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BitVM Accelerated: BOB launches BitVM bridge on public testnet, announces BitVM/acc working group with major institutional partners

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Following the successful test of a bridge prototype in December, BOB’s bridge launch on public testnet marks a significant milestone for trust-minimized Bitcoin DeFiBOB has also launched the BitVM/acc Implementation Working Group with major institutional partners including ZeroSync, Babylon, Anchorage, Rockaway, and Others To Drive the Adoption of BitVM in 2025.

LONDON, Feb. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — BOB (“Build on Bitcoin“), the hybrid Layer-2 combining Bitcoin‘s security with Ethereum‘s DeFi innovation, has officially launched its trust-minimized BitVM Bitcoin bridge on public testnet in collaboration with Fiamma.

This launch solidifies BOB as the home of Bitcoin DeFi, advancing its mission to provide secure, trust-minimized access to Bitcoin DeFi and yield. BOB’s bridge is powered by BitVM, a revolutionary system that enables off-chain program execution on Bitcoin with on-chain dispute resolution, similar to Optimism on Ethereum. BOB’s BitVM bridge allows secure BTC deposits and withdrawals on its hybrid Layer-2 without reliance on third-party custody or multi-sig bridges, ensuring funds remain secure as long as there is a single honest, online node. Unlike wBTC, cbBTC and other wrapped Bitcoin variants, Bitcoin bridged via BitVM is non-custodial and trust minimized.

Alexei Zamyatin, BOB Co-Founder and BitVM Core Contributor said: “Removing the need for third-party bridges to deploy Bitcoin across DeFi is a major step toward unlocking Bitcoin‘s trillion-dollar potential. On our path to create the most secure solution for Bitcoin in DeFi, we’ve gone from concept, to BitVM2 design, to prototype and now to public testnet in just a year. The Bitcoin renaissance is accelerating.”

Key Enhancements to the BitVM Bridge

BOB’s BitVM bridge has undergone other key improvements from the earlier test prototype, including:

Dispute resolution – where the BitVM bridge now has a challenge mechanism that ensures all transactions are completed correctly, significantly improving security and trust in the system.BOB’s BitVM smart contracts can now verify correct payments through an on-chain relay, double-checking them in the prover and also checking the correctness of BOB blocks and blockchain attestations.Integration of BitVM into BOB Gateway, BOB’s intents-based swaps system will allow for efficient deposits onto BOB and withdrawal of Bitcoin back to the Bitcoin mainnet.

BitVM/acc Implementation Working Group

BOB has also launched the BitVM/acc Implementation Working Group to accelerate BitVM’s adoption and ensure its practical integration across the Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem. This initiative brings together the brightest minds in the industry to refine BitVM’s functionality and unlock its full potential for both institutional and retail users.

Zamyatin continued: “BitVM is not just about tech. To succeed in creating a more secure Bitcoin DeFi environment, we must develop BitVM as a product – and the only way to do this is by collaborating with relevant stakeholders. BitVM/acc is a working group that brings together BitVM builders, Web3 businesses and institutions that will benefit and/or operate BitVM. Our mission is to accelerate BitVM adoption and ensure BitVM is developed in line with the business needs of both users and operators.”

Recognizing that widespread adoption requires collaboration across multiple sectors, BitVM/acc focuses on real-world implementation by uniting experts in staking, custody, liquidity provision, market making, research, and blockchain security. The goal is to develop BitVM not just as a technological breakthrough, but as a practical, widely adopted solution that meets the evolving needs of the Bitcoin DeFi landscape.

The accelerator serves as an open forum for industry leaders to collaborate on advancing Bitcoin bridging solutions and overcoming challenges that could hinder adoption. Membership is free and open to all interested parties, encouraging broad participation across the ecosystem.

Founding Members Include:

Institutional partners: Amber, Anchorage, Ankr, ChorusOne, Hex Trust, P2P, Rockaway, Unit410, UTXO, viaBTC Capital, WintermuteResearch partners: Babylon, Bitcoin Layers, BOB, Common Prefix, Fiamma, House of ZK, RiscZero, Succinct, ZeroSync

About BOB (“Build on Bitcoin“)

BOB (“Build on Bitcoin“) is a Hybrid Layer-2 blockchain that combines the best of Bitcoin and Ethereum to create the home for Bitcoin DeFi. The unique Hybrid L2 model merges the strengths of both ecosystems—Bitcoin‘s security and dormant capital, with Ethereum‘s DeFi innovation and versatility. By positioning BTC as the backbone of a new decentralised finance system, BOB can unlock new use cases and trillions in BTC liquidity. BOB uses BitVM to inherit security from Bitcoin and create trust-minimized bridges between BOB, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other L1s. As a result, the Hybrid L2 does not need to rely on third-party bridges for interoperability, concentrating liquidity around Bitcoin instead of fragmenting it across chains. BOB is backed by leading investors such as Castle Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Ledger Cathay Ventures, and IOSG.

