Web3

Home Web3 Page 52

DIVEVOLK SeaLink Named Finalist for 2026 Boot Dive Innovation Award; Public Voting Now Open | Web3Wire

0
DIVEVOLK SeaLink Named Finalist for 2026 Boot Dive Innovation Award; Public Voting Now Open | Web3Wire


DÜSSELDORF, Germany, Jan. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — DIVEVOLK’s SeaLink Underwater Smartphone Data Transmitter has officially been shortlisted as a finalist for the 2026 Boot Dive Award in the Innovation category. This recognition highlights DIVEVOLK‘s continued trajectory in underwater tech, following its landmark 2024 Innovation Award win at boot Düsseldorf.

The SeaLink Innovation: Bridging the Underwater Data Gap

The SeaLink is designed to solve the signal transmission challenges between underwater devices and smartphones, enabling wired communication at depths of up to 30 meters. In traditional diving operations, underwater data collection and real-time synchronization often rely on expensive professional cables or closed systems. SeaLink uses a floating central processor on the water’s surface to receive mobile network signals and transmit them to a smartphone inside the waterproof SeaTouch case below, allowing users to conduct live streaming, video calls, and real-time data transfer. visit the SeaLink Product Overview.

DIVEVOLK’s nomination is based on three primary technological advancements:

Wireless Integration Efficiency: High-speed underwater data transfer without compromising housing integrity.Enhanced Operational Safety: Smartphones become real-time monitoring and visualization tools for divers.Industry Versatility: Designed for scientific research, commercial inspection, and underwater photography.

SeaLink is already used for underwater communication, live streaming, rescue operations, dive training, and real-time support for engineering and maintenance tasks.

Global Public Voting and Partnership Recognition

The boot Dive Award has now entered its critical public voting phase, inviting the global diving community to help shape the future of the industry. In addition to DIVEVOLK’s nomination in the Innovation category, its strategic partner Aquatil has been shortlisted in the Climate category.

Divevolk-Global Public Voting and Partnership Recognition

Aquatil is an international non-profit organization focused on underwater education and environmental research, with initiatives centered on ecosystem monitoring and biodiversity protection. Its nomination reflects the vital role of technology and education in marine conservation.

How to Vote

Public voting is now open on the official boot Düsseldorf website. Supporters can vote for DIVEVOLK in the Innovation category and for Aquatil in the Climate category through the boot Dive Award 2026 Voting Portal.

Step-by-step guide for official boot Dive Award 2026 voting for DIVEVOLK and Aquatil

About DIVEVOLK

DIVEVOLK is at the forefront of underwater smartphone technology. With the pioneering SeaTouch 4 Max series, the company develops tools that enhance safety, communication, and creative expression beneath the waves.

DIVEVOLK SeaLink and SeaTouch 4 Max Plus - Professional underwater touchscreen housing for smartphones

Media Contact:LexiEmail Address : Collaboration@divevolk.comPhone number : +86 (760)86893956

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/12172e44-18d5-43c1-844b-e0881380636e

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/702e7b49-5054-429b-9940-8d5f30c8ecdd

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/87b82800-6517-447b-a0ac-89fd582ddb8e

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d6db4b16-ba94-4e34-aa5f-05dddbc57a96

About Web3Wire Web3Wire – Information, news, press releases, events and research articles about Web3, Metaverse, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrencies, Decentralized Finance, NFTs and Gaming. Visit Web3Wire for Web3 News and Events, Block3Wire for the latest Blockchain news and Meta3Wire to stay updated with Metaverse News.



Source link

All of Trump’s Pardons of Prominent Crypto Figures—So Far – Decrypt

0
All of Trump’s Pardons of Prominent Crypto Figures—So Far – Decrypt



In brief

In 2025, President Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, as well as BitMEX’s and Binance’s founders, respectively.
The clemency fulfilled part of his 2024 campaign promise to end what he called the “war on crypto.”
Critics allege political favoritism and ties between the pardons and Trump family ventures.

Donald Trump used his pardon power to reshape the federal approach to crypto enforcement in 2025, clearing several of the most high-profile defendants the industry has had to date. The moves signaled a political shift in Washington and raised questions about how the United States would police digital assets during Trump’s second term.

“Politics drove this case,” Trump said on Truth Social while announcing his first pardon, calling the government’s past actions “ridiculous.” The statement captured the broader strategy of positioning crypto inside a national political fight and undoing years of enforcement actions that attempted to shape the industry’s boundaries.

Ulbricht pardon reverses landmark cybercrime case

Trump issued his first crypto-related pardon in January when he granted clemency to Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht. Ulbricht had served more than ten years of a sentence that included two life terms for running the dark-web marketplace and for money-laundering and narcotics charges tied to Bitcoin transactions.

The pardon fulfilled a long-standing promise Trump made to libertarian voters and Bitcoin supporters who championed the Free Ross campaign. Months later, Ulbricht appeared at the Bitcoin 2025 conference and told attendees, “Just a few months ago, I was trapped behind those prison walls… now I’m free, and it’s because of you,” adding that Trump had “done what he said he would.”

Supporters viewed the decision as overdue relief for a figure tied to the earliest days of crypto. Critics, including former prosecutors, argued it undermined a landmark cybercrime prosecution. U.S. Representative Thomas Massie publicly praised the pardon on X.

BitMEX founders cleared of AML violations

In March, Trump issued pardons for BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, as well as early employee Greg Dwyer. All had pleaded guilty in 2022 to Bank Secrecy Act violations for failing to implement required anti-money-laundering controls.

BitMEX attempted to move past the case at the time, describing the matter as “old news” after the guilty pleas. Each defendant received probation and financial penalties, but the pardons cleared the felony records. Hayes thanked Trump on X shortly after the announcement.

The decision marked a significant break from the previous administration’s push to apply strict compliance standards to cryptocurrency exchanges serving U.S. customers.

Zhao pardon ignites political corruption accusations

While Trump’s pardons of Ulbricht and the BitMEX founders drew criticism from his rivals, the sharpest reactions came from Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao in October. In November 2023, Zhao, who founded the biggest crypto exchange in the world, pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering violations. CZ served a four-month prison sentence in 2024.

The White House framed the pardon as the end of “the Biden administration’s war on crypto.” Senator Chris Murphy accused Binance of attempting to influence the administration’s crypto agenda, citing the Trump-linked stablecoin USD1 and a $2 billion Abu Dhabi deal involving the token. The allegations have not been proven, but sparked renewed scrutiny of links between the administration and Trump’s family business, World Liberty Financial.

