Stories - Page 26 of 31

Sony is making a bold move into the heart of American finance. The company’s banking arm, Sony Bank, has applied to the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for permission to create a national crypto bank called Connectia Trust. If approved, it would allow Sony to issue a US dollar backed stablecoin through a federally chartered institution.

The filing puts Sony in rare company. Only a handful of firms such as Circle, Paxos, and Coinbase have applied for national charters that would let them mint stablecoins under direct federal supervision.

Connectia Trust’s proposal outlines a simple but transformative plan. The bank would issue a digital token tied one to one to the US dollar, hold reserves in cash or Treasury assets, and offer custody and asset management for digital currencies.

The timing is no accident. Stablecoins are no longer viewed as a fringe part of crypto markets. They have become a central instrument for payments and liquidity, especially after the passage of the GENIUS Act, which established federal standards requiring stablecoin issuers to maintain full reserves and redemption rights for holders.

From electronics to digital finance

Sony’s entry into stablecoin banking marks a significant shift for the company. Long known for hardware and entertainment, the corporation is now building a financial bridge into the digital economy. Analysts believe Connectia Trust could enable Sony to use its own digital tokens for cross border payments, internal transactions, and even settlement across its PlayStation, Music, and Pictures divisions.

Such integration would make Sony one of the first global tech giants to blend regulated banking with consumer media ecosystems. The move could also redefine how corporations use blockchain not for speculation but for direct financial operations.

A changing regulatory climate

The OCC has shown new openness to digital banking under its current chief, Jonathan Gould, a former blockchain executive. Since taking office, Gould has encouraged innovation while maintaining oversight, stating that permissible digital asset activities have a place in the federal banking system if conducted safely.

This shift has sparked a wave of new applications from fintech and tech companies hoping to gain direct access to federal payment systems. The total stablecoin market now exceeds 300 billion dollars, and traditional banks are watching closely as tech firms like Sony begin to claim a share of that financial space.

For Sony, the move is more than a financial experiment. It signals how traditional corporations are preparing for a future where money itself becomes programmable, and where global brands can issue their own forms of digital cash backed by trust, regulation, and a familiar name.

For years, some scientists argued that quantum computers might only be performing clever imitations of classical systems. A new study suggests that is no longer the case.

In a paper published in Physical Review X, researchers unveiled a method to confirm that a computer is using genuine quantum behavior rather than traditional physics. The team built a 73 qubit processor designed to reach an energy state so low it could not exist under classical rules. That result became proof that the machine had crossed into true quantum territory.

The researchers called it a quantum lie detector. By reframing an old test for quantum mechanics, they built a system that could verify the impossible.

Beyond the binary

Every device we use today relies on bits that can be either one or zero. Quantum computers use qubits, which can exist in overlapping states until observed. When qubits become entangled, they behave as one system, even across distance. Measuring one instantly defines the other, no matter how far apart they are.

Einstein called this “spooky action at a distance.” He believed that physical reality should obey local laws, where nothing can act on something it does not touch. Entanglement ignored that rule. Later experiments supported the phenomenon, but until now, the evidence was mostly theoretical. The new test brings it into practice.

A deeper layer of proof

The research team verified quantum behavior in groups of 24 entangled qubits within the larger processor. They observed energy levels far below what a classical machine could ever produce. The result left no room for classical explanations.

Yet, the discovery also opens new questions. If particles can be linked across space, what else might be connected in ways we do not see? Entanglement challenges our sense of separation and reminds us that observation changes what we think we understand.

The next threshold

This new method could become a foundation for future quantum systems. It gives engineers a way to test whether their machines remain truly quantum as they grow in complexity. It may also help define the boundary where quantum behavior fades back into the ordinary world.

For now, the finding closes one of the oldest debates in modern physics. What once sounded like speculation is now measurable. In that quiet verification, quantum computing has done something rare. It has made the invisible part of what we can finally call real.

Americans are hitting their limit with artificial intelligence in their media. According to iHeartMedia’s new report, The Human Consumer, people are desperate for authenticity and human connection. The study, unveiled at AudioCon 2025 in New York, found that 82 percent of Americans worry about AI’s impact on society and 9 in 10 say it matters that what they read, watch, or listen to is made by a real person.

The findings reveal a population overwhelmed by screens and algorithms. Almost everyone uses social media, but most say it leaves them feeling worse. Many even fantasize about switching to simpler phones without endless notifications. Lainie Fertick, iHeartMedia’s President of Insights, said consumers are emotionally driven, digitally tired, and craving something genuine.

