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Alibaba introduces Qwen 3.6-Max-Preview as its most advanced AI model yet

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Anthropic revenue just hit a $30 billion run rate

Alibaba has rolled out a preview of its most advanced AI model yet, stepping up its push into the top tier of global AI development.

Summary

  • Alibaba launched Qwen 3.6 Max Preview, its most advanced AI model, with top rankings across multiple coding and agent benchmarks.
  • The model is offered as a proprietary hosted system, marking a move away from the company’s earlier open access approach.

According to an X post from Alibaba’s Qwen team, the new model, Qwen 3.6-Max-Preview, has taken the lead across several key benchmarks, particularly in coding and agent-based tasks. Internal testing placed it ahead on SWE-bench Pro for real-world software work, Terminal-Bench 2.0 for command-line execution, and SkillsBench for general problem-solving, alongside strong results in tool use and web interaction benchmarks.

Performance gains extend beyond coding. SuperGPQA scores rose by 2.3%, pointing to stronger reasoning ability, while QwenChineseBench improved by 5.3%, underlining better performance in Chinese language tasks. Instruction-following capability also ranked at the top in ToolcallFormatIFBench, where the model outperformed competing systems, including Claude.

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The release is now live through Qwen Studio and Alibaba Cloud’s Model Studio API under the identifier qwen3.6-max-preview. Developers can integrate it without major changes, as the API supports both OpenAI and Anthropic formats.

Alibaba’s latest move signals a noticeable change in direction. Earlier versions of Qwen built momentum through open-source access, helping the model family gain widespread adoption. Max-Preview, however, is a hosted proprietary system with no open weights.

Lower-tier models remain open source, but the flagship tier is now positioned as a paid, controlled offering. The shift comes just days after Alibaba open-sourced Qwen 3.6-35B-A3B, a model designed to run efficiently by activating only 3 billion of its 35 billion parameters during inference, cutting compute costs while maintaining output quality.

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Combined, the Qwen 3.6 lineup now spans multiple use cases. Max-Preview sits at the top for high-end workloads, while the Plus variant targets balanced tasks, Flash focuses on speed, and 35B-A3B supports local deployments.

A new feature introduced with Max-Preview, called preserve_thinking, allows the model to carry reasoning traces across multiple interactions. Alibaba recommends it for agent-driven workflows where maintaining context across long sessions is important.

Alibaba described the release as an ongoing project, noting the model is still under active development and likely to improve in future updates. Qwen 3.6-Max-Preview currently supports a 256k token context window and is limited to text input, with no image capabilities at launch.

Industry transition toward monetization

Alibaba recently shut down the free tier of Qwen Code, while MiniMax updated its open-source license to restrict commercial use without approval. Both actions point to a gradual move away from free access models that initially drove adoption.

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Qwen’s growth has been notable. The model family overtook Meta’s Llama as the most widely deployed self-hosted system, with much of that traction built during its open-access phase. At the same time, Chinese open models expanded their share of global usage from 1.2% in late 2024 to around 30% by the end of 2025.

Max-Preview now sits at the center of Alibaba’s effort to compete directly with leading frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic.

Independent analysis from Artificial Analysis ranks the model as the second-best performer behind Muse Spark, placing it well above the average for reasoning models in its pricing category.

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Bitcoin Price Prediction: Blackrock Big Bitcoin Bet

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BlackRock just placed its biggest weekly prediction bet on Bitcoin as its trading at above the $74,000 price support.

BlackRock just placed its biggest weekly prediction bet on Bitcoin as it is trading at above the $74,000 price support. BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF, IBIT, absorbed $871 million in net inflows last week, leading every crypto ETF on the board.

BlackRock just placed its biggest weekly prediction bet on Bitcoin as its trading at above the $74,000 price support.
ETFs Flows, Farside

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs collectively booked $1.9 billion in net inflows across the same five-day stretch, the strongest weekly haul since early February. The marquee single-session was April 17, when total ETF flows hit $663.89 million, with IBIT alone pulling in $283.96 million and Fidelity’s FBTC adding another $163 million.

Iran tensions dragged BTC briefly to $63,000 2 months ago before Saturday’s bid briefly reclaimed $78,000, with institutional buyers treating every dip as an entry.

Discover: The best pre-launch token sales

Bitcoin Price Prediction: Larry Fink’s $500,000 Target This Year?

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Bitcoin’s technical setup looks constructive after the consolidation. Price is holding above $74,000, up 10% in a month, with bullish consolidation building since the peak. Key resistance sits at the $78,000, and a confirmed close above that can open the door to the $80,000 breakout level.

BlackRock just placed its biggest weekly prediction bet on Bitcoin as its trading at above the $74,000 price support.
BTC USD, TradingView

The Liquidity Oscillator is showing positive Rate-of-Change signals, consistent with the global M2 money supply reversal that has historically correlated with BTC rallies.