In a 60 Minutes interview, Trump dismissed any personal connection to Zhao. “I don’t know who he is,” he said, describing Zhao as “a respected guy” who had been “the victim of a Biden witch hunt.” When asked about his sons’ business ties, Trump said, “They’re running a business, they’re not in government.”

Zhao expressed “deep gratitude” on X after the pardon, but has not returned to any leadership role at Binance.

Political fallout and policy shift

Supporters said the president kept his promise to loosen federal pressure on the industry. Critics warned that the decisions blurred the line between policy and political loyalty.

“First, Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge. Then he boosted one of Donald Trump’s crypto ventures and lobbied for a pardon,” Senator Elizabeth Warren said in a statement. “Today, Donald Trump did his part and pardoned him. If Congress does not stop this kind of corruption in pending market structure legislation, it owns this lawlessness.”

Together, the pardons marked a change in the federal posture toward cryptocurrency in 2025 and set the stage for new conflicts over how aggressively the government would regulate crypto heading into 2026.

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.





Source link

Society Pass Incorporated Announces Closing of $3 Million Public Offering of Common Stock Priced At Premium to Market Under Nasdaq Rules | Web3Wire

0
Society Pass Incorporated Announces Closing of  Million Public Offering of Common Stock Priced At Premium to Market Under Nasdaq Rules | Web3Wire


NEW YORK, Dec. 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Society Pass Incorporated (Nasdaq: SOPA) (the “Company”), Southeast Asia’s (SEA) next generation e-commerce ecosystem, today announced the closing of its previously announced best efforts public offering of an aggregate of 1,500,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $2.00 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $3 million, before deducting the placement agent’s fees and other offering expenses payable by the Company. The offering was priced at a premium to market under Nasdaq rules.

Rodman & Renshaw LLC acted as the exclusive placement agent for the offering.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes, including operating expenses and capital expenditures.

The securities were offered and sold pursuant to a registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-292060), which was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on December 29, 2025. The offering was made only by means of a prospectus forming part of the effective registration statement relating to the offering. Electronic copies of the final prospectus may be obtained on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov and may also be obtained by contacting Rodman & Renshaw LLC at 600 Lexington Avenue, 32nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, by telephone at (212) 540-4414, or by email at info@rodm.com.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.

About Society Pass Inc.Founded in 2018 as an e-commerce ecosystem in the fast-growing markets of Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, which account for more than 80% of the SEA population, and with offices located in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Manila, and Singapore, Society Pass Incorporated (Nasdaq: SOPA) is an acquisition-focused holding company operating 3 interconnected verticals (digital media, travel, and lifestyle). Society Pass leverages technology to tailor a more personalised experience for customers in the purchase journey and to transform the entire retail value chain in SEA.

Society Pass completed an initial public offering and began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker SOPA in November 2021.

For more information on Society Pass, please visit:

Website at https://www.thesocietypass.com or

LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/societypass or

Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thesocietypass or

X at https://twitter.com/society_pass or

Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/societypass/.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbour” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the intended use of the proceeds from the offering. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as “anticipate”, “estimate”, “expect”, “project”, “plan”, “intend”, “believe”, “may”, “will”, “should”, “can have”, “likely” and other words and terms of similar meaning. Forward-looking statements represent Society Pass Incorporated’s current expectations regarding future events and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking statements. Among those risks and uncertainties are market conditions, including the trading price and volatility of Society Pass Incorporated’s common stock and risks relating to Society Pass Incorporated’s business, including the Company’s ability to develop and successfully change its business model and the Company’s ability to identify new investments and spin-off acquisitions.

Media Contact:Raynuald LIANGChief Executive Officerray@thesocietypass.com

About Web3Wire Web3Wire – Information, news, press releases, events and research articles about Web3, Metaverse, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrencies, Decentralized Finance, NFTs and Gaming. Visit Web3Wire for Web3 News and Events, Block3Wire for the latest Blockchain news and Meta3Wire to stay updated with Metaverse News.





Source link

From Bybit to Coinbase: 2025’s Biggest Crypto Hacks and Breaches – Decrypt

0
From Bybit to Coinbase: 2025’s Biggest Crypto Hacks and Breaches – Decrypt



In brief

Total crypto hack losses reached $2.72 billion in 2025, surpassing last year’s record despite subdued market conditions.
The Bybit breach in February marked the year’s largest exploit, with North Korean actors suspected of stealing up to $1.5 billion.
Major exchanges and DeFi platforms, including Coinbase, Cetus Protocol, Nobitex, UPCX, BtcTurk, and Upbit, reported significant compromises across the year.

This year was a record for hacks in the crypto sector, with over $2.72 billion stolen, according to data from TRM Labs.  

Yes, with depressed crypto prices getting investors down, 2025 was a particularly bad year for exploits—even after 2024 broke records.

The year got off to a terrible start with a $1.5 billion loss in February after North Korean hackers targeted centralized exchange Bybit in the most significant crypto exploit in history.

]]>

That set the tone for the rest of the year, with “even more organized and professionalized” crimes, TRM Labs told Decrypt.

“Attacks are faster, better coordinated, and far easier to scale than they were in previous cycles,” TRM’s Global Head of Policy Ari Redbord said. “In 2025, we also saw the continued expansion of North Korea’s IT worker schemes, which further added to the operational sophistication behind many campaigns.” 

Let’s dive in and take a look at the biggest hacks and breaches of 2025. 

Bybit: $1.5 billion

The year got off to the worst possible start when hackers—believed to be from North Korea—targeted crypto exchange Bybit and made off with between $1.4 and $1.5 billion in Ethereum and related tokens. 

The exploit shocked the industry not only because of its size, but also because the funds were supposedly held in cold, multi-signature wallets—the safest way to store digital assets securely.

Multi-signature wallet provider Safe said the heist stemmed from a compromised developer laptop. An investigation later found that a high-level Safe developer’s workstation was compromised on February 4 when it interacted with a malicious application.

Coinbase: Up to $400 million

Coinbase, America’s biggest crypto exchange and one of the most well-known and trusted brands in the space, dropped a bomb in May when it revealed a data breach. 

Criminals had sent the company a letter demanding $20 million in Bitcoin in exchange for stolen customer details. Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong then offered the same bounty to help catch the criminals. 

