Coinbase Singapore obtained a Major Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

In a blog post published today, the crypto exchange said the development — which follows its initial In Principle Approval in the country — “amplifies our commitment to the Singapore market, enabling us to expand our provision of Digitial Payment Token services to both individuals and institutions in Singapore.”

Coinbase also identified Singapore as a “vital market” for the exchange, citing Singaporeans’ statistical interest in crypto and the country’s progressive economic strategies and regulatory approach.

“This license enshrines our commitment to the market and marks the end of our licensing journey,” Hassan Ahmed, the country director of Coinbase Singapore, said in an interview, adding:

“Our experience in Singapore in some ways contrasts what’s going on in the U.S. By providing this level of regulatory clarity and by providing clear rules that the industry has to play by, that’s really important for us as we’re thinking about our international strategy.”

Coinbase previously received virtual asset service provider registrations in Spain, Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands.

The exchange’s share price is up more than two percent today — as of publication time.

Coinbase committed to Singapore’s web3 ecosystem

Coinbase also said it is committed to Singapore’s broader web3 ecosystem, including training and hiring initiatives at its Singapore tech hub.

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In an effort to remain competitive with Microsoft and Google in the artificial intelligence space and capitalize on generative AI, Amazon will invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic and take a minority ownership position in the AI firm.

Anthropic, which recently released a new AI chatbot called Claude 2, is an OpenAI competitor founded by former research executives from the ChatGPT creator. It is backed by Google and Salesforce Ventures, among others.

Amazon and Anthropic shared that they are forming a strategic collaboration in the generative AI space, with the startup unsurprisingly tapping Amazon Web Services as its primary cloud provider. AWS customers will receive early access to special features for customizing models — such as the ability to build via Amazon Bedrock.

“The agreement is part of a broader collaboration to develop the most reliable and high-performing foundation models in the industry,” the companies said in an official announcement.

AWS will design custom-made semiconductors to train the foundational models — large AI models developed using massive amounts of data — of Anthropic’s AI applications. The semiconductors may compete with Nvidia’s flagship AI-focused graphics processing units.

Amazon’s investment in the Anthropic follows Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI in January.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Karolina Grabowska; Pexels; Thank you!

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Apple reportedly plans to increase production in India to around $40 billion — a more than five-fold increase from its current $7 billion — in the next four to five years.

The news — which ReadWrite has yet to verify independently — originates from news agency PTI, which cited government sources that said: “Apple has plans to increase production in India to over $40 billion in the next 4-5 years. It has crossed $7 billion in the last fiscal.”

“They don’t have any plans to participate in IT hardware PLI,” the officer added — implying the iPhone creator has no plans to make iPads or Macbooks in India. “They may come at a later stage but as of now their focus is to scale up existing production levels.”

However, The Cupertino-based firm reportedly plans to manufacture Airpods in India from next year.

Apple outpaces Samsung in smartphone exports from India

Apple is the largest exporter of mobile phones from India — where it, for the first time, made its new made-in-India iPhones available on launch day earlier this month. The iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max hit store shelves on Sept. 22, with Indian-made units available both domestically and abroad.

Apple has reportedly outpaced, for the first time, Korean rival Samsung in smartphone export volumes from India — shipping 49 percent of India’s total 12 million shipments in the June quarter versus Samsung’s 45 percent.

Industry sources are widely reported as claiming that Apple’s iPhone 15 series registered 100 percent growth compared to the iPhone 14 series on launch day.

Featured Image Credit: Laurenz Heymann; Pexels; Thank you!

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Unity remains undeterred in its plan to implement new install fees despite backlash from game developers. According to the platform holder, “more than 90% of our customers will not be affected by this change.”

Unity’s response on X (formerly Twitter) comes a day after the popular game engine announced it would begin charging a runtime fee on Jan. 1, 2024 — provoking questions about multiple installs and Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, among others.

The platform holder has since clarified that it will only count “net new installs” starting Jan. 1 and that developers won’t pay fees on re-installations, fraudulent installs, game trials, streams and charity-related installs. It also said fees for Game Pass installs will be passed on to Xbox.

Game devs remain unhappy about new Unity fees

Despite Unity’s response, game developers continue to urge Unity to change its plan — which many argue affects smaller indie titles the most.

“Buy Cult of the Lamb now, because we’re deleting it on Jan. 1,” the well-received game’s official X account stated.

“I bet Steam, Epic, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft will love having waves of developers pulling their games,” Among Us developer Innersloth’s Forest Willard wrote, adding: “Innersloth has always paid Unity appropriately for licenses and services we use. I’m not a discourse guy, but this is undue and will force my hand.”

Willard also responded directly to Unity’s X account by stating that “Unity now needs to give this up and make obvious reparations in the opposite direction if there can be any hope of regaining trust in the future.”

Among Us is one of the most successful games that use Unity. Other popular titles using the engine include Genshin Impact, Beat Saber and Pokémon Go.

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Mozilla fixed a critical zero-day vulnerability affecting its Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client via emergency security updates.

The security flaw in question — CVE-2023-4863 — stemmed from a heap buffer overflow in the WebP code library.

“Opening a malicious WebP image could lead to a heap buffer overflow in the content process,” Mozilla said in an advisory published on Tuesday, adding: “We are aware of this issue being exploited in other products in the wild.”

The not-for-profit software developer addressed the zero-day exploit for:

• Firefox 117.0.1
• Firefox ESR 115.2.1
• Firefox ESR 102.15.1
• Thunderbird 102.15.1
• Thunderbird 115.2.2

The details surrounding the WedP flaw being used in attacks have not been shared, but users have been strongly advised to update their versions of Firefox and Thunderbird.

Google already patched Chrome

Mozilla software was not alone in using the vulnerable WebP code library version.

Google patched its Chrome web browser on Monday while warning that “an exploit for CVE-2023-4863 exists in the wild.” Its security updates have been rolling out and are expected to cover its entire user base in the weeks ahead.

Apple and The Citizen Lab identified the flaw

Apple’s Security Engineering and Architecture team first reported the flaw on Sept. 6, alongside The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School — the latter famous for identifying and disclosing zero-day vulnerabilities.

Citizen Lab recently identified two zero-day vulnerabilities used to deploy NSO Group’s infamous Pegasus mercenary spyware onto up-to-date iPhones. Apple patched the vulnerabilities last week before backporting them to older iPhone models — such as the iPhone 6s, iPhone 7 and iPhone SE.

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For the first time, some iPhone 15 models could be available in India — where Apple has been building some of its famous phones since 2017 — on launch day.

The news — first reported by Bloomberg — follows widespread reports that contractor Foxconn would aim to manufacture more iPhone 15 models at the Tamil Nadu, India facility than before as part of Apple’s plan to diversify manufacturing amid supply chain risks stemming from U.S.-China tensions.

The availability of iPhone 15 models in India — where Apple aims to eventually increase smartphone production from seven percent to 25 percent — on launch day will largely depend on Foxconn’s ability to scale production and the availability of components. However, the expected arrival of Indian-made iPhones alongside more common China-made units is widely heralded as a big win for the tech giant.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 15 — which is rumored to have thinner bezels, a titanium frame and USB-C charging — today at its Cupertino headquarters alongside its iOS 17, watchOS 10 and iPadOS 17 operating systems.

This article has been updated with additional information.

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