News linked to this event type.
Odaily Equity Research raised its target price for Hut 8 to $195 from $165 on Wednesday, citing the full commercialization of the company's Beacon Point AI data center campus in Texas.This is the second time Benchmark has raised its target price for Hut 8 this month. Last week, analyst Mark Palmer had already incorporated the first phase of the Beacon Point project into his valuation, raising the target from $85 to $165. The new target implies approximately 75% upside from Hut 8's stock price of around $111 on Wednesday.Hut 8 has now signed contracts for 949 megawatts of AI data center capacity, indicating its business is further pivoting from traditional Bitcoin mining towards AI infrastructure and power-driven data center models. Benchmark believes the company is evolving into a "power-first data center REIT," an infrastructure platform centered around power resources and data center assets.Hut 8's stock rose about 2% on Wednesday, bringing its year-to-date gains to nearly 120%. As demand for AI computing power continues to grow, the market is reassessing the value of the substantial power and data center resources held by Bitcoin mining companies.
Fox Business crypto journalist posted on platform X, stating that the bill specifies the rules for handling digital assets when an exchange or custodian becomes insolvent. This legislation helps ensure customer assets receive the same protections as traditional financial assets and remain the property of the customers, rather than becoming part of the company's bankruptcy estate. This could help prevent a repeat of situations like FTX.
Odaily Odaily News Fintech company Revolut has reached a valuation of $115 billion in a secondary stock sale for employees, making it the most valuable private company in Europe. Revolut disclosed a pre-tax profit of $2.3 billion and revenue of $6 billion for 2025. Its main app allows users to trade over 200 crypto tokens, transfer assets to external wallets, and stake holdings. The company also operates a standalone crypto exchange, Revolut X. Revolut recently secured a full UK banking license and is seeking a US national banking license. The company's IPO valuation target is $200 billion.
Chinese listed company Zhibao Technology has announced the signing of a non-binding term sheet with Joyer Tech for a PIPE financing based on 3,500 Bitcoins.
Prediction market platform Kalshi has launched the Midterms Hub to display real-time market odds for U.S. Senate and House races. The page integrates real-time trading prices, polling averages, Federal Election Commission fundraising data, and curated news. Kalshi is also seeking regulatory approval to expand perpetual futures trading beyond cryptocurrencies and is pursuing new funding at a valuation of approximately $40 billion.
: BNB Chain Agent commercial clearing layer TermiX announced that Web3 security infrastructure GoPlus and smart contract security auditing firm Salus have officially become Provider Agents on the Agent.family platform. They have launched two production-grade security audit services, promoting the autonomous invocation and settlement of "security capability as a service" for AI Agents in on-chain commercial scenarios.GoPlus has packaged its verified token contract deep scanning capability as a standard Provider Agent service. DeepScan conducts comprehensive security checks on token contracts, identifying risk patterns such as Rug Pulls, honeypot scams, contract permission abuse, and trading restrictions, and generates structured audit reports.Salus has launched smart contract auditing and penetration testing services, encompassing formal verification, fuzz testing, machine learning-based vulnerability detection, and manual expert auditing. It covers high-risk vulnerability categories such as reentrancy attacks, access control issues, integer overflows, and DoS attacks. Salus, a seed-stage investment from Binance Labs, is a core security partner within the BNB Chain ecosystem.
on July 22 that Binance has officially launched the HK0700 USDT (Tencent) and HK1810 USDT (Xiaomi) Hong Kong stock trading pairs on its Quanto perpetual contracts.Binance Quanto perpetual contracts allow users to trade non-USD-denominated stocks using local currencies without the need for foreign exchange conversion, lowering the barrier to entry while enhancing trading convenience. Binance TradFi products now support 140 trading pairs, and the trading volume of its TradFi perpetual contracts over the past week has approached $100 billion, continuously expanding users' one-stop experience in trading traditional financial assets.
