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Sydney — The global retail trading industry is entering a more deliberate and regulated phase, marked by stronger oversight, greater operational transparency, and rising expectations from traders. Against this backdrop, SpecFX has officially rebranded as Spec Markets, signaling an expanded offering and a strategic shift toward long-term infrastructure, compliance, and flexible trading participation.

The transition to Spec Markets reflects the company’s evolution from a specialized forex brokerage to a broader multi-asset platform. This rebranding is a direct response to a shifting landscape where traders increasingly seek a single, diversified ecosystem to access global markets beyond currency pairs.

Regulatory Compliance as a Foundation

In today’s trading environment, regulatory standing has become a decisive factor for platform selection. Rather than serving as a marketing label, oversight now plays a central role in operational trust and market stability.

Spec Markets operates within a robust multi-regulatory framework, which includes authorization by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Mauritius. By integrating compliance into daily processes and cross-border expansion plans, the company aims to provide greater clarity and accountability for retail traders participating in global markets.

Leadership and Institutional Experience

As retail trading matures, leadership experience has emerged as a differentiating factor. Companies guided by professionals with brokerage, infrastructure, and compliance expertise tend to emphasize disciplined growth and risk management.

Spec Markets is built by a team of experienced industry professionals with decades of combined experience across global financial markets. This background informs how the platform approaches governance, product development, and operational controls—elements that are becoming increasingly relevant as traders seek long-term stability.

Infrastructure and Localized Access

Retail participation is expanding across regions, but infrastructure remains critical to sustainable growth. Payment systems, onboarding processes, and localized operational support can significantly influence accessibility.

To support its South African clientele, Spec Markets now accepts ZAR deposits and has integrated Kora Pay, providing localized payment access for traders in the region. This development serves as a concrete application of the firm’s FSCA-aligned infrastructure, ensuring streamlined onboarding and secure transaction pathways. By focusing on operational readiness and localized payment integrations, the company aims to support traders across diverse geographic markets with the reliability required for institutional-grade execution.

Flexible Account Structures and Assisted Trading

Modern retail traders are seeking flexibility in how they access markets. Spec Markets offers cent-based accounts that allow traders to access live market conditions with reduced financial exposure, supporting practical experience in real trading environments.

Additionally, the platform integrates assisted trading solutions such as copy trading and PAMM-style allocation models through third-party technology providers. These options allow traders to allocate capital to strategies transparently while retaining control over exposure, reflecting a broader industry shift toward modular, technology-driven participation.

A More Deliberate Phase for Retail Trading

The transition from SpecFX to Spec Markets reflects a broader evolution within the retail trading industry—one shaped by regulatory clarity, experienced leadership, and platform flexibility. As global retail trading continues to expand across forex and multi-asset markets, platforms that prioritize compliance and adaptable participation models are gaining greater attention. Spec Markets aims to meet these expectations as retail trading moves into a more mature and regulated era.

About Spec Markets

Spec Markets (formerly SpecFX) is a global online trading platform offering access to forex and multi-asset markets. The company operates under a multi-regulatory framework, including authorization by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Mauritius. The platform provides flexible account structures and assisted trading solutions designed to support the global retail trading community.

Website: www.tradomatix.com

• The new AI-powered training tool lets insurance agents and sales reps rehearse real customer conversations — policy renewals, cancellation requests, claims follow-ups — with instant, automated coaching feedback after every session.

PALO ALTO, Calif, July 6th 2026, AI STUDIOS, operated by DeepBrain AI, launched AI Roleplay, a new conversation-training solution designed to help insurance agents and sales representatives rehearse difficult customer conversations before they happen in the field. The tool gives agents unlimited practice sessions with an AI customer that responds in real time, followed by automated, personalized coaching feedback.

AI Roleplay simulates the conversations sales representatives say are hardest to get right: auto insurance renewal calls, customers threatening to cancel a policy, claims follow-up calls, and routine check-ins tied to a policyholder’s birth month. Rather than reciting scripted responses, the AI customer reacts dynamically to whatever the representative actually says — raising objections, asking for more detail, or pushing back, much as a real customer would.