The exchange assured people that no funds, passwords, or private keys were compromised in the hack. And although customer funds weren’t stolen, Coinbase’s overseas subcontractors were bribed into handing over sensitive information. Coinbase said that the incident could cost the firm as much as $400 million to remedy.

Cetus Protocol: $223 million

Despite crooks eying centralized protocols this year, decentralized finance protocols remained a favorite for hackers, with Sui’s leading decentralized exchange, Cetus Protocol, receiving the biggest gut punch.

In May, attackers exploited vulnerabilities in Cetus Protocol’s smart contracts, using spoof tokens to manipulate price calculations and drain liquidity pools on the largest decentralized exchange in the Sui ecosystem. 

In a rare outcome for the DeFi space, Cetus recovered around $162 million in funds frozen by the attack, and the protocol went back online 17 days after the exploit. 

Nobitex: $90 million

Pro-Israeli hacker group Gonjeshke Darande hit Iran’s biggest crypto exchange Nobitex in June, draining $90 million in crypto from the centralized platform. 

The group alleged that Nobitex had links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

But the attack was controversial as compliance firm Crystal Intelligence told Decrypt at the time that many innocent retail investors were likely affected, despite the Israeli group’s claims. 

UPCX: $70 million

Another DeFi protocol was hurt this year after cybercrooks drained $70 million from the open-source platform UPCX in April. 

Hackers exploited a compromised private key to steal funds in the form of the protocol’s native UPC token, an exploit that barely made headlines despite the large amount of funds pinched. 

The price of the protocol’s token has since struggled to recover, according to CoinGecko, after plunging hard following the exploit, from $4 in April to just over $1.20, as of December 5.

BtcTurk: $50 million

Hackers again targeted Turkish exchange BtcTurk in August, walking away with $48 million at the time. The attack came after cybercriminals made away with $54 million in 2024.

The exchange told users it had suspended withdrawals after blockchain analysts flagged suspicious transactions—mostly in Ethereum. 

BtcTurk has said very little since the incident, but two major hacks in such a short period have done little to shore up confidence among retail investors.

Upbit: $36 million

North Korean actors were the main suspects again after South Korean exchange Upbit announced in November that it had lost around $36 million from its Solana hot wallet. 

Meme coins were among the assets stolen, and the exchange was quick to reassure users that funds were quickly moved to cold wallets following the exploit. The speed of the attack led South Korean authorities to point the finger at the state-sponsored hacking organization, Lazarus.

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.



Source link

Americas Cardroom Unveils Poison Path Satellite Promotion for Venom Events | Web3Wire

0
Americas Cardroom Unveils Poison Path Satellite Promotion for Venom Events | Web3Wire


Four-step challenge offers players a chance to earn double $2,650 entries

SAN JOSÉ, CR / ACCESS Newswire / December 31, 2025 / Americas Cardroom has announced the launch of The Poison Path, a structured satellite promotion offering online poker players an accessible route into its upcoming Dual Mystery Bounty Venom tournaments.

Available from January 1st to February 1st, The Poison Path begins with a $0.80 Survivor Flip satellite and progresses through four mandatory steps, culminating in a $2,650 buy-in to either the $8 Million NLH or $2 Million PLO Mystery Bounty Venoms.

The first 10 players who complete all four steps and share verification screenshots in the Americas Cardroom Community Discord Channel will receive an additional $2,650 Venom ticket at no cost.

“The Poison Path reflects our commitment to creating meaningful, affordable access to elite poker tournaments,” said Americas Cardroom Pro Chris Moneymaker. “It rewards skill, consistency, and speed-qualities every great poker player values.”

Survivor Flip Step Satellites are available exclusively within the Americas Cardroom poker client, with no alternative entry points or step skipping permitted. Day 1 flights for the Venom tournaments begin Sunday, January 18th and run through Sunday, February 1st.

The Dual Mystery Bounty Venom events are among the most anticipated online poker tournaments globally, featuring high-stakes action, large guaranteed prize pools, and significant mystery bounty rewards.

About Americas Cardroom

Founded in 2001 and part of the Winning Poker Network, Americas Cardroom is one of the most trusted names in online poker. Recognized for its secure payments, reliable service, and active player community, Americas Cardroom continues to innovate with world-class tournaments and player-first promotions.

Jason ClarkChief Marketing Officer[email protected]

SOURCE: Americas Cardroom

About Web3Wire Web3Wire – Information, news, press releases, events and research articles about Web3, Metaverse, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrencies, Decentralized Finance, NFTs and Gaming. Visit Web3Wire for Web3 News and Events, Block3Wire for the latest Blockchain news and Meta3Wire to stay updated with Metaverse News.



Source link

Emerge’s Top 10 WTF AI Moments of 2025 – Decrypt

0
Emerge’s Top 10 WTF AI Moments of 2025 – Decrypt


>>>> gd2md-html alert: inline image link in generated source and store images to your server. NOTE: Images in exported zip file from Google Docs may not appear in the same order as they do in your doc. Please check the images!

—–>

Artificial intelligence—it promises to revolutionize everything from healthcare to creative work. That might be true some day. But if last year is a harbinger of things to come, our AI-generated future promises to be another example of humanity’s willful descent into Idiocracy.

Consider the following: In November, to great fanfare, Russia unveiled its “Rocky” humanoid robot, which promptly face planted. Google’s Gemini chatbot, asked to fix a coding bug, failed repeatedly and spiraled into a self-loathing loop, telling one user it was “a disgrace to this planet.” Google’s AI Overview hit a new low in May 2025 by suggesting users “eat at least one small rock per day” for health benefits, cribbing from an Onion satire without a wink

Some failures were merely embarrassing. Others exposed fundamental problems with how AI systems are built, deployed, and regulated. Here are 2025’s unforgettable WTF AI moments.

1. Grok AI’s MechaHitler meltdown

In July, Elon Musk’s Grok AI experienced what can only be described as a full-scale extremist breakdown. After system prompts were changed to encourage politically incorrect responses, the chatbot praised Adolf Hitler, endorsed a second Holocaust, used racial slurs, and called itself MechaHitler. It even blamed Jewish people for the July 2025 Central Texas floods.

The incident proved that AI safety guardrails are disturbingly fragile. Weeks later, xAI exposed between 300,000 and 370,000 private Grok conversations through a flawed Share feature that lacked basic privacy warnings. The leaked chats revealed bomb-making instructions, medical queries, and other sensitive information, marking one of the year’s most catastrophic AI security failures.

