News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News In a recent interview on Cointelegraph's program Chain Reaction, Lucas Sum, Head of Stock Market Development at Gate, stated that crypto and stocks are quietly converging and increasingly becoming part of the same macro trade. He pointed out that the correlation between the crypto market and the Nasdaq index is currently higher than the five-year average, with the correlation coefficient once exceeding 0.8. Market sentiment is generally cautious at present, with more funds staying in low-risk assets such as stablecoins, as investors await clearer catalysts.Lucas Sum believes that the core narrative of the next market cycle may no longer be "crypto vs. Wall Street," but rather traditional financial assets accelerating their entry into the digital financial system through on-chain infrastructure. The scale of RWA has grown from approximately $12 billion a year ago to over $30 billion, while the scale of tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds has also reached approximately $15 billion, indicating that on-chain financial infrastructure continues to expand. Meanwhile, macro liquidity, real yields, and regulatory clarity remain key factors influencing the performance of risk assets. Against this backdrop, investors' focus is shifting from single-asset allocation to coordinated allocation across multiple asset classes. Lucas Sum noted that Gate is continuously expanding its stock business, currently covering U.S., Hong Kong, and Korean stock markets, with plans to extend further into more global markets to provide the necessary infrastructure for multi-asset investment.
Odaily News - Analyst qinbafrank posted on X platform, stating that the latest earnings reports from CoreWeave (CRWV) and Nebius show the AI cloud computing (CSP) industry is entering a phase of rapid expansion. The competitive focus is shifting from simply providing GPU leasing to building AI infrastructure platforms that encompass computing power, software, data, and operational capabilities.Currently, AI computing demand still significantly exceeds short-term deliverable supply. Meanwhile, pricing power for AI computing is strengthening, but price increases are mainly concentrated on high-value resources. CoreWeave stated that prices for various GPU computing SKUs rose by approximately 25% on average in July; Nebius disclosed that prices for previous-generation GPUs increased by over 30% compared to Q1, with new contracts signed in Q2 averaging over $20 million in annualized revenue per MW, some projects reaching $20 million to $25 million, and short-term emergency capacity prices even reaching $40 million to $50 million per MW.However, price increases are mainly occurring in short-term capacity, next-generation GPUs, large-scale clusters, and production-grade AI inference scenarios. Traditional low-priority, long-term locked-in bare computing power has not seen concurrent price increases. From a profitability model perspective, project-level returns on AI computing are becoming clearer, but overall corporate return on invested capital (ROIC) still needs time to be validated. Nebius has for the first time disclosed relatively clear project payback periods, while CoreWeave is reducing GPU investment pressure through long-term contracts and asset-level financing. However, both companies remain in a high-capital-expenditure phase, with depreciation and financing costs continuing to compress profit margins.Nevertheless, an increasing number of individual projects are achieving closed-loop economic models, indicating that the AI infrastructure business model is gradually maturing. Additionally, both CoreWeave and Nebius are upgrading toward becoming "AI infrastructure operating systems." Future CSP competition will no longer be just about renting out GPU hours but will cover complete service systems including AI training, inference, storage, networking, model deployment, monitoring, security governance, and Agent runtime environments.In terms of capital models, the two companies are also taking different paths: Nebius leans more toward an asset-light model, building AI data centers through capital partners while providing AI infrastructure operations and software capabilities itself; CoreWeave, on the other hand, is promoting a hybrid cloud model through its Omni strategy, deploying complete AI cloud platforms to customers' own data centers and GPU resources, placing greater emphasis on enterprise-level and sovereign AI delivery.Overall, the AI cloud computing industry is evolving from "GPU rental providers" to "AI infrastructure platforms." Short-
Bitget announces the launch of the "Archimedes Plan (Project Archimedes)", establishing a dedicated fund with a total size of $300 million to provide capital support to quantitative trading firms, asset management institutions, and market makers. The plan comprises two sub-projects: a $100 million "Funding Support Plan" focusing on supporting emerging and growth-stage quantitative institutions adopting market-neutral strategies; and a $200 million "Interest-Free Loan Plan" targeted at institutions with mature strategies and certain trading volumes, where those meeting corresponding trading volume or position standards can obtain interest-free funds to reduce financing costs and expand strategy scale. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated that as institutional trading competition intensifies, capital, execution efficiency, and risk control are becoming key factors determining whether strategies can achieve scalability. Project Archimedes aims to help teams with mature capabilities expand strategy scale through capital support, and is expected to support over 50 projects within the next six months. Meanwhile, leveraging the Bitget Unified Account (UTA), institutions can use rToken spot positions as derivatives margin, maintaining tokenized stock exposure and contract strategies simultaneously without cross-account transfers, thereby further improving capital efficiency. Project Archimedes will adopt a long-term cooperation framework, implementing rolling access and phased deployment, and will subsequently disclose progress regularly, including the number of participating institutions, fund deployment scale, and strategy distribution.
