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Balancer, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that allows users to swap tokens and provide liquidity, was hit by a DNS attack on its front-end website on Monday. The attackers managed to hijack the domain name and redirect users to a phishing site that asked for their private keys. Balancer said that no funds were lost and that the issue was resolved within a few hours. The platform advised users to avoid interacting with its website until further notice and to use alternative interfaces such as Zapper or Zerion.

Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, has announced that it is closely monitoring the situation of Zcash, a privacy-focused coin that has recently seen a significant increase in its hash rate. According to a blog post by Coinbase, a mining pool called Luxor has managed to capture more than 50% of the Zcash networks hash power, which could pose a threat to the security and decentralization of the coin.

Coinbase stated that it is working with other exchanges and stakeholders to ensure the safety of its customers funds and transactions, and that it will take appropriate measures if any malicious activity is detected. Coinbase also advised its users to be cautious when sending or receiving Zcash, and to avoid using shielded transactions, which are more vulnerable to attacks.

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Ledger, the leading provider of hardware wallets for cryptocurrencies, has announced that its Recover service will be available by the end of 2023. The Recover service is designed to help users who have lost access to their Ledger devices or their recovery phrases to restore their funds. The service will use a combination of cryptographic proofs, trusted third parties and user verification to ensure the security and privacy of the recovery process.

Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier said that the Recover service is a result of years of research and development, and that it will offer a new level of convenience and peace of mind for Ledger users. We believe that everyone should have the right to access and control their own digital assets, even in the worst-case scenarios. Thats why we have created Recover, a service that will allow our users to recover their funds in a secure and user-friendly way, without compromising on our core values of security and sovereignty, Gauthier said.

According to a report by K33, a crypto analytics firm, Binance was the main contributor to the drop in bitcoin spot trading volume in September. The report stated that Binances spot volume decreased by 31% month-over-month, while the global spot volume declined by 22%. The report attributed the decline to regulatory pressures, competition from other platforms, and lower market volatility.

Taurus, a leading provider of digital asset infrastructure solutions, has announced that it will support private blockchains for its custody and tokenization services. This will enable clients to leverage the benefits of blockchain technology while maintaining control and privacy over their data.

Taurus claims that its platform is the first to offer such a comprehensive solution for private blockchains, which can be used for applications such as digital identity, supply chain management, and asset tokenization. Taurus says that its platform is compatible with any private blockchain protocol, and that it can integrate with existing systems and processes seamlessly.

Walmart, the worlds largest retailer, has announced its intention to explore new opportunities in the metaverse, the virtual environment where people can interact with digital content and each other. The company said it will leverage its expertise in e-commerce, logistics, and customer service to create immersive and engaging experiences for its customers and partners in the metaverse.

Walmart also said it will collaborate with leading platforms and developers in the metaverse space to integrate its products and services into various virtual worlds. The companys goal is to become a leader in the emerging metaverse economy and to offer value and convenience to its customers across different realities.

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Balancer, Coinbase, Bitcoin, Binance, Walmart and Other Crypto News - Tekedia

The highly anticipated encounter between the leaders of Turkiye and Israel, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Benjamin Netanyahu, finally occurred on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. This was the first documented meeting between the two leaders. The two countries had close ties until the infamous Mavi Marmara incident of 2010, which was a pivotal moment in the relationship between Tel Aviv and Ankara.

Key highlights from the meeting, which were shared with the press, included an agreement to arrange mutual visits; the possibility of Erdogan visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in the near future; cooperation on various fields such as energy, technology, innovation, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity; discussions regarding Israeli-Palestinian relations; and efforts to normalize Israels relations with Saudi Arabia.

