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South Korean crypto insiders criticise the stablecoin regulation bill

South Korean crypto industry leaders are raising concerns over the Basic Digital Asset Act, a draft bill aiming to regulate the stablecoin sector. Lawmaker Min Byung-deok’s proposed legislation would require domestic stablecoin issuers to obtain approval from the Financial Services Commission before issuance.

Industry experts argue that the bill’s provisions are unfair and ineffective. They argue the regulations would create an uneven playing field, exempting foreign stablecoins like Tether (USDT) from scrutiny while South Korean firms face stricter rules.

According to one anonymous source, ‘It is unfair that foreign companies can operate unhindered while local businesses face these regulations.’ The bill also proposes the creation of a self-regulatory body to oversee stablecoins and cryptoassets in South Korea.

Critics argue the approach ignores South Korea’s unique market, with one insider noting it is ‘effectively limited to the USDT market.’ They believe a tailored, gradual regulatory system would be more appropriate for the domestic market.

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Study links Bitcoin mining to harmful emissions in the US

A new study highlights the significant environmental and health risks posed by Bitcoin mining in the US. Led by Dr. Francesca Dominici of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the study finds that emissions from mining facilities expose millions to dangerous PM2.5 pollution.

The research analysed 34 Bitcoin mining sites between August 2022 and July 2023. It showed that these sites consumed 32.3 terawatt-hours of electricity, with most of it coming from fossil fuels.

The mining activity exposed 1.9 million Americans to harmful PM2.5 levels, linked to increased health risks.

The study highlights cross-border pollution and suggests the EPA enforce a ‘Good Neighbor’ rule for out-of-state emissions.

Some in the industry downplay environmental concerns, while sustainable practices, like heat repurposing in Finland, emerge.

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Crypto ads on Google must meet MiCA standards

Google will begin enforcing a new crypto advertising policy in Europe on 23 April. Exchanges and wallet providers will be required to be licensed under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) or Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) frameworks.

Advertisers must also meet local legal requirements and be certified by Google to promote crypto-related services in the region.

The change follows the implementation of MiCA in December 2024, the EU’s first comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets. Some see Google’s move as beneficial for investor protection, while others warn it may create compliance gaps and higher barriers for smaller firms.

Bitget’s Hon Ng said the rules could reduce scams but warned smaller firms may struggle with MiCA’s requirements. National licensing timelines may also differ, risking inconsistent enforcement.

Others, like Mattan Erder from Orbs, argue the policy is more about shielding Google from legal risk than protecting investors. He noted that if registration becomes too costly or complex, it may push smaller crypto firms out of the market altogether.

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Trump team explores new ways to buy Bitcoin

The Trump administration actively evaluates ways to acquire Bitcoin without increasing the national budget.

According to Bo Hines, Trump’s leading crypto adviser, options such as tariffs and inter-agency financial strategies are being considered. The aim is to build a significant reserve without burdening taxpayers.

Hines confirmed that the administration wants to accumulate as much Bitcoin as possible, comparing it to gold in terms of strategic value. He emphasised that any holdings would be kept long-term.

Much of the administration’s vision aligns with Senator Cynthia Lummis’ proposed BITCOIN Act of 2025. The Act advocates using revalued gold certificate profits to purchase up to 1 million Bitcoin over five years.

Hines also stated that even swapping gold for Bitcoin is being reviewed, provided it does not affect the federal budget.

On a broader scale, Hines sees digital assets as the foundation for overhauling America’s ageing financial system. He criticised today’s banking inefficiencies and said blockchain offers a faster, more transparent, and practical alternative for daily payments.

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Spotify launches Ads Exchange and Gen AI ads in India

Spotify has introduced its Ads Exchange (SAX) and Generative AI-powered advertisements in India, following a successful pilot in the US and Canada.

The SAX platform aims to give advertisers better control over performance tracking and maximise reach without overloading users with repetitive ads.

Integrated with platforms such as Google DV360, The Trade Desk, and Magnite, SAX enables advertisers to access Spotify’s high-quality inventory and enhance their programmatic strategies. In addition to multimedia formats, podcast ads will soon be included.

Through Generative AI, advertisers can create audio ads within Spotify’s Ads Manager platform at no extra cost, using scripts, voiceovers, and licensed music.

An innovation like this allows brands to produce more ads in shorter intervals with less effort, making the process quicker and more efficient for reaching a broader audience. Arjun Kolady, Head of Sales – India at Spotify, highlighted the ease of scaling campaigns with these new tools.

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Samsung brings AI-powered service tool to India

Samsung, already the leading home appliance brand in India by volume, is now enhancing its after-sales service with an AI-powered support tool.

The tech company from South Korea has introduced the Home Appliances Remote Management (HRM) tool, designed to improve service speed, accuracy, and overall customer experience instead of sticking with traditional support methods.

The HRM tool allows customer care teams to remotely diagnose and resolve issues in Samsung smart appliances connected via SmartThings. If a problem can be fixed remotely, staff will ask for the user’s consent before taking control of the device.

If the issue can be solved by the customer, step-by-step instructions are provided instead of sending a technician straight away.

When neither of these options applies, the issue is forwarded directly to service technicians with full diagnostics already completed, cutting down the time spent on-site.

The new system reduces the need for in-home visits, shortens waiting times, and increases the uptime of appliances instead of leaving users waiting unnecessarily.

SmartThings also plays a proactive role by automatically detecting issues and offering solutions before customers even need to call.

