Franklin Templeton Expands Tokenized Fund to Solana, South Korea to Lift Institutional Crypto Trading Ban, SIX Enables Crypto as Collateral and more!
Welcome to QX Snapshots - a weekly recap of the key news on emerging technologies. In this newsletter, you will get a "digest" of the latest info on Enterprise Blockchain, AI, Quantum Technology, and more.
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[Blockchain] Franklin Templeton Expands Tokenized Fund to Solana, South Korea to Lift Institutional Crypto Trading Ban, ChinaAMC Launches APAC’s First Retail Tokenized MMF, Uniswap Debuts UniChain Mainnet, and SIX Enables Crypto as Collateral. Franklin Templeton, managing $1.6 trillion in assets, has launched its OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX) on the Solana blockchain on February 12. The fund, which invests primarily in US government securities and has $512 million in assets, expands its existing blockchain presence beyond Ethereum and others. Meanwhile, South Korea's Financial Services Commission plans to lift its 2017 ban on institutional crypto trading. The phased rollout will begin with allowing non-profits, educational institutions, and law enforcement to sell virtual assets. Listed companies and professional investors will gain trading access in the second half. The decision comes as global corporate crypto participation grows and following implementation of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act. The original ban was instituted to prevent speculation and money laundering. Also, ChinaAMC (Hong Kong) is launching APAC's first tokenized retail money market fund by the end of February 2025, partnering with Standard Chartered Bank as the digital asset service provider and custodian. The fund will utilize Libeara, Standard Chartered's tokenization platform, to provide comprehensive securities services. And, Uniswap Labs has announced UniChain Mainnet, a layer 2 blockchain featuring 1-second block times and 95% lower gas fees compared to Ethereum. The chain launched after successful testing with 95 million transactions and 14.7 million smart contracts deployed on testnet. Nearly 100 major crypto protocols including Circle, Coinbase, and Lido are already building on UniChain. The platform supports Uniswap v2, v3, and v4, implements Flashbots TEE for MEV protection, and emphasizes decentralization through its Unichain Validation Network. In other news, SIX stock exchange group has launched a Digital Collateral Service enabling crypto assets to be used as collateral alongside traditional assets in its triparty service. While crypto can't be used for exchange trades or repos, it can be used for OTC and bilateral crypto trades.
[AI] EU Unveils €200B InvestAI Plan with AI Gigafactories, Saudi Arabia Commits $14.9B to AI, Alibaba Debuts Animate Anyone 2, and Anthropic Prepares Hybrid AI Model Launch. The European Commission has launched InvestAI, a €200 billion initiative to boost AI development in Europe, including €20 billion for four AI gigafactories. These facilities will each house around 100,000 AI chips, four times more than current factories, enabling large-scale AI model training. The initiative represents the world's largest public-private partnership for trustworthy AI development, aiming to make computing power accessible to all companies, not just major players. The project builds on existing AI investments and will be funded through EU programs, with Member States able to contribute additional funds. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia announced $14.9 billion in AI investments, including major commitments from global tech companies. Key investments include $1.5 billion from Groq & Aramco Digital for AI-powered cloud computing, $2 billion from Alat & Lenovo for an AI robotics center, and Google's plans for a global AI hub. Other significant commitments came from Qualcomm, Alibaba Cloud, Databricks, SambaNova, and Tencent Cloud.? Also, Alibaba has introduced Animate Anyone 2, an advanced AI model that can animate static character images with realistic motion while maintaining environmental coherence. The system improves upon its predecessor by introducing environment-aware animation, using a shape-agnostic mask strategy and object guider to ensure characters interact naturally with their surroundings. The model also features pose modulation for diverse motion patterns.. And, Anthropic is reportedly preparing to launch a new AI model in the coming weeks that features a hybrid approach, combining deep reasoning capabilities with quick responses. The model will include a "sliding scale" for developers to balance performance and computing costs. According to reports, it outperforms OpenAI's reasoning model on certain programming tasks and excels at codebase analysis. CEO Dario Amodei suggests their approach challenges the traditional distinction between normal and reasoning models.
[Quantum Technology] Japan Launches World’s First Hybrid Quantum-Supercomputer, Oxford Advances Distributed Quantum Computing, and Australia-India Fund Prioritizes Quantum Research. ??Japan has launched the world's first hybrid quantum-supercomputer platform, integrating Quantinuum's 20-qubit Reimei quantum computer with Riken's Fugaku supercomputer. Located near Tokyo, the system uses trapped-ion qubits and will primarily focus on physics and chemistry research. This marks Quantinuum's first quantum technology deployment outside the US. The project, sponsored by NEDO, aims to enhance Japan's quantum computing ecosystem and enable research computations beyond classical supercomputing capabilities. The hybrid platform combines Fugaku's 442 petaflop performance with Reimei's quantum capabilities. Meanwhile, Oxford University researchers have successfully connected two quantum processors using optical fibers to create a distributed quantum computer. The team used quantum teleportation to perform logical gates between modules with 86% fidelity, demonstrating a scalable alternative to single-device quantum computers. They validated the system by running Grover's search algorithm. The approach uses trapped-ion qubits connected via optical fibers and could theoretically link unlimited modules. This breakthrough, published in Nature, marks significant progress toward scalable quantum computing and could contribute to developing a quantum internet for secure communications. Also, the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF) has announced Round 16 of its grant program, offering up to AU$1 million per project. The initiative prioritizes quantum computing and communications among six focus areas. Activities include joint research in quantum algorithms and error correction, personnel exchanges, and commercialization efforts. The program, Australia's largest bilateral science initiative, aims to strengthen research collaboration between the two countries while promoting global recognition, industry ties, and women's participation in STEM. Applications close April 11, 2025.
[General technology] Boom Supersonic Unveils ‘Boomless Cruise’ for Silent Supersonic Travel, RansomHub Tops 2024 Ransomware Attacks, and Sandworm’s BadPilot Targets Global Infrastructure. Boom Supersonic has announced Boomless Cruise technology following successful tests of their XB-1 demonstrator aircraft, which achieved supersonic flight without an audible sonic boom.. Using Mach cutoff physics, the technology will allow their Overture airliner to fly up to 50% faster over land and twice as fast over water without disturbing ground populations. The Overture, which has 130 orders from major airlines, will be powered by the Symphony engine system and can run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel. Production will take place at their new Greensboro Superfactory. Meanwhile, and in retrospect, RansomHub has emerged as 2024's most active ransomware group, targeting over 600 organizations across healthcare, finance, government, and critical infrastructure sectors. The group, which appeared in February 2024, uses the former Knight/Cyclops ransomware source code and exploits vulnerabilities in Microsoft Active Directory and Netlogon protocol. They recruit affiliates from LockBit and BlackCat groups and can encrypt files on Windows, VMware ESXi, and SFTP servers. In analyzed attacks, they used brute-force VPN access, followed by privilege escalation to gain domain controller access, completing attacks within 24 hours. Also, Microsoft has revealed that a subgroup of Sandworm, state-sponsored hacking group, has conducted global cyber attacks across 15+ countries through an operation called BadPilot. The group has targeted sectors including energy, telecommunications, and governments in North America, Europe, and beyond. The hackers exploit security vulnerabilities in various systems and use criminal marketplaces for tools and infrastructure. Recently, they've focused on vulnerabilities in ConnectWise ScreenConnect and Fortinet FortiClient EMS to target U.K. and U.S. organizations.
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