Tech Talks

The Future of Cybersecurity

• Attacks on Software Supply Chains have increased by 650% in 2021. Single Botnets of more than 1.6 million malicious bots and insecure devices captured by hackers, maintaining and securing the internet, especially the Internet of Things (IoT) is extremely difficult.
• The software supply chain is increasingly fragmented with vendors, systems, tools and products as well as service providers and hence complexity in code is becoming a key challenge with regard to cybersecurity.
• Example from the car industry: We have approximately 100 million lines of software code in cars today. Due to increasing connectivity and autonomous driving, the number of lines of code will increase to 300 million in the next 3 years. 80% of this code is provided by suppliers like BOSCH, Conti, Infineon, etc., adding immense complexity and vulnerability to the software value chain. A typical reference KPI is approx 1 bug or error per 1.000 lines of code.
• Hence, this development requires best in class AI applications for cyber security as the malware, bugs, and back-doors cannot be detected by human power alone anymore. This can then be the foundation to ensure safety for consumers.
• As the next step, also AI solutions against cyber attacks will be target of malicious hackers, hence we already need to proactively prepare for this further trend.

Blockchain

• There will be no finance, no capital market without blockchain technology in the future.
• Recently we observed multiple innovations in the crypto ecosystem, driven by users and not by institutions (e.g., Metaverse, NFT, decentralized finance, smart contract platforms such as Ethereum, Solana).
• Enterprise blockchain systems did not hold what they promised, and public blockchains will dominate (daily transaction volume $80 billion).
• Approximately 60% of the crypto asset market is dominated by Bitcoin and Ethereum.
• 19.1 million Bitcoins have already been mined – today, there are only app. 2 million bitcoins left that can still be generated.
• Crypto assets create unstoppable value transfer, transport, and possession. A transaction in the amount of $475 million Bitcoins has been made with a total cost of $15 dollars as a fee.
• In countries with low-quality institutions and high inflation, Bitcoin introduces a minimum "technological institution."
• Looking at a strategic allocation of investments, adding a small proportion of crypto assets (4%) to a typical portfolio significantly improves risk-adjusted returns.

Metaverse

• In today's world, social platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok are considered Metaverse because users spend a lot of their time on virtual platforms, uploading content, engaging, and communicating on them.
• Certain Metaverses, such as the Roblox gaming platform, already have significant user base with more than 190 million monthly active users - 2/3 of American children between 9 and 12 are already spending their time on it, creating their artificial worlds.
• Current challenges like content, VR user experience, digital asset trading, and payment services prevent users from higher adoption of Metaverse usage but will be solved soon (innovation to come).
• Virtual gaming platforms such as Sorare (valued at $4.3 billion after series B funding, 2021) count as the new rockstars within the Metaverse, creating totally new customer experiences.
• NFT trading platforms like OpenSea (leading NFT marketplace) already with $2 billion revenue in 2022.
• A total of 128 companies received $1.2 billion in Q1/21 for blockchain gaming, becoming a tremendous economic activity.
• Social goods in the Metaverse turn in digital assets and are purchased by users and large companies. This trend is only starting.
• Investments should focus on Metaverse infrastructure providers as they benefit from higher activities in the Metaverse ecosystem (e.g. Immutable).