🔖Ripple reiterates XRP's central role amid ecosystem expansion

The executives are moving to reassure the community that XRP remains the "heartbeat" of the company’s rapidly diversifying ecosystem. Ripple is sending a clear signal to the market and its community: XRP remains the central engine of its corporate strategy. This comes amid the company's rapid expansion into custody, stablecoins, and prime brokerage.

In a recent statement on X, Ripple executive Reece Merrick addressed the issue, stating, "XRP will continue to be at the heart" of the San Francisco-based enterprise blockchain company.

There is a major update scheduled for mid-February, where the company plans to outline exactly how the digital asset fits into its evolving ecosystem. Monica Long (Ripple President) will lead the discussion, moderated by Jacquelyn Melinek (CEO of Token Relations).

#Stellar

@QSIMedia

🇨🇳 China is rapidly scaling up production of AI powered robots designed to handle tasks in warehouses and retail stores, aiming to boost efficiency, cut labour costs, and accelerate automation across logistics and commercial sectors.

Chinese companies like UBTECH, Unitree Robotics, and CloudMinds are prominent in the humanoid robot sector. Check out these cutting-edge humanoid robots developed by a company in China's Guangdong. From attaching car badges to quality inspection, they're changing the game in manufacturing! 🤩

#BRICS

@QSIMedia

🤑 Waymo closes US$16bn round at record US$110bn valuation

Waymo is finalising a US$16bn funding round that more than doubles the valuation of Google’s self-driving car business to US$110bn, bringing in several new investors as it gears up for a highly-anticipated global expansion. Parent company Alphabet will contribute more than three-quarters of the amount raised, with new participants including Sequoia Capital, DST Global and Dragoneer Investment Group alongside existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala.

Waymo has established itself as the de facto champion of global robotaxi deployment. In the US it dominates the segment, with primary competitors Zoox and Tesla only having deployed fully autonomous driving services in one city each against Waymo’s six. Thus far the firm has recorded more than 125 million fully autonomous miles on US roads.

Waymo’s annual recurring revenue grew to more than US$350m in 2025. Currently the firm is testing in London and Tokyo; conversations have also been confirmed to have taken place with the Australian government. The company expects to host one million rides weekly this year across cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Miami. It has also partnered with Uber for secondary markets such as Austin and Atlanta. In 2026, it plans to expand to additional US cities including Detroit, Las Vegas, Nashville and Washington DC.

@QSIMedia

😄 At a black-tie dinner, Trump joked about territorial expansion, first saying he needed to “watch the invasion of Greenland” before walking it back.

“We’re not going to invade Greenland. We’re going to buy it,” he said. “It’s never been my intention to make Greenland the 51st state. I want to make Canada the 51st state. Greenland will be the 52nd state. Venezuela can be 53rd.”

@QSIMedia

🇩🇪 Germany may develop its own nuclear weapons with EU allies: ‘Talks are taking place’

Berlin is considering developing its own atomic weapons to bolster Europe’s nuclear umbrella and the US’s own stockpile in the region, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Merz said the country is in talks with its partner nations on the possibility of extending Europe’s nuclear arm, which currently involves Britain and France as the sole nations in the continent with atomic weapons.

“These talks are taking place,” Merz said, adding that the discussions were only in their initial phase.

The German chancellor stressed that no decision would be made quickly nor would it “conflict with nuclear-sharing with the United States of America.” Germany is currently banned from developing nuclear weapons of its own under the Four Plus Two agreement that allowed East and West Germany to reunite in 1990.❗️ As with most of the world, Germany is also a signatory of the 1969 nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Merz said that while Germany has certain obligations to meet under the treaties, the pacts do not prevent a discussion on the matter with its partners.

“We do not have missiles or warheads, but we do have a significant technological advantage that we could contribute to a joint European initiative,” Roewekamp told Germany’s Welt TV.

@QSIMedia

💎Billiton Diamond and Ctrl Alt Launch $280M+ Diamond Tokenization Initiative in the UAE with the participation of Ripple

In a landmark move for the diamond and digital asset industries, Billiton Diamond and leading tokenization provider Ctrl Alt, today announced a collaboration that has tokenized over AED 1 billion ($280m) of certified polished diamonds held in the UAE.

The move positions Billiton at the forefront of diamond investment innovation and Ctrl Alt as a leader in commodities tokenization. The tokenized assets will be secured through Ripple’s enterprise-grade custody technology.
‍
Through this collaboration, Billiton will launch a new tokenized diamond platform that embeds real-time inventory management and certification data on the blockchain, allowing stakeholders to verify the origin, grading, and ownership history of each polished stone before any transaction. These novel operations will be subject to regulatory approval by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) prior to launch.

“The potential of tokenization relies on enterprise-grade trust and security. As Billiton Diamond and Ctrl Alt move $280 million in diamond inventory onto the XRPL, our custody technology provides the rigorous security required to manage these assets at scale, proving that high-value physical assets can be moved on-chain with absolute confidence. Alongside Billiton Diamond and Ctrl Alt, we are proud to set a new precedent for commodities trading in the digital age," - said Reece Merrick, Managing Director, Middle East & Africa, at Ripple.

