Microsoft claims quantum computing breakthrough

Microsoft has announced it has reached a significant milestone in quantum computing. The tech company says it has created "topological qubits," a technological innovation that could be crucial to realizing stable and scalable quantum computing.

Quantum computing has long been considered the holy grail for computational power and data analysis, but the technology faces stability problems. Once quantum computing works at scale, it would make current encryption obsolete, including cryptographic keys for blockchain. That means everyone needs to think about alternative storage methods for their cryptoassets now, before quantum computing becomes a reality. In North Korea, they can't wait.

Former OpenAI leaders with competing AI companies

The AI sector remains in flux as former OpenAI executives raise billions for competing projects. It was previously known that ex-OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever founded Safe Superintelligence(SSI), which is in negotiations to obtain funding at a valuation of $30 billion.

Now it appears that former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati is also raising money for her AI startup Thinking Machines Lab, with a team largely made up of employees recruited from OpenAI and Anthropic. It is just not known what valuation Murati has in mind, but she will certainly be looking with an oblique eye at what former colleague Sutskever is getting done. Like SSI, Thinking Machines Lab has a one-page website with text on it in very small print. The most high technology companies make Web sites that look like they did in 1993.

President Xi Jinping brings together Chinese tech leaders

For the first time in six years, Chinese President Xi Jinpinghas met with top members of China's technology sector, including Jack Ma, the co-founder of Alibaba. The meeting marks a striking change of direction after years of the Chinese government cracking down on tech companies with strict regulatory measures and high fines.

The meeting is a sign that Chinese leaders recognize how crucial technology is to the economy. Jack Ma's return to the spotlight indicates that the government wants to give companies like Alibaba more freedom again, presumably to spur innovation and growth in a flare-up in international competition.

Alibaba and Unity rise, Palantir falls sharply

The meeting was met with cheers from investors and Alibaba shares rose sharply. On the same day, Thursday, Palantir shares took a huge hit because President Trump is expected to cut defense spending, which could negatively impact Palantir.

Another notable stock was software maker Unity, which, although still loss-making, is being praised by investors for its change in direction, supplying not only software for computer games but also car companies such as Toyota. Thus, Thursday, Feb. 20, became a very special day for these three companies.

Interestingly, the share price of U.S. largest crypto exchange Coinbase, barely reacted to the news that the SEC, under the reign of President Trump, has halted the years-long lawsuit against Coinbase.

Formula 1 full of crypto sponsors

The Formula One season is about to start and was announced big time with an event at London's O2 Arena. It was noticed that many teams are sponsored big by crypto companies:

• Aston Martin is sponsored by Coinbase, with quite a fuss being made about the fact that payment is made in the stable token USDC. That's a digital dollar, boy.
• Red Bull Racing has had crypto exchange Gate.io on the back wing since this season, replacing Bybit. But that one made plenty of headlines later in the week.
• McLaren has had OKX as a sponsor since 2022. OKX appears large on the side of the car, among other things.
• Williams: American crypto exchange Kraken is a sponsor of Williams for the third year.
• Stake F1 Team: Sauber, which will become Audi next year, has even sold the name to the crypto gambling site Stake.

Formula 1 itself has been sponsored by the crypto exchange Crypto.com since 2021, noting that neither Nish nor I know anyone who has ever used Crypto.com, unlike the other exchanges mentioned.

NFA episode 4: 'Solana better than Bitcoin'

This and more Nish and I discussed in episode 4 of the NFA Podcast (Not Financial Advice, or Nish, Frackers and Others), noting especially her extensive analysis of the Solana platform, which goes beyond just discussing the price of the day - as I like to do when her token favorites drop.