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Bighit Music Co. Ltd. has announced the launch of the BTS Token, a blockchain-based digital currency aimed at transforming the purchasing experience for BTS fans worldwide. This initiative seeks to streamline transactions for merchandise, event tickets, and exclusive digital content, offering a more efficient and secure payment method.

The BTS Token is designed to address common challenges faced by the global fanbase, such as high transaction fees, unpredictable exchange rates, and limited payment options in certain regions. By leveraging blockchain technology, the token ensures transparent, decentralized, and cost-effective transactions, enhancing accessibility for all fans.

Key features of the BTS Token include:

– Stable Pricing: Advanced stabilization mechanisms are in place to maintain consistent pricing for merchandise and tickets across different regions.

– Exclusive Benefits: Token holders will have access to unique perks, including discounts on official merchandise, priority access to limited-edition NFTs, and invitations to exclusive events.

– Secure Transactions: The blockchain foundation provides transparent and tamper-proof transactions, granting fans full control over their digital assets.

– Smart Contract Automation: Real-time regulation of pricing and availability through smart contracts ensures fairness and prevents third-party price inflation.

The rollout plan for the BTS Token is as follows:

– Q1 2025: Official launch of the token and its integration into fan platforms.

– Q2 2025: Partnerships with merchandise vendors and ticketing providers to facilitate token transactions.

– Q3 2025: Introduction of staking programs and community-driven rewards to incentivize active participation.

– Q4 2025: Expansion into NFT-based fan experiences and digital collectibles, offering fans new ways to engage with BTS.

This development comes after all BTS members renewed their exclusive contracts with Bighit Music in September 2023, ensuring continued collaboration with the agency. The renewed contracts are set to commence in 2025, aligning with the anticipated completion of the members’ mandatory military service.

Financial educator and author Robert Kiyosaki has issued a stark warning about an impending market downturn, advising investors to consider assets like Bitcoin, gold, and silver as safeguards. Kiyosaki, renowned for his book *Rich Dad Poor Dad*, has a history of cautioning against economic vulnerabilities and promoting alternative investments.

In a recent communication, Kiyosaki emphasized that the anticipated market crash is now unfolding, affecting various sectors including stocks, bonds, real estate, and commodities such as gold, silver, and Bitcoin. He described the situation as a “brutal crash” and suggested that this period presents an opportunity for investors, as high-quality assets become more affordable. He stated, “The best assets in the world are going on sale.”

Kiyosaki has consistently expressed concerns about escalating global debt levels and the potential for widespread economic instability. He has been a vocal proponent of Bitcoin, viewing it as a hedge against traditional financial system risks. He has previously predicted that a significant market crash would lead to a surge in Bitcoin’s value, urging investors to “Get out of fake and into crypto, as well as gold and silver.”

The financial expert has also criticized traditional education systems for not adequately preparing individuals for financial independence. He argues that schools often train students to become employees rather than investors or entrepreneurs, leaving them ill-equipped to manage their finances during economic downturns. He stresses the importance of financial education, stating that those without it are likely to suffer the most in the event of a market collapse.

Kiyosaki’s investment strategy focuses on assets that he believes can withstand economic turbulence. He advocates for a diversified approach, including investments in physical gold and silver, as well as Bitcoin. He views these assets as protection against currency devaluation and market instability, advising investors to consider them as part of their portfolios.

While Kiyosaki’s predictions have been met with both support and skepticism, his warnings come at a time when global markets are experiencing significant volatility. Recent policy decisions, such as the introduction of new trade tariffs by the U.S. government on countries including Canada, Mexico, and China, have contributed to market instability. These developments have led to substantial losses in various asset classes, prompting investors to seek safer alternatives.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has announced a significant change in its water consumption measurement, transitioning from the imperial gallon to the cubic metre starting with the March 2025 billing cycle. This move aligns with Cabinet Resolution No. of 2023 and Ministerial Resolution No. of 2024, issued by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, which mandate the discontinuation of the imperial gallon unit in water meters across the UAE.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, emphasized the importance of this transition, stating that adopting the cubic metre as a uniform and globally recognized measurement unit is a significant step towards enhancing alignment with international best practices. He noted that this change would facilitate benchmarking across sectors and support DEWA’s efforts to provide world-class services, ultimately benefiting customers and stakeholders.

To ensure a smooth transition, DEWA has confirmed that the current smart meters installed for customers are already compatible with the cubic metre measurement system, eliminating the need for any changes to customers’ meters. During the preparatory phase, DEWA will include both units in water bills and on the customer dashboard. The final adoption of the new unit will take effect with the March 2025 billing cycle. Customers will be informed of the change through official communication channels.

This initiative reflects DEWA’s commitment to adhering to local and international regulations to ensure services meet the highest standards of quality, efficiency, reliability, and availability. By aligning with international best practices, DEWA aims to enhance its leadership in innovation and sustainability.

