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.
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[Blockchain] BlackRock’s Digital Liquidity Fund on Ethereum; Sygnum Tokenizes $50M on zkSync; Moreliquid and Tokeny Launch Euro Fund Token on Polygon; Alipay+ Trials Web3 Vouchers on Avalanche. BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has filed with the SEC to launch the "BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund Ltd." on the Ethereum network in partnership with Securitize, a digital asset firm specializing in tokenization. The fund is represented by the BUIDL token and is fully backed by cash, U.S. Treasury bills. The minimum investment for outside investors is set at $100,000. As part of the partnership, BlackRock has acquired a minority stake in Securitize which will include a seat on the board for BlackRock’s global head of strategic partnerships Joseph Chalom. Meanwhile, Sygnum, a digital asset bank, is tokenising USD 50m of Matter Labs' treasury reserves onto the zkSync blockchain by investing in Fidelity's USD 6.9bn Institutional Liquidity Fund (ILF). The Sygnum-issued security tokens serve as an on-chain "Proof-of-Reserves" for Matter Labs, a company focused on Ethereum scaling solutions. This move marks the first step in Matter Labs' strategy to move its treasury reserves on-chain with institutional custodians, strengthening the connection between traditional finance and the digital assets ecosystem. The project showcases the growing trend of Real World Assets (RWA) tokenisation, which reached USD 2.5bn in 2023. Also, Moreliquid has partnered with Tokeny to tokenise the HSBC Euro Liquidity Fund, creating the MMMEUR token on the Polygon network. Regulated in Luxembourg, the token offers monthly coupon payments and access to a diverse portfolio of short-term securities for qualified investors. The token targets institutional and high-net-worth individuals interested in the Euro money market. And, Alipay+, the international arm of China's largest payments app, is conducting a web3 voucher proof of concept on the Avalanche network. The trial involves users engaging in a branded mini-game to earn discounts in Southeast Asia, with plans to expand to other merchants and reach Alipay+'s extensive user base in the region.
[AI] NVIDIA Unveils Blackwell; Saudi Arabia Eyes $40 Billion AI Investment; xAI Releases Open-Source Grok-1 Model; Meta's SceneScript 3D Reconstruction with AI. NVIDIA has launched Blackwell - its new platform enabling organizations to build and run real-time generative AI on trillion-parameter large language models at up to 25x less cost and energy consumption than its predecessor. The platform is expected to be widely adopted by major cloud providers, server makers, and leading AI companies. Blackwell-based products will be available from partners later this year, with support from NVIDIA AI Enterprise, the end-to-end operating system for production-grade AI. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is planning a $40 billion fund to invest in artificial intelligence, potentially becoming the world's largest investor in the technology. The country's Public Investment Fund has discussed partnerships with venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz to back AI startups, chip makers, and data centers. The move showcases Saudi Arabia's global business ambitions and efforts to diversify its economy. Despite past controversies, the nation's financial clout attracts international financiers. The planned tech fund, expected to take off in late 2024, could make Saudi Arabia and its partners key players in various AI-related businesses. Also, Elon Musk’ s xAI has released the weights and architecture of Grok-1, a 314 billion parameter Mixture-of-Experts language model, under the Apache 2.0 license. The raw base model checkpoint, which concluded pre-training in October 2023, is not fine-tuned for any specific application. With 25% of the weights active on a given token, Grok-1 was trained from scratch using a custom training stack built on JAX and Rust. Instructions for using the model are available on xAI's GitHub repository. And, Meta introduces SceneScript, a novel AI method for reconstructing 3D environments using language. Trained on synthetic data, SceneScript efficiently represents scenes and extends to describe objects and complex geometry, potentially enabling advanced AR applications and enhancing large language models.
