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    • Jul 5

👉Issue #73 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 Metaverse. Hope it brings you value :)


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Every Friday we share key snapshot news on AI, Quantum Technologies, Metaverse, and Enterprise Blockchain/DLT.


Join our +450 trusted readers at U.S Bank, Eurasian Development Bank, EY, Morgan Stanley, BNY Mellon, Microsoft, Verizon, Facebook, ServiceNow, ConsenSys, Polygon Labs, Duke University, Sky, Informa, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Santander, and others.





[Blockchain] Clearstream, DekaBank, and DZ Bank €10 Million in Tokenized Bonds on DLT; Ant International Uses JPM Coin for Billions in Transactions; Societe Generale Enhances EUR CoinVertible for MiCA Compliance; Schroders Capital and Hannover Re Pilot Tokenized Insurance-Linked Securities. Clearstream, DekaBank, and DZ Bank successfully issued two €5-million tokenized bonds using distributed ledger technology (DLT) during ECB trials. The issuances were processed entirely on Deutsche Börse's D7 DLT platform, including transaction, fund transfer, and lifecycle management. This marks the first institutional-grade DLT issuances in Germany using wholesale digital central bank money. The process increases transparency and automation while reducing manual intervention. By connecting D7 with the Bundesbank Trigger Solution, bond settlement is reflected in the European TARGET2 payment system. Meanwhile, JP Morgan revealed that Ant International, Alipay's affiliate, has processed billions of dollars in transactions using JPM Coin's programmable payment features. This information was disclosed in a whitepaper on programmable payments by Onyx by JP Morgan and the MIT Digital Currency Initiative. Ant uses JPM Coin for internal treasury functions, leveraging blockchain and AI-powered triggers for real-time liquidity management across global operations. Also, Societe Generale-FORGE (SG-Forge) has announced significant updates to its EUR CoinVertible (EURCV) stablecoin, aiming for widespread adoption and distribution. The changes include compliance with the European MiCA regulation and free transferability without whitelisting restrictions, effective July 1st, 2024. And, Schroders Capital and Hannover Re have successfully piloted a tokenization project for insurance-linked securities (ILS) investments. The initiative tokenized reinsurance contracts, enabling them to be traded on a public blockchain using smart contracts. This process automated many time-consuming tasks, streamlined investments, reduced settlement times, and allowed for automatic payments triggered by specific natural disasters. The pilot, conducted under regulatory oversight, demonstrated improved client experience, enhanced transparency, and maintained appropriate governance. It builds on Schroders' previous digital asset innovations and represents a significant step towards a more efficient digital ecosystem in the reinsurance sector.


[AI] Runway Launches Gen-3 Alpha; Lmsys Debuts RouteLLM for Smart LLM Query Routing; Meta Unveils Meta 3D Gen for Rapid, High-Quality 3D Asset Creation; Salesforce Advances AI Training with Innovative APIGen System. Runway just announced that its AI video generator, Gen-3 Alpha, is now available to all users following weeks of impressive, viral outputs after the model’s release in mid-June. Despite impressive recent releases from KLING and Luma Labs, Runway’s Gen-3 Alpha model feels like the biggest leap AI video has taken since Sora.  Runway unveiled Gen-3 Alpha last month, the first model in its next-gen series trained for learning ‘general world models’. Gen-3 Alpha upgrades key features, including character and scene consistency, camera motion and techniques, and transitions between scenes.  Meanwhile,  Lmsys researchers published new research detailing RouteLLM, an open-source framework for cost-effective routing between large language models. RouteLLM learns to route queries between a stronger, more expensive LLM and a weaker, cheaper LLM to optimize cost and performance. As LLMs grow more powerful, intelligent routing can help significantly reduce the often expensive costs while maintaining quality outputs. Also, Meta just announced Meta 3D Gen, a new AI system that can generate detailed, high-quality 3D assets from text descriptions in less than a minute. Meta 3D Gen combines two components. Meta 3D AssetGen for the initial object generation and Meta 3D TextureGen for texture refinement. The system generates 3D assets with high-resolution textures and physically-based rendering (PBR) materials 3-10x faster than existing options. 3D Gen can also understand and apply complex ideas, like artistic styles or specific materials, to the objects it creates. And, Salesforce published new research on APIGen, an automated system that generates optimal datasets for AI training on function calling tasks. Salesforce trained a both 7B and 1B parameter version of xLAM using APIGen.  xLAM’s 1B ‘Tiny Giant’ outperformed models like Claude Haiku and GPT-3.5, with CEO Mark Benioff calling it the best ‘micro-model’ for function calling.


