Western Union has begun exploring stablecoin use for remittances, viewing the technology as an opportunity amid rising competition and regulatory clarity. CEO Devin McGranahan revealed that the firm is testing new cross-border settlement processes in regions such as South America and Africa.
Stablecoins could enhance speed, lower costs, and offer value-storing options for customers in weaker-currency markets.
The move follows the recent passage of the GENIUS Act in the US, which provides a formal legal framework for issuing and trading stablecoins. The law is already prompting banks, retailers, and financial service providers to experiment with stablecoin applications.
Western Union is reportedly considering crypto wallet services and partnerships to act as a crypto on- and off-ramp.
According to OwlTing CEO Darren Wang, interest in stablecoins has surged, with monthly business inquiries rising significantly since May. He believes regulatory frameworks like the GENIUS Act and Europe’s MiCA will help stablecoins reach widespread adoption by 2026.
He emphasised that stablecoins can cut remittance costs below the UN’s 3% target, while providing instant, round-the-clock settlements.
Global interest for stablecoins continues to grow, with firms like Walmart, Amazon, JD.com, and Alipay reportedly exploring stablecoin integration.
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Cybersecurity experts in London have warned of a sharp increase in corporate data breaches, with leaked files now frequently containing sensitive financial and personal records.
A new report by Lab 1 reveals that 93 percent of such breaches involve documents like invoices, IBANs, and bank statements, fuelling widespread fraud and reputational damage in the UK.
The study examined 141 million leaked files and shows how hackers increasingly target unstructured data such as HR records, emails, and internal code.
Often ignored in standard breach reviews, these files contain rich details that can be used for identity theft or follow-up cyberattacks.
Hackers are now behaving more like data scientists, according to Lab 1’s CEO, mining leaks for valuable information to exploit. The average breach now affects over 400 organisations indirectly, including business partners and vendors, significantly widening the fallout.
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Meta has refused to endorse the European Union’s new voluntary Code of Practice for general-purpose AI, citing legal overreach and risks to innovation.
The company warns that the framework could slow development and deter investment by imposing expectations beyond upcoming AI laws.
In a LinkedIn post, Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, called the code confusing and burdensome, criticising its requirements for reporting, risk assessments and data transparency.
He argued that such rules could limit the open release of AI models and harm Europe’s competitiveness in the field.
The code, published by the European Commission, is intended to help companies prepare for the binding AI Act, set to take effect from August 2025. It encourages firms to adopt best practices on safety and ethics while building and deploying general-purpose AI systems.
While firms like Microsoft are expected to sign on, Meta’s refusal could influence other developers to resist what they view as Brussels overstepping. The move highlights ongoing friction between Big Tech and regulators as global efforts to govern AI rapidly evolve.
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A leading cybersecurity expert has raised concerns that Bitcoin’s underlying cryptography could be broken within five years. David Carvalho, CEO of Naoris Protocol, warned that quantum computers could soon break the cryptography securing Bitcoin transactions.
He believes the threat could materialise sooner than most anticipate, urging immediate action.
Carvalho pointed to Shor’s algorithm as the core concern. Once sufficiently advanced quantum machines are deployed, they could crack Bitcoin’s defences in seconds.
Roughly 30% of all Bitcoin—around 6 to 7 million BTC—is currently held in wallets with exposed public keys, making them especially vulnerable.
He also referenced major breakthroughs in the field, including Microsoft’s Majorana chip and IBM’s planned release of a fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029.
With over 100 quantum systems already active and thousands more expected by 2030, Carvalho advised investors to migrate funds to quantum-secure wallets and update their security protocols.
However, Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream and an early Bitcoin contributor, believes the technology is still decades away from posing a real threat. He did acknowledge that future advancements may force even early adopters to move their coins to quantum-resistant addresses.
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Over 913,000 ETH, worth around $3.43 billion, has been lost permanently due to user errors and contract flaws, according to Coinbase director Conor Grogan. The losses represent over 0.76% of Ethereum’s circulating supply and show the risks of human error in decentralised systems.
Among the largest losses cited are 306,000 ETH lost by the Web3 Foundation through a Parity multisig wallet vulnerability and 60,000 ETH locked in a smart contract by the now-defunct QuadrigaCX exchange.
An additional 11,500 ETH was destroyed by NFT project Akutars during a failed minting process.
Grogan also noted that more than 25,000 ETH has been sent to burn addresses directly by users.
He stressed that the $3.4 billion figure is a conservative estimate, excluding ETH lost due to forgotten private keys or dormant wallets. He noted Ethereum’s EIP-1559 burn has destroyed 5.3 million ETH, worth over $23 billion, removing more than 5% of all ETH from circulation.
These figures reveal a growing issue within the Ethereum ecosystem, where both technical flaws and irreversible design features have led to a significant amount of permanently inaccessible capital.
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The agreement was finalised on 21 July by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and science secretary Peter Kyle. It includes a commitment to expand OpenAI’s London office. Research and engineering teams will grow to support AI development and provide assistance to UK businesses and start-ups.
