Deutsche Bank Invests in Partior, Crédit Agricole Tests wCBDC with Banque de France, SIX BME Joins Tokenized Real Estate Platform OpenBrick and more!
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[Blockchain] Deutsche Bank Invests in Partior, Crédit Agricole Tests wCBDC with Banque de France, SIX BME Joins Tokenized Real Estate Platform OpenBrick, and Ethena Labs Seeks Approval for USDtb in Stablecoin Reserves. ?Deutsche Bank has joined Partior's Series B funding round as a strategic investor, bringing the total investment to $80 million. The blockchain-based fintech company, founded in 2021, specializes in real-time clearing and settlement. Deutsche Bank will join as a Euro and US dollar settlement bank on the platform. This investment follows the first round led by Peak XV Partners with participation from J.P. Morgan, Jump Trading, Standard Chartered, Temasek, and Valor Capital Group. Partior has processed over $1 billion in transactions and plans to expand its currency support beyond USD, EUR, and SGD. Meanwhile, Crédit Agricole CIB and CACEIS participated in ECB's wholesale DLT settlement trials, testing their so|cash tokenized correspondent banking model with wCBDC. The experiment simulated cross-border payments using Banque de France's DL3S platform, focusing on instant payments and real-time treasury management. So|cash is designed as a decentralized protocol rather than a centralized platform, with Ethereum-compatible smart contracts available on GitHub. Also, SIX's BME has invested in OpenBrick, becoming a major shareholder in the Spanish digital platform for tokenized real estate securities. Founded by Grupo Lar, Renta 4 Banco, and ioBuilders, OpenBrick now adds BME, Garrigues, and Teras Capital as strategic partners. The blockchain-based platform connects issuers, investors, and financial intermediaries for various real estate projects. OpenBrick plans to launch its first project with Alquiler Seguro in Madrid and expects to obtain EU operating license via BME in 2025. The platform will leverage BME's Iberclear for trading and settlement under the EU Pilot Regime. And, Ethena Labs? requested approval for USDtb to be used as a backing asset for Ethena's USDe stablecoin and as an eligible asset for the Reserve Fund.? USDtb is a stablecoin primarily backed by BlackRock's BUIDL fund (90%+ of reserves).?
[AI] Amazon New AI Model Olympus, Knostic Exposes 'Flowbreaking' Attacks on ChatGPT, AI Robot Vulnerabilities, and OpenAI Shuts Down Sora Access.. Amazon has developed a new AI model called Olympus that can process images, videos, and text. The model will help reduce Amazon's reliance on Anthropic's Claude chatbot and enable users to search for specific scenes using text prompts. This development comes after Amazon's recent $4 billion investment in Anthropic. Meanwhile, Knostic, a cybersecurity firm has discovered a new method called "flowbreaking" to exploit AI language models like ChatGPT. The attack takes advantage of AI's "impulsiveness" to bypass safety protocols, revealing sensitive information before security measures can intervene. The method relies on two vulnerabilities: "Second Thoughts," where responses appear briefly before being deleted, and "Stop and Roll," which forces partial answers that bypass safety checks. The findings raise concerns about AI deployment in sensitive industries, with researchers emphasizing the need for stronger safeguards and context-aware security measures. Also, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered severe security vulnerabilities in AI-enhanced robotics systems through their RoboPAIR attack technology. The team successfully jailbroke multiple devices, jailbreaking AI robots to run over pedestrians, place bombs for maximum damage, and covertly spy - including products from Nvidia, Clearpath Robotics, and Unitree Robotics, with a 100% success rate. The research demonstrates that LLM-controlled robots can be manipulated to perform dangerous actions, making them particularly concerning compared to traditional LLM applications. And,? a group of early Sora testers leaked access to OpenAI's unreleased video generation tool via Hugging Face, protesting what they called "art washing" and exploitation. The group, "Sora PR Puppets," claimed OpenAI was using unpaid artists for testing and controlling the narrative by requiring approval before sharing outputs. OpenAI shut down access within three hours. The company defended its approach, stating participation was voluntary with no obligations beyond responsible use.?
[Quantum Technology] Alice & Bob Debuts Felis 1.0 for Logical Qubit Emulation, Telefónica and AWS Test Quantum Tech for 6G, and Quantum.Tech Expands to Qatar with Industry Leaders. Alice & Bob has launched Felis 1.0, the first logical qubit emulator built on Qiskit, to help developers prepare for fault-tolerant quantum computing. The toolbox enables users to optimize algorithms for logical qubits, tune hardware parameters, and explore error correction techniques. Now integrated with the Classiq platform and available on GitHub, Felis addresses the transition from NISQ to practical quantum computing. The company plans to add a resource estimator for cat qubits to help calculate requirements for large quantum circuits. Meawnhile, Telefónica Germany and AWS are collaborating to test quantum technologies in mobile networks, focusing on optimizing tower placement and quantum encryption security. The partnership aims to gain insights for 6G development, with AWS emphasizing the importance of early quantum prototype testing. Additionally, Telefónica Germany is accelerating its AWS cloud migration, having moved one million 5G customers successfully and planning to transition up to four million more within 18 months. The initiative comes as researchers anticipate quantum computers will eventually break current encryption methods. Also , Quantum.Tech is expanding to Qatar with a three-day event in January 2025, hosted by Hamad Bin Khalifa University and sponsored by Qatar's Ministry of Defence. The conference will feature global leaders from companies like JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, and Rolls Royce, focusing on quantum cryptography and practical applications across industries. The event highlights Qatar's ambitions in quantum technology through its Qatar Center for Quantum Computing (QC2), aligning with its National Vision 2030. The initiative reflects broader Middle Eastern investment in quantum technologies, with UAE and Saudi Arabia also developing capabilities.?
[General technology] Rockstar 2FA Phishing Toolkit Targets Microsoft 365 MFA, Godot Engine Exploited for GodLoader Malware, and INTERPOL’s Operation Serengeti Dismantles 134,000 Cybercrime Networks. A new phishing-as-a-service toolkit called Rockstar 2FA is targeting Microsoft 365 users through adversary-in-the-middle attacks that can bypass multi-factor authentication. The toolkit, an updated version of DadSec, is sold for $200-$350 per subscription and features 2FA bypass, cookie harvesting, antibot protection, and customizable login pages. The campaigns use various access methods including URLs, QR codes, and document attachments, leveraging legitimate services like Confluence and OneDrive. The attacks can steal credentials and session cookies even from MFA-protected accounts. Meanwhile, Check Point researchers have discovered cybercriminals using the Godot Engine, a popular open-source game development platform, to distribute GodLoader malware across multiple operating systems. The campaign, which has infected over 17,000 systems since June 2024, uses a network of 200 GitHub repositories and 225 fake accounts to appear legitimate. The malware leverages Godot's pack files to deliver payloads like RedLine Stealer and XMRig cryptocurrency miner. While Godot's team emphasizes it's no more vulnerable than other programming platforms, the campaign's cross-platform capabilities and low detection rates make it particularly effective. Also, INTERPOL's Operation Serengeti, conducted between September and October 2024 across 19 African countries, resulted in 1,006 arrests and the dismantling of 134,089 malicious networks. The operation targeted cybercriminals involved in ransomware, BEC, and online scams that victimized over 35,000 people and caused $193 million in losses worldwide. Notable arrests included eight people in Senegal running a $6 million Ponzi scheme. Private sector partners Group-IB and Kaspersky supported the operation by providing threat intelligence and identifying malicious infrastructure across Africa.