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MIT Student Invents Breakthrough Art Restoration Technique

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Ever since he was a child, Alex Kachkine has been fascinated by paintings. He would visit museums and was drawn in by the visual art depicted in landscapes, historical figures and religious scenes.

“Anytime I visit New York City, the first place I go to is the art gallery,” Kachkine said in an interview with PYMNTS. “It’s been a lifelong passion of mine.”

Such adoration naturally means Kachkine would look to acquire art works of his own. But with a limited budget, the MIT graduate researcher with a discerning eye instead bought damaged oil paintings he could restore.

“I ventured into art conservation around 10 years ago when I realized that you can’t buy a Monet reasonably,” Kachkine said. “But you can, even with the limited income I had back then, buy damaged paintings. And I realized that I could take one of those damaged paintings, restore it, and then I would have a really nice painting.”

Kachkine knew that restoration is manually laborious. The painting has to be cleaned of debris and any past restoration efforts have to be removed as well. Then, the damaged parts in paintings have to be manually painted while staying true to the artist’s style.

This typically means months to years of painstaking work. Kachkine did it the traditional way at first, but thought there must be a better way. So, he invented a method using artificial intelligence (AI), transfer paper, printers and varnish. His paper describing the technique is published in the journal Nature.

Kachkine said his method greatly speeds up restoration: In repairing a 2-foot by 2-foot painting, “The Adoration of the Shepherds,” from the late 15th century, he spent 3.5 hours compared to 232 hours it would normally take to do it manually. That’s faster by 66 times.

Source: “Physical restoration of a painting with a digitally constructed mask,” Nature

Taking the cleaning time into account, his method would speed up the entire restoration process by four to five times, Kachkine said.

Around 70% of paintings in institutional collections are not displayed in public due in part of the cost of restoring them, according to Kachkine’s paper. Therefore, restoration efforts typically center around the most valuable pieces of art with the rest left buried in storage.

Kachkine said various AI models are able to generate images of damaged paintings as they would look fully restored. But these would exist only virtually. He said his technique is the first to translate the digital restored image into physically restoring the actual painting.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to take all of those digital tools and actually end up with a physically restored painting from them,” he said. “And it’s so much faster than doing these kinds of restorations by hand.”

How Gen AI Helps Restore Paintings

The process begins with cleaning the artwork of debris and old restoration efforts. Once cleaned, the painting is scanned to produce a high-resolution image. Kachkine then uses a variety of Adobe-integrated digital tools, including convolutional neural networks and partial convolution models, to reconstruct missing regions.

Once the digital restoration is complete, a transparent film mask is printed with the reconstructed imagery. This laminate consists of nine ultra-thin layers, including a white backing for color vibrancy and laser-printed pigments. The result is an overlay that sits precisely on the original painting, with printed colors covering only the damaged areas.

“It’s thinner than human hair,” Kachkine said, adding that the film is removable using standard conservation solvents, preserving the artwork underneath.

The ethical implications of this method were also central to Kachkine’s design. He developed algorithms that determine which regions to restore based on how human vision perceives color and contrast.

“We really only select the damages that human vision is sensitive to,” he said. “You can tell what areas have been restored and which have not. That’s really important from an ethical standpoint in conservation.”

At first, Kachkine said he wasn’t sure how his method would be received. But he was gratified to see broad interest from conservators, cultural institutions and private equity firms. He also has a GoFundMe page.

Kachkine said he is now collaborating with the Italian Ministry of Culture on restoring frescoes in earthquake-damaged chapels in Tuscany.

His dream painting restoration job would come from the Italian Renaissance.

“There are a number of Italian paintings, especially around the Renaissance, that have very bright colors” such as Raphael, Kachkine said. “I’d love to be able to restore one of those [paintings] where before restoration, it would be very difficult to appreciate all of the fun colors that might emerge and the interesting textures that are there.”

“That’s the dream,” he said. “It might take a little bit before I could get my hands on one, but I’ll keep trying.”

