These days, A.I. is used in everything from smart home assistants to self-driving cars. And one newly-launched ETF is now using the technology to find investment opportunities for blockchain.
"One of the tough things about thematic investing, is that thematics don't show up in 10-Ks and 10-Qs. They're not showing up in financials, so taking a traditional analytical approach is a little challenging," said Matt Markiewicz, managing director at Innovation Shares, which launched the A.I.-powered KOIN ETF this week.
"By using machine learning and textual analysis, you're able to uncover securities that might not otherwise be too obvious to a CIO or a team of analysts."
The algorithm scours online platforms and databases for indications that a company is involved in blockchain. Those that pass the screen are grouped into categories, ranked, and put into an index tracked by the ETF.
While that process yields some obvious names such as IBM and Overstock, both of which have been actively involved in blockchain, it also includes what might be considered surprising choices: BP, DISH Network, and Expedia.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/detecting-blockchain-investments-with-a-i).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
