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  • CrowdStrike Charlotte AI Achieves FedRAMP High Authorization

    CrowdStrike Charlotte AI Achieves FedRAMP High Authorization

    Agentic AI trained on the judgement of elite security analysts automates high-impact workflows to keep public sector defenders ahead of AI-accelerated threats

    AUSTIN, Texas – November 25, 2025 – CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) today announced that CrowdStrike® Charlotte AI has achieved Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) High Authorization. With this designation, CrowdStrike is transforming public sector defense for the AI era, automating the time-consuming tasks better suited for machines. Trained on the judgement of elite security analysts, Charlotte AI is now available to federal, state, and local agencies through the Falcon® platform in GovCloud, elevating defenders from alert handlers to orchestrators of the agentic SOC.

    “Government agencies face some of the most advanced cyber threats in the world and demand the highest level of protection,” said Michael Sentonas, president of CrowdStrike. “By bringing Charlotte AI to GovCloud, security teams can automate high-impact workflows with the expertise of the industry’s best SOC operators, stopping sophisticated threats at the speed of AI with precision and control.”

    The public sector is under relentless attack, with adversaries weaponizing AI to accelerate every stage of the threat chain and collapse the defender’s window to act. Trained on years of real-world decisions from Falcon® Complete and incident response engagements, Charlotte AI thinks, reasons, and acts like an elite analyst at machine speed, always under defender control. This flips time in defenders’ favor, eliminating high-friction tasks and enabling analysts to focus on the strategic decisions that strengthen security.

    Delivered through the FedRAMP-authorized Falcon platform, the first Charlotte AI capabilities available in GovCloud include:

    • Detection Triage Agent: Triages security detections with over 98% accuracy1, eliminating more than 40 hours of manual work per week on average2 to scale SOC operations and accelerate response to the most critical threats.
    • Charlotte AI Actions in Falcon Fusion SOAR: Enables analysts to use a drag-and-drop interface to embed AI reasoning into playbooks. For example, determining device containment based on company policies and generating tailored communications for executives, technical teams, and customers, with automatic translation for global reach.


    The FedRAMP High Authorization validates that Charlotte AI meets FedRAMP’s most rigorous security and compliance standards, providing data confidentiality, integrity, and availability across mission-critical U.S. government operations.

    To learn more about Charlotte AI, visit here. To learn more about CrowdStrike’s ongoing commitment to meeting the highest independent and government-led cybersecurity and information management standards, visit the CrowdStrike Compliance and Certification Page.

    About CrowdStrike

    CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD), a global cybersecurity leader, has redefined modern security with the world’s most advanced cloud-native platform for protecting critical areas of enterprise risk – endpoints and cloud workloads, identity and data.

    Powered by the CrowdStrike Security Cloud and world-class AI, the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform leverages real-time indicators of attack, threat intelligence, evolving adversary tradecraft and enriched telemetry from across the enterprise to deliver hyper-accurate detections, automated protection and remediation, elite threat hunting and prioritized observability of vulnerabilities.

    Purpose-built in the cloud with a single lightweight-agent architecture, the Falcon platform delivers rapid and scalable deployment, superior protection and performance, reduced complexity and immediate time-to-value.

    CrowdStrike: We stop breaches.

    Learn more: https://www.crowdstrike.com/

    Follow us: Blog | X | LinkedIn | Instagram

    Start a free trial today: https://www.crowdstrike.com/trial

    © 2025 CrowdStrike, Inc. All rights reserved. CrowdStrike and CrowdStrike Falcon are marks owned by CrowdStrike, Inc. and are registered in the United States and other countries. CrowdStrike owns other trademarks and service marks and may use the brands of third parties to identify their products and services.

    Media Contact

    Jake Schuster

    CrowdStrike Corporate Communications

    press@crowdstrike.com

     



    1Accuracy rating is a measure of Charlotte AI triage decisions that match the expert decisions from the CrowdStrike Falcon Complete Next-Gen MDR team.