The meeting took place a day after Erdogan expressed support for the US administrations initiative to broker an Israeli-Saudi deal, as he believed it could help reduce tensions in the region. It also occurred in the context of warming relations between the two countries, following Israeli President Isaac Herzogs visit to Ankara in March, which marked the first high-level Israeli visit since 2008, and Foreign Minister Eli Cohens meeting with the Turkish leader in February. Indications of improved ties were also apparent in Erdogans speech at the UNGA. In contrast to previous years, he refrained from criticizing Israel.

Erdogan has a long history of animosity with Netanyahu, with the two leaders having publicly exchanged harsh words for many years. Few leaders have experienced such prolonged tension with Erdogan as Netanyahu. Therefore, the meeting held greater significance than merely two ambitious leaders coming together; it reflected the repercussions of multiple factors operating on three levels: domestic, regional and the involvement of the US.

Beginning with the role of the US, the improvement in Turkish-Israeli relations has consistently been intertwined with Ankaras relations with America and the Jewish lobby there. This lobby has significant sway in either bolstering or undermining Turkiyes relations with Washington. Historically, its support has proven beneficial for Ankara in various cases, such as the Armenian issue, Greek claims and arms sales.

The meeting held greater significance than merely two ambitious leaders coming together

Sinem Cengiz

However, following the deterioration of Turkish-Israeli relations, the Jewish lobby changed its stance, leaving Turkiye vulnerable. The US went on to back several decisions that were contentious from a Turkish perspective. Over the years, Ankara has come to recognize that, without the backing of the Jewish lobby, it is challenging for it to make further strides in its relations with the US.

The second factor at play is the shifting regional dynamics that have prompted the two countries to reassess their relations. Historically, regional developments have been a significant driver in shaping Turkish and Israeli calculations toward each other. In the past, when Turkiye faced threats from its neighbors, namely Iraq, Iran and Syria, it tended to draw closer to Israel. Similarly, for Israel, the Iranian threat has consistently been a motivating factor in forging closer ties with Turkiye and other regional powers. The significance of the Iranian factor should not be underestimated in Tel Avivs signing of the historic Abraham Accords with Bahrain and the UAE.

Moreover, the Nagorno-Karabakh war of 2020, which culminated in Azerbaijans victory over Armenia thanks to Turkish and Israeli support, played a role in thawing relations between Tel Aviv and Ankara. One of the consequences of the war was the diminishing influence of Iran in the region. Israels support for Azerbaijan was primarily driven by Tehrans support for Armenia. In seeking to establish a closer relationship with Baku, Israel, which also hosts a sizable Azerbaijani diaspora, provided support against Yerevan. This common cause brought Tel Aviv and Ankara together once again.

The third factor to consider is the situation in Syria, where both countries face similar threats. Moreover, Israel is uneasy about Turkiyes close contacts with Iran and Russia on the Syrian file. Tel Aviv does not want Turkiye to align itself with the Russian-Iranian axis.

From the Turkish perspective, there have been concerns about the close energy ties between Israel, Greece and Cyprus, particularly in regard to the EastMed pipeline, which aims to export Israeli and Egyptian liquefied gas to Europe.

For Turkiye, improving its ties with Israel is part of a broader overhaul of its foreign policy

Sinem Cengiz

For Turkiye, improving its ties with Israel is part of a broader overhaul of its foreign policy a policy that had left Ankara isolated in the region. Turkiye is also expected to strengthen its ties with the Gulf countries, so the restoration of ties with Israel aligns with this policy as well as with the US-mediated Abraham Accords. Turkiye is now not as vocally against the Abraham Accords as it was when they were signed in 2020.

At the domestic level, it is worth noting the observation of prominent scholar Louis Fishman, who has written: If you look at the two countries domestic politics, they perhaps are much more alike than different, like two peas in a pod.

Netanyahu has faced legal challenges for several years, including allegations of corruption, fraud and breach of trust, which have triggered a political crisis in the country. He needs to demonstrate to the public that he is reconciling with former regional rivals for the sake of the economy. In Turkiye, the situation mirrors this, as Ankara is striving to break its regional isolation to attract financial investments.

