AI / Large Language Models
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 launches, topping both Zhihu’s trending list and Hacker News within a day
DeepSeek’s latest Flash-series model is now available on Hugging Face and OpenRouter, drawing intense discussion in Chinese-language communities.
Buzz: Are speed and cost once again lowering industry expectations? Some users are discussing whether it’s suitable for local deployment.
Sources: Hugging Face | OpenRouter | Zhihu
Anthropic uses Claude to trace the origins of Bitcoin’s ECDSA curve; community reaction is divided
Claude’s research uncovered a possible origin for the ECDSA elliptic curve parameters. 335 comments on Hacker News are debating whether it’s a real discovery or a model hallucination.
> Hot take: AI helps you dig up cryptography’s dark past today. Tomorrow, will it help you find your ex’s secret social media accounts?
Source: Anthropic | HN
Claude Code team shares its internal code review methods
Anthropic’s official blog breaks down in detail how the team uses Claude for code review. The 338 HN comments focus on whether “AI reviews are actually more reliable than human ones.”
Source: Claude Blog | HN
Gemini 4 Argon demo shows it playing StarCraft live
A Show HN post features a benchmark page showing Gemini 4 Argon playing StarCraft in real time. Most of the 101 comments question whether “this really counts as knowing how to play.”
> Hot take: AI’s StarCraft skills are about on par with a human player crying while they play.
Source: starskirmish | HN
Jailbroken PS5 can natively run any GGUF model
llama.cpp has been ported to a jailbroken PS5, earning 302 likes. The project turns a game console into a local inference device.
Source: GitHub | HN
Llmspeed launches: test speeds before buying hardware
A new tool lets you try out how fast local large language models actually run before buying hardware, helping you decide which GPU to get.
Source: llmspeed.dev | HN
Crypto / Web3
DTCC announces plans to tokenize 25 securities, with Canton and private Besu as the first networks
The U.S. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation has officially launched its tokenized securities roadmap. Tokens will move 24/7 between wallets registered with DTC, though conversions will be limited to business days.
Source: DefiantNews
Visa enables global USDC payments through Visa Direct, covering more than 180 countries
This is an important step toward bringing stablecoins into mainstream payment networks. On the same day, Japan’s three megabanks also completed their first test of cross-border crypto stablecoin payments.
> Hot take: Stablecoins are evolving from “a settlement tool for the crypto crowd” into a genuine global payments layer. Traditional banks are moving faster than many crypto projects.
Source: CoinbaseMarkets
Solana sets records across the board in Q3: $299 million in app revenue and $7.1 billion in tokenized stocks
Solana app revenue rose 48% quarter over quarter, DEX spot trading volume reached $197.2 billion, and the network processed 14.2 billion transactions—about 1,790 per second.
Source: Solana
RWA perpetual futures trading volume topped $2 trillion in a single quarter, with Pyth pricing $2.04 trillion of it
Real-world asset derivatives have become one of the fastest-growing segments in crypto, with open interest hitting a record $12.6 billion at quarter-end.
Source: PythNetwork
Starknet launches vote on transition to L1, with overwhelming community support
Starknet has opened a non-binding vote on whether to leave Ethereum and become an independent L1 chain. So far, community feedback is almost entirely in favor.
Source: StarkWare
TRON’s average daily stablecoin transfer volume hit $24 billion in Q3, while USDT supply rose to $94.25 billion
Justin Sun released Q3 figures: stablecoin transfers totaled $2.2 trillion for the quarter, with around 18 million monthly active accounts, up nearly 10% quarter over quarter.
Source: justinsuntron
Chips / Hardware
SemiAnalysis: Nvidia reportedly barred Neoclouds from GTC Berlin for adopting AMD GPUs and TPUs
Several Neoclouds confirmed that adding AMD GPUs or TPUs to their cloud products could lead to pressure from Nvidia or even the loss of their event passes. Hyperscalers are unaffected because of their large purchasing volumes, but smaller cloud providers are considering launching rival chips “under the radar.”
