tech

According to market news, the U.S. Department of Justice has issued a statement indicating that three Silicon Valley engineers, including Samaneh Ghandali, have been charged with stealing sensitive mobile processor and encryption file secrets from Google and two other companies.According to the indictment, while employed at Google, Samaneh Ghandali allegedly transferred hundreds of files to a third-party communication platform. These stolen materials involved processor security and encryption technology, which were subsequently copied to personal devices and office equipment of other companies where the defendants were employed. Prosecutors allege that the defendants attempted to cover up their actions by deleting files, destroying electronic records, and submitting false affidavits to the victim companies. Currently, all three defendants are charged with conspiracy, theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of justice, with the obstruction of justice charge carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

According to the Forbes official website, in the latest release of the 11th annual Fintech 50 list, the prediction market platform Polymarket (funding of $2.3 billion), the digital asset securities company Securitize (funding of $425 million), the crypto wallet Phantom (funding of $268 million), the crypto lending company Ledn (funding of $107 million), and the decentralized contract trading platform Hyperliquid (funding of $0 million) made the list.Forbes points out that although the valuation of the cryptocurrency industry is relatively conservative compared to artificial intelligence startups, it still demonstrates innovation and rapid growth potential. According to CB Insights data, the total amount of private financing in fintech is expected to reach $53 billion by 2025, significantly lower than the $152 billion in 2021.

According to The Block, fintech company Newity has completed a $11 million strategic financing round led by CMT Digital, with plans to migrate its small business loan operations to the blockchain.This is Newity's first financing, using a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) structure. Founded during the pandemic in 2020, Newity has provided financing services totaling over $12 billion to more than 125,000 small businesses, with an average loan size of approximately $118,800.Newity co-founder and co-CEO Luke LaHaie stated, "We are not just improving small business loans, but rethinking the financial infrastructure that connects entrepreneurs with capital. Artificial intelligence and blockchain provide us with the infrastructure to scale our operations according to market demand." The company plans to announce details of its blockchain strategy in the first quarter of this year.

Due to the Layer 2 solution Base announcing its transition from the OP Stack to its independently operated unified tech stack base/base, the native token OP of Optimism has dropped over 20% in price in the past 24 hours.Base stated that this move aims to improve development speed and reduce system complexity. In the future, node operators will need to migrate to the Base client to align with the hard fork. Base went live in 2023 as an OP Stack chain, and according to previous agreements, a portion of its sequencer revenue was to be submitted to the Optimism treasury. With Base transitioning to an independent architecture, this revenue stream will be retained by Base itself. Currently, the trading price of OP is $0.1436, down about 97% from its historical high of $4.84 set in 2024. In contrast, Base has not yet issued any tokens.

According to The Block, Coinbase's incubated Ethereum Layer 2 network Base has announced its separation from Optimism's Superchain ecosystem, shifting to a unified tech stack operated by Base, and abandoning external dependencies on OP Stack as well as Flashbots and Paradigm.This change aims to reduce the coordination overhead of maintaining code across multiple teams, simplifying the system through optimizations based on open-source components like Reth, while maintaining the "Stage 1" rollup status. It plans to be temporarily compatible with OP Stack, but future hard forks will require migration to the new Base client. The upcoming hard fork includes Base V1 (supporting Fusaka and switching to TEE/ZK proofs), and subsequent versions will synchronize with the Ethereum Glamsterdam upgrade; the blog emphasizes the protocol's openness and welcomes alternative implementations.

According to The Block, Coinbase's Ethereum Layer 2 network Base announced that it will no longer rely on Optimism's OP Stack and Superchain architecture, instead opting for a "unified stack" operated independently by Base.According to the official blog, Base will integrate core components that were previously scattered across multiple teams and code repositories (including key modules like the sequencer) into a unified codebase "base/base" to reduce coordination and maintenance costs, and to optimize deeply for its own needs.At the same time, Base will also reduce its external dependencies on Flashbots, Paradigm, and others. In terms of governance, Base will adjust the security committee structure, replacing the original Optimism-related seats with newly added independent signers.Despite the shift towards an autonomous technical architecture, Base stated that the protocol will remain open source and publicly standardized, welcoming third-party developers to create independent clients and maintain cross-upgrade compatibility. Base is currently the largest network in the OP Stack Superchain ecosystem.

According to Gate market data, in pre-market trading of U.S. stocks, some star tech stocks strengthened, with Nvidia (NVDA.O), Micron Technology (MU.O), and Meta Platforms (META.O) all rising over 1%.