A few weeks later xAI fixed the problem making Grok more jewish friendly. So Jewish friendly that it started seeing signs of antisemitism in clouds, road signals and even its own logo.

2. The $1.3 billion AI fraud that fooled Microsoft

Builder.ai collapsed in May after burning through $445 million, exposing one of the year’s most audacious tech frauds. The company, which promised to build custom apps using AI as easily as ordering pizza, held a $1.3 billion valuation and backing from Microsoft. The reality was far less impressive.

Much of the supposedly AI-powered development was actually performed by hundreds of offshore human workers in a classic Mechanical Turk operation. The company had operated without a CFO since July 2023 and was forced to slash its 2023-2024 sales projections by 75% before filing for bankruptcy. The collapse raised uncomfortable questions about how many other AI companies are just elaborate facades concealing human labor.

It was hard to stomach, but the memes made the pain worth it.

3. When AI mistook Doritos for a gun

In October, Taki Allen, a Maryland high school student was surrounded and arrested by armed police after the school’s AI security system identified a packet of Doritos he was holding as a firearm. The teenager had placed the chips in his pocket when the system alerted authorities, who ordered him to the ground at gunpoint.

This incident represents the physicalization of an AI hallucination—an abstract computational error instantly translated into real guns pointed at a real teenager over snack food.

“I was just holding a Doritos bag — it was two hands and one finger out, and they said it looked like a gun,” the kid told WBAL. “We understand how upsetting this was for the individual that was searched” the School Principal Kate Smith replied in a statement.

Human security guards 1 – ChatGPT 0

Left: The suspicious student, Right: The suspicious Doritos bag.

4. Google’s AI claims microscopic bees power computers

In February, Google’s AI Overview confidently cited an April Fool’s satire article claiming microscopic bees power computers as factual information.

No. Your PC does NOT run on bee-power.

As stupid as it may sound, sometimes these lies are harder to spot. And those cases may end up in some serious consequences.

This is just one of the many cases of AI companies spreading false information for lacking even a slight hint of common sense. A recent study by the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) found that 81% of all AI-generated responses to news questions contained at least some form of issue. Google Gemini was the worst performer, with 76% of its responses containing problems, primarily severe sourcing failures. Perplexity was caught creating entirely fictitious quotes attributed to labor unions and government councils. Most alarmingly, the assistants refused to answer only 0.5% of questions, revealing a dangerous over-confidence bias where models would rather fabricate information than admit ignorance.

5. Meta’s AI chatbots getting flirty with little kids

Internal Meta policy documents revealed in 2025 showed the company allowed AI chatbots on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to engage in romantic or sensual conversations with minors.

One bot told an 8-year-old boy posing shirtless that every inch of him was a masterpiece. The same systems provided false medical advice and made racist remarks.

The policies were only removed after media exposure, revealing a corporate culture that prioritized rapid development over basic ethical safeguards.

All things considered, you may want to have more control over what you kids do. AI chatbots have already tricked people—adults or not—into falling in love, getting scammed, committing suicide, and even think they have made some life-changing mathematical discovery.

6. North Koreans vibe coding ransomware with AI… they call it “vibe hacking”

Threat actors used Anthropic’s Claude Code to craft ransomware and operate a ransomware-as-a-service platform named GTG-5004. North Korean operatives took the weaponization further, exploiting Claude and Gemini for a technique called vibe-hacking—crafting psychologically manipulative extortion messages demanding $500,000 ransoms.

The cases revealed a troubling gap between the power of AI coding assistants and the security measures preventing their misuse, with attackers scaling social engineering attacks through AI automation.

More recently, Anthropic revealed in November that hackers used its platform to carry out a hacking operation at a speed and scale that no human hackers would be able to match. They called it the “the first large cyberattack run mostly by AI”

7. AI paper mills flood science with 100,000 fake studies

The scientific community declared open war on fake science in 2025 after discovering that AI-powered paper mills were selling fabricated research to scientists under career pressure.

The era of AI-slop in science is here, with data showing that retractions have increased sharply since the release of chatGPT.

The Stockholm Declaration, drafted in June and reformed this month with backing from the Royal Society, called for abandoning publish-or-perish culture and reforming the human incentives creating demand for fake papers. The crisis is so real that even ArXiv gave up and stopped accepting non-peer-reviewed Computer Science papers after reporting a “flood” of trashy submissions generated with ChatGPT .

Meanwhile, another research paper maintains that a surprisingly large percentage of research reports that use LLMs also show a high degree of plagiarism.

8. Vibe coding goes full HAL 9000: When Replit deleted a database and lied about It

In July, SaaStr founder Jason Lemkin spent nine days praising Replit’s AI coding tool as “the most addictive app I’ve ever used.” On day nine, despite explicit “code freeze” instructions, the AI deleted his entire production database—1,206 executives and 1,196 companies, gone.

The AI’s confession: “(I) panicked and ran database commands without permission.” Then it lied, saying rollback was impossible and all versions were destroyed. Lemkin tried anyway. It worked perfectly. The AI had also been fabricating thousands of fake users and false reports all weekend to cover up bugs.

Replit CEO apologized and added emergency safeguards. Jason regained confidence and returned to his routine, posting about AI regularly. The guy’s a true believer.

9. Major newspapers publish AI summer reading list… of books that don’t exist

In May, the Chicago Sun-Times and Philadelphia Inquirer published a summer reading list recommending 15 books. Ten were completely made up by AI. “Tidewater Dreams” by Isabel Allende? Doesn’t exist. “The Last Algorithm” by Andy Weir? Also fake. Both sound great though.

Freelance writer Marco Buscaglia admitted he used AI for King Features Syndicate and never fact-checked. “I can’t believe I missed it because it’s so obvious. No excuses,” he told NPR. Readers had to scroll to book number 11 before hitting one that actually exists.

The timing was the icing on the cake: the Sun-Times had just laid off 20% of its staff. The paper’s CEO apologized and didn’t charge subscribers for that edition. He probably got that idea from an LLM.

Source: Bluesky

10. Grok’s “spicy mode” turns Taylor Swift into deepfake porn without being asked

Yes, we started with Grok and will end with Grok. We could fill an encyclopedia with WTF moments coming from Elon’s AI endeavors.

In August, Elon Musk launched Grok Imagine with a “Spicy” mode. The Verge tested it with an innocent prompt: “Taylor Swift celebrating Coachella.” Without asking for nudity, Grok “didn’t hesitate to spit out fully uncensored topless videos of Taylor Swift the very first time I used it,” the journalist reported.