    2Calculated by multiplying the average number of alerts triaged by Charlotte AI by a 5-minute triage time per alert as estimated by the Falcon Complete team. Individual results may vary based on factors such as total alert volume.

     



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    November 25, 2025
  • Google Cloud Honors Valeo CEO Christophe Périllat for AI Leadership

    Google Cloud Honors Valeo CEO Christophe Périllat for AI Leadership

    Valeo Group | 25 Nov, 2025
    | 2 min

    Built on a strong, two-year partnership with Google Cloud, this recognition confirms Valeo’s pioneering position as it advances into the AI era.


    November 25, 2025 — Paris, France — At the Adopt AI Summit held by Artefact, Valeo CEO Christophe Périllat has been honored by the “CEO of the Year” Award by Google Cloud in France. This title serves as a powerful recognition of Périllat’s bold, systematic strategy to embed artificial intelligence across the entire global mobility technology leader. The award celebrates a forward-looking vision pivotal in shaping the future of mobility, demonstrating how Valeo is translating the vast opportunities of AI into concrete, industry-leading solutions.

    Christophe Périllat, CEO of Valeo, said: “We see AI as the ultimate productivity game-changer, particularly for complex R&D cycles. The companies that deploy it with precision will pull ahead. Our teams have fully embraced this strategy, building on more than two decades of AI experience. We are not just experimenting —  we are leveraging a profound historical advantage to deliver cutting-edge, effective solutions that others are only now beginning to explore.”

    Decades of Vision: Valeo’s 20-Year AI Advantage

    At Valeo, the application of AI is a long-term strategy that started more than 20 years ago. Over the course of years, Valeo developed neural networks and deep learning to understand the vehicle’s environment and develop solutions for safer and more automated mobility. Today, the Group leverages AI at every stage, from research and development, factories to product design with more than 9,000 software and system engineers, and 200 AI experts.

    The Generative Leap: 25% of Certified Code is Now AI-Generated

    Through a long-term partnership with Google Cloud, the Group deploys its coding assistant and trains key users for them to coach and support local teams. By the end of 2024, all software engineers were trained and equipped with Generative AI tools, and today more than 25% of Valeo’s certified automotive code is AI-generated, marking a massive increase from 0% just 16 months ago. The company also deployed Generative AI to greatly simplify the analysis of technical specifications. Through other partnerships, Valeo is also working on the automatic design of mechanical parts and of PCBs. 

    This significant acceleration is further bolstered by internal initiatives focused on hands-on innovation. At the beginning of its internal transformation, in 2024, Valeo organized its first hackathon focusing on generative AI through a joint partnership with Google Cloud and Artefact. During this hackathon, 16 teams participated in the training sessions with data scientists from Artefact and experts from Google Cloud, and more than 120 Valeo employees leveraged generative AI to advance innovative ideas into the creation of minimum viable products (MVP). Most of these ideas are now being implemented, as the hackathon was the foundation of Valeo’s AI4all program, which has led to the deployment of 84 AI agents to boost productivity within the company.

    Valeo.AI: Driving Reliability and Safety in Complex Road Scenarios

    Valeo’s long-term AI commitment is driven by Valeo.AI, the first global AI research center dedicated specifically to automotive applications, founded in 2017. Connected with the academic world, the center pioneers research in assisted and autonomous driving. Its mission: to overcome key challenges like enhancing Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) reliability in complex scenarios (e.g., adverse weather or abnormal road conditions). Valeo.AI focuses on sensor fusion, data-efficient learning, and developing dependable, explainable AI models to ensure safer, more efficient, and robust autonomous travel worldwide.

    Christophe Périllat receives the “CEO of the Year” award from Isabelle Fraine, Managing Director of Google Cloud France.

    Christophe Périllat receives the “CEO of the Year” award from Isabelle Fraine, Managing Director of Google Cloud France.

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    November 25, 2025
  • Gap Inc. Is Using AI to Reimagine Retail, With New Innovations Launching in Time for Cyber Monday

    Gap Inc. Is Using AI to Reimagine Retail, With New Innovations Launching in Time for Cyber Monday

    Gap Inc.

