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Google stated that its Willow quantum chip reduces the error rate in preparing the special states (Magic States) required for quantum computing by about 40 times through a method called "Cultivation." The related research was published this week in Science, which is expected to lower the hardware costs of future large-scale quantum computers and draw more attention to the potential threat of cracking Bitcoin wallets.Magic States are a key resource needed to perform certain quantum computing operations, and their preparation process consumes a significant amount of hardware. Google's experiment achieved about 99.99% state fidelity, but only about 8% of attempts passed the screening. Researchers indicated that future experiments need to be scaled up and issues such as real-time operation and error correction need to be addressed. In March of this year, Google estimated that under specific hardware assumptions, future quantum computers might only need fewer than 500,000 physical qubits to crack the cryptography used in Bitcoin and Ethereum wallets.For Bitcoin, some early wallets' public keys have been public since their mining, theoretically making them targets for future quantum attacks; while wallets with undisclosed public keys may face different attack conditions. However, this breakthrough does not mean that quantum computers are capable of cracking Bitcoin. Google's previous cost estimates for attacks assumed the use of efficient Magic States preparation schemes, so this result cannot simply be understood as a 40-fold reduction in the cost of cracking Bitcoin. Research is still in the advancement stage of quantum hardware and error correction technology, and the complete equipment and engineering capabilities required for actual attacks have not yet been realized.

Binance founder Zhao Changpeng responded on the X platform regarding the recent mass deletion of old tweets, stating that he was merely testing an AI tool to clean up past retweeted content and did not delete any original posts, so there is no need for the outside world to overinterpret.

The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy stated: A super tanker carrying over 2 million barrels of crude oil exploded after hitting a mine in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a severe fire. The tanker turned off its positioning and radar systems, attempting to cross the strait under the protection of the U.S. military.The Iranian Revolutionary Guard warned that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, and violating vessels will face serious consequences.

According to SoSoValue data, the total net inflow of the NEAR spot ETF in the United States was $2.6062 million in a single day, with only the Bitwise NEAR ETF (NRR) achieving a net inflow, bringing the historical cumulative net inflow to $83.0469 million.During the same period, the total net outflow of the ZEC spot ETF was $1.2197 million in a single day, with only the Zcash ETF (ZCSH) experiencing a net outflow, while the historical cumulative net inflow reached $163 million. As of the time of writing, the total net asset value of the NEAR spot ETF was $82.3556 million, with a NEAR net asset ratio of 1.26%; the total net asset value of the ZEC spot ETF was $625 million, with a ZEC net asset ratio of 3.23%.

According to SoSoValue data, yesterday (Eastern Time October 16), the total net outflow of XRP spot ETF was $2.4734 million.Yesterday, only the Canary XRP ETF (XRPC) had a net outflow, with a single-day net outflow of $2.4734 million, and the historical total net inflow currently stands at $484 million. As of the time of publication, the total net asset value of the XRP spot ETF is $1.471 billion, with an XRP net asset ratio of 1.79%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached $1.8 billion.

According to The Block, TD Cowen analysts have raised the target price for Bitcoin treasury company Strive from $44 to $56, maintaining a "Buy" rating. Analysts Lance Vitanza and Jonnathan Navarrete noted that the amount of Bitcoin purchased by Strive in the past two weeks has exceeded their previous expectations for the entire fourth quarter.The company's Bitcoin holdings increased from 28,000 coins at the end of September to 35,595 coins (worth approximately $2.9 billion), a net increase of nearly 7,600 coins, far exceeding TD Cowen's original estimate of 4,750 coins. Strive has now jumped to fourth place among publicly traded companies in terms of Bitcoin holdings, slightly surpassing MARA. Additionally, Strive plans to expand its preferred stock issuance to 7 million shares (at $90 per share), aiming to raise $630 million to continue increasing its Bitcoin holdings without diluting common stock. The issuance is expected to be completed on October 20.

The United States Central Command stated that due to the blockade by the United States Navy, Iran has no maritime import and export trade.

According to data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, as of September 30, the fiscal year 2026 U.S. budget deficit expanded by $217 billion year-on-year to $1.99 trillion, the highest level since the fiscal year 2021. Fiscal revenue reached a record $5.4 trillion, while expenditures amounted to $7.4 trillion. Debt service expenditures increased by 12% to $1.36 trillion. A Supreme Court ruling led to the refund of $145 billion in tariffs, resulting in a net tariff revenue decline of 11%. The budget deficit accounted for 6.2% of GDP.

The speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Waller failed to boost the dollar, with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropping 0.4% on Friday, set to record its worst weekly performance since September 4. The dollar weakened against most major currencies, with the euro rising. Waller did not comment on monetary policy at the International Monetary Fund annual meeting, and investors reduced their bets on a rate hike by the Federal Reserve this month.

According to The Bitcoin Historian, Charles Schwab, which manages approximately $13 trillion in assets, has announced that all customers can now directly purchase Bitcoin within their accounts, involving over 40 million U.S. users.In April, Charles Schwab announced the launch of its spot crypto trading service Schwab Crypto, which will be rolled out in phases, supporting BTC and ETH trading, with a fee of 0.75% per transaction, provided by Paxos for sub-custody and trade execution. This service is currently not available to residents of New York and Louisiana.

