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👉Issue #100 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] Sony Unveils Web3 Ecosystem; Hamilton Lane Brings Tokenized Private Investments to U.S. Retail, and PostFinance Leads with Ethereum Staking. This week, Sony has launched three interconnected Web3 services: the Soneium blockchain mainnet, S.BLOX crypto exchange, and SNFT fan marketing platform. The Soneium testnet has already attracted 32 projects from its incubation program, with 14 million accounts and 47 million transactions. Sony aims to make Web3 more accessible while addressing internet centralization concerns. The company plans to leverage its entertainment properties, with upcoming initiatives including digital collections for Prime Video customers in Japan and NFT distributions for Sony Music France's community. S.BLOX will offer a new mobile app and Bitcoin rewards for new Japanese users. Meanwhile, Hamilton Lane, managing $947 billion in assets, is partnering with investment platform Republic to offer tokenized private market investments to retail investors in the U.S. by first half of 2025. This initiative aims to lower investment minimums and increase liquidity compared to traditional private market funds. Hamilton Lane's data shows private markets have outperformed public markets in 19 of the last 20 years.  Also, Switzerland's state-owned PostFinance AG bank has launched Ethereum staking services, becoming the first systemically important bank to offer such services. This follows their 2024 introduction of crypto trading and custody services. The bank plans to expand staking to other tokens in the future. And, Tether has launched USDT0, a new cross-chain stablecoin, exclusively on Kraken's Ink Layer 2 network. Built on LayerZero's Omnichain Fungible Token standard, USDT0 aims to create a unified liquidity layer for easier cross-chain transfers without traditional bridging solutions. Each USDT0 token is backed 1:1 by USDT locked on Ethereum. 



[AI] OpenAI Expands ChatGPT with 'Tasks' Scheduling Feature, Microsoft Unveils MatterGen for AI-Driven Material Discovery, and MiniMax Open-Sources Lightning-Fast AI Models. OpenAI has launched Tasks, a beta feature for ChatGPT that allows Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers to schedule future actions and reminders. Users can set up one-time or recurring tasks by selecting "4o with scheduled tasks" in the model picker, with a limit of 10 active tasks. The feature includes web, desktop, and mobile notifications, and tasks can be managed through chat threads or a dedicated Tasks section. This marks ChatGPT's expansion from real-time responses to scheduled activities, with potential future integrations including "Operator" and "Caterpillar" features for more autonomous capabilities. Meanwhile, Microsoft introduced MatterGen, a new generative AI model that creates novel materials based on specific design requirements, rather than screening existing candidates. Trained on over 600,000 stable materials, the diffusion model can generate materials with targeted chemical, mechanical, electronic, and magnetic properties. Unlike traditional screening methods that are limited to known materials, MatterGen can explore new possibilities, making it particularly valuable for developing materials like efficient solar cells or CO2 recyclers. The open-source model works alongside MatterSim, Microsoft's AI emulator, to accelerate materials discovery and simulation. And, MiniMax has open-sourced its new MiniMax-01 series, featuring text and visual-language models with a novel Lightning Attention mechanism. The model contains 456 billion parameters (45.9 billion activated per inference) and can handle context lengths up to 4 million tokens - significantly longer than competitors. Using a combination of Lightning Attention and traditional SoftMax attention layers, the model achieves performance comparable to leading models while offering more efficient processing of long inputs. The models are available on GitHub (open source) and through APIs at competitive pricing ($0.2/million input tokens, $1.1/million output tokens).



[Quantum Technology] Open Quantum Design Debuts Open-Source Trapped-Ion Platform, Abu Dhabi Breaks Ground in Quantum Simulations, and Microsoft Launches Quantum Ready Program. Open Quantum Design (OQD) has launched the world's first open-source, full-stack, trapped-ion quantum computer platform. Founded by University of Waterloo researchers and an entrepreneur, OQD partners with Xanadu, University of Waterloo, Unitary Foundation, and Haiqu to provide free access to hardware, software, and training. The platform aims to democratize quantum computing by sharing detailed intellectual property and designs, allowing global researchers and developers to contribute and innovate. This initiative aim to address key industry challenges like hardware access and talent development through collaborative development. Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute (TII) has achieved the first successful demonstration of learning large-scale analogue quantum simulator dynamics from data. Working with Google Quantum AI, University of Maryland, and Freie Universität Berlin, TII developed advanced data-processing algorithms for precise quantum system analysis. This breakthrough allows scientists to replicate complex quantum systems in controlled environments, offering potential applications in material science, pharmaceuticals, and energy. Also, Microsoft has launched its Quantum Ready program to help businesses prepare for quantum computing adoption. The initiative focuses on four key areas: hybrid applications combining quantum and classical computing, workforce training to address the quantum expertise gap, quantum-safe security for future-proof cryptography, and strategic investment alignment. Through workshops, forums, and industry reports, Microsoft aims to help organizations identify valuable use cases and develop quantum strategies. The program comes as quantum computing transitions from theory to practical applications, though only 12% of business leaders currently feel prepared to assess quantum opportunities. 



[General technology] Sneaky 2FA Phishing Kit Bypasses Microsoft 365 Security, While noyb Targets Ilegal Data Transfers and Malvertising Campaigns Exploit Google Ads. Researchers have discovered a new phishing-as-a-service kit called Sneaky 2FA, targeting Microsoft 365 accounts. The kit, sold for $200 monthly through Telegram, bypasses two-factor authentication using adversary-in-the-middle techniques. It employs anti-bot measures, traffic filtering, and Cloudflare Turnstile challenges to avoid detection. Nearly 100 domains using Sneaky 2FA have been identified, with campaigns using payment receipt emails containing QR codes to direct victims to phishing pages. The kit shows connections to the W3LL Store phishing syndicate and their W3LL Panel tool. Meanwhile, Austrian privacy group noyb has filed complaints against TikTok, AliExpress, SHEIN, Temu, WeChat, and Xiaomi for allegedly unlawful data transfers to China, violating EU privacy regulations. noyb has filed GDPR complaints in five European countries as EU law restricts data transfers outside the EU, requiring companies to ensure data security through Standard Contractual Clauses. Also, a new malvertising campaign targets Google Ads users by serving fraudulent ads that redirect to phishing sites hosted on Google Sites. The scam steals credentials and 2FA codes through sophisticated techniques including fingerprinting and anti-bot detection. The stolen accounts are then used to create more malicious ads, perpetuating the scheme.  And, Star Blizzard has launched a new spear-phishing campaign targeting WhatsApp accounts, particularly those of government officials, defense policy experts. The campaign uses emails impersonating U.S. government officials and contains broken QR codes. When victims respond, they receive links that redirect to fake WhatsApp Web portals, allowing attackers to gain unauthorized access to messages. This represents a shift from their traditional tactics following Microsoft and DoJ's seizure of over 180 malicious domains.



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