make SGD look like it’s zigzagging downhill, which can be both exciting and a little chaotic. 😅 Imagine updating your grocery list after each aisle — you get to the essentials faster, but your cart might look wild in the process. However, with a learning rate that slows down over time, SGD can eventually reach the bottom (or the best local minimum). Code Example: Code Example: for i in range(nb_epochs):
    np.random.shuffle(data)
    for example in data:
        params_grad = evaluate_gradient(loss_function, example, params)
        params = params - learning_rate * params_grad for i in range(nb_epochs):
    np.random.shuffle(data)
    for example in data:
        params_grad = evaluate_gradient(loss_function, example, params)
        params = params - learning_rate * params_grad 3. The Hero of the Day: Adam 🙌🏽 Now let’s talk about Adam — the “hiking guru” who combines the wisdom of Momentum and RMSprop . Adaptive Moment Estimation (Adam) is like having a smart guide who tracks the terrain and adjusts your steps based on past experiences and current conditions. It’s the go-to optimizer when you want to train neural networks and still have time for coffee. Momentum RMSprop Why You’ll Love Adam Low Memory Requirements: It’s like carrying a lightweight backpack — efficient but still packed with essentials. Minimal Hyperparameter Tuning: Adam works well out of the box, so you won’t need to fiddle with too many knobs (just keep an eye on the learning rate). Practical Use: From improving product recommendations to recognizing images of cats on the internet, Adam powers machine learning systems that make your everyday tech smarter. Low Memory Requirements: It’s like carrying a lightweight backpack — efficient but still packed with essentials. Low Memory Requirements: It’s like carrying a lightweight backpack — efficient but still packed with essentials. Low Memory Requirements: Minimal Hyperparameter Tuning: Adam works well out of the box, so you won’t need to fiddle with too many knobs (just keep an eye on the learning rate). Minimal Hyperparameter Tuning: Adam works well out of the box, so you won’t need to fiddle with too many knobs (just keep an eye on the learning rate). Minimal Hyperparameter Tuning: Practical Use: From improving product recommendations to recognizing images of cats on the internet, Adam powers machine learning systems that make your everyday tech smarter. Practical Use: From improving product recommendations to recognizing images of cats on the internet, Adam powers machine learning systems that make your everyday tech smarter. Practical Use: How Adam Works Adam maintains moving averages of gradients (mt​) and squared gradients (vt​) to adapt learning rates for each parameter: Here’s the cool part: Adam corrects biases to ensure accuracy, and updates parameters using this formula: where m^t and v^t are bias-corrected estimates, and epsilon ϵ is a small number to prevent division by zero. Conclusion Adam is the Swiss Army knife of optimizers — versatile, efficient, and reliable. Whether you’re training neural networks to detect fraud or create next-gen chatbots, Adam helps you get there faster and with fewer headaches. So, embrace Adam, take confident steps, and enjoy the view from the summit of machine learning success! References: https://www.ceremade.dauphine.fr/\~waldspurger/tds/22_23_s1/advanced_gradient_descent.pdf https://www.ceremade.dauphine.fr/\~waldspurger/tds/22_23_s1/advanced_gradient_descent.pdf https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/rmsprop-optimizer-in-deep-learning/ https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/rmsprop-optimizer-in-deep-learning/

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