Deutsche Bank is reportedly planning to debut its cryptocurrency custody service in 2026. The banking giant recruited the technology division of crypto exchange Bitpanda to help develop the offering. Deutsche Bank’s corporate bank, which first announced its custody plans in 2022, will also continue to work with Swiss tech company Taurus on the service. The custody project is happening as big banks are upping their focus on digital assets, bolstered by new European regulations and a more pro-crypto environment in the United States. “We can certainly see the momentum of stablecoins along with a regulatory supportive environment, especially in the U.S.,” said Sabih Behzad, Deutsche Bank’s head of digital assets and currencies transformation. “Banks have a wide variety of options available to engage in the stablecoin industry — everything from acting as a reserve manager, through to issuing their own stablecoin, either alone or in a consortium.”
Tokenized stocks are a synthetic wrapper with tokens that track real stocks much like derivatives, suffer from low liquidity and are very similar to what contracts for difference (CFDs) brokers already offer
Robinhood, Kraken, Gemini, and a few other crypto exchanges now offer tokenised stocks outside the US, while Coinbase wants to bring them into the US. While platforms are currently offering listed stocks, a key feature of tokenised stocks is their potential to make unlisted shares of private companies tradable. Robinhood has demonstrated this by rolling out tokenised shares of OpenAI and SpaceX to users in Europe. Despite the many claimed benefits and loud voices supporting them, some critics are pointing out the drawbacks. Anton Golub, the Chief Business Officer at crypto exchange Freedx, questioned the marketing claims and noted that tokenised stocks are very similar to what contracts for difference (CFDs) brokers are already offering in Europe and elsewhere. It’s wrapper,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post. “It’s not real equity,” he added, pointing out that people would be buying tokens that track real stocks – much like derivatives. Furthermore, when it comes to round-the-clock access, liquidity remains a concern. CFDs brokers and retail platforms do offer after-market trading, but in practice, liquidity during those hours is very low. “No market maker can hedge exposure on Saturday or Sunday,” Golub said. “That means there is no liquidity and you’ll be quoted a fake price with wide spreads.” “Tokenized stocks only make sense if they are natively issued by companies themselves [or] they exist as primary asset, not a synthetic wrapper,” Golub added.
ALT5 Sigma’s crypto-as-a-service solution enables institutions to seamlessly integrate stablecoins into core operations via APIs regardless of the issuing entity or blockchain protocol through support for both permissioned and permissionless stablecoins
ALT5 Sigma Corporation, provider of Crypto-as-a-Service infrastructure, has launched a comprehensive stablecoin management solution for U.S. institutions. Designed for regulated entities, the platform enables seamless integration, utilization, and oversight of stablecoins-regardless of the issuing entity or blockchain protocol. Whether managing proprietary tokens or leveraging market leaders, institutions can operationalize, monitor, and scale stablecoin use through ALT5 Sigma’s infrastructure. Integration with existing workflows and systems is supported via robust APIs. ALT5 Sigma’s infrastructure supports both permissioned and permissionless stablecoins, enabling institutions to: Integrate stablecoins into core operations, regardless of the blockchain or issuance model; Manage risk, compliance, and wallet infrastructure through built-in KYC/AML and monitoring tools; Connect to internal systems via APIs, including treasury, ERP, CRM, and banking platforms; Enable programmable flows, such as recurring disbursements, settlement automation, and cross-border transfers. Ron Pitters, Chief Operating Officer of ALT5 Sigma Corporation said, “By integrating stablecoins into enterprise systems, we enable real-time payments, automated settlements, and streamlined treasury functions-without requiring custom blockchain development.”
