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  • Coinbase advisory board says quantum computing threat is on the horizon, crypto needs a plan

    Coinbase advisory board says quantum computing threat is on the horizon, crypto needs a plan

    A new report commissioned by Coinbase sounds a cautious, but urgent, alarm: Quantum computing won’t break crypto tomorrow, but the industry can’t afford to wait.

    The 50-page paper, authored by an independent advisory board that includes prominent cryptographers and academics like Dan Boneh of Stanford University, Justin Drake of the Ethereum Foundation and Sreeram Kannan of Eigen Labs, concludes that while today’s blockchains remain secure, a future “fault-tolerant quantum computer” capable of breaking widely used encryption is increasingly plausible, and preparation must begin now.

    In recent months, concerns around quantum risk have moved further into the mainstream. Google researchers have published estimates suggesting that a sufficiently advanced quantum computer could one day break Bitcoin’s cryptography.

    Major crypto ecosystems have already started mapping out their responses. The Ethereum Foundation has proposed new types of digital signatures that are designed to be safe against quantum computers, while Solana and others are experimenting with quantum-resistant wallet designs.

    The report stresses that current quantum machines are far from powerful enough to crack the cryptography underpinning Bitcoin, Ethereum and other networks. Breaking standard encryption would require vast computational overhead, a milestone still considered a major engineering challenge.

    Still, the authors caution against complacency.

    “We have high confidence that a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer will eventually be built,” the report states, adding that the timeline is uncertain but “clearly on the horizon.”

    That uncertainty is exactly the problem, with estimates ranging from “a few years to a decade or more” and no reliable way to predict breakthroughs.

    The urgency is reflected in guidance from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which recommends migrating to quantum-resistant cryptography by 2035, a timeline the report suggests may even prove optimistic.

    “Waiting for it to be urgent is not a good idea,” the Coinbase paper says, emphasizing that transitions across blockchains, wallets and exchanges could take years to execute safely.

    Some assets may be more vulnerable than others. For example, Bitcoin wallets that have already revealed their public keys could be targeted, while those still protected behind hash functions may be safer in the short term.

    The good news: Quantum-resistant cryptography (PQC) already exists and is being standardized by NIST.

    The bad news: It’s not an easy swap.

    Post-quantum digital signatures can be tens to hundreds of times larger than current ones, which could dramatically increase blockchain data costs and reduce throughput. One estimate in the report suggests that replacing today’s signatures with quantum-proof alternatives could expand block sizes by up to 38 times.

    There are also usability challenges, from migrating millions of wallets to deciding what to do with “lost” or inactive funds that never upgrade.

    Rather than a single solution, the report outlines multiple transition strategies, including hybrid systems that combine existing cryptography with post-quantum updates or allow a gradual switch when needed.

    For now, the authors recommend flexible approaches that avoid sacrificing current security or performance while enabling a rapid upgrade later.

    “The time to begin preparing for it is now,” the report concludes.

    Read more: Solana’s quantum-threat readiness reveals harsh tradeoff: security vs speed

  • UK invites crypto giant Bybit to London to win over some of UAE’s innovation shine

    UK invites crypto giant Bybit to London to win over some of UAE’s innovation shine

    Economic development officials with links to the U.K. government invited Bybit leadership to London this week in what appears to be a bid to emulate the momentum of Dubai, where the cryptocurrency exchange is based, and the rest of the United Arab Emirates.

    CEO Ben Zhou said the message from the U.K. is “they are very eager to invite big business to establish bases and create jobs,” and discuss forthcoming pro-crypto regulation.

    Bybit was founded by Zhou in 2018, and four years later moved its headquarters to Dubai from his native Singapore. It is ranked the second-largest crypto exchange by CoinGecko, trailing only Binance, which set up in the UAE in 2025.

    The arrival of crypto giants like Bybit and Binance acted as a magnet to attract smaller crypto companies to the region, something the U.K. would like to emulate, Zhou said.

    “One interesting thing is there hasn’t been any momentum built in the U.K.,” Zhou said in an interview at Paris Blockchain Week. “If you look at UAE, where there are big exchanges like Bybit or Binance, once we announced we’re going to be there, smaller players followed, and that created this momentum.”