> Hot take: Nvidia talks about an “open ecosystem,” but acts like “all green or don’t bother showing up.”
Source: SemiAnalysis
Vontobel sharply increased its Nvidia and Microsoft holdings in Q3, while nearly exiting Netflix
Quarter-end holdings at the Swiss asset management giant show Nvidia up $349 million to $1.57 billion, and Microsoft up $360 million. Netflix was cut to nearly zero.
Source: SEC
Technology Companies
Tesla Roadster officially unveiled as Musk’s net worth sheds 528.6 billion yuan in four days
The new car drops the all-wheel-drive setup, uses a dedicated 4680 battery, and targets a weight of under 1.7 tonnes. But Tesla and SpaceX shares continued to plunge after the unveiling, as the market questioned the commercial value of a “flying Tesla.”
Buzz: 284 Zhihu comments are debating whether this is an engineering marvel or a tool for Musk to distract attention.
Source: Tesla | Zhihu | Wall Street News
Apple open-sources MLX distributed inference, enabling multi-Mac Studio clusters
Apple ML Research has released an MLX distributed inference solution, meaning multiple Mac Studios can now run larger models.
Source: Apple | HN
Apple updates App Store rules, cracking down on “Nudify”-style AI apps
The new rules explicitly ban apps that use AI to generate nude images of other people or sexually harass them, marking a further tightening of AI content governance.
Source: The Verge
Demand for iPhone Duo is “stunning”; Apple starts developing its own smart home devices
Apple says demand for its new foldable phone has exceeded expectations, and confirmed that it is building its own Home-branded smart home product line.
Source: The Verge | Cailian Press
U.S. Stocks
AI trade fears hammer Nasdaq: down over 2%, CoreWeave plunges 12%, VIX rises above 22
It was the Nasdaq’s biggest one-day drop since July 23, with semiconductor and memory stocks plunging across the board. The market is starting to seriously price in the question: “How much longer can the AI giants hold up?”
Buzz: Ordinary stocks have been falling for a long time, and now it’s the AI giants’ turn—this divergence has been called “the most dangerous divergence.”
Source: Wall Street News | Wall Street News | Cailian Press
Finance / Macro
Brent crude tops $110 for the first time since May last year
Iran continues to attack tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, while Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile headed for Yanbu. Traders piled into bullish options ahead of the weekend.
Source: Bloomberg | CNBC
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is down 70% from pre-war levels; UK maritime agency admits many attacks go unreported
Multiple sources confirm that Iran is directly firing on vessels transiting the strait, with several hit or disabled and at least two sunk. U.S. escort operations have boosted some traffic, but freight rates and insurance premiums remain extremely high.
Source: UKMTO | staunovo
Several banks raise deposit rates, with five-year fixed-term deposits reaching as high as 2.1%
The story has reached 2.95 million views on Zhihu’s trending list. Banks are starting to compete for deposits, perhaps in response to current liquidity and asset-side pressures.
Source: Zhihu
Today’s undercurrent
Today’s markets are being pulled in two directions at once: one is the rapid “mainstreaming” of crypto infrastructure—DTCC tokenizing securities, Visa adding USDC, and Japanese banks testing cross-border stablecoin payments. The other is escalating macro risk—the Strait of Hormuz under attack, oil above $110, and the Nasdaq down more than 2% in a single day.
The two may seem unrelated, but they are two sides of the same coin. When geopolitical conflict makes global trade routes uncertain, capital naturally accelerates its search for a settlement layer that “doesn’t depend on the physical world”—a long-term tailwind for stablecoins and tokenized assets. Meanwhile, the AI stock selloff shows that the market is starting to reprice “grand narratives”: both AI and crypto enjoyed “limitless expectations” from last year through today, and now they’re facing real interest rates, energy costs, and genuine global risks together.