There are a whopping 64,142 people currently living with dementia in Ireland. With age being the leading risk factor for dementia, this number is expected to rise alongside population ageing to 150,131 by 2045. Dementia describes a group of symptoms that affect memory, thinking, and social abilities severely enough to interfere with daily life. Among its many forms, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common, accounting for 60–70 per cent of dementia cases worldwide. With millions of people and families impacted globally, early and accurate diagnosis has never been more critical. MemoryTell is a digital health tool that uses speech-based biomarkers to support the early detection of dementia. Instead of relying on lengthy memory tests or medical imaging, it analyses short recordings of a person speaking — looking at patterns in language, rhythm, pauses, and acoustics that research shows can signal cognitive decline.  I spoke to Corrina Grimes to learn all about it.  Turning a research breakthrough into a clinical tool Grimes started in health and social care 25 years ago as a clinician, and then moved into policy and commissioning.  Parallel to that, in 2017, she became an Atlantic Fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute, affiliated with Trinity College Dublin and UCSF in San Francisco. That’s when she became interested in brain health and how to reduce the scale and impact of dementia through a life-course approach, and where she met Adolfo García, a neuroscientist who spent 15 years researching how speech can be used as a biomarker. Garcia is an internationally recognised neuroscientist with 200+ publications and a global authority in speech biomarkers and brain health, and he has already developed a tool called TELL — “Toolkit to Examine Life-Like Language”. The duo joined forces with Fernando Johann, an engineer and serial entrepreneur with two successful exits, venture capital experience, and experience scaling tech to international markets to co-found MemoryTell, to take the technology from the lab to frontline services in Europe.  MemoryTell’s real-time speech analysis supports dementia diagnosis While in relatively early stages, MemoryTell is a web-based AI platform that records, transcribes, and analyses a person’s speech and provides a real-time report to support clinicians in diagnosing and monitoring dementia. MemoryTell’s approach makes analysis objective. The AI compares a person’s speech against a dataset of 13,000 clinically coded records — labelled with disease status and validated in clinical practice, plus healthy volunteers. A 10-minute, non-invasive assessment designed for primary care A person engages in a short conversation or performs structured speech tasks (e.g. picture description, story-retelling, spontaneous speech) that are recorded.  Advanced algorithms analyse the recording. They extract a large number of acoustic features (pauses, speed, tone, prosody, silence duration, jitter, etc.) and linguistic features (lexical diversity, syntactic complexity, fluency/disfluency, phrase structure, word usage, etc.). The speech is compared against a validated database of prior speech samples from people with known clinical status (healthy, MCI, dementia).  Using machine-learning or statistical classifiers (or, in some newer approaches, deep learning), the system estimates the likelihood that the speech sample corresponds to cognitive impairment, or flags patterns indicative of early signs of neurodegenerative disease. The output is packaged into a real-time result/report that clinicians can view. Over time, repeated assessments allow tracking of changes in speech biomarkers — useful to monitor disease progression, cognitive decline, or possibly responses to interventions/therapies. MemoryTell slots into primary care with fast, consistent dementia assessment “It doesn’t diagnose, but it provides a proposed classification that helps clinicians,” explained Grimes. According to Grimes: “Our first use case focuses on people who present to their GP with symptoms and are then referred for assessment.  Providing an alternative to invasive assessments Across Europe, the diagnostic pathway varies — in some countries, initial assessments happen in primary care, while in others they’re carried out in specialist memory clinics — but MemoryTell is designed to slot naturally into the primary-care stage because it offers a quick, non-invasive 10-minute assessment with real-time, objective scoring.” It's an approach that contrasts with today’s common methods, which typically rely on pen-and-paper psychometric tests such as the ACE-III, alongside clinical conversations, multidisciplinary meetings, functional assessments, and, when needed, further diagnostics like MRI, lumbar puncture, or other scans. “Further, it provides longitudinal tracking — something our systems lack today. Speech biomarkers can objectively track disease progression or