Not Everyone Is Buying Into The Future

Digital currencies, online universes, and AI processing are set to revolutionize the way the world works…but not everyone is on board with this new direction. February 19, 2022 [Turn on your images.]( Not Everyone Is Buying Into The Future Digital currencies, online universes, and AI processing are set to revolutionize the way the world works…but not everyone is on board with this new direction. As the Metaverse struggles to recover from Meta’s record-breaking drop, investors are jumping ship. Is Zuckerberg’s dream over before it even begins? Nvidia, the chip-maker responsible for massive advancements in AI, is bringing in massive profits with its innovative tech…but is that enough to make a whole generation forget things like “Skynet” and “Terminators”? Cryptocurrency’s main appeal is its decentralization, free from government regulation. Needless to say, the SEC isn’t happy about it. Are the Commission’s latest moves designed to protect people and ensure good practices…or are they just mad about a currency they can’t control? --------------------------------------------------------------- [Turn Your Images On] [Skeptical Investors Aren’t Buying The Metaverse…Yet]( Ryan James If you have been reading Money Moves over the past month, you know that I, like many of you, have been struggling trying to wrap my mind around the Metaverse. It is hard to fathom a digital world outside our own where we slip on our VR goggles, depart the surly bonds of earth, and touch the face of a new omnipotent reality. Well, apparently, I am not the only one skeptical of the Metaverse, because the leading companies investing in Mark Zuckerberg’s new idea are struggling. Companies that have bet heavily on the Metaverse are facing the wrath of skeptical investors. Gaming company Roblox has seen shares drop 16% so far this year, despite the use of digital currency embedded inside their games with which players can purchase digital products to deck out their avatars and profile. [Turn Your Images On] If that trend holds, it doesn’t bode well for the future of the Metaverse. The whole point of digital currencies and NFTs within the Metaverse is to incentivize people to engage in that online economy. If they’re reluctant to do so…Meta might be dead in the water. It’s not been a good stretch for the Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF. (Yes, there is already an ETF for the metaverse.) The Metaverse ETF is down 15.3% for the year. Other notable metaverse heavy stocks including AMD, Nvidia, and Microsoft, have all seen shares decline 19%, 12.0%, and 10.2%, respectively. Then there is Facebook Meta itself. CEO Data from Star Trek Mark Zuckerberg has gone all in on the Metaverse ever since he announced its creation. [Turn Your Images On] But so far, investors aren’t buying the Zuckster’s business plan. [Meta is down]( a whopping 35% to date! For those who aren’t sure what the heck the Metaverse is, you are not alone, even people in the industry can’t pinpoint one definition of what it is. It seems like an important detail to know what exactly you are pouring billions of dollars into, but hey, maybe that’s just me. In essence, although there is no [specific definition of the Metaverse,]( it is generally described as a place made of constantly evolving virtual worlds that continue to exist on their own, even when no one is signed into the.. Think of those augmented reality goggles that look ridiculous. AR tech combines the digital and physical worlds, but beyond that, the Metaverse doesn’t even require that those spaces be exclusively accessed via VR or AR. Another aspect of the Metaverse is how it interacts with digital currency. In some versions of the Metaverse, you can take a virtual item like clothes and cars from one platform to another, just like in the real world you can buy a sweatshirt from a store and wear it to a restaurant. As [Wired Magazine put it,]( “Right now, most platforms have virtual identities, avatars, and inventories that are tied to just one platform, but a Metaverse might allow you to create a persona that you can take everywhere as easily as you can copy your profile picture from one social network to another.” In the end, these Metaverse companies might revolutionize the world. But so far, they have a lot of explaining to do. --------------------------------------------------------------- [No. 1 Tech Stock for Higher Interest Rates!?]( As the Fed raises interests, this tiny Silicon Valley company may shoot sky high … even while nobody suspects it will. [Click for details!]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Turn Your Images On] ["No Fate But What We Make:" Nvidia's Revolutionary AI Chip]( by Shawn Ambrosino “Come with me if you want to live.” This iconic line was spoken by Kyle Reese in the first “Terminator” movie after the iconic machine played by Arnold Schwartzenegger had just attempted to murder Sarah Connor in the middle of a dance club. As a child of the 80s, “The Terminator” left a lasting impression on me, as it did on many from my generation. The horrors of the far-off future dystopia of 2029 (which doesn’t seem that far off now, does it?) helped form our opinion of science, robotics, and cybernetics. While these concepts were foreign to many in the Baby Boomer generation, thanks to films like “The Terminator,” “Robocop,” and the TV show “The Six Million Dollar Man,” these ideas were as familiar as the nose on our face to people my age. [Turn Your Images On] It was these kinds of shows that inspired the “nerds” of my generation to get into the computer field and create the innovations that they saw up on the big screen. These science fiction stories paved the way for the science that is being done today in a very real way. However, there’s a drawback. No GenXr will be able to read or talk about artificial intelligence (AI) without thinking of the potential horrors and atrocities that could be created by a completely sentient machine. My Generation’s Problem With AI Stories like “WestWorld,” “War Games,” “The Terminator,” “The Matrix” and others show us that while AI could be wondrous, it could also lead to humanity’s doom. In “The Terminator,” the whole reason Kyle Reese was sent back in time was because the AI of Cyberdyne led to the defense system Skynet determining the best way to keep humans safe was to eradicate the species. [Turn Your Images On] AI calculated that we were a danger and so, to protect us, it destroyed us. I dare you to find a GenXr that doesn’t think of the word “Skynet” whenever they hear the term “AI.” It’s been drilled into our heads. So you can imagine why my interest was piqued when I read that computer chip maker Nvidia (NVDA) had an INCREDIBLE Q4, with their data center bringing in 70% more revenue than the year before. I get your confusion… They make computer chips, so you’re probably wondering, “How is Nvidia anything like Cyberdyne in The Terminator? They aren’t researching