Sales coaching has traditionally relied on in-person practice with a trainer or manager, a model that limits how often sales representatives can rehearse and how quickly they get feedback. AI Roleplay removes both constraints. Representatives can run a practice session at any time, without scheduling a coach, and receive a speaking score along with specific strengths, areas for improvement, and suggested phrasing immediately after each session ends.

Practice scenarios are organized by situation, customer type, and difficulty level, from beginner to advanced. Sales representatives converse with the AI customer via text or voice, and voice sessions include a speech-analysis score that flags pacing, clarity, and tone — a level of feedback unavailable through prerecorded training videos or static e-learning modules.

AI Roleplay also includes a manager dashboard that tracks completion rates, scores, and activity for each team member in real time. Sales managers can use the dashboard to identify representatives who need additional coaching without listening to call recordings individually or scheduling separate feedback sessions, according to DeepBrain AI.

DeepBrain AI said the tool is intended to shorten the ramp-up period for new sales representatives and reduce customer complaints tied to inaccurate explanations or weak call handling — a persistent risk in insurance sales, where regulatory and compliance expectations are high. Beyond insurance, the company said AI Roleplay applies to any role where conversation quality directly affects business outcomes, including corporate sales representatives, financial advisors, call center staff, and healthcare front-line workers.

“In insurance sales, a single sentence can determine whether a deal closes or a customer loses trust,” said Eric Jang, CEO of DeepBrain AI. “AI Roleplay goes beyond watching a video or sitting through a course — sales representatives train by actually talking with an AI customer, which is what sets it apart from traditional online training.”

AI Roleplay is currently deployed with multiple insurance carriers in South Korea, and DeepBrain AI said it plans to expand the tool to additional industries and practice scenarios going forward.

About DeepBrain AI

DeepBrain AI is a global leader in AI Avatar, AI Agent, and AI Human technology. Its flagship B2B SaaS platform, AI STUDIOS, helps enterprises create hyper-realistic AI avatars, real-time avatar agents, and localized video content at scale. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., DeepBrain AI serves enterprise customers worldwide.

Media Contact:
DeepBrain AI Communications 
global@deepbrain.io
www.aistudios.com

• Newly confirmed speakers from leading financial institutions, digital asset firms and global payment networks join discussions on stablecoins, AI, regulation and the future of digital finance in Tokyo.

Tokyo, Japan, Jul 06, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — WebX 2026, Asia’s leading Web3 conference, today announced a new wave of confirmed speakers and sponsors ahead of its return to Tokyo on 13–14 July 2026 at The Prince Park Tower Tokyo.

Building on the success of last year’s edition, which welcomed more than 14,000 attendees from over 90 countries and hosted over 170 side events across Tokyo, WebX 2026 will once again bring together global leaders from finance, technology and policy to explore the future of digital assets and financial innovation.

Programme Highlights 

Against a backdrop of accelerating institutional adoption and regulatory changes, the two-day  programme will examine the developments shaping the next phase of the digital asset industry, including the rise of stablecoins, AI, tokenisation and evolving regulatory frameworks.

Programme highlights include a Special Keynote by Tom Lee, Chairman of the Board at Bitmine, alongside discussions such as “Asia as a Crypto Powerhouse: Policy, Liquidity and Trust for Robust Growth” and “Stablecoins in Action: Reimagining Retail Payments Across Asia Pacific.” The agenda also features discussions exploring tokenised capital markets, digital asset regulation and AI, through perspectives from global financial institutions, technology companies and policymakers.

These conversations come at a pivotal moment for Japan’s digital asset ecosystem as the country continues to advance its regulatory framework. Recent legislative developments, including proposals to classify crypto assets as financial instruments under the same regulatory framework as traditional securities, have reinforced Japan’s position as one of the world’s most closely watched markets for digital asset innovation.

