The Singaporean government released its updated national strategy for artificial intelligence (AI) 2.0 on Dec. 4, in which it outlined how it plans to embrace innovation and tackle the challenges coupled with the technology. 

Singapore structured its AI strategy into three distinct systems, consisting of ten “enablers,” which drive those systems and then 15 action steps to make the system work. It’s first AI strategy was introduced in 2019.

The updated plan’s systematic approach focuses on three main areas of its society, including what it calls “activity drivers,” “people and communities,” and “infrastructure and environment.”

Building a smart nation

Among the action…

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The third-largest bank in France, Societe Generale, reported issuing its first digital green bond as a Security Token on the Ethereum public blockchain. The bond, registered by Forge, a subsidiary of Société Générale, went public on Nov. 30. 

The bond has a value of 10 million euros (around $11 million) and a maturity of three years. Its “green” status means that the net proceeds of this bond will be used to finance or refinance products and companies classified under the Eligible Green Activities (ESG) category.

Related: Tether’s ‘new era for capital raises’ Bitfinex bond stutters

The digital infrastructure of the bond grants 24/7 open access to the data on its carbon…

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Bitcoin (BTC) has seen a mass profit-taking event which rivals its $69,000 all-time highs, new analysis reveals.

In a post on Dec. 5, James Van Straten, research and data analyst at crypto insights firm CryptoSlate, flagged billions of dollars heading to exchanges.

Bitcoin speculators sell as if all-time highs are back

BTC price gains have delivered a welcome reward to hodlers across the board in recent days as 19-month highs appear.

While old hands are retaining their share of the BTC supply, at the other end of the spectrum, so-called short-term holders (STHs) have been busy locking in profits on their investments.

STHs refer to entities holding a given part of the supply for 155 days or…

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Taiwan’s principal financial regulator, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), is considering allowing the crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the country, but only after analyzing the ETFs’ development on other markets around the globe. At the moment, the FSC considers itself to be “in the exploratory phase.” 

According to the report in the Taiwanese newspaper, the Commercial Times, published on Dec. 5, the FSC is watching closely the developments in the United States, where the Securities and Exchange Commission will review the Bitcoin spot ETFs in January and bears in mind the example of Canada and Australia, where the local exchange already trade the crypto ETFs.

The…

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Cryptocurrency mining firm Phoenix Group has debuted trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), becoming one of the Middle East’s first publicly listed industry firms.

The Phoenix Group stock (PHX) opened at 2.25 dirhams (AED) — or $0.6 — on Dec. 5, according to data from the ADX exchange. The PHX stock has soared as much as 50% from the initial public offering (IPO) price of 1.50 AED, or $0.41, as per the Phoenix IPO prospectus.

The public listing comes a few weeks after Phoenix Group successfully closed its IPO with an oversubscription of 33 times on Nov. 18, selling 907,323,529 shares for around 1.3 billion AED, or $371 million. The portion of the IPO reserved for retail…

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The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, received $100,000 seed funding from an unknown investor for its spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) in October 2023, as per its latest Securities and Exchange Commission filing,

The SEC filing revealed that the investor agreed to purchase $100,000 in shares on October 27, 2023, in exchange for 4,000 shares at $25.00 per share price. The seed funding allows an ETF to fund the creation of underlying shares that can be offered and traded in the open market.

The latest filing by BlackRock also revealed certain details on the asset manager’s plans to pay the sponsor’s fee, where it plans to borrow Bitcoin or cash as Trade Credit…

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Venture capital firm Heartcore Capital is investing in the crypto segment’s application layer protocols as part of a bet on technologies that foster user interaction with the space.

The Denmark-based company has raised 15 million euros ($16.3 million) for its first Web3 fund set to allocate to founders building upon crypto infrastructure Heartcore says is primed for wider adoption. 

“We believe that the shift towards on-chain protocols is the next stage of the software revolution of the past three decades,” Heartcore partner Yacone Ghalim told Blockworks. “We foresee that protocols will progressively disrupt parts of our economy, like previous internet startups.”

While…

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Smart contract development firm Thirdweb reported a security vulnerability that potentially “impacts a variety of smart contracts across the Web3 ecosystem.”

On Dec. 4, Thirdweb reported a vulnerability in a commonly used open-source library that could impact certain pre-built smart contracts, including some of its own. However, Thirdweb’s investigations concluded that the smart contract vulnerability has not yet been exploited, allowing a small window of opportunity for Web3 firms to avoid a possible hack.

Highlighting the vulnerability’s potential to cause massive damage if not rectified immediately, Thirdweb stated:

“The impacted pre-built contracts include but are not limited… Read more on Cointelegraph