News linked to this event type.
Odaily News: Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of digital asset financial firm Strategy, stated that if you're looking for the next billion-dollar financial business, you should explore digital credit. He noted that digital credit can transform Bitcoin-centered capital strategies into yield-generating products. Within Strategy's digital credit product line, the Stride Preferred Stock (STRD), Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC), Strike Preferred Stock (STRK), and Strife Preferred Stock (STRF) offer effective yields of 15.29%, 12.63%, 12.08%, and 10.38%, respectively. These preferred securities provide the company with an additional financing avenue beyond common stock and debt.
"1011 Insider Whale" representative Garrett Jin released a weekly analysis stating that while he previously suggested gradually positioning in memory chips and buying on dips, the market did not experience the expected pullback. He has sold half of his previous rebound positions during the surge, not because the investment logic has changed, but due to concerns regarding the capital structure driving the rise, stating, "This looks more like a short squeeze than a final confirmation of fundamentals by the market." Rapid capital covering short positions can create short-term gains for memory chip stocks like SK Hynix, but cannot sustain the trend alone. Risks associated with Korean leveraged ETFs have not been fully released, but the decline in asset size is mainly due to NAV shrinkage rather than investor exit. Currently, cumulative net subscriptions for related financial products remain at historic highs and have not turned negative. Garrett Jin emphasized that the decline in Korean leveraged ETF size does not indicate market bearishness on memory demand. SK Hynix's 2026 capacity is already sold out, and Micron's orders are covered until 2028, with demand remaining strong through the second half of 2027. However, the memory industry is essentially still cyclical. Stock prices have already surged by hundreds of percentage points in advance, and cyclical stocks are typically difficult to sustain long-term growth driven solely by valuation expansion. The current market is entering a new phase of the AI capital expenditure cycle, shifting from "rewarding investment" to "evaluating investment returns." Regarding Bitcoin, Garrett Jin stated it continues to meet the bottoming conditions established since the July lows, and he currently maintains the position view established near $60,000.
Odaily News: The latest software version 3.3.0 of XRP Ledger (XRPL) introduces several upgrade proposals, including Confidential Transfers. This feature is designed for institutional users, supporting encrypted token balances and transfer amounts while preserving the visibility of accounts and token types. It is primarily applied to Multi-Purpose Tokens (MPT) on XRPL, including tokenized financial assets such as funds and bonds. Through cryptographic technologies like zero-knowledge proofs, the network can verify transaction validity without disclosing specific amounts. XRPL currently holds approximately $1.38 billion in on-chain real-world assets (RWA), including about $845.7 million in RLUSD. In addition to RLUSD, there are over $530 million in tokenized assets on XRPL, involving issuers such as Ondo, VERT Capital, Archax, and Societe Generale. XRPL 3.3.0 also includes five proposals—Batch, Sponsor, Permission Delegation, and Dynamic MPT—addressing institutional needs such as batch transactions, fee sponsorship, permission management, and dynamic adjustments to token attributes. The aforementioned upgrades have not yet been officially launched and will only be activated after receiving support from more than 80% of XRPL's trusted validator nodes for two consecutive weeks.
NVIDIA plans to invest up to $3 billion in power infrastructure developer Lancium, with an initial investment of $2 billion to acquire approximately 20% equity, and an additional $1 billion may be added subsequently if milestones such as grid connection are met. Lancium is backed by Blackstone Group, and its "Clean Campus" located in Abilene, Texas is the site of the first phase of NVIDIA's "Stargate" AI supercomputing data center project. The company is currently valued at approximately $10 billion and is evaluating an IPO in 2027.