[Quantum Technology] Quantum Computers Memory Efficiency For Advanced Maths; Quantinuum Achieves Quantum Error Correction Milestone; Post-Quantum Joins NIST's Cybersecurity Initiative Theoretical computer scientists at Sandia National Laboratories and Boston University have discovered that quantum computers excel at solving advanced math problems due to their superior memory efficiency rather than faster processing speeds. This finding challenges the conventional belief that quantum computers' value lies in their ability to solve problems more quickly than classical computers. Sandia's Ojas Parekh, a member of the research team, stated, "This is the first exponential quantum advantage for a natural streaming problem." The discovery could help researchers identify more practical applications for rapidly advancing quantum computing technology. Meanwhile, Quantinuum and the University of Colorado Boulder have made a significant breakthrough in quantum error correction. They implemented a high-rate non-local quantum Low Density Parity Check (qLDPC) [[25,4,3]] code on Quantinuum's H2 quantum processor, entangling four error-protected logical qubits with superior fidelity to physical qubits. This marks the first time four logical qubits have been entangled with better fidelity than their physical counterparts. The qLDPC code offers a high encoding rate, potentially enabling more efficient scaling of quantum machines. This advancement, leveraging Quantinuum's hardware and software stack, allows quantum programmers to run advanced programs on commercial machines, enhancing accessibility and reliability in quantum computing. Also, Post-Quantum, the world's oldest specialist post-quantum cryptography (PQC) firm, has been selected to join the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) "Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography" project. The company will support the development of tangible PQC implementations and use cases, working alongside industry leaders such as Palo Alto Networks, Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Microsoft, and VMware.


[General technology] Amazon Shuts Down Astro for Business, Refunds Customers; Prudential Financial Breach Impacts 2.5 Million; Twilio’s Authy App Hacked Exposing Millions. Amazon is ending its Astro for Business program, which allowed companies to use the Astro home robot for facility monitoring. The program ends less than a year after the launch. Astro robots sold through the program will stop working on September 25, 2024. Customers will receive full refunds for robots and prepaid subscriptions. The discontinuation reflects Amazon's strategic shift to prioritize consumer robotics development over business applications. This move could impact small and medium-sized businesses that had adopted Astro for security purposes, potentially creating opportunities for other companies in the commercial robotics security space. Meanwhile, Prudential Financial, the second-largest U.S. life insurer, disclosed that a February 2024 data breach compromised personal information of over 2.5 million individuals, a significant increase from the initially reported 36,000. The breach, detected on February 5, involved unauthorized access to administrative data and employee accounts. The ALPHV/Blackcat ransomware gang claimed responsibility for the attack. This incident follows a May 2023 breach affecting 320,000 Prudential customers due to a hack on a third-party vendor. Prudential, with 40,000 employees and $50 billion in 2023 revenues, is working with cybersecurity experts to secure its systems. Also, Twilio has disclosed a security breach in its Authy app, a popular two-factor authentication (2FA) tool. Unidentified threat actors exploited an unauthenticated endpoint in Authy, gaining access to data associated with user accounts, including cell phone numbers. A database of 33 million phone numbers allegedly from Authy accounts was published on BreachForums by "ShinyHunters". Twilio has since secured the vulnerable endpoint and recommends users update to the latest versions of the Android (25.1.0+) and iOS (26.1.0+) apps. The company warns users to be vigilant against potential phishing and smishing attacks using the exposed phone numbers.






🎥 The second episode of QX Institutional is now available, brought to you by the teams at QualitaX, bluechip.org, and RWA World. This monthly roundup covers the latest developments in DLT and blockchain in finance, stablecoins, and real-world asset tokenization.


✅ DLT and Blockchain in Finance 

✅Stablecoins Roundup

✅ RWA Tokenization 


𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpNE3Et1o6E






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