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Beating AI Express News: xAI has launched its speech-to-speech model Grok Voice 3.0, claiming it ranks first on the Speech-to-Speech Index in an independent test by Artificial Analysis, scoring 86.9 points—higher than Grok Voice 2.0 (81.3), GPT-Live-1 (83.2), and Gemini 3.8 Live (82.6). The model also features end-to-end latency of under 1 second. It is now available via the Voice Agent API, priced at $0.08 per minute, matching the previous generation; agents using the "grok-voice-latest" tag will automatically switch to the new model. According to xAI, Grok Voice handles millions of daily conversations for Tesla and SpaceX: Starlink’s customer service center receives around 20,000 calls daily, with roughly 70% resolved without human intervention, and about a quarter of sales calls resulting in a purchase before the call ends. On benchmarks, Grok Voice scores 74% accuracy on ServiceNow EVA-Bench and 71.6% on τ-Voice, which the company says is comparable to GPT-Live-1 but with roughly 40% lower latency.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett said she emailed the White House three times over the past week to inquire whether Patrick Witt still serves as executive director of the White House Crypto Council, and received no reply. Witt himself declined to comment. Sources familiar with the matter disclosed that Witt, a U.S. Department of Defense employee temporarily seconded to the White House Crypto Council, has reached or is nearing the end of his secondment, with his reappointment status unclear. Earlier this year, he delayed his service in the Georgia National Guard, and is expected to resume his military service soon. Terrett added that Harry Jung, deputy director of the White House Crypto Council, left his post at the end of July, and after David Sacks’ tenure as Crypto and AI “tsar” concluded, Witt is now the only remaining staff member of the council. The crypto policy community is now debating: after the CLARITY Act (officially the Crypto Market Structure Act) failed to advance in the Senate, whether the White House still prioritizes the crypto industry. The relevant personnel changes have not yet been officially confirmed by the White House.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), during U.S. stock trading hours, the S&P 500 index’s decline widened to 1.1%, the Nasdaq fell 1.64%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3%. Semiconductor, storage, optical communication, and crypto-related stocks all fell across the board, with the optical communication sector leading losses, as most major individual stocks in the sector declined by over 7%. In the semiconductor and storage sectors: Seagate Technology (STX) fell 2.8%; Western Digital (WDC) dropped 3.2%; SanDisk (SNDK) declined 4.7%; Micron Technology (MU) fell 3.3%; NVIDIA (NVDA) dropped 2.9%; Intel (INTC) fell 4.2%; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) declined 5.3%. Among crypto-related stocks: Strategy (MSTR) fell 5.8%; Coinbase (COIN) dropped 4.6%; Circle (CRCL) declined 6.4%; BitMine Immersion (BMNR) fell 5.3%; SharpLink Gaming (SBET) dropped 7.4%. In the optical communication sector: Pure Photonics ETF (FOTO) fell 6.2%; Marvell Technology (MRVL) dropped 5.8%; AAOI (Applied Optoelectronics) declined 9.8%; LITE (Lumentum Holdings) fell 7.2%; COHR (Coherent Corp.) dropped 7.8%; CIEN (Ciena Corporation) declined 7.8%.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) announced that it has classified USDC, issued by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS, as an Important Electronic Money Token (EMT) under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. To date, 45 EMTs in the EU have completed notification under MiCA, with USDC being the first to be designated as an Important EMT. Starting November 12, 2026, USDC will be subject to dual supervision for Important EMTs under MiCA: direct regulatory responsibilities for own funds, asset reserves, liquidity requirements, and recovery and redemption plans will be transferred from the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) to the EBA; ACPR will retain oversight of governance, qualifying holdings, suitability assessments, outsourcing, and conflicts of interest. USDC is issued by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS in the EU and Circle Internet Financial, LLC in the U.S. The EBA has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the New York State Department of Financial Services to facilitate cooperation and information exchange on cross-border stablecoin activities.

According to Reuters, OpenAI has accused a former employee of sending more than 100 files related to the company’s unreleased devices to his personal account before leaving to join Apple, and subsequently presenting the relevant products to Apple’s senior management. Apple had earlier filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging the latter stole trade secrets of its unreleased hardware products, marking a further escalation of the intellectual property dispute over hardware technology between the two parties.

Ondo Finance has announced that the total value locked (TVL) of its tokenized products stands at $4 billion, with tokenized stocks and ETFs exceeding $1.3 billion. The firm noted it holds the leading position in the tokenized U.S. Treasuries segment, with cumulative holders of all its products surpassing 1 million. Ondo Finance’s tokenized products can be permissionlessly transferred across networks including Solana, Ethereum, and BNB Chain, while Ondo Stocks accesses traditional financial liquidity via a request-for-quote (RFQ) mechanism.