Reflection AI released **Beam**, a 501-billion-parameter open model, designed to complete tasks using fewer tokens than comparable models, reducing per-task costs. The company trained Beam with reinforcement learning, penalizing unnecessary token usage while ensuring task completion. Beam outperforms competitors like DeepSeek’s V4.1 Flash in token efficiency, according to benchmarking firm Artificial Analysis. While Chinese models dominate performance rankings, U.S. firms like Pinterest, DoorDash, and Coinbase have adopted them for cost savings. Reflection positions Beam as a lean alternative, targeting enterprise use cases like coding and agent workflows.
Chainalysis finds that total transactions on the Base blockchain eclipse 138 million as AI-agent commerce expands. Agentic commerce describes AI agents carrying out internet transactions; the field is rapidly maturing, and crypto is fueling the boom.
Sequoia-backed Catalyst raises $30 million to build AI trading agents for everyday investors. The article opens with Justin Zheng recalling a 2019 poker game with Dylan Iskandar at a conference run by economist Tyler Cowen.
Open Standard issues the OUSD stablecoin for mainstream payments. The company is backed by more than 100 corporations, including Visa, Stripe and Mastercard.