    Zhou’s invitation includes meetings with the Financial Conduct Authority and representatives of the House of Lords, and coincides with UK Fintech Week and a Treasury plan to revamp payment systems with stablecoins and the spread of tokenization.

    “I have meetings with FCA. I have meetings with the House of Lords just to discuss what do you want to do with crypto,” Zhou said, without naming the U.K. government department that extended the invitation.

    “We were invited specifically by some economic development board who said ‘We can get a direct line to the prime minister.’ There is an agenda to push for innovation, especially in crypto,” Zhou said.

    Neither the Treasury nor Lucy Rigby, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, responded to requests for comment. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology also did not respond to requests for comment. The FCA had not replied by press time.

    The invitation’s timing is interesting as the UAE has suffered direct attacks from Iran during the U.S.-Israel war that started Feb. 28, prompting tens of thousands of residents and tourists to leave the country. One in eight British residents has left, the Financial Times reported earlier this month.

    The U.K. government has seen “the outflow of money and companies going to the UAE. They want to win it back. Precisely, now is good timing,” Zhou said.

  • Tribeca Festival TV, Podcast Lineup Includes ‘Survivor’ Panel; ‘Adults’ Season 2 Premiere; Live Tapings With Kara Swisher, David Remnick

    Tribeca Festival TV, Podcast Lineup Includes ‘Survivor’ Panel; ‘Adults’ Season 2 Premiere; Live Tapings With Kara Swisher, David Remnick

    The 2026 Tribeca Festival has revealed its TV and podcast lineup.

    Among the TV highlights are the world premieres of season two of FX’s Adults, season two of X-Men ’97 and the third and final season of Survival of the Thickest and a Survivor 50th season panel with fan-favorite players Cirie Fields, Rob Cesternino, Kyle Fraser, Kamilla Karthigesu, Teeny Chirichillo and Jonathan Penner, also a Tribeca programmer.

    The festival will also debut the Ronan Farrow-led HBO docuseries Not A Very Good Murderer and The Palladino Files, both created with Emmy winners Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, as well as Hulu’s Every Year After adaptation, starring Elisha Cuthbert, and the third-episode premiere of Alice and Steve, starring Jemaine Clement and Nicola Walker.

    Additional screenings include the BBC’s Dear England, starring Joseph Fiennes, and the docuseries Alejandro Sanz: When No One Sees Me, about the music icon; 9/11: Reunited, about the bonds formed in the aftermath of the tragedy; The Man Will Burn, about the evolution of Burning Man; and Grandmasters, about the modernization of global chess.

    “At Tribeca, we’ve always believed in showcasing great storytelling no matter where we find it,
    Tribeca Festival Director and senior vp, programming Cara Cusumano said in a statement.
    “This year’s TV and podcast lineup reflects a creative landscape where stories move fluidly across formats and expands the Festival beyond the screen into shared, live moments of discovery. Together, they embody Tribeca’s commitment to interdisciplinary storytelling and to championing the voices
    shaping culture today, wherever and however those stories are told.”

    Festival senior programmer Liza Domnitz adds, “This year’s TV lineup blends dynamic documentary storytelling with contemporary dramas and provocative comedy, capturing the cultural pulse across generations and genres. From the intimacy of personal rediscovery to the
    shifting landscapes of art, sports, and sex, all our TV selections come anchored in brilliant
    post-screening conversations with creative teams, subjects, or cast.”

    The podcast lineup includes live tapings of On with Kara Swisher, featuring Marc Maron; The New Yorker Radio Hour with David Remnick; The New York Times’ Cannonball with Wesley Morris; and Slate’s Death, Sex & Money, with host Anna Sale joined by Peter Dinklage and Erica Schmidt.

    “This year marks our most expansive program yet, deepening our focus on independent
    podcast discoverability and creating even more opportunities to celebrate exceptional new
    work,” Tribeca podcasts and audio head Davy Gardner said in a statement. “Meanwhile, the Tribeca
    podcast stage has evolved into something larger than live recordings or performances. It’s a
    place where the defining voices of the medium come to create something new: one-night-only
    experiences that, together, feel like a live expression of where podcasting is today.”

