News linked to this event type.
: Fintech company Stripe is in exclusive acquisition negotiations with AI model aggregation platform OpenRouter, with a transaction valuation of approximately $10 billion. If completed, this would become one of Stripe's significant moves in the AI sector in recent years. Stripe has primarily focused on payment infrastructure, financial services, and enterprise software, and acquiring OpenRouter could further drive its expansion into AI developer infrastructure.According to sources familiar with the matter, OpenRouter has previously received acquisition interest from multiple major tech companies, but Stripe has now entered the exclusive negotiation phase. The deal has not been finalized yet, and specific terms may still change. Founded in 2023, OpenRouter positions itself as an AI infrastructure platform connecting users with various large language models, allowing developers to access AI models from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google through a unified interface, and select different models based on performance, price, and availability. (The Information)
Odaily Odaily News: AI personal assistant startup Pally has announced the completion of a $5.2 million funding round, led by Cyber Fund and Y Combinator, with participation from Pioneer Fund, Founders Inc, 468 Capital, and angel investors. The company is valued at $30 million and primarily provides AI personal assistant services through an SMS interface. Pally was launched in 2025, with its latest version released in June, and can sync with platforms such as Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Granola, and Notion. After user authorization, Pally can book flights, manage inboxes, reply to messages, and reserve restaurant tables. Pally uses Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI's ChatGPT, as well as open-source models such as Kimi K3 and GLM 5.2. Co-founder Haz Hubble stated that the company will not sell user data or use related data to train models. (Business Insider)
Odaily Odaily News: Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of bitcoin treasury company Strategy, stated that AI is transforming the way wealth is created, and that both businesses and individuals should not attempt to compete with machines, but rather use AI to amplify their own capabilities. Saylor noted that he used ChatGPT to help Strategy design a bitcoin-based preferred stock financing plan, which ultimately helped the company raise approximately $15 billion through an IPO and related financing. Saylor believes that the core advantage in the AI era is not repeatedly performing tasks that machines can handle, but rather asking better questions and leveraging AI to explore new opportunities that were previously impossible. (Fortune)
According to Bloomberg reports, SpaceX stock performed relatively steadily on Thursday following the expiration of the lock-up period (lock-up agreement) restricting insiders from selling shares, involving the unlocking of up to approximately 911.5 million shares valued at about $100 billion based on current valuation. Trading data shows SpaceX stock price fluctuated within a range of less than 3% during early trading, as the market digests the potential selling pressure brought by this large-scale share release. Trading volume in the first 30 minutes after the opening approached 93 million shares, accounting for about 40% of the total volume of the previous trading day. This unlocking occurred shortly after SpaceX announced its first earnings report. Previously, SpaceX stock price once fell about 14% due to investor concerns that the company's investment scale in artificial intelligence business was higher than expected. However, most Wall Street analysts still maintain a long-term optimistic view on the company. Market focus includes SpaceX's future investment plans in AI, satellite internet, and mobile communication businesses. Despite facing capital expenditure pressure in the short term, analysts believe the company's leading position in rocket launches, Starlink satellite network, and commercial space sectors remains an important factor supporting its long-term valuation. This stock unlocking of about $100 billion has also become an important event for the market to test investor confidence after SpaceX's listing. The lack of significant stock price fluctuations indicates that the market had certain expectations regarding the liquidity release from internal shareholders.
Odaily News: AI-native startup studio Inevitable AI Group (IAIG) has announced the completion of a $6 million Pre-Seed funding round, led by Aleph. IAIG plans to leverage artificial intelligence to reshape the software development model, building and launching dozens of AI-native SaaS companies.IAIG was founded by tech entrepreneurs Nimrod Lehavi and Ofer Bar-Or. The company's core philosophy is that with the rapid advancement of AI technology, small teams can develop, launch, and scale software products more cost-effectively and efficiently. Since its inception in January this year, IAIG has incubated and launched five companies, with plans to roll out dozens of AI-native software projects by the end of the year. The company focuses on software sectors with validated market demand, using AI to enhance product efficiency, accessibility, and pricing competitiveness. (Financewire)
Odaily News: AI research startup Mirendil has entered into a multi-year partnership agreement with Google Cloud to secure large-scale computing resources in support of its "Self-Improving AI" research and development. Under the agreement, Mirendil will gain access to TPU and NVIDIA GPU computing resources provided by Google Cloud, as well as managed AI training clusters, to develop AI systems capable of continuously optimizing their own capabilities. It is reported that Mirendil is focused on advancing "Recursive Self-Improvement" AI, in which AI systems enhance their own performance through iterative refinement, self-learning, and optimization. This direction is also a research area of interest among some of the top AI laboratories today.Benham Neyshabur, co-founder and CEO of Mirendil, revealed that the total value of the agreement exceeds $100 million, roughly equivalent to half of the $1 billion valuation seed funding round the company completed at the end of June. (TechCrunch)
According to CryptoQuant on-chain data, total institutional BTC holdings, including trusts, ETFs, and closed-end funds, have decreased from 1.33 million BTC three months ago to 1.2 million BTC, a decline of approximately 10%. Meanwhile, the corporate Bitcoin treasury model is also facing pressure. Novaque Research analysts pointed out that the market cap of multiple Bitcoin treasury companies has currently fallen below the net asset value (NAV) of their BTC holdings, and the previous positive cycle mechanism of "stock price premium → financing to buy BTC → strengthening premium" has significantly weakened. The listed company with the largest holdings, Strategy, even sold 1,638 BTC last week.