Samsung India’s Vice President for Customer Satisfaction, Sunil Cutinha, noted that the tool significantly streamlines service, boosts maintenance efficiency, and helps ensure timely product support for users across the country.

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Nvidia brings AI supercomputer production to the US

Nvidia is shifting its AI supercomputer manufacturing operations to the United States for the first time, instead of relying on a globally dispersed supply chain.

In partnership with industry giants such as TSMC, Foxconn, and Wistron, the company is establishing large-scale facilities to produce its advanced Blackwell chips in Arizona and complete supercomputers in Texas. Production is expected to reach full scale within 12 to 15 months.

Over a million square feet of manufacturing space has been commissioned, with key roles also played by packaging and testing firms Amkor and SPIL.

The move reflects Nvidia’s ambition to create up to half a trillion dollars in AI infrastructure within the next four years, while boosting supply chain resilience and growing its US-based operations instead of expanding solely abroad.

These AI supercomputers are designed to power new, highly specialised data centres known as ‘AI factories,’ capable of handling vast AI workloads.

Nvidia’s investment is expected to support the construction of dozens of such facilities, generating hundreds of thousands of jobs and securing long-term economic value.

To enhance efficiency, Nvidia will apply its own AI, robotics, and simulation tools across these projects, using Omniverse to model factory operations virtually and Isaac GR00T to develop robots that automate production.

According to CEO Jensen Huang, bringing manufacturing home strengthens supply chains and better positions the company to meet the surging global demand for AI computing power.

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Zhipu AI launches free agent to rival DeepSeek

Chinese AI startup Zhipu AI has introduced a free AI agent, AutoGLM Rumination, aimed at assisting users with tasks such as web browsing, travel planning, and drafting research reports.

The product was unveiled by CEO Zhang Peng at an event in Beijing, where he highlighted the agent’s use of the company’s proprietary models—GLM-Z1-Air for reasoning and GLM-4-Air-0414 as the foundation.

According to Zhipu, the new GLM-Z1-Air model outperforms DeepSeek’s R1 in both speed and resource efficiency. The launch reflects growing momentum in China’s AI sector, where companies are increasingly focusing on cost-effective solutions to meet rising demand.

AutoGLM Rumination stands out in a competitive landscape by being freely accessible through Zhipu’s official website and mobile app, unlike rival offerings such as Manus’ subscription-only AI agent. The company positions this move as part of a broader strategy to expand access and adoption.

Founded in 2019 as a spinoff from Tsinghua University, Zhipu has developed the GLM model series and claims its GLM4 has surpassed OpenAI’s GPT-4 on several evaluation benchmarks.

In March, Zhipu secured major government-backed investment, including a 300 million yuan (US$41.5 million) contribution from Chengdu.

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Meta to use EU user data for AI training amid scrutiny

Meta Platforms has announced it will begin using public posts, comments, and user interactions with its AI tools to train its AI models in the EU, instead of limiting training data to existing US-based inputs.

The move follows the recent European rollout of Meta AI, which had been delayed since June 2024 due to data privacy concerns raised by regulators. The company said EU users of Facebook and Instagram would receive notifications outlining how their data may be used, along with a link to opt out.

Meta clarified that while questions posed to its AI and public content from adult users may be used, private messages and data from under-18s would be excluded from training.

Instead of expanding quietly, the company is now making its plans public in an attempt to meet the EU’s transparency expectations.

The shift comes after Meta paused its original launch last year at the request of Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which expressed concerns about using social media content for AI development. The move also drew criticism from advocacy group NOYB, which has urged regulators to intervene more decisively.

Meta joins a growing list of tech firms under scrutiny in Europe. Ireland’s privacy watchdog is already investigating Elon Musk’s X and Google for similar practices involving personal data use in AI model training.

Instead of treating such probes as isolated incidents, the EU appears to be setting a precedent that could reshape how global companies handle user data in AI development.

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TheStage AI makes neural network optimisation easy

In a move set to ease one of the most stubborn hurdles in AI development, Delaware-based startup TheStage AI has secured $4.5 million to launch its Automatic NNs Analyzer (ANNA).

Instead of requiring months of manual fine-tuning, ANNA allows developers to optimise AI models in hours, cutting deployment costs by up to five times. The technology is designed to simplify a process that has remained inaccessible to all but the largest tech firms, often limited by expensive GPU infrastructure.

TheStage AI’s system automatically compresses and refines models using techniques like quantisation and pruning, adapting them to various hardware environments without locking users into proprietary platforms.

Instead of focusing on cloud-based deployment, their models, called ‘Elastic models’, can run anywhere from smartphones to on-premise GPUs. This gives startups and enterprises a cost-effective way to adjust quality and speed with a simple interface, akin to choosing video resolution on streaming platforms.

Backed by notable investors including Mehreen Malik and Atlantic Labs, and already used by companies like Recraft.ai, the startup addresses a growing need as demand shifts from AI training to real-time inference.

Unlike competitors acquired by larger corporations and tied to specific ecosystems, TheStage AI takes a dual-market approach, helping both app developers and AI researchers. Their strategy supports scale without complexity, effectively making AI optimisation available to teams of any size.

Founded by a group of PhD holders with experience at Huawei, the team combines deep academic roots with practical industry application.

By offering a tool that streamlines deployment instead of complicating it, TheStage AI hopes to enable broader use of generative AI technologies in sectors where performance and cost have long been limiting factors.

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