the efficacy of new treatments over time.” It can also be used to plan other interventions — including social care — as conditions progress. It’s an objective, consistent way to document change.” And, unlike other tests, results are instant. The healthcare provider receives a real-time PDF or API-delivered report. There’s no waiting period. MemoryTell is currently developing validation studies, which will assist in determining whether (and how) the tool assists with: Screening, Prioritising waiting lists. Shortening diagnostic timelines. “It won’t replace other tests, but it can be used earlier in the pathway, and it’s faster than standard care,” detailed Grimes. Momentum builds after winning Catalyst Invent 2025 MemoryTell has been received positively from healthcare providers and clinicians, policymakers, and government — “you don’t usually get that 3D level of support,” admits Grimes.  “Investors have also been extremely positive. Being part of the Global Brain Health Institute also brings credibility, and we have strong institutional letters of support." In October 2025, MemoryTell won big in the Catalyst Invent startup competition, winning the bio breakthrough category and the overall category, which has generated a lot of momentum. Further, Grimes asserts that “a lot of people have been personally impacted by dementia, so they understand the mission: shifting from invasive, subjective tests to something faster, more dignified, and more objective.” Once it obtains CE marking, MemoryTell will be a software-as-a-service medical device. The first customers will be public sector primary care and memory clinics, then the private sector. “Many startups go private first, but for us, the mission is rooted in public services,” shared Grimes.  “I have 25 years’ experience working across health systems — policy, commissioning, service redesign — so I understand the implementation challenges from inside the system.” From here, MemoryTell’s priorities focus on completing clinical validation studies, advancing its regulatory strategy, building a robust quality-management system, securing CE marking, forming partnerships across Europe, and applying for targeted European grants to support further development and deployment.

Despite an initial show of resistance to the Netflix-Warner Bros. Discovery deal, stranger things have happened in the Trump administration.

Identity verification platform Trulioo has announced it is joining Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) initiative to support secure, agent-led payments across digital platforms. The collaboration aims to establish a framework for trust and accountability as AI agents increasingly handle transactions on behalf of users. Google launched AP2 to provide an open, standardised framework for digital payments that connects financial institutions, fintechs, and merchants. The protocol creates a common language designed to allow AI agents to initiate and complete transactions. Crucially, it maintains necessary transparency, authorisation, and compliance standards across different ecosystems. As part of the initiative, Trulioo will apply its identity verification infrastructure. The goal is to demonstrate the utility of a “Digital Agent Passport” (DAP). The DAP intends to introduce a verifiable trust layer within AP2. This mechanism works in tandem with the company’s “Know Your Agent” (KYA) framework. This mechanism is designed to ensure that digital agents are authenticated, authorised, and held accountable prior to executing any transaction. Vicky Bindra, CEO of Trulioo, commented on the necessity of establishing trust within autonomous commerce. Vicky Bindra “The future of commerce belongs to agents that can think, act and transact independently, but only if they can be trusted,” Bindra said. “By joining AP2, we’re helping define the identity backbone for autonomous payments, where verified agents transact transparently, responsibly and at machine speed”. This move deepens the existing relationship between the two companies, as Google currently leverages Trulioo’s Global Identity Platform for Know Your Customer (KYC) verification, fraud prevention, and abuse mitigation across its payments organisation. Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore based on an image by rawpixel.com via Freepik. The post Trulioo Joins Google Agent Payments Protocol to Secure AI Transactions appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

A good game story cannot be achieved through the use of interesting characters or thrilling gameplay. Immersive storytelling requires narrative structure, timing, and sequencing through visual means. The cutscenes are important in the presentation of important moments in the story, yet can be complicated to plan. The synchronization of character behavior, camera shots, and the […] The post Craft Game Narratives Clearly with AI Storyboard Cutscene Tools appeared first on TechBullion.

Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) will acquire two Indonesian financial firms - Buana Capital Sekuritas and Pedagang Aset Kripto - as the trading app targets one of Asia's hottest cryptocurrency markets.The company announced the deal yesterday (Sunday), marking its first major move into Southeast Asia. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but the transaction is expected to close sometime in the first half of next year.Robinhood Acquires Indonesian Brokerage, Crypto Firms in Southeast Asia PushIndonesia has become one of the world's largest crypto adoption markets, with roughly 17 million cryptocurrency traders and 19 million capital market investors. The country's young, tech-savvy population and favorable regulations have made it attractive for U.S. financial firms looking to grow outside their home markets."Indonesia represents a fast-growing market for trading, making it an exciting place to further Robinhood's mission to democratize finance for all," Patrick Chan, Head of Asia at Robinhood, said.In recent months, many retail trading firms have turned their attention to the region. Toward the end of last year, Doo Financial received a license there, followed shortly by XTB. Both companies aimed not only to access a large local market, but also to gain entry to clients in neighboring countries across the region.Two Acquisitions Speed Market EntryBuying an existing brokerage helps companies meet local regulatory requirements faster than building operations from scratch. The crypto trader acquisition gives Robinhood immediate access to Indonesia's digital asset infrastructure.Pieter Tanuri, who owns the majority stake in both Indonesian firms, will stay on as a strategic adviser after the deal closes.The move comes as Robinhood looks beyond its core U.S. market, where it built a massive following by eliminating trading commissions and simplifying stock investing through a mobile app. Product ExpansionTo achieve this,Robinhood has been expanding its product lineup aggressively this year. The company joined the S&P 500 index in September and launched prediction markets in March. Last month, it acquired MIAXdx to reduce dependence on third-party providers like Kalshi for event-based trading contracts.The platform has also been pushing tokenization of traditional securities. CEO Vlad Tenev described it as "the biggest innovation in capital markets" in more than ten years, outlining plans to let users use tokenized stocks as collateral for crypto loans.Robinhood shares have climbed 268% this year through December 5, far outpacing the broader market. The stock went public in New York in 2021.However, XTB's CEO Omar Arnaout said he expects Robinhood will struggle to replicate its U.S. success in Europe. The Poland-based platform executive called XTB the continent's answer to the American brokerage and questioned whether Robinhood's model would work across fragmented European markets. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Three years after the collapse of the Bahamas-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the country continues to feel the impact and has not yet recovered from the resulting reputational damage, Christina Rolle, Executive Director of the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, said in a recent interview. This underscores the long-term consequences that such a widespread financial scandal can have on a nation’s credibility. Speaking to Henri Arslanian for his “The Future of Crypto Compliance” podcast series, Rolle reflected on the aftermath of the FTX collapse on the Bahamas. She noted that while most regulators worldwide and those familiar with the crypto space understand that the situation was handled appropriately, parts of the public still associate the country with FXT, a negative perception that’s is likely to persist. “I don’t know that [the Bahamas] are fully recovered [from the FTX saga],” Rolle said. “I think that there are quarters that will still hold our feet to the fire over that. The truth is, we handled that very well, and our legislative framework was, in fact, very strong in order to address that situation. Certainly, that’s usually the sentiment among regulators. That’s usually the sentiment among people who have a deep knowledge of the crypto world as well. But then there’s the wider public that probably doesn’t have that level of inside knowledge, and I think we’re still fighting those perceptions. We probably will always be fighting those perceptions in the same way that we’ll always be fighting the perception that we’re a tax haven or that we’re a money laundering center or something like that.” Setting up in the Bahamas Rolle retraced FTX’s entry into the Bahamas, recalling that the company first approached regulators after the jurisdiction introduced the Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges (DARE) Act in late-2020, governing digital asset businesses in the country. At the time, the Bahamas was among the few jurisdictions in the world to have a proper regulatory framework for digital assets. “We passed the legislation in December of 2020, and [FTX] started to approach the Bahamas in February 2021,” Rolle recalled. “We thought we would develop this framework and we would have a trickle of exchanges globally who would be interested, but we never thought in our wildest dreams that we would attract perhaps the second largest crypto exchange in the Bahamas.” It took roughly seven months to get FTX’s application to reach a stage of approval in-principle as well as extensive back and forth to ensure compliance with its legal obligations. Initially, FTX planned only to obtain to a license in the Bahamas. However, after China clamped down on cryptocurrencies in late-2021, FTX decided to make the Bahamas its official headquarters and moved related entities, such as Alameda Research, to the Bahamas as well. The government welcomed the development, believing that the company’s presence would attract other crypto firms. At the time, the move was seen as a success as a reputable company was choosing the Bahamas as its base. FTX quickly began influencing the local economy, particularly in the real-estate market. “This was an entity that, within a very, very short space of time, they probably acquired more than US$200 million in real estate in probably less than a year,” Rolle said. “That’s a game changer for the economy of the Bahamas in such a short period of time.” The collapse Rolle then recounted the events of November 2022, when FTX