Syncfusion customer service platform’s copilot can cancel orders, update licenses, and call external APIs directly from a ticket or chat
Syncfusion, an enterprise technology provider, has released significant updates to its customer service and help desk ticketing platform, BoldDesk. The new features include AI-driven automation, reducing response time and manual work, and allowing developers more control over customer-support data. The enhancements aim to leverage AI for everyday support tasks and streamline agent workflows without adding complexity. The release centers on action-oriented AI, frictionless ticketing, and unified, omnichannel data. New features include: AI actions execute tasks for you: Copilot can cancel orders, update licenses, and call external APIs directly from a ticket or chat. AI-suggested replies in notifications: The AI can insert a context-aware suggestion into the automatic email sent to customers when they submit a ticket. Live chat speeds up conversations: AI-written summaries and subject lines and service-level agreement (SLA) timers help agents close chats faster. Drag-and-drop ticket forms: Group fields, preview attachments, and share links so agents reach the correct info faster. No-code workflows gain safeguards: New business-hour conditions and execution logs improve workflows. A new draft mode lets admins test automations before launch. Deeper integrations: Two-way Salesforce sync, new voice apps, and ticket automerging bring omnichannel context into a single view. Usage dashboards and new languages: AI-specific analytics, persistent layouts, and six additional UI languages show ROI and support global teams.
InComm Payments taps NCR Atleos API solution to let consumers conduct cardless cash withdrawals in retail environments via ATMs with a simple and secure code delivered through the applications they already use and trust
The InComm NCR Atleos partnership is launching a new wave of self-service ATM solutions across the United States. This strategic move aims to increase cash accessibility for consumers by integrating modern ATM technology into retail environments. InComm Payments delivers enhanced end-to-end payment solutions and emerging financial technology solutions that help businesses grow across a wide range of industries including retail, healthcare, tolling & transit, incentives, mobile payments, digital currencies and financial services. By enabling omnichannel connections and alternative payment methods, InComm Payments enables businesses to deliver seamless and valuable commerce experiences to customers worldwide. Atleos’ ReadyCode solution empowers InComm Payments to further bridge the digital-to-physical divide with a scaled ATM network integrated with an API solution that allows consumers to conduct cardless cash withdrawals with a simple and secure code delivered through the applications they already use and trust. ReadyCode is enabled at ATMs inside leading retail locations across more than 40 states, serving over 70 of the top population centers in the U.S.
Remark’s AI product expert personas are trained on the anecdotes and knowledge of subject-matter experts and embedded directly in brand storefronts to offer shoppers store-like experience with trusted and personalized guidance
Remark, the company building human-trained AI product experts for commerce, announced a $16 million Series A funding round. Remark’s language models are trained on the knowledge, tone, and preferences of Olympic athletes, stylists, estheticians, new parents, and more. These insights become always-on digital advisors embedded directly in brand storefronts. Unlike generic chatbots or large language models fine-tuned on public data, Remark’s personas are trained on the anecdotes and personal knowledge of subject-matter experts. The result is warm, informed guidance that helps customers find the right products and delivers the kind of personalized, high-touch experience shoppers expect in store. Theo Satloff, CEO and co-founder of Remark says “By working with real product experts to train AI personas, we’re creating guidance that’s trusted, helpful, and deeply personal. Our goal is to make online shopping feel less like a transaction and more like being guided by someone who truly understands what you need.” Remark gives merchants a competitive edge by combining the revenue driving power of human retail sales associates with the speed and scale of AI.
Kayak and Expedia partner to build AI travel agents that can build personalized itinerary based on any travel-related public Instagram Reel that users send to Expedia by using extensive database amassed over 30 years
Kayak and Expedia, two of the largest companies in travel booking, said that personalization and changing search patterns mean travel companies can rely on agents to make travel inspiration a reality. Matthias Keller, chief product officer at Kayak, said the company has been experimenting with this idea for a couple of years, even taking advantage of a partnership with Amazon’s Alexa. While the idea of an agent proactively guiding potential travelers makes for efficient trip planning, Expedia CTO Ramana Thumu noted that there is a delicate balance to strike. One reason this balance becomes essential is that, increasingly, consumers find travel inspiration everywhere. For one of its AI projects, Expedia decided to capitalize on the growing influence of travel influencers who post their trips on Instagram. Thumu said Expedia’s Trip Matching feature, which launched in June for U.S. customers, allows people to send any travel-related public Instagram Reel to Expedia, and the platform can build an itinerary based on them. Thumu said Expedia can build this type of AI product because of its extensive database amassed over 30 years. Both Thumu and Keller underscored the importance of data in building out these personalizations, a task that can be challenging. Personalization can go beyond planning a trip based on inspiration or previous preferences, as Keller said; eventually, their platforms and AI agents can also start recommending things to do based on the weather in your planned location during your stay.