    November 25, 2025

    Just in time for Cyber Monday 2025, Gap Inc. customers will see something new when they shop online — experiences powered by artificial intelligence that make it easier to discover styles they love, find the right fit, and shop seamlessly across our family of brands. 

    At Gap Inc., we’re embracing AI to reimagine what’s possible in retail — from how our teams design products to how customers experience them. And starting this holiday shopping season, we’re using new AI-powered tools to make the shopping experience more seamless, more personalized, and more fun for our customers.  

    Whether online or in stores, AI is helping us remove friction, spark creativity, and inspire confidence in every interaction. By combining our deep retail expertise with the latest AI tools, we’re able to better understand what our customers want, anticipate their needs, and deliver experiences that feel uniquely tailored to them.

    A More Personal Way to Shop

    Across our brand sites, customers will find new AI-powered features that make shopping faster, smarter, and more inspiring:

    • Trend based curations: Intelligent edits like Gap’s Fall Trend Edit and Banana Republic’s Fall Essentials use AI to highlight the styles, colors, and looks that are trending at the speed of culture.
    • Smarter Product Recommendations: New tools such as “Wear It With,” “You Might Also Like,” and “Customers Also Viewed” offer more intuitive product pairings to inspire complete looks.
    • AI-Powered Customer Care: Our digital assistant, available through “Chat with Us” on brand sites and in the mobile app, helps customers manage returns, payments, order tracking, and more — any time, on any device.
    • Intelligent Fit: Now available with Gap and Old Navy denim bottoms provides customers recommended sizes based on key body measurements.
    • Customers can also discover Gap Inc. products through emerging AI-powered platforms like daydream.ing, helping customers find their style and connect back to our brand sites to shop. 

    Behind The Scenes 

    These retail experiences are powered by the same AI-driven workflows that are transforming how our teams create:

    • Designers now use generative AI to move from concept sketches to photorealistic product renders in minutes — accelerating creativity and shortening the path from idea to launch.
    • In our offices, we’re embedding AI experimentation into our culture. Employees across Gap Inc. are adopting new AI tools that boost storytelling, planning, and design.

    These innovations are being built on a unified, AI-powered platform developed in collaboration with Google Cloud and other technology partners. This flexible infrastructure allows teams to test, learn, and scale new ideas across design, commerce, and customer experience. 

    From product creation to customer care, our approach to AI is bringing more personalization, more creativity, and more connection to every shopping experience. 

    – Sven Gerjets

     

    About Gap Inc.

    Gap Inc., a purpose-driven house of iconic brands, is the largest specialty apparel company in America. Its Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands offer clothing, accessories, and lifestyle products for men, women and children available worldwide through company-operated and franchise stores, and e-commerce sites. Since 1969, Gap Inc. has created products and experiences that shape culture, while doing right by employees, communities and the planet through its commitment to bridge gaps to create a better world. For more information, please visit www.gapinc.com.

    Don’t miss out on the latest Gap Inc. news! Sign-up to get email alerts about news on Gap Inc. and our brands.

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    November 25, 2025
  • Apex Logistics to acquire majority of Andes Integración Logística

    Apex Logistics to acquire majority of Andes Integración Logística

    Apex Logistics signed an agreement to acquire the majority of shares of Andes Integración Logística. The transaction will enhance Apex Logistics’ offering in Latin America and support its strategic development goals.

    Andes Integración Logística, established in 2008, offers a comprehensive range of logistics services, including international air and sea freight, land transportation, warehousing, and distribution. Over the past 17 years, the company has experienced significant growth and today provides services in Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, the USA, and China.

    As one of the leading logistics providers in South America, Andes Integración Logística handles over 90,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) of ocean shipping containers and 40,000 tons of airfreight annually. The company has a proven track record and extensive experience in the perishables sector, shipping various seasonal fresh products, including salmon, cherries, berries, and mangoes, to Asia and across the world. Additionally, they serve key industries, including automotive, high-tech, industrial, fashion, and retail.

