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👉Issue #105 of QX Snapshots is out!

7 min read

21 February 2025

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👉Issue #105 of QX Snapshots is out!



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. Hope it brings you value :)




[Blockchain] Hong Kong SFC Unveils ASPIRe Roadmap for Digital Asset Leadership, U.S. Banks Push for Crypto-Friendly Regulations, and Euroclear Joins UK Digital Securities Sandbox. Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has unveiled a comprehensive 12-point ASPIRe roadmap to establish itself as a global digital asset hub. The plan focuses on licensing OTC virtual asset marketplaces and custodians while exploring innovative web3 aspects. With ten cryptocurrency exchanges now licensed the SFC is considering expanding into new token issuance, margin trading, derivatives, staking, and lending services. Meanwhile, major banking associations have submitted recommendations to newly appointed White House Special Advisor David Sacks regarding digital assets regulation. The letter urges rescinding restrictive policies that hinder U.S. banks' participation in crypto activities. The associations argue current regulatory guidance has made it difficult for banks to engage with digital assets, potentially threatening U.S. leadership in the global digital assets ecosystem. Also, Taurus has launched an open-source standard for private token transactions on public blockchains. Developed with the Aztec Foundation, the standard uses zero-knowledge proofs to balance privacy and compliance requirements. The solution targets tokenized equities, bonds, and private credit, building upon Switzerland's CMTAT token standard. And, Euroclear UK and International (EUI), is set to join the UK Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS), a regulatory initiative for blockchain-based tokenized securities trading. Processing around £1 trillion in daily transactions, EUI's participation marks a significant advancement for the UK's digital assets ecosystem. The sandbox's flexible volume limits, customized per participant, make it more attractive than the EU's DLT Pilot Regime. This move aligns with Euroclear's existing digital securities activities, including their D-FMI platform which has already facilitated several hundred million euros in digital bonds.



[AI] Perplexity Releases ‘De-Censored’ R1 1776 Model, xAI Launches Grok 3, and Google Introduces AI Co-Scientist for Scientific Discovery. Perplexity has released R1 1776, open source. It is a version of DeepSeek-R1 that was post-trained to provide unbiased information, addressing censorship issues in the original model. The original DeepSeek-R1 would respond with CCP talking points when asked about sensitive topics like Taiwan. Perplexity's approach involved identifying censored topics, developing a multilingual censorship classifier, and collecting 40k prompts that triggered censorship. They gathered factual responses to these prompts and post-trained the model using Nvidia's NeMo 2.0 framework to "de-censor" it while maintaining quality on benchmarks. Meanwhile, xAI has released Grok 3, their most advanced AI model, featuring enhanced reasoning capabilities developed through large-scale reinforcement learning. Trained on their Colossus supercluster with 10x more compute than previous models, Grok 3 demonstrates improved performance in reasoning, mathematics, coding, and knowledge tasks. Two beta reasoning models were announced: Grok 3 (Think) and Grok 3 mini (Think). Also, Google introduced AI co-scientist, a multi-agent system built with Gemini 2.0 to accelerate scientific discovery. The system generates novel research hypotheses and proposals through specialized agents that mimic scientific reasoning. It uses test-time compute scaling to iteratively improve outputs and outperformed other models in expert evaluations. The system was validated through real-world experiments in three biomedical applications: identifying repurposed drugs for leukemia, discovering targets for liver fibrosis, and explaining antimicrobial resistance mechanisms. Google is launching a Trusted Tester Program for research organizations to access the system. And, Mistral introduced Saba, a 24B parameter AI model specialized for Middle East and South Asia regions. Trained on curated regional datasets, it outperforms models five times larger while being faster and more cost-effective. Saba supports Arabic and Indian languages, with particular strength in South Indian languages like Tamil. Available as an API or for local deployment on single-GPU systems, it processes over 150 tokens per second. 



[Quantum Technology] Microsoft Unveils Majorana 1 Quantum Chip, China Pushes Global Quantum-Resistant Encryption, and the Netherlands Invests €615M in Quantum Leadership.  Microsoft has unveiled Majorana 1, the world's first quantum chip powered by a revolutionary Topological Core architecture. The breakthrough involves a new type of material called topoconductor, which can control Majorana particles to produce more reliable and scalable qubits. The chip features eight topological qubits and is designed to scale to one million qubits on a single palm-sized chip. This advancement could enable quantum computers to solve complex industrial problems in years rather than decades, potentially leading to breakthroughs in materials science, environmental cleanup, and drug development. Meanwhile, China has launched a global initiative for developing quantum-resistant encryption standards through the Institute of Commercial Cryptography Standards (ICCS), breaking away from US-led efforts. The initiative seeks international proposals for post-quantum cryptographic algorithms that can withstand quantum computing threats. This move reflects China's concerns about potential US intelligence backdoors in encryption standards and demonstrates their push for technological independence. Also, American Binary has introduced Ambit Client, the world's first enterprise VPN achieving NSA's Commercial National Security Algorithms 2.0 standards for post-quantum encryption. The solution implements quantum resistance across four critical components: Digital Signature, Key Exchange, Bulk Encryption, and Hashing. The VPN employs ML-KEM cryptography to defend against 'Store Now, Decrypt Later' attacks, protecting data from future quantum computer threats. Initially available for Windows, the service will expand to other platforms throughout 2025. And, the Netherlands has positioned itself as a global quantum technology leader through a €615 million government investment via Quantum Delta NL through 2027. The country's strategic focus includes developing quantum-inspired solutions, enhancing education programs to produce 2,000 quantum engineers by 2027, and establishing international partnerships to maintain its competitive edge in the quantum sector.



[General technology] Darcula Phishing-as-a-Service Evolves, Salt Typhoon Hacks U.S. Telecoms, Check Point Exploit Leads to Ransomware, and Clone Robotics Unveils Protoclone Android. A new version of the Darcula phishing-as-a-service platform is being developed, allowing criminals to clone any brand's website within minutes. The platform uses browser automation to export HTML and assets from legitimate sites, enabling users to inject phishing content that matches the original design. Meanwhile, Cisco has confirmed that a threat actor named Salt Typhoon compromised major U.S. telecommunications networks by exploiting a security vulnerability (CVE-2018-0171) and using stolen credentials.  The hackers employed various techniques, including a custom tool called JumbledPath for remote packet capture, and focused on gathering additional credentials while carefully covering their tracks by erasing logs and modifying network configurations. Also, it has been revealed that multiple threat actors exploited a vulnerability in Check Point security products to target European organizations, particularly in healthcare. The attackers deployed sophisticated malware tools including ShadowPad and PlugX, ultimately leading to ransomware attacks in some cases. The campaign, observed between June and October 2024, affected 21 companies across 15 countries. Orange Cyberdefense attributes this to state espionage groups seeking both intelligence and financial gain. And, Clone Robotics has released a video of Protoclone, the world's first bipedal, musculoskeletal android. The Protoclone is a faceless, anatomically accurate synthetic human with over 200 degrees of freedom, over 1,000 Myofibers, and 500 sensors.








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