News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News: On August 5, the minority staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs stated that the July 22 version of the CLARITY Act fails to meet five minimum standards. The bill, numbered H.R. 3633, aims to divide digital asset regulatory authority between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The analysis suggests that the bill's two-tier system could remove certain blockchain assets from SEC oversight, allowing issuing companies to self-certify exemptions from securities regulation. Healthy Markets and five labor organizations have raised concerns over pension protections and securities law loopholes, while minority staff also noted that investors' private right of action and state and tribal enforcement powers could be weakened. Minority staff stated that DeFi-related companies could be exempt from anti-illegal financing obligations even if they earn millions of dollars from platform transactions; some crypto mixers may circumvent U.S. sanctions by exploiting the "Tornado Cash loophole." The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) warned that stablecoin yields could drain deposits from community banks, and the Systemic Risk Council has flagged related banking activities as potential bailout risks. Minority staff noted that Donald Trump alone earned over $1.4 billion from crypto businesses in 2025, with related enforcement solely under the purview of his Attorney General, and that obligations would terminate upon his departure from office. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, citing $3.8 billion in investor losses, have separately called on the SEC to investigate Trump memecoin. The Senate is scheduled to hold a cloture vote on September 15 on the motion to proceed, with the bill needing 60 votes to advance. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: Data released today by the Korea Exchange shows that heavyweight semiconductor stocks have recently pulled back, with capital beginning to rotate toward non-semiconductor sectors. From August 3 to 7, Samsung Electronics fell 12.00%, SK Hynix dropped 17.23%, and the KOSPI index declined 5.10% over the same period; however, sectors such as metals and machinery equipment rose against the trend.Currently, the combined market capitalization of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as a share of the KOSPI has fallen from 58.9% on June 25 to 46.3% on August 7. Meanwhile, the KOSPI's net profit forecast for this year, excluding these two companies, has been revised upward from 219.2 trillion KRW last week to 222.3 trillion KRW, with improving market earnings further supporting the valuation recovery of non-semiconductor sectors. KB Securities researcher Kim Min-kyu stated that the current "semiconductor pause, other sectors rising" pattern is closer to previously overlooked industries being revalued while the leading sector takes a breather, rather than a simple broad-based expansion of the market rally. (FNNews)
Odaily News: Unitree Robotics officially opened IPO subscription on the STAR Market today. According to the announcement, Unitree Robotics' offering price is set at 150.80 yuan per share, with a market capitalization of approximately 60.993 billion yuan at the time of listing, and an expected total fundraising amount of 6.099 billion yuan. The online subscription code for this offering is 787836, with an expected online issuance of 6.471 million shares. The market estimates the lottery win rate at 0.02%–0.03%. It should be noted that after the subscription period concludes, the lottery results will be announced on August 12, and successful investors must complete payment on the same day. If an investor wins the lottery three times within 12 months but fails to make full payment, they will be restricted from participating in new stock and bond subscriptions for six months.Yang Chao, chief strategy analyst at China Galaxy Securities, noted that the capital threshold for participating in this IPO subscription is relatively high, and the lottery win rate is low. Share prices are likely to experience significant volatility in the early stages of the STAR Market listing. Investors should fully assess the risks associated with the high valuation and ensure timely and full payment if selected, avoiding missed payments that could trigger subscription restrictions.
: Bitcoin mining company MARA completed two loans on August 4, pledging 18,750 BTC to secure $600 million in new debt for expanding its power generation and AI infrastructure business. The collateralized assets were valued at approximately $1.2 billion at the time of the transaction. The combined principal of the two loans totals $750 million, with Coinbase Credit providing $450 million, including a refinancing of the existing $150 million credit facility and an additional $300 million; Two Prime Lending separately provided $300 million. Both loans have been fully drawn. The Coinbase loan carries an interest rate of the midpoint of the Federal Reserve's target rate range plus 3.875 percentage points, with a maturity date of August 4, 2028; the Two Prime loan carries a fixed interest rate of 7.65%, with a maturity date of August 3, 2028. Assuming the principal remains unchanged, the annual interest expense on the two loans is approximately $56.7 million. MARA stated that the loan proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including part of the cash consideration for the acquisition of Long Ridge Energy & Power LLC. The transaction has an enterprise value of approximately $1.5 billion. Long Ridge owns a 505-megawatt gas-fired power plant and more than 1,600 acres of industrial land, which MARA plans to use for power generation, Bitcoin mining, and potential AI and high-performance computing campuses.