Website | Twitter | Discord | Telegram

 

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SOURCE BOB (“Build on Bitcoin”)

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Bloomberg Introduces Spread-to-Benchmark Quoting for EUR and GBP Portfolio Trading Baskets

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LONDON, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bloomberg today announced the launch of Spread-to-Benchmark quoting and trading for Euro (EUR) and Sterling (GBP) denominated portfolio trades through its Portfolio Trading Basket Builder (PTBB). The new functionality expands the range of quoting protocols available for European credit portfolio trading and reflects growing client demand for spread-based execution workflows, alongside increased dealer support for the convention across EUR and GBP markets.

Spread-to-Benchmark quoting is a well-established protocol for USD credit portfolio trades and is used by market participants to evaluate and execute portfolio trades. By extending this workflow to EUR and GBP portfolio trades, Bloomberg enables clients and dealers to transact using a familiar spread-based methodology across additional credit markets. 

The introduction of Spread-to-Benchmark quoting for EUR and GBP baskets reflects increased client interest in evaluating portfolio trades through a spread-based lens and the growing adoption of spread-based execution workflows in European credit markets. The workflow provides market participants with an additional framework for assessing the relationship between credit spread risk and underlying government bond yields when pricing and executing portfolio trades. 

Additional Workflow Flexibility 
The workflow complements Bloomberg’s existing portfolio trading capabilities, which support the full range of market-standard quoting conventions, including Price, Yield, Spread-to-Benchmark and Spread based workflows that reference Bloomberg’s evaluated pricing service (BVAL). This gives clients flexibility to compare and execute portfolio trades using the quoting methodology that best aligns with their investment objectives, execution preferences and internal risk management processes. 

“European credit clients continue to look for execution workflows that reflect how they evaluate risk and monitor portfolio trading outcomes,” said Harry Street, Global Head of Credit and Equities Trading Product at Bloomberg. “By expanding dealer support for Spread-to-Benchmark quoting for EUR and GBP baskets, Bloomberg is broadening the range of workflow options available to clients trading European credit portfolios.” 

“Portfolio trading workflows in fixed income continue to become more sophisticated as institutional investors look for ways to evaluate execution quality in changing market conditions,” said Kevin McPartland, Head of Market Structure & Technology Research at Crisil Coalition Greenwich. “Spread-based quoting helps market participants more clearly distinguish between the impacts of credit spread and underlying rates movements when determining how best to execute a portfolio trade.” 

Bloomberg’s Electronic Markets solutions are used by leading financial institutions to trade efficiently in over 175 markets around the world. More than 9,000 client firms use Bloomberg Electronic Markets to access industry-leading depth and breadth of liquidity across asset classes from over 800 dealers globally. Bloomberg Electronic Markets provides market participants with comprehensive solutions across the trading lifecycle, including robust price transparency, analytics, automation and execution, powered by Bloomberg’s high-quality, multi-asset class data and tools.

About Bloomberg
Bloomberg is a global leader in business and financial information, delivering trusted data, news, and insights that bring transparency, efficiency, and fairness to markets. The company helps connect influential communities across the global financial ecosystem via reliable technology solutions that enable our customers to make more informed decisions and foster better collaboration. For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.

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SOURCE Bloomberg L.P.

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Dr. Sunho Kang, a senior battery-technology executive with leadership experience at major global battery and EV manufacturers, joins TeraWatt Technology as Head of Product and Technology

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SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — TeraWatt Technology Inc. (Headquartered in California, USA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Sunho Kang has joined the company as Head of Product and Technology.

Dr. Kang is a globally recognized battery-technology executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience spanning the United States, Asia, and Europe, and a distinguished track record of advancing innovations from laboratory research through gigafactory-scale production. He has held senior executive positions at world-leading organizations including Samsung SDI, Apple, and Volkswagen Group of America, and brings deep expertise in lithium-ion battery materials, cell engineering, and product industrialization across a broad range of applications, including electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

At TeraWatt, Dr. Kang will lead global product development and the commercialization of TeraWatt’s battery technology platform, aiming to accelerate the delivery of TeraWatt’s competitive products as well as the technology and commercialization roadmap including manufacturing scale-up.

Dr. Kang commented:

“I am thrilled to join TeraWatt Technology as Head of Product and Technology. TeraWatt’s innovative battery platform presents a tremendous opportunity to push the boundaries of lithium-ion technology, and I look forward to working with the team to accelerate product development and commercialization to deliver meaningful impact.”

