Why Musk & Altman Want to Revive Crypto

Is crypto dead? The answer to this question depends who you are asking. A crypto enthusiast will give you a hundred different reasons explaining why crypto is not dead. And they won’t be entirely wrong either. Technology leaders like Elon Musk, Tesla Motors’ CEO, and Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, share a profound fascination for cryptocurrencies and their potential role in shaping the future world.

While Musk has been advocating for cryptocurrencies for quite some time, Sam Altman’s Worldcoin went live recently. The OpenAI founder believes that in the age of AI, Worldcoin’s solution could prove to be pivotal. He told Reuters that it can help address how the economy will be reshaped by generative AI.

What’s interesting is that both Musk and Altman are big believers in AI and its potential. While Sam Altman has changed the whole AI landscape with ChatGPT, Musk, on the other hand, had helped found OpenAI in 2015. More recently, Musk has also formed a new AI company called x.AI to understand the true nature of the universe. Although they allegedly had a fallout over their divergent views on AI, both individuals are now actively involved in revitalising the world of crypto.

Drawn towards futuristic ideas

As visionary entrepreneurs, it would be alright to say that both Musk and Altman are drawn towards futuristic ideas and innovations, and cryptocurrencies represent an evolving digital landscape with potential futuristic applications.

Musk’s endeavour with autonomous vehicles, putting chips in the human brain and colonising Mars is an example of that. Similarly, Altman’s Worldcoin appears to be something from a dystopian world where an Orb scans your iris to determine whether one is a human or AI. According to Altman himself, the concept of Worldcoin is something that would be applicable ‘very far in the future.’

Altman has indeed acknowledged that Worldcoin comes with the ‘ick factor’; however, he does envisage that once people understand the technology and its need, they would be more open towards it. Nonetheless, despite ethical and privacy concerns having been raised for their futuristic projects, both of them are moving ahead with these endeavours with full steam.

Hence, it should not be surprising that a world where Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies becomes legal tender challenging the dollars and rubles of the world does seem fascinating for both. By enduring regulatory challenges, government scrutiny, scandals, and market volatility, cryptocurrencies have persisted for over a decade.

Moreover, in recent times Musk has actively criticised traditional financial systems and at the same time, endorsed cryptocurrencies. While how Altman perceives cryptocurrencies is not known entirely, Worldcoin suggests that he is a firm believer in the concept.

Altman is preparing for a post-AGI world

The premise of Worldcoin is fascinating. The goal is simple- a global financial and identity network based on proof of personhood in the AI era, Altman said. The minds behind Worldcoin, including Alex Blania and Max Novendstern, hold the belief that achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), where AI surpasses human intelligence, will trigger a surge in productivity and subsequent wealth generation.

Now, this is where it gets interesting, the creators believe the wealth generated by AI should be equally distributed among all citizens of the world in the form of cryptocurrencies (Universal Basic Income), ‘preferably’ Worldcoin. Fascinatingly, both Musk and Altman have predicted that AGI will happen before 2030.

However, not everyone thinks alike. Akshay Bajaj, co-founder and chief executive at DeFiVerse believes that currently Worldcoin appears to be a little overhyped. “I guess they will have to prove themselves as not just a fancy idea. Taking on this much data globally will prove to be a big challenge. Governments across multiple jurisdictions will definitely make some objections. Even though currently the coin is mostly hype, the backers are really big names,” he told AIM.

So far, Worldcoin has raised around USD 250 million with backing from prominent venture capitalists and groups such as Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures, Reid Hoffman and also the infamous Sam Bankman-Fried. Nonetheless, besides getting rid of the ‘ick factor’, the startup has to overcome a lot of regulatory and governmental-related challenges. Also, what are the chances that in the post-AGI world, the current financial systems of the world won’t exist? Moreover, governments across the globe are working on their CBDCs today.

Musk’s approach is much more realistic

On the other hand, Musk’s plan with Twitter ( sorry ‘X’) appears to be more realistic when compared to Altman’s. “In the months to come, we will add (to X) comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world,” he said.

When Musk took over the microblogging platform, there were speculations that he would introduce crypto to the platform. In April 2023, it was reported that Twitter will be allowing users to trade stocks and cryptocurrencies as part of a partnership with social investing company eToro.

His vision is to turn the microblogging platform into an AI-powered global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. As reported by the Financial Times, Musk plans to start with support for fiat currencies and to integrate cryptocurrencies, at a later period of time, if the need arises. This could mean Musk’s vision of an AI-driven world includes a potential use case for cryptocurrencies, like Altman, or that fiat currencies and cryptos co-exists at the same time, which is a more likely scenario.

Indeed, Musk has earlier said that the current banking systems are not ‘real-time and inefficient’ and not on par with today’s digital and interconnected world. Musk’s answer to this problem is crypto. Hence, a scenario where X does not bring in crypto is hard to imagine.

“Elon Musk’s crypto policies have always been very positive. I hope he talks about Ethereum or Bitcoin as well,” Bajaj said. Previously, Musk has said that his space venture SpaceX will accept Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency he has been backed for quite some time, as payments. Similarly, Tesla also bought USD 1.5 billion dollars worth of bitcoin and said the car manufacturer will accept payments in crypto.

There are other technocrats

While Musk might appear to be the ‘messiah’ of cryptocurrencies due to his influence, he, or Altman, are not the only technocrats that endorses cryptocurrencies. Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, is actively involved in running his own crypto projects. Earlier this year, Dorsey revealed that his firm Block (previously Square) is developing Bitkey- an actual piece of hardware, where users can transfer their crypto to, empowering them to take control of their bitcoin in a secure, user-friendly way.

However, unlike Altman, Dorsey is a firm believer in decentralisation. After Twitter, he even founded BlueSky, a decentralised social media platform and hence, he does not seem fascinated by the idea of Worldcoin.

Interestingly, Worldcoin is not the first platform advocating the philosophy of a universal basic income. EToro founder Yoni Assia said that he was flattered by Worldcoin’s approach and that it emulates his own GoodDollar, universal basic income platform.

Musk, too, like Dorsey, is in favour of a decentralised approach, and called BlueSky an interesting idea. Previously, Musk has also sparked controversy by saying ‘bitcoin is not decentralised’.

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