    More information about this year’s TV and podcast lineup is available here.

    The 2026 Tribeca Festival is set to run from June 3-14 in New York.

  • Riccie Johnson, Longtime Makeup Artist at ’60 Minutes,’ Dies at 101

    Riccie Johnson, the venerated makeup artist who spent more than a half-century with 60 Minutes and put eyeliner on The Beatles for their first U.S. TV appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, has died. She was 101.

    Johnson died Jan. 3, her family announced. CBS Sunday Morning paid tribute to her soon afterward, but otherwise her death had not been reported. For more than 20 years starting in the 1990s, she worked on the program, preparing host Charles Osgood and others.

    A protégé of the late Dick Smith, known as “Godfather of Makeup,” Johnson also dealt with Milton Berle on Texaco Star Theatre — and just may have been responsible for his popular powder-puff gag — with Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows and on the CBS Morning News.

    Johnson began on 60 Minutes with the newsmagazine’s first episode on Sept. 24, 1968, making sure hosts Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner were camera-ready, and was listed in the program’s credits as recently as December 2018.

    Through the decades, she touched up the likes of Dan Rather, Morley Safer, Roger Mudd, Ed Bradley, Bob Simon, Leslie Stahl, Anderson Cooper, Lara Logan, Steve Kroft and Scott Pelley. Andy Rooney, though, typically applied his own makeup; if Johnson did anything, he’d tell her not to go near the eyebrows. 

    It’s hard to come up with a famous person that hasn’t sat in Johnson’s makeup chair at one time or another. She applied her makeup brush on TV news giants (Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow), showbiz icons (Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Arthur Godfrey, Tallulah Bankhead) and presidents (Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon — not in time for his sweaty debate performance opposite John Kennedy, alas — Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton).

    Clinton resisted her help at first. “He was afraid he was going to look too made up,” she told the New York Post in 2014. “He came in rather tense. I told him, ‘Mr. President, I assure you I have a very light touch.’” Clinton signed a photo for her and wrote, “Thank you for making my old face look good.”

    Perhaps her most memorable assignment came on Feb. 9, 1964, when The Beatles arrived in New York to perform on CBS’ The Ed Sullivan Show.

    “I heard all this din outside,” she told Mo Rocca in 2016. “I looked out the window and saw all these young people. And I talked to the doorman. And he said, ‘Oh, some group from England.’ I said, ‘Wow. This looks serious!’ So I called home and said to my husband, ‘I can get the children in to a dress rehearsal.’ The children didn’t want to come. So of course, now they’re very sorry about that!”

    Johnson remembered Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr being a bit nervous and wondering what she was doing to their faces.

    Years later, she ran into McCartney in a hallway at CBS and, much to her surprise, he remembered her and their time together on the Sullivan show. He said, “You used pancake makeup and eyeliner, and when we asked you about the eyeliner, you said, ‘It’ll be fine,’” Johnson said in 2014.

    She was born Florence Riccobono on Feb. 27, 1924, in Clifton, New Jersey. At Georgian Court University, a Roman Catholic college in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, she picked up the nickname Riccie as well as a bachelor of arts degree, then pursued her master’s in Theater Arts at the Pasadena Playhouse.

    Her real makeup education began in 1950 when she was hired at NBC. Back then, she wanted to be an actress. She was offered a position in the makeup department and turned it down before she took a friend’s advice and reconsidered.

    The NBC makeup department was headed by Smith, who would go on to work on such films as Little Big Man, The Godfather, Amadeus and The Exorcist and receive an honorary Oscar.

    “He was very enthusiastic and a generous teacher,” Johnson told this writer during a 2015 interview for Makeup Artist Magazine. “He had us make each other up for practice when we weren’t busy. One day, he asked me to go with him to the control room during a dress rehearsal. In a whisper, he would show me what the lighting was doing — how it was causing shadows and where you needed to highlight.”