AI.” Well, the reason this story made my ears perk up is that Nvidia chips are powering the AI of other companies. Their hardware is powering a broad spectrum of artificial intelligence services with everything from speech recognition to fraud detection, and Nvidia is the company they’re all turning to for their chip needs. AI: A Money Maker For Nvidia That’s why Nvidia's revenue is up 70%, but that’s not the only place the company is making money. Nvidia’s gaming business grew too–by almost 40%–and was mostly driven by sales of its latest video game chip. The ONLY area where Nvidia seems to be slipping has been its auto division, which unfortunately saw a 14% drop in revenue. But that has nothing to do with the company. The reason that area saw a dip was that carmakers have been forced to cut back on production for all kinds of supply chain issues. So, once things get straightened out, you can bet those numbers will be heading up again. That being said, if you look at the Green Zone rating on Nvidia, you’ll see that at the moment it has a neutral score: Now, as you can see, that’s mostly because of the company’s size and market cap, but I trust the ratings system more than I trust anybody’s opinion on the stock. I just thought the story was interesting. What was shocking to me was the fact that the company saw a DIP in share price after releasing their Q4 results. It’s really counterintuitive. Maybe there are more GenX investors than I thought. Maybe they see the Nvidia surge as nothing more than a precursor to Skynet and terminators. Who knows? What we do know is that AI is a viable industry, and there’s money to be made. The question is…do we want to run that risk? [Turn Your Images On] --------------------------------------------------------------- [Turn Your Images On]( [“Solar on Demand” Is Set to Revolutionize America’s Energy Industry]( It’s doing to the energy industry what the internet did to the music industry — now America’s billionaires are racing to get in. [Here’s what you need to know.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Turn Your Images On] [Is The Boogie Man Coming For Crypto?]( by Shawn Ambrosino Have you ever had dealings with the SEC? I would venture to guess that 99.9% of you have probably never even met someone from the SEC, let alone had to deal with officials during one of their investigations–so no, you’ve probably never dealt with them. But the very few among us that have had interactions with the SEC - understand that it’s not a fun time at all. In my previous life as a banker, I wound up being interviewed by the SEC when one of my former bosses was (allegedly) doing something less-than-legal with his business. I received emails, calls, and a letter from this governmental body, informing me that I would be meeting with investigators for an interview at one of the local Marriott hotels. There, I was to be interrogated about my knowledge of my former boss’ business dealings–and let me tell you, I was freaked out. Honestly, I was BEYOND freaked out because it was the freakin’ SEC! If they so chose, they could have had me in court–or even jail–from that day on if they didn’t like what I said. And so, to say I was nervous when I walked into that Marriott would have been the understatement of the year. Before going, my wife and I had a long discussion, and we decided the only thing I could do was be honest and hope that I did things right. The interview itself was pretty cordial. The three investigators made me feel comfortable and welcome–which, looking back, may have been a psychological ploy–but at the end of the day, I didn’t have the kind of information they were looking for. Nothing I said to them could help them or hurt my boss. I just didn’t know enough. I was an underling at that time, so I had very few details on what happened behind closed doors. The SEC Is Scary… Trust Me I say that to say this: the SEC is scary, and even all these years later, I wouldn’t want them breathing down my neck ever again. That’s why some crypto investors are a little wary right now because it seems the SEC has its eye on digital currency. We’ve been talking a lot about how regulators are champing at the bit to get control over cryptocurrency. Regardless of their reasoning, crypto is designed to not be regulated. It’s called Decentralized Finance for a reason. The whole point is that no governmental body can bring it under their umbrella and control it. But, man…that hasn’t stopped the governments of the world from trying anyway. Recently, a crypto startup called BlockFi “agreed” to pay a $100 million settlement to the US government over allegations that it illegally offered a product that violated securities law. This is the first step for crypto to come under the watchful eye of Big Brother… And that isn’t good. The Beginning Of The End? Think about it… This is the largest penalty against a cryptocurrency firm EVER. Moreover, this is the first time a crypto company has been charged with ANY violations from the SEC. That means this settlement is setting a precedent with regard to how the SEC can and will handle crypto-related matters, including lending accounts, how it will view them going forward, and, most importantly, how it will regulate them. That’s not the greatest development…especially when you keep in mind that there’s a total hardcase running the show. Since new chairman Gary Gensler has taken over, the SEC has been looking to corral some of the wild colts on the farm, taking a good hard look at things that may once have been flying under the radar. So, on top of crypto, meme stocks, SPACs, and even the ways Wall Street bigwigs get paid are coming under the SEC’s scrutiny. How will crypto react? So far, not too badly…but that may be because the market doesn’t understand what it’s dealing with. If they did, crypto investors may be a bit more tentative. But ignorance is bliss! We can only hope that DeFi stays DeFi. It’s what’s best for the growth of the market. Isn’t that what free-market capitalism is all about? --------------------------------------------------------------- For more quality content like this, and to learn more about the Money Moves team, visit us at [( Privacy Policy The Money & Markets, P.O. Box 8378, Delray Beach, FL 33482. To ensure that you receive future issues of Money & Markets, please add info@mb.moneyandmarkets.com to your address book or [whitelist]( within your spam settings. For customer service questions or issues, please contact us for assistance. The mailbox associated with this email address is not monitored, so please do not reply. Your feedback is very important to us so if you would like to contact us with a question or comment, please click here: [( Legal Notice: This work is based on what we've learned as financial journalists. It may contain errors and you should not base investment decisions solely on what you read here. It's your money and your responsibility. 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