According to Xinhua News Agency, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President Xi Jinping emphasized during his inspection in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia on the 16th that it is necessary to coordinate high-quality development and high-level protection, and to unswervingly follow the path of ecological priority and green development. Xi Jinping learned about the "East Data West Calculation" hub node and the green computing power industry in the Chahar High-tech Zone, and required that completed projects operate efficiently and subsequent construction be completed on schedule.He stated that the computing power network is one of the "six networks" planned and constructed by the country, and the computing power industry is in a stage of accelerated development, emphasizing the importance of "computing power and electricity coordination" and "computing power and water coordination." Xi Jinping also inspected the Huangqi Sea Nature Reserve and required the comprehensive implementation of the Wetland Protection Law.

Lily Liu, the chair of the Solana Foundation, stated in a post on October 16 that they showcased Solana on a large screen because of their deep affection for the Chinese community and gratitude for the warm welcome from the Chinese community. The display refers to the light show on the entire exterior wall of the Citibank building in Lujiazui, Shanghai on the evening of October 14.She mentioned that due to the publicity, the number of registrations for the Solana Shanghai event quadrupled overnight, far exceeding the limit reported to local government departments, and it could not prevent people from flooding the venue. To comply with local requirements, the event will be postponed and will be held when it can better accommodate the size of the community. She apologized to those who came from near and far wanting to participate in the Shanghai Solana event.

According to Coinglass data, the cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index is currently at 64, up 12 points from yesterday. The average over the past 7 days is 60, and the average over the past 30 days is 67.

Federal Reserve Chairman Waller stated that inflation is not unique to the United States.

According to Bloomberg, Jeff Yan, co-founder of Hyperliquid Labs, is seeking the United States to establish rules that can protect its blockchain.He believes that the regulatory responsibilities of Hyperliquid should fall on the financial institutions operating in the market based on that blockchain, namely the application layer, rather than on the blockchain network itself. This regulatory division would allow Hyperliquid to enter Wall Street without having to bear the full compliance burden of traditional exchanges.

According to SoSoValue data, the total net outflow for the U.S. XRP and ZEC spot ETFs was $104,500 and $14,763,300 respectively, with a total net outflow of $14,867,800; the NEAR spot ETF had a total net inflow of $1,126,000 for the day.For XRP, the Franklin XRP ETF (XRPZ) had a net inflow of $3,644,800 for the day, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $513 million; the Bitwise XRP ETF (XRP) had a net outflow of $3,749,400 for the day, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $685 million. As of the time of writing, the total net asset value of the XRP spot ETF was $1.528 billion, with a net asset ratio of 1.81%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $1.803 billion.For ZEC, only the Zcash ETF (ZCSH) recorded a net outflow for the day, amounting to $14,763,300, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $164 million. As of the time of writing, the total net asset value of the ZEC spot ETF was $674 million, with a net asset ratio of 3.21%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $164 million.For NEAR, only the Bitwise NEAR ETF (NRR) recorded a net inflow for the day, amounting to $1,126,000, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $80,440,700. As of the time of writing, the total net asset value of the NEAR spot ETF was $8,612,500, with a net asset ratio of 1.24%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $80,440,700.

AMC CEO Adam Aron once again expressed opposition to Robinhood's issuance of stock tokens on the X platform, stating that AMC does not agree with Robinhood's issuance of tokens that replicate AMC stock in the United States.Aron stated that such tokens are false synthetic stocks that could affect AMC's capital structure. He also mentioned that the SEC requires Robinhood to obtain AMC's consent or at least ensure that AMC does not object, emphasizing that AMC should control its own financial destiny rather than being determined by Robinhood.

Some investors are considering valuing the upcoming IPO of the artificial intelligence company Anthropic at $1.5 trillion, a 25% decrease from the earlier expectation of $2 trillion.Anthropic reported third-quarter revenue of $16.8 billion, a 45% quarter-over-quarter increase, but the growth rate has sharply slowed after more than doubling revenue in the second quarter. The company also reported adjusted profitability for the quarter.

The Google Quantum AI team published a paper in Science, announcing that a technique called magic state cultivation reduces errors by about 40 times on the Willow processor, producing logical fidelity of 99.99% for T states. Magic states are one-time resources required to run useful quantum programs, consumed with each use; according to estimates cited by Google, the cost of producing magic states can account for up to 95% of a quantum computer's total capacity, leaving very limited space for actual computation.The previous standard approach was magic state distillation proposed by physicists Sergei Bravyi and Alexei Kitaev in 2004, which required a large number of qubit factories dedicated solely to this task. Google researchers proposed a cheaper cultivation route in 2024, which behaves more like a filter: injecting rough magic states into a small area of the chip, running a series of checks on them, discarding all attempts found to be defective, and allowing the passers to gradually expand. In the experiments, only about 8% of attempts passed all checks, meaning that more than 90% of attempts had to be discarded for each clean state retained.The cultivation technology is one of the supports for Gidney's 2025 estimate that RSA-2048 encryption could be broken by fewer than a million noisy qubits, a reduction of 20 times from the 20 million estimated in 2019. This experiment used up to 54 of the 105 qubits in Willow, with the paper noting that breaking the RSA-2048 key requires magic states with an error rate of about one in ten billion, which is about a million times cleaner than this result.