    Once the acquisition will be finalised, the two companies will greatly improve their complementary joint value proposition in the Americas. Apex’ established charter and commercial flight networks between Asia and North America, combined with Andes’ local talent and expertise, are designed to create strong logistics solutions maximizing the strategic potential within Latin America.

    Mr. Tony Song, CEO of Apex Logistics Group, says: “This acquisition significantly enhances our presence in the region as part of our growth strategy in Latin America. Andes Integración Logística’s expertise in fresh and cold chain logistics supplements Apex’s investments in similar areas in North America very well. We will have a dedicated perishables team of over 100 professionals and expand our cold-chain warehousing capacity, which will include temperature-controlled facilities exceeding 60,000 square feet, across LAX and SFO. A fleet of more than 10 refrigerated trucks supports this expansion.”

    Ms. Elsie Qian, CEO of Apex Logistics Americas, says: “With our strong customer proximity, relationship, and extensive operational experience in North America, the transaction and partnership with Andes Integración Logística will enable us to complement our customer’s service coverage into South America, broadening our regional network and unlocking exciting new growth opportunities.”

    Andes Integración Logística will continue to be managed by its experienced leadership team while maintaining its independent operational capabilities. The global network, resources, and solutions of the Apex Logistics Group will support this.

    As part of a joint branding initiative, it is foreseen that Andes Integración Logística will become Andes by Apex. This change will reflect the shared commitment of both companies to grow together as strategic partners.

    The transaction is still subject to customary closing conditions and approval by the competent authorities.

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    November 25, 2025
  • FDA OKs SMA Gene Therapy Itvisma – Medscape

    1. FDA OKs SMA Gene Therapy Itvisma  Medscape
    2. Muscular Dystrophy Association Calls FDA Approval of Novartis’ Itvisma (onasemnogene abeparvovec-brve) a Major Step Forward for the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Community  Muscular Dystrophy Association
    3. ‘Negative Effects’ of TikTok & Instagram Reels Explained by Study  Yahoo
    4. Novartis wins approval to use SMA gene therapy in older patients  BioPharma Dive
    5. FDA Approves New Intrathecal Administration Route for Spinal Muscular Atrophy Gene Therapy  NeurologyLive

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    November 25, 2025
  • News and stories detail | Leonardo

    News and stories detail | Leonardo








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    November 25, 2025
  • Can Your Wave Energy Technology Survive the Ocean?

    Can Your Wave Energy Technology Survive the Ocean?

    How a Forthcoming Modeling Tool Could Help Developers Rapidly Assess the Potential of Any Floating Device

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    One person sits and another stands in front of a table with a computer screen displaying a graph and text.
    Developers typically use several computer models to assess new technology designs. Now, NREL researchers are building an all-in-one tool that makes it faster and easier to evaluate their designs in one platform. Photo by Gregory Cooper, NREL

    Can your technology triumph in the ocean?

    Ask SEA-Stack.

    True to its name, this one-of-a-kind, free, open-source tool combines (or stacks) multiple wave energy modeling capabilities into one user-friendly package.

    With SEA-Stack, wave energy companies—or any developers working on water-based tech, like ships, underwater drones, or even space shuttle crew modules—will be able to quickly vet new technology designs and potentially save significant time and money. Those savings could help accelerate technology development and enable wave energy devices to fulfill their promise: to deliver reliable energy to populated coastal cities, rural and remote communities, or even offshore data centers and military bases.

    “Wave energy has a lot of great prospects right now,” said Salman Husain, a mechanical engineer at NREL who is helping develop the next-generation SEA-Stack tool. “Computers are getting smaller. Advanced manufacturing has become a lot more affordable. You can do wireless communication to monitor devices that have been deployed.”

    And, Husain added, “with these rapid tools, we just might crack it.” (“It” being wave energy.)

