Imperial College London, a top-ranking UK university, has announced a strategic partnership with the fintech startup FluidAI on August 21. The collaboration aims to address and rectify inefficiencies in the digital asset market using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
The primary goal of this collaboration is to tackle the fragmented liquidity issues prevalent in the crypto markets. Such fragmentation often results in high volatility, price slippage, susceptibility to market manipulation, and flash crashes. This is in stark contrast to traditional markets like equities, which have established infrastructures and settlement systems.
Ahmed Ismail, the CEO of FluidAI, emphasized the significance of liquidity aggregation in the crypto space. He mentioned, “Liquidity aggregation in crypto is a global financial challenge and it spurred the founding of FluidAI.” He further highlighted the decentralized, cloud-based nature of crypto, which lacks the low-latency technology present in traditional finance solutions. AI, according to Ismail, can help “eliminate the latency through prediction,” ensuring optimal bid and ask prices in the market.
The university’s AI lab, I-X, will work in tandem with FluidAI to enhance the “tokenized market” for various stakeholders, including institutions, trading platforms, and retail investors.Imperial College London houses the Centre for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering, dedicated to studies and practical applications of blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies.
Simultaneously, as the partnership was announced, the UK government emphasized its commitment to AI by unveiling a £100 million investment plan for AI chip development to enhance its AI capabilities.This move aligns with the global trend where many nations are vying for resources to sustain and advance AI technologies.
This partnership is notably the world’s first-known AI collaboration at a globally recognized university to be partially funded by cryptocurrency.
Both Imperial College London and FluidAI are optimistic about the potential outcomes of their collaboration. They believe that by combining their expertise, they can pave the way for more efficient and stable digital asset trading, benefiting a wide range of stakeholders in the cryptocurrency domain.
Image source: Shutterstock