OpenAI is developing an AI banker called "Mercury," capable of independently building financial models and presentations according to Wall Street standards.

The system is trained using the expertise of over a hundred former analysts from JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and other banks.

Mercury could drastically reduce the need for junior analysts by automating the routine tasks of investment banking.

Altcoins Missed Out on $800 Billion in Market Capitalization

▪️The market capitalization of altcoins is roughly $800 billion lower than it could have been if retail investor demand had remained at previous levels, Bloomberg reports, citing research from 10x Research.

▪️According to Markus Thielen, head of 10x Research, altcoins failed to attract enough new capital in this market cycle. “The capitalization would be about $800 billion higher if investors — particularly in South Korea — hadn’t spread their funds across crypto stocks and similar assets,” he noted.

▪️South Korea has traditionally remained one of the largest markets for altcoins. While globally over 50% of trading volume is concentrated in Bitcoin and Ethereum, on Korean exchanges the share of altcoins has exceeded 80%.

▪️According to 10x Research, as of November 2024, the average daily trading volume on Korean crypto exchanges reached $9.4 billion, surpassing the turnover of the country’s stock market (around $7 billion on the Kospi index). However, since then, activity in altcoins has declined significantly.

Analysts believe this is not a temporary downturn but a structural shift. Investors are increasingly favoring Bitcoin, stocks of companies holding crypto reserves, ETFs, and other funds.

AI assistants regularly distort news: errors were found in almost half of their responses (45%), and 31% cited non-existent sources.

▪️Gemini performed the worst in the tests, with issues in 76% of its responses, while its competitors' results were twice as good.

▪️According to the report, 7% of internet users already get their news via AI, and among young people under 25, it's one in six.

▪️The authors warn that these errors are systematic and international in nature, which undermines trust in news and calls for new media literacy tools.

Visa will accept payments in four stablecoins across four different blockchains, with the ability to convert them into fiat currencies.

BNB Chain has surpassed Tron and is now leading in the number of active addresses using stablecoins over the last two quarters.

The volume of transactions with stablecoins has increased by 43% since the beginning of the year and has approached $9 trillion, with Ethereum accounting for about 48% of the total volume.

Romania has blacklisted Polymarket, calling it an unlicensed gambling platform operating outside government oversight.

This week, a rally in BTC and the S&P 500 is not ruled out, as well-known trader James Winn, a former whale who is still being watched and frequently liquidated in the market, predicts that this week will be one of the worst of the year for stocks and crypto...

Nvidia currently surpasses 6 out of 11 sectors of the S&P 500 index by market capitalization, as well as all global stock markets combined — except for the five largest ones.

Nvidia and Deutsche Telekom are building one of Europe’s largest “AI factories” in Munich, with an estimated cost of €1 billion.

An existing data center will be converted to house 10,000 top-tier Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, increasing Germany’s AI computing capacity by about 50%.

The launch is expected early next year, with Perplexity already named among the first clients planning to use the resources for its AI services.

Visa has launched a pilot service that allows companies to send payments in stablecoins to crypto wallets from fiat accounts.

CoinDesk has published its annual Exchange Benchmark 2025, in which Binance took first place among centralized exchanges and received the highest AA rating — the only platform to score over 90 points in both spot (93.4) and derivatives trading (93.65).

Analysts note that the crypto exchange sector is showing steady growth in maturity and transparency: nearly 60% of platforms now operate under regulatory oversight, and more companies are publishing Proof-of-Reserves and reports.

According to CoinDesk, major exchanges today are more reliable and institutionally resilient than they were five years ago.

The number of active addresses on the Solana network has fallen to a 12-month low amid declining hype around memecoins. Despite the downturn, the ecosystem continues to expand thanks to new DEXs, prediction markets, and tokenization protocols.

Binance Pay has surpassed the milestone of 20,000,000 connected merchants worldwide — a 1700-fold increase since the beginning of 2025, indicating the mass adoption of crypto payments across various industries and regions.

Stablecoins dominate the ecosystem, accounting for over 98% of all B2C transactions on the platform thanks to instant transfers, low fees, and borderless functionality.

The success of Binance Pay and the growing popularity of stablecoins are pushing traditional financial institutions to adapt blockchain technologies — for example, SWIFT has already launched an initiative to integrate blockchain ledgers to speed up international settlements.