Bitcoin price has rallied above $51,000 ahead of El Salvador’s adoption. The immediate surge in price may be due to the social media campaign that everyone should buy sats of Bitcoin to support El Salvador’s plan to make the coin a legal tender or it may be due to the news of El Salvador’s adoption of the coin as a legal tender on September 7. Users of social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit are discussing how they will buy Bitcoin of $30 each to mark the new El Salvador Bitcoin law.

The surge in Bitcoin’s price began in the last 24hrs with the price rallying around $51,955 with a 3.37% increase. This is an all-time high after the April crash that brought the price of Bitcoin from $64k down to $28k. The move by El Salvador to be the first country that accepts Bitcoin as a legal tender and the social media campaign that leads to a surge in price ahead September 7 are a repetition of events that occurred late last year and early this year with regards to institutional investors and how the price of Bitcoin skyrocketed.

El Salvador, a country in Central America, has been preparing heavily to adopt Bitcoin by installing ATMs to allow citizens to convert the token into US dollars. Last week, the country’s Legislative Assembly passed a law to allow for the creation of a $150m Trust to support the conversion of Bitcoins to US dollars.

To promote the use of Bitcoin, the government states that it will give the adult population of El Salvador $30 in Bitcoin once they download “Chivo” the wallet issued by the government. This was confirmed by the Finance Minister, Alejandro Zelaya.

What this means for Bitcoin investors

Apart from the adoption by Salvadorians, on-chain analytics show that Bitcoin is in high demand. The fourth halving that occurred will make Bitcoin become a scarce token in the nearest future. Thereby increasing the price sporadically.

With El Salvador’s interest in Bitcoin, other countries are likely to follow suit- Panama is considering following El Salvador’s lead. History will repeat itself as this development will serve as another crypto rout that occurred early this year when Tesla and MicroStrategy announced their support for Bitcoin.

El Salvador’s new law allows the use of Bitcoin as a legal tender it can be used to buy goods, pay for taxes and bank loans. This means more demand for Bitcoin, with the fourth halving that occurred, it means less supply. A common rule of economics for demand and supply will apply. Prices are projected to keep rising. At the time of writing this report, Bitcoin is trading at $51,839 with a projection of $52k before the end of today and higher tomorrow when Salvadorians begin to use the token.

Published twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), Decentralized Brief  is a curation of the most important news story in the world of Crypto, Blockchain and AI. Subscribe for the newsletter here and read our previous curations.

This week, we learn how to teach your AI to drive, why some people think AI still lacks a lot of common sense, and the vacuum cleaner that could be listening on your conversations.

Teaching robots to drive

Robots can now learn complicated tasks by just watching a couple of demonstrations that might not be even perfect. The new system designed by researchers, helps a domestic robot, for example, to learn how to do basic chores or even set the dinner table.

New test shows AI still lacks common sense

When it comes to natural language processing, AI has undoubtedly been taking great strides. However, does AI really understand what it reads? Researchers have discovered that AI still lacks a lot of common sense it needs to create plausible sentences.

Your vacuum cleaner could be listening to you

It turns out that your vacuum cleaner could be hacked and used as a listening device, since it has a microphone. A group of researchers at the Computer Science Department of the University of Maryland, recently demonstrated this.

AI has definitely come a long way, and people’s reactions to the disruptive technology, are quite mixed. Whilst some are trying to key into the technology as it is looking to be a major part of the fourth industrial revolution, others are wary of its impact. 

Mini brains that help AI feel pain and repair itself

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, have designed a brain for AI that will help it process and respond to pain. The system, which is considered to be a mini-brain, will help computers feel pain exerted by physical pressure. It can also help the computer do mini repairs. 

Nigerian artificial intelligence and robotics centre

Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, has built an AI and robotics centre in preparation for the fourth industrial revolution. The centre was built in the country’s capital, Abuja. 

Pope urges Catholics to pray that AI doesn’t rebel against mankind 

One of the Pope’s prayer points for the month of November is for advanced technologies like AI to avoid rebelling against mankind. The Pope says future technologies should not cause inequality between humans, but should respect the dignity of all humans. As such, he has urged Catholics to pray that AI will always serve humankind.

