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Coinbase engineer gives simulated insect $100 and lets its neurons make the trades

If you want to understand how 2026 is going, in March The Register reported that scientists had connected a simulated fruit fly brain to a virtual body and let it wander around a virtual world. Now another simulated fly nervous system is trading crypto.

Behold Stonkfly, the brainchild of Coinbase software engineer Alex Wormuth. His X post boasted: “I gave the fly brain $100 to trade bitcoin. Dopamine neurons are stimulated when the fly makes profit. Neuron activity controls buy/sell decisions and makes trades on coinbase. Will the…