$11.65

Numeraire is a project built on Ethereum that gives data scientists and developers a space to build and test machine learning models with greater dependability. Its primary aim is to introduce decentralization into data science, encouraging developers to compete in crafting effective predictive models. Established in late 2015 in San Francisco, Numerai is recognized as the first hedge fund to issue its own cryptocurrency. Unlike conventional hedge funds, it leverages data and predictions from tournament participants to guide its stock market activities, and it is noted for its extensive reliance on machine learning in its investment approach.

Richard Craib is the founder and CEO of Numerai. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Cape Town in 2008, then earned another bachelor's degree from Cornell University and spent a year at UC Berkeley. His career began with founding Numerai, and he has been recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree. Craib is frequently praised for his unconventional approach to hedge fund management, particularly his heavy reliance on artificial intelligence for stock price forecasting. Additionally, Numerai has established one of the largest global data science competitions.

Numeraire and its token stand out due to the concept behind their creation, as this is reportedly the first cryptocurrency launched by a hedge fund. A key feature of the NMR token is that it is given to data scientists whose models perform well in the Numerai tournament, meaning its value can rise as more participants join and compete. Furthermore, the models submitted in the tournament enable Numerai to engage in stock market trading based on the outcomes of these projects. This novel approach makes Numerai one of the few hedge funds to depend significantly on AI-generated predictions.

The maximum supply of NMR is set at 11 million tokens. Initially, the cap was 21 million, but in 2019 the platform announced it would reduce this limit by more than half. According to a 2018 press release, three million NMR tokens will be locked until 2028 and will be distributed as rewards to tournament participants. Numeraire did not hold an initial coin offering; instead, it allocated 1 million tokens to 12,000 of its most active users. NMR tokens are burned weekly, as participants who submit losing models lose their staked tokens.

As an ERC-20 token, NMR relies on Ethereum's proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism for security. In this system, validators and block producers are chosen based on the amount of NMR they stake. ERC-20 tokens are popular for their flexibility, and the Ethereum blockchain offers protection comparable to other security protocols. Unlike proof-of-work (PoW), PoS does not require high energy or computing power to generate new tokens, making it more scalable and adaptable for various uses.

Numeraire is gaining traction as the hedge fund performs well and more data scientists join the weekly tournament. For those interested in trading NMR, several exchanges list the token. As of February 2021, Coinbase Pro had the highest trading volume for the NMR/USD pair. Other exchanges with notable volumes include Binance, DigiFinex, and Bilaxy. For more details on purchasing crypto, you can refer to additional resources.