BIS expects limited‑scale Agorá pilots by early 2026; J.P. Morgan plans to open Kinexys to third‑party banks later this year; Circle is lobbying U.S. regulators to let federally chartered banks hold USDC as cash equivalents. The race is now about reach. The prize is enormous: McKinsey puts annual cross‑border friction at US $120 billion. Trim even a third and the savings rival the revenue of a top‑ten global bank. No wonder both sides are spending heavily on standards bodies, custody integrations and developer toolkits. Real‑world proofs of concept are multiplying. Under Project Guardian, MAS is exploring smart contracts that bundle both legs of an SGD‑USD swap so settlement is instantaneous and counter-party risk diminishes. Kinexys now supports conditional logic, release payment when IoT sensors confirm delivery, while Circle’s new network lets a multinational pay suppliers on Solana, collect receipts on Stellar and sweep surplus to a regulated custodian in New York. Trade‑finance platforms are testing tokenized deposits as real‑time collateral for letters‑of‑credit. Whether banks or fintech issuers capture the lion’s share will depend on who can scale liquidity, satisfy regulators and embed programmable dollars into everyday commerce first. The quiet war for the money pipes is already under way, and while consumers may never see the plumbing, the savings, or losses, will flow straight through corporate balance‑sheets.
Congressman reintroduces bill on blockchain regulation that exempts digital asset developers and service providers who do not custody consumer funds from compliance applicable to money transmitters
Congressman Tom Emmer has reintroduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), which clarifies that digital asset developers and service providers who do not custody consumer funds are not money transmitters. This legislation provides legal clarity that will unlock blockchain development in the United States and is co-led by Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15). The bill aims to protect American crypto developers and innovators from undue regulation by prosecution, ensuring that they are not unfairly treated as financial intermediaries. The BRCA provides clear rules for developers who never take custody of consumer funds, preventing them from being unreasonably defined as operators of an “unlicensed money services business” under the Bank Secrecy Act. The bill also ensures that non-custodial blockchain participants, including developers, node operators, miners, validators, and wallet providers, are not subject to unnecessary and technologically infeasible compliance burdens that would significantly impede American innovation. The development of digital assets in the United States is critical to national and economic security, and the BRCA will help establish the necessary confidence required to keep non-custodial blockchain developers or service providers from seeking more straightforward regulatory environments overseas.
Acurast allows anyone and everyone to run compute with their mobile phones, providing real decentralization using Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) of mobile phones
Acurast has raised $5.4 million to use smartphones to power a global decentralized cloud computing network. Acurast enables users to participate in confidential compute tasks, decentralized AI, and blockchain infrastructure, all while earning rewards by leveraging the processing power of smartphones. Acurast utilizes Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) of the mobile phones to ensure secure and scalable compute, while maintaining confidentiality without requiring trust in the device owner. “The ACU token lies at the heart of this economy. Acurast allows anyone and everyone to run compute with their mobile phones, providing real decentralization, and become stakeholders in the network powering a secure, scalable and decentralized computer economy while incentivising active collaboration and sustainable growth,” said Alessandro De Carli, president of the board and cofounder of Acurast. Acurast’s high-performance Proof of Stake blockchain orchestrates global demand and supply for secure decentralized compute, without centralized data centers. This chain verifies genuine hardware on-chain with Smartphone manufacture attestations and anchors confidential workloads, ensuring trustless and verifiable execution across billions of smartphones. Acurast’s Android and iOS apps offer end-to-end checks of each phone’s secure elements, delivering unstoppable trustless compute at scale. Centered on openness, composability, and decentralization, Acurast forms the foundational layer for the decentralized compute economy, unlocking mass adoption and enabling unprecedented innovation for web3 and beyond.
Google Pay’s redesign of the pay sheet to now display rich card art and names to make cards more easily identifiable and speed up selection
Google I/O recently announced several updates to its Google Pay payment service, including a redesign of the pay sheet, which appears when transactions are made with stored cards in third-party apps. The pay sheet now displays rich card art and names, enhancing card identification and speeding up selection. The UI has also been optimized for dark mode. Additionally, Pay will now work on Android WebViews, allowing purchases to be made in in-app browsers starting with Chrome version 136. Google Wallet also introduced a new Nearby Passes notification feature, notifying users about tickets or passes when they’re close to a relevant location.
