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On October 29, Sony Group announced the launch of the global Sony Onchain Entertainment Incubation Program, aimed at global creators and startups, supporting the development of entertainment-related products and services based on Sony's blockchain Soneium, and exploring new forms of interaction, community building, and value creation between creators and fans.Selected projects will receive support from Soneium's technological infrastructure, opportunities for collaboration with Sony Group companies, as well as support for business expansion, marketing, community operations, and financing. Sony stated that since 2024, the company has selected and supported 43 projects from around the world through the previous two rounds of incubation programs, and the new plan will further focus on on-chain entertainment, promoting projects from technical validation to commercial application.The application period is from October to December 2026, with project selection expected to continue until March 2027. Applicants must have launched or plan to launch on Soneium, and evaluation criteria include the originality of the entertainment experience, intellectual property applications, community building, business expansion capabilities, and market competition conditions, among others.

On October 29, WEEX Exchange announced that the GRAM trading airdrop is ongoing, with a total prize pool of 50,000 USDT. During the event, new users who net deposit ≥ 100 U and complete their first GRAM spot trading (no limit on trading volume) will receive a reward of 10 USDT; if the first GRAM spot trading results in a loss, a platform compensation of up to 50 USDT can be obtained; if the cumulative spot trading volume of GRAM reaches ≥ 500 USDT, users can unlock a lucky blind box worth 5-50 USDT; inviting friends to participate in the event can earn up to 1,000 USDT in rewards.

Researchers disclosed a zero-click vulnerability in the Telegram sticker feature at a security conference held in Tokyo, demonstrating that an attacker could execute code on iOS devices without any user interaction.However, Telegram disputed the risk assessment of the vulnerability.

According to official data from Bitget, the platform's "Peer Program" has completed the final batch of reward distributions. As of now, the program has distributed a total of 8,936,975 USDT in rewards, with a total of 7,308,958 participants receiving rewards. Users can visit the relevant event page to claim their corresponding rewards.

According to a report by Financial Associated Press, Microsoft announced on October 26 local time that it will offer a voluntary severance compensation plan to approximately 60,000 employees to reduce costs and adjust its workforce for the AI era. More than a quarter of the total employee count is eligible, marking the company's third round of workforce adjustments this year.A spokesperson stated that some vice presidents and below in the United States, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom are eligible to apply, and those who accept the plan will receive benefits similar to standard severance packages. According to informed sources, departments such as Xbox, Windows, Copilot, and finance will fully participate, while some employees in data centers, sales, marketing, cybersecurity, and quantum computing will not be eligible. Chief Human Resources Officer Amy Coleman mentioned in an internal letter that the plan provides an option for employees considering leaving to transition with the company's support, and it is another way for departments to adjust their teams. The spokesperson also noted that if top talent accepts the plan, the company will attempt to retain them in some cases.In April this year, Microsoft launched its first voluntary retirement program for about 8,750 eligible U.S. employees, with over 30% ultimately accepting; in July, it announced layoffs of approximately 4,800 people, accounting for about 2.1% of the total workforce. The spokesperson expects the number of acceptances this time to be far less than the voluntary retirement program. As of the end of June, Microsoft had a total of 223,000 employees. According to the financial report on July 29, capital expenditures for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 were $41 billion, a year-on-year increase of about 70%, and capital expenditures for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027 are expected to be about $50 billion.

According to Tech in Asia, the Indian cryptocurrency trading platform CoinSwitch launched the SafeSwitch anti-fraud program on October 26, which aims to raise users' awareness of online fraud through a fraud identification quiz, website security check tools, and reporting guidelines.The program includes a fraud identification quiz with 10 questions, information about India's online fraud reporting hotline 1930, and tools to assist in checking websites. CoinSwitch emphasizes that the website check tools only provide additional safety references and do not guarantee absolute website security.

According to official data from Bitget, the ninth batch of rewards for the platform's "Peer Program" has been fully distributed. As of now, the total amount in the reward pool has reached 8,499,468 USDT, with a total of 6,651,305 participants.In addition, after users enter the event page to claim their rewards, they will also receive an additional chance to participate in the 8th Anniversary Surprise Blind Box Lottery.

According to "Du Jia," Tencent is currently beta testing "HermitKit," an AI capability plugin for WeChat Mini Programs, providing three levels of access: API, UI components, and Demo. This plugin supports streaming calls to large models through ChatApi, creates and manages Agents using AgentBuilder, and enables multi-turn conversations, with built-in session storage and long-term memory capabilities. Additionally, it can bind remote Agents via QR code scanning through AgentChannel to complete message sending and receiving.Currently, HermitKit showcases 7 types of functional demonstrations, including AI SDK, Agent Channel, Agent Management, Pet Agent, Chatbot, Travel Planning, and Plugin Market. Among them, the AI SDK aligns with cloud development APIs such as createModel, generateText, and streamText; the Pet Agent allows developers to read pet status through interfaces and trigger status changes using props; the Plugin Market enables searching, publishing, and downloading MCP, Skill, and Expert resource packages. This plugin has not officially launched yet, and related capabilities may still be subject to adjustments, with specifics to be confirmed by official statements.

