We’re excited to announce that Nubila, a DePIN protocol building the world’s largest Real World Data Network, will use Theta EdgeCloud’s distributed GPU resources to support AI model training on the large data sets generated by their real-time weather data network.

Nubila transforms untapped IoT and industrial data into Real-World Data Assets (RWDA), bridging machine intelligence with advanced AI to empower Earth and beyond. By enabling hyperlocal, actionable insights, Nubila enhances next-gen climate simulations like Nvidia Earth-2, driving precision in weather-driven finance and sustainable innovation. As the world faces climate risks that could cost trillions of dollars to mitigate, Nubila’s groundbreaking data solutions not only build resilience for the economy but also lay the groundwork for Elon Musk’s vision of life on Mars — fueling the intelligence needed for a multi-planetary future.

Nubila is revolutionizing weather data collection with the Marco — a DePIN solution that allows users to collect real-time weather data and contribute it to a global sustainability network. Users aren’t just collecting data; they’re unlocking new opportunities to monetize their contributions while driving real-world impact. The analysis of these billions of data points naturally requires significant compute resources, and Theta EdgeCloud is ready to deliver that with over 10,000 distributed edge nodes, and cloud partners including Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services offering over 80 PetaFLOPS of always available distributed GPU compute power. This vast resource pool enables enterprises, academic institutions, and startups alike to overcome the limitations of traditional in-house GPU clusters, which are often costly to maintain and challenging to scale.

Nubila joins the ranks of EdgeCloud ecosystem partners such as NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, FlyQuest esports, University of Oregon, Seoul National University, NTU Singapore, JamCoding, and many more.

Nubila is backed by an elite team of crypto and data industry veterans who bring deep expertise in blockchain, AI, and weather intelligence. Leading the charge are Prof. Bob Chien, a founding member of Galxe, and Toby Skinner, the Ex-CMO of The Weather Company, both shaping Nubila’s vision for a decentralized weather data revolution.

Adding to the firepower, Nubila is advised by Raullen Chai, founder of IoTeX, and Jonathan King from Coinbase Ventures, bringing strategic insight and industry-leading experience to drive Nubila’s mission forward.

Welcome to the Theta Network, Nubila!

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Today SBI VC Trade, a cryptocurrency exchange subsidiary of Japan’s SBI Holdings, said it has become the first Japanese firm to be licensed as an “Electronic Payment Instruments Exchange Service Provider”. The license is required to handle offshore stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC. SBI Holdings and Circle inked a collaboration deal in late 2023 to launch Circle’s USDC stablecoin in Japan.

SBI VC Trade was already licensed as a crypto exchange and for securities business.

It plans to start a beta version of USDC services in ten days.

The move is notable for two reasons. Firstly, the USD – Yen exchange rate is an important one. To date stablecoins have mainly been used for crypto transactions and for emerging market residents to hold dollars. It has also been used for cross border payments, again mainly in emerging markets.

On the other hand, according to Swift, the Yen is the fifth most widely used currency for cross border payments, and ranks third (5.42%) if you exclude transactions between European firms.

Many are more skeptical about the utility of stablecoins for cross border payments between developed economies, particularly the US and Europe. It remains to be seen if the same applies to Japan.

Clearly stablecoins have potential in foreign exchange, especially at the retail level.

Payments firms eye stablecoins for cross border

While SBI VC Trade is a crypto exchange, several organizations in the Japanese payments sector are also interested in stablecoins for cross border payments.

Japan’s largest bank, MUFG, is trialing stablecoins as an invisible backend alternative to Swift for cross border payments, alongside the other big three banks. Separately, it co-founded Progmat Coin, which is exploring stablecoins for various types of cross border payments, including trade in emerging markets. Progmat also has a collaboration with Japanese stablecoin issuer JPYC, which applied for the same electronic payment instrument license granted to SBI VC Trade.

Soramitsu is exploring cross border payments by integrating stablecoins with Cambodia’s Bakong digital payment system, which it developed.