collapsed, explaining that Bahamian regulators first learned about the company’s problems through social media. During a call with Ryan Salameh, former CEO of FTX Digital Markets, the FTX subsidiary based in the Bahamas, and Ryne Miller, FTX US’s former general counsel, the executives admitted to fraudulent activity, leading Rolle to move quickly to suspend FTX’s license and place the company into liquidation to protect customers and creditors. “We had to mobilize quickly to prepare ourselves to go to court the next day,” Rolle explained. “We made the internal decisions we needed, we needed to identify a liquidator … and we had to go through some enforcement protocols to do that … So I filed a letter with the police, basically an initial criminal complaint to trigger an investigation on their end [the very next day] … and put them into liquidation. I was having conversations with the Securities Commission, the Police, having conversations with liquidators, also trying to get those items coordinated.” Because the Securities Commission placed FTX Digital Markets into liquidation, Bankman-Fried rushed to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US before the end of the same day. This triggered a broader wind-down and restructuring process for FTX entities worldwide. In the days that followed, the Securities Commission took control of FTX’s digital assets for safekeeping, describing this as an unprecedented move for a regulator. “We [had] the legislative power to take these assets into our custody but I knew that we had to think through this process very, very quickly, so I spent a couple hours opening a wallet with Fireblocks to receive these assets,” Rolle recalled. “I needed a specific litigator who could go before a court and explain to them what these assets were, first of all, and why it is that we needed to take them into our custody for safekeeping, which was an extraordinary act and something that regulators really aren’t used to doing, or used to thinking that they would have to do. All of this was new territory. Our primary concern at that point was protecting the interests of clients and creditors.” At that point, police had already confiscated Bankman-Fried’s passport, as well as that of Gary Wang, former CTO and co-founder of FTX. Authorities were concerned they might not gather enough evidence within the 72-hour limit required to file charges, and if they failed to do so, Bankman-Fried and Wang could flee, especially given the Bahamas’ proximity to Cuba, which has no extradition treaty. In hindsight Reflecting on the aftermath, Rolle said the regulator did well in sticking to clear principles rather than trying to plan for every possible scenario. However, in hindsight, she believes the regulator should have put both FTX Digital Markets and FTX Trading into liquidation. Though FTX Digital Markets was the main regulated entity underpinning the group’s international exchange operations, FTX Trading was the parent company and controlled multiple subsidiaries including US entities. Limiting the action created unnecessary jurisdictional conflict between the US and the Bahamas, triggering a power struggle with US courts and regulators over assets, decision-making, and control of the broader FTX group. “[The whole US/Bahamas issue] created a fight that was unnecessary, … and an unnecessary territorial fight,” Rolle said. “Now, do I think that we had, that we have the manpower in terms of the resources to have dealt with that entire, the entire scope of FTX globally? We probably would have had to bring in resources … lawyers, crypto experts, and others from the US … because we don’t have enough of them in the Bahamas. But certainly, I think that had we made that move, it could have gone a lot smoother.” The future of Digital Assets in the Bahamas Since the collapse, Rolle said the Bahamas has introduced additional digital asset legislation, and finalized a new framework in 2024. She expects global regulation to increasingly converge as crypto becomes more widely accepted and institutional players enter the space. “What I see right now is a shift,” Rolle said. “About four years ago, it was very much focused around the crypto bros. Now you have a lot more institutional players in the space; institutional players that are used to the regulation of traditional finance. And so they expect regulation [in the crypto space]. Now you see regulation becoming more thoughtful. It’s converging around principles. And so I think that’s the future. I think crypto, certainly blockchain-based activity is here to stay … especially tokenization.” Looking ahead, Rolle sees the Bahamas as a hub for crypto companies looking to operate outside the heavily regulated major markets, like the US, or the European Union (EU). “If someone wants to be regulated or someone wants to do business with US persons, they will need to be regulated in the US and they would need to seek that. If they want to do business with Europeans, they will need to be regulated in one of the EU countries that have signed on to the legislation,” Rolle said. “But there remain those outside of those major jurisdictions, especially in … huge markets … like Latin America, or parts of Asia … where they is a gap in legislation, and certainly a gap in aligning structures around what’s going on in the big jurisdictions. “I think that’s where the Bahamas comes in. We can be a sort of ‘rest-of-the world regulatory strategy’ … but aligned with regulation in those major jurisdictions … for persons who may have, say, for example, a license in the US to do business with US persons, but they also want to operate elsewhere.”   The post Bahamas Still Grapples with the Reputational Fallout of the FTX Collapse appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Major move to enhance its strategic presence in the UK financial hub. Highlights: Visa’s new HQ aims to strengthen its UK operations. The relocation highlights Canary Wharf’s significance in finance. This move follows increased demand for digital payments in Europe. Visa has announced its decision to move its European headquarters to Canary Wharf, a key financial district in London. This strategic relocation aims to bolster Visa’s operations within the UK and enhance its engagement with the growing fintech sector. The shift is indicative of Visa’s commitment to being at the forefront of digital payments as demand rises across Europe. With this move, Visa positions itself to capitalize on the technological advancements in the financial landscape.