According to Bloomberg data, Asian companies raised over $83 billion in cumulative financing in July through IPOs, targeted placements, and block trades, setting a new monthly record. Among them, South Korean chip giant SK Hynix raised $26.5 billion through a U.S. listing, becoming the largest financing deal.Equity financing activity in Asia remained active in August, with the Indian government selling shares in state-owned insurance giant LIC to raise $3.3 billion. Cathy Zhang, Head of Asia-Pacific ECM at Morgan Stanley, said: "We remain bullish on the capital markets outlook for the second half of this year, particularly in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taiwan." She expects multiple deals exceeding $1 billion to launch in the coming months, primarily focused on consumer internet, industrial technology, and AI-related sectors. (Bloomberg)
Odaily News: SK Hynix's stock price has recently seen a pullback. On August 3, the stock fell 8.79%. Although it rebounded slightly by 0.64% and 5.77% on August 4 and 5 respectively, it plunged another 10.37% on August 6, closing at 1.495 million KRW; on August 7, it dropped a further 4.88%, closing at 1.422 million KRW.Against the backdrop of heightened market volatility, SK Group released an advertisement quoting founder Choi Jong-gun’s famous saying: "Despair and hope are two sides of the same coin; you can turn despair into hope as easily as flipping your palm," and adapted it to: "Unease and anticipation in the AI era are also two sides of the same coin; you can turn unease into anticipation," thereby conveying confidence in the long-term development of the AI industry.Securities institutions believe that short-term stock price fluctuations have not changed SK Hynix's fundamentals, and the market should focus on its HBM4 technology leadership and the earnings stability brought by long-term supply agreements (LTAs). Specifically:1. Hyundai Motor Securities expects SK Hynix's DRAM and NAND bit growth to reach 9.7% and 1.5% respectively in the third quarter. As HBM4 sales contributions expand, even with a higher proportion of LTAs, DRAM average selling prices (ASP) are still expected to rise 19.9% quarter-over-quarter. Companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic are advancing plans to build their own hyperscale AI data centers and intend to raise funds for related construction through IPOs. Even if some large tech companies adjust capital expenditures (Capex) in the future, this could be offset by demand from other AI infrastructure. Additionally, regarding competitive concerns over China's CXMT, given the U.S. continued tightening of semiconductor equipment export restrictions, as well as Micron's expansion of domestic U.S. investment, the likelihood of major companies like Apple adopting Chinese memory chips is relatively low.2. SK Securities is also bullish on SK Hynix's competitive advantages, believing that with its leading position in HBM, partnerships with major North American GPU companies, and AI-driven LTA demand, SK Hynix's market position remains solid. Currently, the HBM supply-demand fulfillment rate is below 70%, and the core value of LTAs lies in ensuring profit sustainability and earnings stability through a "mutual binding structure" between customers and suppliers. With value-reassessment initiatives such as an ADR listing progressing, along with dividend income from the sale of SPC assets related to Kioxia, the company's goal of achieving net cash of 100 trillion KRW may be reached earlier than expected. As shareholder return policies gradually become clearer, this will help the market re-evaluate the value of the LTA model and drive a further re-rating of SK Hynix. (Daum)
Odaily News: Nvidia (NVDA) shares have surged more than 10% this week, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose over 8% during the same period. The sector had previously been sold off on concerns over the scale of AI infrastructure investment and high valuations of chip companies, but market sentiment has since recovered.Nvidia's gains were partly boosted by positive developments at SpaceX. During SpaceX's first earnings call, Musk stated that the company will build data centers both on the ground and in space in the future, and will exclusively use Nvidia chips.Meanwhile, the market remains focused on HBM memory supply pressure. According to The Information, Nvidia is testing a version of its Rubin Ultra chip with reduced HBM configuration to address the global shortage of high-bandwidth memory. (Yahoo Finance)
Odaily News: Cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX failed to find a buyer before deciding to gradually wind down operations in June. A source familiar with the matter stated that reputational burdens, slowing growth, and founder control were factors that led potential acquirers to walk away from negotiations. The source noted that BitMEX's business has been in continuous decline, making it difficult for the exchange to command a valuation based on growth expectations.
Odaily News - Karia Samaroo, founder and former CEO of Canadian crypto company WonderFi, recently stated that the company's acquisition by US trading platform Robinhood Markets for CAD 250 million was not due to a lack of growth potential, but rather because Canada's market environment has restricted local tech companies from continuing to scale.Samaroo said that WonderFi was founded in 2021. After several years of development, the company consolidated Canada's fragmented crypto market, built a nationwide brand, and survived the QuadrigaCX collapse, the FTX crash, and Canada's strict crypto regulatory environment. By 2023, WonderFi had become a leading crypto platform in the Canadian market.However, he believes that succeeding in Canada was not the company's ultimate goal. WonderFi had originally hoped to grow into a global enterprise, and Robinhood saw WonderFi as a strategic gateway into the Canadian market, which led to the CAD 250 million acquisition. Samaroo pointed out that Canada has long faced structural issues that limit companies' ability to scale, including insufficient venture capital, weak public markets, regulatory fragmentation, and declining attractiveness of entrepreneurial returns.For the crypto industry, the challenges are even more pronounced. Samaroo noted that after the QuadrigaCX incident, Canadian regulators established one of the world's strictest crypto regulatory frameworks. While the original intent was to protect investors, it also increased operational costs for businesses. International trading platforms including Binance, OKX, Bybit, and Gemini all entered the Canadian market previously and then exited. He believes that Canada's crypto regulations are not only strict but also compounded by fragmented securities regulatory systems, leading to higher financing costs, increased operational complexity, and diminished interest from overseas investors.Samaroo said that WonderFi is not an isolated case—many Canadian tech companies have followed a similar trajectory: growing domestically until hitting market ceilings, then ultimately seeking overseas capital or strategic buyers. Shopify founder Tobi Lütke has also previously criticized Canada for repeatedly "nurturing important companies only to send them abroad." Restricting corporate sales can easily become a political statement, but the real key to solving the problem lies in building a business environment that supports companies in financing, expansion, and competing globally.Robinhood previously announced the acquisition of WonderFi for approximately CAD 250 million. This deal also reflects the accelerating consolidation in the North American crypto industry, as US platforms expand into other markets through M&A. (Fortune)
According to Fortune, live streaming e-commerce platform Whatnot completed a $545 million Series G funding round, with its valuation nearly doubling from $11.5 billion in October 2025 to $20 billion. The round was led by ICONIQ, Lightspeed, and Avra, with new investors including Kleiner Perkins, Wellington Management, and others, while existing shareholders such as Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, and CapitalG continued to participate. Since its founding in 2019, Whatnot has raised approximately $1.5 billion in total funding, expanding its business from collectibles to hundreds of categories including designer bags and fresh food, covering multiple national markets, and surpassing 1 billion in order volume.
