Invest ideasNews
5 May 2026, 12:30
AI systems might soon be capable of building themselves, says Anthropic co-founder
Anthropic’s co-founder Jack Clark has made a bold prediction that AI systems may be capable of rebuilding themselves from 2028. “I’m not sure society is ready,” he said. In a Substack published Monday, Clark precisely said there is 60% chance that AI becomes capable of recursive self-improvement by the end of 2028. “In other words, AI systems might soon be capable of building themselves,” he wrote. Clark laid out his case, drawing on “100s of public data sources” and the trend of products being deployed by frontier AI companies. He believes all the necessary infrastructure is already in place to enable AI systems research and build their own successors. I've spent the past few weeks reading 100s of public data sources about AI development. I now believe that recursive self-improvement has a 60% chance of happening by the end of 2028. In other words, AI systems might soon be capable of building themselves. — Jack Clark (@jackclarkSF) May 4, 2026 AI systems now need less human oversight Cark’s argument rests on two things. AI systems have become far more capable at writing and testing real-world code. Also, they can now work independently for much longer stretches without human oversight. On the coding front, Clark pointed to SWE-Bench, a widely used evaluation that tests whether AI can solve actual GitHub issues. The best model scored roughly 2% at the time the benchmark launched in 2023. Today, however, Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview reaches up to 93.9%. Claude Mythos Preview was launched earlier in April. It is currently not available to the public, Cryptopolitan reported . He also cited data from METR, an organization that evaluates frontier AI models, showing that the time horizon AI systems can reliably work without human intervention has grown from about 30 seconds in 2022 (GPT-3.5) to approximately 12 hours in 2026 (Opus 4.6). “This is a big deal,” says Anthropic’s Jack Clark The implication is that within a year or two, AI systems are going to get creative enough to form their own novel research paths, refine and train their successors, especially non-frontier models, with no human involved. It could be a lot harder with frontier models as they are a lot more expensive, according to Clark. If AI systems can conduct their own R&D without human involvement, the pace of AI progress would no longer be constrained by the number of human researchers or the length of the workday. “I don’t know how to wrap my head around it,” Clark wrote . “It’s a reluctant view because the implications are so large that I feel dwarfed by them, and I’m not sure society is ready for the kinds of changes implied by achieving automated AI R&D.” Clark’s prediction also tallies with a recent statement by METR forecaster Ajeya Cotra that AI systems should be able to autonomously handle tasks that would require roughly 100 hours of skilled human effort by the end of this year. New post: on Jan 14, I predicted that SWE time horizon by EOY would be ~24 hours. Now I think it'll be >100 hours, and maybe unbounded. For the first time, I don't see solid evidence against AI R&D automation *this year.* Link below. pic.twitter.com/NcP1HlZana — Ajeya Cotra (@ajeya_cotra) March 5, 2026 In August, the Anthropic co-founder said “Anyone who thinks AI is slowing down is fatally miscalibrated.” There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance .
5 May 2026, 12:12
Morocco abandons total ban for regulation as crypto use defies authorities
Crypto adoption in Morocco has reached 16% of its population despite a decade-old ban on transactions with digital assets and recently increased scrutiny. The growing popularity of coins among Moroccans seems to have finally convinced their government to prepare to abandon full restrictions in favor of regulation. Proper oversight may replace ineffective prohibition The use of cryptocurrencies has been formally banned in Morocco since late 2017, with regulators regularly reminding citizens that any transaction with the digital assets is punishable by law. At the time, the decision was justified with breaches of existing rules and lack of customer protection, risks of money laundering and capital flight, all endangering the nation’s monetary stability. Since the end of last year, the warnings issued by Bank Al-Maghrib, the Foreign Exchange Office and the Moroccan Capital Market Authority have been accompanied by increased financial scrutiny. Moroccan authorities are now stepping up surveillance of crypto transfers, which are widespread, albeit prohibited, the local news outlets Challenge and Le360 unveiled this week. That has become evident from a letter sent by l’Office des Changes, the body monitoring foreign exchange transactions and financial flows between Morocco and other jurisdictions. In the correspondence addressed to a number of individuals, the watchdog informs it has identified violations related to holding assets abroad in cryptocurrency and transfers to Moroccan residents. Recipients have been given a month to provide explanations and supporting documents. They were also told that digital asset transactions must be declared and comply with exchange controls. This move by the administration could be an indication that the Arab state now prefers to track, as it has failed in stopping digital money. The main goal has always been to maintain strict control over foreign exchange flows, which have been a pillar of the Moroccan economy, the French crypto news outlet Journal du Coin noted in an article. However, the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency makes this harder to achieve, while the outright ban has created a legal vacuum in which crypto use continues under the radar. Rabat readies bill to regulate crypto transactions in Morocco Between 2019 and early 2025, the number of crypto holders in Morocco almost doubled, from 3.65 million to more than 6 million. Around 16% of the North African kingdom’s population now uses digital currencies like Bitcoin and associated technologies. The significant increase over the past few years has secured the country a spot among the world’s top 25 crypto adopters, according to Chainalysis. Remittances from the sizable Moroccan diaspora have played a major role. So has demand for alternative means for cross-border payments and financial services within a largely informal economy. The difference between law and practice, as well as the absence of rules reflecting the reality, has increased risks like fraud , adding to the impetus to adopt proper regulation. In these circumstances, the authorities in Rabat are changing the policy course on the initiative of their monetary authority. Commenting on the matter, Challenge.ma remarked: “Faced with this reality, Morocco is no longer content with simply prohibiting crypto assets. It is now preparing for regulation.” A dedicated law has been drafted and published. The legislation, which is being finalized by relevant institutions, aims to create a comprehensive regulatory framework. The bill incorporates international standards, such as those in the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) package, and follows recommendations issued by organizations like the G20. Aware of the ineffectiveness of the “total ban,” Bank Al-Maghrib Governor Abdellatif Jouahri insisted the new rules will end legal uncertainty and organize crypto activities under the watchful eye of financial authorities. The document under consideration envisages recognizing digital assets as financial instruments and introducing a licensing regime for service providers working with them, such as exchanges and custodians. Despite the clear global trend toward regulation rather than prohibition, some nations are still moving the opposite way. These include Morocco’s close neighbor, Algeria, which banned all crypto-related transactions last summer, as reported by Cryptopolitan. There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance .
5 May 2026, 11:16
One bank after another scraps Fed rate-cut forecasts. Bitcoin doesn't care.
Your day-ahead look for May 5, 2026
5 May 2026, 06:30
From Rebels to Banks: Why the Crypto Industry Is Finally Embracing Legacy Finance
Spencer Bogart, general partner at Blockchain Capital, noted that while years ago fintech companies aimed to be bank-like but not banks, this trend has now reversed, with over 20 companies pursuing Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) charters in 2026. Key Takeaways: Blockchain Capital’s Spencer Bogart notes over 20 crypto firms now seek
5 May 2026, 05:32
Corporate Bitcoin Holdings Hit 1.15M BTC in Q1
