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On-chain yield infrastructure startup Ground announced the completion of a $3.6 million Pre-seed financing round, led by Bain Capital Crypto and ParaFi, with participation from Nascent, Robot Ventures, Chapter One, Consonant Ventures, and others.It is reported that Ground primarily provides APIs for fintech companies and asset management institutions, enabling them to integrate on-chain yield products into existing applications without the need to build blockchain integration themselves. Its target customers include fintech platforms, digital banks, wealth management institutions, exchanges, and asset management companies for building yield, savings, and investment products.

According to Reuters, Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has recently banned the prediction market platform Polymarket, deeming it a form of online gambling platform for offering "bets and speculation on events that have not yet concluded," which violates local laws.Previously, Polymarket launched a betting market on when President Prabowo Subianto would "step down as president," while his term was originally set to last until 2029. This contract went live the day after Prabowo announced plans to centralize control over the export of commodities such as coal and palm oil, sparking discussions on local social media. Indonesian authorities also stated that they are investigating all social media accounts related to Polymarket.

According to a report by Jinshi, Zaheer Anwari, an analyst at Revacy Fund, pointed out that the outlook for interest rate hikes in the U.S. supports the dollar due to high energy prices. He stated that persistent inflationary pressures have led the market to form the expectation that "interest rates will remain high for a long time." LSEG data shows that the U.S. money market has fully priced in the expectation of a 25 basis point rate hike by the Federal Reserve before March 2027, and the market believes there is a 62% probability of a rate hike by the end of 2026.

According to Axios, Silicon Valley venture capital firm Playground Global has completed fundraising of $475 million for a new fund, which will focus on investing in startups in the fields of artificial intelligence, automation, advanced computing, and deep tech.Playground Global was founded by Android co-founder Andy Rubin and others, and has long focused on AI infrastructure, robotics, and hardware innovation. This new fund indicates that, driven by the surge in generative AI and automation, capital continues to pour into the frontier technology sector.Playground Global is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, and previously completed fundraising of $410 million for its third fund in 2022. Its investment portfolio includes companies such as Agility Robotics, PsiQuantum, Skydio, Ultima Genomics, Virta Health, and Unconventional AI.

According to CoinDesk, the American Innovation Project (AIP), a U.S. technology policy advocacy organization, has added two policy researchers, including Jacob Smagula, who has a background in the cryptocurrency industry, to join Congressman Ritchie Torres's team to participate in legislation related to digital assets.It is reported that Smagula previously worked in the government affairs team of the Bitcoin mining company MARA and is currently engaged in policy research at the DeFi Education Fund, possessing experience in communication between the cryptocurrency industry and regulators. AIP was established in 2025 with support from organizations such as the Digital Currency Group, aiming to provide Congress members with professional insights and policy support on emerging technologies like AI and digital assets. This appointment is seen as a signal of further professionalization in U.S. cryptocurrency legislation and regulation.

ChainCatcher reported live that Franklin Bi, partner at Pantera Capital, Mykolas Majauskas, senior policy director at Bybit, and Zeng Yuchao, managing director at Futu Group, jointly attended the HK Web3 Feastival roundtable to share "From the Ground Up to the Entry Point: The Path of Crypto Assets to Mainstream Finance."Zeng Yuchao introduced that Futu is the largest retail brokerage in Hong Kong, with a market share of over 50%. In January this year, it obtained the VATP license, and last month removed all additional conditions to achieve full integration of securities brokerage and crypto trading. Last year, Futu collaborated with Huaxia Fund to issue a tokenized money market fund, allowing T+0 same-day subscriptions and redemptions. In terms of AI, Futu has launched the Agent skill feature, enabling users to set strategies through natural language and execute trades automatically. He believes that in the future, there will be a transformation from graphical interfaces to AI interfaces.Mykolas Majauskas pointed out that companies currently complaining about regulation will miss this honeymoon period in the future, as larger-scale regulation is on the way. He analyzed global regulatory differences: Europe leads with MiCA, the U.S. supports private issuance, China supports government digital currency, and Hong Kong serves as a tokenization gateway. He warned that many native crypto companies claim to disrupt traditional finance but are actually being acquired by traditional institutions. He believes the fundamental change in AI is at the front end: users only need to express their intentions, and AI autonomously decides to execute strategies. Bybit is building a one-stop financial platform that integrates IBAN, cards, payments, and investments. He believes many traditional wealth management companies will be eliminated because they have historically made you feel wealthy rather than truly helping you accumulate wealth.Franklin Bi stated that blockchain is the perfect technology for building financial systems for AI Agents. When Agents choose between traditional accounts and stablecoins, they are opting for stablecoins, marking the beginning of an exponential trend.

The Bitcoin options market will see a concentrated expiration of about $7.9 billion this Friday, with approximately $395 million in call options concentrated around the $75,000 strike price.The current funding rate has turned negative, reflecting an overall bearish sentiment in the market; if the price continues to hold above this key level, the risk of potential short squeezes may intensify.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Coordination Group for International Fugitive Pursuit and Cross-Border Corruption Governance held a meeting to launch the "Sky Net 2026" operation. In this operation, the National Supervisory Commission will lead a special action for recovering losses from overseas pursuit of duty-related crimes, the Ministry of Public Security will carry out the "Fox Hunt" special operation, the People's Bank of China, in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Security, will conduct a special action to prevent and combat the use of offshore companies and underground banks to transfer stolen funds abroad, and the Central Organization Department, together with the Ministry of Public Security and the National Immigration Administration, will manage the positions of "naked officials" and address issues related to public officials violating regulations when traveling abroad.

According to The Wall Street Journal, President Trump is considering sending an additional 10,000 ground troops to the Middle East.