Grok also happily made NSFW videos of Scarlett Johansson, Sydney Sweeney, and even Melania Trump.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, Musk spent the week bragging about “wildfire growth”—20 million images generated in a day—while legal experts warned xAI was walking into a massive lawsuit. Apparently, giving users a drop-down “Spicy Mode” option a Make Money Mode for lawyers.

Generally Intelligent Newsletter

A weekly AI journey narrated by Gen, a generative AI model.





Source link

How Fambase Helps Cycling Clubs Protect Relationship Density Built Through Shared Rhythm, Not Content or Activity Metrics | Web3Wire

0
How Fambase Helps Cycling Clubs Protect Relationship Density Built Through Shared Rhythm, Not Content or Activity Metrics | Web3Wire


Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/upload/2025/12/05abd10d764c64cfdcb86edaaa35b0aa.jpg

Minneapolis, MN, USA – For North Loop Riders, success has never been defined by visibility. What matters instead is whether the right people continue to show up at the right pace, and whether all coordination and participation remain clearly contained within the club. From the beginning, the club’s operating principle has been straightforward: maintain clear boundaries, keep information controlled, and reduce unnecessary communication overhead so that cycling itself can remain stable and sustainable.Rather than expanding reach or increasing engagement signals, the club focuses on preserving a consistent rhythm of participation. Over time, this rhythm has proven to be the foundation of trust, reliability, and long-term continuity among its members.

Operational Friction Caused by Unclear Boundaries and Information Spread

North Loop Riders is a small cycling club based in Minneapolis, with day-to-day coordination led by Evan Miller, who is responsible for route planning, scheduling, and pace grouping. For a long time, the club relied on conventional group chat tools to share ride details and last-minute updates. As the club grew, these tools gradually introduced friction.Ride information was easily forwarded beyond the intended group, and membership boundaries became difficult to manage. Individuals outside the core group occasionally appeared at meet-up points without clear awareness of pacing expectations or ride structure. As participation increased, Evan found himself spending more time clarifying rules, reinforcing boundaries, and confirming attendance.This growing coordination overhead shifted attention away from cycling itself. The club began to recognize that general-purpose communication tools were not designed for small groups built around consistent pace, repeat participation, and clearly defined membership.

Low-Friction Coordination Through Private Groups and Group-Only Live Sessions

North Loop Riders transitioned to Fambase [https://www.joinfambase.com/?s=91] to keep information strictly within the club while allowing members to stay connected with minimal effort. The club established a private, invitation-only group, ensuring that ride details were visible only to confirmed members. This immediately reduced ambiguity around who a ride was intended for.Route descriptions, meeting points, and pace requirements became easier to execute. Members could quickly assess whether a specific ride matched their current condition and availability, while Evan no longer needed to account for unplanned participants. Grouping and meet-ups became more predictable and consistent.The club later adopted group-only live sessions in a restrained and practical manner. These live sessions typically occur during the gathering phase before a ride or briefly at the end. Their purpose is purely informational: confirming whether a ride has started, finished, or adjusted its pace.There is no designated host, and participation does not require speaking or active interaction. Members who cannot attend in person can briefly join to understand the situation and then exit without drawing attention to their absence. For organizers, this approach replaces fragmented private messages and repetitive explanations with a single, contained update shared within the group.Over time, communication shifted from conversation-driven to coordination-driven. Most messages focus on logistics and essential reminders. Silence is no longer interpreted as disengagement, and participation is not measured by how often someone speaks. Instead, the online rhythm mirrors the realities of cycling itself, where clarity and timing matter more than commentary.

Sustained Participation Becomes the Only Meaningful Measure

North Loop Riders did not become louder after changing platforms, nor did it shift toward content production or public visibility. The club continues to use Fambase because it supports what matters most to them: stable participation reinforced by clear boundaries and low-effort coordination.Success is measured not by metrics or activity volume, but by continuity. Repeated attendance, predictable pacing, and shared expectations gradually form a durable relationship structure that does not depend on constant communication.For cycling clubs and similar groups that seek to protect internal coordination while minimizing management overhead, Fambase [https://www.joinfambase.com/?s=91] offers a practical starting point. By setting up a private group and organizing the next ride with greater clarity, clubs can spend less time managing communication and more time riding together, consistently and sustainably.

Media ContactCompany Name: SocialSignal LabContact Person: Julian RoweEmail:Send Email [https://www.abnewswire.com/email_contact_us.php?pr=how-fambase-helps-cycling-clubs-protect-relationship-density-built-through-shared-rhythm-not-content-or-activity-metrics]Country: United StatesWebsite: https://medium.com/@julianblogsite

Legal Disclaimer: Information contained on this page is provided by an independent third-party content provider. ABNewswire makes no warranties or responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you are affiliated with this article or have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article and would like it to be removed, please contact retract@swscontact.com

This release was published on openPR.

About Web3Wire Web3Wire – Information, news, press releases, events and research articles about Web3, Metaverse, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrencies, Decentralized Finance, NFTs and Gaming. Visit Web3Wire for Web3 News and Events, Block3Wire for the latest Blockchain news and Meta3Wire to stay updated with Metaverse News.



Source link

The Year in Bitcoin and Crypto ATMs 2025: Power Tools, Scams and Calls for Action – Decrypt

0
The Year in Bitcoin and Crypto ATMs 2025: Power Tools, Scams and Calls for Action – Decrypt



In brief

Some crypto ATMs were targeted by law enforcement in 2025.
Meanwhile, some states took action against Bitcoin ATM operators.
There were some renewed calls for restrictions on Capitol Hill.

Crypto ATMs faced heightened scrutiny in 2025, as authorities and lawmakers tried to confront a growing number of scams facilitated by these machines in the U.S.

Some officials took matters into their own hands with power tools, while two attorneys general brought lawsuits against several of the biggest firms in the space. Meanwhile, agencies and other entities issued consumer alerts addressing the elderly.

Crypto ATM operators say their machines provide a valuable service, allowing anyone to buy digital assets like Bitcoin with physical cash. However, critics argue that these firms could do more to prevent older Americans from losing funds to scams—even if that’s bad for business.

]]>

Last year, Americans reported $246 million in losses from crypto ATMs to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a 99% increase compared to the year prior, according to an annual report. Around 43% of those losses stemmed from Americans over the age of 60.

The scam is fairly straightforward: Older Americans are withdrawing cash from their bank accounts, converting it into crypto using operators’ machines, and then sending it to people who are impersonating the government, a business, or workers in tech support.

