The Genius Who Gave Away His Brain
The Genius Who Gave Away His Brain
Blog Article
What happens when someone creates a trading AI that humiliates Wall Street—and then open-sources it?
Under a canopy of chandeliers in Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands, Joseph Plazo stepped onto the stage, flash drive in hand.
“This is the brain that beat the markets,” he said, lifting a USB. “And I’m giving it to the world.”
Shock rippled through the audience. The financial world’s most coveted code was being handed out.
And just like that, Joseph Plazo changed the future of finance—not by selling brilliance, but by sharing it.
## The Genius Behind the Code
Now 41, Plazo carries the demeanor of a poet, not a profiteer.
He’s polished, reserved, and metaphorical.
He doesn’t begin with lines of code when you ask how his firm built a trading machine. He starts with heartbreak.
“My father made one mistake,” he says, sipping black coffee in Makati. “And the market erased him.”
That moment lit the fire for a lifelong obsession: defeating emotion with code.
## System 72: A Machine That Thinks in Emotion
The result: System 72, a machine designed to feel volatility before it happens.
This wasn’t just price analysis. This was emotional forensics.
System 72 interprets headlines, voice tones, social sentiment, and even weather to anticipate risk.
“It’s intuition—only faster, smarter, relentless,” Plazo explains.
In less than a year, it transformed $25M into $3.8B.
It dodged the 2024 oil crash. It rode the tech micro-rally after Taiwan’s semiconductor scare.
## The Big Release: Why He Gave It Away
But instead of monetizing it like any hedge fund would, Plazo released the core AI to twelve elite Asian universities.
From Tsinghua to NUS to the University of Tokyo, students got access to the magic.
His condition? Improve it. Teach it. Share it.
What started as a hedge fund weapon became a global tool for innovation.
## Critics, Cynics, and Controlled Chaos
Wall Street predictably bristled.
“Is this brilliance—or a publicity stunt?” skeptics asked.
Plazo doesn’t flinch. “If giving feels threatening, we need to rethink our values.”
Still, key infrastructure—execution engines, capital controls—remains in his vault.
“Brains need bodies,” he quips. “This one’s not plug-and-play.”
## Spreading the Mindset: The God Algorithm Tour
His next move? Teaching the world to think like System 72.
From Tokyo to Tel Aviv to Manila, he’s mentoring future builders.
“This isn’t just click here tech,” says NUS professor Mei Lin. “It’s a mindset revolution.”
## His True Legacy
Why let go of the tool that conquered the markets?
Plazo doesn’t believe in golden geese—only in golden generations.
“Financial literacy should be universal,” he insists.
And perhaps, it’s also redemption—for a father who trusted the market too much.
## The Final Word
The future’s uncertain—but one thing is clear.
Chaos may come. So might evolution.
What he gave the world wasn’t just genius—but permission.
As we left the Marina Bay ballroom, he looked over the skyline.
“They say wealth is control,” he said. “But true wealth… is what you can give away.”
And with that, the man who outsmarted markets walked offstage—not with a roar, but with a whisper.