Friday, April 22nd. As the week comes to an end, we can focus on the highlights of the crypto industry over the past few days.
Robinhood to acquire Ziglu financial app
Robinhood, a company that runs an investment and trading app, revealed that it is going to purchase the Ziglu startup. It develops a crypto wallet with a bank card pegged to it.
“Ziglu and Robinhood share a common set of goals, working to reduce the barriers to entry for a new generation of investors… As part of Robinhood, we’ll supercharge Robinhood’s expansion across Europe and bring better access to crypto and its benefits to millions more customers,” stated Mark Hipperson, Founder and CEO of Ziglu
The claim also indicates that for now, the two companies will continue to function separately, as the takeover deal must be approved by the regulator.
“As we look to expand internationally, we’re excited to announce that we’ve signed a deal to acquire Ziglu Limited, a UK-based electronic money institution,” Robinhood highlights.
The firm explained that the Ziglu app now lets you trade in 11 cryptocurrencies, earn deposits of digital assets, pay for purchases by card and make transfers overseas.
The American broker made an tongue-in-cheek repost of a Ziglu tweet that was posted in the summer of 2020, urging use of its services because of Robinhood’s decision to delay the launch in the UK.
Cryptocompanies called upon the EU not to tighten regulations
Several representatives of the crypto industry have urged European lawmakers and finance ministers to redefine anti-money laundering rules. CoinDesk reports that, referring to the letter.
According to the publication, the petition was signed by scientists, lobbyists and top executives of companies such as Ledger, Aave and Blockchain.com. They called the legislative initiatives “burdensome” and ” alarming.”
“The proposals from the European Parliament, by leading to the public disclosure of all transactions and digital asset wallet addresses, will put every digital asset owner at risk” and “risk derailing years of preparatory work and the future of Web 3” in Europe, said the letter.
In July 2021, the European Commission prepared a bill in accordance with the recommendations of the FATF. The document involves the integration of the ” travel rule” and prohibits anonymous cryptocurrency transactions.
In March 2022, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament passed a Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA). The final version did not include an amendment to prohibit mining on the Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm.
It is to remind that in the same month, the European Parliament supported the mandatory verification of users of non-custodial crypto wallets. The amendments are set out in the regulations for the exchange of information between counterparties.
Binance.US was granted a license in Puerto Rico
The U.S. unit of Binance, a bitcoin exchange, has been licensed as a money transfer provider by Puerto Rico’s financial regulator.
The island territory became the 4th jurisdiction in the United States to approve Binance.US in this manner in 2022. Previously, the states of West Virginia, Connecticut, and Wyoming decided to do the same.
“After the successful closing of the seed round, we are thrilled to be able to pick up momentum with this license and are grateful to Puerto Rico for the trust,” said CEO Brian Schroeder.
According to the announcement, Binance.US covers 45 states and 7 territories. More than 90 cryptocurrencies are listed on the platform.
Just to refresh your memory, the U.S. affiliate raised $200 million in April 2022 with a preliminary estimate of $4.5 billion.
Nvidia enabled AI for R&D of GPU
Nvidia employs graphics processors and machine learning algorithms to design new video gas pedals.
According to Bill Dalli, chief scientist and senior vice president of research at the company, AI can be applied effectively in four important areas, the design of graphics processors:
- Voltage drop mapping;
- Forecasting of parasitic phenomena;
- Placement and routing issues;
- Automation of standard cell migration.
Voltage drop mapping illustrates to engineers how power is distributed in emerging processors. Using the standard design method, the necessary calculations are done in three hours, Dalli recalls. The use of AI algorithms has reduced this process to three seconds with an accuracy of 94%.
“We can get very accurate voltage estimates much faster than with conventional tools, and in a very short time,” Dalli told.
Engineers also used graph neural networks to analyze the problem of placement and routing of processor components. Getting this condition wrong, Dalli said, would lead to “data congestion” similar to congestion on metropolitan roads, requiring chip layouts to be redesigned.
“The algorithm shows problem areas, and we can act on them and iterate very quickly without having to do a full rerouting,” the scientist added.
Automating standard cell migration with AI can speed up the adoption of new standards. He also noted that the shift from 7-nm to 5-nm chip production was labor-intensive. The reinforcement training helped hasten this step and reduce the number of errors in the design rules.