Federal Reserve's Harker: May Temporarily Hold Rates Steady

The Quantum Alliance, a consortium of nine crypto firms, was launched today. Publicly disclosed members include security company Hacken, Charles Hoskinson’s Midnight Foundation, quantum-resistant Layer 1 blockchain Quantus, and Postquant Labs; additional members have not yet been individually named. The alliance will develop common security standards for blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is estimated that roughly 6.4 million Bitcoin—representing 30.2% of the total supply—have exposed public keys, including around 1.1 million linked to Satoshi Nakamoto. Existing quantum computers are not yet capable of stealing these assets. However, the Quantum Alliance has significant internal divisions over the quantum threat timeline and response strategies. Bryn Bennett, chief revenue officer at The Vault, stated no one knows the exact date, but estimates of when quantum threats will become actionable are constantly advancing. Richard Carback, CTO of Postquant Labs, believes 2028 is a realistic timeline. The core debate centers on whether to freeze vulnerable assets. Carback advocates for transferring rather than freezing, while Bennett points out that freezing is a governance decision for the Bitcoin network, and any freeze would set a precedent that trades property rights and network neutrality for quantum risk. Previously, CZ suggested freezing Satoshi’s Bitcoin, and developer Jameson Lopp also proposed restricting vulnerable tokens, though critics argue this violates Bitcoin’s fundamental promise of non-seizure. Moving forward, the alliance plans to publish joint security testing and migration guidelines.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said demand for stablecoins has grown significantly in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, with the company planning to expand into around 50 emerging and developing markets. He noted the industry is at an inflection point, transitioning "from the early adopter phase of blockchain technology to a mainstream scaling phase." Currently, USDC has a circulating supply of roughly $72.6 billion, accounting for about a quarter of the global stablecoin market, while Tether’s USDT holds nearly 60% of the market share. Circle has agreed to acquire Singaporean payment firm Tazapay for $40 million, gaining access to local banks and payment networks in over 100 markets — a move that will support its expansion in regions where USDT has traditionally dominated. Circle also launched Arc, a blockchain designed specifically for payments and financial transactions, and secured approval from a U.S. federal trust bank in July. Allaire added that clearer regulatory frameworks, including the U.S. GENIUS Act, are encouraging broader stablecoin adoption; he also welcomed banks’ development of their own digital currencies. "The banking industry long successfully blocked others from entering, but I think they are no longer in the driver’s seat — innovators are now having their moment," he said. He further noted that usage of USDC by AI agents is on the rise, as these software programs can independently process small payments for information and online services.

Tesla’s second-generation Roadster launch event showcased extreme stunts including inverted driving, airborne flips, and a 0-100 km/h acceleration of 0.81 seconds, with every attendee receiving a pair of earplugs. The inverted driving relies on a rear fan that pulls air from under the car to generate downforce equivalent to roughly twice the vehicle’s weight; the airborne stunts use the same cold gas thrusters as SpaceX, featuring 10 nozzles and about 250 kg of compressed gas that occupies the rear seats. A rough calculation of cold gas propulsion efficiency shows that hovering the 2-ton vehicle requires approximately 28 kg of gas per second, meaning the full 250 kg supply is only enough for 9 seconds of hovering, with actual usable time being just a few seconds. Media outlets described the feat not as flying, but as “coolly crashing”. While the performance was spectacular, the specifications are drastically misaligned with promises made nine years ago: its range has shrunk from roughly 1,000 km to around 480 km, delivery has been delayed from 2020 to 2028, and pricing remains unannounced. The thruster-equipped version will likely fail to meet traffic regulations, and U.S. aviation regulators have never certified such devices. The event also did not address the risks posed by the compressed gas tank (holding hundreds of atmospheres of pressure) behind the rear seats in collisions or rollovers. Musk’s consistent stance on the matter is: “If safety is your top priority, don’t buy the Roadster.” Separately, per BIT (bit.com) market data, Tesla’s U.S. stock is up 4.3% in pre-market trading, while SpaceX is up 1.9%. The Tesla Roadster is equipped with cold gas thrusters developed in collaboration with SpaceX.

According to Reuters, Gerald Podobnik, co-head of corporate banking at Deutsche Bank, stated that the lender will launch its first digital asset service in the coming weeks, kicking off with crypto custody in Germany before expanding the custody platform to Asian financial hubs next year. The service will be rolled out in phases: the first phase will cover custody of major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, followed by adding acceptance services for mainstream stablecoins. The bank also plans to offer tokenized deposits and assist clients in issuing blockchain-based securities like digital bonds.

Beating AI Express News: NetEase UU Remote Control has released a third-party app integration protocol on GitHub, enabling developers to add PC remote control entry points to their iOS and Android applications. For example, an AI programming assistant can integrate a "Connect Work PC" button: when users click it for the first time, they are redirected to UU Remote to select and bind their Windows or Mac device. Subsequent clicks on the button will directly initiate remote control, eliminating the need to repeatedly search for devices. The remote control supports full-screen and picture-in-picture modes, allowing users to operate their PC via UU Remote’s floating window while using other mobile apps. For instance, users can check if Claude Code or Codex on a home Mac has completed tasks remotely through a third-party app when away. Developers can also obtain connection results from the picture-in-picture mode to determine if a device is offline or if the connection failed. It should be noted that the protocol being opened is an inter-app call protocol, not the source code of the remote control engine or interfaces for AI to automatically operate PCs. Third-party apps still need to call the installed UU Remote client, with actual remote control functionality provided by NetEase. Currently, controlled devices only support Windows and macOS, while the mobile client requires UU Remote version 4.42.0 or newer.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin announced in a post that he has packaged zkAPI, Tor, additional obfuscated traffic, and local large language model prompt rewriting into an OpenAI interface-compatible daemon, and added a "paranoia mode" to the personal proxy framework pi. Each conversation is assigned an independent Tor circuit, requests are masked with random obfuscated traffic, zkAPI prevents identity leaks during payments, and prompts are rewritten by the local model. Vitalik noted that the proxy is also wrapped with the bwrap sandbox and torsocks, with all operations routed through Tor. It is now relatively usable but has significantly higher latency, especially when initiating new conversations. He added that Tor is not optimal for this use case, explaining a dedicated mix network would be more ideal, and cheaper gas fees for zkAPI deposits and withdrawals are set to launch on the mainnet soon.