Trulioo has joined Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) to provide its Digital Agent Passport and Know Your Agent (KYA) framework, creating a trusted identity layer for AI-driven, agent-led payments. AP2 establishes a common standard for how AI agents transact, and Trulioo ensures every agent interacting in the ecosystem is authenticated, authorized, and accountable before executing a payment. Agentic payments remain early but are poised to scale quickly as identity layers like KYA mature and combine with programmable settlement rails such as stablecoins and tokenized deposits, enabling safe, real-time autonomous transactions. Agentic payments are on the rise this season, and digital identity platform Trulioo is stepping up to help protect agent-led transactions. The Canada-based company has joined Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) initiative. With the launch, Trulioo is deepening its long-standing ties with Google, which leverages Trulioo’s Global Identity Platform for Know Your Customer (KYC) verification. Google launched AP2 in September 2025 to provide an open, standardized framework for digital payments. AP2 connects banks, fintechs, and merchants with its protocol that creates a common language for how AI agents can transact on behalf of users. Trulioo will bring its Digital Agent Passport and KYA framework to AP2. Together with Trulioo’s KYA framework, the Digital Agent Passport creates a verifiable trust layer within AP2, ensuring every digital agent is authenticated, authorized, and accountable before transacting. “The future of commerce belongs to agents that can think, act, and transact independently, but only if they can be trusted,” said Trulioo CEO Vicky Bindra. “By joining AP2, we’re helping define the identity backbone for autonomous payments, where verified agents transact transparently, responsibly, and at machine speed. This is the architecture, and the future, of trusted agentic commerce. We’re proud to be working with Google to bring verified identity to agentic payments.” Headquartered in Canada and founded in 2011, Trulioo has raised $475 million. The company offers global verification for both businesses and customers in 195 countries and with the ability to verify more than 14,000 ID documents and 700 million business entities while checking against more than 6,000 watchlists. Trulioo has demoed at 10 Finovate events, most recently showcasing its identity platform at FinovateEurope 2023. Trulioo launched its Know Your Agent (KYA) solution in August 2025. “KYA is a new identity layer designed for agent-led digital interactions, bringing trust and compliance to agentic commerce without compromising speed or user experience,” the company said. “This isn’t just technical infrastructure—it’s a real-time trust layer that quietly safeguards the ecosystem while letting everything move at machine speed.” Agentic payments are still in their early stages, largely because true autonomy requires more than intelligent agents. For the ecosystem to work, agentic payments require a secure, verifiable system for authorizing transactions without human intervention. As identity layers like KYA mature, consumers and businesses will become more comfortable allowing AI agents to initiate payments, execute purchases, manage subscriptions, or even negotiate transactions on their behalf. The shift becomes even more notable as agentic payments intersect with programmable settlement rails such as stablecoins and tokenized deposits. These payment methods enable real-time, programmable, and low-cost transactions that will help autonomous agents operate safely at scale. When combined, trusted agent identity plus programmable money could bring agent-led commerce into mainstream markets rapidly, especially if security layers like Trulioo’s are already in place. Photo by Czapp Árpád The post Trulioo Joins Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) to Secure Agent-Led Payments appeared first on Finovate.       

Marquis said ransomware hackers stole reams of banking customer data, containing personal information and financial records, as well as Social Security numbers, belonging to hundreds of thousands of people. The number of affected people is expected to rise.