    One of her first assignments came on Texaco Star Theatre. (Berle did his own makeup on the sketch-comedy program, but she was in charge of the guests.) In one of the comedian’s most famous bits, he would yell “Makeup!” on stage, and someone would smack him in the face with a giant powder puff, covering him with white dust.

    Though the gag was as old as vaudeville itself, Johnson noticed that Berle began incorporating it on his show after she was stationed offstage with a powder puff and instructions to touch up the guests if needed.

    “I don’t want to take credit for that. I have no idea,” she said. “He didn’t use it before. I know that. It wasn’t like it was anything new, but I wondered if he didn’t think of it because I was standing there with a powder puff.”

    Johnson also did the makeup for another famed NBC comedy-variety program, Your Show of Shows, starring Caesar and Imogene Coca.

    An opportunity to tour Europe lured Johnson away from NBC, but she landed at CBS when she returned, working on the game shows I’ve Got a Secret, To Tell the Truth and What’s My Line?

    In 1952, she segued to the soap opera Guiding Light and met her future husband, James Johnson, a CBS cameraman. She first laid eyes on him after she was hit in the head with a boom that broke her glasses. “I was standing there with my hands in front of my face, and I hear this voice saying, ‘CBS will pay for these,’” she said. “And there was Jay, with the two pieces of glasses.”

    The two married in 1953 and had seven children in 10 years, raising them on the Upper East Side of New York. 

    When CBS launched a weekday morning news show, Johnson was asked to do the makeup, and that worked out just fine with the demands of motherhood. She stayed with the CBS Morning News for a dozen years until offered the 60 Minutes gig.

    Her husband died in 1999. In addition to her seven children, she is survived by 14 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Donations in her memory may be made to Catholic Charities.

    In her interview with Makeup Artist Magazine, Johnson seemed astonished by her brush with so much greatness.

    “When you’re working — like when I made up The Beatles — I had no idea they would be so big. I just knew there were a lot of screaming kids out on the street, and there was talk about how important the group would be in the music world. But who knew how big they were going to be? And that’s the same with everything that I’ve done,” she said.

    “Of course, if you make up a president, he’s a president. But a lot of things that you do … Your Show of Shows, did we know that was going to be such history? Did we know 60 Minutes was going to last all these years? It’s just wonderful because [I’ve made so many] professional friends. I feel very honored to be able to say that I worked with them … and to have them acknowledge me.”

  • Iran’s World Cup participation depends on team’s safety in the US: Minister

    Iran’s World Cup participation depends on team’s safety in the US: Minister

    Iran’s team is preparing for the FIFA World Cup but may not travel for the tournament, Sport Minister Donyamali says.

    Published On 21 Apr 2026

    Iran’s football team is preparing for the World Cup, but a final decision on its participation in the tournament will be taken by the government, the country’s sport minister says.

    “If the safety of the national team’s players in the United States is ensured, we will travel to the World Cup,” Iran’s Sports and Youth Minister Ahmad Donyamali was quoted as saying by Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Thursday.

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    “The decision will be made by the government and the Supreme National Security Council,” he added.

    Team Melli are scheduled to play all their World Cup games in the US, one of the three host nations alongside Canada and Mexico, but their participation has been uncertain since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28.

    The doubts surrounding Iran’s role in the tournament remain as a fragile Pakistan-mediated ceasefire between Tehran and Washington nears its deadline on Thursday.

    Donyamali, speaking to Iranian media, insisted that the team will continue to train for the World Cup regardless of the ongoing geopolitical tensions.

    “The national team may not go to the World Cup, but if we are going to participate, we must be ready,” he said.

    Iran’s Football Federation (FFIRI) asked FIFA to move its games out of the US last month, but the sport’s governing body said all World Cup fixtures will go ahead as scheduled, dismissing the possibility of Mexico hosting the Iranian team, citing logistical impediments.

    On Wednesday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he was “confident” that Iran would play in the World Cup despite US President Donald Trump’s earlier comments saying “it would not be appropriate” for them to participate.

    “The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to the World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,” Trump wrote in a social media post last month.

    The FIFA chief, who has a close relationship with President Trump, said, “Iran has to come” to the tournament despite the fragile ceasefire nearing its deadline on April 22.