According to Cointelegraph, analyst Yashu Gola stated that the current technical indicators and on-chain data both point to short-term downside risks for Bitcoin.A typical "bear flag" pattern is forming on the Bitcoin daily chart. This structure began with a "flagpole" that dropped sharply to the $60,000 area, followed by price consolidation within a converging trend line, consistently pressured by key moving averages, with weak momentum.If the price clearly breaks below the lower boundary of the flag, it could further test the $56,000 level within two months, representing a decline of about 20% from the current level. Conversely, if it breaks above the upper boundary around $72,700 (coinciding with the 20-day moving average), it could invalidate this bearish structure.On-chain data platform CryptoQuant shows that the Bitcoin "whale inflow ratio" (7-day average) has surged to a historic high of 0.619, well above the 0.40 at the beginning of the month. This indicator tracks the total inflow of the top ten transactions, and its rise is typically interpreted as increased selling pressure from whales.Meanwhile, the Greed and Fear Index is signaling a potential "bottoming signal": the 21-day moving average has crossed below the zero line and is now turning upwards. Historically, this combination often appears alongside a "sustained bottom," and while a brief downturn cannot be ruled out, the possibility of a rebound is accumulating.

According to DL News, Shawn Young, chief analyst at MEXC Research, stated that cryptocurrency traders are expected to drive Bitcoin prices back to $100,000. Shawn Young said, "Although buyers are not purchasing digital assets on a large scale like they did a few months ago, the amount of Bitcoin they buy daily still exceeds the daily mining output. This creates a net positive supply dynamic that could trigger a short-term rebound." Some analysts warn that the situation could worsen.Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone even predicts that Bitcoin prices could evaporate by 85%, eventually falling to $10,000. His reasoning is that the soaring stock market has siphoned off market volatility, while gold and silver have outperformed Bitcoin as safe-haven assets. Additionally, the industry seems to have lost confidence in President Trump's push for cryptocurrency, which will drive prices lower.Researchers like Ben Harvey from crypto investment firm Keyrock believe that Bitcoin's next move will not be determined by internal crypto factors but will depend on macro factors such as the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts and institutional investors buying Bitcoin ETFs. Bloomberg data shows that concerns over an AI spending bubble have triggered a surge in credit default swap trading—these complex financial contracts were almost ignored a year ago. These contracts are similar to insurance, paying out when companies cannot repay their debts.Currently, Alphabet's nearly $900 million debt and Meta's nearly $700 million debt are linked to these contracts. This means that hedge funds are increasingly using these derivatives to hedge against downside risks. In other words, investors are hedging against a significant market sell-off that could drag down Bitcoin prices.Tech stocks, referred to as "AI panic trades," have been under pressure since January. The BlackRock flagship tech ETF (which tracks industry leaders like Microsoft, Oracle, and Palantir) has seen a decline of just over 23% year-to-date.Analysts expect that large tech companies will increase their borrowing from $165 billion in 2025 to $400 billion this year to invest in AI data centers, which could total trillions of dollars in investment costs—if AI projects fail to generate returns, investor risks will increase. Young stated that Bitcoin trading trends are aligning with tech stocks, thus "being the first to bear the impact of liquidity or capital shifts."

According to Gate market data, in pre-market trading of US stocks, some star tech stocks softened, with AMD down 1.3%, Intel down nearly 1%, and Micron Technology down more than 1%.

F2Pool co-founder Wang Chun posted on platform X, stating that quantum computing is more like a technological bubble compared to AI. The current industry is filled with hype but has almost no actual delivery results. AI is continuously improving the real world, while quantum computing is expected to remain unable to achieve practical applications by 2026, and it is anticipated to struggle to generate substantial industrial value in the coming decades. His trading view is to short quantum computing while maintaining a long position in Bitcoin.He also specifically named several quantum computing concept stocks that he is bearish on, including: Rigetti Computing ($RGTI), D-Wave Quantum ($QBTS), Quantum Computing Inc. ($QUBT), and IonQ ($IONQ). Wang Chun added that the current products and commercialization capabilities of these companies are insufficient, and market valuations are largely based on long-term technological expectations.

According to a report by Businesswire, the Canadian-listed Ethereum treasury company Republic Technologies announced a private placement of up to 14,087,000 special warrants, with each special warrant priced at $0.21, raising a total of $3 million.The company previously disclosed an ETH holding of approximately 1,570.6 coins, with an average acquisition price of $2,700, and the current holding's market value is about $3.2 million.

