Finance

TReDS to Boost MSME Enrollment by Millions in Next Two Years

Plans are being developed to onboard up to one million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) onto the country’s Trade Receivables E-discounting System (TReDS) platforms over the next few years.

This issue was addressed in recent discussions between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and companies in the TReDS sector. Other topics covered during the review included the progress of including insurance companies as the "fourth participant" in TReDS, alongside MSME sellers, buyers, and financiers, as well as the platform's integration with the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN).

TReDS are online platforms that facilitate suppliers...

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TECH

Is the Tech Industry Facing an A.I. Slowdown?

Demis Hassabis, one of the world’s leading experts on artificial intelligence, has a cautionary message for the tech industry: don’t expect chatbots to keep improving at the rapid pace seen in recent years.

For some time now, A.I. researchers have relied on a straightforward strategy to enhance their systems: feeding large language models—like those that power chatbots—massive amounts of data scraped from the internet. The more data they input, the better the models performed.

However, Dr. Hassabis, who leads Google DeepMind, the company's primary A.I. lab, warns that this approach is reaching its limits. The reason? Tech companies are running out of new data to feed their systems.

“Everyone in the industry is seeing diminishing returns,” Dr. Hassabis stated in an interview with The New York Times earlier this month, as he was preparing to accept a Nobel Prize for his contributions to artificial intelligence.

Hassabis is not alone in sounding the alarm. Interviews with 20 executives and researchers reveal a growing consensus that the tech industry is confronting a challenge many thought unimaginable just a few years ago: most of the digital text available on the internet has already been used.

This issue is emerging even as billions of dollars continue to flow into A.I. development. Just this week, Databricks, an A.I. data company, announced it was nearing $10 billion in funding—setting a record for the largest private funding round for a startup. Meanwhile, the biggest tech companies continue to show no signs of scaling back their investments in massive data centers to support A.I. systems.

CRYPTO

North Korea's Cyber Crime Surge: $1.3B in Crypto Stolen in 2024

A total of $2.2 billion (£1.76 billion) in cryptocurrencies has been stolen this year, with North Korean hackers responsible for more than half of that amount, according to a new study.

Research firm Chainalysis reports that hackers linked to the reclusive North Korean regime have stolen $1.3 billion in digital currencies — more than double the amount they took last year.

The report suggests that some of these thefts are tied to North Korean hackers posing as remote IT workers to infiltrate cryptocurrency and tech companies.

This surge in crypto thefts comes as Bitcoin's price has more than doubled this year, fueled by expectations that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will be more crypto-friendly than his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Overall, the total value of stolen cryptocurrency in 2024 has risen by 21% compared to the previous year, although it remains below the levels seen in 2021 and 2022, the report states.

"The increase in stolen crypto highlights the growing need for the industry to confront an increasingly complex and evolving threat landscape," the study warns.

The report also notes that most of the stolen crypto this year was due to compromised private keys — essential tools that control access to users' assets on crypto platforms.

"Given that centralized exchanges hold significant user funds, a breach of private keys can have catastrophic consequences," it adds.

Some of the year's largest incidents include the theft of around $300 million worth of Bitcoin from Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin, and nearly $235 million stolen from WazirX, an India-based exchange.

The U.S. government has pointed out that North Korea relies on cryptocurrency theft and other cybercrimes as a way to bypass international sanctions and fund its operations.