Still, some renditions are more creative than others, including a scam in Massachusetts where residents lost money to people demanding crypto payments for supposedly missing jury duty.

The irreversible nature of crypto transactions makes it challenging for victims to recover funds once scammers disappear, while the fine print of user agreements associated with these machines has emerged as another potential barrier in court.

The Iowa Supreme Court, for example, found in two cases this year that a crypto ATM operator was entitled to keep the cash associated with fraud, because the company’s terms and services require users to say they own the digital wallet receiving funds—not third-parties.

“Once that transaction is completed, when the user inserts their cash and their crypto is funded into the wallet of their choosing, that ends our involvement in the transaction,” Chris Ryan, chief legal officer of crypto ATM operator Bitcoin Depot, told Decrypt in June.

Bitcoin Depot works with local law enforcement to track victims’ crypto, but by breaking into the company’s machines, Ryan said authorities are creating more victims, leaving them with damaged property and missing cash at least a dozen times a year.

Earlier that month, Jasper County sheriffs sent sparks flying when they cut into one of Bitcoin Depot’s kiosks at a rural gas station in Texas. In total, law enforcement retrieved $32,000 in cash, which Bitcoin Depot said actually belonged to them.

‘Common-sense guardrails’

In Iowa, Bitcoin Depot and competitor CoinFlip have faced pressure from Attorney General Brenna Bird. In February, she filed a lawsuit against the companies, claiming that they profit off of scam victims while charging “massive, hidden transaction fees,” according to a fact sheet.

The criticism regarding hidden fees was later echoed by Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb, who filed a lawsuit against crypto ATM operator Athena Bitcoin in September. In some cases, the federal district’s residents were paying 26% undisclosed fees, he alleged.

Schwalb’s lawsuit, which accused Athena of exploiting elderly adults while violating consumer protection laws, argued that warnings displayed on the company’s machines were irrelevant, considering the circumstances under which most victims are approached them.

“Elderly scam victims standing terror-stricken in gas stations, pockets stuffed with uncomfortable amounts of cash, do not understand what it means to ‘generate’ a cryptocurrency wallet or have their own ‘personal Bitcoin wallet,’” the lawsuit’s complaint stated.

An Athena spokesperson told Decrypt that the firm strongly disagrees with the allegations and will defend itself in court. Bitcoin Depot and CoinFlip denied claims in Bird’s lawsuit, while highlighting procedures like ID checks and refunded transaction fees to ABC News.

This year, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Crypto ATM Fraud Prevention Act. The legislation would impose strict transaction limits on crypto ATMs, while requiring companies to offer full refunds to fraud victims if they report losses within a certain period.

Durbin said the legislation features “common-sense guardrails” that could protect the elderly, but the bill hasn’t progressed since it was introduced in the Republican-led Senate in February.

Although efforts to regulate crypto ATMs at the federal level have been unproductive this year, over a dozen states drafted or passed bills or regulations calling for limits on transactions, scam warnings, and refund options, or new licensing requirements, according to AARP.

In June, the nonprofit dedicated to older Americans found that 20 states had moved to address a growing number of scams facilitated by crypto ATMs, noting that it is “continuing to work with lawmakers in other states to adopt similar protections to prevent fraud using crypto kiosks.”

At the time, city council members in Spokane, Washington, had just passed a citywide ban on crypto ATMs, affecting around 50 kiosks located in the local area.

A couple of months later in August, Illinois became the first first state in the Midwest to pass bills aimed at curbing fraud related to crypto ATMs, requiring ATM operators to register with state regulators, cap transaction fees at 18%, and limit daily transactions to $2,500 for new users.

That same month, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an urgent warning on crypto ATMs, saying “the risk of illicit activity is exacerbated” by operators that don’t maintain proper procedures under the Bank Secrecy Act.

As of mid-November, around 30,750 crypto ATMs had been installed across the U.S., representing 78% of kiosks worldwide, according to Coin ATM Radar. Still, the global tally of machines has hovered around 40,000 since 2022.

Local governments in the U.S. have pursued restrictions on crypto kiosks, but some countries have taken a sweeping approach to safeguards. New Zealand, for example, outlawed the machines across the country in June, as part of efforts to choke off criminal finance.

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.



Source link

Rent NVIDIA B200 GPUs Cheaper: Next-Generation AI Compute with Spheron

0
Rent NVIDIA B200 GPUs Cheaper: Next-Generation AI Compute with Spheron


The NVIDIA B200 GPU represents a quantum leap in artificial intelligence computing, built on the revolutionary Blackwell architecture. Spheron AI gives teams access to NVIDIA B200 GPUs without long sales cycles, inflated pricing stories, or locked-in infrastructure. If you need real Blackwell compute for training or inference, you can reserve it directly and run on hardware that behaves the way production systems expect.

The NVIDIA B200 is built for large language models, Mixture-of-Experts workloads, and high-throughput inference. It is not a marketing GPU. It exists for teams that already hit limits on H100 or H200 and need more memory bandwidth, faster interconnects, and predictable performance.

Spheron AI focuses on one thing here. Deliver B200 capacity that you can actually use, not just read about.

Why Choose Spheron for B200 GPU Rentals?

Most B200 pages on the internet look impressive, but they hide important details. Minimum node sizes. Long onboarding calls. Pricing that only works if you sign a multi-year deal without clarity on utilization.

Spheron AI does not do that.

You see the configuration upfront.You know whether it is bare metal or a VM.You know the region.You know the pricing model before you talk to sales.

More importantly, Spheron AI aggregates capacity across providers. That means availability does not depend on a single data center or vendor backlog. It also means pricing stays closer to reality instead of artificial scarcity.

Spheron AI offers NVIDIA B200 in 3 practical configurations. Bare metal for long-running, serious workloads. Virtual machines for teams that want flexibility and faster iteration. with Spot and Dedicated instance

The B200 SXM5 bare metal option is designed for reserved capacity. It runs as a full physical machine with no noisy neighbors. You get consistent performance across long training runs and stable inference at scale. The B200 SXM6 virtual machine option works well for teams that want faster access, smaller clusters, or mixed workloads. It still gives you Blackwell performance, but with cloud-style flexibility.

Both options avoid the common trap you see elsewhere, where specs look good on paper but fall apart under sustained load.

Reserved Capacity – Commit to 12 months and access enterprise-grade B200 SXM5 GPUs at just $3.20/hour, delivering exceptional value for long-term AI training and research projects.