The General Office of the State Council issued implementation opinions on improving the national unified electricity market system, which pointed out the need to enhance various functions of the electricity market, accelerate the establishment of a green electricity consumption certification mechanism, comprehensively introduce technologies such as blockchain, and carry out full-chain certification for green electricity production, consumption, and other links.

According to Decrypt, the blockchain lending platform Figure has confirmed a customer data breach.Figure stated that the personal information of some customers was leaked after an employee fell victim to a social engineering attack. Figure is working with cybersecurity experts to investigate the scope of the incident and has taken measures to enhance system security.Figure advises affected customers to remain vigilant and monitor their accounts for any unusual activity. The hacker group ShinyHunters claims responsibility for the incident, stating that Figure refused to pay the ransom and has released 2.5 GB of stolen data.

According to Xinhua News Agency's client report, eight departments have issued a document further emphasizing that virtual currency-related activities are illegal financial activities, and have defined compliance boundaries for RWA tokenization as "strictly prohibited domestically and strictly regulated abroad," specifically naming Shuqin Technology as a pioneer in RWA compliance.It is reported that Shuqin Technology is a blockchain company based in Hangzhou. Public information shows that its founder was involved in founding "Yibit" and served as CTO, being one of the earliest blockchain entrepreneurs in the country. Previously, Shuqin Technology had explored RBA (Real Business Assets), relying on "fully trustworthy data" to structurally present business operations, revenues, and risks, and has formed a "triple credit enhancement" governance framework: supporting asset sustainability with real business, achieving verifiability and traceability with trustworthy data, and preemptively establishing compliance requirements and responsibility boundaries through governance structure. At the same time, Shuqin has introduced the "granular data" methodology, breaking down business into the smallest verifiable units, fully presenting the business process chain to meet key requirements such as authenticity, traceability, and risk isolation, providing underlying support for new productive enterprises to connect with international capital.

Bitget Academy's public welfare project "Blockchain4Youth" participated in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's "AI & Web3 Builders" event. CEO Gracy Chen and Chinese lead Xie Jiayin were invited to attend the public lecture, sharing industry trends and personal growth experiences on-site.During the lecture, Gracy analyzed the structural changes in the new round of industry cycles, focusing on the gradual dominance of institutional funds, the large-scale development of RWA, and the reshaping of decision-making logic by AI. Xie Jiayin, drawing from his own professional experience, shared insights on career choices and growth paths in the crypto industry. He encouraged young people to build a reusable skill set from a long-term perspective, maintaining patience and a continuous learning ability in uncertain market cycles.Previously, Bitget Academy announced that it would invest $10 million in the "Blockchain4Youth" public welfare project over the next five years to support youth learning, practice, and long-term development in the fields of AI and Web3. Bitget Academy hopes to deepen communication and understanding through this public lecture, bringing discussions of technology and trends back to personal growth and long-term value.

Ella Zhang, the head of YZi Labs, stated at the Consensus 2026 conference that YZi Labs, in collaboration with Zhao Changpeng, currently manages over $10 billion in funds, focusing on investments in AI, biotechnology, and the Web3 space. Their investment logic adheres to first principles, concentrating on real needs rather than trends. AI is an inevitable trend, biotechnology presents an exponential opportunity to enhance human capabilities, while the cryptocurrency industry has cyclical characteristics.In addition to providing financial support, YZi Labs emphasizes cultivating resilient founders through a mentorship system. Furthermore, it was mentioned that stablecoins are the first key application for cryptocurrencies to go mainstream, and Zhao Changpeng is currently serving as a mentor with an "intern" mindset.

Hsiao-Wei Wang, Co-Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, stated at the Consensus 2026 conference that currently no other L1 can compete with Ethereum in terms of technology and monetary value.When discussing Ethereum's core value proposition for development teams, she pointed out that censorship resistance and privacy protection tools are becoming increasingly important, which not only aligns with the values of crypto punks but also meets the growing demand for on-chain privacy from institutions and regular users.Additionally, she emphasized that innovation at the application layer is another major focus, particularly in the "Identity" space, where there is currently no universal solution. ENS has laid the groundwork for user identity creation, and in the future, there is a need to further explore universal identity solutions with privacy protection features to cover various application scenarios such as ticket sales, governance use cases, and social layers.