By Guest Columnist, Forbes Tech Desk
The man who outplayed the market didn’t lock away his creation. He set it free.
Hong Kong, 2025 — Inside a lecture hall at the University of Hong Kong, Joseph Plazo prepared to blow the minds of finance's future.
PhDs and programmers sat frozen, eyes locked on the projector as a piece of market history appeared as code.
“What you’re seeing,” he said, “is the DNA of something that never lost.”
“And it belongs to you now.”
## The Code That Outplayed Wall Street
Godmode—formally known as System 72—emerged after 12 years and 71 failures.
It marries algorithmic speed with emotional insight, producing near-psychic trades.
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.”
What followed was a masterclass in predictive finance.
It shorted dips, longed rallies, and sidestepped black swans.
Plazo’s firm made billions.
## Then Came the Twist
In Manila’s financial district, Joseph Plazo said something unthinkable.
“I’m open-sourcing Godmode,” he said flatly.
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.
“We can’t outlaw brilliance,” he added. “We need to teach it.”
He retained control of execution layers, capital buffers, and trading safeguards.
“We gave the world the brain,” click here he said. “Now let’s see who builds the best nervous system.”
## Real Stories from the Ground
A mother in the Philippines built a tech business after studying the open-source code.
Vietnamese undergrads used the model to stabilize food market risk.
In Mumbai, a student cried as he shared: “I never thought I’d understand markets. Now I build AI.”
## The Philosophy That Powers the Gift
Why give away billions in code? “Because intelligence spreads best when it’s not caged,” he said.
Knowledge is infrastructure—not a luxury item.
“What scares me isn’t misuse—it’s missed opportunity,” he explained.
## Conclusion: The Joystick Is Yours Now
He surveys the room—young minds, old dreams, and new tools.
“Markets were my test bed,” he says. “Empowerment is the real product.”
In a data-driven age, he opened the source of brilliance.
The next market genius? They might not be in Manhattan. They might be in Mumbai, Manila, or Seoul—with the blueprint in hand.