I was curious as to why an algorithmic trading firm is sponsoring this. What's in it for them?
A lot of finance companies sponsor events / prizes like this simply as a means of advertising and PR. If you come across this prize as a math student, now XTX is in your head and maybe you'll look them up and decide to intern there. And 10m is a drop in the bucket for such goodwill and PR, especially because anyone who has the skills to win this can surely be hired and make them as much money.
Alameda Research had some gold medalists iirc!
Yes, but they stopped doing math puzzles when they started trading. Math puzzles aren't how they trade.
Maybe I’m being dumb here but isn’t the brain of one of those people the same, basically, as the model? So if a model can do X and is valued so highly, surely it’s value is pinned on a known brain that matches its skills?