expansion

Vitalik Buterin posted on the X platform expressing disagreement with the recent strong negative reactions against the anti-data center movement, believing that the overall benefits of slowing down the massive expansion of computing power outweigh the drawbacks.Vitalik pointed out that with continuous advancements in algorithms, the AI capabilities that will require larger-scale data centers in the next two years may be achievable through existing data centers in about four years or even a shorter time. Therefore, even if the anti-data center movement achieves significant results, it may not necessarily lead to catastrophic consequences.He further stated that the world needs more time to address the already evident cybersecurity threats and potential future risks such as biosecurity. At the same time, scientific research is constrained by many factors beyond AI, so a one-year slowdown in AI development may result in a practical delay in scientific progress that is much less than a year. He emphasized that this judgment does not rely on the controversial AI doomsday risk theory.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his disagreement with the strong emotional reaction against the anti-data center movement this week. The core logic is based on algorithmic advancements; now larger and more data centers are needed to complete tasks that could be done in two years with existing data centers in four years (or even sooner). Therefore, even if the anti-data center movement achieves extreme success, it will not trigger any apocalyptic catastrophic consequences.Vitalik pointed out that slowing down the expansion of computing power can buy humanity more time to strengthen responses to the already emerging cybersecurity issues and potential biological risks in the future. At the same time, scientific applications are constrained by many factors beyond AI, so if AI development slows down for a year, the degree of scientific progress slowdown will be much less than a year. Overall, the slowdown in the massive expansion of computing power seems to have a net positive effect, and this judgment does not rely on controversial arguments such as "apocalyptic theories" or recursive self-improvement (RSI).

According to Bloomberg, protests against the expansion of data centers continued in multiple locations across Europe on November 7. RTE reported that around 2,000 people participated in a march in Dublin; YLE stated that about 1,300 people gathered in Helsinki, with protests also occurring in several small towns in Finland. Demonstrators in Helsinki marched to Google's office and the location of the parliament. The Stop Dirty Data Centres alliance, composed of local democracy and climate action groups, stated that the action aims to prevent the unchecked expansion of AI data centers.Groups from Scotland, Spain, France, and Denmark participated in the action, calling for a halt to construction until the public can determine through democratic processes how related projects should serve society and the environment. Previously on Friday, hundreds of protesters clashed with police at a Microsoft data center in Amsterdam, resulting in one arrest. As technology companies invest hundreds of billions of dollars in building AI infrastructure, community residents' concerns about land and electricity demands, rising energy costs, and whether the local area can gain economic benefits have intensified. Ireland has become one of Europe's major data center hubs, with official statistics showing that data centers will account for 23% of the country's total electricity consumption by 2025.Finland is also facing large-scale construction. Google announced in September an investment of 13 billion euros, approximately 14.5 billion dollars, to expand existing data centers and build two new facilities, marking its largest investment in Europe to date. According to the Finnish Industrial Federation, data center projects in various stages of planning and construction in Finland are valued at around 80 billion euros. Reports indicate that representatives from Google cleared forest land, stripped topsoil, and built roads before the environmental impact assessment for one project was completed, causing dissatisfaction among local residents. The company responsible for the construction of the project is facing a criminal investigation, and the Finnish government is also advancing legislation to constrain AI expansion. The opposition in Europe echoes recent situations in the United States, where the expansion of data centers has become a significant issue in this week's midterm elections, with some state voters electing local officials who promised to stop or pause related construction.

