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Castle Securities stated that the Federal Reserve remains unwilling to tighten monetary policy despite inflation rates being above target levels, leading to long-term bond yields being at multi-year highs, posing risks to the market. Noshad Shah pointed out that although the policy rate is 175 basis points lower than its peak, long-term U.S. Treasury yields are still at their highest levels in nearly 20 years. Shah warned that recent improvements in inflation should not be interpreted as a removal of interest rate risks.

Regarding the issues of BitMart users' asset withdrawal restrictions and employees' unpaid salaries and compensations, employees of the platform publicly called on BitMart's management and relevant responsible parties to respond publicly by August 19 regarding the whereabouts of user assets, the platform's reserve situation, the reasons for withdrawal restrictions, and employee salary compensations. The open letter pointed out that a large number of users are still unable to withdraw their assets normally, and some employees have not received their last month's salary and due compensation; against this backdrop, if the platform only responds with announcements such as "ceasing operations," it cannot resolve the actual problems faced by users and employees. Relevant individuals requested that BitMart publicly disclose wallet, asset, liability, and available reserve information that can be verified by third parties, and explain when the platform became aware of the funding and withdrawal issues, who made the relevant decisions, and whether it continued to encourage users to redeem or trade despite being aware of the risks.The open letter also called for an investigation into related accounts, affiliated companies, trusts, and other funding arrangements associated with BitMart user assets, and specifically requested that the founder's partner provide explanations regarding their related accounts and funding situation. The open letter stated that there is currently information pending further verification indicating that BitMart accounts related to the founder's partner may have held assets worth tens of millions of dollars and have records of batch withdrawals; relevant individuals emphasized that no criminal characterization will be made against any individual until evidence is fully verified, but they demanded public clarification on whether the aforementioned accounts exist, asset ownership, sources of funds, transfer directions, and whether there is any connection with BitMart user assets, and called for an independent investigation into the relevant fund flows. At the same time, the open letter requested that BitMart promptly settle the salaries and compensations owed to employees, asserting that ordinary employees should not bear the consequences of management's operational decisions.In addition, the open letter requested that BitMart publish a user repayment plan with a clear execution timeline by August 19, including the scale of remaining assets, total liabilities, expected recovery ratio for users, repayment order, start and completion times, and supervision mechanisms, and explicitly stated acceptance of third-party independent audits. The open letter indicated that if a complete, transparent, and verifiable asset explanation and repayment plan are not obtained by then, they will consider submitting existing materials, funding clues, and relevant evidence to law enforcement agencies, regulatory authorities, lawyers, and the media in various locations to promote further investigation.

According to a report by Blue Whale Technology, Alibaba and CITIC have officially reached a transaction agreement, in which Alibaba will transfer its shares in Lingxi Interactive Entertainment, and Xincheng Capital will become the new shareholder. Xincheng Capital supports the existing team to operate stably under the leadership of the management team, which will remain stable and continue to develop alongside the company.Lingxi Interactive Entertainment is a gaming brand under Alibaba, and its gaming business can be traced back to the integration of the Jiuyou channel business after the acquisition of UC in 2014. In 2017, Alibaba fully acquired Guangzhou Jianyue for approximately 1 billion yuan, which later became the predecessor of Lingxi Interactive Entertainment. The self-developed game "Three Kingdoms Strategy Edition," launched in 2019, became a leading hit in the SLG category. Since 2023, Lingxi has undergone multiple adjustments, and in March 2024, founder Zhan Zhonghui stepped down as CEO, with producer Zhou Bingshu of "Three Kingdoms Strategy Edition" taking over.The new shareholder, Xincheng Capital, is a private equity investment business under CITIC Capital, which has completed over 100 investments since 2002, managing a total of $10.5 billion in funds. Lingxi Interactive Entertainment CEO Zhou Bingshu expressed gratitude in an internal letter, stating that Alibaba "nurtured and grew Lingxi," and the new shareholder Xincheng Capital will "inject new momentum" into the company's development. The specific amount of the transaction has not yet been disclosed.

IREN Co-Founder and Co-CEO Daniel Roberts stated that each new AI data center will further increase rather than decrease AI demand.Roberts believes that simply comparing the current AI infrastructure cycle to past technology booms is misleading. More powerful AI requires more computing power, and lower-cost AI will drive more users and applications to use AI.He pointed out that each leap in AI capabilities creates a large number of new application scenarios that did not exist before, so demand can grow rapidly at the pace of software development, but the supply of computing power cannot expand at the same speed.The construction of computing power infrastructure is limited by real-world conditions such as power access, transmission lines, concrete, steel, and construction personnel, making it difficult to quickly increase the speed of supply expansion.Roberts stated that in past technology boom cycles, technological advancements often helped the supply side catch up with demand, but the current AI technology itself is driving demand to grow exponentially, while the speed of infrastructure construction in the real world struggles to keep up.