[Quantum Technology] Breakthrough 'Erasure Qubit' by AWS Researchers; Japan's ABCI-Q Supercomputer Powered by NVIDIA; UK's Major Quantum Research Funding. AWS researchers have developed a new type of qubit that converts most errors into detectable "erasure errors," which could significantly reduce the overhead required for large-scale, error-corrected quantum computers. The "erasure qubit" is built using a pair of coupled transmons, encoding a single qubit in a shared photon state. Experimental tests demonstrate that over 96% of errors are erasure errors, which can be detected using an ancilla qubit without introducing additional errors. Meanwhile, Japan's new ABCI-Q supercomputer, designed to advance the nation's quantum computing initiative, will be powered by NVIDIA platforms for accelerated and quantum computing. The system, built by Fujitsu at the G-QuAT/AIST ABCI supercomputing center, integrates NVIDIA CUDA-Q, an open-source hybrid quantum computing platform, and features more than 2,000 NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs interconnected by NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand. ABCI-Q aims to enable high-fidelity quantum simulations for research across industries and is part of Japan's strategy to create new opportunities for businesses and society to benefit from quantum technology. Also, the University of Southampton (UK) has been awarded approximately £32 million to establish two quantum research centers: the Centre for Doctoral Training in Quantum Technology Engineering and the Centre for Complex Integrated Systems for Defence and Security. The funding, provided by the government, industry partners, and the university itself, aims to train ~ 4,000 PhD students and increase the talent pool in quantum technology and defense sectors. The quantum technology center will work towards transforming Britain into a quantum-enabled economy, while the defense and security center will focus on developing complex technologies to ensure the UK's future safety and resilience.
[Metaverse] World Economic Forum and Accenture Forecast Industrial Metaverse Boom; NVIDIA Releases Omniverse Cloud API; Meta's New Funding for Quest 3 Game Prototypes. The World Economic Forum has published a new report titled "Navigating the Industrial Metaverse: A Blueprint for Future Innovations". The report, a collaboration with Accenture, projects the metaverse to become a $100 billion global market by 2030, transforming sectors like manufacturing, automotive, and healthcare through AI, spatial computing, and blockchain. It emphasizes the need for global collaboration and a responsible approach to innovation, balancing economic growth with sustainability and human-centric values, to guide leaders in realizing the metaverse's transformative potential. Meanwhile, NVIDIA announced Omniverse Cloud APIs, enabling developers to integrate core Omniverse technologies into existing software applications for creating industrial metaverses and industrial digital twins and simulation workflows. Major industrial software makers, including Siemens, Ansys, Cadence, and Trimble, are adopting these APIs to enhance their products RTX rendering, and data interoperability. The APIs also connect simulation tools and sensor solution providers to accelerate the development of autonomous machines. Additionally, global leaders across industries, such as WPP, Media.Monks, and Continental, are adopting Omniverse for content creation, factory optimization, and digital twin development. Omniverse Cloud APIs will be available first on Microsoft Azure. Also, Meta has launched Oculus Publishing Ignition, a multi-million dollar rapid prototyping fund to support 20 small, newly-formed teams in rapidly developing prototypes for Quest 3. The program targets teams established after April 2023 with veteran team members and a strong track record of shipped titles. Meta is seeking games that are mainstream, broad in scope and have compelling Quest 3 interaction mechanics. The initiative aims to support a diverse range of games that cater to a mainstream audience, with participants retaining full rights to their IP, code, assets, design, and distribution.