According to Bloomberg, due to ongoing labor disputes with employee unions, Micron Technology has essentially suspended its plans to build a new storage chip factory in Taoyuan, Taiwan, with a project investment budget of $3 billion to $4.5 billion, originally scheduled to start production in 2028. Sources indicate that Micron is concerned that the agreement reached with the union may be overturned, and currently only a small amount of site safety maintenance work is being retained, after which construction will be frozen.The dispute arises from employees' demands to share the profit growth brought by the AI boom. The Taoyuan union is requesting that Micron distribute 15% of its operating profits to global employees and hopes to receive a full cash bonus rather than a portion in stock. Although Micron reached an agreement with the larger Taichung union in October, some employees are dissatisfied with the terms of the agreement, and the Taoyuan union is attempting to expand its organization to push for renegotiation.The project was originally planned to produce high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and DRAM using ASML's advanced equipment. Taiwan currently contributes about 60% of Micron's DRAM output and is also an important production base for HBM, employing approximately 15,000 people. Micron responded that the company's existing operations in Taiwan are normal and will ensure business continuity for customers, but did not directly comment on the suspension of the Taoyuan project. Taiwan's economic department stated that the government will assist Micron in resolving differences with the union and promote the implementation of the investment plan.

According to The Block, the decentralized trading protocol Curve Finance has launched StableSwap on the Stellar mainnet, marking its first native deployment outside the EVM ecosystem.Users can now create liquidity pools, exchange assets, and provide liquidity on Stellar without permission.

The French Ministry of Finance, the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), the French Central Bank, and the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) jointly suggested to the European Commission to allow third parties, such as crypto platforms, to offer rewards to stablecoin holders under specific conditions. The four institutions believe that such rewards should be regulated rather than outright prohibited.The four institutions proposed that platforms should disclose reward information to holders, must not promise guaranteed returns, and should not promote rewards as savings products; regulators should also monitor the impact of rewards on bank deposits. The French side still supports banning stablecoin issuers from paying interest but opposes extending the ban to staking and lending activities. The European Central Bank and the central banks of EU countries advocate maintaining the ban on interest for stablecoins and including indirect benefits such as rewards and fee waivers, as well as lending and staking activities within the scope of restrictions.The European Commission must submit a review report on the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) to the EU legislative bodies by June 30, 2027, and may propose amendments.

Lansi Technology stated that the AI server-related production capacity in the Songshan Lake Park of Dongguan has been expanded. The liquid cooling heat dissipation modules, high-end precision cabinets, and high-speed optical interconnection supporting components have been verified by leading North American computing power manufacturers and have received large-scale orders, entering the ramp-up phase of mass production.The company has also acquired capabilities in optical communication and precision metal processing to meet the demand for AI servers.

The White House announced that Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, listing oil exploration, production, and other activities as critical defense resources, and authorized the federal government to promote capacity expansion through procurement and funding support. Trump stated that limited financing and supply chain constraints made it difficult for businesses to meet demand, thus exempting certain requirements of the act to accelerate capacity expansion.

According to TheEnergyMag, AI cloud service provider Nebius Group N.V. has secured a $3.5 billion Senior Secured Financing Facility from Citibank, which will be used to support its global AI cloud computing expansion.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy stated that if the United States continues to encourage ships to cross areas planted with mines, Iran's countermeasures may expand to U.S. bases in the region.

According to the New York Post, Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of investment firm Altimeter Capital and promoter of the Trump account plan, stated that he is pushing to expand the scope of the plan from those under 18 to those under 40. Related legislation may advance in the coming months and seeks to make the funding support mechanism permanent.Gerstner expects that by the end of 2027, private donations received by the plan could total $100 billion, and Musk's commitment to donate SpaceX stock to American children is just "the tip of the iceberg." Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas estimated while relaying the report that the expansion could additionally cover about 100 million people. Currently, the expansion remains a legislative proposal in progress and is not an enacted policy.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou recently stated in an interview with Wu Shuo that Bybit has covered the losses caused by previous attacks from North Korean hackers through operational income such as transaction fees by the end of last year. He believes that there will still be trading platforms that encounter hacker attacks in the future, and the security system should be designed with the premise of "assuming it will definitely be hacked."Regarding competition, Ben Zhou believes that the golden period for the expansion of global trading platforms has passed, and the industry will further consolidate. Regional trading platforms with licenses and local operational capabilities still have opportunities. He revealed that Bybit's profits have declined year-on-year this year, and traditional asset trading businesses such as stocks are currently not enough to offset the impact brought by the cryptocurrency business.In terms of the U.S. market, he stated that Bybit is still waiting for the right opportunity to enter and is more inclined to cooperate with local institutions that have a retail user base. The core strategy for the next year will focus on regional development and deep localization. He also discussed the differences between the Bitget security incident and the Bybit theft incident, as well as the data security challenges brought by the large-scale application of AI within the platform.