According to Cointelegraph, Piero Cipollone, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, stated that the digital euro is expected to help the European Union establish a self-controlled payment infrastructure and reduce reliance on non-European third-party payment service providers. Europe has already recognized the risks of excessive dependence on external forces in critical areas such as energy and defense, and the same applies to the payment sector. However, payment sovereignty does not mean excluding third parties, but rather allowing Europe to have autonomous choices in key services.The European Central Bank plans to launch a digital euro pilot next year and will test it using real transactions. It is currently collaborating with 36 market operators to prepare, while also inviting e-commerce and mobile commerce operators to participate.

According to a report by Forbes on Friday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is preparing to reform its voluntary disclosure program, planning to reduce penalties and expedite the processing of tax violation cases, including those involving cryptocurrency.Jarod Koopman, head of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, stated that the agency aims to launch the revised program before December and to close cases within 120 days after taxpayers complete the required submission process. He noted that the new plan will not establish a separate disclosure channel for digital assets but will apply the same voluntary disclosure procedures to other forms of tax noncompliance. Koopman also mentioned that the penalties under the revised program will be significantly lower than current levels, although he did not provide specific amounts. The IRS is considering allowing taxpayers to settle debts through installment payments or settlement offers.According to Forbes, the current program often takes a year or longer to complete and primarily targets taxpayers who intentionally fail to comply with tax laws and may face criminal prosecution, rather than those who make reporting errors due to negligence. Meanwhile, legislative efforts are advancing another voluntary disclosure program aimed at cryptocurrency taxpayers. Section 502 of the Digital Asset Taxation Certainty Act will establish a correction process with clear penalty standards for past violations, and the bill was passed by the House Ways and Means Committee in September.

According to official news, YZi Labs announced the launch of the first phase of the Atlas Scout program, recruiting four students from Stanford University, Yale University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Los Angeles, to participate in early investment projects in the fields of Web3, artificial intelligence (AI), and biotechnology.The program aims to allow outstanding university students to gain early exposure to venture capital, participate in project discovery, preliminary research, due diligence, and investment judgment, and encourage them to organize entrepreneurial communities on campus and explore investment opportunities. YZi Labs will provide a maximum of $1 million in intended investment for related investment opportunities in this program and open its ecosystem network composed of over 300 portfolio companies.YZi Labs stated that many potential entrepreneurs often begin their explorations in laboratories, open-source projects, campus entrepreneurial organizations, and technology communities before entering traditional financing channels, and their peers who learn and work with them usually discover their potential earlier. The Atlas Scout program hopes to leverage students' own campus networks to help these early entrepreneurs obtain capital, mentorship, and industry resources. Eligible entrepreneurial teams will also have the opportunity to connect with YZi Labs' EASY Residency program or further discuss investment collaboration.The Atlas Scout program not only expands financing and resource channels for early entrepreneurs but also allows participating students to accumulate venture capital experience through practical projects, enhancing their project evaluation, founder communication, and investment judgment skills.YZi Labs stated that Scouts can independently carry out campus activities based on their interests, such as organizing technical exchanges, gathering entrepreneurial teams, or discovering potential investment projects, while receiving guidance and ecosystem resource support from YZi Labs in the process. The program aims to establish connections before entrepreneurial projects gain widespread attention, allowing initial ideas on campus to have the opportunity to develop into actual projects, while cultivating a new generation of investors who can identify technological trends and entrepreneurial potential earlier.

According to Fortune, Robinhood Ventures Fund I announced today that it has completed an investment in Cognition, with a total investment amount of approximately 10 million dollars.Cognition was founded in 2024 and developed the first autonomous software engineer, Devin. Devin is capable of independently completing project planning, code writing, testing, and production environment deployment. By delegating repetitive engineering tasks to AI agents, engineers can focus more on architectural design, system planning, and complex problem solving.Currently, Devin has been deployed in some of the largest and most complex institutions globally, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wayfair, Mercedes-Benz, and Nubank. Recently, based on the current revenue level annualized, Cognition's revenue has exceeded 1 billion dollars.

According to Fortune, Robinhood Ventures has invested 10 million dollars in the AI programming tool company Cognition. Earlier this year, Robinhood Ventures had already invested 75 million dollars in OpenAI.This reinvestment in Cognition signifies its multi-target layout strategy in the field of AI development tools.

According to official data from Bitget, the eighth batch of rewards for the platform's "Peer Program" has been fully distributed, with a total of 7,657,537 USDT awarded to 5,946,778 participants.In addition, after users enter the event page to claim their rewards, they will also receive an additional chance to participate in the 8th Anniversary Surprise Blind Box lottery. The event will last until October 26.