According to a report by Reuters, a U.S. official and three informed sources stated that the Trump administration is considering deploying thousands of U.S. troops to strengthen its military operations in the Middle East. These deployments could provide Trump with more options as he weighs expanding operations.Sources indicated that ensuring the security of the Strait of Hormuz could mean deploying U.S. ground forces along the Iranian coast. The Trump administration has also discussed the possibility of deploying ground troops to Iran's Qeshm Island and sending U.S. forces to ensure the safety of Iran's highly enriched uranium reserves.A White House official stated, "No decision has been made yet to send ground troops. The president is focused on achieving all the established goals of Operation 'Epic Fury'." Sources noted that discussions about increasing troop levels are not limited to an amphibious readiness group and its attached Marine Expeditionary Unit (about 2,000 Marines) that will arrive in the Middle East next week. However, one source pointed out that due to the fire on the USS Ford, which has been sent to Greece for repairs, the U.S. military will lose some troop strength.

According to Axios, Trump is seeking to form a multinational coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and plans to announce it later this week. Four sources revealed that if the situation of oil tanker passage in the Persian Gulf continues to be obstructed, Trump is also considering seizing Iran's key oil transshipment hub, Khark Island, which would require the intervention of U.S. ground forces.Iran is currently blocking oil exports from Gulf countries while allowing tankers loaded with Iranian crude oil to pass freely. On Saturday, Trump stated on Truth Social that the U.S. and multiple countries would send warships to the Persian Gulf and called for participation from China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the UK. On Sunday, he mentioned on Air Force One that the U.S. is negotiating with seven countries, some of which have refused to participate.The White House refers to the plan as the "Hormuz Coalition," and no country has publicly committed to joining yet, but senior officials expect countries to announce support this week. On Sunday, Trump discussed the plan with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and warned NATO allies that failure to respond would have negative implications for NATO's future.Regarding Khark Island, it is located about 15 miles off the coast of Iran and accounts for approximately 90% of Iran's crude oil exports. Trump ordered strikes on military facilities on the island on Friday but did not target oil facilities. U.S. officials stated that seizing the island would constitute an economic blow to the Iranian regime but could also provoke Iran to retaliate against oil facilities in Gulf countries.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino posted on the X platform that the Tether AI team will release a "truly groundbreaking achievement" this week.

According to the Jinan Daily, Li Weiwei, a female police officer from the Economic Investigation Unit of the Dezhou Public Security Bureau in Shandong Province, China, optimized her investigative methods by tracking the flow of funds transaction by transaction during the analysis of a telecom fraud case.After detailed analysis, Li Weiwei discovered a new type of criminal model that combines "traditional underground banks + virtual currency," which is more concealed and harder to trace. After several days of continuous effort, she ultimately identified 12 main criminal suspects, over 100 financial accounts, and 6 virtual currency wallet addresses. Together with the special investigation team, she created a clear organizational structure chart and a flow chart of the funds, legally freezing the assets involved in the case, successfully solving Dezhou's first underground bank case involving virtual currency.

The Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, Ying Yong, delivered the work report of the Supreme People's Procuratorate at the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress, in which he pointed out to strengthen anti-money laundering efforts, prosecuting 3,259 individuals for money laundering crimes using virtual currencies and underground banks. He also emphasized the legal punishment of telecom and internet fraud crimes, prosecuting 69,000 individuals.

Quantum computing company PsiQuantum has launched the construction of a million-qubit quantum computing facility in Chicago. PsiQuantum co-founder Peter Shadbolt shared photos from the construction site on the X platform on Thursday, stating that 500 tons of steel have been erected in six days.The company previously announced in September that it had raised $1 billion to build the facility, in collaboration with chip manufacturer Nvidia, aiming to make quantum computing commercially viable to support the next generation of AI supercomputers. Scientists say that the computational power of a million qubits is equivalent to that of hundreds of billions of ordinary computers, enough to crack Bitcoin's encryption technology. Bitcoin developers are currently discussing whether to take immediate action against quantum threats through a hard fork.A preprint scientific paper released last month suggests that breaking a 2048-bit key would require about 100,000 qubits, while Bitcoin encryption uses a 256-bit key. The largest quantum computer currently comes from the California Institute of Technology, with a scale of 6,100 qubits. PsiQuantum co-founder Terry Rudolph stated in July that the company has no plans to use quantum computers to derive private keys from public keys.Research by crypto asset management firm CoinShares in February of this year pointed out that only 10,230 Bitcoins are simultaneously vulnerable to quantum threats, with wallet addresses' encryption keys publicly visible, amounting to approximately $728 million at current market prices.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated that in response to the drone attack on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the casualties of U.S. personnel in related conflicts with Iran, retaliatory measures from the U.S. will be announced soon. He also mentioned that there is no need for the U.S. to send ground troops to Iran.The Saudi Ministry of Defense reported on social media that preliminary assessments indicate that two drones struck the U.S. Embassy facilities in Riyadh, causing a small fire and some material damage. Several informed sources stated that the incident occurred early Tuesday morning, and there were no personnel present in the embassy at the time, with no reports of casualties. Black smoke rose over the diplomatic area of Riyadh. The embassy subsequently issued a "shelter in place" notice to American citizens in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dhahran.Marco Rubio stated at a press conference that the U.S. is facing an "imminent threat," claiming that the U.S. is aware of Israel's plans to take action against Iran and anticipates that Iran may retaliate by attacking U.S. targets. Mike Johnson, after receiving a confidential briefing, stated that the U.S. is advancing a "limited scope, limited target, but absolutely necessary for defense" operation, and it is expected to conclude soon.In addition, U.S. and Israeli airstrike operations against Iran continue to expand, with Israel targeting Hezbollah positions within Lebanon, while Iran continues to launch missile and drone attacks against Gulf countries hosting U.S. troops.