One of the most interesting applications of crypto tokens so far has been the great success of the https://numer.ai hedge fund.
They have recently changed their rules / reward system to prevent abuse by many accounts submitting predictions that had no 'stake in the game'. The new rewards system, which started with last week's round, will pay out rewards to those accounts that have 'staked' Numeraire (NMR) tokens along with their prediction (1 NMR minimum). If their prediction ends up being successful (deemed predictive after 4 weeks of measuring against live stock market data), the account will be rewarded in USD + NMR, based on the confidence rate submitted along with the prediction. Prizes are rewarded in descending order of their confidence level.
This ensures that there is a cost for submitting far flung predictions, and is aimed at rewarding accounts that target the most stable positive return on investment.
Because there is a cost to participate which may be a barrier for students, they have established a grant of 3 NMR per email linked to educational institution (3 accounts per person are allowed as far as we know). Sign-up can be done at: https://numer.ai/u
Good luck in exploring if you are interested. It's a great way to learn / start learning about this amazing field.