Warby Parker and Google’s smart glasses with multimodal AI could streamline ‘spatial commerce’ tasks by connecting the smart glasses directly to a user’s phone, without requiring to download separate apps
Warby Parker and Google are jointly developing AI-powered glasses intended for all-day wear. The companies intend to launch a series of smart eyewear products that will incorporate multimodal AI with prescription and non-prescription lenses as soon as 2026. The glasses will be built on Google’s Android XR eyewear platform and quipped with a camera, microphones and speakers, Android XR glasses work in tandem with a user’s phone, giving them access to their apps and an optional in-lens display privately provides information when the user needs it. The Warby Parker-Google model may prove more successful with shoppers. Here are a few reasons why. Both companies cited Warby Parker’s history of stylish design in announcing their joint initiative. If their new AI-equipped glasses look smart as well as act smart, a major hurdle to widespread adoption will be removed. By connecting their smart glasses directly to a user’s phone, Warby Parker and Google are streamlining the process a user has to go through to perform spatial commerce tasks. With smart glasses no longer seen as the stuff of science fiction and Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest generating real sales figures, Warby Parker and Google are entering a developing but established market. For now, whether they can crack the code that will lead to large numbers of consumers engaging in spatial shopping remains the stuff of future speculation.
European banks are increasing liquidity buffers, upgrading fraud and sanctions screening tools and adjusting their risk management frameworks to prepare for expected loss in interest due to new liquidity demands under the Sepa Instant Payments regulation
Nearly half of European banks expect to lose millions in interest due to new liquidity demands under the Sepa Instant Payments regulation, but still believe the benefits of the change will outweigh the costs. Higher limits make it harder for banks to predict how much money they need. Nearly every bank surveyed (93%) expressed concern. Almost half (48%) said they are “very concerned”. To prepare, nearly half of respondents are increasing their liquidity buffers, while a similar number are upgrading their fraud and sanctions screening tools to handle higher volumes at odd hours. Two in five banks are adjusting their risk management frameworks, and a similar percentage are setting up bilateral agreements to set limits with other banks. Over half report a surge in rejected payments tied to sanctions screening under Sepa Instant. Most see a 30-50% increase due to requirements to clear payments in 10 seconds. To keep up, two-thirds of banks say they plan to use AI to reduce false positives in sanctions screening, while a similar number are investing in tools to improve the speed and accuracy of transaction monitoring. Despite the pressures, over eight in ten banks believe the benefits of Sepa Instant outweigh the costs. And, while nearly half of respondents say that they struggled to meet the first January deadlines, 85% believe the October date is realistic.
Google backed Glance AI-native commerce platform encourages discovery through visual inspiration- by simply uploading a selfie photorealistic looks are tailored precisely to body types, skin tones, and personal styles.
In a move poised to transform the way people shop online, Glance, a consumer technology company backed by Google, has introduced its latest innovation: an AI-native commerce platform that emphasizes inspiration over traditional searching. The platform, called Glance AI, harnesses years of data, neural visualization, and advanced predictive intelligence to deliver hyper-realistic, personalized shopping experiences across devices worldwide. Unlike conventional e-commerce stores that bombard users with product listings or require them to type searches, Glance AI encourages discovery through visual inspiration. By simply uploading a selfie or an image, users are immersed in a virtual world where AI-generated, photorealistic looks are tailored precisely to their body types, skin tones, and personal styles. These realistic images are created in real-time using sophisticated diffusion models and geometry modeling, making the experience feel both natural and engaging. At the core of Glance AI’s innovation is its deep tech architecture, built on three interconnected layers. First is the Commerce Intelligence Model, trained on more than two decades of global market data, which helps it anticipate emerging trends and consumer preferences. Next is the GenAI Experience Model generates hyper-realistic visualizations based on thousands of parameters, such as ethnicity, body shape, and seasonality. Finally, the Transaction Journey Model acts as an intelligent shopping assistant, predicting what users are likely to want and pairing their visualized looks with matching products from a catalog of over 400 brands worldwide. What truly sets Glance AI apart is its cross-platform accessibility. Built on open architecture, it integrates seamlessly into mobile lock screens, smart TVs, third-party apps, and brand websites, ensuring consumers can discover, visualize, and purchase anytime, anywhere. Users maintain control over their data, with options to save, share, or set their personalized styles as wallpapers, fueling social sharing and virality. Since its U.S. launch in early 2025, early results have been impressive. The platform has attracted over 1.5 million active users within weeks, with nearly half returning weekly. Users have generated more than 40 million style requests, and 50% of them have shared or downloaded their personalized images. Additionally, 40% of users who explore styles proceed to shop, establishing Glance AI as a leader in engagement and retention in the AI-powered commerce space.