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Photo: MIT graduate researcher Alex Kachkine looking at a painting. Credit: Alex Kachkine

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Robinhood Rides Crypto Surge, Bitstamp Deal to Nearly $1B Revenue | PYMNTS.com

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Robinhood Markets on Wednesday (July 30) delivered second-quarter 2025 results that reveal a company pivoting sharply from its roots in commission-free retail trading toward a diversified, multilane financial platform.

The company’s Q2 2025 earnings showed a 45% year-over-year revenue surge to $989 million and a doubling of diluted earnings per share to $0.42.

“We delivered strong business results in Q2 driven by relentless product velocity, and we launched tokenization — which I believe is the biggest innovation our industry has seen in the past decade,” said Vlad Tenev, chairman and CEO of Robinhood.

“Q2 was another great quarter as we drove market share gains, closed the acquisition of Bitstamp and remained disciplined on expenses,” added Jason Warnick, CFO of Robinhood. “And Q3 is off to a great start in July, as customers accelerated their net deposits to around $6 billion and leaned in with strong trading across categories.”

The company ended the quarter with $279 billion in platform assets — up 99% year over year — and $13.8 billion in net deposits. Funded accounts reached 26.5 million, a 10% gain, and cash sweep balances rose 56% to $32.7 billion, reflecting deeper wallet share per customer.

Despite the strong earnings, Robinhood’s share price remained relatively flat in after-hours trading, as of reporting.

Read more: Wall Street Moves On-Chain as Tokenization of US Stocks Goes Global 

Crypto Expansion Matures

For years, Robinhood’s crypto offering was primarily a retail gateway — an accessible on-ramp for users to dabble in bitcoin, ethereum, and other digital assets. In Q2 2025, however, the company demonstrated its ability to scale its crypto ambitions.

Revenues from crypto-related products climbed 98% year-over-year to $160 million, while total notional crypto trading volumes hit $35 billion.

Much of that surge can be attributed to the June acquisition of Bitstamp, a legacy exchange with deep roots in Europe and over 50 regulatory licenses across major jurisdictions. Notably, $7 billion in Q2 crypto volume came from Bitstamp alone, indicating rapid onboarding of its institutional client base.

With Bitstamp, Robinhood gains more than trading infrastructure — it secures compliance credibility, cross-border licensing, and a level of operational maturity essential for institutional trust. The deal allows Robinhood to fast-track services like crypto staking, which is now available to eligible U.S. users, and stock tokenization, which enables investors in Europe to trade over 200 U.S. equities in tokenized form.

Tenev stressed to investors that the Bitstamp acquisition “instantly globalizes our crypto footprint and bridges us to institutional demand in a way that’s hard to replicate organically.”

At the same time, historically dismissed by financial elites as a gamified millennial platform, Robinhood is making strides to rebrand itself as a serious contender in the institutional arena. The Bitstamp acquisition is only part of that story. The company is also in the process of acquiring WonderFi, a Canadian digital asset platform specializing in decentralized finance (DeFi) tools and tokenized asset services.

Infrastructure and Credibility

Set to close in the second half of 2025, the WonderFi deal is expected to expand Robinhood’s footprint in North America and deepen its capacity to offer programmable finance products.

Internally, Robinhood has begun to lay down institutional-grade infrastructure, including custody solutions, anti-money laundering and know-your-customer processes, and advanced trading engines. With Bitstamp’s regulatory muscle and WonderFi’s technology stack, Robinhood appears poised to rival firms like Coinbase or Galaxy in the lucrative middle ground between traditional finance and crypto-native platforms.

Beyond digital assets, Robinhood’s Q2 also demonstrated growth in core FinTech verticals — specifically those aimed at long-term customer lifetime value rather than one-off trades. Robinhood Gold, the company’s premium subscription offering, reached a record 3.5 million members, up 76% year-over-year. That growth has lifted average revenue per user to $151, a 34% annual increase.

Robinhood Banking, in internal beta, is slated for public rollout later this quarter. The product aims to bring private banking features — such as high-yield savings, estate planning, and net worth tracking — to the mass market.

Still, regulatory headwinds also loom large. Crypto staking and tokenization, two of Robinhood’s most promising innovations, face uncertain regulatory treatment in both the U.S. and Europe. SEC scrutiny of digital asset products, along with evolving interpretations of tokenized securities, could force strategic recalibrations.