[General technology] Neuralink's First Patient Controls Chess and Cursor with Brain Implant Amid Regulatory Scrutiny; Global Alliance Unveils Unified IoT Security Standard; Misconfigured Firebase Exposes Data on 125M user records. Neuralink livestreamed its first patient, Noland Arbaugh, a 29-year-old paralyzed man, using a brain implant to play online chess and control a computer cursor. Arbaugh, who received the implant in January, reported no cognitive impairments and played a game for 8 hours straight. However, he acknowledged that the technology is not perfect and there is still work to be done. While a former NIH neural engineering director said the demonstration was not a breakthrough, it was a positive development for the patient. Recent FDA inspections found issues with Neuralink's animal experiments. Meanwhile, the Connectivity Standards Alliance's Product Security Working Group has released the IoT Device Security Specification 1.0, a unified cybersecurity standard and certification program for IoT devices. The specification consolidates requirements from the US, Singapore, and Europe, making it easier for manufacturers to comply with multiple regulations. The program includes specific device security provisions, such as unique identities, secure storage, and software updates. The accompanying Product Security Verified Mark aims to inspire consumer confidence in certified IoT devices. Nearly 200 member companies including Amazon, Apple, Google, Huawei, IKEA, Samsung, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Verizon and others collaborated on the specification, which encompasses a broad spectrum of smart home devices. In other news, security researchers discovered that at least 900 websites using Google's Firebase, were misconfigured, exposing sensitive data such as credentials, personal information, and billing details of approximately 125 million user records to the public internet. The researchers found that Firebase's security rules, meant to keep data safe, were often poorly implemented. After identifying the issue, they conducted an internet-wide search and notified the affected websites, resulting in 24% of site owners fixing the misconfiguration. According to OWASP, security misconfiguration ranks as the fifth most common vulnerability, with an average incidence rate of 4.51%.
Polygon Labs Paid $4M to Host Starbucks' Failed Odyssey - Yahoo Finance
Mastercard-owned Blockchain Analytics CipherTrace tells clients it is shutting down key products - Fortune
RWA Report 2024: Rise of Real World Assets - CoinGecko
GitHub Launches AI-Powered Autofix Tool to Assist Devs in Patching Security Flaws - The Hacker News
UN adopts first global artificial intelligence resolution - Reuters
First Ever "Quantum Tornado" Lets Scientists Simulate Black Holes In The Lab - ILFScience
The New Quantum Technology Race - Valentin Weber
Hugo Boss Engages Gen Z Consumers with Interactive Metaverse Experience on Roblox — Hugo Boss
Last call for pitch submissions at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024! - TechCrunch
🚀 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬: 𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭: 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐑𝐂-3643: 𝐀 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐑𝐖𝐀 𝐓𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
➡️ Read and download here: https://docsend.com/view/knnnqwj3bdjfm2m2
According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization market could reach $16 trillion by 2030, representing 10% of the global GDP.With the current total value of tokenized RWAs standing at over $3 billion, the substantial projected growth relative to the value of tokenizable assets highlights massive untapped market potential. Demystifying ERC-3643 is a deep dive into the ERC-3643 token standard for tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs) such as securities, commodities, real estate, etc. in a compliant and regulated manner on Ethereum and EVM-compatible networks.
This comprehensive report, produced in collaboration with members of the ERC-3643 Association, features the ERC-3643 technical breakdown, adoption and ongoing developments, insights, and case studies from industry experts, clarifying the mechanics, challenges, and opportunities of the ERC-3643 standard. Companies that have contributed their expertise and insights include Tokeny, Dfns, Hacken, Mayer Brown, T-RIZE Group, Aztec Group, Oasis Pro and RWA World.
FEATURED: Large Language Models for Blockchain Security: A Systematic Literature Review
By: Zheyuan He, Zihao Li, Sen Yang
“Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as powerful tools in various domains involving blockchain security (BS). Several recent studies are exploring LLMs applied to BS. However, there remains a gap in our understanding regarding the full scope of applications, impacts, and potential constraints of LLMs on blockchain security. To fill this gap, we conduct a literature review on LLM4BS. As the first review of LLM's application on blockchain security, our study aims to comprehensively analyze existing research and elucidate how LLMs contribute to enhancing the security of blockchain systems. Through a thorough examination of scholarly works, we delve into the integration of LLMs into various aspects of blockchain security. We explore the mechanisms through which LLMs can bolster blockchain security, including their applications in smart contract auditing, identity verification, anomaly detection, vulnerable repair, and so on. Furthermore, we critically assess the challenges and limitations associated with leveraging LLMs for blockchain security, considering factors such as scalability, privacy concerns, and adversarial attacks. Our review sheds light on the opportunities and potential risks inherent in this convergence, providing valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers alike.”
Read the full paper: here.