Odaily News - Investment firm Bernstein recently released a report assigning different ratings to two major Bitcoin miners transitioning to AI infrastructure: maintaining an "Outperform" rating on CleanSpark with a price target of $24, and initiating coverage on MARA Holdings with a "Market-Perform" rating and a price target of $17.Bernstein analysts stated that the core reason for the valuation divergence between the two companies lies in their differing progress in executing AI infrastructure transitions. CleanSpark has already signed an anchor tenant agreement for an AI data center and commenced construction, while MARA is still awaiting its first commercial AI contract.Regarding CleanSpark, the company previously announced the signing of a 20-year triple-net lease agreement with a global high-investment-grade technology firm, covering 175MW of IT capacity at its Sandersville, Georgia project. The agreement also includes exclusive cooperation arrangements for CleanSpark's total 885MW asset portfolio in Texas. Bernstein believes that CleanSpark's collaboration with tenant-designated engineering and construction contractors helps mitigate risks associated with its first large-scale AI infrastructure deployment. The first data center hall is expected to become operational in the fourth quarter of 2027.In contrast, Bernstein's assessment of MARA is more cautious. Analysts pointed out that the first commercial AI contract will serve as a key catalyst for a re-rating of MARA's stock, noting that company management previously indicated expectations of signing at least two AI lease agreements by the end of this year. (The Block)
Odaily News Ark Invest, the asset management firm founded by Cathie Wood, disclosed that on August 6, it purchased 267,676 shares of Block stock, valued at approximately $21 million; on the same day, it increased its holdings by 20,318 shares of SpaceX, valued at approximately $2.3 million. Block, formerly known as Square, was renamed by Jack Dorsey in 2021. It has held Bitcoin on its corporate balance sheet since 2020 and offers BTC buy/sell services to retail customers via Cash App. In recent months, Block has also expanded related operations through its Bitkey hardware wallet and its Bitcoin mining hardware division, Proto. SpaceX listed on Nasdaq in June under the ticker SPCX, with an issue price of $135, raising approximately $75 billion and reaching a valuation of nearly $1.8 trillion. Ark's purchase came about two months after SpaceX's listing.
According to EU-Startups, Cyprus-based enterprise AI customer service company Omilia announced the completion of a €58.1 million (approximately $67 million) Series B financing round led by Expedition Growth Capital. The funds will be used to accelerate business expansion in North America and globally, with plans to open its first U.S. office in the second half of 2026. Founded in 2002, Omilia focuses on providing self-learning agent CX solutions for enterprise call centers using its proprietary voice AI technology, and the platform supports compliance standards such as FedRAMP, PCI-DSS, SOC 2, HIPAA, and GDPR.
According to TechFlow Research, JPMorgan's August 6 research report cites LightCounting's latest forecast that the data communication market CAGR from 2025 to 2030 will reach 28%, with the scale increasing from $20 billion to over $70 billion. 1.6T products are the largest growth driver, with a CAGR of about 120%, contributing about $40 billion by 2030. After the NPO/CPO market is included in the addressable market calculation, it will exceed $18 billion by 2030, accounting for more than 25% share of the data center communication market. The telecom and data center interconnect market CAGR is 18%, reaching $9 billion by 2030. In terms of short-term financial reports, JPMorgan believes COHR has the highest earnings certainty, with revenue and profit margins expected to continue improving; market concerns over LITE are excessive, with valuation corresponding to only 22x 2028 EPS, leaving room to exceed expectations; FN needs September quarterly guidance to boost confidence. In terms of customer landscape, Google is expected to become the largest optical component purchaser by 2030, and Meta will lead NPO/CPO deployment. For Nvidia, short-term share rebounds to 25% due to 1.6T, but long-term share is expected to drop from 18% to 12%.