“Tokenization will do for stocks what stablecoins did for fiat,” Tenev said.

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Starbucks Revitalization Initiative to Shift Focus to App and Rewards | PYMNTS.com

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Starbucks plans to enhance its mobile app, its mobile order-and-pay offering, and its rewards program in 2026 as it continues its “Back to Starbucks” plan for revitalizing the coffeehouse brand.

Company executives said this during a Tuesday (July 29) earnings call in which they reported a decline in comparable store sales but pointed to other metrics they said highlight the progress Starbucks is making with its plan.

“This quarter, we’ve made meaningful progress, and we are ahead of our expectations,” Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said during the call. “We’re moving quickly to transform both the business and the culture. We’re testing, learning and focusing on the work that has the biggest impact, fixing the operational foundations of the business and building a platform for innovation in 2026.”

Niccol announced the “Back to Starbucks” plan in October, saying the company aimed to revitalize its U.S. operations and elevate the customer experience by prioritizing coffee quality and ensuring baristas have the support they need to deliver exceptional service.

During the quarter ended June 25, Starbucks saw its global comparable store sales decline 2%, with its North America business down 2% and its international business flat, according to a Tuesday earnings release.

“While our financial results for the quarter don’t yet reflect all the progress we’ve made, I see meaningful signs from across our U.S. business that we’re on the right path,” Niccol said.

For example, Niccol said, Starbucks found that its retail partner engagement scores are up, its coffeehouse leader engagement is near historic highs, and its shift completion is at a record high.

In addition, Niccol said, customer connection scores are up, customer complaints are down, and customer value perceptions are near two-year highs.

In the digital realm, the Starbucks app is highly rated, and the company has one of the largest social media communities in the industry, Niccol said.

“These strengths and signs of progress are why I remain confident in our ability to win,” Niccol said.

In early 2026, Niccol said, Starbucks will launch “significant innovations” in its rewards program that address customer feedback and add new features to grow loyalty, “brand love” and engagement. Niccol added that the rewards program is a “huge asset” for the company, with nearly 34 million 90-day active members.

The company will also launch a new Starbucks app as well as enhancements to its mobile order and pay offering.

“In 2026, we’ll unleash a wave of innovation that fuels growth, elevates customer service and ensures everyone experiences the very best of Starbucks,” Niccols said in an “earnings at a glance” sheet released Tuesday. “We’re building back a better Starbucks experience and a better business.”

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Trump Administration Considers Crypto for 401(k)s, Mortgage Assets | PYMNTS.com

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The Trump administration is reportedly set to press for the use of digital assets in 401(k) plans and mortgages.

President Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order that calls for 401(k) plans to open to additional assets that could include cryptocurrencies, CoinDesk reported Monday (July 28).

The administration’s plan for mortgages was announced in a recent order from William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, per the report. Pulte told mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare plans to consider a borrower’s crypto holdings as assets backing up their mortgage.

The administration’s plan for additional actions on crypto are set to be published Wednesday (July 30) in a report that was assigned to be created by Trump’s executive order on digital assets policy that was issued in January, per the report.

The report may include details on the bitcoin strategic reserve, crypto tax policies and other matters, according to the CoinDesk report.

The potential expansion of digital assets into 401(k) plans and mortgages is likely to be met with opposition by Democratic lawmakers, per the report.

The report set to be released Wednesday will come from the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets Markets established by Trump’s Jan. 23 executive order.

That group was created to develop a federal regulatory framework governing digital assets and consider the creation of a strategic national digital assets stockpile.

“The digital asset industry plays a crucial role in innovation and economic development in the United States, as well as our Nation’s international leadership,” the executive order said. “It is therefore the policy of my Administration to support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain technology, and related technologies across all sectors of the economy.”

When Pulte ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to consider crypto as an asset for mortgages, he said he did so “after significant studying, and in keeping with President Trump’s vision to make the United States the crypto capital of the world.”

Pulte said the consideration of additional borrower assets in the mortgage risk assessment process “may enable the Enterprises to assess the full spectrum of asset information available for reserves and to facilitate sustainable homeownership to creditworthy borrowers.”

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