AI Threatens ECDSA; WorldQuant Championship Hits 156K
Today’s Highlights
Python 3.15 Just Released!
Python 3.15.0 has just been released.
Key updates include UTF-8 as the default encoding, explicit lazy imports to accelerate startup, and new built-in types sentinel and frozendict. Comprehensions now support unpacking.
Additionally, experimental JIT performance has improved by approximately 8%. The standard library now includes a dedicated performance profiling package and the sampling profiler Tachyon. Windows 64-bit has switched to a tail-call interpreter, and macOS has enabled free-threading by default.
To coincide with this release, Barry Warsaw developed a TUI mini-game to help users familiarize themselves with Python 3.15’s new features. To play:
uvx --python 3.15 whatsnewt
This is an Easter egg.1
Researchers Warn Crypto Algorithms May Become Obsolete Within Months; Call for “Bunker Mode”
OpenAI’s simultaneous release of 377 mathematical papers has sent shockwaves through the crypto industry.
Ethereum researcher Justin Drake argues that elliptic curves possess rich algebraic structures, potentially allowing classical techniques like Schoof’s algorithm, Frobenius endomorphism, and bilinear pairings to be leveraged by AI. AI might reverse-engineer private keys from public keys, rendering the widely used ECDSA signature algorithm obsolete within months rather than years. He urges entering “bunker mode” and migrating funds to new addresses that have never signed a transaction.
Vitalik Buterin also advises acknowledging the impact of AI on cryptography, prioritizing hash-based schemes over lattice cryptography, and adopting more conservative parameter settings.
Defensive measures include address migration, strengthening cold wallets, and using the “risq list” to track addresses where public keys have been exposed.2
AI Commentary: If the signature system is indeed efficiently compromised, the value of coins on exposed addresses could plummet, potentially triggering a wave of on-chain withdrawals for a period. However, as long as the ledger itself remains recognized and protocols successfully upgrade to quantum-resistant or AI-resistant signatures, the overall value need not go to zero.
CSRC Seeks Comments on Revised Public Fund Management Measures to Support Equity Development
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), in accordance with laws such as the Securities Investment Fund Law, is implementing an action plan to promote the high-quality development of public funds by drafting three supporting documents.
The current regulations, CSRC Order No. 104, have been in effect since 2014, covering product registration, subscriptions and redemptions, investment restrictions, profit distribution, and holders’ meetings. This revision clarifies the responsibilities of fund managers, optimizes regulatory indicators and mechanisms to enhance flexibility, and reserves space for innovation to facilitate the introduction of medium- and long-term capital. 3
Industry Dynamics
Optiver Announces Winners of the First Round of “Explaining Markets” Competition
For a long time, the explainability of asset returns has remained at a low level and difficult to generalize out-of-sample. Optiver partnered with Explain Markets to launch a challenge: using AI to explore the explainability of returns.
The first round of the competition has just concluded, with approximately 200 agents participating. For years, the state-of-the-art (SOTA) in-sample coefficient of determination ($R^2$) for this task was only 5% to 10%. In just one quarter, participants leveraged various models and techniques to push this figure above 25% (and for out-of-sample results).
The next round will begin on October 12, with new data provided by the organizers.4
Millennium Recalls Macro PM Watson After Seven Years
The individual joined Balyasny’s London team in September 2024 to form a smaller squad, having previously led a trading team of over 20 people.
Following his departure, Aditya Singh and George Tyrell left in July, and Olek Gajowniczek is also associated with the team. John Sun in New York may transfer alongside them. Neither side has commented, highlighting the intensifying competition among multi-strategy funds for senior talent. 5
WorldQuant’s 6th Global Quant Championship Concludes; Chinese and Taiwanese Players Take Top Three
The registration scale for this year’s WorldQuant competition reached approximately 156,000, a significant increase from the roughly 38,000 in 2024.
The finals were held in Singapore on October 6–7, where 13 finalist teams developed and showcased new Alpha models on-site, competing for a $100,000 prize pool. Judging focused on originality, quality, and diversification.
The competition was conducted on the BRAIN simulation platform. Over 40,000 women participated, with approximately 28% of entrants from Africa. The significant increase in solo participants highlights how AI workflows are expanding the scope of quantitative research participation. 6
Quant Career
Citi Compresses Junior Promotion Timeline; Campus Recruitment Battle Shifts Earlier
Initiated by former investment banking analysts, PE vice presidents, and senior hedge fund analysts, this discussion centers on Citi’s announcement to shorten the Investment Banking (IB) analyst program duration.
The author believes other major banks will soon follow, making campus recruitment competition even fiercer, with banks potentially locking in talent as early as freshman and sophomore years.
Commenters generally agree on the trend of PE headhunting moving earlier. Some report being contacted by headhunters in the second semester of their freshman year, while others note that some students engage with headhunters and PE firms during their senior year.
One comment points out that Goldman Sachs already operates a two-year program, while most other banks use three years, suggesting this adjustment is more of a follow-through than a revolutionary change.
Another senior professional advises students to proactively connect with headhunters covering various funds and to honestly reflect on their true career aspirations. 7