Odaily News, data from BofA Global Research shows that as of now, global AI-related funding in 2026 has reached $344 billion, compared to just $136 billion for the entire year of 2025. Of this, $157 billion came from U.S. dollar-denominated hyperscale cloud providers, $62 billion from non-U.S. dollar-denominated cloud providers, $51 billion was directed toward data center projects, $50 billion was tied to NVIDIA and SpaceX, and another $23 billion flowed into the chip sector.
According to TechFlow Research, Morgan Stanley's research report on August 6 pointed out that the combined growth rate of the three major cloud vendors in Q2 jumped from 39% to 48%, accelerating for five consecutive quarters. AWS grew 37% (fastest in 18 quarters), Azure increased 43%, and Google Cloud increased 82%. AWS's AI annualized revenue has exceeded $25 billion, with triple-digit growth. Azure's PostgreSQL revenue increased 55% (accelerating for three consecutive quarters), and Fabric paying customers exceeded 40,000, up 60%. Morgan Stanley believes AI consumption is driving core infrastructure demand, creating a positive backdrop for DDOG, SNOW, and MDB. However, expectations are also rising simultaneously. Market expectations for DDOG's Q2 growth rate are 35% to 36%, with valuation corresponding to approximately 69 times 2028 FCF; any signal below expectations could be amplified. Most of SNOW's consumption comes from AWS, and cloud acceleration is a positive signal for product revenue. MDB is unlikely to see an AI inflection point in the short term, but competitive pressure is increasing. Morgan Stanley maintains an Overweight rating on all three companies, with target prices of $300, $300, and $380 respectively. Whether demand exists no longer needs verification; the question the market needs to ask is whether demand is good enough to support current valuations.
According to Reuters, Australian AI infrastructure company Firmus completed a $2 billion equity financing, pushing its post-money valuation to over $10.5 billion, nearly doubling the $5.5 billion valuation from its previous funding round in April. The round saw continued participation from NVIDIA and Coatue Management, with funds under Blackstone and Jane Street also providing support.
According to TechFlow Research, Morgan Stanley's latest research report in August indicates that the Q3 DRAM contract price quarter-over-quarter increase has fallen from an expected 20% to 15%, memory module inventory has risen to 12.5 weeks, and signs of weakness have emerged in China's consumer electronics demand. However, Morgan Stanley believes this is merely a normal cyclical slowdown, not a trend reversal. The capex growth rate of the four major cloud vendors was adjusted up from 14% to 29%, and AI demand remains strong. Samsung aims to place 60% to 70% of its capacity under long-term agreements, SK Hynix has completed LTA negotiations with approximately 10 clients, and Micron's 16 agreements cover approximately $100 billion in minimum revenue. Morgan Stanley maintains an overweight rating on Samsung and SK Hynix, with target prices of 381,000 won and 2.6 million won respectively, implying 74% to 84% upside potential. Samsung's current stock price corresponds to an expected P/E ratio of about 5x for 2026, while SK Hynix is about 5.8x. Morgan Stanley believes LTAs are changing industry earnings visibility; the market has not yet assigned a premium to LTA-supported earnings. If LTAs verify downside protection, the memory valuation system may be reshaped.
According to Reuters, optical network startup Lumilens announced that it raised over $700 million in its latest Series C funding round, with the company valuation reaching $5.51 billion and total funding exceeding $900 million. Driven by the expansion of artificial intelligence data centers, market demand for high-speed, low-power optical network connection technology continues to rise.
Odaily News - The Korea Digital Convergence Industry Association has released the "Expected Revisions to Sub-regulations of the Tokenized Securities System and Detailed Guidelines" document, which primarily clarifies the scope of "pooling" for similar underlying assets, OTC trading limits for retail investors, access conditions for OTC exchanges handling non-standardized securities, the roadmap for tokenization of standardized securities (STO), and requirements for issuer account management institutions.The document mentions that separate annual limits are expected to be set for retail investors trading tokenized securities over-the-counter. In addition, licensing standards for OTC trading venues will be established, along with the inclusion of multiple asset valuation standards and profit distribution methods.It is reported that the detailed regulatory rules will still need to go through legislative, public notice, and regulatory review procedures before being finalized. The new regulations are expected to promote the gradual expansion of tokenization from non-standardized securities such as investment contract securities and income-bearing securities to standardized securities including stocks and bonds, while further improving investor protection and market infrastructure development. (EToday)