Coinbase self-custody wallet Coinbase Wallet has announced the launch of a loyalty program aimed at users who continuously engage in exchange transactions. Users can receive up to 50% of eligible exchange fees back in USDC each week. Trader levels are divided based on the eligible trading volume over the past 30 days: Explorer for under $5,000; Trencher for $5,000 and above, with a 15% rebate; Pro for $25,000 and above, with a 30% rebate; Legend for $100,000 and above, with a 40% rebate; VIP for $500,000 and above, with a 50% rebate.Rebates are calculated based on the actual exchange fees retained by Coinbase Wallet after discounts, excluding network fees and gas fees. Levels are updated daily, and higher rebate rates apply immediately upon reaching a higher tier; if trading volume decreases, levels can drop by one tier at most per week. Each wallet's trading volume is calculated separately and is not combined across wallets. Eligible rebates accumulate automatically and are paid weekly in USDC, without the need to enter codes or manually claim.New users who register through a friend referral link can receive a first exchange reward of up to $35 USDC on eligible exchanges and enjoy a 10% discount on eligible exchange fees, with related transactions counting towards level progress. Loyalty rebates are calculated after fee discounts. Users who share referral links can earn 25% of the net fees collected by Coinbase Wallet from their friends' eligible exchanges, paid in USDC. VIP users can also directly contact the product team, get early insights into upcoming features, and receive invitations to exclusive events. The program has regional and eligibility restrictions, and terms may be adjusted or terminated.

According to official data from Bitget, the seventh batch of rewards for the platform's "Peer Program" has been fully distributed. As of now, the program has distributed a total of 6,813,732 USDT in rewards, with a total of 5,239,752 participants.In addition, after users enter the event page to claim their rewards, they will also receive an additional chance to participate in the 8th Anniversary Surprise Blind Box Lottery. The event will last until October 26.

According to Cointelegraph, Section 502 of the Digital Asset Tax Clarification Act (H.R. 10357) currently advancing in the U.S. Congress stipulates that the Secretary of the Treasury must establish a voluntary disclosure program for digital assets within 12 months after the act takes effect.Eligible taxpayers can correct past digital asset tax violations by submitting amended returns and paying back taxes, interest, and penalties under the program. The act was passed by the House Ways and Means Committee on September 16 with a vote of 38 to 5, but it has not yet officially become law and still needs to be passed by the House, the Senate, and signed by the President.Andrew Gordon, Executive Director of the Digital Asset Taxation Action Organization, stated that this is a significant change that will help many ordinary taxpayers, yet it has received little attention. He pointed out that U.S. investors are facing the first filing season under the new 1099-DA broker reporting rules, which give the IRS greater visibility into crypto transactions but do not address the years prior to the rules taking effect. Sharon Yip, founder of Crypto Tax Advisors, also noted that filing errors among ordinary crypto investors are very common, and the existing procedures lack standardized processes, making it impossible to provide predictable penalty treatment for unintentional violators.According to Section 502, taxpayers generally must submit amended returns within 24 months after the program is established, and the act sets two penalty standards. Taxpayers who provide proof that their violations are neither fraudulent nor intentional can apply a 0% penalty on the portion of back taxes up to $25,000 if they file within the first 12 months after the program starts, while amounts exceeding that will incur a 5% penalty.Those who do not provide such proof will face penalties of 25% and 40%, and the tax rates will increase if the initial window is missed. The act also provides specific civil penalty waivers, allowing unproven taxpayers to be exempt from criminal referral within the scope of the disclosed information. A report by CoinTracker in 2026 showed that only 49% of crypto users correctly understand that selling crypto assets is a taxable event.

According to CoinDesk, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson stated that he is personally developing a new programming language for the Cardano network and collaborating with Input Output Global engineer Lucas Rosa. Lucas Rosa is a co-creator of Aiken, one of Cardano's main smart contract languages. Hoskinson posted on the X platform that this will be the first programming language to combine user transaction completion intentions with cryptographic proofs.It is reported that the language will support three tools: transaction intent, data with carry proofs, and Groth16 proofs. Transaction intent allows users to specify the goals they want to achieve, while leaving the specific steps to the application, for example, traders can request that a token be exchanged for another only when the final price meets certain conditions, without specifying the exact path.Data with carry proofs can attach cryptographic evidence to information, proving that it complies with specific rules, allowing other applications to verify without recalculating. Groth16 is a widely used proof system that can generate small-sized, fast-verifying proofs, demonstrating that conditions have been met without exposing private data.With the combination of the three, developers can build applications that coordinate transactions, check complex conditions, and pass verified information between services, ultimately verified by Cardano with a small proof. Currently, Cardano developers mainly use Haskell-based Plutus and Aiken to write smart contracts, while Input Output Global, founded by Hoskinson, has its own privacy blockchain Midnight with its language Compact. The name, public code, and release date of this new language have not yet been announced.

The Governor of the People's Bank of China, Pan Gongsheng, stated at the 2026 Financial Street Forum Annual Meeting that it will pilot further facilitation for foreign financial institutions to conduct RMB purchase and sale operations in the domestic foreign exchange market.The People's Bank plans to allow 8 domestic and foreign RMB offshore clearing banks to conduct proprietary trading in the domestic interbank foreign exchange market, promoting the integrated development of onshore and offshore markets.