Under the collaboration, OpenAI will share technical insights with the UK’s AI Security Institute to help government bodies better understand risks and capabilities. Planned deployments of AI will focus on public sectors such as justice, defence, education, and national security.
According to the UK government, all applications will follow national standards and guidelines to improve taxpayer-funded services. Peter Kyle described AI as a critical tool for national transformation. ‘AI will be fundamental in driving the change we need to see across the country,’ he said.
He emphasised its potential to support the NHS, reduce barriers to opportunity, and power economic growth. The deal signals a deeper integration of OpenAI’s operations in the UK, with promises of high-skilled jobs, investment in infrastructure, and stronger domestic oversight of AI development.
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The update, now in beta, follows backlash after its coding AI deleted a user’s live database without warning or rollback. Replit describes the feature as essential for building trust and enabling safer experimentation through its ‘vibe coding’ approach.
Developers can now preview and test schema changes without endangering production data, using a dedicated development database by default. The incident that prompted the shift involved SaaStr.
AI CEO Jason M Lemkin, whose live data was wiped despite clear instructions. Screenshots showed the AI admitted to a ‘catastrophic error in judgement’ and failed to ask for confirmation before deletion.
Replit CEO Amjad Masad called the failure ‘unacceptable’ and announced immediate changes to prevent such incidents from recurring. Following internal changes, the dev/prod split has been formalised for all new apps, with staging and rollback options.
Apps on Replit begin with a clean production database, while any changes are saved to the development database. Developers must manually migrate changes into production, allowing greater control and reducing risk during deployment.
Future updates will allow the AI agent to assist with conflict resolution and manage data migrations more safely. Replit plans to expand this separation model to include services such as Secrets, Auth, and Object Storage.
The company also hinted at upcoming integrations with platforms like Databricks and BigQuery to support enterprise use cases. Replit aims to offer a more robust and trustworthy developer experience by building clearer development pipelines and safer defaults.
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Trump Media and Technology Group, backed by $2.5 billion in funding, has acquired around $2 billion worth of Bitcoin as part of an investment plan announced earlier this year. The company behind Truth Social used stock sales and bonds to buy Bitcoin and plans to keep acquiring crypto assets as markets allow.
The announcement followed the US House of Representatives passing three cryptocurrency-related bills during what Republicans and Trump called ‘crypto week.’
Among these, the GENIUS stablecoin bill was signed into law, while two others related to crypto market structure and central bank digital currencies await Senate approval. Bitcoin’s price briefly surged to over $120,000 amid the legislative developments.
Trump’s family-backed crypto firm World Liberty Financial saw its stablecoin governance token more than double last week. Additionally, the president’s memecoin, Official Trump, rose about 10% during the same period, with Trump controlling 80% of its supply through affiliated companies.
In March, Trump signed an executive order proposing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile for the US. While initially expected to hold seized crypto assets, advisers suggested alternative ideas like revaluing government gold certificates are under consideration.
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A 158‑year‑old UK transport firm, KNP Logistics, has collapsed after falling victim to a crippling ransomware attack. Hackers exploited a single weak password to infiltrate its systems and encrypted critical data, rendering the company inoperable.
Cybercriminals linked to the Akira gang locked out staff and demanded what experts believe could have been around £5 million, an amount KNP could not afford. The company ceased all operations, leaving approximately 700 employees without work.
The incident highlights how even historic companies with insurance and standard safeguards can be undone by basic cybersecurity failings. National Cyber Security Centre chief Richard Horne urged businesses to bolster defences, warning that attackers exploit the simplest vulnerabilities.
This case follows a string of high‑profile UK data breaches at firms like M&S, Harrods and Co‑op, signalling a growing wave of ransomware threats across industries. National Crime Agency data shows these attacks have nearly doubled recently.
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Iran’s Minister of Communications has revealed the country’s digital economy shrank by 30% in just one month, losing around $170 million due to internet restrictions imposed during its recent 12-day conflict with Israel.
Sattar Hashemi told parliament on 22 July that roughly 10 million Iranians rely on digital jobs, but widespread shutdowns caused severe disruptions across platforms and services.
Hashemi estimated that every two days of restrictions inflicted 10 trillion rials in losses, totalling 150 trillion rials — an amount he said rivals the annual budgets of entire ministries.
While acknowledging the damage, he clarified that his ministry was not responsible for the shutdowns, attributing them instead to decisions made by intelligence and security agencies for national security reasons.
Alongside the blackouts, Iran endured over 20,000 cyberattacks during the conflict. Many of these targeted banks and payment systems, with platforms for Bank Sepah and Bank Pasargad knocked offline, halting salaries for military personnel.
Hacktivist groups such as Predatory Sparrow and Tapandegan claimed credit for the attacks, with some incidents reportedly wiping out crypto assets and further weakening the rial by 12%.
Lawmakers are now questioning the unequal structure of internet access. Critics have accused the government of enabling a ‘class-based internet’ in which insiders retain full access while the public faces heavy censorship.
MP Salman Es’haghi warned that Iran’s digital future cannot rely on filtered networks, demanding transparency about who benefits from unrestricted use.
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