Odaily News: Prediction market platform Polymarket is undergoing an organizational upgrade in preparation for the upcoming fall trading peak, bringing in several new executives, restructuring its marketing system, and strengthening its compliance team in preparation for U.S. market expansion. Polymarket recently hired Travis VanderZanden, founder of shared e-scooter company Bird and former Uber and Lyft executive, as Chief Growth Officer, responsible for the company's growth strategy and marketing system development. VanderZanden stated that the prediction market is at a critical stage of rapid development, and the company needs to further improve its management team to support long-term growth.This adjustment comes as Polymarket faces regulatory scrutiny. Previously, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had launched an investigation into its business model, related to the platform's marketing activities and promotional partnership policies. Sources say Polymarket has restructured its marketing department, updated rules for promotional partners, and provided relevant training to employees, while also hiring consulting firm AlixPartners to oversee whether content published by partners complies with the new standards.Meanwhile, Polymarket continues to strengthen its compliance and risk management capabilities for its U.S. operations. The company's U.S. trading platform has added several new executives in regulatory and risk roles, including former Robinhood executive Megan McGrath as Chief Compliance Officer for the U.S. platform, former Coinbase executive Natalie Oblazny overseeing U.S. regulatory affairs, former FBI and Coinbase employee Shana Bautista as Head of Global Investigations and Intelligence, and former Nasdaq executive Paul Jordan as Chief Risk Officer for the U.S. platform.Polymarket's U.S. trading platform went live in May this year and operates independently from its international business. With the NFL new season kicking off in September and the U.S. midterm elections approaching in November, the market expects a new wave of growth in prediction market trading activity.Previously, Polymarket had already become one of the representative platforms in the prediction market space and continues to seek expanded fundraising. According to reports, the company is currently seeking a new funding round at a valuation exceeding $20 billion. As institutional investors and professional traders gradually enter the prediction market, Polymarket is attempting to transform from a retail-facing, betting-style prediction platform into a more mature financial market infrastructure. (CNBC)
Odaily News – River Markets, a startup building trading infrastructure for prediction markets, has announced the completion of an $8.5 million seed funding round, led by Haun Ventures with participation from Y Combinator, Coinbase Ventures, and Qube Research Technologies, among others. The new capital will primarily be used to expand the engineering team, enhance trading system speed and security, and grow institutional clientele, while also developing new tools to support large-scale capital management and cross-platform trading.In recent years, prediction markets have drawn attention from institutional investors. Data from industry platforms shows that institutional trading demand is growing rapidly. For example, prediction market platform Kalshi previously stated that its institutional trading volume increased by approximately 800% within six months. Meanwhile, market participants have begun using prediction markets for risk hedging, including building trading positions around real-world economic variables such as carbon emission allowances and GPU rental prices. (Fortune)
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: 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)
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 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.
Apple will release its earnings report after the US stock market closes on Thursday. The market will focus on whether it can sustain its strong performance as a beneficiary of the "Anti-capex AI Trade." So far this year, Apple's stock price has risen by 24%, making it the best performer among the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks, and it has repeatedly broken the $5 trillion market capitalization mark.Analysts suggest that investors are shifting towards Apple due to concerns about the returns on massive AI capital expenditures, as the company maintains relatively lower capital spending. However, Apple's current forward price-to-earnings ratio for the next 12 months has risen to about 35 times, the highest since 2008. Meanwhile, rising memory chip costs and pressure on profit margins may become key points of focus in this earnings report. (Bloomberg)
MEXC, in collaboration with CoinGecko, has released the latest report "How Crypto Exchanges Are Reshaping Traditional Asset Trading," which provides an in-depth analysis of the rapid expansion of traditional financial assets on centralized crypto exchanges and the shift in global investor behavior.Key findings of the report:1. The TradFi (Traditional Finance) trading volume of six major centralized exchanges surged from $3.46 billion in January 2025 to $393.15 billion in June 2026, representing a growth of over 100 times. Among this, perpetual contracts accounted for 98.5% of the total trading volume in June 2026.2. In June 2026, US equities surpassed precious metals to become the largest TradFi asset class, with monthly trading volume increasing by 337.4% to $189.84 billion, capturing a 48.3% market share. Meanwhile, precious metals trading volume decreased by 48.2% from its March peak, falling to $122.59 billion.3. MEXC's TradFi monthly trading volume grew approximately 59 times, rising from $1.54 billion in November 2025 to $91.12 billion in May 2026. Between January and May 2026, MEXC maintained the second-largest market share among the six exchanges for five consecutive months.4. In precious metals trading, MEXC ranked first among the six exchanges for two consecutive months, with trading volumes reaching $72.12 billion and $85.15 billion in April and May 2026, respectively.5. Among native crypto users, 61.9% have begun trading traditional assets through crypto exchanges.6. Among users with traditional finance experience, 74.2% have transferred some or all of their traditional asset trading to crypto exchanges.7. Across all respondents, 83.3% indicated plans to further increase their scale of trading traditional assets on crypto exchanges.