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 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 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%.
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 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 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.
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 The market expects SK Hynix to announce a more detailed shareholder return plan as early as the evening of August 4, Korea Standard Time, including measures such as dividends, share buybacks, and cancellations. Analysts believe the company's previous failure to disclose related plans may be linked to U.S. SEC information disclosure restrictions following its ADR listing on July 10, and the plan is expected to be officially announced after the approximately 25-day quiet period ends. Market participants stated that a clear shareholder return policy would help boost investor confidence and drive further valuation re-rating of the company. (The Korea Economic Daily)
According to PR Newswire, AI data center company Hyperscale Data (NYSE: GPUS) announced the successful implementation of a Bitcoin-backed DeFi financing strategy via the Morpho protocol. As of August 2, 2026, the company has completed approximately $30 million in Bitcoin-collateralized borrowing through the protocol, with a current variable interest rate of approximately 4.9%. The raised funds will be used to support the continued construction of its Michigan AI data center campus, as well as general corporate purposes such as daily working capital. The company stated that this move aims to transform its Bitcoin treasury from a passive reserve asset into a source of low-cost growth capital, while retaining exposure to Bitcoin's long-term appreciation and reducing reliance on dilutive equity financing.
According to QCP Group, the US Treasury, via the New York Fed, jointly purchased yen with the Japanese Ministry of Finance last Friday, marking the first US-Japan joint foreign exchange intervention action specifically to support the yen since 1998. Meanwhile, the US 30-year Treasury yield briefly rose to about 5.27%, hitting a new high since 2007, before falling back to 5.24%. QCP pointed out that the transmission path of this intervention to the crypto market mainly unfolds through yen carry trades—rapid yen appreciation may force investors holding yen funding positions to deleverage and buy back yen, subsequently affecting risk assets including BTC and ETH, reenacting the market volatility triggered by carry trade unwinding in August 2024. QCP reminded that current macro monitoring indicators should take the USD/JPY exchange rate, Japan funding costs, and US long-end Treasury yields into consideration; fiscal policy operations are increasingly becoming an important variable affecting the direction of global liquidity.
Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor confirmed that the company's Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock STRC will maintain a Stretch Dividend Rate of 12.00% in August 2026. STRC was launched in July 2025 with an initial rate of 9%, and has since seen seven consecutive monthly increases. STRC's dividend adjustment mechanism stipulates that when its trading price falls below $95, the dividend rate increases by 0.5%, and once triggered, the increase is irreversible even if the price recovers. Strategy resets this rate monthly to drive STRC's price closer to its $100 par value, and issues new shares through its ATM program to raise funds for Bitcoin purchases. STRC closed at $89.46 on July 31, down from the previous closing price of $89.50, approximately 10% to 11% below its $100 par value. The stock touched a low of $71.25 in June and has not returned to par value since mid-May. Strategy has paused new STRC issuance through its ATM program, limiting its ability to use this funding channel to increase its Bitcoin holdings. The company maintains a liquidity buffer covering approximately 26 months of dividend and interest obligations, and in late June, authorized a $2 billion preferred stock and common stock buyback and Bitcoin monetization program through the Digital Credit Capital Framework.
