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Populations worldwide are aging at an alarming rate, presenting challenges and opportunities for investors.

Among the challenges are slower economic growth and high debt loads driven by declining fertility rates and a shrinking workforce. In demographically challenged countries, governments spend more on pensions, healthcare, and other social security programs for the elderly, increasing public debt loads.

As a demographic crisis continues to unfold globally, a team of Goldman Sachs analysts reassured clients on Wednesday that the world isn't ending; rather, big investment opportunities exist in profiting off a growing population entering their golden years.

The team of analysts led by Evan Tylenda and Madeline Meyer provided clients with the understanding that global populations have already peaked:

Global populations are already peaking as the number of younger individuals under the age of 19 has peaked. While global populations are still expected to rise by c.20% by 2050, seniors over the age of 65 are expected to rise by 100% from 800 mn to c.1.6 bn, representing a disproportionate share of overall population growth.
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With the coming explosion in the senior population, analysts have developed an investing framework for investors to capitalize on maturing economies and this demographic trend. They said, "We see tailwinds in three key areas — Healthcare, Senior Living and Care, and Entertainment & Experience."
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The New Digital Financial system?

 
https://www.europol.europa.eu/media...wn-hits-longest-standing-dark-web-drug-market
ARCHETYPE MARKET HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWN, $7.8MILLION IN XMR SEIZED
Europe-wide takedown hits longest-standing dark web drug market
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Law enforcement authorities across Europe have dismantled ‘Archetyp Market’, the most enduring dark web marketplace, following a large-scale operation involving six countries, supported by Europol and Eurojust.
Between 11 and 13 June, a series of coordinated actions took place across Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, targeting the platform’s administrator, moderators, key vendors, and technical infrastructure. Around 300 officers were deployed to carry out enforcement actions and secure critical evidence.

Archetyp Market operated as a drug marketplace for over five years, amassing more than 600 000 users worldwide with a total transaction volume of at least EUR 250 million. With over 17 000 listings, it is one of the few darknet markets that allowed the sale of fentanyl and other highly potent synthetic opioids, contributing to the growing threat posed by these substances in Europe and beyond.

As a result of the action, the platform’s infrastructure in the Netherlands was taken offline and its administrator – a 30-year-old German national – was arrested in Barcelona, Spain. In parallel, measures were taken in Germany and Sweden against one moderator and six of the marketplace’s highest vendors, and assets worth EUR 7.8 million seized.

This operation led by the German authorities marks the end of a criminal service that enabled the anonymous trade in high volumes of illicit drugs, including cocaine, MDMA, amphetamines, and synthetic opioids. The platform’s endurance, scale and reputation within the criminal community place it alongside now-defunct darknet markets such as Dream Market and Silk Road, both notorious for their role in facilitating online drug trafficking.

Europol’s Deputy Executive Director of Operations Jean-Philippe Lecouffe commented:

With this takedown, law enforcement has taken out one of the dark web’s longest-running drug markets, cutting off a major supply line for some of the world’s most dangerous substances. By dismantling its infrastructure and arresting its key players, we are sending a clear message: there is no safe haven for those who profit from harm.
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The takedown follows years of intensive investigative work to map the platform’s technical architecture and identify the individuals behind it. By tracing financial flows, analysing digital forensic evidence, and working closely with partners on the ground, authorities were able to deliver a decisive blow to one of the most prolific drug markets on the dark web.

Europol contributed to the efficiency and effectiveness of the international investigations. The agency organised multiple coordination meetings that made it possible for authorities to exchange critical information for the investigation. During the action days and the preliminary investigations, Eurojust coordinated the execution of mutual legal assistance and European Investigation Orders.

A seizure banner has been published on the now-defunct marketplace. Further information, as well as a video aimed at the underground economy, is available online at www.operation-deepsentinel.com

The following authorities took part in or assisted with the investigation:

  • Germany: Prosecutor General’s Office Frankfurt am Main – Cyber Crime Centre (Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Frankfurt am Main – ZIT), Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt)
  • Netherlands: National Police of the Netherlands (Politie)
  • Romania: National Police (Poliția Română)
  • Spain: National Police (Policía Nacional)
  • Sweden: Swedish Police Authority (Polismyndigheten)
  • United States: Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ)
  • Europol
  • Eurojust
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Forgot to post this earlier
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Tom's Hardware: Fear that quantum computing is on the cusp of cracking cryptocurrency's encryption spurs a global investment firm to remove Bitcoin from recommendations (archive)
Senior financial strategist Christopher Wood said in the latest issue of the GREED & Fear newsletter that he’s removing the 10% Bitcoin allocation from his recommended portfolio. He justified this move by saying that advancements in quantum computing pose a threat to the cryptocurrency’s cryptographic protections, thus undermining its argument of durability through network security. According to Bloomberg, Wood recommends replacing Bitcoin with an investment with a 5% allocation to physical gold and another 5% set for gold mining stocks.
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Game over.
 
Anyone should be able to access this article from the CFAI, but if you can't drop me a line. The idea that Private Capital assets could somehow be packaged for retail clients still reflects the age old phrase "yield to broker"...i.e., how much juice can i put in this by trying to justify this asset is for everyone.

Small article well worth a read read if you have even a passing interest in how non-bank financing is writhing beneath the surface.

Listen, I despise it when people draw lines in the sand with superlatives like this headline. No one is ever that right about anything but, don't let the headline put you off as the points which the author makes are still a great read.

The Music Has Stopped in Private Markets

*revised for words
 
Zitron is a bit of a fanatic in his anti-AI stance and calling tops and bottoms in any market is a fools game however, this was a read that came up on HN yesterday. It is a long one, but worth the read, imo. I do realize it it fashionable to hate on the AI spend, the questionable efficiencies, the idiotic applications, and the massive promises but the one thing that Zitron does in his articles is a) admit his assumptions and b) tried to use some realistic baseline for his cost estimates. They may be wrong, but he also mentions they may be wrong.

AI's Economics Don't Make Sense

@Hollywood Hulk Hogan calling you here as you may appreciate it
 
Let it burn to fuckin ash said:
Zitron is a bit of a fanatic in his anti-AI stance and calling tops and bottoms in any market is a fools game however, this was a read that came up on HN yesterday. It is a long one, but worth the read, imo. I do realize it it fashionable to hate on the AI spend, the questionable efficiencies, the idiotic applications, and the massive promises but the one thing that Zitron does in his articles is a) admit his assumptions and b) tried to use some realistic baseline for his cost estimates. They may be wrong, but he also mentions they may be wrong.

AI's Economics Don't Make Sense

@Hollywood Hulk Hogan calling you here as you may appreciate it
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I agree with him. LLMs are completely stupid for the most part. They try and predict what the next word will be, and thus are only as accurate as they are programmed to be and the data that they feed into it. Unfortunately, a lot of bullshit is on the internet and was fed into them. They don't "think" or use reasoning at all. They just try and guess what the next word should be and do it with 100% confidence even when it's completely wrong.

Plus the amount of energy needed for it is insane. It's basically a search engine that gives faster and less accurate results. Don't get me started on using LLMs to program or run business operations (some are even using it as their HR department, seriously) because those are just a disaster waiting to happen

And yeah, companies are losing money on AI due to the huge amount of energy needed. All for pretty much a stupid reason. There can only be one winner and then you have retards like Zuck trying to get "super intelligence" using LLMs and blowing billions in a losing battle to do so
 
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