Ironically, the largest Yen stablecoin wasn’t issued in Japan. It was launched by the New York registered trust GMO-Z which issues the GYen (Market cap: $10m) and ZUSD (market cap: $18m) stablecoins. GMO-Z is part of Japan’s GMO Internet Group.

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Last week, four different views of meme coins were put forward. On Thursday the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provided staff guidance that meme coins would not be considered securities. SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw dissented. The following day, Joe Rogan posted an interview with Elon Musk. Rogan thinks meme coin pump and dumps should be regulated, but Musk think’s meme coins are okay provided people treat them as a bit of fun and don’t risk too much.

Unsurprisingly, the Rogan – Musk excerpt is more entertaining.

“The whole meme coin thing is bananas,” observed Rogan. “It is so bananas that people dump real money into these coins and then you could just pump them up and sell them.”

“It’s like a casino or something,” Elon Musk responded, comparing it to “the greater fools theory and musical chairs. Whoever’s the last to sit down loses.”

To which Rogan replied, “And somehow or other it’s still legal”.

“If you expect to win at a casino, you’re being a fool,” answered Musk. “At the risk of saying something bold and outrageous, don’t bet the farm on a meme coin.”

Rogan spoke about pump and dumps, where people often hope they are the one who will dump, but they end up on the losing end. He repeated, “It’s just weird that it’s legal still”. Musk responded that people lose money at casinos. Rogan’s view is that pump and dumps make meme coins different and observed that you could run “a real pyramid scheme”.

With that context, let’s turn to the SEC’s new guidance on meme coins. By saying most meme coins are not securities, the SEC also conveniently sidesteps a potentially awkward position regarding the $TRUMP meme coin.

The SEC’s position on meme coins

Following the change in administration, the SEC has swiftly dropped many of its outstanding cases and investigations into major crypto firms, where the allegations revolved around classifying most cryptocurrencies as securities (rather than outright fraud). But meme coins are amongst the first pieces of guidance provided.

Here’s the core paragraph on meme coins:

“Meme coins typically are purchased for entertainment, social interaction, and cultural purposes, and their value is driven primarily by market demand and speculation. In this regard, meme coins are akin to collectibles.”

“Meme coins also typically have limited or no use or functionality. Given the speculative nature of meme coins, they tend to experience significant market price volatility, and often are accompanied by statements regarding their risks and lack of utility, other than for entertainment or other non-functional purposes”

The key legal aspect is whether a meme coin is sold as part of an “investment contract”, the so-called Howey test.

The SEC continued,

“The offer and sale of meme coins does not involve an investment in an enterprise nor is it undertaken with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others.”

It says that the price movement is the function of speculation and “collective sentiment” rather than any efforts of a third party. Again it compares them to collectibles.

That’s not to say there’s a free pass for fraudulent behavior, because the SEC highlights that it’s possible for others, most likely the Department of Justice, to pursue bad actors.

But for now, it certainly seems like it’s a situation of buyer beware.

Commissioner Crenshaw dissents

Democrat Commissioner Crenshaw disagrees. Her concern is that the new meme coin definition put forward by the SEC doesn’t have a foundation in law.

She wrote,

“The lack of a useful definition alone makes the value of this guidance questionable, except perhaps as a roadmap for crypto enterprises looking to evade oversight by labeling themselves as a meme coin.”

Commissioner Crenshaw believes that other crypto issuers will downplay the role of managerial efforts in order to fit into the meme coin classification and escape oversight.

She asserts that most meme coins rely on managerial efforts, whether it’s structuring offerings to limit supply or via buybacks or burning. The Commissioner highlighted the prevalence of manipulation through pump-and-dumps and rug pulls. And she noted that getting a listing on an exchange involves managerial effort.

Apart from meme coins, the Commissioner also has reservations about Crypto 2.0. While she recognizes the intent to provide more guidance on what is or is not a security, she’s concerned that the withdrawal from many cases before providing that guidance raises many questions. These include,

“How can we pursue fraudulent conduct in this space while casting doubt on our regulatory jurisdiction? Are we eroding our ability to police fraudulent Ponzi schemes? Are we poised to give special treatment to crypto assets over traditional assets, or even other emerging assets?”

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