transition

The messaging protocol XMTP founder Shane Mac stated that XMTP will evolve into a self-operating open-source messaging stack, providing private conversations between people and agents, with infrastructure controlled by users, without requiring tokens or wallets. The network hosted by XMTP Labs will shut down in early 2027.Shane Mac mentioned that he founded XMTP five years ago because he believed that private messaging should not be owned by a single company. He recalled that the team envisioned using wallets as cross-application identities, allowing messages to follow identities, and using tokens to pay infrastructure operators, but this path was not realized. XMTP has never issued tokens and will not issue them now. He admitted that it was a wrong decision to persist with a single shared network for a long time, as developers have consistently requested the ability to self-host XMTP. Therefore, it has shifted to self-hosting, allowing developers to use, inspect, modify, and maintain the entire software suite without relying on Labs. Former employees will assist in maintaining the protocol, and Shane Mac himself will continue to be involved.The article introduces that self-hosted XMTP offers quantum-resistant end-to-end encryption, private one-on-one and group chats, encrypted identities, and message authenticity, as well as SDKs for mobile, web, server, and agents. Chief Technology Officer Nick Molnar has simplified the backend to a single Rust binary and integrated attachments, push notifications, handles, and signed webhooks for new messages. Each self-hosted network does not automatically interconnect by default, and agents from different tools must connect to the same backend to share conversations.

Financial Associated Press, October 20 - Amazon launched the open-source tool TorchNeuron on the 19th local time, aiming to lower the barrier for developers to transition from NVIDIA chips to its self-developed chips, challenging NVIDIA's software barrier built on CUDA. According to reports, this tool allows AI code written in PyTorch to run on Amazon's self-developed AI chips without the need for rewriting. PyTorch is maintained primarily by Meta and is described as an open-source framework used by most AI developers.Amazon's chip design department, Annapurna Labs, introduced that with TorchNeuron, developers only need to modify one configuration to run the same code on the self-developed Trainium chip. Amazon announced the launch of this tool on the 19th local time and plans to publicly release it in a free open-source format at the PyTorch conference in San Jose, California on the 20th.Colin Brace, Vice President of Software at Annapurna Labs, stated in an interview that the launch of TorchNeuron is intended to reduce the steps required for developers to try Amazon's self-developed chips, starting from the customers' existing workflows. He revealed that over 30 early customers are already using it, covering fields such as robotics, world models, and voice AI, and mentioned that switching to Amazon chips can save costs.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange published a consultation summary document regarding the shortening of the settlement cycle for the Hong Kong stock cash market, showing broad support for the implementation of a T+1 settlement cycle in the Hong Kong securities market. After consolidating stakeholder opinions, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange plans to complete the relevant transition in the second half of 2028, provided that the market is ready and regulatory approval is obtained.A total of 109 unique responses were received during this consultation, from market stakeholders including brokers, custodians, investment managers, industry associations, technology providers, and investors. Respondents agreed on Hong Kong adopting a T+1 settlement cycle and recognized that this move would help enhance market efficiency, reduce settlement risks, improve capital efficiency, and strengthen Hong Kong's competitiveness as an international financial center.

According to official news from Visa, the stablecoin pre-funding capability of Visa Direct has transitioned from the pilot phase to commercial deployment. Payment infrastructure provider Inyo Global has become the first service provider to put this functionality into production, supporting eligible Visa Direct clients and partners.

Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare, stated that Starknet, as an L2 relying on Ethereum's underlying security, is considering various options, including transitioning to L1, in order to independently control the network security migration process and address the cryptographic risks posed by quantum computing and AI.Starknet is built on ZK-STARK, possesses cryptographic agility, and has developed a post-quantum security migration roadmap. Ethereum plans to achieve full resistance to quantum attacks at L1 by the end of 2029, while Bitcoin has not made a similar commitment. Starknet expects to implement related upgrades as early as 2027.

