Kazakhstan launches CBDC development agency

The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) launched a new local agency that will be in charge of the CBDC development in the country. According to an official press release, the new agency will be called the National Payment Corporation. The primary responsibility of the new agency will be to control the national payment system, including money transfers, digital identification, and interbank clearing services. The initiative for developing the local CBDC, the digital tenge, started at the beginning of 2023. The digital tenge is set to be released in 2025.  The…

Ethereum launches new testnet ‘Holešky,’ allocates 1.6B ETH for devs

Ethereum developers launched a new testnet on Sept. 15. Called “ Holešky,” the network is expected to be used for staking, infrastructure and protocol-development, according to its developer documents. Sepolia will remain the dominant network for application development. Hello Holesky, Ethereum’s Newest Testnet Read details below#cryptonews #ETH pic.twitter.com/Z6DUMkOExz — Amy Kols Network (@Amyykols) September 14, 2023 An initial supply of 1.6 billion Holesky testnet Ether (HETH) will be allocated to validators on Holešky’s launch day to bootstrap the network into operation, according to Ethereum developer Tim Beiko. This represents ten…

Matter Labs steps back as zkSync launches ecosystem portal managed by DappRadar

Matter Labs recently announced the launch of a new ecosystem portal for zkSync, managed by DappRadar, in what both partners are calling a step toward fully decentralizing the protocol.  A layer-2 blockchain for Ethereum payments, zkSync was created by Matter Labs as a method for scaling the Ethereum blockchain ecosystem. It currently boasts more than 200 projects and, according to the protocol’s website, has served more than 8.8 million testnet transactions. Meet zkSync’s new ecosystem portal Starting today, you can explore the universe of dapps on zkSync with the new…

Amazon Launches AI Tool to Help Sellers Create Product Copy

In the face of the AI hype that has swept across the world in recent months, Amazon has refrained from launching its own AI-powered chatbot, opting instead to apply the technology to its businesses. Amazon is rolling out a generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool to help sellers on its platform write copy for their product pages. The tool, which was announced on Wednesday, can be used to create new listings or improve upon existing ones. All the seller has to do is provide some keywords or phrases as prompts. The…

EU spot Bitcoin ETF live, Sei Network beta launches as Tradecurve Markets sells 300M TCRV

This article covers three of the biggest developments in the crypto space: EU’s first spot Bitcoin ETF, Sei Network’s launch, and Tradecurve Markets‘ sale of 300 million TCRV. Let’s break down how each of these will impact the crypto space. Tradecurve Markets sells 300 million TCRV In stage 5 of the Tradecurve Markets presale, 32 million TCRV tokens have been sold. Tradecurve Markets aims to shape crypto trading by breaking down traditional barriers and democratizing access. The decentralized platform offers various assets, including stocks, Forex, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. Users can register accounts…

Sui Network launches Google, Twitch and Facebook logins for DApps

Layer-one blockchain Sui Network has taken a step towards simplifying Web3 onboarding, allowing users to sign up for Sui-powered apps without having to manage an external crypto wallet or seed phrase.  In a Sept. 13 press release the Sui Foundation shared that users would be able to login into decentralized applications (DApps) by using Google, Facebook, and Twitch login details via a new zkLogin (Zero Knowledge login) feature. Instead of dealing with pesky Web3 wallets, users can log in the same way they’re used to on other areas of the…

Alibaba launches its ChatGPT-like AI model for public use amid loosening restrictions in China

Alibaba announced that its proprietary large language model, an artificial intelligence system called Tongyi Qianwen, will be available for public and enterprise access throughout China starting Sept. 13.  Tongyi Qianwen is a ChatGPT-like large language model trained on a corpus of English and Chinese text. While its exact specifications aren’t known — early rumors indicated it would be trained with as many as 10 trillion parameters, 10 times as many as OpenAI’s GPT4, but these remain unsubstantiated — Alibaba previously released two 7 billion-parameter open-source models based on the Tongyi…

TikTok Officially Launches Its E-Commerce Shop in United States

To encourage collaboration, TikTok Shop has introduced an affiliate program, allowing sellers to partner with creators on a commission basis to promote their products. TikTok has launched its long-anticipated e-commerce platform, TikTok Shop, in the United States, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of online shopping. With a user base of over 150 million in the country, the move aims to revolutionize how Americans shop online. The popular social media platform launched the pilot of its e-commerce program in November 2022. In February this year, the company started adding…

PayPal Launches USD Off-Ramp Service Following Recent On-Ramp Partnership with Ledger

PayPal says that by launching the new service to USD on ramp, it hopes to simplify customer interactions with cryptocurrencies. Payments giant PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) is expanding services offered as part of its expansion into the crypto sector. Following its launch of an on-ramp function that lets customers buy crypto, PayPal has launched an off-ramp service so that users can easily sell the crypto for USD. The company announced this in a news release published on Monday. The statement noted that PayPal is simplifying the functions of services like…