Exponential Science Newsletter

The Foundation is rounding off February with a paper on stablecoins and supporting various launches and events that are set to push the boundaries of emerging technologies. Grok 3 has emerged as the new AI model challenger for DeepSeek and GPT-4, while the LIBRA memecoin?debacle has made waves?beyond the tech space.

Academia News

The UK Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UK CBT)?has announced its steering committee and three dedicated working groups concentrating on research, education, and community engagement in blockchain. These groups will bring together experts from the academic founding members to explore the socio-economic impact of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) and support the responsible adoption of blockchain solutions. With a global network of over 270 researchers and practitioners, UK CBT continues to lead the conversation on blockchain innovation, ensuring meaningful collaboration between regulators, businesses, and universities in the United Kingdom.

Get involved at: ukcbt.org

Events Calendar

7th Blockchain International Scientific Conference (ISC2025)

Date: London, England, 4th April 2025

Jointly hosted by The BBA and UK CBT, ISC2025 will bring together leading academics, industry experts, regulators, and policymakers to explore the latest in blockchain research and innovation. Register?today

Trend of the Week

From a high-stakes memecoin scandal to AI’s next leap, recent headlines have been packed with major developments. The Solana ecosystem is reeling from the fallout of the LIBRA token launch, while Elon Musk’s xAI has unveiled Grok 3, setting new benchmarks in AI performance.

Key takeaways:

• LIBRA token sparks turmoil: The launch of the controversial LIBRA memecoin has led to accusations of insider trading and investigations, making the story mainstream. The incident has even reached Argentina’s President Javier Milei, whose brief promotion of the token and alleged financial ties to its founder have sparked a political backlash. ?
• xAI launches Grok 3, outperforming GPT-4o: Elon Musk’s AI company has rolled out the Grok 3 family of models, which swiftly surpassed OpenAI’s GPT-4o on many AI benchmarks. The models show strong results in math, coding, and complex reasoning tasks, with an option to search the internet for real-time information before generating responses.

Tech Spotlight

Hedera and Thrive have announced their 4M HBAR Builder Fund to accelerate blockchain innovation through funding for visionary developers. With two tracks supporting new and scaling projects, applications close on the 14th of March 2025.

Apply at thrivehedera.com.

Notable Publications

No Questions Asked: Effects of Transparency on Stablecoin Liquidity During the Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

The authors of the discussion paper, Walter Hernandez, Jiahua Xu, Paolo Tasca and Carlo Campajola, investigate the differing impacts of traditional finance (TradFi) market shocks on stablecoins, specifically USD Coin (USDC) and Tether USDT (USDT), considering USDC's higher reporting frequency and transparency compared to USDT. The paper reveals a flight-to-safety behavior and counterintuitive effects of stablecoin transparency, where USDC’s detailed disclosures led to swift market reactions, while USDT’s opacity provided a buffer against immediate impacts.

Key findings:

• USDC's Total Value Locked (TVL) dominance over USDT was reduced following the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) event, decreasing by approximately 19.40%.? ?
• USDT's liquidity cost increased relative to USDC?by approximately 241%. ?
• During the period examined, the Gini coefficient was relatively high (above 0.9) for most?USDC and USDT trading pairs, suggesting that a small number of liquidity providers contributed a significant proportion of the total liquidity.

Explore the paper?and find out how market events affect the behavior of stablecoins.

About Us

Exponential Science is a nonprofit foundation established by Dr. Paolo Tasca and Nikhil Vadgama and backed by Hedera that aims to address the convergence among AI, blockchain, sustainability, IoT, quantum computing, machine learning, and other aspects of deep tech.?

Visit our website for more: Exponential Science Explore Exponential Science initiatives and partners: DLT Earth, MiCA Crypto Alliance,?UK CBT,?Evergreen Funding