Odaily News As Bitcoin prices have experienced a significant correction, publicly listed companies that had accumulated large BTC holdings are facing multiple challenges, including falling stock prices, debt pressures, and a deteriorating financing environment. Some of these companies are now starting to sell Bitcoin, repay debts, and even pivot towards artificial intelligence (AI) data center operations.Strategy pioneered the "Digital Asset Treasury (DAT)" model, continuously purchasing Bitcoin through financing and borrowing, inspiring a wave of other listed companies to follow suit. However, as the BTC price has fallen approximately 50% from its peak of around $126,000 in October 2025, the stock prices of related companies have also shrunk significantly, forcing them to reassess their BTC accumulation strategies.This week, shareholders of London-listed company Satsuma Technology approved the liquidation of all 668 BTC, returning capital to shareholders, while proceeding with delisting. Another London-listed company, The Smarter Web Company, sold 178 BTC to repay its convertible debt.Additionally, Sequans Communications has sold 1,025 BTC and further sold nearly 80% of its remaining holdings to repay convertible bonds. The company stated it will not continue purchasing Bitcoin in the future and plans to sell the remaining approximately 658 BTC.Nakamoto's stock price has fallen approximately 99% since its SPAC listing in May 2025. The company recently sold about 284 BTC, raising approximately $20 million for working capital. Of its remaining approximately 5,342 BTC, nearly 70% has been pledged as collateral for loans from Kraken, which market observers believe poses a potential risk event.Meanwhile, Bitcoin mining companies are also adjusting their strategies. Companies like Bitdeer Technologies and MARA Holdings are selling portions of their BTC to repurchase shares, repay debts, and redirect energy resources and computing infrastructure towards AI data center operations.Other companies selling BTC include Empery Digital. Data shows that Strategy has recently sold approximately 3,620 BTC and has authorized further asset sales to maintain its U.S. dollar reserves.However, Strategy remains the world's largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, with holdings exceeding 840,000 BTC. The company's CEO, Michael Saylor, stated that while it may sell some Bitcoin in the future to pay dividends, this does not mean the company is exiting its Bitcoin investment.Beyond asset adjustments, management and capital operations at some Bitcoin treasury companies are also changing. Jack Mallers has stepped down as CEO; and Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company (BSTR), affiliated with Adam Back, failed to complete a proposed merger due to the deteriorating market environment.Analysts believe that with rising financing costs and increased BTC price volatility, the "borrowing to buy Bitcoin" treasury model is undergoing a reshuffle. Some companies are shifting from simply hoard
Driven by the profit surge from the AI boom and the impact of U.S. tariff policies, South Korean companies are launching their largest wave of U.S. investment and M&A in recent years. According to data from the South Korean Ministry of Economy and Finance, the actual foreign direct investment (FDI) by South Korean companies in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year more than doubled year-on-year to $10.2 billion, hitting a five-year high. Companies benefiting from the AI infrastructure boom, such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, are accelerating their布局 in the U.S. AI supply chain. Samsung has already participated in funding rounds for ZutaCore, a company specializing in AI data center liquid cooling, and Groq, an AI chip company. Meanwhile, SK Hynix plans to invest $10 billion in U.S. innovative enterprises. Investment bankers believe that with Chinese buyers exiting the M&A market for large-scale U.S. tech assets, South Korean companies are entering a "golden period" for U.S. M&A. (Financial Times)
: 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)
: As concerns over risks related to artificial intelligence intensify, bearish bets against the US stock market are climbing to record highs, reflecting investor skepticism about the sustainability of the current rally.Data shows that short interest in S&P 500 index components as a percentage of free float has approached 3.79%, the highest level since S3 Partners began tracking it in 2010. Meanwhile, the short interest ratio for Russell 3000 index components recently rose to 6.3%, also a new record.Previously, the S&P 500 has gained about 18% since late March, propelling the market higher. However, some investors are beginning to worry about the sustainability of the AI-driven tech rally and the risk of a correction amid high valuations.Analysts point out that the significant increase in short positions not only reflects investor concerns about AI bubble risks, earnings expectations, and market concentration but could also serve as a key signal of heightened market volatility.However, historical data shows that high short interest levels do not necessarily indicate an imminent market decline. If corporate earnings continue to improve or AI investments deliver better-than-expected returns, short covering could in turn drive stocks even higher. (Bloomberg)
According to Reuters, the PayPal board believes the $53 billion acquisition offer ($60.50 per share) jointly proposed by Stripe and private equity firm Advent International undervalues the company, and has concerns regarding regulatory approval risks and financing certainty; it has not yet formally responded to the proposal. The PayPal board believes that if management successfully executes the existing transformation strategy, the company's future potential value will far exceed the current offer. Meanwhile, the acquirers have obtained approximately $50 billion in financing support from JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, with Stripe and Advent contributing a combined $17 billion in equity. Reportedly, if the parties encounter antitrust hurdles, they may consider divesting assets such as PayPal's Braintree to Advent. Despite differences, Stripe and Advent are still regarded as the most serious potential buyers at present, and negotiations are expected to continue for some time. PayPal will release its quarterly earnings report on July 28, and the market will closely monitor the growth of its core checkout business.
