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The digital euro moved closer to reality this week after the European Parliament backed a legal framework to launch a state-backed digital currency by two thousand twenty nine. The vote signals a clear intent from EU lawmakers to reduce the continent's dependence on American credit card networks and stablecoin platforms — a financial sovereignty play years in the making.
Meanwhile, in the world of traditional finance leaning into crypto, Franklin Templeton has closed its acquisition of two fifty Digital and announced a dedicated Franklin Crypto division. The one point seven trillion dollar asset manager didn't disclose the purchase price, but the move speaks volumes about where institutional money is placing its long-term bets.
And in a story that proves legacy software never truly dies, Microsoft has quietly fixed a decades-old limitation in Access — its relational database tool. The form-size cap of twenty-two inches, a relic from the cathode-ray tube monitor era, is finally gone. The update hits the Current Channel preview by July twenty-first, two thousand twenty six, and for the enterprises still running Access, that is genuinely meaningful news.
Keep surfing. Tech Beat out.