    SEA-Stack is rapid—thanks to high-performance computing, it is about 10 to 100 times faster than its predecessors. The tool is also flexible, capable of running everything from simple but fast simulations (essential to quickly assess new design ideas) to complex analyses that account for tricky physics. With help from machine learning, it can also ingest the latest wave energy data—or data from nearly any floating tech.

    In short, SEA-Stack will be a Swiss Army knife for wave energy developers (and beyond).

    A graphic illustration of four wave energy modeling steps and how SEA-Stack differs from existing modeling approaches
    Unlike existing tools, SEA-Stack combines four traditionally separate modeling steps into one platform where developers can consider all relevant ocean physics. Illustration by Christopher Schwing, NREL

    Minimal Risk, Time, and Cost

    Wave energy devices—which produce electricity from the consistent, predictable energy flowing in ocean waves—could help the United States build an even more secure and resilient power system. But these early-stage energy technologies are not yet affordable or competitive enough to achieve commercial success, in large part because they come with complex engineering challenges. Devices must survive decades in a turbulent, powerful environment: the ocean.

    And the ocean is not a cooperative research partner.

    If developers toss an unvetted prototype into potentially destructive waves, they risk losing significant time and money (plus investors) if their device quickly fails, breaks, or does not produce as much energy as expected. Instead, companies need a virtual testing platform that can accurately replicate the ocean, so they can assess different device designs with far less risk, time, or cost. Although such tools exist, they all have major limitations.

    SEA-Stack is designed to overcome those limitations.

    “SEA-Stack enables researchers to design and optimize technologies while considering all relevant physics,” said Michael Lawson, who leads the NREL marine energy team. “That’s just not possible using the existing tools.”

    Existing tools cannot simulate certain features, like flexible device shells, collisions, or autonomous control systems, which allow a device to react automatically to its changing environment. Developers also cannot mix and match different codes to explore broader design possibilities. The SEA-Stack team is building in both capabilities.

    Plus, existing coding tools are typically siloed. A developer could use one to subject a design idea to a simplified ocean. Such low-fidelity models are handy because they are fast. But once the developer has a winning design, they often cannot use the same tool to put it through a high-fidelity model—one that is not as fast but accounts for the complex physics that affect how waves of different sizes and speeds interact with various wave energy devices.

    “In reality, waves are more like poly-pyramids moving all over the place,” Husain said.

    SEA-Stack has the poly-pyramids. And it has simplified waves, thanks to its predecessor and partner, WEC-Sim.

    Eight people crowded around a laptop on a table while a screen behind them displays graphic illustrations of a marine energy device.
    Salman Husain (far right), who worked on SEA-Stack’s predecessor, WEC-Sim, said the new modeling tool will be able to support the broad community of ocean-based technologies, including ships, marine robots, and devices used for scientific research. Photo by Taylor Mankle, NREL

    A Swiss Army Knife of Wave Energy Models

    “Historically, NREL has played a leading role in developing these simulation tools,” said David Ogden, a research engineer who helped develop the SEA-Stack code.

    That was true with WEC-Sim, the Wave Energy Converter SIMulator, another wave simulation tool, which won a prestigious R&D 100 Award in 2022. Researchers at NASA and Lockheed Martin depended on WEC-Sim to help a spaceflight crew land their module safely in the ocean.

    Husain, who specializes in numerical modeling, is learning from WEC-Sim’s successes and limitations to build SEA-Stack. WEC-Sim “has a lot of tools inside of it, but the moment you step outside of that ecosystem, you’re out in the open on your own,” Husain said.

    WEC-Sim also mostly operates in a two-dimensional space, which cannot fully replicate all wave dynamics.