    “We hope that by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation,” Infantino said of the US-Israeli war on Iran. “As I said, that would definitely help. But Iran has to come. Of course, they represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play.”

    Iranian Minister Donyamali has repeatedly linked Iran’s participation with a guarantee for the players’ safety, as well as the ongoing war. He told local media that the FFIRI will set up a training camp for the squad in the event the team is given a go-ahead by the government.

    “We have to be ready, but maybe the decision is not to go, and if we are going to go, we have to be ready to have a strong presence,” he said.

    “Our duty from a professional point of view is to carry out the work and preparation.”

    The Iranian squad’s World Cup training camp will commence from May 10 and will last for over a week, he confirmed.

    Iran played two international friendlies in Turkiye last month under tight security and limited media access.

    Team Melli are slated to open against New Zealand on June 15, then face Belgium on June 21, with both matches ⁠⁠in Los Angeles. On June 26, Iran play against Egypt ⁠⁠in Seattle.

    Should they advance to the knockouts, the rest of Iran’s games would also be held in the US.

  • Karol G Announces Massive ‘Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour’ Global Stadium Tour Dates

    Karol G Announces Massive ‘Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour’ Global Stadium Tour Dates

    Following her critically acclaimed headline performances at the Coachella festival, Colombian superstar Karol G has announced “Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour,” a massive global tour beginning this summer and stretching to July of 2027. Full dates appear below.

    “Karol G delivered an explosive performance that leaned heavily into Latin and female empowerment, covering multiple genres of music and guest appearances while showing off her formidable talents as a singer, performer and conceptualist,” Variety wrote of Karol’s Coachella performance. “The show was an explosion of music, dancing, colors and symbols that words could never do justice.”

    Tickets for the tour, promoted by Live Nation, will be available starting Monday, April 27 through various presales.

    Fans in select markets will get first access to tickets through various presales, including an exclusive artist presale beginning Monday, April 27.  To be eligible for the artist presale in the USA, Canada and Europe, fans must register at karolgmusic.com between now and Friday, April 24 at 10AM EST/7AM PST.  Fans in Latin America can sign up at karolgmusic.com for more information including updates on ticket sales in those cities.

    General on-sale timing will vary by market.

    The tour will also offer a variety of different VIP packages and experiences for fans to take their concert experience to the next level. Packages vary but include premium tickets, invitation to the pre-show VIP Lounge, specially designed merch items & more. VIP package contents vary based on the offer selected. For more information, visit vipnation.com.

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  • Tracking Your Sleep Could Backfire If You Have Insomnia. Here’s Why

    Female wearing smart watch lying in bed with her hands covering her faceShare on Pinterest
    Research shows that using sleep apps may increase stress in people with insomnia. Image Credit: janiecbros/Getty Images
    • A recent study has found that the use of sleep apps may lead to negative effects in people with insomnia.
    • The researchers also note that sleep apps may not give an accurate image of your sleep.
    • Some researchers believe that constant sleep monitoring may lead to orthosomnia.

    A rising interest in sleep health and the availability of sleep apps have led to a significant increase in people tracking their rest.

    A recent study published in Frontiers in Psychology has found that sleep apps may be helpful to some people, but for those with insomnia, negative effects may be more likely.

    The researchers also note that these sleep apps may not provide an accurate picture of your sleep and may actually make it more difficult for people to rest.

    “In sleep medicine, there is something called orthosomnia, which is when people get anxious about sleep metrics, and in turn sleep more poorly from having that data. This study is in line with that concept,” said Alex Dimitriu, MD, a double board certified psychiatry and sleep medicine expert and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine. Dimitriu wasn’t involved in the study.

    Sleep apps may vary widely, but often track similar measures for sleep, such as:

    • how long it takes you to fall asleep
    • how long you sleep for
    • how restorative your sleep is

    Sleep app technology is still so new that more research is needed to understand exactly how different groups of people respond to it and how accurate it is.

    “The rapid development of sleep app technology requires the scientific community to keep up with technological advances,” first study author Håkon Lundekvam Berge of the University of Bergen said in a press release.

