Trends & Signals
Explore the latest insights, thought leadership, and research from FCAT®
An Overview of Ethereum Staking
March 28, 2023
Staking is the process of supporting transaction verifications and new block creation for the Ethereum network. Validators, otherwise known as ‘stakers’ play a key role in performing key staking duties: storing data, processing transactions including confirming other validators’ actions, and appending new blocks full of transactions to the blockchain. In the following sections, we’ll explore the nuances behind staking.
A Family of One: The Ascendance of Solo Households
March 27, 2023
Families have been the basic unit of social and economic life across cultures, geographies, and nationalities for thousands of years. That started to change in the middle of the 20th century, when a growing number of people started living alone for sustained periods. These solo dwellers, or soloists, include people delaying partnership to later in life, those choosing to remain single and live alone without roommates or family, as well as divorced or widowed adults who reside independently.
The Path to Blockchain-Based Financial Markets
March 16, 2023
Fintech’s Third Wave—the use of tokenization and smart contracts to rebuild the infrastructure, processes, and business models underlying fiat money and traditional assets—is well underway. The transition to this blockchain-based infrastructure for our industry will likely follow a path of least resistance, with different products and processes charting their own paths.
AI: The Next Generation
March 8, 2023
We’re in a new era of AI. “It feels like we’re going from spring to summer,” said Jack Clark, a co-chair of Stanford University’s annual A.I. Index Report. “In spring, you have these vague suggestions of progress, and little green shoots everywhere. Now, everything’s in bloom.”1 In less than three years, we’ve seen AI become:
Quantum State Preparation of Normal Distributions using Matrix Product States
March 6, 2023
In this POC, we designed a new way of generating quantum states that encode normal probability distributions, and provided the first study in quantum hardware for scalable distribution loading.
Eight Trends and Technologies Influencing Our Future
March 1, 2023
2022 was marked by increasing domestic and global tensions. This, alongside rising inflation, led to an unprecedented anxiety about our future.
A Glimpse into the Next Generation of XR Talent
February 27, 2023
How FCAT participates in XR community engagements that empower the next generation of innovation
Why all the Fuss about ChatGPT?
February 14, 2023
While most of the AI buzz of 2022 was around AI image generators like DALL-E 2, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, the year ended with a bang with the release of OpenAI’s new text generator ChatGPT. Attracting over 1 million users just a few days after launch, the app’s performance made headlines with some even comparing the significance of the release to the debut of the iPhone.1 There are good reasons people are talking about this new technology:
Humanity-Centered Design: An Interview with Don Norman
February 14, 2023
FCAT had the pleasure of welcoming Don Norman, author of Design for a Better World, for a speaking event where he presented an eye-opening diagnosis of how human behavior has led to numerous societal crises from collapsing social structures to climate change. Norman, both a scientist and business executive, proposes how we can reconsider what’s important in life and how that new way of thinking can help save humanity. As a sneak peek to his new book, FCAT’s VP of Research, John Dalton interviewed Norman to dive into his philosophy of humanity-centered design.
Gen X: A Mature Market That’s Often Overlooked
February 2, 2023
Gen X are in their peak earning and retirement savings years, yet this “forgotten generation” can be overlooked when it comes to the complexity of their financial needs. And yet, the complexity of their financial lives requires attention, perhaps now more than ever.