According to The Block, data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis shows that violent robberies targeting cryptocurrency holders in the first half of 2026 have resulted in losses exceeding $30 million. If the trend continues in the second half, the full-year total will surpass the historical peak of $58 million in 2025. France has become the world's largest "Wrench Attack" hotspot, with 30 public cases recorded in the first half of 2026, while the French Minister of the Interior stated that actual cases exceed 70. Chainalysis attributes this to the 2024 French tax authority data breach—a tax official was suspected of stealing and selling the names, addresses, holdings, and tax records of high-net-worth crypto holders, causing the attack frequency to surge from a monthly average of 1.9 in 2025 to a monthly average of 4.6 in the first half of 2026. Attack methods have also deteriorated; cases targeting family members rather than the holders themselves now account for over 40% of French cases, and the proportion of home invasions rose from 14% in 2025 to 37%. Stolen funds are typically quickly moved on-chain, with some laundered through tools such as decentralized exchanges and cross-chain bridges; advanced criminal networks are even linked to cartel money laundering and terrorist financing channels.
Odaily Odaily News: AIX Ventures co-founder Shaun Johnson has announced the launch of the AI fund 224 Ventures, which currently manages approximately $100 million in assets and plans to invest $1 million to $5 million in AI-native teams. The fund's investment focus covers AI applications, robotics, infrastructure, and core intelligence. The fund has 244 LPs, most of whom come from the AI industry, including researchers, product and engineering leaders, and enterprise AI and data executives. Former Meta Chief AI Scientist and Turing Award winner Yann LeCun, along with former Google DeepMind researcher Oriol Vinyals, have also announced they will join to co-lead the fund.LeCun also currently serves as Executive Chairman of AI startup AMI Labs, a company focused on "World Models" technology, which has completed over $1 billion in seed funding. (Bloomberg)
According to Bloomberg, SoftBank Group (SoftBank) has successfully secured a $10 billion margin loan by pledging its OpenAI shares as collateral. The loan has a two-year term, and lenders include Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Mizuho Securities, Apollo Global Funding, and SMBC. SoftBank plans to complete the drawdown this month.
According to DealStreetAsia, Singapore-based AI infrastructure startup Acrab has announced the completion of a $130 million Series B funding round, led by existing investors Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India Fund and Vertex Growth, with new investors participating. The specific identities of the new investors and the valuation for this round remain undisclosed. Upon completion of this round, Acrab's cumulative fundraising total has exceeded $480 million, including capital raised prior to its official public launch earlier this year. Established in 2024, Acrab specializes in developing a full-stack AI computing platform integrating custom chips, edge AI models, and software orchestration capabilities to support AI agents in executing tasks in real-time.
Japanese yen stablecoin issuer JPYC announced the completion of its Series B extension financing, raising a cumulative total of approximately 6 billion yen in new funds. The company stated that the funds will be primarily used to expand the financial and Web3 ecosystem and accelerate the widespread adoption and implementation of the yen stablecoin "JPYC".
According to Globenewswire, Bitcoin mining company PowerCompute (formerly LM Funding America) announced the completion of an $18 million debt refinancing. The financing is collateralized by 307 BTC from PowerCompute's inventory, replacing previous loans including an $11 million loan from Galaxy Digital, a $5 million loan used to acquire a 15MW Oklahoma facility, and a $2 million loan used to acquire an 11MW Mississippi facility. This refinancing will drive its expansion from Bitcoin mining operations into the high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure sectors.
Odaily News: Mastercard has completed its acquisition of stablecoin payments company BVNK, integrating its on-chain settlement and wallet infrastructure into its global network. The final acquisition price was not disclosed; when the agreement was announced in March, the transaction was valued at up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent payments. Founded in 2021, BVNK provides businesses with infrastructure to send, receive, store, and convert funds between traditional currencies and blockchain networks. Mastercard stated that BVNK's existing customers will continue to use the same products, integrations, and support teams, and no action is required at this time. Mastercard's Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert said that digital currencies, particularly stablecoins, are increasingly meeting real-world needs. The combined platform is expected to support banks in connecting customer accounts with digital wallets and provide payment service providers with 24/7 merchant settlement capabilities.
According to TechFlow Research, Goldman Sachs' August 3 position tracking report shows that the volume of long sales for global information technology stocks last week reached the highest level since 2014, with the total selling volume over two consecutive days ranking second highest in nearly a decade. Hedge funds' total leverage gave back half of its year-to-date gains, and net leverage turned negative year-to-date. Retail margin balances in South Korea and Japan began to reverse after reaching historical extremes, while US retail investors are also reducing semiconductor stock holdings. Speculative net shorts in VIX futures have largely been cleared. Goldman Sachs believes the intensity of deleveraging may have peaked, but the inertia of capital outflows persists. Individual stock implied volatility rose to the highest level since 2020, index correlation fell to low levels, and the market is shifting from trading the AI sector broadly to differentiated pricing of individual stocks. Bond funds and money market funds are the main drivers of capital inflows this year; equity funds saw inflows of $34 billion in July, with an absolute scale far smaller than that of the bond market. Goldman Sachs judges that the stock selection environment is improving, but sector beta trading still faces pressure.
