Archives January 2024

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to allow exchange-traded funds to hold the cryptocurrency Ethereum in May, Standard Chartered predicts.

May 23 is the last date by which the agency must consider ETF applications from VanEck and Ark 21Shares, the bank said in a research report Tuesday. The asset managers will be the first to come up against the final deadline.

Standard Chartered expects the SEC to rule on the applications on the final date, as it did on January 10, when it approved 10 Bitcoin ETFs. Ethereum has key similarities to Bitcoin’s legal and financial status that suggests it will follow a similar approval pattern, according to Geoff Kendrick, the head of FX Research, West, and Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered.

Last June, the SEC left Bitcoin and Ether off a list of 67 tokens it considered to be securities. In addition, Ether — like Bitcoin — also has futures traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange — a key surveillance tool. At about $285 billion (roughly Rs. 23,66,701 crore), Ether is the second-largest cryptocurrency in market value after Bitcoin.

Kendrick expects Ether’s price to rise to $4,000 (roughly Rs. 3,32,168) by the projected May 23 approval date, assuming that it follows a trading pattern similar to Bitcoin through the ETF approval process. Ether traded at about $2,370 (roughly Rs. 1,96,809) on Tuesday.

That price prediction, however, is based on multiple assumptions being true, including general market sentiment for approval remaining low, implied-volatility being wrong, and the SEC approving multiple applications on the same day.

Ether is expected to avoid much of the selloffs that Bitcoin experienced post-ETF approval, Standard Chartered said. Bitcoin fell as much as 20 percent following the ETF approval as investors, including FTX, sold billions in holdings of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). The fund was converted from a trust that holders couldn’t make redemptions. Grayscale’s existing Ethereum trust holds a smaller portion of the total market capitalization of Ether, compared with the Bitcoin held in GBTC.

“These factors should make ETH less vulnerable than BTC to a post-approval selloff,” Kendrick wrote.

© 2024 Bloomberg LP

The Bar Association of New York City has noticed that certain policy reforms are required to maintain the city’s position as a lucrative hub for crypto and Web3 activities. At present, even though the US has not deployed concrete rules to govern crypto, several major companies are experimenting with digital asset spaces in order to connect with the younger generation of consumers. There are, however, certain issues which if resolved, can help the city maintain its crypto-friendly position, the Bar Association feels.

As part of its suggestion, the association has proposed to bring in laws that reduce transaction costs while maintaining security over them to benefit a wide array of businesses, including those concerning crypto and Web3. The security of financial transactions is overseen by the New York Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).

“The amendments will also help ensure New York’s leadership in commercial and financial progress and growth and will disincentivise migration of digital commerce to other jurisdictions which more clearly promote and encourage technological and commercial advances,” the city bar association said in its submission.

In its agenda, the bar association noted that it has been ten years since New York State’s UCC was last updated in 2014. Given the tech advancements that picked pace over this last decade, the association feels, policy amendments are the need of the hour.

“Eleven states have already enacted the Model UCC Amendments proposed by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), and another 15 states and the District of Columbia have introduced bills covering the Model UCC Amendments. More states are expected to follow suit, and every time another state adopts the Model UCC Amendments, the more likely New York risks that market participants will prefer one of those states for transactions involving digital assets,” the agenda noted.

In the recent past, prominent Web3 players like Coinbase and Binance have complained of being extremely scrutinised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On the sidelines of US’ pressure over crypto firms, several players expanded their operations abroad seeking greener pastures in terms of economic growth. The fear of losing Web3 talent to friendlier nations is something that Indian industry players are also concerned about – given that the regulations to oversee crypto are still being deployed gradually.

Meanwhile, other parts of the world like the UK and the UAE are taking brisk steps to establish their regions as hotspots for the digital assets sector.

‘Optimus folds a shirt’
This is not the first time that Musk showed off the latest model of Tesla’s humanoid robot. Two weeks ago, he shared a video in which the Tesla robot was working in a factory. In the clip, the robot was seen picking up a black t-shirt from a bucket and folding it with ease.
“Optimus folds a shirt,” he said in the post.

While this may seem to be nothing great when seen from a layman’s perspective, it is to be noted that getting a robot to undertake tasks like humans requires a lot of effort in software and hardware development.
In the subsequent post, Musk clarified that the robot cannot fold a shirt autonomously but will be able to do it sometime later.
“Important note: Optimus cannot yet do this autonomously, but certainly will be able to do this fully autonomously and in an arbitrary environment (won’t require a fixed table with [a] box that has only one shirt),” he added.
In December, Musk shared a video in which the second generation of the Optimus robot was seen doing human-like tasks like handling eggs, walking and dancing.
Tesla’s ‘Optimus’ robot prototype
The Tesla CEO revealed the prototype of its humanoid robot in October 2022. It was said that Optimus shares some AI software and sensors with its Tesla cars’ Autopilot driver assistance features.
Tesla has also shown off Tesla Bots in videos of what appears to be a production-ready chassis. A video showed the robots walking while suggesting that they can do other things, like pick up items and recognise objects.

Launch Offers
Consumers purchasing Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S24+ will get benefits worth Rs 12000, while those buying Galaxy S24 can avail benefits worth Rs 10000.Consumers can also opt for No Cost EMI upto 24 Months on purchase of S24 Series.

Samsung Galaxy S24 series features
The Live Translate, Interpreter, Chat Assist, Note Assist, and Transcript Assist features are included in the Samsung Galaxy S24 series. The Samsung Keyboard’s built-in AI can translate messages in real-time across 13 languages, including Hindi.
A unique feature of the Galaxy S24 is the ‘Circle to Search’ function, which is gesture-driven. Users can circle, highlight, scribble on, or tap any element on the screen to receive high-quality search results. Additionally, Samsung has committed to providing seven generations of OS upgrades and seven years of security updates for the Galaxy S24 smartphones.