‘Swipe fatigue’ is driving dating apps to roll out invite-only profiles, psychological assessments and real-life networking to offer curated lifestyle choices
In an era of “dating app burnout”—a mix of emotional, mental and physical exhaustion from using dating apps; termed as “swipe fatigue,” an invite-only app profile or in-person service can carry more promise than a thousand aimless swipes. This shift is redefining what dating tech can look like, encouraging entrepreneurs in the space to focus less on algorithms and more on curated community. This “swipe fatigue” has become so widespread that even cultural commentators have taken note. The dating app industry, a $5 billion market, has been dominated by big players for years, but their growth is slowing down in the face of user dissatisfaction. Match Group, owner of Tinder, reported declining users and saw its stock tumble in late 2024 (subscription required), a sign that Wall Street is also feeling the “swipe fatigue.” Exclusive apps are just the beginning. Founders are launching niche platforms that blend technology with high-end matchmaking. Now, a new generation of startups is pushing the dating concept further, such as combining exclusivity with psychological assessments in order to match high-profile individuals based on deeper personality traits rather than superficial criteria. Even established dating companies are adapting under this pressure: Seeing the popularity of exclusivity, apps like Hinge and Tinder have rolled out pricier tiers and features to cater to “intentional” daters. Dating services are also branching into real-life networking, with some apps hosting members-only events at upscale venues, blurring the line between dating app and social club. The idea is to offer a lifestyle, not just an app.
Breaking encryption with a quantum computer just got 20 times easier following modular exponentiations getting twice as fast and packing more useful data into the same space to improve error correction
Google just released a new research paper, and it could be a big deal for Bitcoin and online security. Their quantum research has found that it might take 20 times less power and effort for a quantum computer to break RSA encryption – the technology that protects things like bank accounts and Bitcoin wallets – than experts thought earlier. the breakthrough has come from two places: better algorithms and smarter error correction. Researchers have made two big improvements in how quantum computers handle encryption. The first is that they have managed to make the modular exponentiations twice as fast. Then, they have also packed more useful data into the same space to improve error correction. However, the security implications are of a much serious nature. RSA and similar systems go against the global secure communications, ranging from banking to digital signatures.
Red Hat’s RHEL 10 platform to offer quantum-resistant algorithms that are aligned with Federal Information Processing Standards-compliant modules to address emerging security concerns in quantum computing
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL 10) is emerging as the next-generation foundation for innovation and reliability in modern IT environments. RHEL 10 introduces comprehensive enhancements in security, artificial intelligence integration, containerization and hybrid cloud support, positioning it as a robust and future-ready platform for today’s dynamic enterprise needs, according to Chris Wells, senior director of product marketing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux at Red Hat Inc. Given that quantum computers are expected to eventually provide significant advantages in training complex models and uncovering hidden patterns in massive data sets — capabilities that may surpass those of classical computing — RHEL 10 aims to proactively address emerging security concerns by incorporating quantum-resistant algorithms. This strategy marks a crucial step toward embracing a new paradigm in computing, according to Wells. “One of the core principles of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is having that solid, stable foundation, but security is a real key tenet of making that work,” he said. “We’re trying to help customers to look to the future, and we know that quantum computing is just around the corner. The way that we’re helping customers get ahead of that is in RHEL 10 shipping today, we now have [Federal Information Processing Standards]-compliant modules that have these different quantum-resistant algorithms in there. We’re working with all the various standards boards and stuff to create those algorithms, so people can incorporate them today.” As a generative AI-powered assistant, RHEL Lightspeed helps IT administrators, developers and operators to manage, troubleshoot and operate systems more efficiently using natural language commands and contextual guidance. This capability simplifies deployment for enterprises facing skills gaps, according to Wells.