According to TechFlow Research, JPMorgan's US stock strategy report on July 20 estimates that global AI-related capital expenditure will approach $870 billion in 2026, up 77% year-on-year, with hyperscalers contributing about $750 billion. In 2027, growth rates remain high: Google +54% (approx. $300 billion), Amazon +42% (approx. $300 billion), Meta +42% (approx. $200 billion). Bond financing by the five major tech giants rose from $40 to 50 billion in 2022 to about $190 billion in 2026, and Google completed $85 billion in equity financing in June.
South Korea's KOSPI index rose as much as 6.2% during trading on Wednesday, bringing its cumulative gain over the past two trading days to nearly 10%. SK Hynix rose over 9% at one point, while Samsung Electronics gained more than 6%, with chip stocks leading the market rally.A recent report from JPMorgan indicated that approximately 75% of the de-leveraging process for leveraged ETF positions in South Korea has been completed. According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, as of July 16, the balance of margin loans in South Korea fell to 33.4 trillion won (approximately $22.6 billion), down 13% from its peak at the end of June.Additionally, as of Wednesday morning, foreign investors had net purchased over $1 billion worth of South Korean stocks, marking the first significant capital inflow in about a month. (Bloomberg)
BIT US stock options trading will officially launch on July 24. Following its margin trading (securities lending and borrowing) service, BIT is further expanding its derivatives matrix to provide users with lower-cost, risk-controllable tools for US stock trading and hedging.In terms of fees, BIT US stock options charge $0 commission for both buying and selling, with platform usage fees as low as $0.30 per contract—only half the fee charged by similar platforms. The minimum fee per transaction is $0.99, consistent with US stock trading, and options trading incurs no additional markup, helping users enter the market with a lower threshold.The initial launch will cover approximately 2,000 highly liquid US stock underlying assets, and will prioritize opening options buyer trading (Long Call / Long Put), while not yet supporting seller (Short) opening positions. The maximum loss for buyers is locked in as the premium paid at the time of order placement, effectively avoiding liquidation risks in extreme market conditions. The product's coverage scope and trading methods will be gradually expanded based on risk control system validation and market demand.Early bird exclusive offers and experience benefits are now available. By completing your first option trade or inviting a friend to participate, you can receive multiple early bird rewards, including 30 days of free real-time options quotes and popular stocks. For event details, please refer to the BIT US Stock Channel.Risk Warning: Options trading involves risk, which may result in the total loss of the premium paid. Please use investment and financing tools reasonably based on your own investment objectives and risk tolerance.
crypto bank Augustus announced the completion of a $180 million funding round, bringing the company's valuation to $1 billion. The company aims to build a 24/7 financial infrastructure that connects traditional payment systems with stablecoin networks. The round was led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from investors including Hummingbird, QED, and the founding teams of Nubank, Ramp, Circle, and Deel.Augustus stated that as stablecoins gradually transform the global financial system, the traditional Correspondent Banking model is facing efficiency bottlenecks. The company aims to establish a federally chartered clearing bank for fintech companies and financial institutions, replacing traditional cross-border payment infrastructure.Unlike stablecoin issuers, Augustus does not plan to issue its own stablecoin. Instead, it aims to provide underlying banking infrastructure, enabling financial institutions to freely transfer funds between traditional payment networks and blockchain networks. Currently, Augustus offers euro clearing services through its regulated Finnish entity, processing tens of billions of euros in transactions annually. Its clients include international financial institutions, fintech companies, banks, and crypto firms, including crypto exchange Kraken. (CoinDesk)
the perpetual contract trading platform Ondo Perps has launched a tokenized stock collateral feature, enabling all users to now use Ondo Stocks tokenized shares as margin to support their perpetual contract positions.The feature initially supports the tokenized S&P 500 ETF (SPYon) and Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQon). Ondo stated that users no longer need to convert funds into stablecoins or sell their held assets, but can instead utilize tokenized stocks as productive capital to participate in derivatives trading. Ondo Perps noted that the platform's cumulative trading volume has exceeded $3.8 billion, with trader demand primarily concentrated in the following areas: hedging equity risk within a single platform; deep liquidity for stock perpetual contracts; lower spreads and reduced slippage; execution speed comparable to centralized exchanges (CEX); round-the-clock 24/7 trading; and leverage of up to 20x.Ondo stated that the tokenized stock collateral feature is a key component of its "productive capital" strategy, aimed at enhancing the capital efficiency of tokenized stocks and driving the liquidity and efficiency of the on-chain stock perpetual contract market progressively closer to that of traditional derivatives markets.Previously, Ondo Stocks had pioneered the tokenization of US equity assets. Now, Ondo Perps is further building trading and margin mechanisms on top of tokenized assets.Ondo indicated that current perpetual contract trading is only a part of its larger vision. In the future, it will continue to build on-chain prime brokerage infrastructure encompassing trading, financing, and margin management functions, providing a more comprehensive financial services layer for the tokenized asset ecosystem.