TeraWatt Technology founder CEO Ken Ogata, Ph.D. commented:

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Kang as our Head of Product and Technology. His deep expertise in battery materials, cell engineering, and productization will be instrumental in accelerating TeraWatt’s product roadmap and technology leadership. Together with Dr. Kang, we will continue to drive our mission forward.”

About TeraWatt Technology Inc.
TeraWatt Technology Inc. is a California-based company that produces lightweight, high-power, and safe next-generation lithium-ion batteries.

Company Overview
Name: TeraWatt Technology Inc.
Representative: Co-founder and CEO Ken Ogata
Headquarters: 28 Geary St, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94108, United States
Founded: January 2020
Established: December 2019
URL: https://www.terawatt-technology.com/

 

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SOURCE TeraWatt Technology Inc.

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Tencent Cloud and Soniox Announce Strategic Partnership: Combining Advanced Speech-to-Text (STT) Technology with Global Real-Time Infrastructure

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HONG KONG, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent, today announced a strategic partnership with Soniox, a San Francisco-based speech AI company that specializes in developing high-accuracy, low-latency speech AI solutions. The collaboration integrates Soniox’s speech-to-text (STT) technology with Tencent Cloud’s Real-Time Communication (TRTC) enterprise-grade global infrastructure, enabling enterprises to build and deploy multilingual voice AI applications across 200+ countries and regions.

Elevating Enterprise Voice AI at a Global Scale

In enterprise voice AI deployments, latency directly affects user experience and application reliability. The integration of Soniox’s high-accuracy, low-latency STT with TRTC’s global transmission infrastructure reduces latency across the entire pipeline, creating a comprehensive end-to-end solution for enterprises deploying conversational AI applications worldwide.    

Soniox is the voice platform for every language. Unlike legacy speech AI, which was built primarily for English-speakers, Soniox delivers native-speaker accuracy across 60+ languages. Its technology can handle mid-sentence language switching — a user can switch between English and Chinese in a single utterance, and Soniox will capture every word with complete accuracy. All of this works through a single API that works for both speech-to-text and text-to-speech.

By integrating TRTC, the partnership leverages an enterprise-grade real-time communication backbone featuring more than 3,200 global nodes, sub-300 ms worldwide latency, and advanced capabilities such as AI noise suppression and weak-network resilience. These capabilities enable conversational AI applications to operate reliably across diverse network environments, including regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa.

With the roll out of this partnership, developers can integrate the Soniox STT API directly within the Tencent Cloud console. Whether targeting English-speaking markets or supporting languages such as Arabic, Hindi, and Malay, enterprises can build global voice applications — including intelligent customer service, voice assistants, real-time translation, and meeting transcription — to address the demands of expansion into emerging markets and multilingual scenarios.

Wison Xie, Head of Product at Tencent RTC, stated: “Tencent RTC has always been committed to providing reliable real-time communication infrastructure for global enterprises. Our partnership with Soniox brings together our strengths in enterprise-grade audio transmission and Soniox’s advanced speech recognition technology. Together, we are making it easier for businesses to deploy accurate, low-latency voice AI applications across any language and any market.”

Klemen Simonic, CEO at Soniox Inc., stated “At Soniox, our mission is to help businesses understand every word, in any language, with native speaker accuracy and exceptional speed. Partnering with Tencent Cloud combines our speech AI with world-class real-time infrastructure, enabling enterprises to build voice AI experiences that scale globally with low latency and reliability.”

About Tencent Cloud:

Tencent Cloud, one of the world’s leading cloud companies, is committed to creating innovative solutions to resolve real-world issues and enabling digital transformation for smart industries. Through our extensive global infrastructure, Tencent Cloud provides businesses across the globe with stable and secure industry-leading cloud products and services, leveraging technological advancements such as cloud computing, Big Data analytics, AI, IoT, and network security. It is our constant mission to meet the needs of industries across the board, including the fields of gaming, media and entertainment, finance, healthcare, property, retail, travel, and transportation.

About Tencent RTC:

Tencent RTC provides real-time communication solutions, including audio/video calling, live streaming, and in-game voice. With enterprise-grade security, AI-powered enhancements, and a global network of over 3,200 nodes, Tencent RTC powers mission-critical communication for customers worldwide.

About Soniox:

Soniox is a next-generation voice AI company bringing about the end of English-first speech AI. Most people on the planet did not grow up speaking English and often mix languages mid-sentence; and yet legacy speech AI was built for just English. Soniox is different: native-speaker accuracy across 60+ languages, true mid-sentence language switching, and flawless alphanumeric recognition that legacy providers still can’t match. For developers building global apps, Soniox is the only option. Try it for yourself at soniox.com.

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SOURCE Tencent Cloud

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