By Special Feature by Forbes Asia
Imagine having a cheat code for financial markets. Joseph Plazo didn’t just imagine it—he built it. Then gave it away.
Hong Kong, 2025 — In a sunlit University of Hong Kong classroom, Joseph Plazo walked the stage like a code-wielding prophet.
PhDs and programmers sat frozen, eyes locked on the projector as a piece of market history appeared as code.
“This,” he said, pausing, “is the core of the system that beat every market it touched.”
Then he added: “And you’re going to improve it.”
## The Code That Outplayed Wall Street
Plazo’s AI took 12 years, 72 failed iterations, and millions in research funding to perfect.
System 72 blends behavioral forecasting, sentiment parsing, and high-frequency trade logic.
It scrapes Reddit threads, decodes Fed speech stress levels, reads derivatives flow, and parses tweet tone.
“Markets aren’t equations,” Plazo explains. “They’re emotional theaters.”
And System 72 delivered.
It predicted the 2024 tech rally. It anticipated 2025’s altcoin run—48 hours early.
Billions flowed in quietly, trade by trade.
## Then Came the Twist
Sitting in his boardroom, he made a decision no financier expected.
“I’m releasing the core engine to the public,” he told his team.
It wasn’t a joke. It was a paradigm shift.
No hedge fund exclusives. No paywalls. Just code—for students.
“Genius shouldn’t be hoarded,” Plazo told Forbes. “It should be cultivated.”
## The Educational Revolution That Followed
Soon, labs from Singapore to Japan were adapting the code in wildly creative ways.
Jakarta students used it to detect unrest. Seoul labs used it to predict EV charging loads.
“It’s not just a financial AI anymore,” said Professor Takahashi of Tokyo University.
International agencies asked for a look under the hood.
## Critics, Controversy, and the Ethics of Genius
Some called it dangerous. Others called it disruptive.
“This is financial anarchy,” warned a U.S. fund manager.
Plazo stayed firm.
“Tools don’t decide morality,” he said. “People do.”
Only the logic is open. The machinery remains secure.
“The spark is free. The fire’s up to you.”
## Real Stories from the Ground
In Manila, a single mom turned $400 into $14,000 using a simplified version.
In Vietnam, rural scholars built a financial literacy app to hedge vendor losses.
A Mumbai coder called it “the key that opened my family's future.”
## The Philosophy That Powers the Gift
His reason? “Because monopolizing insight is the slowest way to grow.”
To him, information is like air. Shared. Essential. And free.
“The real risk is keeping power in too few hands,” he told me.
## Conclusion: The Joystick Is Yours Now
As students huddle over keyboards, simulating real-time trades, Plazo smiles at the scene.
“Trading was just the beginning,” he says. “This is about agency.”
While others hoarded secrets, he gave away power.
Thanks to Plazo, the future might be written in code… get more info by someone the market never saw coming.