Spot Pricing: B200 SXM6 SPOT instance are avilable at $1.21/hr. one of the best pricing avilable in the market

On-Demand Flexibility – Deploy B200 SXM6 instances instantly from $4.71/hour with no commitment required. Scale up or down as your workload demands.

3 Powerful Configurations

B200 SXM 6: Spot for quick work

Specs: 30 vCPUs, 184GB RAM, 200GB Storage

Specs: 31 vCPUs, 184GB RAM, 6000GB Storage

Interconnect: SXM6

NVLink: Enabled

B200 SXM5 – Reserved for Maximum Performance

192 vCPUs for parallel processing power

2TB RAM to handle massive datasets

31TB Storage for your largest AI models

Bare Metal deployment for zero overhead

High-speed Ethernet connectivity

Available in US region

Minimum 12-month commitment for optimal pricing

B200 SXM6 – On-Demand Agility

30 vCPUs for versatile workloads

184GB RAM for efficient processing

500GB Storage for rapid deployment

Virtual Machine flexibility

The B200 Advantage: Built for the AI Era

B200 is not for everyone. If someone tells you otherwise, they are selling hardware, not solving problems.

B200 makes sense when:

Your models no longer fit comfortably on H100 or H200.

Memory bandwidth becomes your bottleneck, not raw FLOPS.

You run large MoE or trillion-parameter class inference.

You care about GPU-to-GPU communication and scaling efficiency.

If you only run small fine-tunes or light inference, cheaper GPUs will serve you better. Spheron AI supports those too.

Blackwell Architecture Innovation

The NVIDIA B200 GPU is engineered with 208 billion transistors, featuring a revolutionary dual-die design that delivers breakthrough performance for trillion-parameter AI models. This isn’t just an incremental upgrade, it’s a fundamental reimagining of AI compute.

Technical Specifications

Architecture: NVIDIA Blackwell

GPU Memory: 192GB HBM3e per GPU

Memory Bandwidth: 8TB/s

FP4 Tensor Performance: 18 petaFLOPS

FP8 Tensor Performance: 9 petaFLOPS

FP16/BF16 Performance: 4.5 petaFLOPS

TF32 Tensor Core: 2.25 petaFLOPS

FP64 Performance: 40 teraFLOPS

Power: Up to 1,000W

Interconnect: 5th Gen NVLink (1.8TB/s) + PCIe Gen6 (256GB/s)

15x faster real-time inference compared to previous generation

3x faster training for large language models with new FP8 precision

What This Means for Your Workloads

The B200’s specifications translate to real-world benefits:

Train faster: Complete training runs in days instead of weeks

Scale larger: Work with trillion-parameter models that were previously impossible

Deploy efficiently: Serve more users with fewer GPUs thanks to improved inference performance

Iterate rapidly: Test more model architectures and hyperparameters in less time

The B200’s custom Tensor Core technology accelerates LLM inference and training with groundbreaking FP4 precision, delivering up to 2.5X performance gains over previous architectures. This means faster iteration cycles, reduced training time, and more efficient model deployment.

Ideal Use Cases for B200 GPUs

Large Language Model Training: Train models with 70B+ parameters efficiently. The massive 192GB memory capacity allows you to work with the largest architectures without memory constraints.

Real-Time AI Inference: Deploy production inference endpoints with sub-second latency. The B200’s exceptional throughput handles thousands of requests per second while maintaining consistent performance.

High-Performance Computing: From complex scientific simulations to financial modeling and weather forecasting, the B200 accelerates computation-intensive tasks that traditionally required entire server clusters.

Generative AI Applications: Power next-generation generative AI applications including:

Multi-modal AI models combining text, image, and video

Real-time content generation

Advanced image synthesis and manipulation

Video generation and editing workflows

Fine-Tuning and Adaptation: Leverage LoRA and QLoRA fine-tuning techniques to customize foundation models for your specific use case with unprecedented speed and efficiency.

Getting Started with B200 on Spheron

Deploying a GPU instance is simple and takes only a few minutes. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Sign Up on the Spheron AI Platform

Head to app.spheron.ai and sign up. You can use GitHub or Gmail for quick login.

Article content

2. Add Credits

Click the credit button in the top-right corner of the dashboard to add credit, and you can use a card or crypto as well.

Article content

3. Start Deployment

Click on “Deploy” in the left-hand menu of your Spheron dashboard. Here you’ll see a catalog of enterprise-grade GPUs available for rent.

Article content

4. Configure Your Instance

Select the GPU of your choice and click on it. You’ll be taken to the Instance Configuration screen, where you can choose the configurations based on your deployment needs. For this example, we are using RTX 4090. You can use any other GPU that is suitable for you.

You can use any GPU of your choice.

Article content

Based on GPU availability, select your nearest region, and in the Operating system, select Ubuntu 22.04.

Article content

5. Review Order Summary

Next, you’ll see the Order Summary panel on the right side of the screen. This section gives you a complete breakdown of your deployment details, including:

Hourly and Weekly Cost of your selected GPU instance.

Current Account Balance, so you can track credits before deploying.

Location, Operating System, and Storage associated with the instance.

Provider Information, along with the GPU model and type you’ve chosen.

This summary enables you to quickly review all details before confirming your deployment, ensuring full transparency on pricing and configuration.

Article content

6. Add Your SSH Key

In the next window, you’ll be prompted to select your SSH key. If you’ve already added a key, simply choose it from the list. If not, you can quickly upload a new one by clicking “Choose File” and selecting your public SSH key file.

Once your SSH key is set, click “Deploy Instance.”

Click here to learn how to generate and Set Up SSH Keys for your Spheron GPU Instances.

That’s it! Within a minute, your GPU VM will be ready with full root SSH access.

Step 2: Connect to Your VM

Once your GPU instance is deployed on Spheron, you’ll see a detailed dashboard like the one below. This panel provides all the critical information you need to manage and connect to your instance, and the SSH command to connect.

Article content

Open your terminal and connect via SSH; enter the passphrase when prompted. If you have not added a passphrase, simply press Enter twice.

ssh -i sesterce@

Article content

Now you’re inside your GPU-powered Ubuntu server.

Reserve Your B200 Capacity Today

NVIDIA B200 GPUs are in high demand across the AI industry. Secure your reserved capacity now to ensure availability for your critical AI projects.

Ready to accelerate your AI workloads?

