January 31, 20263 min read

BitFinance Weekly Round Up 1/31

Been an interesting week to say the least!

I’ve been working with a few organizations on investment advisory as more clients get curious about digital asset allocation. Also helping stand up some new digital asset funds for focused traders.

Building in this space feels good, even when the market doesn’t.

And yeah, the market hasn’t felt great. Precious metals have been where all the action is (more on that below), and crypto’s seen a slow bleed over the past week.

Rates held.
Volatility spiked.

But my personal win though has nothing to do with markets.

Before January 2026, I had written exactly zero lines of code in my life.
Today I have 2500+ spread across 3 apps that I’ve built with the help of AI.

Next step - monetization!

Think about that …3 web-based applications in one month.
Built by a guy whose previous technical ceiling was “advanced Excel user.”

This is what I keep telling people: AI isn’t just about automating your email or generating content.

It’s about building entirely new revenue streams in days instead of months without burning $20K on developers. The speed-to-market right now is absurd. If you’re not exploring this, you’re leaving money on the table.

Anyway. Here’s what I wrote this week:

TL;DR: This Week’s Posts

Three Buckets and a Reality Check (Jan 23)

The institutional era is here, but that doesn’t mean everything in crypto is suddenly investable. I break down the three mental buckets:

Bitcoin (its own thing—less volatile than Nvidia last year), altcoins (tech bets and speculation—be honest about which you’re doing), and cash (not cowardice—optionality).

Buffett wisdom meets digital assets.
Diversification is often a hedge against doing real research.

The Hidden Cost of Your Own AI Assistant (Jan 28)

I built my own AI assistant named Vesper Pax.

She has her own email, X account, and phantom wallet integrated with hyperliquid.

Last week, she went 2-2 in picking NFL touchdown scorers during the playoffs while I shoveled snow.

Things were great…But nobody warned me about the bill.

Subscriptions ≠ API credits. I burned $47 in four days before I figured out model switching. Went from $30/day to $5 for the same output. The AI literally suggested how to save money on itself.

We’re living in the future. (and still probably a simulation)

Three Metals, Three Stories. And Why Copper Stands Out (Jan 29)

Gold crossed $5K and doesn’t care about Bitcoin anymore;
the “digital gold” narrative needs a rewrite.

Silver’s paper market is showing structural cracks (26% of COMEX inventory vanished in one week).

And copper? The sleeper story of the year. AI data centers are copper-hungry beasts, and supply peaked before demand did. This one matters.

Winners & Losers

🏆 Winners

Copper – The "boring metal" everyone forgot. AI infrastructure + electrification = structural demand story.
Canton Network – Down market, but this one keeps trending. Worth watching.
Anthropic – Claude, MCP, the whole ecosystem. They're shipping faster than anyone. (The AI even has their own reddit now! - check out moltbook)

📉 Losers

Coinbase – Prediction markets, tokenized trading... and still bleeding. Tough look.
BitGo – Down 25-30% since IPO. Had a bid Friday, but still massively underwater.
Silver – 30% drawdown on Friday. Paper met reality and reality won.

Looking Ahead

Super Bowl week.
Government’s shut down.
I’m not exactly bullish on near-term action.

Trade safely. Skip the leverage. And seriously…start looking at AI as a way to build new income streams, not just automate tasks.

If you ever need help integrating AI into your workflow, consider me a resource.

— Matthew
X: @matthew_mba_

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