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Another major hit in the core of the already shaky crypto currency market with Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange market was breached by a group of hackers who managed to steal a total of 2 million BNB tokens in the value of around 570 million dollars from the company (Browne, 2022). The company was forced to temporarily shut down its blockchain network to prevent further escalation of the situation (Browne, 2022). An internal investigation revealed a bug impacting the cross-chain bridge, which in simple words a protocol that lets the users of Binance to transfer their crypt currency from one currency to the other (Chainalysis, 2022). The bug assisted the breachers to forge fake transactions by producing more BNB tokens and then sending the money made from the exchange to their crypto wallet on Binance (Browne, 2022). The value of BNB, the Binance crypto currency dropped by more than 3% after the news about the breach (Browne, 2022). In an interview with CNBC, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao stated that bugs will always exist in digital environments and that the crypto industry is still learning from its weaknesses to improve the security of their operations (Browne, 2022). However, what does that mean for the future of crypto when a single bug can lead to such huge consequences? Can people trust these companies in keeping their money safe and secure from such incidents? Those are questions that need to be addressed and tackled if companies such as Binance are willing to survive and compete against traditional stock exchange markets.

Security breaches in the crypto industry can occur in several ways which are all dangerous to the same extent, nonetheless. From the traditional ways of phishing where users are led to a phishing website to trick them into transferring tokens, to hacking a payment gateway where thieves use social engineering methods to convince the hosting provider that they are the true domain owners (Lin, I. C., & Liao, T. C., 2017). In addition to that, if the hard disk of the token owner fails or malware is installed into the computer where the wallet file is stored then the tokens will be lost forever (Lin, I. C., & Liao, T. C., 2017).

These challenges are threats to the crypto industry for both parties of the equation: The providers of crypto exchange services on the one hand and the customers investing their liquidity through these digital ventures on the other. The security and privacy requirements of these platforms need to be at their optimal level for 100% of the time leaving no space for any malicious entities to misuse the transaction and exchange processes. Otherwise, most individuals including myself will stay hesitant in making any investments in crypto.

Sources:
Browne, R. (2022, October 7). $570 million worth of Binance’s BNB token stolen in another major crypto hack. CNBC. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/07/more-than-100-million-worth-of-binances-bnb-token-stolen-in-another-major-crypto-hack.html

Chainalysis (2022, August 10). Vulnerabilities in Cross-chain Bridge Protocols Emerge as Top Security Risk. Chainalysis. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/cross-chain-bridge-hacks-2022/

Lin, I. C., & Liao, T. C. (2017). A survey of blockchain security issues and challenges. Int. J. Netw. Secur., 19(5), 653-659.

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Strong AI or in more technically accurate terminology, artificial general intelligence (AGI) is one of the most fascinating topics that dominated our minds as humanity for centuries. A digital system that is advanced to the extent of understanding concepts, reasoning and even human level emotions and ethics. For some scholars and professionals, AGI is nothing more than the product of human imagination that we depict in science fiction novels, movies, and video games. Other experts are highly certain that AGI will eventually be an unmissable piece of the puzzle in solving major socio-economic challenges such as poverty, climate change and cancer. What if we one day wake up to the news of the first ever AGI in the world? How will we feel about such news? Will AGI serve us in tackling our problems? Or will it become a major calamity added to the extensive list of challenges that we already face as human race?

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of AI in businesses by a rate never experienced before. A study conducted by PwC shows that 86% of the studied companies regard AI as a mainstream technology in their business (Simon, 2022). Major tech corporations such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon are each spending billions of dollars on AI research & development which as a result, half of the AI scientists estimate that the first AGI will exist before 2060! (Simon, 2022). These rapid developments are starting to leave a mark on our societies already when observing the shifts that are occurring in the job markets. Millions of repetitive clerical and production line jobs are being overtaken by automation and as a result millions of people are losing their jobs to AI systems and robots. A study shows that 30% of the jobs worldwide will be automated soon (Vega, 2019). At the same time, these machines and AI systems are estimated to create 58 million new jobs, mostly in the field of tech (Vega, 2019).

But what will happen to future jobs when AGI systems and robots are a reality? If these systems and machinery are on a higher physical and intellectual capacity levels compared to human beings, then what jobs or careers will we as humans have in the future? And how will we be able to make an income to afford our needs? Will the entire global economic and financial systems change or even disappear? These are questions that are complicated to answer due to the unpredictable nature of the strong AI. One scenario is that humans will not need to work anymore. As a human you receive a monthly income that is sufficient to cover all your needs and wants. We will then be free to practice our hobbies, travel to see the world and spend more time with our loved ones. However, is this what we would want as humans? Will we be happy and satisfied with such a future?

For now, humanity should be careful with developing AI systems that improve efficiency, enhance quality, and increase the speed of processes and operations in organizations in addition to improving work circumstances for workers. Though, we can always imagine what the future of jobs and careers might look like.

Sources:

Simon, C. (n.d.). Council Post: Why Artificial General Intelligence Isn’t Further Along. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/08/29/why-artificial-general-intelligence-isnt-further-along/?sh=2250cb834a25 [Accessed 26 Sep. 2022].

Vega, M. (2019). 17+ Jobs Lost To Automation Statistics In 2020 [Updated]. [online] TechJury. Available at: https://techjury.net/blog/jobs-lost-to-automation-statistics/#gref.