    To investigate this, the research team analyzed data from 1,002 adults in Norway. Participants were asked about their use of sleep apps, their sleep health, and whether they experienced positive or negative effects when using the apps.

    Around 46% of the survey participants stated they used, or had used, at least one sleep app. The survey showed that females and people under the age of 50 were more likely to use these apps.

    The results showed that males and females generally responded similarly to the apps. However, younger individuals reported stronger effects than older users.

    “We found that younger adults were more affected by the feedback from the sleep apps. They reported more perceived benefits, but also more worries and stress,” said Lundekvam in the press release.

    Participants reported positive effects more often than negative. Around 15% stated that sleep apps improved their sleep, while 2.3% reported their sleep was worse.

    Around 48% of participants reported they benefited from learning more about their sleep. However, 17% reported that the apps increased their worry about their sleep. One of the most important findings was that people with symptoms of insomnia were more likely to experience negative effects.

    The researchers noted that people with insomnia were more likely to experience negative thoughts and worries about sleep. They also found that difficulties disengaging from concerns related to sleep may have further influence over how individuals with insomnia engage with these apps.

    This shows that using sleep apps may increase stress and worry about sleep.

    “This study specifically identified people with insomnia as being more susceptible to negative feedback, and this makes sense, as insomniacs are a lot more likely to have anxiety. These apps give people things to worry about when they already have a lot to worry about in the first place,” said Dimitriu.

    The research team encourages further research into the relationship between insomnia and the use of sleep apps.

  • DoorDash is bringing stablecoin payments to masses with Stripe-backed blockchain

    DoorDash is bringing stablecoin payments to masses with Stripe-backed blockchain

    DoorDash and a group of fintechs are moving stablecoins into their live payment flows with Stripe-led blockchain Tempo, the latest sign that blockchain-based money is entering mainstream financial infrastructure.

    Payments-focused blockchain Tempo, developed by Stripe and venture firm Paradigm, said Tuesday in a blog post that companies including DoorDash, Stripe, Coastal Bank and Latin American fintech ARQ are now running or preparing to run parts of their payment operations on stablecoin rails.

    DoorDash, which operates in more than 40 countries and generated nearly $75 billion in sales for local merchants last year, is working with Tempo to roll out stablecoin-powered payouts for merchants, starting with cross-border flows where settlement speed and cost matter most.

    “There’s real promise with stablecoins transforming financial infrastructure,” DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang said in a statement.

    A Paradigm spokesperson declined to disclose the exact timing of when stablecoin payments will go live at DoorDash.

    Stripe, meanwhile, is using Tempo as a core layer for its money movement products, allowing businesses to send, receive and hold stablecoins alongside traditional currencies. The goal is to make global payments “fast, cheap and borderless,” said Neetika Bansal, Stripe’s head of Connect and money management.

    $300 billion asset

    The news comes as stablecoins and blockchain rails are increasingly becoming part of global money flows.

    Stablecoins are a $300 billion crypto asset class with prices tied to fiat currencies and promise a cheaper, faster alternative to traditional banking rails for cross-border transactions.

    Stripe, a global payments firm that processes nearly $2 trillion in annual payments, has made blockchain and stablecoins central to its ambitions. The company acquired stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge for $1.1 billion in 2024, then bought crypto wallet provider Privy.

    It also teamed up with crypto investment firm Paradigm to develop a payments-focused blockchain dubbed Tempo, which went live last month with infrastructure partners like Mastercard, UBS, Klarna and Visa. The chain was designed specifically for payment workloads, with features like sub-second settlement, fixed fees and private transaction channels aimed at enterprise users. That contrasts with general-purpose blockchains, which often face congestion and unpredictable costs.

    To help companies adopt the technology, Tempo said Tuesday it is also launching a Stablecoin Advisory service to offer hands-on support for firms looking to move payment flows onchain.

    Read more: Stripe doubles down on blockchain and stablecoins, aiming to become ‘AWS for money’

  • Cut the red tape: 39 financial giants demand an emergency fast-track for Europe’s blockchain pilot

    European financial firms and technology groups are urging lawmakers to speed up changes to rules governing distributed ledger technology, warning the region risks falling behind the U.S. in digital finance.