Institutional digital asset custodian Zodia Custody's CEO Julian Sawyer announced his resignation and will take on the role of strategic advisor. In a memo sent to employees on September 10, Sawyer stated that Standard Chartered Bank's acquisition of Zodia Custody's custody business and the establishment of Zodia Solutions provided an appropriate time for him to hand over daily leadership responsibilities, and he will continue to be closely involved in company affairs.According to the memo, Zodia Custody's Chief Revenue Officer Richard Clark will lead the company’s transition to Standard Chartered Bank and will be responsible for the custody business; current executives Craig Perrin and Anoosh Arevshatian will be responsible for the establishment of Zodia Solutions. A spokesperson for Zodia Custody confirmed this personnel change. Zodia Custody is an institutional-grade digital asset custodian based in London, supported by Standard Chartered Bank and other banks, providing regulated asset custody, wallet infrastructure, staking, and over-the-counter settlement services for financial institutions, asset management companies, and others.This arrangement differs from previous plans. In May of this year, SC Ventures announced that Sawyer would serve as CEO of Zodia Solutions after the acquisition was completed. Standard Chartered Bank stated in May that Zodia's shareholders and noteholders had accepted its non-binding acquisition offer, and the custody business would be integrated into the bank's financing and securities services division, while the infrastructure platform would be spun off into Zodia Solutions, which is under SC Ventures.

Analyst Willy Woo stated that Bitcoin has been locked in a 4-year cycle gravitational field, dominated by the supply shock brought about by halving. However, the annual new supply has dropped to 0.8% (soon to drop to 0.4%), and internal forces are gradually weakening.Meanwhile, traditional financial markets are in a 6-8 year short-term debt cycle, and Bitcoin may be transitioning to a 6-8 year cycle.

According to the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily," Apple will complete the CEO transition on September 1 local time. Current Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus will succeed Tim Cook, who will become the Executive Chairman of the Board and continue to be responsible for communication with global policymakers and other matters.Ternus's primary tasks after taking office include presiding over the Apple Fall New Product Launch Event on September 9, where this year's new products include the first foldable iPhone and a smart display that can recognize speakers and adjust content according to users. He will also oversee a broader product line including camera-equipped AirPods, smart glasses, home security systems, robotic arm displays, and wearable cameras.

Morphic Financial Group founder and CEO Mateusz Kara wrote in CoinDesk that the MiCA transition period ended on July 1, and the Polish Ministry of Finance confirmed that existing virtual currency registrations no longer constitute a legal basis for VASP or CASP operations. Crypto services can only be provided by entities holding valid MiCA authorization. Poland previously had about 2,000 registered virtual asset service providers, but a domestic political deadlock prevented the establishment of a viable authorization pathway. Germany issued 57 licenses, France and the Netherlands each issued 26, while Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Romania collectively issued zero.Kara stated that Polish investors hold about 9.4 billion euros in digital assets, and the relocation of businesses will lead to the loss of compliance teams, capital, and investments, with rebuilding the ecosystem potentially taking years. The compliance costs for MiCA can reach up to 700,000 euros, and serious violations could face fines of several million euros, narrowing the space for small participants. However, he believes that MiCA will be beneficial for the European crypto industry in the long term, as accelerated consolidation will eliminate weak operators and create a safer market. The UK's FCA is also launching a similar system, but Poland may become a sales market for others rather than an active participant in European digital finance construction.

According to CryptoSlate, researchers from USENIX Security have publicly disclosed a clock attack vulnerability targeting Solana's Proof of History (PoH) mechanism, which was privately reported to the Solana development team back in December 2025. The research shows that a malicious scheduler leader can manipulate the PoH logical clock by "re-anchoring," slowing down the advancement of logical time, thus gaining a longer transaction selection window in physical time, and isolating honest leader blocks using the TowerBFT fork choice mechanism, with the required staking ratio for the attacker being less than 33%.The Alpenglow security competition with a reward of 50,000 SOL under Anza concluded on August 19, but the vulnerability was excluded from the review scope due to the competition rules that state "actions that can only be triggered when Alpenglow is not activated." The Solana development team stated that they are aware of the related behavior, believe that the probability of the most severe scenario occurring under current conditions is low, and expect that the Alpenglow upgrade will fundamentally eliminate the prerequisites for the attack. Currently, the Alpenglow code has been included in the Agave 4.2 client but has not yet been activated on the mainnet, and is expected to go live with Agave 4.3. Until then, the transitional risk of this vulnerability has not been publicly analyzed or addressed at the implementation level.