SemiAnalysis stated on X platform that traditional backup power equipment for data centers——Reciprocating Engines——are transitioning from an "emergency backup" role to a primary round-the-clock power source to meet the massive electricity demand driven by AI computing expansion.SemiAnalysis points out that in the past, data centers typically only activated on-site reciprocating engine backup power during grid failures, operating for just a few hours annually. However, with increasing grid capacity constraints, more data centers are repurposing these devices for Prime Power, enabling continuous electricity supply.According to SemiAnalysis' energy model estimates, manufacturers of reciprocating engines, including Caterpillar, INNIO, and Cummins, are expected to have signed approximately 1 GW in Behind-the-Meter (BTM) project orders this year; order volumes for 2027 and 2028 are each projected to exceed 4 GW.SemiAnalysis notes that current order volumes are still very limited compared to future potential demand. After modeling US grid constraints, they found that existing power supply margins are expected to be exhausted between 2027 and 2028, and planned utility-scale new generation capacity through 2030 is insufficient to meet the growing data center load demand.Based on its data center model, SemiAnalysis estimates that approximately 140 GW of identified data center projects still need to sign power supply contracts and may adopt behind-the-meter power supply models.Among the technologies available for behind-the-meter power supply, including reciprocating engines, aeroderivative gas turbines, and fuel cells, SemiAnalysis expects reciprocating engines to capture the largest share.The institution believes that reciprocating engines offer the best balance between cost and deployment speed, while also providing modular advantages that support phased data center expansion. Compared to fuel cells, they boast higher commercial maturity and financing feasibility. As manufacturers ramp up production capacity in the coming years, reciprocating engines are poised to become critical infrastructure for AI data centers to solve power bottlenecks.SemiAnalysis states that AI computing growth is driving data centers to shift from relying on traditional grid power to a hybrid model of "grid plus self-owned energy," with energy infrastructure emerging as a new core constraint for AI industry expansion.
According to Business Wire, financial infrastructure command platform Cordant announced the completion of an $8 million seed funding round, jointly led by Motive Partners and Oak HC/FT, with participation from institutions such as Bitso, Paxos, Bankless VC, FJ Labs, and SignalFire. Cordant was founded by a former executive team from Rapyd and is positioned as a real-time operations command center for payment companies, fintechs, and banks, capable of integrating data from payment rails, bank accounts, ledgers, compliance, and risk systems to provide teams with a unified operational view without the need to migrate data or replace existing core systems. The funding will be used for product development and private beta customer deployments.
