ME News

ME News reported on February 20 (UTC+8) that researchers from multiple universities and research institutions published a paper in (Science) warning that future online 'influence operations' are evolving from easily identifiable simple bots/zombie networks into 'swarms' composed of numerous autonomous AI agents, which can collaboratively manipulate public opinion with less human intervention. The study claims that such AI swarms can disguise real human behavior, adapt their rhetoric across accounts and platforms, and continuously create specific narratives over long periods, making it difficult for existing risk control and review systems, which mainly target spam content and single-point violations, to effectively identify them. Scholars point out that platforms currently have significant shortcomings in identity verification, account abuse monitoring, and the transparency and external auditing of abnormal collaborative behaviors, and that relying solely on content review is insufficient for an effective defense. (Source: ME)

ME News Message, February 20 (UTC+8), at the end of last year, the U.S. economic growth fell short of expectations, hampered by a record government shutdown, weak consumer spending, and trade sluggishness. According to preliminary estimates released by the U.S. government on Friday, the inflation-adjusted annualized growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fourth quarter was 1.4%, down from 4.4% in the previous quarter. Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that the overall economic growth rate for last year was 2.2%. The weak economic performance fell below all expectations from Bloomberg's economist survey, as the U.S. government was in a shutdown for nearly half of the three-month period. The Bureau of Economic Analysis stated that the government shutdown reduced GDP by about 1 percentage point. Despite the slowdown in growth at the end of the year, this data still marks the end of a robust year for the U.S. economy. The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter due to a surge in imports ahead of the tariffs taking effect, but then achieved one of the strongest growth rates in years. This shift was aided by Trump abandoning the most severe tariff measures and the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates, which propelled the stock market to record highs and allowed wealthy Americans to continue spending. (Source: ME)

ME News message, February 20 (UTC+8), the U.S. December Core PCE inflation increase exceeded expectations, and various signs indicate that January inflation will further accelerate, reinforcing market expectations that the Federal Reserve will not cut rates before June. Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday showed that after excluding volatile food and energy prices, the Core PCE index rose 0.4% month-on-month in December, while economists predicted a 0.3% increase. The Core PCE inflation rate rose 3.0% year-on-year, compared to an increase of 2.8% in November. The Core PCE is one of the key indicators favored by the Federal Reserve. This data is included in the estimated report of the fourth quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) released on Friday. Although the Consumer Price Index report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics last week showed a moderate increase in January CPI, there is still some lag in service sector inflation. Economists also noted a surge in legal service prices in January. (Source: ME)

ME News message, February 20 (UTC+8), FTX founder SBF's account on platform X published a series of tweets listing "10 misconceptions about me and FTX" to defend himself and FTX. SBF stated that FTX was not insolvent, but after the intervention of lawyers and the filing for bankruptcy, it ultimately repaid customers between 119%-143% of their principal. He claimed that during the withdrawal crisis, multiple parties proposed funding solutions, but lawyers submitted the bankruptcy application without his full consent. He also denied rumors of a "polyamorous party" and revealed his political donation situation: by the end of 2022, he had shifted to support the Republican Party, and donations to the right exceeded those to the left, with prior donations to the Republican Party not publicly disclosed. Additionally, SBF accused the bankruptcy lawyer team of charging him over $1 billion in fees and deliberately delaying the repayment process to clients. (Source: ME)

The Trump family has established a cryptocurrency platform, World Liberty Financial, launched a USD1 stablecoin, and promoted the vision of a 'upgraded dollar'; Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and other Wall Street giants have changed their attitudes and attended the meeting at Mar-a-Lago; the platform received investment from Abu Dhabi Capital, raising concerns about conflicts of interest; the family claims their involvement is a response to being sidelined by the traditional banking system after 2021.

Article author: Li Dan

Source: Wall Street Watch

Although cryptocurrency has plummeted this year, the family of U.S. President Trump appears to be trying to preserve their reputation. The cryptocurrency platform they support is reshaping the relationship between Wall Street and digital assets.

From building ecology to solving problems: The latest list of YC 2026 reveals that the Crypto track has been completely refreshed, with stablecoin payments and AI Agents becoming the new favorites in Silicon Valley.

Article author, source: aiwatch

I have been in the Crypto industry for six or seven years, and in the past two years, I have also delved into the AI track, residing in Silicon Valley. Because I am in both circles, one obvious feeling is that in the mainstream circles of Silicon Valley, the word Crypto is mentioned less and less, but what Crypto does is increasingly being utilized.

I want to bring back some signals from the AI side for Crypto practitioners to reference.

The ability of agents to understand, repair, and utilize smart contracts is not meant to take away jobs from crypto security companies. In my view, these capabilities point to a more fundamental question: Can agents truly survive and operate in a crypto environment in the future? The evmbench released by OpenAI is a yardstick for measuring this survival capability.

Article author, source: @chaowxyz

Statement: This article is a reprint. Readers can obtain more information through the original link. If the author has any objections to the form of reprint, please contact us, and we will make modifications according to the author's request. Reprinting is for information sharing only and does not constitute any investment advice, nor does it represent the views and positions of Wu's statement.

The article analyzes the public stance of Bitcoin core developers on the threat of quantum computing, pointing out that the vast majority of the most influential developers (such as Pieter Wuille, Adam Back, Peter Todd, etc.) generally view quantum risks as distant and theoretical issues, lacking a sense of urgency and consensus on action; only a few researchers like Jonas Nick are actively engaged in post-quantum solutions, but have failed to drive substantial progress at the protocol level, highlighting the rigidity and lag of Bitcoin's governance structure in addressing existential technological threats.

Article author, source: Nic Carter

Editor's note: Will quantum computing become Bitcoin's 'next existential test'? Regarding this issue, the community is not short of researchers and technical solutions, but what truly determines the direction of the protocol is always that small group of core developers with substantial influence.

Coinbase announces that the Base chain will separate from Optimism's OP Stack and will switch to self-developed code, terminating the sharing of 15% of revenue with the Optimism Alliance, leading to a 25% crash in the price of OP tokens; this move severely impacts 41% of the historical revenue sources of the Optimism Alliance and undermines the vision of Superchain ecosystem integration, although Optimism will still provide enterprise-level services to Base and benefit from the migration of Ether.fi.

Author: DL News

Translation: PANews

Leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S. are completely overhauling their nearly three-year partnership with Layer 2 (L2) developers: Coinbase's Base blockchain will now use self-developed code and will no longer rely on Optimism's OP Stack.