Expanded Speaker Line-up 

Newly confirmed and invited speakers include: Tom Lee, Chairman of the Board at Bitmine; Franklin Bi, General Partner of Pantera Capital; Yoshitaka Kitao, Representative Director, Chairman, President and CEO of SBI Holdings; Giselle Lai, Director of Digital Assets Strategy APAC at Fidelity International; Christian Rau, Senior Vice President of Digital Assets and Blockchain at Mastercard; Carole House, Former White House Advisor and CEO of Penumbra Strategies; Chetan Karkhanis, Senior Vice President at Franklin Templeton; Fiona Murray, Vice President and Managing Director APAC at Ripple; David Walsh, Head of Enterprise at Ethereum Foundation, Avalon Ingram, Digital Assets Business Lead at Swift; Sunayana Tuteja, Former Chief Innovation Officer at Federal Reserve System and Takafumi Horie.

They join a growing lineup of experts and visionaries bringing diverse perspectives and bold strategies to shape the future of payments, tokenisation and financial infrastructure.

The Partners Powering WebX

WebX 2026 is supported by a distinguished roster of global partners, with new Title Sponsor Advasa joining Bitbank, bitFlyer, BitLending, eole Inc., SBI Holdings, Simplex and UPCX.

Platinum Sponsors include Canton, Sun Sun House, Fireblocks, Gonka, MetaPlanet and TRON. Their participation underscores WebX’s growing role as a platform where financial institutions, technology companies and infrastructure providers come together to explore the next phase of blockchain adoption and industry collaboration.

“The pace of change across digital assets continues to accelerate, driven by growing institutional participation, advances in payments infrastructure and greater regulatory clarity across key markets,” said Makoto Aoki, Chairman of WebX. “WebX brings together the organisations, policymakers and innovators shaping these developments, creating a forum where ideas can be exchanged, partnerships can be forged and the future of the industry can be discussed.”

The agenda can be found here and the full list of speakers and sponsors here. For more information, visit: https://webx-asia.com/

 

About WebX

WebX 2026 is Asia’s flagship Web3 and blockchain conference, planned and operated by CoinPost, Japan’s largest crypto media outlet. Since its launch, WebX has emerged as a premier platform uniting global leaders across the Web3, crypto assets, and blockchain ecosystem to explore the future of decentralised technologies and digital economies. The 2025 edition attracted over 14,000 attendees, drawing participants from more than 90 countries. Past speakers have included Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Binance CEO Richard Teng, and TRON founder Justin Sun.

Jakarta, Indonesia, 1st July 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — With a population of 270 million, over 65 million MSMEs, and a staggering 77 million unbanked adults, Indonesia stands as the ultimate frontier for financial evolution in Southeast Asia. Driven by a massive payments infrastructure that processed over 16 billion transactions last year and backed by a government committed to a bold 8% GDP growth target, the nation is the undisputed economic engine of the region. Yet, until now, there has never been a dedicated, annual global platform built explicitly around its historic financial transformation.

That changes this July.

On 7–8 July 2026, Trescon will officially launch the inaugural edition of Finance 2045 at the Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City. Choosing Southeast Asia’s largest economy as the launching pad for this global conference series is a deliberate, strategic move to position Jakarta at the center of the global financial dialogue.

A Confluence of Finance and Frontier Tech

The high-octane, two-day summit is set to gather over 1,000 banking pioneers, visionary fintech founders, enterprise finance executives, institutional investors, and key policymakers. Co-located with the 47th Global Edition of the World AI Show, the combined mega gathering will bring together more than 2,000 senior leaders at the intersection of capital, regulatory policy, and next-generation technology.

The summit’s agenda is meticulously crafted to address the core pillars shaping tomorrow’s financial architecture:

• The Next Frontier of Banking: Exploring Digital Banking, AI in Financial Services, and next-gen Payments.

• Inclusive & Sustainable Capital: Diving deep into Islamic Finance, Financial Inclusion, and SME Finance.

• Macro-Economic Drivers: Aligning commercial strategies with Sustainable Finance and national growth mandates.

Elite Speakers & Strategic Government Backing

Underscoring the event’s national and regional significance, Finance 2045 is proud to announce the strategic partnership and backing of the Ministry of Creative Economy, Indonesia (EKRAF).