The adoption of the cubic metre as the standard unit for measuring water consumption is expected to provide customers with a clearer understanding of their water usage, promoting more efficient consumption patterns. This change also aligns DEWA with other utilities in the UAE, fostering a unified approach to resource management across the nation.

In the lead-up to the March 2025 implementation, DEWA plans to engage in extensive customer outreach to ensure that all users are well-informed about the upcoming changes. This will include detailed explanations of the new billing units and guidance on interpreting water consumption data in cubic metres.

The shift from the imperial gallon to the cubic metre is part of a broader strategy to modernize utility services in Dubai. By standardizing measurement units, DEWA aims to improve transparency in billing and enhance customer satisfaction.

Salience Labs, a company specialising in photonic solutions for AI data centre connectivity, has secured $30 million in Series A funding. This investment aims to advance the development of their optical switches, designed to enhance large-scale AI infrastructure.

The funding round was led by Cambridge Innovation Capital and Oxford Science Enterprises, with participation from Oxford Investment Consultants, former Dialog Semiconductor CEO Jalal Bagherli, Silicon Catalyst, the Goh Family Office in Singapore, and Arm-backed Deeptech Labs.

Salience Labs, founded in 2021 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford and the University of Münster, is developing an ultra high-speed multi-chip processor that integrates a photonics chip with standard electronics. This technology is scalable, capable of stacking up to 64 vectors into a beam of light, delivering massively parallel processing performance within a given power envelope.

The company’s proprietary amplitude-based approach to photonics results in dense computing chips operating at tens of gigahertz. This, combined with massively parallel performance, aims to enable exascale computing in a wide array of AI processes and applications.

Salience Labs employs a multi-chip design, with the photonic processing mapping directly on top of the Static Random Access Memory . This novel ‘on-memory compute’ architecture is inherently faster and can be adapted to the application-specific requirements of different market verticals, making it suitable for AI use-cases in communications, robotics, vision systems, healthcare, and other data workloads.

The technology has been designed from first principles for volume manufacture and is currently being fabricated with production-level foundries using standard CMOS processes.

Ian Lane, Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital, stated that Salience Labs brings together deep domain expertise in photonics, electronics, and CMOS manufacture. He noted that their unique approach to photonics delivers an exceedingly dense computing chip without having to scale the photonics chip to large sizes.

Alexis Zervoglos, Partner at Oxford Science Enterprises, commented that Salience Labs offers a pioneering yet pragmatic solution to the widening gap between AI processing demand and semiconductor industry supply. By leveraging photonics in a novel way, the company is set to make unprecedented advances in computing, transforming existing AI applications and opening up new addressable horizons.

Jalal Bagherli, investor and former CEO of Dialog Semiconductor, remarked that the team at Salience Labs is world-class, combining commercial and technical acumen with a disruptive market vision. He highlighted their unique ‘on-memory compute’ architecture as ground-breaking, with the potential for breakthrough performance and power capability beyond what the established CMOS roadmap offers.

Vaysh Kewada, CEO and co-founder of Salience Labs, emphasized the increasing demand for faster chips to grow AI capability, noting that the semiconductor industry cannot keep pace with this demand. She explained that their proprietary ‘on-memory compute’ architecture combines the ultra-fast speed of photonics, the flexibility of electronics, and the manufacturability of CMOS, ushering in a new era of processing where supercompute AI becomes ubiquitous.

Salience Labs is headquartered in Oxford, UK, and funded by a portfolio of investors including Cambridge Innovation Capital, Oxford Science Enterprises, Oxford Investment Consultants, Silicon Catalyst, Deeptech Labs, and leaders from the global semiconductor industry, including former Dialog Semiconductor CEO Jalal Bagherli and the Goh Family Office in Singapore.

The company’s mission is to build photonic switches for AI infrastructure, solving fundamental networking bottlenecks and enabling high bandwidth, low latency connectivity for improved AI model performance. Their optical circuit switch keeps the payload fully optical while directing data to where it needs to go, eliminating the need for expensive transceivers.

Salience Labs’ photonic switch enables all-optical, multi-hop large cluster connectivity, addressing the flexibility and control required in next-generation AI infrastructure. The switch allows for resizing and provisioning networks quickly and on the fly, with fast reconfiguration, novel flow routing, and synchronization technologies.

The company’s technology is the result of over 10 years of research into silicon photonics. Salience Labs’ switch is built for AI and focuses on compatibility, reliability, and manufacturability. The team comprises experts in photonics, electronics, embedded software, and machine learning, working together to shape the future of optical networking.

Salience Labs’ board and advisors include industry leaders such as Daniel Armbrust, Chairman; Dr. Bill Jeffrey, Board Member; Jack Edmondson, Board Member; Jalal Bagherli, Investor and Advisor; and Prof. Wolfram Pernice, Co-Founder and Advisor.