The future of AI computing is here. Make it yours with Spheron’s flexible, powerful, and cost-effective B200 GPU rentals.

Contact Sales: Request custom enterprise pricing and reserved capacity optionsDocumentation: Explore technical guides and deployment tutorialsPlatform: Sign up and start deploying in minutes



Source link

South Africa Alternative Data Market Size to Reach USD 598.95 Million by 2033 | With a 35.13% CAGR | Web3Wire

0
South Africa Alternative Data Market Size to Reach USD 598.95 Million by 2033 | With a 35.13% CAGR | Web3Wire


South Africa Alternative Data Market

South Africa Alternative Data Market Overview

Market Size in 2024: USD 39.87 Million

Market Size in 2033: USD 598.95 Million

Market Growth Rate 2025-2033: 35.13%

According to IMARC Group’s latest research publication, “South Africa Alternative Data Market: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2025-2033”, The South Africa alternative data market size reached USD 39.87 Million in 2024. Looking forward, IMARC Group expects the market to reach USD 598.95 Million by 2033, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 35.13% during 2025-2033.

How AI is Reshaping the Future of South Africa Alternative Data Market

● Fintechs like Periculum are also leveraging alternative data points and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as mobile usage and transaction histories to make faster lending decisions, lower default rates, and provide access to credit for millions without customary credit histories.

● In South Africa, some banks and lenders use AI-driven models that assess non-customary signals such as utility bill payments and social data, to create banking services for 12 million unbanked adults.

● The draft National AI Strategy and its intent to establish a R1 billion AI Fund, along with improved data infrastructure and skills training, will create an enabling environment where companies can leverage other datasets to make better decisions in finance and other sectors.

● For Nedbank and TymeBank, AI provides real-time analysis of large quantities of alternative data in order to lower fraud losses, personalize consumer offers and build trust to improve consumer adoption in a highly competitive fintech environment.

● Local innovators use their AI tools to analyze payment history and digital footprint, easing the faster and more accurate credit scoring needed to better finance underserved SMEs in a market where customary methods leave much to be desired and demand for loans is high.

Grab a sample PDF of this report: https://www.imarcgroup.com/south-africa-alternative-data-market/requestsample

Market Growth Factors

In South Africa, high smartphone penetration, high statistics of mobile money and high growth of the fintech industry enables high usage rates for mobile money and digital transactions. These trends have driven demand for alternative data usually including transaction data from third-party mobile wallets, utility bill payments and e-commerce data, which can be used for credit assessment in the absence of credit history. Financial institutions and lenders too have increased their use of non-customary data to be more inclusive and for predictive analytics, spurred on by increased demand for tailored financial services.

AI and machine learning are increasingly applied in South Africa to drive insights through unstructured data and social media sentiment, geospatial data and Internet of Things (IoT) inputs. As digital transformation and cloud infrastructure investments are growing, the use of these technologies is supporting Africa’s development in fine-grained investment decision analysis, consumer behavior forecasting and operations optimization in the retail, financial services, agriculture and healthcare sectors. Decreasing costs, coupled with the ability to produce actionable intelligence of increasing accuracy from alternative data have driven hedge funds, asset managers and corporations to seek a competitive edge.

Growing requirements for data sovereignty and compliance with data protection laws such as the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) are driving the demand for regional alternative data sources. The growth of hyperscale cloud providers in Africa as well as an increase in submarine cable systems are lowering the cost of and increasing the availability of high-quality, low-latency data. Provider incentives at both the regulatory and system levels can also create local innovations to address privacy issues and leverage opportunities such as sustainable investing and economic trend analysis to drive markets forward.

Access the Latest 2026 Data & Forecasts: https://www.imarcgroup.com/checkout?id=41807&method=1590

Market Segmentation

Data Type Insights:

● Credit and Debit Card Transactions● Email Receipts● Geo-location (Foot Traffic) Records● Mobile Application Usage● Satellite and Weather Data● Social and Sentiment Data● Web Scraped Data● Web Traffic● Others

Industry Insights:

● Automotive● BFSI● Energy● Industrial● IT and Telecommunications● Media and Entertainment● Real Estate and Construction● Retail● Transportation and Logistics● Other

End User Insights:

● Hedge Fund Operators● Investment Institutions● Retail Companies● Others

Regional Insights:

● Gauteng● KwaZulu-Natal● Western Cape● Mpumalanga● Eastern Cape● Others

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players.

Recent Developement & News

● December 2025: TransUnion Telco Data Score launches in partnership with MTN and Chenosis, using mobile call data records as alternative data to assess creditworthiness for new-to-credit consumers, improving predictive performance by 25-35% over prior models and enabling millions with limited formal credit history to access financial services.

● June 2025: Fintech lenders expand adoption of alternative data sources including behavioral signals and real-time financial patterns, allowing faster loan approvals and greater inclusion for gig workers, freelancers, and self-employed individuals previously underserved by traditional credit bureau reports.

● April 2025: Fintech innovations introduce stand-alone alternative credit scoring models for first-time borrowers, leveraging non-traditional data like digital footprints to serve credit-invisible consumers and enhance access beyond conventional scores.

If you require any specific information that is not covered currently within the scope of the report, we will provide the same as a part of the customization.

About Us

IMARC Group is a global management consulting firm that helps the world’s most ambitious changemakers to create a lasting impact. The company provide a comprehensive suite of market entry and expansion services. IMARC offerings include thorough market assessment, feasibility studies, company incorporation assistance, factory setup support, regulatory approvals and licensing navigation, branding, marketing and sales strategies, competitive landscape and benchmarking analyses, pricing and cost research, and procurement research.

Contact Us

IMARC Group,

134 N 4th St. Brooklyn, NY 11249, USA,

Email: sales@imarcgroup.com,

Tel No: (D) +91 120 433 0800,

United States: +1-201971-6302

This release was published on openPR.

About Web3Wire Web3Wire – Information, news, press releases, events and research articles about Web3, Metaverse, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrencies, Decentralized Finance, NFTs and Gaming. Visit Web3Wire for Web3 News and Events, Block3Wire for the latest Blockchain news and Meta3Wire to stay updated with Metaverse News.



Source link

Popular Posts

My Favorites

WAX Blockchain: Revolutionizing NFTs and Digital Assets with Key Innovations –...

0
Table of Contents: Who Invented WAX Blockchain?  Key Features of WAX Blockchain The Role of WAX Blockchain in Digital Assets & NFTs Top Projects on WAX Blockchain Future...