Mankind used to look up at the sky and ponder our place in the universe, now all we can do is look down and worry about our place in the dusty world.
📌 IMPORTANT REMINDER: BTC Cross-Chain Bridge Seeded $XLNK is Coming!
The governance proposal initiated by ALEX has passed, and its incubated cross-chain bridge Will be coined separately, 10% allocated to $ALEX holders, 70% goes to the treasury (for validator incentives, ecosystem growth, etc., the airdrop portion should come out of here)
The pristine scenery of Mt Kenya’s lakes,tarns,glaciers,forests and springs is breathtaking.
Ecosapiens waitlist now open Free mint to be released on 12 October
PayPal to pause UK crypto purchases starting in October
PayPal stated in an email to select users on Aug. 14 that it will temporarily pause crypto buying services in the U.K. in the coming months.
That message states that the service will be paused starting on Oct. 1, 2023, and will resume at an unspecified date in early 2024.
Though buying will be unavailable, PayPal said that users will be able to hold and sell their cryptocurrency during the service disruption. The company did not state whether users will be able to transfer cryptocurrency to other wallets and exchanges, though it appears that this feature is only available to users in the U.S. at present.
The company assured users their crypto remains safe and said holding will not incur a charge. It apologized for the inconvenience to customers.
U.K. rules require updated compliance
PayPal said it is pausing crypto purchases due to introducing new rules from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It said that those rules will require it to “implement additional steps before customers can purchase crypto.”
The company did not specify which rules are concerned. The U.K. will begin to enforce a Crypto Travel Rule in September 2023 that requires crypto companies to collect information about parties involved in transactions, though this rule’s September deadline does not seem to line up with PayPal’s October service change.
The FCA also recently introduced new promotional rules that aim to control how crypto can be promoted or advertised to potential investors. These rules come into effect in October but do not seem to match PayPal’s description of user-focused requirements.
PayPal’s reduced U.K. services are particularly notable due to the fact that the company is expanding its crypto offerings in the United States.
The company said that it would offer its own USD stablecoin on Aug. 7. Later, one PayPal executive suggested that the stablecoin could see extensive use in DeFi. Other reports suggest the company is combining its features into a “Cryptocurrency Hub.”
Microsoft partners with Aptos blockchain to marry AI and web3
artificial intelligence has captured the hearts, minds and wallets of the technology industry. So it’s little surprise that Microsoft, which has several irons in the AI fire, is working to expand its footprint in the area. On Wednesday, the company announced that it is partnering with layer-1 blockchain Aptos Labs to work on AI and web3.
“The primary focus for both of us is solving our respective industries problems,” Mo Shaikh, co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs, told TechCrunch+.
The collaboration allows Microsoft’s AI models to be trained using Aptos’ verified blockchain information, Shaikh explained. Aptos will also run validator nodes for its blockchain on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, which it anticipates will bring greater reliability and security to its service.
Microsoft is also looking to the future. “We predict that AI will be infused into web3 solutions at greater scale in the coming months and years,” Daniel An, global director of business development for AI and web3 at Microsoft, said in an email to TechCrunch+.
There’s little doubt that AI is having a massive impact on society. “We can become incredibly efficient in using these tools every day in our lives,” Shaikh said. “Whether it’s searching and putting together an index of the best restaurants in your neighborhood or helping you write code for your job or research.”
For technologist’s AI aspirations to come true, there is a growing need for transparency, trust and verification of AI-generated content, An said. “For example, how do we know that LLM-generated outputs are authentic [and] trustworthy? How do we know that the training data is bias free in the first place? Blockchain-based solutions can help with verifying, time-stamping and attributing content to its source, thereby improving credibility in a distributed digital economy.”
An compares large language models to content creators “on steroids” and blockchains as “a yardstick for transparency and trust.” To help people become more comfortable with AI — and LLMs more specifically — companies have to make sure users trust how the technology works. “The openness and immutability of blockchain can improve the trust that people place in AI-generated content and provide confidence that they’re making the right decisions.”
AI needs to evolve responsibly, and web3 could help it earn the required credibility, Shaikh said. “Everything we capture onchain is verified and that verification can [help] train these models in a way that you’re relying on credible information.”
Microsoft’s interest is in having credible information to train models in a way that’s verifiable, which is where Aptos can fit in, Shaikh said. “In order to do that you need an incredibly performant blockchain with high throughput.”
The throughput of Aptos’ blockchain can support up to 160,000 transactions per second and has a goal of reaching the ability to handle “hundreds of thousands by the end of the year,” Shaikh said. It also ranks as one of the fastest blockchain networks, alongside Avalanche, with a time-to-finality of less than one second, according to Messari research.
With fast throughput, quick settlement times and a cost to use at a fraction of a cent, Aptos’ blockchain may have all three things needed to make it attractive to Big Tech companies interested in building AI-related products and services — like Microsoft.
Tenstorrent Secures $100 Million Led by Hyundai and Samsung
AI chip developer Tenstorrent has successfully closed a $100 million strategic financing up-round, co-led by Hyundai Motor Group and the Samsung Catalyst Fund. The funding round was announced on August 3, 2023, and includes participation from other investors such as Fidelity Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, Maverick Capital, and more.
Tenstorrent, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with global offices in various locations, specializes in selling AI processors and licensing AI and RISC-V IP to customers who wish to own and customize their silicon. The company's CEO, Jim Keller, has previously developed AI chips for major tech companies like Apple, Intel, and Tesla.
The funding details reveal that $30 million came from Hyundai, $20 million from Kia, and $50 million from the Catalyst Fund by Samsung and other participating investors. The funds will be used to "accelerate the company's product development, the design and development of AI chiplets," and further advancements in its machine learning software roadmap.
Heung-soo Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of the Global Strategy Office at Hyundai Motor Group, commented on the investment, stating that the Group expects to "develop optimized but differentiated semiconductor technology that will aid future mobilities and strengthen internal capabilities in AI technology development."
The investment comes at a time when developers are competing with Nvidia, the current market leader in AI chip development. The growing demand for high-powered semiconductor chips to develop AI systems has led to increased competition in the market, with companies like AMD also announcing details of forthcoming AI chips.
Tenstorrent's collaboration with industry giants like Hyundai and Samsung highlights the growing interest in AI technology and the potential for innovation in the field. The investment also aligns with Hyundai Motor Group's aggressive adoption of technology, including their acquisition of Boston Dynamics and joint venture with Aptiv.
Samsung Catalyst Fund's EVP, Marco Chisari, expressed excitement about the opportunity to work with Tenstorrent, stating that the company's "industry-leading technology, executive leadership, and aggressive roadmap motivated us to co-lead this funding round."
The strategic investment in Tenstorrent is indicative of a broader trend in the automotive and electronics industries, where AI and semiconductor technologies are playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of mobility and computing. The collaboration between Tenstorrent, Hyundai, and Samsung may pave the way for new developments in AI technology, positioning them as key players in the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Lens Protocol, l'infrastructure d’une nouvelle génération de réseaux sociaux Web3
Lens Protocol, l'infrastructure d’une nouvelle génération de réseaux sociaux Web3](https://cryptoast.fr/lens-protocol-infrastructure-nouvelle-generation-reseaux-sociaux-web3/)) Lens Protocol est une infrastructure pensée pour accueillir les réseaux sociaux du Web3, où l'utilisateur reprend le contrôle de ses données
Polygon and Decentraland confirmed that it will host its annual NFT festival in the metaverse on June 17.