AIsa, an enterprise AI agent infrastructure company, announced the completion of its seed round extension financing, with stablecoin issuer Tether and HIVEN joining as strategic investors. This round brings its total financing amount to over $9 million. Tether and HIVEN join existing investors such as Alibaba, Tribe Capital, Sumitomo Corporation, Draper Associates, and Saison Capital.Jordan Liu, founder and CEO of AIsa, stated that the company will build infrastructure to support global discovery, access, and payment for AI agents. AIsa's network integrates resource discovery, access, and transactions, connecting enterprise AI agents with external data, AI searches, models, APIs, software tools, and industry services, while providing permission management, usage measurement, billing, and settlement.

According to PR Newswire, Solana Mobile, the mobile business of the Solana ecosystem, announced at the Ledger Op3n 2026 event in Paris that the hardware wallet company Ledger has become its first hardware expansion partner. The Solana dApp Store and wallet will merge into the Seeker app and integrate with the new device Ledger Atom, which will be pre-installed on the device's home screen for users to access the Solana ecosystem. Pre-orders for Ledger Atom are now open.Ledger Atom is based on the Android open-source project and features a secure element running Ledger OS, with a protection level of EAL6+, displaying and touch control physically isolated from the Android system. Signing and approval are completed in secure mode, and the device includes tamper-proof and tamper-evident solutions, sold exclusively through the Ledger official website. The built-in app store currently has over 1,500 applications covering categories such as trading, payments, gaming, and AI. Existing Seeker users are unaffected, and developers can reach more devices with a single submission.This collaboration builds on Solana Mobile's opening of the Solana Mobile Stack to Android manufacturers at the World Mobile Communications Conference in March 2026. The SKR token is used to reward user participation, developer building, and hardware vendor integration. Seeker has a transaction volume exceeding $13 billion, with 154 million transactions and over 200,000 devices sold; the company shipped Saga in 2023 and will ship Seeker in 2025.

CoreWeave, an AI cloud service provider supported by NVIDIA, is seeking to attract funding from insurance companies to reduce the financing costs of purchasing AI chips and building infrastructure. Co-founder Branning McBee stated that the company plans to raise funds through methods such as chip-backed loans, with financing exceeding $35 billion this year.

The Financial Services Commission of South Korea is promoting the expansion of the tokenized securities market from fragmented investments in real estate and art to the fields of bonds and funds. The relevant amendments to the Electronic Securities Act and the Capital Markets Act have been legislatively announced from the 2nd of this month until the 11th of next month, with the supporting regulations officially implemented on February 4th next year, to refine the rules for issuance and circulation.The amendments clearly include traditional securities such as stocks, bonds, and funds within the scope of tokenization, initially prioritizing the launch of private currency funds, private bonds, and non-listed stock tokenization based on trusts for institutional investors, while piloting public fragmented investment securities; public bonds and funds for ordinary investors will be expanded after market stabilization. Meanwhile, regulators plan to set an annual net purchase limit of 100 million Korean Won for ordinary investors on over-the-counter trading platforms and allow non-financial institutions to directly manage investor accounts after meeting conditions such as having 4 billion Korean Won in their own capital.

The UK HM Revenue and Customs is pushing to expand the investigative powers regarding cryptocurrency asset information, proposing to allow tax authorities to directly obtain customer data from cryptocurrency service providers and update software and electronic record inspection rules.UK cryptocurrency tax software company Recap warned that the proposed regulations have an overly broad definition of service providers, which may include non-custodial wallet software, blockchain explorers, hardware wallet manufacturers, and tax software providers. Due to the public and transparent nature of Bitcoin transaction records, once investors' names, addresses, and tax identities are associated with on-chain wallet addresses, it may expose their long-term asset activity records, increasing the risks of data breaches, extortion, and personal attacks.