Riyadh Hosts Major Int’l Tech Gathering to Predict Future of Global Technology

Riyadh hosts the largest global gathering to review technology developments (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Riyadh hosts the largest global gathering to review technology developments (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT

Riyadh Hosts Major Int’l Tech Gathering to Predict Future of Global Technology

Riyadh hosts the largest global gathering to review technology developments (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Riyadh hosts the largest global gathering to review technology developments (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh is hosting the second edition of a major technology conference known as LEAP. From Feb. 6 to 9, tech innovators and leading experts will predict the future of technology and its effective role, and to find innovative solutions to the most important challenges facing the sector.

LEAP 2023 will seek raising tech awareness and highlighting Saudi Arabia’s position as a major center for technology and innovation.

Launched under the title “Towards New Horizons,” the tech conference is expected to host more than 700 international leading experts in technology investment.

They will speak through seven different platforms designed to include all technical, innovative and investment interests. More than 500 sessions will be held.

LEAP 2023’s “investors” platform will present investments in the technology and innovation sector, conclude commercial agreements, and review successful partnerships and models worldwide.

Four stages will be devoted to panelists and experts discussing financial technologies, smart cities, health and educational technologies, retail trade, the future of energy and the industrial revolution.

The conference is organized by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, and UAE-based IT services and consulting firm Tahaluf.

It aims to spark discussions on artificial intelligence, the digital transformation, and advancements in the field of technical and innovative entrepreneurship through immersive learning, storytelling sessions and lectures.

Michelle Crawford, the head of TrustedOne.Global, a major US-based consulting firm, listed three key opportunities that virtual reality can provide to investors.

“It (virtual reality) provides real-time use cases that generate revenues in the present day, brings next-generation technologies and skills to the youth of Saudi Arabia, and highlights the rich Saudi history to the world,” Crawford told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Furthermore, Crawford expected that LEAP 2023 will revolutionize tech conferences and change the face of technology in Riyadh.



Bitcoin Drops to 11-day Low amid Tech Selloff

FILE PHOTO: Sparks strike representation of cryptocurrency Bitcoin in this illustration taken November 24, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sparks strike representation of cryptocurrency Bitcoin in this illustration taken November 24, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
TT

Bitcoin Drops to 11-day Low amid Tech Selloff

FILE PHOTO: Sparks strike representation of cryptocurrency Bitcoin in this illustration taken November 24, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sparks strike representation of cryptocurrency Bitcoin in this illustration taken November 24, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Bitcoin fell below $100,000 on Monday, hitting its lowest in 11 days, in a move analysts attributed to a wave of caution after the surging popularity of a Chinese artificial intelligence model sparked a selloff in Western AI-related stocks.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency struggled to make gains last week, as a rally that had seen it break above $100,000 after US President Donald Trump's election ran out of steam, Reuters reported.

At 1156 GMT, bitcoin was at $98,852.17, down around 6% on the day, having fallen sharply in early trading to hit its lowest since Jan. 16.

Technology stocks plunged, as traders worried that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek could threaten Western companies' dominance of the sector, in a move some called AI's "Sputnik moment", referring to the former Soviet Union's launch of a satellite that marked the start of the space race in the late 1950s.

Bitcoin's losses are "seemingly driven by some risk-off sentiment circulating the markets currently due to DeepSeek," wrote eToro analyst Simon Peters.

Geoffrey Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, said a decline in Nasdaq futures had hurt crypto markets, but that disappointment over the Trump administration's announcement about a cryptocurrency stockpile had put digital assets more at risk of a sharp selloff.

Crypto failed to feature in Trump's day-one announcements after taking office last week, leaving some investors disappointed. In an executive order on Thursday, Trump created a working group to draft new crypto rules and explore a crypto stockpile, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) spiked accounting guidance that the industry said had stymied crypto adoption.

The prospect of interest rates staying higher for longer also hurt riskier assets, said Thomas Puech, CEO of digital asset hedge fund Indigo.

US Federal Reserve policymakers meet this week and are expected to keep interest rates on hold.