Children are facing the same burnout. Three out of four say they prefer hanging out in person, yet most stay glued to screens late into the night. A third have already chatted with AI bots. Parents’ cautious habits and reliance on technology are shrinking kids’ independence. The study warns of a generation more fluent in machine interaction than human connection.

Americans are also losing faith in what they see online. Two-thirds admit algorithms shape what they believe, even as they keep scrolling through content designed to confirm their biases. Eighty-six percent say their feeds now show more ads than posts from people they know. Even wealthier families, once seen as the most connected, report feeling isolated and overexposed to targeted marketing.

The distrust reaches beyond social media. While 70 percent of respondents already use AI tools, three out of four say they do not want AI influencing their entertainment or news. Some even fear that AI could one day become an active threat. These numbers suggest that people value convenience but refuse to lose the human touch that makes content meaningful.

Bob Pittman, iHeartMedia’s CEO, said the data highlights a deeper truth. “Consumers are not just looking for convenience. They’re searching for meaning. Sports, radio, and live storytelling offer something algorithms cannot trust, empathy, and shared emotion.”

It is an insight that plays directly into iHeartMedia’s core strength. Radio and podcasts remain built on human voices and real-time connection. Listeners form relationships with hosts that feel personal and honest. That authenticity now stands out as a luxury in a digital world that often feels synthetic.

The message is clear: audiences want something real. In a time when everything sounds machine-made, genuine human content has become the rarest form of innovation.

On the quiet streets of Forest City in Malaysia, the echoes of an abandoned dream still linger. Once planned as a luxury metropolis filled with skyscrapers and investors, the area now houses something very different. Inside a repurposed hotel, students and technologists are testing how code and community might redefine what a nation can be.

This is Network School, created by Balaji Srinivasan, a former Coinbase executive and author of The Network State. What began as a billion dollar development project has become a testing ground for digital sovereignty. Students spend mornings building blockchain applications and afternoons studying philosophy, history, and statecraft. The idea is to see if shared belief and technology can form a stronger bond than geography ever did.

Nearly four hundred students have joined so far, paying about fifteen hundred dollars each month for room, meals, and access to lectures. They come from across the world to work on crypto projects and explore new forms of governance. The schedule combines software design with lessons on how nations are built and how they collapse. Discussions about decentralized governance often run late into the night.

Health and optimization are part of the culture. The school gym opens before dawn, and the cafeteria menu leans toward high protein diets inspired by longevity movements. The goal seems to be personal evolution as much as political innovation. One student summed it up by saying, “We are learning how to build stronger systems by starting with ourselves.”

Srinivasan’s broader vision is to show how online communities organized through blockchain could one day function as independent states. In his view, if startups can grow into global companies, digital societies can grow into recognized nations. The blockchain serves as the constitution, the record, and the network that holds it all together.

Other projects have explored similar ideas. Prospera in Honduras and the Seasteading movement once tried to combine technology and governance but struggled against politics and economics. Network School differs because its foundation exists in code, not in land.

Critics call it idealistic or elitist. Supporters see it as a real attempt to rethink how people live and organize power. Either way, it reflects a deeper shift inside the tech world, where builders no longer just want to innovate within systems but to create entirely new ones.

Forest City was supposed to be a showcase of architecture and wealth. Instead, it has become a quiet experiment in digital nationhood, a place where the idea of sovereignty begins not with territory but with a network.

A decade after introducing millions of students to coding, Code.org is moving in a new direction. The nonprofit announced a major pivot toward AI education, positioning itself as the global leader in preparing classrooms for the age of intelligent systems.

In a letter to supporters, co-founder and CEO Hadi Partovi called 2025 a defining moment. He described AI as a force that is reshaping every part of society while most students remain unprepared to understand or influence it. To close that gap, Code.org plans to expand its curriculum beyond computer science fundamentals and focus on how AI works, how it should be managed, and who gets to shape its future.

The shift comes with an ambitious new campaign: the first-ever “Hour of AI.” Building on the success of its Hour of Code movement, the initiative aims to engage over 25 million learners worldwide. It will introduce interactive lessons that explain core AI concepts in accessible, age-appropriate ways while giving teachers free resources to bring these ideas into classrooms.

The organization’s 2024–25 Impact Report offers a look behind the mission. Since 2013, Code.org has spent more than $276 million developing its platform, training educators, and expanding global access. Roughly $123 million went to partnerships and professional learning programs, $70 million to curriculum development, and $41 million to diversity and marketing campaigns.