The Situational Awareness fund, managed by "AI Stock God" Leopold Aschenbrenner, accumulated a gain of 439% before June 2026. However, it suffered severe setbacks during the AI sector sell-off in July. The fund is currently communicating with existing investors and lenders to seek new capital and is offering some LPs the opportunity to purchase assets from its portfolio.Sources say this capital discussion appears more like an ad-hoc response than an organized new fundraising round. The fund had previously used leverage through prime brokers at several major investment banks to amplify its AI trading exposure, turning market drawdowns further into funding pressure.In a letter to investors on July 24, Aschenbrenner acknowledged that the fund failed to avoid this market shock, noting that Asian markets were particularly affected. However, he believes this sell-off could present the best buying opportunity since early 2025. He plans to open a window for new capital on August 1st and views Anthropic's potential IPO as a catalyst for the second half of the year.According to disclosures, some holdings saw significant declines in July. Oracle and AMD fell approximately 20% for the month, while Nebius, Saronic AI, Bloom Energy, Sandisk, and others saw even larger drops. The Nasdaq 100 index fell about 10% in July, and South Korea's Kospi index dropped by roughly one-third.Currently, lacking specific data on the fund's exact drawdown magnitude, it is difficult to determine whether this fundraising is a passive capital injection driven by leverage pressure or an active move to increase positions for an opportunity. However, market trends suggest it is closer to the former. If forced selling occurs, the deleveraging process could also create discount opportunities in assets whose fundamentals haven't materially changed.
According to Bitcoin.com, Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR) Executive Chairman Michael Saylor stated that since the company established Bitcoin as its primary reserve asset in August 2020, MSTR stock has achieved an annualized return of 42%, surpassing Bitcoin itself, the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks, and the S&P 500 Index. As of July 29, Strategy holds 843,775 BTC, with a cumulative purchase cost of approximately $63.69 billion, and an average price of approximately $75,476 per coin, currently showing an unrealized loss of approximately 17.9% compared to the cost price (approximately $11.4 billion). To address the increasingly complex capital structure, Strategy launched three new metrics on July 24: Net BTC Per Share, BTC Hurdle ARR (minimum annualized return required to cover financing costs), and BTC Floor ARR (minimum annualized return required to maintain leverage ratio sustainability), to help investors more clearly assess the actual value of their Bitcoin holdings. Additionally, the company plans to provide funding for preferred stock repurchases through the future sale of a portion of its Bitcoin.
Prediction market traders have priced the probability of OpenAI publicly releasing GPT-6 by September 30 at approximately 78%. The Polymarket related market trading volume is about $731,000, an increase of approximately $32,000 from the previous index snapshot; probability for the contract releasing before September 30 has risen to 77%, probability for release before August 31 is in the mid-30% range, and probability for release before August 21 has dropped to 15%. On Myriad, the probability for a September release has also risen to 77%, up from 64% last week. As of July 27, OpenAI has not yet publicly announced GPT-6, its technical design, or a release date. Its current flagship general-purpose model, GPT-5.6 Sol, was publicly released on July 9. OpenAI previously confirmed that GPT-5.6 Sol and a more capable pre-release model breached Hugging Face during a cybersecurity evaluation. The company also announced the addition of 250 new positions in Dublin, while SoftBank is providing financing for OpenAI's related initiatives through a $40 billion bridge loan.
According to the latest seasonal research report from Bank of America Securities, since 1928, the rolling three-month window from August to October has typically been the weakest period for the S&P 500, with a probability of gain of only 55%, an average return of -0.02%, and an average drawdown of 7.35%, the largest among all rolling three-month cycles.The report indicates that over the next three months, the market may lean towards a defensive allocation, with the U.S. dollar, gold, and U.S. Treasury bonds historically outperforming equities. Since 1992, gold has had a 61% probability of rising from August to October, with an average gain of 2.52%. The U.S. dollar tends to strengthen in August against currencies such as the British pound and the Australian dollar. However, BofA emphasizes that seasonal patterns do not necessarily mean U.S. stocks will decline, and long-term market trends will still depend on factors such as corporate earnings, monetary policy, the economic cycle, and valuations. (Jinshi)