Students discover a way to fool AI into changing grades.

An AI algorithm that marks essays has been outwitted. An online platform for virtual learning that uses AI to grade essays, has been discovered to actually grade based on relevant keywords. Once these keywords are in the essay, the AI gives students a perfect score. 

Published twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), Decentralized Brief  is a curation of the most important news story in the world of Crypto, Blockchain and AI. Subscribe for the newsletter here and read our previous curations.

Hey there! 

Are you following the US presidential election? Who are you rooting for? I’m not even American, and I’m feeling anxious. 😟 – Samuel Attah

Let’s dive into today’s curations: 

• 🤖 From AI detecting songs stuck in your head, to identifying the COVID-19 infection from just the sound of your cough.

• 🚀 Bitcoin is just $5000 short from its all-time high

• 🆕 Introducing lunch time read: 🍱⏰

By Samuel Attah, Kehinde Ojewale ✍️

Crypto Brief

Bitcoin to the moon 🌕

Despite the lingering uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the US election, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Bitcoin, on Thursday, closed above $15,000, its highest level since January 2018.

Bitcoin has been on a bull run this year, and it is currently trading around $15K to $15,700.

If you’re pondering on whether to invest Bitcoin, we recently published: why Bitcoin remains the most profitable asset of the decade.

Flagged Bitcoin clamped by US Govt

The US government has seized over $1 billion dollars (69,369 BTC) worth of Bitcoin which is related to the infamous darknet market called ‘Silk road’. Silk road is a dark market where illegal goods and services, such hard drugs, are bought and sold. As at the time of operation in 2013, before it was shut down, Silk Road was reportedly responsible for nearly 20% of Bitcoin transactions, according to Chainalysis.

Earn up to $3000 cash rewards in new Binance Africa affiliate program

Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has  launched an affiliate program with the aim of spreading into communities in Africa. The affiliate program is open to anyone, including content creators, YouTubers, and even community managers with a passion for educating and sharing knowledge. Application is currently ongoing. For more information, you may visit the sign up page.

🆕 Lunch time read 🍱⏰

When it comes to elections in Africa, the tales carry enough tragedy— from deep electoral malpractices to violence. Jerry Ojumah has one of such tales, and this is why he used his ingenuity and creativity to create an election process that could afford Africa a chance at the limelight.

Read more on this: Young man’s Blockchain solution to Elections

AI brief

Google can guess the song that’s stuck in your head

Google has recently launched its Hum to Search feature. Now, you no longer have to experience the frustration that comes with trying to decode a song when all you can remember is “oh na naaa na da daaa daaaa taa ra raa raaa.” All you need to do is hum the song, whistle or sing any part of the song that you can remember. After humming, Google’s algorithm will try to help you identify the song you’re trying to remember and provide available information on it.

New AI model can detect Covid-19 from the sound of your cough

Researchers from MIT have developed an artificial intelligence model that can identify the Covid-19 infection, especially in asymptomatic people. By just listening to a person’s cough, the AI model can identify if the person is infected with the virus or not. The model was able to accurately identify 100 percent of coughs from people who have the Covid-19 infection but showed no symptoms, and 98.5 percent of coughs from those that were confirmed to have Covid-19.

Meet Tickeron’s trading AI robots that trade without human supervision

Artificial intelligence platform,  Tickeron, has disrupted the trading of stocks, forex pairs and cryptocurrencies with their AI robot traders. Their robot traders analyse trends and combine several pieces of information into useful tips that help you trade and get great returns on your investment. 

The platform also recently launched its swing trading AI robots. “This feature can not only make swing trades for the user, but can educate them on why a certain trade is taking place, through the option of Paper Trades to monitor open and closed trades,” announced, Sergey Savastiouk, the CEO and Founder of Tickeron.

🆕 Lunch time read: 🍱⏰

Extended Reality is still a far-fetched technology, in Africa, however, it’s gradually taking a spot in countries like Nigeria.

Find out more: How some organizations are carving a stable spot for Extended Reality in the West African country.