Dig Energy, a New Hampshire startup led by CEO Dulcie Madden, is developing small drilling rigs to make geothermal heat pumps affordable for single-family homes, reports Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer and Jesse D. Jenkins. The company’s technology aims to cut the cost of installing ground-source wells that use the Earth’s stable subsurface temperature to heat and cool buildings with minimal energy use. “Once groundsource wells get built, they consume far less energy than gas furnaces, air conditioners, or even air-dependent heat pumps,” Meyer and Jenkins note. The Shift Key podcast hosts explore how geothermal systems, or “geoexchange,” could evolve into community-scale thermal networks, potentially transforming home energy infrastructure. As Madden put it, “There’s a lot of back and forth between geothermal heat pump and ground source heat pump... you have to be interchangeable.”
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY SHARE TO X
Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Bayern Mitte, a regional cooperative bank in Germany, is emerging as a pioneer in institutional Bitcoin integration, reports LightningNews’ Leon in an interview with CEO Andreas Streb. The bank now offers Bitcoin as a diversification asset, supports local businesses accepting Lightning payments, and co-finances mining operations. “Anyone who still thinks this topic is unimportant has simply never looked into it,” Streb said. Bayern Mitte also invests in fintech startup 21bitcoin, which is pursuing a MiCAR license in Austria to expand across Europe. Streb emphasized education and public outreach through the bank’s annual Bitcoin Forum in Ingolstadt, which drew nearly 3,000 attendees. Despite heavy compliance burdens under EU crypto regulation, he remains confident: “We would like to do much more… but regulation slows us down.” Streb foresees broad adoption ahead: “Many will wonder why they didn’t get in earlier.”
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY SHARE TO X
Artificial intelligence is transforming global education much as calculators once reshaped mathematics, writes Young Voices Europe fellow Lika Kobeshavidze. An MIT study cited found that over-reliance on ChatGPT led to “cognitive debt” and reduced brain engagement among students, suggesting that habitual AI use can weaken independent thinking. Yet, Kobeshavidze notes, the problem lies in misuse, not the technology itself. “Pretending that this technology doesn’t exist or banning it weakens education,” she argues. U.S. universities such as Stanford and NYU are introducing AI literacy courses, while Europe focuses on transparency and accountability through Commission-led guidelines. Asia, particularly Singapore, is leading with its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (NAIS 2.0), embedding AI across curricula. Kobeshavidze concludes that mastering AI must become a core academic skill, as adaptation, not prohibition, will define educational competitiveness.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY SHARE TO X
JPMorgan Chase will soon permit institutional clients to use Bitcoin and Ethereum as loan collateral, according to Bloomberg, signaling one of Wall Street’s most direct integrations of digital assets into mainstream credit markets. The program, expected to launch by year-end, allows pledged tokens to be held by third-party custodians, mitigating counterparty and operational risk. JPMorgan plans to apply the initiative to credit lines and structured finance, with valuation and eligibility standards still being finalized. The move follows the bank’s June decision to accept Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded product (ETP) shares as collateral in derivatives and securities transactions. By expanding collateralization to the underlying assets, JPMorgan aims to strengthen its institutional foothold in digital finance while maintaining regulatory discipline. The effort underscores growing confidence in the structural maturity and liquidity of Bitcoin and Ethereum within global capital markets.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY SHARE TO X