Both countries now seek to increase bilateral trade, even though it is important to note that Turkiye remained a key trading partner of Israel even during the height of the tension between the two countries. In recent months, they have also discussed the idea of an Israel-Turkiye natural gas pipeline, though the likelihood of such a project materializing appears extremely low for a variety of reasons.

Thus, economic and energy-related interests, closely linked to domestic gains, shifting regional dynamics and the US factor, play a predominant role in the new phase of Turkish-Israeli relations initiated by Erdogan and Netanyahu.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view

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Why Erdogan and Netanyahu have decided to seek closer ties - Arab News

NEW YORK

Trkiye is pleased with its developing cooperation with the US, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.

"We have resolved most of our deadlocks during talks with (President Joe) Biden, and we have decided to hold more talks," said Erdogan during a roundtable discussion with think tank representatives in New York, where he is taking part in the UN General Assembly.

The Turkish leader said the two nations will strengthen cooperation in efforts against terrorism, which he said poses threats to both countries."

In reference to US support for the terrorist YPG/PKK in northern Syria, Erdogan stressed that there can be no partnership with terror groups.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the 13th Concordia Annual Summit in New York, United States

"Every development in our region demonstrates how wrong the distinction between good terrorists and bad terrorists is. There is no negotiation with terrorists and no friendship or partnership can be established with them," he said.

In his remarks, Erdogan also mentioned Trkiye's contributions to solving global and regional problems, promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in the region, and addressing injustices within the international system.

Turning to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Erdogan said Ankara is actively working towards ending the conflict with a just and lasting peace. He stressed Trkiye's commitment to diplomacy as a means to establish permanent peace in all conflict areas and to expand its network of international friendships.

The president also highlighted the importance of strengthening international solidarity, particularly in the non-partisan fight against terrorist groups such as the PKK, Daesh/ISIS, and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), a terror group which in 2016 launched a defeated coup against Trkiye that killed thousands of people.

He also emphasized the need for a dignified and safe return of Syrian refugees to their home country.

President Erdogan is currently in New York to attend the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. He is set to deliver his address to the session on Tuesday.

Originally posted here:
Deadlocks get resolved, Trkiye pleased with developing ... - Anadolu Agency | English

Aberdeen, Maryland in the late 1940s was an exciting place to be. They had a computer so powerful and so energy intensive that there were rumours that when it switched on, the lights in Philadelphia dimmed.

The computer called the ENIAC took up an area almost the size of a tennis court. It needed 18,000 vacuum tubes and had cords thicker than fists crisscrossing the room connecting one section to another.

Despite its size, today its less impressive. Its computing power would be dwarfed by a desk calculator.

Professor Tom Stace, the Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS) believes that quantum computing is best thought of not as computers like we know them today, but as big lumbering systems like the ENIAC.

ENIAC was the first digital computer, said Stace.

You see engineers programming, but that meant literally unplugging cables and plugging them into these gigantic room-size things. Thats sort of what a quantum computer looks like now. Its literally bolt cables that people have to wire up and solder together.

To understand where were at with quantum computing currently, you first have to understand their potential.

Right now, quantum computing is still in the very earliest stages of its development, despite the huge hype around quantum suggesting otherwise.

The ENIAC was useful despite its bulk, allowing programmers to do thousands of mathematical problems a second, and computations for the hydrogen bomb.

On the other hand, quantum computers are not yet suitable even for the niche roles that scientists hope they will one day fill. The idea that quantum computers might one day replace your laptop is still basically in the realm of science fiction.

But that doesnt mean that they cant one day be useful.

We know that quantum computers can solve a few sets of problems in a way that that ordinary computers just cant do, says Stace.

The famous one is factoring numbers. Finding the prime factors of a large number is genuinely a very difficult mathematical problem.

Because banks, governments, and anyone who wants to keep something secret all use factoring prime numbers for their digital security, our security systems would fall apart as soon as someone created a quantum computer that could outpace ordinary computers. Groups like the Australian Cyber Security Centre have already started putting in plans for when this eventually occurs.

