Bitcoin Trading Volume Hits Multi-Year Low as Crypto Market Stagnates
Bitcoin's trading volume has fallen 94% from its March highs and recently hit its lowest level since November 2018, indicating fading interest in crypto trading. Key reasons are the regulatory crackdown, end of macro tailwinds, and lack of new catalysts to drive activity.
Key Facts & Points
- Bitcoin's trading volume fell to just 129,307 BTC on Aug 26, down from 3.5 million BTC in March.
- Volume hit 112,317 BTC on Aug 12, the lowest since Nov 10, 2018.
- Macro tailwinds like the banking crisis have faded, removing a key driver.
- Market is waiting for new catalysts like a spot BTC ETF approval to spur activity.
- Long-term investors remain confident, viewing the lull as chance to accumulate ahead of the next cycle.
- Analysts say real opportunity lies in staying invested through new market cycle and 2024 halving.
TikTok's Kat Callaghan Narrates Soothing Calm Sleep Story
Popular TikTok voice Kat Callaghan, known as the robotic "Jessie" voice on the platform, has narrated a new Calm sleep story called "Once Upon a TikTok Tale." The story transitions from her TikTok voice to her soothing actual voice to help listeners relax and fall asleep.
Key Facts & Points
- Kat Callaghan voices the popular robotic "Jessie" text-to-speech on TikTok and revealed herself as the voice last year.
- She narrated a new Calm Sleep Story called "Once Upon a TikTok Tale" that starts with her TikTok "Jessie" voice and transitions to her calming real voice.
- The story takes listeners through dreamy TikTok-inspired locations with lo-fi beats, ASMR, and trippy sequences to help drift off to sleep.
- Callaghan is a fan of Calm herself and her fans find her robotic voice relaxing, making it apt for sleep stories.
- This combines her TikTok alter ego with her calming real voice for the first time.
Generative AI Startup AI21 Labs Raises $155 Million, Now Valued at $1.4 Billion
Israeli startup AI21 Labs, which develops text-generating AI tools, has raised $155 million in funding. This values the company at $1.4 billion. The round was led by Walden Catalyst and brings total funding to $283 million.
Key Facts & Points
- AI21 Labs' flagship product is AI21 Studio, a platform for building custom text apps using AI21's proprietary generative AI models.
- The funding will allow AI21 Labs to accelerate R&D and reach the "next level of AI" with reasoning capabilities across domains.
- AI21 Labs will also increase hiring, focusing on research and business development roles.
- The company has over 10 million users of its Wordtune product and has several Fortune 100 companies as customers.
- Generative AI is capital-intensive - AI21 Labs estimates it costs up to $1.6 million to train a large language model. This funding will help sustain its research.
Automated Call Summaries - How AI is Revolutionizing Revenue Teams
Gong's new Call Spotlight feature uses AI to automatically transcribe, analyze, and generate summaries of sales calls. This saves revenue teams time and helps them focus on building relationships.
Key Facts & Points
- Call Spotlight is powered by Gong's proprietary AI models and GPT-4. It works for any call, video, audio, email, or text.
- It generates call highlights, outlines, briefs, and can update CRMs automatically. The Ask Anything feature provides personalized sales advice.
- Gong says Call Spotlight summaries are twice as accurate as other solutions since it's trained on billions of sales calls.
- Security remains important. Gong keeps data in-house and is GDPR compliant.
- The goal is to make revenue teams more efficient so they can spend time building customer relationships, not on manual paperwork.
The Declining Purchasing Power of £15 Over the Past 15 Years
A new study reveals how inflation has severely reduced what £15 can buy today compared to 15 years ago. Goods like milk, beer, fish and chips, and lottery tickets now cost substantially more, leaving people dissatisfied with the shrinking value they get for their money.
Key Facts & Points
- £15 bought over twice as much petrol and more than double the pints of beer in 2008 versus today
- 6 portions of fish and chips for £15 in 2008, 1-1.5 portions today
- Milk under 50p per pint in 2008, now £1.05
- People fed up with 'shrinkflation' and lack of value from many brands