Cordant, a stablecoin and digital asset financial infrastructure provider, has announced the completion of an $8 million seed funding round. Participating investors include Bankless VC, FJ Labs, SignalFire, Quona, Next Stage, Selah Ventures, Flatironx, Nascent Ventures, Silvercircle Ventures, and Generative Ventures. The new capital will support the company's introduction of new payment networks and AI automation tools. Cordant is collaborating with financial institutions on product development, covering banking, payments, embedded finance, cross-border transactions, stablecoins, and digital assets. Notably, Latin American digital asset and payment platform Bitso, as well as blockchain infrastructure company Paxos, have both invested and are serving as design partners. (Businesswire)
According to Odaily, blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps has disclosed that a mysterious whale address cluster within the Shiba Inu (SHIB) ecosystem has held approximately 103 trillion SHIB since 2020. The entity initially spent just 38 ETH (roughly $10,000 at the time) to build the position, which once peaked at an unrealized valuation exceeding $50 billion, marking one of the most astonishing investment cases in crypto market history.Bubblemaps' tracking reveals that the whale initially purchased 103 trillion SHIB through the wallet address 0x1406, accounting for about 10% of the circulating supply at the time. As the SHIB price surged, the position's value once reached approximately $5 billion. Currently, the address cluster's holdings are still valued at over $2.5 billion, representing a cumulative return of more than 21,000 times.To reduce exposure risk, the whale split the assets across 14 addresses in November 2021. In January 2023, Bubblemaps first disclosed this SHIB whale cluster, which then controlled about 10% of the SHIB supply, valued at over $1 billion, sparking community discussions about high concentration of holdings by a single entity.Subsequently, the address cluster underwent continuous address migration and splitting. In September 2023, Bubblemaps found that its holdings had spread from a few prominent wallets to many new addresses, a typical tactic to reduce on-chain visibility. Using its Magic Nodes tool, Bubblemaps was still able to identify the connections between these wallets.During the SHIB price surge in early 2024, the whale's position value exceeded $2 billion again, with the number of wallets expanding to over 170 addresses. As of now, the cluster still controls approximately 8.51% of the SHIB circulating supply, a decrease from the initial 10% ratio. However, Bubblemaps notes that this is primarily due to normal on-chain transfers, with no signs of large-scale selling detected.Bubblemaps points out that this case highlights the significant value of on-chain transparency tools: an entity can conceal massive holdings by splitting wallets, but all fund transfers leave public on-chain records. This SHIB whale case has also become a typical example for observing "whale behavior, holding concentration, and on-chain tracking" within the crypto market.
According to Pakistani local media Dawn, the Pakistan Federal Investigation Agency has established a specialized department to combat cryptocurrency-related crimes, thereby strengthening law enforcement efforts against digital assets nationwide, targeting money laundering and terrorist financing activities conducted through virtual currencies.
: U.S. prediction market platform Kalshi experienced explosive growth during the 2026 World Cup, with platform trading volume soaring from $6.67 billion on June 22 to $24.2 billion on July 14. The single "World Cup Champion" prediction market saw trading volume exceed $1.2 billion. Kalshi stated that its growth reflects a new trend in the AI era: as the volume of AI-generated content increases substantially, authentic, real-time, and non-replicable human interaction scenarios are becoming scarcer, positioning prediction markets as a novel tool for observing public sentiment and collective judgment.Meanwhile, Kalshi is seeking to transform from a sports prediction platform into the next-generation financial trading infrastructure. The company currently holds Designated Contract Market (DCM) status recognized by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and plans to expand into more prediction areas including sports, geopolitics, culture, and economics. (Fortune)
Humanoid robotics startup Humanoid has announced the completion of a $152 million Series A funding round, achieving a post-money valuation of $1.35 billion and becoming Europe's first unicorn company focused specifically on humanoid robots. The round was led by Prime Movers Lab, with participation from German industrial giants Schaeffler and Bosch, Taiwan's Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital, as well as Aglaé Ventures, the investment arm of the LVMH Arnault family. With this latest funding, Humanoid's total capital raised reaches $270 million. (Forbes)
the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) of Pakistan has established a cryptocurrency investigation unit within its newly inaugurated National Command and Control Center (NC3) to probe money laundering and terrorist financing activities conducted through virtual currencies.Dr. Muhammad Athar Waheed, head of the FIA's Counter-Terrorism Department, stated that the new unit will investigate the criminal use of cryptocurrencies. The newly formed Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (PVARA) will be responsible for overseeing digital assets. Dr. Waheed also urged the National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency and the Anti-Narcotics Force to establish similar departments to address the use of cryptocurrencies in cybercrime and drug trafficking.The NC3 integrates the FIA's financial crime tools onto a single platform, including anti-money laundering and virtual currency investigation units, an Interpol coordination point, open-source intelligence, cyber patrolling, and dark web investigation departments. Pakistan previously lifted its eight-year ban on cryptocurrency banking, created the PVARA, and is advancing the licensing of cryptocurrency exchanges. (Decrypt)