Odaily reports, as the value of the artificial intelligence industry rapidly increases, political and tech circles in the United States have begun discussing how to share the immense wealth generated by AI with the public. A series of proposals all point in the same direction: having the government or public institutions hold equity in AI companies.Recently, Sam Altman discussed the possibility of granting the U.S. government or other public entities partial ownership in OpenAI. Meanwhile, the U.S. government already holds approximately 10% of Intel's shares, and it has indicated it may receive a certain percentage of revenue from NVIDIA's chip sales to China.U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders proposed that major AI laboratories contribute half of their shares to a new sovereign wealth fund, allowing the public to share in the growth dividends of the AI industry.Observers suggest that these plans essentially aim to redistribute some of the economic benefits from AI development back to society. However, critics point out that most current proposals boil down to one model: having the government hold equity in AI companies.Supporters argue that AI could become the most significant productivity transformation in the coming decades, and involving the government in revenue distribution could alleviate wealth concentration. Opponents, however, worry that direct government ownership of stakes in tech companies could impact market competition, corporate governance, and innovation incentives.As the valuation of the AI industry continues to rise, how to distribute the economic benefits generated by artificial intelligence is becoming a core topic of debate among U.S. policymakers and the tech industry. (The Information)
stablecoin banking platform Flex has announced the completion of a $70 million Series B1 funding round, led by Halo Fund. The new capital will be used to expand Flex Global, its stablecoin-based cross-border commercial banking platform, helping mid-sized enterprises conduct global payments and treasury management via stablecoin infrastructure. Data shows that the annual stablecoin payment volume has reached approximately $390 billion, with B2B transaction volume growing roughly 733% year-over-year. Meanwhile, as of April 2026, Visa's stablecoin settlement volume had reached an annualized $7 billion, representing a 50% year-over-year increase. (Forbes)
Elliptic (@elliptic) officially announced that blockchain analytics company Elliptic has received strategic investment from Circle Ventures. Previously, the company completed a $120 million Series D funding round in May this year, led by One Peak, with participation from Nasdaq Ventures, Deutsche Bank, and British Commercial Bank. Meanwhile, Circle has officially joined Elliptic's Agentic Design Partner Program. The program brings together infrastructure providers, compliance institutions, and technical teams to jointly develop compliance solutions for AI agents. Elliptic noted that AI agents differ from traditional bots, as they can set goals autonomously and make independent decisions. Their operating speed and scale have far exceeded the capacity limits of manual compliance systems, urgently requiring specialized solutions to address.
According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company (BSTR) and Cantor Equity Partners I (CEPO) announced on July 8, 2026, that both parties will no longer proceed with the transaction under the original merger agreement signed in July 2025, but will instead renegotiate new terms to better reflect the current market environment. Meanwhile, the private investment in public equity (PIPE) arrangement attached to the original merger agreement will no longer be a prerequisite condition for the completion of the transaction. CEPO's shareholder meeting originally scheduled for July 10 has been postponed indefinitely; all redemption requests previously submitted will be cancelled, and the relevant shares will be returned to investors. BSTR initially planned to list via this SPAC merger, at which time its balance sheet would hold over 30,000 Bitcoins, and intended to raise up to $1.5 billion through PIPE financing to increase Bitcoin holdings.