Sapiom 宣布完成 3500 万美元 A 轮融资，由 Dragonfly 领投，公司累计融资总额达到 5000 万美元。同时，Sapiom 对外发布其面向 AI 智能体 的生产基础设施，核心定位是在智能体执行操作时，实时决定其可调用的模型、工具、算力与支付行为，并对成本、权限、延迟、可靠性及合规要求进行控制。
Odaily News: U.S. Senate Digital Assets Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis stated that the Senate will hold a vote on the CLARITY Act before lawmakers begin their August recess. The bill aims to divide federal crypto regulatory responsibilities and covers ethics, enforcement, consumer protection, and market certainty. Lummis said negotiations around the bill have been ongoing for 11 months, with Democrats proposing more than 300 pages of amendments. Current negotiations still involve sections related to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), enforcement provisions, and ethics rules for senior federal officials. On August 5, Democratic staff on the Senate Banking Committee listed five unresolved areas, including securities protection, illicit finance, national security, and presidential conflicts of interest. Donald Trump has received a bipartisan counter-proposal that would allow state attorneys general to enforce federal crypto ethics rules. Under the CLARITY Act, the CFTC and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would share regulatory oversight, establishing distinct pathways for qualifying digital commodities and securities. CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins both support advancing clearer digital asset regulatory legislation.
Odaily News: TeraWulf's high-performance computing (HPC) rental revenue grew 52% quarter-over-quarter in Q2, reaching $31.9 million, continuing to expand its lead over its traditional Bitcoin mining business.HPC rental revenue accounted for approximately 71% of TeraWulf's total revenue of $44.8 million in Q2, up from 62% in the previous quarter. In comparison, digital asset revenue was roughly flat quarter-over-quarter at $12.8 million, but down significantly from $47.6 million in the same period last year. Company CFO Patrick Fleury stated on the earnings call that Q2 results reflect TeraWulf's financial structure becoming increasingly driven by long-term, contracted HPC revenue.However, the company's net loss attributable to shareholders widened to nearly $940 million in Q2, up from $427.6 million in Q1. The loss was primarily driven by a $755.7 million valuation adjustment related to Google warrants, which was impacted by the rise in TeraWulf's share price.Following the earnings release, TeraWulf's stock price fell less than 1%, but remains up approximately 47% year-to-date. Overall, the company is further transitioning from a Bitcoin miner into an AI/HPC infrastructure platform, though short-term financial performance continues to be affected by equity instrument valuations and transition costs.
Strategy posted on X: "Our ambition is to become the world's largest company by market capitalization—holding the most capitalized Bitcoin (BTC), issuing the most powerful credit instrument (STRC), and creating the best equity asset (MSTR)."Strategy stated that its strategic core includes three major directions:Bitcoin reserves: Continuously accumulate BTC and treat Bitcoin as a long-term capital asset;Credit instruments: Expand capital sources through preferred stocks such as STRC and other financial tools;Equity value: Provide investors with Bitcoin exposure through MSTR stock and enhance shareholder value.Strategy is currently one of the public companies holding the largest amount of Bitcoin globally. In recent years, the company has raised funds through issuing stocks, convertible bonds, and preferred shares, using the proceeds to purchase BTC, forming a cycle of "capital market financing—accumulating Bitcoin—enhancing company value."Strategy founder Michael Saylor has long believed that Bitcoin is scarce capital in the digital age, and the company aims to position itself as a core platform connecting traditional capital markets with the Bitcoin economy by continuously expanding BTC reserves and innovating financial instruments.Market observers believe that Strategy's goal is not merely to become a Bitcoin-holding company, but to establish a new corporate capital structure with Bitcoin as the underlying asset.
SpaceX early investor and XPRIZE Foundation founder Peter Diamandis stated that SpaceX has the potential to become the world's first company with a market capitalization of $10 trillion.During an interview on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," Diamandis said that the market has yet to find the right way to value SpaceX, and that the company's space transportation, satellite internet, and future space economy initiatives could generate long-term growth far exceeding that of traditional enterprises.He pointed out that SpaceX's core value comes not only from its reusable rocket business, but also from Starlink satellite internet, future lunar and Mars exploration programs, and the new economic ecosystem being built around space infrastructure.Previously, SpaceX had already become one of the highest-valued private tech companies globally. As the company expands from rocket launches into satellite communications and deep-space exploration, investors are trying to reassess its long-term commercial potential.Diamandis believes that traditional valuation models struggle to measure the value of a platform company like SpaceX, which operates across aerospace, communications, and future infrastructure simultaneously, so the market may be underestimating its future growth potential. (CNBC)