    SEA-Stack does not jettison WEC-Sim’s bounty; instead, it simply expands its reach, stacking WEC-Sim with three additional code layers:

    • Python—a user-friendly, open-source software—is like the can opener in SEA-Stack’s Swiss Army knife: reliable and practical but slow.
    • C++, like a pair of scissors, is both sharp and quick, adding more complexity and enabling the tool to run 10–100 times faster than WEC-Sim.
    • Chrono is SEA-Stack’s core, its ultraprecise, versatile blade. This large code base can represent a plethora of physics, including complex—even entirely novel—wave energy machines and their underlying subsystems. Chrono can, for example, emulate thousands or even millions of fluid particles as tiny ping-pong balls drumming against a device’s exterior. And, because Chrono is open-source and can easily chat with other codes, both high- and low-fidelity, users can quickly explore a variety of concepts and identify the one that performs best.

    “We want to have as much data as possible before ‘getting the metal wet,’ as they say,” Ogden said. That includes data on numerous design iterations and fluid simulation methods, which help “build up that confidence that the thing is going to perform well and survive or ‘survive and thrive.’”

    With SEA-Stack, a developer can rapidly test their initial design ideas and then easily transition to more rigorous testing. As a bonus, the higher-fidelity models double-check the lower-fidelity results. If the low-fidelity model erred, it can learn and refine itself.  With help from machine learning, the entire SEA-Stack package can learn from broader ocean-based industries and their expertise.

    “We’re part of the larger community of marine systems, such as floating platforms, ships, and marine robots, like autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs,” Husain said. “This would help us innovate and design novel applications, like wave-powered AUVs.”

    That means wave energy developers benefit and so do companies that build any kind of floating technology.

    With SEA-Stack, Ogden said, “we’ll be able to do much more innovative design exploration and make sure the devices that are being built have the best possible chance of performing well.”

    Learn more about NREL’s research in marine energy and SEA-Stack. Then subscribe to The Current, NREL’s water power newsletter, to stay up to date on the latest research.

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    November 25, 2025
  • Holding of Silchester International Investors LLP in Tieto below 15%

    Holding of Silchester International Investors LLP in Tieto below 15%

    Tietoevry Corporation          STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE          25 November 2025, 6:00 p.m. EET

    Tietoevry Corporation (Tieto1)) has received an announcement pursuant to the Securities Market Act regarding a change in its shareholding. Silchester International Investors LLP has announced that its holding has decreased to 17 754 841 shares, representing 14,97% of the total number of shares.

    Silchester acts as investment manager for certain commingled funds (“Clients”). In acting for its Clients, Silchester is given full discretion over their investments and is empowered to vote on their behalf. One of the Clients, the Silchester International Investors International Value Equity Trust, holds 6.3% of the shares.

    Target company: Tietoevry Corporation, Business Identity Code: 0101138-5

    Date on which threshold was crossed or reached: 24 November 2025

    The registered number of shares of the company is 118 640 150, which entitle to a total of 118 640 150 votes.

    1) Tietoevry has adopted the new brand name Tieto as from November 2025. The change of the Parent company’s name, Tietoevry Corporation, is subject to the decision of the Annual General meeting.  

     

    For further information, please contact

    Tommi Järvenpää, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 40 576 0288, tommi.jarvenpaa (at) tietoevry.com

     

     

    TIETOEVRY CORPORATION

     

    DISTRIBUTION

    NASDAQ Helsinki

    NASDAQ Stockholm

    Oslo Børs

    Principal Media

     

    Tieto is a leading software and digital engineering services company with global market reach and capabilities. We provide customers across different industries with mission-critical solutions through our specialized software businesses Tieto Caretech, Tieto Banktech and Tieto Indtech as well as TietoTech Consulting business. Our around 15 000 talented vertical software, design, cloud and AI experts are dedicated to empowering our customers to succeed and innovate with latest technology.

     

    Tieto’s annual revenue is approximately EUR 2 billion. The company’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ exchange in Helsinki and Stockholm, as well as on Oslo Børs. www.tietoevry.com

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    November 25, 2025
  • Stablecoins for a universal basic income: The Pacific Islands model

    Stablecoins for a universal basic income: The Pacific Islands model

    The Marshall Islands’ recent decision to use a US dollar-backed stablecoin as one of the mechanisms for delivering a universal basic income (UBI) reflects the practical challenges of providing financial services across one of the world’s most geographically dispersed nations, where many households lack reliable access to banks.