5.47% of Bitcoin’s total circulating supply is now locked up in corporate treasuries as public companies now hold 1.15 million Bitcoin on their balance sheets. A report published by Bitwise Asset Management showed that publicly traded companies added 50,351 BTC during the first quarter of 2026, which makes it a 4.6% increase quarter over quarter. This growth comes at one of the most chaotic stretches in recent market history, with the Iran conflict and the resultant energy supply shock bringing in a fresh wave of volatility across Bitcoin, crypto and traditional markets worldwide. Despite a strong quarter for corporate adoption of Bitcoin, when we look past the headline number alone, the picture becomes less convincing. The fact is, accumulation was not spread across evenly among several companies but rather heavily concentrated. Strategy Carried the Quarter Strategy added roughly 89,000 BTC in Q1 alone. The company now holds 818,334 BTC as of late April, acquired at an average cost of around $75,537 per coin. Michael Saylor kept buying every single week through the February crash, through the oil shock, through every red candle. Strategy reports its full Q1 earnings today (May 5) after already disclosing a $14.46 billion unrealized loss on its Bitcoin holdings during the quarter, when BTC fell over 20% in its worst first-quarter performance since 2018. Strategy now accounts for roughly 66% of all publicly held Bitcoin. Metaplanet Rose While MARA Retreated The other notable mover in Q1 was Metaplanet. The Tokyo-listed firm acquired 5,075 BTC for approximately $400 million at an average price of about $79,900, pushing its total holdings to 40,177 BTC. That was enough to leapfrog MARA Holdings and claim the third-largest corporate Bitcoin treasury globally, behind Strategy and Twenty One Capital at 43,514 BTC. MARA moved in the opposite direction. The miner sold 15,133 BTC between March 4 and March 25 for roughly $1.1 billion to manage debt obligations. It started the year with around 53,822 BTC and finished March at 38,689. MARA wasn’t the only miner offloading either. Publicly listed miners collectively sold more than 32,000 BTC in Q1 2026, surpassing total miner sales for all of 2025. Conviction VS Survival The divergence between who was buying and who was selling in Q1 tells the real story behind the 1.15 million number. Strategy and Metaplanet were accumulating into extreme fear. Miners were liquidating to stay solvent. One side treated Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset. The other treated it as a balance sheet liability that needed to be shed. That split raises a question the market hasn’t fully priced in yet. Strategy alone holds over 818,000 BTC at an average cost just 4% below the current price. If BTC drops meaningfully below that basis, the company that carried Q1’s entire accumulation trend would be sitting on billions in unrealized losses with leveraged exposure. Corporate Bitcoin adoption is growing. But right now, it’s growing through one company’s conviction more than anything else. Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free .
5 May 2026, 01:31
Meta taps Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan for $13B Texas data center financing
Meta is working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan on roughly $13 billion in financing for its El Paso data center campus, per a May 4 report. The package is mostly debt with a smaller equity slice. It could become one of the largest single-site digital infrastructure financings on record, though below Meta’s $27 billion Hyperion deal with Blue Owl in October 2025. Meta’s original commitment to El Paso, announced in October 2025, was $1.5 billion. The financing now under discussion is roughly eight times that, scaling the campus to about one gigawatt of capacity. The EL Paso deal moves data centers out of real estate financing A campus this size has outgrown traditional commercial real estate debt. Citigroup estimates the broader data center buildout could need $3 trillion by 2030. El Paso data center | Source: El Paso Times “If you can’t invest a billion dollars, we don’t even want to talk to you,” Adam Lewis, managing director at Citizens and head of its 35-person digital infrastructure, said . “We can read electrical diagrams and mechanical diagrams and understand land use permits and power configurations.” Scott Wilcoxen, JPMorgan’s global head of digital infrastructure investment banking, has focused on what he calls “time to power” as the industry’s biggest constraint. The El Paso deal sits in the same arc as Hyperion, but the structure is different. As Cryptopolitan reported , Hyperion was a joint venture, with Blue Owl owning 80 percent and Meta owning 20 percent through an SPV that raised $27 billion in bonds. El Paso is mostly straight debt, with Meta keeping more direct ownership. S&P calls hyperscale a concentrated risk S&P Global Ratings warned in a recent report that hyperscale data centers are emerging as a major concentration of insurable risk. A $13 billion financing tied to a single site, a single operator, and a single power configuration concentrates exposure in a way infrastructure debt has not historically faced. The numbers behind the demand explain the concentration. Meta spent $39 billion on infrastructure in 2024 and $72 billion in 2025. At its Q1 2026 earnings call on April 29, the company raised its 2026 capex guidance to $115 to $145 billion, up from the $115 to $135 billion it gave in January. Almost all of it is going toward AI data centers. CFO Susan Li has said Meta will remain compute-constrained through much of 2026. What the deal would set as a precedent If the El Paso financing closes at its current size, it sets a benchmark for how the next wave of mega-scale data centers will be debt-financed and how that risk will be priced. That matters beyond Meta. JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, SMBC, and MUFG are already exploring ways to offload data center exposure to outside investors through significant risk transfer deals, a sign that bank balance sheets are starting to feel the strain of AI infrastructure lending. There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance .
