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Bakkt’s Strategic Expansion Leads to Significant Revenue Growth Amid Crypto Market Recovery | IDOs News

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Bakkt’s Strategic Expansion Leads to Significant Revenue Growth Amid Crypto Market Recovery | IDOs News


Bakkt Holdings forecasts a substantial revenue increase and a 70% decline in operating cash flow usage for FY 2024, following a robust year of strategic advancements.

Following a transformative year, Bakkt Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BKKT) has reported a remarkable increase in both fourth quarter and full-year revenues for 2023, according to a press release shared with Blockchain.News. The digital asset platform acquired Bakkt Crypto (formerly Apex Crypto, LLC) in April 2023, and the inclusion of this new acquisition has significantly contributed to the company’s financial performance.

Financial Performance Highlights

Bakkt’s fourth quarter gross crypto services revenues surged to $199.4 million, with associated costs and fees amounting to $197.8 million. Total revenues for the quarter reached $214.5 million, contributing to a full-year revenue total of $780.1 million. The company also reported a substantial reduction in operating expenses, excluding certain costs and impairments, which were down by 55% year-over-year.

Despite the increased revenue, the company faced total operating expenses of $293.0 million for the quarter, leading to an operating loss of $78.5 million and a net loss of $78.7 million. Yet, these figures represent a significant improvement from the previous year, showcasing the company’s cost management efforts and strategic direction.

Strategic Initiatives and Future Outlook

Under the leadership of incoming President and CEO Andy Main, Bakkt is focusing on strategic initiatives aimed at scaling the business efficiently. The company plans to expand its client network, launch new products, and execute prudent expense management. Notably, Bakkt’s recent initiatives include the launch of Collaborative Custody and plans to introduce institutional trading services in Q3 2024.

With a focus on broadening its client network, Bakkt has signed new retail and institutional clients, including Bitcoin ETF providers and fintech companies. The company also intends to execute on its international expansion strategy, targeting regions such as Latin America and Asia where its crypto capabilities are already live.

Key Financial Projections for FY 2024

Bakkt’s forward-looking statements outline an ambitious plan for growth in the upcoming fiscal year. The company expects total revenues to surge to between $3,292 million and $5,114 million. Operating expenses, excluding certain costs, are projected to decline by 13-18%. Furthermore, the company anticipates a significant reduction in operating cash flow usage, which is expected to decline by approximately 70% year-over-year.

Industry Context and Analysis

Bakkt’s latest financial results arrive as the crypto market shows signs of recovery from its previous downturn. The company’s focus on expanding institutional offerings is timely, as the market has seen growing interest from traditional financial institutions in crypto services. Bakkt’s strategic partnerships and platform development place it in a strong position to capitalize on this trend.

The company’s consolidation and scaling efforts reflect a broader industry shift towards maturation and stability in the digital asset space. With the crypto market’s increasing integration into traditional finance, platforms like Bakkt that can offer secure, compliant, and institutional-grade services are well-positioned to lead the next phase of the industry’s evolution.

Conclusion

Despite the challenges of a volatile market, Bakkt’s strategy of strengthening its balance sheet, optimizing its cost structure, and expanding its product offerings has set the stage for a promising year ahead. The company’s emphasis on operational efficiency and market expansion is expected to drive it towards profitability and sustainability in the rapidly evolving digital asset ecosystem.

Image source: Shutterstock


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Advantages of Mobile Apps in Gambling: The Example of Pin Up App | IDOs News

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Advantages of Mobile Apps in Gambling: The Example of Pin Up App | IDOs News


By Terry Ashton, updated August 31, 2024

Online gambling is going mobile — over 50% of players are already playing casino games on their mobile devices, and their number is expected to grow further. But does a mobile app have actual advantages over browser-based play? We decided to do more profound research by accessing and trying gambling on a desktop browser, mobile browser, and the app. That allowed us to distinguish casino mobile applications’ key benefits and drawbacks. If you’re considering using one, just keep reading — we will share some helpful insights below. 

Benefits of Mobile Play at Pin Up Casino

The rise of online gambling happens for multiple reasons, including the following ones: 

  • Ultimate accessibility. You can access the app anywhere, even on the go. You don’t need to take additional actions — the casino opens with just one click. 
  • Lower Internet requirements, offline play. If you play for fun, you can do it even without an Internet connection. If you prefer to play real money, the requirements for an Internet connection will still be much lower because most data is already downloaded to your device. 
  • Push notifications. You can immediately learn about the new top promotions and the hottest games without checking your email. 
  • Special bonuses. Sometimes, special bonuses are granted to mobile players. Some casinos may add them occasionally to encourage players to play on apps. 
  • The same game selection. If a casino is modern and cooperates with top providers, all games will be compatible with mobile devices. For instance, if you play at Pin Up casino online, you can access the same collection of games. That goes not only for slots but also for live games, table games, etc. 
  • Higher security standards. The app is protected even better than the site. Data is encrypted, and the chance that anyone will access your account is close to zero. 

Registration also goes smoothly. Once you sign up on the browser or app, you can access the platform with just one click by entering your Pin Up login and password. 

Considering the Cons: Potential Drawbacks of Using a Pin-Up Mobile App 

Nothing is perfect, and neither are casino apps. Gamblers should also consider the drawbacks, and the most common ones are as follows: 

  • Installing software is a must. You need to install the software on your phone. It’s safe if it’s the official casino site and a good product. However, clicking on the wrong link and downloading the wrong APK file may result in problems. 
  • Battery drain and storage space. It’s no secret that charging the phone all the time is annoying, and innovative slots with top graphics may drain your battery quickly. Also, though most apps don’t take much space (in the case of Pin Up, it’s just about 100 Mb), they still require more effort to manage it. 
  • Compatibility requirements. Any app will have technical requirements, and most aren’t compatible with old mobile devices and tablets. Also, you’ll need to install updates quite regularly. 
  • Smaller screen. This is a disadvantage for those who prefer playing on larger screens, particularly those who prefer live dealer games. 

Do the pros outweigh the cons for you? If yes, the mobile app will boost your experience. If not, browser play may be a better option. 

Final Thoughts: The App vs. Browser Play at Pin-Up Casino

Technology is shaping the industry. Nowadays, there’s no such significant difference between playing on a mobile app and a mobile or desktop browser. You get the same game selection, the same bonuses, and the same smooth experience. So, it’s a matter of taste. Choose what will work best for you and enjoy your play.


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NVIDIA Introduces Fast Inversion Technique for Real-Time Image Editing | IDOs News

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NVIDIA Introduces Fast Inversion Technique for Real-Time Image Editing | IDOs News




Terrill Dicki
Aug 31, 2024 01:25

NVIDIA’s new Regularized Newton-Raphson Inversion (RNRI) method offers rapid and accurate real-time image editing based on text prompts.





NVIDIA has unveiled an innovative method called Regularized Newton-Raphson Inversion (RNRI) aimed at enhancing real-time image editing capabilities based on text prompts. This breakthrough, highlighted on the NVIDIA Technical Blog, promises to balance speed and accuracy, making it a significant advancement in the field of text-to-image diffusion models.

Understanding Text-to-Image Diffusion Models

Text-to-image diffusion models generate high-fidelity images from user-provided text prompts by mapping random samples from a high-dimensional space. These models undergo a series of denoising steps to create a representation of the corresponding image. The technology has applications beyond simple image generation, including personalized concept depiction and semantic data augmentation.

The Role of Inversion in Image Editing

Inversion involves finding a noise seed that, when processed through the denoising steps, reconstructs the original image. This process is crucial for tasks like making local changes to an image based on a text prompt while keeping other parts unchanged. Traditional inversion methods often struggle with balancing computational efficiency and accuracy.

Introducing Regularized Newton-Raphson Inversion (RNRI)

RNRI is a novel inversion technique that outperforms existing methods by offering rapid convergence, superior accuracy, reduced execution time, and improved memory efficiency. It achieves this by solving an implicit equation using the Newton-Raphson iterative method, enhanced with a regularization term to ensure the solutions are well-distributed and accurate.

Comparative Performance

Figure 2 on the NVIDIA Technical Blog compares the quality of reconstructed images using different inversion methods. RNRI shows significant improvements in PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and run time over recent methods, tested on a single NVIDIA A100 GPU. The method excels in maintaining image fidelity while adhering closely to the text prompt.

Real-World Applications and Evaluation

RNRI has been evaluated on 100 MS-COCO images, showing superior performance in both CLIP-based scores (for text prompt compliance) and LPIPS scores (for structure preservation). Figure 3 demonstrates RNRI’s capability to edit images naturally while preserving their original structure, outperforming other state-of-the-art methods.

Conclusion

The introduction of RNRI marks a significant advancement in text-to-image diffusion models, enabling real-time image editing with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency. This method holds promise for a wide range of applications, from semantic data augmentation to generating rare-concept images.

For more detailed information, visit the NVIDIA Technical Blog.

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AMD Radeon PRO GPUs and ROCm Software Expand LLM Inference Capabilities | IDOs News

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AMD Radeon PRO GPUs and ROCm Software Expand LLM Inference Capabilities | IDOs News




Felix Pinkston
Aug 31, 2024 01:52

AMD’s Radeon PRO GPUs and ROCm software enable small enterprises to leverage advanced AI tools, including Meta’s Llama models, for various business applications.





AMD has announced advancements in its Radeon PRO GPUs and ROCm software, enabling small enterprises to leverage Large Language Models (LLMs) like Meta’s Llama 2 and 3, including the newly released Llama 3.1, according to AMD.com.

New Capabilities for Small Enterprises

With dedicated AI accelerators and substantial on-board memory, AMD’s Radeon PRO W7900 Dual Slot GPU offers market-leading performance per dollar, making it feasible for small firms to run custom AI tools locally. This includes applications such as chatbots, technical documentation retrieval, and personalized sales pitches. The specialized Code Llama models further enable programmers to generate and optimize code for new digital products.

The latest release of AMD’s open software stack, ROCm 6.1.3, supports running AI tools on multiple Radeon PRO GPUs. This enhancement allows small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to handle larger and more complex LLMs, supporting more users simultaneously.

Expanding Use Cases for LLMs

While AI techniques are already prevalent in data analysis, computer vision, and generative design, the potential use cases for AI extend far beyond these areas. Specialized LLMs like Meta’s Code Llama enable app developers and web designers to generate working code from simple text prompts or debug existing code bases. The parent model, Llama, offers extensive applications in customer service, information retrieval, and product personalization.

Small enterprises can utilize retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to make AI models aware of their internal data, such as product documentation or customer records. This customization results in more accurate AI-generated outputs with less need for manual editing.

Local Hosting Benefits

Despite the availability of cloud-based AI services, local hosting of LLMs offers significant advantages:

  • Data Security: Running AI models locally eliminates the need to upload sensitive data to the cloud, addressing major concerns about data sharing.
  • Lower Latency: Local hosting reduces lag, providing instant feedback in applications like chatbots and real-time support.
  • Control Over Tasks: Local deployment allows technical staff to troubleshoot and update AI tools without relying on remote service providers.
  • Sandbox Environment: Local workstations can serve as sandbox environments for prototyping and testing new AI tools before full-scale deployment.

AMD’s AI Performance

For SMEs, hosting custom AI tools need not be complex or expensive. Applications like LM Studio facilitate running LLMs on standard Windows laptops and desktop systems. LM Studio is optimized to run on AMD GPUs via the HIP runtime API, leveraging the dedicated AI Accelerators in current AMD graphics cards to boost performance.

Professional GPUs like the 32GB Radeon PRO W7800 and 48GB Radeon PRO W7900 offer sufficient memory to run larger models, such as the 30-billion-parameter Llama-2-30B-Q8. ROCm 6.1.3 introduces support for multiple Radeon PRO GPUs, enabling enterprises to deploy systems with multiple GPUs to serve requests from numerous users simultaneously.

Performance tests with Llama 2 indicate that the Radeon PRO W7900 offers up to 38% higher performance-per-dollar compared to NVIDIA’s RTX 6000 Ada Generation, making it a cost-effective solution for SMEs.

With the evolving capabilities of AMD’s hardware and software, even small enterprises can now deploy and customize LLMs to enhance various business and coding tasks, avoiding the need to upload sensitive data to the cloud.

Image source: Shutterstock



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