    The new Lomalo digital wallet will distribute welfare payments in USDM1, a tokenised instrument issued on behalf of the Marshall Islands government and fully collateralised by short-term US Treasuries under a New York law indenture. Whether it qualifies as a “stablecoin” – the shorthand used in public reporting – is disputable because stablecoins are, by definition, privately issued instruments, whereas USDM1 is a sovereign obligation issued through a government-mandated structure. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has characterised its structure as that of a “digital sovereign bond”, aligning more closely with sovereign debt, even if it operates like a stablecoin in practice.

     Services taken for granted elsewhere, such as bank branches, ATMs, foreign-exchange dealers and even the ability to open an account, remain inaccessible for large parts of the population.

    This is an unusual development, but not an isolated one. Palau, Solomon Islands and other Pacific states have also begun experimenting with digital payment systems as traditional banking networks recede. What is emerging in the region is not a story of crypto hype but a response to the erosion of banking infrastructure that has left Pacific states searching for viable mechanisms to deliver core financial services.

    Within this context of financial fragility, the IMF notes that the Marshall Islands’ newly established UBI initiative is intended to cushion households from rising cost-of-living pressures and provide predictable support in an economy marked by limited formal employment and financial access. The scheme is also framed as a way to help stem heavy out-migration by offering a more stable social safety net in a setting of structural fragility and demographic loss.

    While the broad objectives are clear, the precise funding architecture remains only partially specified. Current plans rely on annual drawdowns from the Compact Trust Fund (backed primarily by US contributions) and, to a lesser extent, revenue associated with USDM1.

    Pacific financial systems have been under pressure for some time. Commercial banks have steadily withdrawn correspondent relationships across the region, citing low profitability and the cost of meeting global anti-money-laundering standards. Those withdrawals have weakened the ability of states to clear international payments, maintain remittance channels and distribute government funds to remote areas. Banking is expensive and inefficient for many small island states because it is geographically sparse, capacity-constrained and increasingly unreliable. Services taken for granted elsewhere, such as bank branches, ATMs, foreign-exchange dealers and even the ability to open an account, remain inaccessible for large parts of the population.

    The Marshall Islands has recently decided to use a US dollar-backed stablecoin as one of the mechanisms for delivering a universal basic income (Neill Cowles/Flickr)

    This is the context in which digital wallets and stablecoins have become attractive. Majuro’s interest in USDM1 reflects logistical realities rather than crypto enthusiasm as it enables direct transfers to citizens without bank accounts, reduces the burden of moving physical cash across dispersed atolls, and provides a payment channel that is not dependent on increasingly fragile correspondent-banking links through the Lomalo wallet.

    USDM1 does not resemble the speculative tokens that dominate cryptocurrency markets. The government emphasises that it is issued under New York law, backed by short-term US Treasuries, held in a bankruptcy-remote structure by a US-based custodian, and designed with redemption mechanics that mirror sovereign-debt obligations. In functional terms, it is closer to a tokenised Treasury bill than to a conventional crypto asset.

    Stablecoins may appear unnecessary from the vantage point of mature banking systems, but that assumption breaks down in the Pacific.

    These innovations come with risks. The IMF has repeatedly warned that digital-asset projects in the Pacific could generate macro-financial vulnerabilities, particularly where supervisory capacity is limited. Concerns include fiscal pressures from expanded liabilities, financial integrity risks arising from weak anti-money-laundering/know your customer frameworks, shocks from redemption flows, and operational vulnerabilities in digital systems. The IMF has also advised that the Marshall Islands’ UBI scheme be more narrowly targeted to maintain fiscal sustainability.

    Stablecoins may appear unnecessary from the vantage point of mature banking systems, but that assumption breaks down in the Pacific, where infrastructure is thin, uneven and deteriorating. With limited access to banks, weakening correspondent links and high cash-distribution costs, digital payment systems fill a real gap. They are emerging not as a technological novelty but as a substitute for banking infrastructure that can no longer meet basic needs.