PayPal has confirmed that it will be laying off around 9% of its workforce, accounting for an estimated 2,500 workers.

An official announcement by President and CEO Alex Chriss framed the change as one that would help to “right-size” PayPal to stay competitive in an evolving market, indicating that the company’s growth isn’t aligning with its headcount.

AI-related companies lost $190 billion (roughly Rs. 15,77,620 crore) in stock market value late on Tuesday after Microsoft, Alphabet and Advanced Micro Devices delivered quarterly results that failed to impress investors who had sent their stocks soaring.

The selloff following the tech giants’ reports after the bell underscored investors’ elevated expectations following an AI-fueled stock market rally in recent months that propelled their shares to record highs with the promise of incorporating the technology across the corporate landscape.

Alphabet dropped 5.6 percent after the Google-parent’s December-quarter ad revenue missed expectations.

Alphabet also said its spending on data centers to support its AI plans would jump this year, highlighting the costs of its fierce competition against AI rival Microsoft.

While Google Cloud revenue growth slightly topped Wall Street targets, boosted by interest in AI, Microsoft’s Azure grew faster.

Microsoft beat analyst estimates for quarterly revenue as new AI features helped attract customers to its cloud and Windows services. However, its stock fell 0.7 percent in extended trade after briefly hitting an intra-day record high earlier on Tuesday.

Optimism about AI pushed Microsoft’s stock market value above $3 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,49,10,515 crore) this month, eclipsing Apple.

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices tumbled 6 percent after its forecast for first-quarter revenue missed estimates, even as it projected strong sales for its AI processors.

Shares of Nvidia, which have surged 27 percent in January after more than tripling last year on AI optimism, also gave back some of those gain in extended trade, last down over 2 percent.

Server maker Super Micro Computer, another company that has benefited from AI-related demand, dropped over 3 percent. Earlier on Tuesday, it had climbed to a record high after delivering blowout quarterly results the day before.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

Huawei Mate 70 series is expected to be unveiled later this year. The company has not yet confirmed the lineup, but online leaks have suggested some features that the purported handsets may carry. The rumoured smartphones are expected to succeed the Huawei Mate 60 series that includes the Huawei Mate 60, Huawei Mate 60 Pro, Huawei Mate 60 Pro+, and Huawei Mate 60 RS Ultimate. The upcoming lineup may also be available with the same models. Ahead of any announcements, a new leak suggests that the phones may rival the next generation of Apple’s smartphones.

Tipster Smart Pikachu (translated from Chinese) shared in a Weibo post that the Huawei Mate 70 series is expected to offer significant competition to the upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, that is expected to launch in September this year. The Chinese OEM is said to bank more on domestic production and self-developed hardware and technology in their attempt to regain status as a market leader in China.

Huawei has already been experiencing growth in the Chinese market over the past few quarters. As per October sales numbers recorded by a Counterpoint Research report, Huawei sales grew by 83 percent, while Apple sales grew 11 percent, following the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 and iPhone 15 lineups. Another Counterpoint Research report showed that Huawei shipments soared 41 percent year-on-year in Q3 2023 followed by the launch of the Kirin 9000s SoC-backed Mate 60 models.

The growing trend for Huawei continued in the last quarter of 2023, which saw shipments increase by 36.2 percent. In comparison, Apple shipments in China shrank 2.1 percent on a year-on-year basis in Q4 2023. Although the company managed to bag the largest market share with 17.3 percent, analysts forecast a difficult year for the Cupertino-based tech giant in the Chinese market. 

Meanwhile, the tipster also claimed that Huawei is planning higher shipment volumes for its purported Mate 70 lineup, including that of the top-of-the-line RS Ultimate model. The volumes are said to be significantly larger than those seen with earlier models. The hybrid camera systems expected to feature on the Huawei Mate 70 models are likely to include a new one-inch primary camera with a large aperture for increased light processing capacities, according to the tipster.

The Mate 70 series is also tipped to get a display upgrade which may come with a quad micro-curved design. The models in the lineup are expected to offer different screen sizes, as is commonly seen with iPhone models. The company’s Harmony OS is also expected to get integrated AI features.

iOS 17.4 is now rolling out to beta testers on the company’s public beta channel, a week after Apple rolled out the update to developers. The upcoming iOS update is expected to arrive in the coming weeks with several changes to how iOS works in specific countries. In order to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations, Apple will soon allow customers in the region to access third party app stores while opening up other parts of the operating system including NFC support for third party apps.

Apple began to roll out the iOS 17.4 public beta (21E5184k) on Tuesday and there are a few user-facing changes that are visible after updating to the latest version. Apple has updated the Stolen Device Protection feature — introduced with the iOS 17.3 update — with a new option that always requires a delay when changing security settings, ignoring when the phone is in familiar locations.

While users outside the EU won’t benefit from all of the changes coming to iOS 17.4, the update includes support for third-party app stores that can be installed on an iPhone, while browsers like Firefox and Chrome can support their own browser engine. Game streaming will also be allowed with iOS 17.4, while Apple Pay competitors will be able to use the NFC technology on the iPhone for contactless payments.

With iOS 17.4 Apple is including six new emoji — Broken Chain, Brown Mushroom, Head Shaking Horizontally, Head Shaking Vertically, Lime, and Phoenix Bird. These will be visible in apps and can be sent to other users via the system keyboard. The update also replaces the detailed family emoji with simplified versions, while emoji of moving characters are now shown with variations for different directions.

The Apple Podcasts app has also been updated with support for automatic transcriptions that are generated for an episode and displayed in the app, while the company has updated the Listen Now tab at the bottom of its podcasts app and the Apple Music app with a new label — Home. No other visual changes are visible on both apps.

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