    In a joint letter, 39 signatories including Boerse Stuttgart Group, Nasdaq and fintech associations across several European Union (EU) countries asked the European Commission and Parliament to separate the digital ledger technology (DLT) pilot regime from a broader legislative package under review.

    They argue that handling the rules on their own would allow quicker updates, Bloomberg reports. The DLT pilot, in place since 2023, lets firms test how tokenized versions of assets like shares and bonds can trade and settle using blockchains.

    It sits within a wider set of 18 financial laws now moving through the EU’s legislative process, a path industry groups say could take years.

    The coalition is pushing for practical changes, including expanding the types of assets allowed, raising transaction limits to 150 billion euros ($176 billion) and removing expiry dates on licenses. These changes, they argue, would give firms room to build real markets rather than small trials.

    The letter comes as the U.S. shapes laws regulating the space, including the Genius Act, meant to help bring crypto further into mainstream finance.

    The European Commission has signaled it prefers to pass the full legislative package together as part of its broader plan to mobilize savings into investment.

  • Why Miranda Priestly Doesn’t Remember Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs in ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’

    Why Miranda Priestly Doesn’t Remember Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs in ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’

    Twenty years after The Devil Wears Prada became a culture-defining hit, the sequel arrived in New York on Monday night in a scene straight out of Runway.

    Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci reunited at the Lincoln Center event, as they walked the runway-inspired red carpet and guests turned out in their best high fashion. The Devil Wears Prada 2 sees Streep’s Miranda Priestly still at the top of Runway magazine, as Andy Sachs (Hathaway) returns as features editor and they face off against Priestly’s former assistant turned rival Emily Charlton (Blunt).

    In addition to its stars, the Prada creative team also returns, with David Frankel back as director and Aline Brosh McKenna as writer. On the carpet, Frankel told The Hollywood Reporter that he said no to a sequel for 18 years, and would immediately shut down any Hollywood meeting that turned to discussion of it.

    But then screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna “came to me with a notion that, gee, this world is shrinking in a major way, this fashion, media world. And what would it be like if you were on this sinking ship and Miranda’s future was not guaranteed and Andy’s future was shaky? How would they deal with that?” said Frankel. “That seemed to create a lot of drama.”

    McKenna added that, at the same time they were having these ideas, they heard Streep was open to a sequel, “so we went and sat down with Meryl. My personal belief system is that if Meryl Streep thinks it’s a good idea, it’s a good idea.”

    One of the most surprising developments in the sequel’s trailer was that Streep’s Miranda seemed to not remember Hathaway’s Andy, or many of the key events that took place in the original film. Frankel explained that decision may be “a little bit of a ploy on her part” but also “it’s that thing you have when you have your first boss — they mean everything to you, you never forget them and the boss has had a million assistants. You came and you were there for a year, who remembers that?”

    McKenna echoed, “It’s been 20 years, how many assistants do we think she’s had? She has two [at a time] so probably 50, I would guess. She definitely doesn’t remember [Andy] on sight, which I think is understandable.”

    For her part, Hathaway also told reporters about reprising her role as Andy, emphasizing, “I really love seeing how she treats people. Andy is coming into her power in her life and you’ll see in this movie, she has someone that works for her. I just love her approach. I feel like she’s gentle and kind and it’s a lovely anecdote to maybe the way that she was treated.”

    Tucci also said he’s happy with where Nigel is two decades later — still alongside Miranda at Runway — “because it makes sense. There’s an emotional trajectory to it that’s logical.”

    As Frankel kept the door open for more stories in the Prada world (“I’m still really curious about where these characters go and if there was a possibility, of course we’d entertain it”), one key difference this time around is Anna Wintour’s public support of the project, after rejecting comparisons to Miranda at the time of the original. McKenna explained of that pivot, “Once she saw the first movie I think she felt safe and comfortable, so I think she had a certain level of trust with us for this movie. I’m excited to hear what she thinks about it.”

    The Devil Wears Prada 2 hits theaters May 1.