By Special Feature by Forbes Asia

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.

Students leaned forward. Professors clicked record. A single line of code flashed onto the screen.

“This line of code,” he said, “is what beat Wall Street.”

“And now it’s yours to evolve.”

## 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.

Singaporean students created trading bots. In Taipei, it powered disaster simulations. In Seoul, it optimized electric grid forecasting.

“This could be AI’s Gutenberg moment,” one Singapore professor claimed.

Even the IMF quietly requested a trial.

## Critics, Controversy, and the Ethics of Genius

Of course, not everyone cheered.

“This could destabilize global markets,” one investment firm claimed.

The noise didn’t shake his belief.

“Tools don’t decide morality,” he said. “People do.”

Only the logic is click here open. The machinery remains secure.

“The skeleton’s yours to build,” he added.

## Real Stories from the Ground

A part-time data analyst in Manila launched a startup after six months of trading.

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

Back on campus, Plazo watches students code with the same hunger he once had.

“Markets were my test bed,” he says. “Empowerment is the real product.”

In a data-driven age, he opened the source of brilliance.

And somewhere, a kid is writing the next version of System 72—because now, they can.