EU pushes for transition to quantum-safe encryption by 2030 amid urgent cybersecurity risks with risk assessments and awareness campaigns to kickstart in 2026
The European Union has called on member states to transition to quantum-safe encryption by 2030, citing urgent cybersecurity risks posed by future quantum computers. The push comes amid growing concern about the long-term viability of conventional encryption techniques. The EU plan promotes Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) for most sectors and explores Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) for high-security applications, outlining a phased roadmap that begins in 2026 with risk assessments and awareness campaigns. These newer algorithms are more complex and require different computational strategies than those used in today’s standards like RSA and ECC. The EU plan emphasizes the need for what it calls “cryptographic agility”—the ability to switch encryption algorithms as threats evolve and standards mature. the NIS group has laid out a multi-phase roadmap that begins with risk analysis and education campaigns, moves toward certification programs and pilot projects, and ultimately aims to establish interchangeable encryption systems. These systems would allow institutions to adapt more easily as new cryptographic techniques are developed and vetted. Germany’s VDE, a major electrical engineering and IT association, is advocating for Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). Unlike PQC, which uses mathematical algorithms, QKD takes advantage of the laws of quantum physics to allow two parties to share secret keys securely. The approach has attracted interest in sectors with high security demands, such as finance and government.
Snowflake’s hybrid search capability combines semantic search and keyword search to do retrieval on unstructured data and orchestrates it amongst those two multiple data sets of text and structured data using AI agents
Snowflake introduced several platform updates designed to expand interoperability, improve performance and reduce operational cost. The focus of these enhancements was artificial intelligence and how Snowflake intends to help customers embrace the agentic revolution. A key focus for Snowflake has been providing tools for unstructured data. The company unveiled new additions in June to its Cortex portfolio, which expanded capabilities to query data across diverse formats, including unstructured image, audio or long-form text files, according to Christian Kleinerman, executive vice president of product at Snowflake. “Cortex Analyst is our ability to do text-to-structured data. Cortex Search is our hybrid search capability that does semantic search and keyword search to do retrieval on unstructured data and to orchestrate it amongst those two multiple data sets of … Cortex agents.” Snowflake is also seeking to improve the ease and speed of structured and unstructured data integration. The company announced Openflow, a managed service that’s designed to reduce the time and effort spent wrangling ingest pipelines while supporting batch and streaming workloads. Openflow can be implemented in multiple environments, according to Kleinerman. “Openflow has two deployment models. One is typical Snowflake; it’s Snowflake-managed resources. It’s in the cloud, but there’s also BYOC, bring your own cloud, which can be deployed in the customer’s virtual private cloud.” Snowflake’s role in the enterprise is evolving from providing data management tools to serving as a platform on which other businesses can be built. Kleinerman cited Capital One Financial Corp. as an example, which recently announced two new features, built on the Snowflake platform, for its enterprise B2B Capital One Software division.
Meta’s new ad policy targets unregistered finfluencers in India and demands valid registration with national securities board
Meta has implemented a new policy requiring mandatory advertiser verification for investment-related ads targeting Indian users. Starting 31 July, advertisers must submit valid Sebi registration details for securities or investments content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsApp. The verification process includes submitting the Sebi registration number, organization name, contact information, and identity through a one-time verification code. Credentials, including payer and beneficiary names, will be displayed on ads, ensuring real-time transparency for users. Existing ads can continue beyond the deadline, provided the advertiser’s account is verified in time. Meta has also introduced alternative verification options for advertisers not directly regulated by Sebi, such as submitting government-issued IDs or business documentation. The move follows Sebi’s March 2024 advisory, which raised concerns about financial scams on platforms like YouTube, Telegram, Instagram, and X.