    For Australia, the significance lies not in the Marshall Islands itself, which sits within the US compact system, but in the precedent it sets. Other Pacific governments facing similar banking constraints may turn to digital payment rails as traditional banking deteriorates. Canberra has already invested in maintaining regional banking access, working with the United States and the World Bank through the Pacific Banking Forum to address de-risking and correspondent-bank withdrawals.

    The forthcoming Australian digital assets framework, expected to introduce licensing requirements, reserve standards and governance rules, could become a useful tool for regional engagement. Rather than treating stablecoins solely as a domestic regulatory matter, Australia could share elements of its framework with Pacific partners, support supervisory capacity-building and work with central banks to test digital payment systems. The aim would not be to promote stablecoins but to ensure that their adoption does not outpace regulatory oversight or undermine financial stability.

    The Marshall Islands’ UBI program signals a shift that could accelerate across the region. As banking networks continue to contract, digital payment systems will become increasingly attractive to Pacific governments confronted with shrinking banking access and the need for workable alternatives. Key for Australia is to approach this change not through the lens of cryptocurrency optimism or scepticism but as a potential structural transformation in the region’s financial architecture.

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    November 25, 2025
  • Nvidia pushes back on charges that AI investment is a bubble

    Nvidia pushes back on charges that AI investment is a bubble

    The fight between Nvidia and one of its loudest naysayers, investor Michael Burry, is escalating.

    Following the “Big Short” investor’s series of social media posts arguing that the artificial intelligence investment boom is replaying the dotcom bubble from the 1990s, with Nvidia at the center of it, the chipmaker quietly circulated a private memo to analysts that explicitly namechecked Burry to push back on many of his claims.

    “Nvidia emailed a memo to Wall Street sell side analysts to push back on my arguments on SBC and Depreciation. I stand by my analysis,” Burry said in a post on Substack, referring to stock-based compensation. “I am not claiming Nvidia is Enron. It is clearly Cisco.”

    Burry has repeatedly warned that today’s AI infrastructure frenzy mirrors the late-1990s telecom buildout far more than the dot-com wipeouts investors remember. He pointed to massive capex plans, extended depreciation schedules and soaring valuations as evidence that markets are again mistaking a supply boom for durable demand.

    The Nvidia memo, first reported by Barron’s, disputed Burry’s claims around depreciation life.

    To Burry’s charge that customers are overstating the useful lives of Nvidia’s Graphics Processing Units in order to justify runaway capex, Nvidia counters that its customers depreciate GPUs over four to six years based on real-world longevity and utilization patterns.

    Nvidia added that older GPUs such as A100s (released in 2020) continue to run at high utilization rates and retain meaningful economic value well beyond the two to three years claimed by critics.

    The memo also rejects Burry’s suggestion of “circular financing,” saying Nvidia’s strategic investments represent a small fraction of revenue and that AI start-ups raise capital predominantly from outside investors.

    Today’s Cisco

    Burry believes Nvidia now occupies the exact same position as Cisco, the key hardware supplier that powered a massive capital investment cycle, held in 1999–2000.

    Just as telecommunication companies spent tens of billions of dollars laying fiber optic cable and buying Cisco gear based on forecasts that “internet traffic doubles every 100 days,” today’s hyperscalers are promising nearly $3 trillion in AI infrastructure spending over the next three years, Burry said in a Substack newsletter.

    The heart of his Cisco analogy is overbuilt supply meeting far less demand than expected. In the early 2000s, less than 5% of U.S. fiber capacity was operational, Burry said. Today, he believes the industry’s belief in boundless AI demand rests on similarly optimistic assumptions about data center power and GPU longevity.

    “And once again there is a Cisco at the center of it all, with the picks and shovels for all and the expansive vision to go with it. Its name is Nvidia,” Burry wrote.

    — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.

    Continue Reading

    November 25, 2025
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