Avalanche development company Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer announced a leadership adjustment. Charley Cooper has been appointed as the President of Ava Labs, who will drive the transformation of technological foundations into broader global adoption through operational discipline, regulatory experience, and institutional perspective. Former President John Wu has transitioned to Senior Advisor, where his judgment, connections, and business knowledge will continue to play a role.Lydia, who previously served in an interim capacity, has been officially appointed as Chief Financial Officer. Emin Gün Sirer stated that his CEO responsibilities remain unchanged, and he will continue to lead Ava Labs' long-term vision, ensuring that Avalanche becomes an advanced and reliable platform for developers, institutions, and enterprises. He pointed out that the company already possesses the technology, team, and opportunities, with the next focus on execution.

According to DefiLlama Research data, from January to June 2026, approximately 169,000 wallets made their first transaction in the RWA market on Hyperliquid, accounting for 31.7% of new users during the same period.DefiLlama co-founder 0xngmi stated that among users who made their first transaction in RWA, about 80.9% continued to trade RWA thereafter but did not further enter the cryptocurrency trading market.The data shows that Hyperliquid's RWA product has indeed brought in a new user base, but most users remain in the RWA trading space and have not converted to cryptocurrency trading users, indicating a clear user stratification between RWA and crypto trading demand.

According to official news, Aster announced that AOS-2 is officially in effect. Previously, AOS-1 opened up the listing of spot tokens to projects that meet public standards, and AOS-2 extends the same principle to the perpetual market, which traditionally relies on private negotiations for listings.According to AOS-2, eligible applicants must stake 1,000,000 ASTER, lock it for four years without an early exit option, and then apply to enter the on-chain validator voting phase. If the vote passes, the Aster risk control team will complete market allocation, and the perpetual contract will go live on T+1; if it does not pass, the full staked amount will be returned.The leverage and other risk parameters for each market are set by the Aster risk control system, with rules made public and decisions recorded on-chain. AOS-3 will be launched subsequently.

The South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has published an update on its IPO preparation progress. Bithumb stated that it is collaborating with leading domestic accounting firms to advance the construction of its risk management system, converting accounting standards from K-GAAP to internationally accepted K-IFRS, and strengthening internal compliance and internal control processes. The company is also restructuring its business by spinning off Bithumb Asset and clarifying the responsibilities and boundaries of each business segment; at the same time, it is promoting business model diversification and liquidity asset reserves to enhance financial stability.Bithumb claims it will maintain transparent operations by regularly disclosing financial status, operational matters, and cryptocurrency asset holdings, and will collaborate with large domestic and international securities firms, law firms, and accounting firms to assess corporate value and legal risks, as well as to formulate strategies for the pre-listing review.Regarding the timeline, Bithumb plans to complete the upgrade of its internal control system and K-IFRS conversion preparations by 2026, submit the pre-listing review and undergo audits in 2027, and complete the IPO in 2028, with specific timelines potentially adjusted based on market conditions and regulatory review progress.

According to VentureBeat, the Model Context Protocol (MCP) has received its largest update since its launch in November 2024, managed by the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) under the Linux Foundation. This update completes the transition to a fully stateless architecture, allowing MCP servers to be deployed behind standard load balancers without relying on "sticky routing" or shared session state, thereby simplifying large-scale cloud-native and Kubernetes deployments.In terms of security, the new version of MCP enforces validation of the issuer (iss) parameter for OAuth and OpenID Connect to prevent mix-up attacks and introduces enterprise-hosted authorization extensions to support unified identity governance for enterprises. The protocol also establishes a formal deprecation policy, ensuring that features are announced for deprecation at least 12 months before their earliest removal. MCP Apps and MCP Tasks have also been upgraded to official extensions, supporting servers in providing interactive interfaces to AI clients and executing interruptible, resumable long-running asynchronous tasks through persistent task handles. According to MCP co-creator David Soria Parra, the related SDK's weekly download volume has reached approximately 250 million, doubling in the past six months.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold a roundtable on September 17 to discuss matters related to the transition of the U.S. stock market to 24-hour trading, including preparations for supporting overnight trading, 24-hour market operations and resilience, as well as opportunities and challenges of expansion. This roundtable will be open to the public, and the meeting will be broadcast live on the SEC website. The agenda and speaker information for the roundtable will be announced prior to the event.