The initial lineup of confirmed visionary speakers driving the conversations includes:

• Ferry Irawan – SE, MSE, Deputy for Coordination of Management and Development of State-Owned Enterprises (Deputy I), Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Republic of Indonesia

• Ir. Mohammad Rudy Salahuddin – Secretary of the Ministry, Ministry of Investment and Downstream Industry – Indonesia

• Nobuya Kawasaki – President Director (CEO), PT Bank Danamon Indonesia Tbk

• Uli Agustina – Head of Financial Sector Technology Innovation, Digital Assets, and Crypto Assets Supervision Dept., Indonesia Financial Services Authority (OJK)

• Sylvia Lazuarni – Acting CEO, Home Credit Indonesia

These prominent figures will be joined by C-suite executives and financial leaders from major enterprises, including Pertamina Bina Medika, Home Credit Indonesia, McDonald’s Indonesia, and HSBC Indonesia, with further industry titans to be announced in the coming weeks.

High-Stakes Innovation: The Startup World Cup

In a bid to propel Indonesia’s homegrown innovation onto the global stage, Day 2 of the summit will host the Startup World Cup – Indonesia Qualifiers. Organized in exclusive partnership with Pegasus Tech Ventures, a Silicon Valley VC firm managing over $2 billion in assets, this intense live pitch competition offers local startups an unprecedented opportunity.

The winning founder will secure a guaranteed slot at the Startup World Cup Grand Semi-Finale in San Francisco this November, going head-to-head with the world’s best for a USD $1 million direct investment.

Co-located Sponsors and Partners of Finance 2045 & World AI Show include:

Strategic Government Partners: EKRAF (Ministry of Creative Economy); Kementerian Perindustrian Republik Indonesia (Ministry of Industry)

Supporting Partner: KORIKA | AISII

Lead Sponsor: DATADOG

Platinum Sponsors: Magure

Gold Sponsors: Zoom; UCloud Global; PT ASIX INDONESIA CERDAS; Redis; Akamai

Silver Sponsors: Alibaba Cloud | Indonet; Datalabs | Google Cloud

Bronze Sponsors: PingCap TiDB; Primary Guard

CXO Boardroom Partners: DATADOG; Zoom; Redis; Aerospike.

Exhibitors: Odoo, SysArc Infomatix, Credgenics, QRC Assurance & Solutions, Sharp Peak Consulting; PT Helios Informatika; FanRuan Software; Xtremax; Ingram Micro; Mekari; IPInfraIOT ;Jatis Mobile ;InfraLoka.

Association Partners: KADIN JAKARTA; APDI; Starfindo; Britcham Indonesia; ISACA Indonesia; KUMPUL; Telkom University; ADIGSI; Indonesia AI Society; Block 71 Indonesia

Shaping the Next Multi-Trillion Dollar Economy

Finance 2045 is more than just a conference; it is a collaborative forge where the future of economic accessibility, technological integration, and financial sovereignty will be written. By bringing together the architects of global finance and the builders of frontier technology, the summit provides the definitive roadmap for Indonesia’s journey toward its 2045 economic vision.

Whether you are looking to scale operations, secure institutional capital, or witness the unveiling of the region’s next breakout startup, Finance 2045 is where the future of finance takes its definitive shape.

Purchase your ticket: click here
Enquire for sponsorship access : click here

Media Contact:
Reeha Haris
PR & Media Executive
E: reeha@tresconglobal.com

A France-Gulf exchange moderated by Karrier One at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, joined by a NATO Major General, on sovereignty, resilience, and the contest over critical infrastructure.

Paris, 27th June 2026 — Karrier One, the decentralized telecom operator building sovereign, resilient connectivity on a secure path-aware network architecture, participated in Vision Golfe, the France-Gulf economic forum held at the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Paris under the patronage of President Emmanuel Macron. Oscar Wendel, Karrier One’s representative for the Middle East, opened and moderated a panel on strategic resilience in space and defense, convening senior voices from across the defense, space, and diplomatic communities.

