Every year, the world’s elite, the hyper-rich, and the industry innovators who decide our fate, gather together to choose which direction society is headed.

And no, it’s not in the dungeons of the Yale Skull & Bones Society, or a penthouse masquerade, or even the haunted shores of Epstein’s island.

No, it’s the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The land of decadent chocolates and ironclad banking.

Don’t feel bad if you weren’t invited. We weren’t either. 

But we’ve compiled the biggest developments from Davos 2024, so you can get all the delicious tidbits without having to wipe any chocolate off your face.

Espresso Shots

☕️ Everybody is Down… 👎

The crypto market is taking a pummeling from the mass sell-offs in the wake of the Bitcoin Spot ETF approval.

Both Ethereum and Solana dipped 14% and 16% this week, respectively.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin fell below $39,000 this week, but is hovering slightly above that at the time of writing.

Yeah, turns out that Bitcoin Spot ETF approval didn’t redefine crypto adoption so much as send the market into a short-term nosedive.

Took quite a fall, didn’t we, Master Bitcoin? But why do we learn to fall, Bitcoin? So we can pick ourselves back up.

☕️ Snowden Backs Tornado Cash 🌪️=

CIA whistleblower turned international fugitive, Edward Snowden, has announced his support for Tornado Cash in the crypto mixer’s ongoing legal battles.

Last year, the DOJ arrested Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, on money laundering charges and issued a sanction banning Americans from using the mixer.

Snowden, who has been living in exile in Russia, called last year’s sanction of Tornado Cash, “deeply illiberal and profoundly authoritarian.”

Unfortunately, on a meteorological level, the cooperation between Snowden and Tornado will most likely result in a winter vortex or “Snow Devil.”

Spilling the Beans

The Davos Debrief

Davos is a resort town located in the eastern Alps of Switzerland.

It was a sleepy little mountain town, known for its choice skiing and leg-buckling altitude. 

That was, until 1971 when Klaus Schwab, a German engineer, established the World Economic Forum (WEF) and designated Davos as the site of its annual meeting.

The WEF is supposedly non-governmental and the intention of the organization was to create a neutral site (Switzerland’s a pro at neutrality) where the world’s economic leaders could discuss hurdles, innovations, and initiatives around the globe.

But despite the supposedly non-political nature of the WEF, over the years Davos has hosted some political heavy hitters such as Nelson Mandela as well as Presidents Clinton, Reagan, and Trump.

Because more than just economic concerns, Davos ultimately came to represent the intersection of politics, prestige, and power.

Whether they’re appointed politicians or CEOs, Davos is where the most powerful among us gather to discuss how they’re going to tackle the international, macro-developments facing humanity.

With that being said, we thought it would behoove all of us to recount two of the biggest discussions at this year’s 2024 Davos World Economic Forum.

And here they are…

The AI Debrief

It’s no surprise that AI was the foremost topic of conversation at this year’s Davos forum.

Concerns weren’t just regarding the future of AI and how to power its tech, concerns that we covered in yesterday’s newsletter, but how AI will impact the human workforce.

It’s anticipated that future AI advancements will impact 60% of human jobs and could even make them redundant.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron emphasized the need for job creation in response to AI advancement, particularly in the green sector.

Much of these conversations took place during Davos’s “Race to Reskill” session, which emphasized redundancy-proof skills and training for workers as we all bear witness to the true, dawn of AI.

The Climate Debrief

Not only was AI’s carbon footprint on the docket at Davos, but everything’s carbon footprint.

Many of Davos 2024’s workshops were dedicated to discussing how corporate entities could create sustainable models that would bring their carbon footprint to net zero, or even more ambitiously, “nature-positive.”

In the forum’s global risk report, threats from climate change constituted half of the major threats facing the earth in the next 10 years.

Despite this urgency, there was much debate regarding fossil fuels. There was significant pushback against language from the 2023 conference referring to “phasing out” fossil fuels, opting for gentler nonsense like “beginning contribution to lessening of fossil fuel consumption, etc.”

But that didn’t stop UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from going off on fossil fuels.

In short, Davos WEF 2024 was AI on Climate and Climate on AI. 

Hopefully, the richest and most powerful among us can devise some sort of trajectory for the two most prevalent challenges of our era.

And okay, we’re not CEOs or world leaders… but couldn’t you just teach the robots to garden?

The Last Sip

Before 1971, Davos was mostly known for being the lovable illiterate knight from Game of Thrones with half his fingers.

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.