For Bitcoin price itself, if ETF inflows sustain above $500M weekly, BTC could clear $78,000 and target $80,000, then maybe $83,000 on M2 tailwinds. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan has upgraded his 2026 target to $200,000+, citing ETF flows, MicroStrategy accumulation, and Trump’s pro-crypto executive order unlocking Wall Street participation.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink reiterated a $500,000–$700,000 long-term price target in a recent Bloomberg interview, citing sovereign wealth funds weighing 2%–5% BTC portfolio allocations as a hedge against currency debasement. It’s a structural demand that doesn’t reverse on a single FOMC meeting or a Strait of Hormuz headline.

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Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with

Bitcoin Hyper to Follow Bitcoin Path with Bigger Upside

Spot BTC is undeniably bullish right now, but the asymmetric upside that early Bitcoin investors enjoyed simply isn’t available anymore. Traders hunting for early-cycle leverage within the Bitcoin ecosystem are rotating attention to infrastructure plays building on top of BTC itself.

Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) is positioning as the first-ever Bitcoin Layer 2 with Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) integration, delivering sub-second finality and low-cost smart contract execution while preserving Bitcoin’s base-layer security.

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The pitch is direct: solve Bitcoin’s core limitations (slow transactions, high fees, no programmability) without abandoning its trust model. The presale has raised $32 million at a current price of $0.0136789, with 36% staking available for early participants.

Features include a Decentralized Canonical Bridge for BTC transfers and high-speed transaction execution that the team claims outperforms Solana itself on latency, and the presale has drawn attention alongside the broader Bitcoin ETF inflow narrative.

Research Bitcoin Hyper here.

The post Bitcoin Price Prediction: Blackrock Big Bitcoin Bet appeared first on Cryptonews.

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Bitcoin Price May Go Under $70K Despite Strategy’s Latest Big BTC Buy

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Bitcoin Price May Go Under $70K Despite Strategy’s Latest Big BTC Buy

Bitcoin (BTC) rose 2.66% to around $75,800 on Monday after Strategy disclosed a $2.54 billion purchase, the company’s third biggest ever, and equivalent to about 2.5 months of new BTC supply.

However, several indicators suggest the rally may fizzle out.

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

Key takeaways:

  • Poor macro conditions can spark BTC price pullback if Strategy’s buying slows.

  • Bitcoin’s technical setup hints at a potential dip toward $67,000–$69,000.

Strategy may halt BTC purchases this week

Strategy funded most of its latest 34,164 BTC purchase through its preferred stock, Stretch (STRC), which generated over $2.17 billion through at-the-market share sales between April 13 and April 19.

Source: Strategy’s SEC Filings

That accounted for roughly 86% of the total amount spent, while sales of its Class A common stock, MSTR, added another $366 million.

STRC lets Strategy raise cash for Bitcoin when it trades at or above $100. Stronger prices mean easier fundraising and more BTC buying. In 2026, STRC enabled the purchases of 77,000 BTC, ten times more than all the ETFs combined, per River data.

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Bitcoin Analysis, Markets, Tech Analysis, Market Analysis, MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor
Bitcoin ownership YTD change. Source: River

But STRC has been trading below its $100 par value since April 15, which may limit Strategy’s ability to keep raising cash to purchase more Bitcoin this week.

STRC weekly estimates. Source: STRC.LIVE

In past episodes, pauses in Strategy’s Bitcoin purchases have coincided with BTC price slumps.

For instance, on average, BTC’s price has dipped by roughly 30% when STRC traded below its $100 par value.

BTC/USD vs. STRC daily performance chart. Source: TradingView

A 30% dip will take Bitcoin’s price to $53,000 when measured from current levels.

Source: X

The halt appears alongside weakening risk sentiment, with US stock indexes falling amid doubts over the US–Iran peace deal.

Nasdaq, S&P 500, and Dow Jones daily performance charts. Source: TradingView

US President Donald Trump said it was “highly unlikely” he would extend the two-week truce if no agreement is reached before it expires on Wednesday.

Any signs of an extended Middle East conflict may weigh on BTC’s prices.

BTC flag pullback hints at $67,000–$69,000

Bitcoin’s current chart structure shows classic flag consolidation, with price now drifting toward the pattern’s lower boundary. This setup raises the risk of a pullback toward the $67,000–$69,000 region in April, if support gives way.

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

At the same time, downside may remain limited as the 20-day (green) and 50-day (red) EMAs continue to act as dynamic support levels. Holding above these averages would signal underlying demand, increasing the chances of a rebound.

Related: Adam Back says current demand is ‘almost’ enough to send Bitcoin to $1M

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If that happens, BTC could attempt a breakout above the flag’s upper trend line, effectively invalidating the bearish setup.

Such a move would open the door for a recovery toward the 200-day EMA (blue), currently near $82,750.

As Cointelegraph reported, breaking the resistance near $78,000 is now a top priority for the bulls.