Quantum computers could also fundamentally change the chemistry field, with more processing power to simulate better catalysts, fertilisers, or other industrial chemicals.

But this can only happen if quantum computers move beyond the realm they are in now what scientists call Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum.

Computers are simply devices that can store and process data. Even the earliest computers used bits, a basic unit of information that can either be on or off.

Quantum computers are also devices that can store and process information, but instead of using bits, quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits, which dont just turn on and off but also can point to any point in between.

The key to quantum computers huge potential and also problems are these qubits.

Groups like IBM and Google have spent millions of dollars on creating quantum computers, no doubt buoyed by the riches for the company that comes first.

Their efforts so far have been relatively lacklustre.

The machines are clunky, each wire and qubit need to be individually placed or set up manually. The whole thing needs to be set up inside a freezer cooled down to almost absolute zero.

Despite all these safeguards the machines still have enough errors that its almost impossible to tell if the machines worked, or if these million-dollar systems are just producing random noise.

And even that is impressive to scientists like Stace.

Twenty years ago, if you had one qubit you got a Nature paper. Fifteen years ago, two or three qubits got you a Nature paper. Ten years ago, five qubits got you a Nature paper. Now, 70 qubits might get your Nature paper, says Stace.

Thats telling you what the frontier looks like.

Those on the frontier are aiming for supremacy quantum supremacy to be exact.

Quantum supremacy is a term given to a quantum computer that could solve a problem no classical computer could solve in a reasonable time frame. Its important to note though that this problem doesnt have to be useful. Theres been a debate in quantum circles about how useful and practical these sorts of problems, or simulations, actually are to prove quantum is better.

Googles machine called the Sycamore processor has currently got 70 qubits all lined up and connected. In 2019, the researchers had claimed theyd reached quantum supremacy. More recently, they went more specific suggesting that a top-level supercomputer would take 47 years to do the calculations that Sycamore managed to do in seconds.

IBM says its 433-qubit quantum computer called Osprey could soon start having real-world applications. However, while IBM is further ahead in number of qubits, it is still struggling with the same error issues as other quantum systems.

To get to a quantum computer that could rival supercomputers at actual tasks, you need hundreds of thousands, or millions of qubits rather than a few hundred. But the more qubits you have the more errors that end up in the system.

Quantum systems are typically single atoms or single particles of light. Naturally, these are very fragile and very prone to disturbance or noise, says UNSW quantum researcher and entrepreneur Professor Andrew Dzurak.

That noise causes errors in the qubit information.

Heat also causes errors; vibration causes errors. Even just simply looking or measuring the qubit stops it altogether.

Both Dzurak and Stace stress the importance of fixing these errors. Without it, you have a very expensive, fragile machine that cant tell you anything accurately.

How to fix these errors isnt yet certain. While IBM, Google and other big companies are using superconducting qubits, smaller groups around the world are using everything from silicon to imperfections in diamond.

Dzurak has formed a start-up called Diraq which is aiming to use traditional computer chip technology to mount the qubits, allowing easier design and the ability to pack millions of qubits on one chip.

We have a mountain to climb, and you have to go through the stages to get up that mountain, he says.

The work that is being done by [IBM and Google] in collaboration, often with university groups is important research and is moving the field forward.

Entanglement is another important aspect of quantum computers which makes them infinitely harder to make work. A quirk in quantum mechanics is that particles can become intrinsically linked, despite their distance. This means that if you measure one particle you can tell information about the other, even if youre halfway across the Universe. This is entanglement, and the more and more particles you can entangle, the more powerful your quantum computer can be.

But the more particles you entangle, the more complicated the system becomes, and the more likely it will break down.

Here the history of computers seems to be repeating.