On stage at Vision Golfe, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Paris. From left: Oscar Wendel (Karrier One), Major General Christophe Hintzy (NATO) Dr. Hamdullah Mohib (Orbitworks), Olivier Guilbert (Thales Alenia Space), Adel Haddoud (Infinite Orbits) Olivier Badard (Armada Holding)
 

The themes of the session sit at the centre of Karrier One’s own mission. As the panel made clear, the infrastructure on which modern security depends, from telecommunications and navigation to financial systems and emergency services, has become both indispensable and increasingly exposed. Resilience, sovereignty, and the elimination of single points of failure are the principles Karrier One was built to advance, and they framed the discussion in Paris.

On strategic resilience, the conversation began on the ground. Major General Christophe Hintzy, fresh from leading the NATO Mission in Iraq, at Vision Golfe in Paris.

 

Opening the session, Wendel argued that defense cooperation has never been about equipment alone; it rests on diplomacy, trust, and shared sovereignty, which allow nations to protect their strategic interests without surrendering them. Space, he noted, has moved from a domain of exploration to the foundation layer of modern security, and France and the Gulf are entering a new phase of partnership anchored in co-development rather than exports.

The panel brought together Major General Christophe Hintzy, recently returned from leading the NATO Mission in Iraq; Olivier Guilbert, Export Sales Vice President at Thales Alenia Space; Adel Haddoud, Chief Executive of Infinite Orbits; Dr. Hamdullah Mohib, Acting Chief Executive of Orbitworks; and Olivier Badard of Armada Holding.

The discussion converged on a single thread: resilience depends on sovereignty, and sovereignty depends on the deliberate avoidance of dependence on any single provider. Guilbert recalled that Starlink’s decision to suspend connectivity over Ukraine demonstrated that no nation can rest its security on a private actor capable of withdrawing service overnight, and stressed that resilience derives from diversity of orbits and suppliers rather than any single system. Hintzy observed that recent conflict had exposed the limits of a nation’s sovereignty not only over its territory but over its airspace. Haddoud described a domain in which satellites once considered untouchable can now be approached, moved, or blinded, making sovereign reach a form of deterrence. Mohib, while making the strongest case for collaboration across the Gulf and Europe, agreed that full sovereignty is realistic for only a handful of states and that the rest must secure it through a partnership built deliberately.

Badard traced a fifty-year arc from the founding of a shared Arab satellite organisation toward today’s national programmes across the Gulf, arguing that the ability to cooperate depends first on the ability to be sovereign, since only a party that arrives with genuine capability can negotiate a balanced partnership rather than a dependency. He cautioned that owning sovereign assets in space is expensive and frequently not commercially sustainable, surviving on political will and allocated capital, and summarised the underlying principle that the more a nation pays, the more it expects to own.

The panel closed on the future of France-Gulf cooperation, recognising France for its technical mastery, training, universities, and independent launch capability through Ariane, alongside an acknowledgement that it will need to diversify the sources financing its ambitions, and positioning the Gulf’s capitalised, sovereign-minded operators as partners rather than customers.

For Karrier One, the conversation underscored a conviction that runs through its own infrastructure: in an era of contested networks and geopolitical fragmentation, secure, sovereign, and resilient connectivity is no longer optional. The same logic the panel applied to orbits and airspace applies to the networks that carry the world’s voice, data, and value.

About Karrier One

Conversations continued beyond the panel: Samer Bishay, CEO and Co-Founder of Karrier One, with Major General Christophe Hintzy at the Vision Golfe reception, Palais Galliera.

Karrier One is a decentralized telecom operator pioneering secure, sovereign, and resilient connectivity. Built on the Sui blockchain and integrating the SCION secure Internet architecture developed at ETH Zurich, Karrier One delivers cryptographically authenticated, path-aware networking designed to eliminate single points of failure and protect against modern cyber threats. Through a decentralized physical infrastructure network model, Karrier One empowers local operators and connects underserved communities across multiple continents, advancing a more inclusive and interconnected digital future. For more information, visit https://karrier.one.