News linked to both this project and an event.
According to an official announcement by the FCA, Anthropic will provide access to its suite of Claude products (including Claude Code and Claude Cowork) for the second batch of participating enterprises in the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) "Super Sandbox" to accelerate their AI development process. A total of 21 institutions were selected for the second batch, including Scottish Widows, Money Advice Trust, and TrueLayer, among others. The number of applications this time increased by 51% compared to the first batch, with a total of 199 applications received. Participating enterprises will test AI solutions focusing on the following areas: agent payment security, fraud and financial crime detection, AI governance and accountability, financial inclusion for vulnerable groups, and compliance and business automation. Additionally, the FCA simultaneously launched the "Agentic Academy"—a 10-week AI specialized training program co-hosted by the FCA and the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE). Participating enterprises will continue to have access to NayaOne digital sandbox infrastructure and NVIDIA accelerated computing resource support.
Odaily Odaily A new study by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance reveals that approximately 31% of Ethereum node activity is located in the United States, with another 39% distributed across EU countries excluding the UK, indicating that the geographic distribution of Ethereum nodes remains relatively concentrated in Western nations.Lead researcher Alexander Neumuller stated that while node distribution is not currently concentrated in any single country, it is heavily reliant on a few major cloud service providers, including Hetzner, Amazon AWS, and OVH. Notably, the Ethereum network does not require half of its validators to fail for problems to arise. If more than one-third of validators go offline simultaneously, the network may be unable to finalize block checkpoints (finalization). Neumuller pointed out that nodes and validators do not have a one-to-one correspondence; a single node may run multiple validators. Therefore, it is currently impossible to precisely assess the actual impact on the validator network from the failure of a specific node or service provider.Furthermore, the study reassessed the energy consumption of Ethereum following The Merge. Data shows that Ethereum's current annual energy consumption is approximately 7.9 GWh, equivalent to a continuous power draw of about 1 MW. This represents only about 0.02% of pre-merge levels, a reduction of approximately 99.98%. Currently, over 56% of the energy used by the Ethereum network comes from sustainable sources, exceeding the global average.The study also noted that client software diversity is another potential risk. If a dominant client software has a vulnerability, it could affect a large number of network participants. The report was published by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and supported by the Ethereum Foundation. (The)
Odaily Planet Daily reported that Anthropic announced it will invest CAD 10 million (approximately USD 7.3 million) into Canadian AI research institutions to support next-generation AI research, safety technology, and the development of responsible AI applications. Anthropic stated that Canada has played a significant role in the modern history of AI development. Institutions such as the University of Toronto, Université de Montréal, and the University of Alberta have driven key breakthroughs in neural networks, deep learning, and reinforcement learning, laying the foundation for the current AI wave. This funding will support several top-tier AI research institutions in Canada, including:Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii): Supporting research in reinforcement learning, AI trustworthiness, and safety, while promoting the application of AI within key Canadian industries;Mila - Quebec AI Institute: For research in responsible AI, healthcare, sustainability, multi-agent systems, and robotics;Vector Institute: Advancing research in AI safety, health sciences, and the societal applications of AI;CHEO, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH): Exploring the application of AI in pediatric healthcare, mental health, and clinical research;Université Laval, University of Toronto, University of Saskatchewan: Supporting research in areas such as large language models, life sciences, food safety, quantum computing, and public services.Additionally, Anthropic will include Amii, Mila, and Vector in its startup support program, providing Claude API credits to hundreds of Canadian AI startups, with each receiving at least USD 5,000 in support.
According to The Block, the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF)'s newly released report "Ethereum After the Merge" shows that approximately 31% of Ethereum node activity is located in the United States, with 39% distributed across the European Union (excluding the UK), presenting an overall Western-centric centralization pattern. The report points out potential centralization risks in the Ethereum network—nodes are highly concentrated among three major hosting providers: Hetzner, AWS, and OVH. Once more than one-third of validators go offline simultaneously, network checkpoints will stop finalization (Finalization). Additionally, the report recalculated Ethereum's energy consumption; annual electricity consumption after the Merge is approximately 7.9 GWh, a decrease of approximately 99.98% compared to before the Merge, with sustainable energy accounting for over 56%, and the cost required to offset its annual carbon emissions is only about $33,500 to $73,800.
The Irish Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) stated that it has recovered another 500 BTC, worth nearly $31 million, from the lost crypto assets of convicted drug trafficker Clifton Collins. To date, the agency has recovered a total of 1,500 BTC in this case, valued at over $92 million at current prices.This operation was supported by Europol's European Cybercrime Centre. Europol stated that it organized operational meetings at its headquarters in The Hague and provided investigators with complex technical support and decryption resources to help them access the relevant wallet assets.The case involves 12 Bitcoin wallets accumulated by Collins from the proceeds of selling and cultivating cannabis, which initially held a total of 6,000 BTC. Previously, Irish authorities had recovered 500 BTC each in March and May.Arkham data shows that approximately 4,500 BTC remain in dormant wallets, valued at over $275 million.
According to official news, Standard Chartered Bank announced a partnership with Circle to launch USDC minting and redemption access capabilities for institutional clients, becoming the first global systemically important bank to offer such integrated services. Eligible institutional clients can use USDC through a single onboarding and service process without needing to open a Circle account directly. The service will initially be provided through Standard Chartered's business in the Dubai International Financial Centre, supporting scenarios such as on-chain settlement, treasury management, and liquidity management, with plans to expand to more markets subsequently upon obtaining regulatory approval.
According to The Block, the UK Treasury has unveiled a payment regulatory reform proposal that aims to bring traditional payment services, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits under a unified regulatory framework. The proposal also plans to regulate stablecoins used for payments through subsequent issuance rules. Additionally, it seeks to expand the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) supervisory authority over open banking and explore regulatory adjustments for payment activities conducted by AI agents. Meanwhile, the UK Treasury will provide £1 million in funding to the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology starting in April and has appointed Chris Woolard CBE to lead the development of a tokenized financial system for wholesale digital markets.