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🪐 What’s happening in tech today, February 18, 2025?

The HackerNoon Newsletter brings the HackerNoon homepage straight to your inbox. On this day, we present you with these top quality stories. From Will the EU’s Defense Spending Boom Put Crypto Gains at Risk? to Bitcoins Utility Cannot Be Measured by Its Ability to Generate Profits, let’s dive right in.

The Market Today

#01

Instagram (Meta)

736.67 +1.43%

#02

ThoughtWorks

4.47

#03

Netflix

1058.6 +1.29%

#05

Facebook (Meta)

736.67 +1.43%

#01

Bitcoin

$95508.81 -1.26%

tech-stories

Write About Spacecoins Mission to Decentralize the Internet and Win From 15,000 USDT

TL;DR Participate in the Spacecoin Writing Contest and write about Spacecoins mission to decentralize the internet for your share at a 15,000 USDT prize pool!

By @hackernooncontests [ 2 Min read ]

The Spacecoin Writing Contest is putting 15,000 USDT on the table for writers, space geeks, and blockchain enthusiasts to discuss Spacecoin's mission—connecting purpose to blockchain infrastructure and bridging digital divides to bring affordable, borderless connectivity to billions...

web3

Bitcoins Utility Cannot Be Measured by Its Ability to Generate Profits

TL;DR The controversy concerning the utility of Bitcoin is reignited as Donald Trumps promise to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve is still on the table.

By @ssaurel [ 5 Min read ]

As we consider what makes Bitcoin useful, let's take a look at the very definition of the word in the dictionary:

Useful: whose use satisfies a need, is or can be advantageous.

For these people, Bitcoin is arguably useful. After all, it allows them to satisfy a need...

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web3

Will the EU’s Defense Spending Boom Put Crypto Gains at Risk?

TL;DR Crypto tax regulation for individuals is quite liberal in some EU countries, but not all.

By @ilinskii [ 6 Min read ]

Overall, any increase in defense spending would likely be debt-financed, which would mean a substantial increase in taxes, impacting all financial sectors, including the crypto industry.

EU Tax Hells for Crypto

Here is a short summary of some of the highest crypto taxes in the EU...

machine-learning

AI Knows Best—But Only If You Agree With It

TL;DR AI’s efficiency may unintentionally narrow human knowledge, leading to “knowledge collapse.” Learn how this shift affects innovation and cultural diversity.

By @modeltuning [ 4 Min read ]

Author:

(1) Andrew J. Peterson, University of Poitiers (andrew.peterson@univ-poitiers.fr).

Abstract and Introduction

Network effects and Information Cascades

Model collapse

Known biases in LLMs

A Model of Knowledge Collapse

Results

Appendix..

Poll Of the Week

Should the American Government Ban TikTok?

Governments around the world are concerned that TikTok is spying on users at the behest of China, where TikTok's parent ByteDance is based. No wonder then that governments around the world are barring their lawmakers from using and installing the app on their official phones. The U.S. government is also considering restricting or banning TikTok across the country, similar to a ban imposed on Huawei. Is this the right course of action?

39% Yes, TikTok is lame

23% No, the government has no right to decide what apps I use

4% I'm not sure, wouldn't it hurt creators and businesses?

18% Maybe, if the government shares evidence for its claims

13% Uh, don't American companies do the same?

🧑‍💻 What happened in your world this week?

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The HackerNoon Team ✌️