The report also highlights major donors. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, the Ballmer Group, and billionaire philanthropist Kenneth Griffin each contributed over $3 million this year. Microsoft’s president Brad Smith has been a visible supporter, helping promote Code.org’s AI-focused strategy. The nonprofit lists six lifetime supporters, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Ballmer Group, and Infosys, each having given more than $10 million since its founding.

For a project once defined by coding tutorials and colorful block-based exercises, the new direction signals a deeper goal. Code.org is no longer just teaching syntax. It’s attempting to give the next generation a framework for understanding the systems that will define their future.

To many, it’s simply a curriculum update. To others, it’s something more subtle, a sign of how education itself is beginning to mirror the technology it teaches.

The Quiet Revolution Inside Signal’s Code

When people talk about encryption, they usually imagine something invisible protecting their messages from prying eyes. But what Signal’s developers have done recently is closer to rewriting the laws of how secrecy itself works.

As the world edges toward quantum computing, the cryptography keeping our digital lives private is under quiet siege. Algorithms once thought unbreakable could soon unravel in hours. Most companies have chosen to wait, betting the future won’t arrive too quickly. Signal decided to act now.

Inside the app, a new layer of encryption has been built. It’s called the Sparse Post Quantum Ratchet, a design that blends classical cryptography with a new kind of math meant to withstand quantum attacks. To most users, nothing looks different. Messages send and receive as they always have. But underneath, the structure of trust has changed.

The challenge wasn’t just building stronger locks. It was doing so without slowing the rhythm of human communication. People type, delete, resend. Devices go offline, networks drop packets, connections stall. Signal had to build a system that could survive all of that while still protecting every message with a new, unguessable key. The engineers solved this by dividing enormous keys into fragments, then weaving them back together using error-correcting codes. It’s a design that lets the impossible quietly fit inside the ordinary.

Experts call it a triumph of engineering. They see a system that doesn’t just patch old weaknesses but anticipates new kinds of failure. Even if one part of the cryptography breaks, another stands ready to defend it. It’s redundancy, but of a deeper kind, one that mirrors how resilience works in nature.

To the everyday user, this will never be visible. There’s no toggle or headline feature. But something subtle shifts in how trust is exchanged. The app becomes less about hiding from today’s threats and more about preparing for the unseen ones ahead.

And in that quiet change, there’s a reminder that progress doesn’t always announce itself. Sometimes it’s just a few thousand lines of code, written by people who understand that what seems unbreakable rarely stays that way.

A financially motivated hacking group known as UNC5142 is using blockchain smart contracts to distribute information stealing malware across thousands of infected websites. The group has targeted both Windows and macOS users by embedding malicious code inside the BNB Smart Chain, creating one of the most resilient malware delivery systems to date.

According to Google’s Threat Intelligence Group, the attackers compromise vulnerable WordPress sites and hide their payloads within blockchain contracts through a method called EtherHiding. This technique conceals malicious scripts inside public blockchain transactions, making detection and takedown extremely difficult.

Google said it identified about 14,000 web pages linked to the campaign before activity stopped in late July 2025. The pause may indicate an operational change rather than a full shutdown.

The infections use a multi-stage JavaScript downloader named CLEARSHORT, which retrieves malware from the blockchain. The first stage script is injected into WordPress plugins, themes, or even directly into site databases. Once active, it communicates with a malicious smart contract that fetches an encrypted landing page used to trick users into running harmful commands.

These landing pages use ClickFix, a social engineering tactic that prompts victims to execute commands through Windows Run or macOS Terminal. The commands download stealer malware such as Atomic, Lumma, Rhadamanthys, and Vidar, which collect browser data, saved passwords, and cryptocurrency wallet keys.

Researchers believe CLEARSHORT is a variant of ClearFake, a long-running JavaScript malware framework first identified in 2023. The evolution of CLEARSHORT shows growing sophistication, including a three-layer smart contract architecture that allows attackers to change payload URLs or decryption keys without modifying the code on compromised sites.

The group’s latest version uses a Router-Logic-Storage structure that mirrors legitimate software design. Each update costs less than two dollars in blockchain fees, giving the attackers an agile and low-cost way to refresh their operations.

UNC5142 maintains two smart contract infrastructures, one created in late 2024 and another added in early 2025. The dual setup improves resilience and supports quick adjustments during active campaigns.
Google’s analysis suggests the group has achieved consistent success, maintaining steady infection rates for more than a year.

Security analysts warn that the abuse of blockchain for malware delivery marks a new stage in cybercrime. By blending malicious activity with legitimate Web3 traffic, attackers have created a persistent, decentralized threat that is almost impossible to erase.