In Kaupr we are now re-launching our main newsletter as “Next by Kaupr”, which also will be our flagship newsletter

• We will focus more on trends and what is coming, while we still providing snapshots from the news landscape.

• We will focus on emerging technologies shaping the future of the internet, media landscape, and financial system

• We will cover how concepts like Web2 and Web3, technologies like AI and crypto, and businesses like TradFI and DeFi, are converging.

• We will share content from our news site kaupr.io, our YouTube site, social media and the internet

• We will publish the newsletter both in English and Norwegian

We have built on our earlier distributed newsletters named ‘Notert’ and ‘News’. If you subscribed to the ‘Unleash by Kaupr’ newsletter in connection to the Unleash Conference, going forward you will receive ‘Next by Kaupr’. But if you also, or mainly, are interested in community events, make sure that you are also subscribed to our event calendar in Lu.Ma.

Below you will find the content both in English and Norwegian. First you will find the Norwegian section, so scroll down if you want to get to the English section.

Next time you can receive the newsletter in your preferred language. But then you first have to update your language preferences. This is how you do it: Log in. Go to your profile on the right. Choose ‘Manage subscriptions’. Then ‘Preferences’ on the left and lastly choose your preferred language, English or Norwegian.

Welcome and happy reading / Velkommen og god leasning!

Morten Myrstad

In the first weeks of this year, we have chosen to actively dive into the new narrative surrounding AI and AI agents. This topic is now prominently featured on the agenda of technology companies in both the Web2 and Web3 worlds. We are examining trends from both perspectives-

In this newsletter, we also share links to an exclusive video interview Kaupr conducted with Charles Hoskinson from Cardano. Additionally, we publish new and fresh data from the Tax Administration regarding Norwegians' reporting of cryptocurrency taxes.

Now comes the AI agents: A new industrial revolution?

Artificial intelligence is entering a new era, where generative AI paves the way for agentic AI systems that act independently and perform complex tasks. Several technology leaders highlight this transition as the next significant shift.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has termed this "the age of AI agents," a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity that will transform how we work, live, and interact with technology.This is the first of several articles where we closely examine how AI agents are an emerging technology that will also affect and interact with other technologies, including SaaS and cloud services, no-code solutions, APIs, blockchains, crypto, fintech, social media, gaming, and the metaverse.

AI Agents and Crypto: The New Narrative in 2025?

AI plus crypto, driven by AI agents and supported by an open and social internet, has become the new narrative in the transition between 2024 and 2025. What was previously viewed as separate technologies is now converging.

This is the second of several articles where we take a closer look at how AI agents are an emerging technology that will also impact and interact with other technologies, including SaaS and cloud services, no-code solutions, APIs, blockchains, crypto, fintech, social media, gaming, and the metaverse.

From Chatbots to Innovation: K33 seriousloy puts crypto and agentic dAI on the map

K33 Research, ledet av Head of Research Vetle Lunde, har etablert seg som et internasjonalt anerkjent analyseselskap innen krypto, og dykker nå også tungt inn i det nye narrativet, Krypto pluss AI-agenter.

Siden oktober i fjor har K33 utgitt flere analyser om agentisk AI og krypto, hvor den hittil siste ble publisert den første uken i januar. Denne analysen fokuserer nærmere på REI, en innovativ agent som adresserer de betydelige utfordringene knyttet til integrasjonen av kunstig intelligens (AI / KI)  og blokkjeder.

Troubled crypto and financiall markets after a positive start to the year

Etter en lovende start på 2025 har krypto- og finansmarkedene blitt mer volatile, påvirket av sterke jobbdata i USA og redusert håp om rentekutt. Investorers appetitt for risikobaserte aktiva har avtatt, både innen krypto og tradisjonell finans.

Mot slutten av forrige uke opplevde kryptovalutaer som Bitcoin og Ethereum større prisfall, etter å ha startet uken opp. Men også amerikanske aksjer har svingt sterkt og Wall Street endte uken med et større fall. Årsaken til den økte usikkerheten er sterke jobbdata i USA som har styrket dollaren og derigjennom redusert håpet om rentekutt.

In 2024, Kaupr had an exclusive video interview with Charles Hoskinson from Cardano. So far two videos that we published from the interview have together had over 11,000 views.

In the video titled 'Want to Bank the Unbanked Through Decentralization,' getting 6,800 views so far, we had a 40-minute conversation about the opportunities of the decentralized internet. In the video titled 'Charles Hoskinson Strongly Rebuts K33 Critique,' getting 3,600 views so far, we were criticized by some Hoskinson fans for giving voice to the Cardano critique from K33, even though we provided Hoskinson an opportunity to respond to the critique.

You can watch the videos on our YouTube channel.

Below, you can also see the two articles that we published on the Kaupr news site.

Charles Hoskinson in exclusive interview: Want to bank the unbanked through decentralization

“In the end of the day we just want to bank the unbanked and we want to create fair financial systems for people and put people in control of their data, their identity and their lives,” says Charles Hoskinson to Morten Myrstad from Kaupr.

“When you focus on the principles and you focus on theculture, you tend to have an organic bottom-up community that comes, because they like the culture, and the people and they believe in the mission of what we want to do,” says Hoskinson.

Read more on the online publication Kaupr and view the video interviewCharles Hoskinson strongly rebuts K33 Critique

Charles Hoskinson strongly rebuts the criticism from the Norwegian analytics firm K33 Research regarding the Cardano platform in an interview with Morten Myrstad from Kaupr.

K33 Research critique came out in a paper earlier this year. We also covered how the Norwegian Cardano community reacted by keeiping calm. From the conversation we had with Charles Hoskinson before the summer, we edited and published a separate video about how Hoskinson responded to the critique.

Fresh Data Still Shows Huge Dark Numbers on Crypto Tax

More and more Norwegians are reporting that they own crypto, but recent data from the Tax Administration shows that the dark figures are still significant. In the tax return for 2023, 54,000 reported that they owned crypto, while the actual number is estimated to be between 400,000 and 500,000.

In the future, the Tax Administration will be able to obtain this information from industry players. Early in November, the Ministry of Finance sent out a proposal for a reporting obligation for providers of exchange and custody services for crypto assets. The proposal entails that these services must provide information to the tax authorities about their users.

In this article, we share both new figures and how the Tax Administration envisions a future reporting regime for crypto in Norway.

Thank you for following along in this first edition of our new newsletter concept “Next by Kaupr.” You are, of course, free to unsubscribe at any time. However, if you would like to continue on this journey with us, please remember to choose whether you want to receive the newsletter in Norwegian or in English!

Morten Myrstad