While ENIAC in Maryland was an undisputed success, it wasnt the first design of a computer, not by a long shot. The first design of a computer called the differential engine was designed by a mathematician Charles Babbage in the 1820s.

But it wouldnt be built in Babbages lifetime.

Using only the technology available, it was impossible to fine tune the metal precisely enough to build the machine. It was doomed to fail from the start.

It wasnt until an invention of something seemingly unrelated vacuum tubes or valves that ENIAC and other types of computers could begin being built in earnest.

Its a hard thing to admit, but when it comes to quantum computers, we dont yet know whether were building the ENIAC or struggling with Babbages differential engine.

It might be the case that the components that were pursuing now arent just precise enough, in the same way that the machining tools that they had in the 19th century werent precise enough to make a mechanical computer, says Stace.

So where are we at with quantum computing? Not very far at all.

It could be that were somewhere between Charles Babbage and the valve. Weve got the idea, we know in principle we can make this thing. We just dont know if we have the engineering chops to do it.

Original post:
Where are we at with quantum computing? - Cosmos

MUNICH, Sept. 22, 2023 ParTec AG, the leading company in the field of modular supercomputing, announced today that as a result of its years of work in the field of quantum computing, it is positioning itself as a complete integrator of quantum computers. ParTec offers a comprehensive qubit-agnostic solution based on a component-based design. Similar to developments that took place in classical computing, a supply chain ecosystem with companies focussing on individual component technologies is emerging in the quantum space. This development allows ParTec AG to leverage its best-of-breed approach from supercomputing and collaborate with leading technology providers to offer comprehensive quantum complete solutions.

Bernhard Frohwitter, CEO of ParTec AG: Todays solutions for quantum computers are monolithic designs, mostly developed by qubit technology developers. This approach carries substantial risks for customers, in particular in terms of being tied to a specific provider and technology in a market that still is very volatile with respect to players and technologies. ParTec adopts a different, fresh and innovative approach that will lead to a strong market position.

The company aims to launch its first quantum computer in 2024. Dominik Ulmer, Chief Customer Solutions Officer at ParTec: Therefore, we have decided to start a project to establish a production facility for quantum computers in the Greater Munich area. The ParTec Quantum Factory is expected to start operations in the second half of 2024.

The company will initially invest five million euros in the construction of a production facility for assembly and testing of cryogenic and non-cryogenic systems.

Among ParTecs achievements in the field of quantum computing is the development of QBridge, a software solution that enables seamless integration of high-performance and quantum computers, created in collaboration with Quantum Machines, an Israeli developer of quantum control and orchestration products. In addition, ParTec is actively working on expanding its Parastation Modulo software, used in modular supercomputers. This expansion, Parastation Modulo 2.0, aims to bridge the gap to embed quantum computers into modular supercomputers. Furthermore, ParTec will deliver a superconducting complete solution and a cloud-based user access and management software infrastructure for the Israeli National Quantum Initiative (INQI), as well as establish a new laboratory for exploring hybrid quantum computing in collaboration with NVIDIA and the Jlich Supercomputing Centre (JSC).

The second worldwide quantum computer study by the International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that potential customers spending on quantum computers will increase from 1.1 billion dollars in 2022 to 7.6 billion dollars in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48.1% (2023-2027). The study further states, Quantum computing will revolutionize companies ability to solve some of the most complex challenges.

About ParTec AG:

ParTec AG specialises in the development and manufacture of modular supercomputers and quantum computers as well as accompanying system software. Its services include the distribution of future-oriented High-Performance Computers (HPC) and Quantum Computers (QC) as well as consulting and support services in all areas of development, construction and operation of these advanced systems. The approach of modular supercomputing represents a unique selling point and success feature of ParTec AG. Further information on the company as well as on ParTec AGs innovative solutions in the field of high-performance computing and quantum computing can be found at http://www.par-tec.com.

Source: ParTec AG

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ParTec AG becomes a Complete Integrator of Quantum Computers - HPCwire