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A cross-chain bridge handling XRP lost two hundred thousand dollars after an attacker exploited a fundamental flaw in its logic. The software accepted fabricated, unbacked tokens on a secondary blockchain as if they were genuine, then handed over real XRP from its reserves in exchange. The bridge is now offline, and its operator has contacted the FBI.

Shifting to a different kind of financial risk, India's central bank governor is pushing the country's lenders to use artificial intelligence to approve loans that human assessors would turn down. Sanjay Malhotra told a banking conference in Mumbai that the Reserve Bank sees AI as a capability to be harnessed responsibly, arguing it could extend credit access to borrowers who fall through the cracks of traditional underwriting. The question of who bears the risk when those models get it wrong remains open.

And on the security front, Signal has rolled out a new verification layer designed to confirm you're actually talking to who you think you are. The feature builds on the app's existing safety numbers system, adding a step that makes it harder for a compromised device or a man-in-the-middle attack to go undetected. For journalists and activists who depend on Signal, that extra friction is worth it.

Keep surfing. Tech Beat out.

Sources

  1. https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/08/12/xrp-bridge-drained-for-usd200-000-after-software-mistook-fake-deposits-for-real-ones
  2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49267756
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXDemfGNGz0
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_march_(project_management)
  5. https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/08/12/indias-central-bank-wants-ai-to-approve-loans-that-humans-would-reject/5286572
  6. https://blog.gaborkoos.com/posts/2026-08-12-Text-Watermarking-for-Non-Academics/
  7. https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/08/12/modulars-mojo-programming-language-hits-10-milestone/5286545
  8. https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/08/11/signal-adds-an-extra-layer-of-security-to-make-sure-youre-actually-chatting-with-the-right-person/5286461
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