#Stellar #BRICS

@QSIMedia

🧑‍💻Adobe Animate is shutting down as company focuses on AI
 
As Adobe ramps up its investments in AI, the company has decided to shut down its 2D animation software, Adobe Animate. On Monday, Adobe issued an update to the company’s support site and sent emails to existing customers announcing Adobe Animate will be discontinued on March 1, 2026.
 
Enterprise customers can continue to receive technical support through March 1, 2029, to ease the transition. Other customers will have support through March of next year, the company said.
 

“Animate has been a product that has existed for over 25 years and has served its purpose well for creating, nurturing, and developing the animation ecosystem. As technologies evolve, new platforms and paradigms emerge that better serve the needs of the users. Acknowledging this change, we are planning to discontinue supporting Animate,” - Adobe explained its decision to discontinue the program in an FAQ.

@QSIMedia

⚡US says it shot down Iranian drone flying towards aircraft carrier

An F-35C stealth fighter jet which took off from the USS Abraham Lincoln warship shot down the Iranian Shahed-139 drone "in self-defence" to protect the aircraft carrier and its personnel, US Central Command spokesman Capt Tim Hawkins said. The ship was approximately 500 miles from the Iranian coast when the drone approached it with "unclear intent". No US equipment was damaged and no service members were harmed.

@QSIMedia

‼️ Versan Aljarrah warning on Bitcoin, XRP and XLM will boost parallel economy

Versan Aljarrah, founder of Black Swan Capitalist, argued that Bitcoin has been driven by mechanisms designed to amplify price movements and that its real-world usage extends into areas that most market participants do not fully understand or acknowledge. Aljarrah contrasted Bitcoin with the ongoing development efforts behind the networks associated with Ripple and Stellar. He asserted that these ecosystems have concentrated on building functional infrastructure rather than relying on speculative appeal.

Versan Aljarrah described both networks as systems engineered for durability and institutional relevance. Their design priorities align with existing financial systems while also enabling new forms of digital settlement, positioning them for long-term adoption rather than short-term market cycles.

#Stellar

@QSIMedia

⚡️ House passes bill to end the shutdown and punt on DHS funding, sending it to Trump

The House on Tuesday passed a massive funding package to end the brief government shutdown that began Saturday, clearing the bill for President Donald Trump to sign it into law. The vote was 217-214. Trump has said he will sign it "immediately."

The legislation will ensure full-year funding for the federal government through the end of September, with the lone exception of the Department of Homeland Security, which is put on a two-week leash.

@QSIMedia

💵 Palantir CEO defends surveillance tech as US government contracts boost sales

Palantir Technologies (PLTR.O), opens new tab CEO Alex Karp defended the firm's surveillance technology as it reported a big jump in sales on Monday. The data analytics company said revenue derived from the U.S. government spiked 66% in the fourth quarter from the year-ago period to $570 million. Total sales of $1.41 billion exceeded analysts' estimates and the firm anticipates a big jump in sales, in part due to government contracts in 2026.

The company won a contract last year with ICE to develop surveillance systems for immigration enforcement. Karp said the company's tech ensures that the "state and its agents can see only what ought to be seen, and functional audit logs, to ensnare both external and internal threats".

@QSIMedia

🤩 Tesla introduces new Model Y variant in US priced at $41,990

Electric-vehicle maker Tesla has introduced a new all-wheel drive variant of its bestselling Model Y SUV in the United States, priced at $41,990, according to the company’s website on Monday.

@QSIMedia

💊 OpenAI may invest in drug companies using its AI technology

Speaking at Cisco Systems Inc.’s AI conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company might invest in or subsidize pharmaceutical firms that use its AI technology for drug discovery, potentially taking royalties from successful discoveries.

"This is not something we’re doing now, but I think the frontier of scientific discovery with AI will require so much capital that maybe we think of ourselves as an investor in some of those cases," Altman said.

OpenAI and competitors like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Anthropic have been increasingly focusing on scientific and healthcare applications for their AI technologies. These applications range from guiding research on new drugs to reviewing personal medical data.

@QSIMedia

🇺🇸 Donald Trump: "If we don't do crypto, China will."

Donald Trump says he’s been one of crypto’s biggest supporters- not just for markets, but for U.S. competitiveness. His argument is simple: if the U.S. doesn’t lead in crypto, China will — just like AI. 🧐

@QSIMedia

📝HBAR, Stellar & XRP Ledger are seen as key infrastructure for tokenizing RWAs & modernizing financial-market plumbing.

Analyst All In Crypto walks through a 2025 report from OMFIF — an independent think tank focused on central banking, sovereign funds and public investing — that spotlights Hedera Hashgraph, Stellar and the XRP Ledger as potential infrastructure for the future financial system. OMFIF’s $43 Trillion Network Looks At These Public Chains.

Stellar is open and decentralized but offers many of the practical benefits of private chains, and should be assessed instead on features like settlement finality, governance and interoperability, according to the director from the Stellar Development Foundation.

Ripple’s section highlights the XRP Ledger’s 13-year operational history “without any major outages or security failures” and its public-permissionless design. A Ripple representative pushes back on regulatory worries about public chains, pointing to curated validator sets, deterministic settlement (no probabilistic rollbacks) and the benefits of open participation for liquidity and developer ecosystems.

“Ripple + Stellar aren’t here to replace the system. They’re here to upgrade it from the inside. And once you see that… you can’t unsee it 🔥,” - Stern Drew posted in X.

#Stellar

@QSIMedia