Harvard University's latest 13F filing shows that as of June 30, it still holds 3,044,600 shares of BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT, valued at approximately $101.4 million, with the number of shares unchanged from the end of the first quarter, ending a previous trend of two consecutive quarters of reduction. Harvard reduced its IBIT holdings by 21% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and by another 43% in the first quarter of 2026.Currently, IBIT accounts for about 2.4% of Harvard's disclosed $4.26 billion U.S. stock portfolio. Its gold-related product holdings are even more valuable; as of the end of the second quarter, the combined value of iShares Gold Trust (IAU) and SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is approximately $171.2 million. Harvard has previously liquidated its position in BlackRock's spot Ethereum ETF, valued at $86.8 million, and did not add any new Ethereum-related positions in the second quarter.Harvard University's largest holding is SpaceX, totaling 12,935,100 shares, valued at $2.21 billion, making it the largest single stock holding disclosed in the filing. The total value of U.S. stock assets disclosed by Harvard this time is approximately $4.3 billion, meaning that the SpaceX holding accounts for 52%.Among other institutions, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority each maintained their holdings of 14,721,900 shares and 8,218,700 shares of IBIT, respectively, with a combined value of approximately $764 million. JPMorgan increased its IBIT holdings from about 8.3 million shares to 10.4 million shares; Morgan Stanley reduced its holdings from 17.3 million shares to about 16.5 million shares, a decrease of 4.5%.

CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost stated on the X platform that the inflow of XRP whale funds on the Binance platform has recently seen a significant decline, dropping to the lowest level since 2021 based on a 3-month average.Data shows that the current inflow of XRP whales to Binance is approximately $61 million, a substantial decrease compared to previous levels. In contrast, this metric reached $456 million in January 2025 and $355 million in October 2025, with the current level being about 6 to 8 times lower than before.Although XRP has been struggling to maintain the critical $1 price level recently, the inflow behavior of whale funds that previously preferred to conduct large transactions through Binance is decreasing. However, the net inflow of XRP remains positive at around $18.8 million, indicating that inflow funds still temporarily dominate.Darkfost pointed out that this trend is similar across the entire crypto market, with overall trading volume and fund inflows declining, which may reflect that selling pressure is easing, but new demand in the market has not yet shown a significant rebound. The cooling of whale trading activity is a positive signal for XRP, but it is still insufficient to confirm that the market has reversed, and it is too early to determine if XRP is starting a new upward trend.

U.S. Democratic Senator Warren asked Treasury Secretary Basent to explain the basis for the Trump administration's intervention in the yen. In a letter dated August 13, Warren pointed out that the government has not provided detailed justification and has not disclosed how much money was used to purchase yen.Basent confirmed that the U.S. and Japan jointly intervened in the foreign exchange market for the first time since 1998 to support the yen, but did not specify the amount of funds.

He Yi posted on the X platform stating that he will not contact users via email, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Although he serves as an official administrator for Binance in some Telegram groups, he will not send private messages to any Telegram accounts. For public communication, please contact through this X account or the Binance Square account, and be wary of scams impersonating Binance staff.

Zhao Haijun, Co-CEO of SMIC, stated that the demand for AI-supported chips has increased by 40%.

Garrett Jin released this week's market report, characterizing the rebound in the South Korean market as a wide-ranging fluctuation rather than a new trend. SK Hynix rebounded continuously after retesting the 1.42 million won area, closing up 5.9% at 1,593,000 won. The KOSPI has risen 20% from the July low, entering a technical bull market, but foreign capital has not shifted to long-term holdings, and the drag from leveraged ETFs remains. Garrett Jin set the first profit-taking level at $1,150 (approximately 1.63 million won), with the next target at $1,300 (1.85 million won).Garrett Jin also noted that gold recorded its strongest weekly gain since January this week at +7.8%, priced at $4,388. The driving factors were a decrease of 23,000 in July non-farm payrolls and a moderate CPI that dampened September rate hike expectations. However, it is currently overbought in the short term, and a pullback could present an opportunity for incremental accumulation. Bitcoin has shown no response to the same macro-positive factors, remaining trapped between the support at $62,500 and resistance at $65,000-$70,000, with the bottom structure since $57,700 gradually being built. Garrett Jin will wait for the next buying opportunity after a pullback.Regarding SpaceX, Garrett Jin believes the recent performance is a classic case of "bad news fully priced in + short squeeze," with the unlocking itself becoming a washout rather than the starting point of a decline. However, the unlocking window has not yet ended, with an additional 319 million shares to be unlocked, approximately 700 million shares each in September and October. The current range up to $160 is a profit-taking zone rather than a high-entry zone.

Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Kaplan stated that the Federal Reserve's decision not to raise interest rates in July was "absolutely" correct and urged policymakers to keep an open mind before September, citing the complex factors influencing inflation, and that rigid forward guidance could be counterproductive.Kaplan said, "If I see meaningful improvement, I might be willing to stay put, but I want to make full use of every moment before September to make judgments, avoiding rigidity or preconceived notions." Kaplan believes that the current forces at play include: inflationary pressures from AI development, tariffs, labor constraints, and soaring oil prices; meanwhile, the application of AI works in the opposite direction, accelerating the trend of declining inflation.He stated that Waller should use his speech at this month's Jackson Hole symposium to briefly explain the reasons for the Federal Reserve's inaction in July, rather than delivering a purely "philosophical" speech. Kaplan expressed that his concerns about long-term U.S. Treasury yields are greater than his concerns about the federal funds rate itself.He indicated that the rise in long-term Treasury yields globally reflects a structural supply-demand imbalance driven by persistent large fiscal deficits, rather than Federal Reserve policy.

The on-chain data visualization analysis platform Bubblemaps has issued a warning that the Meme coin XST, which is being heavily promoted on TikTok, has a high risk of supply concentration—74% of its total supply is controlled by a small group, exhibiting typical Rug token characteristics. The current market value of this token is approximately 70 million USD.Bubblemaps urges investors to stay away from such projects and to ignore similar content if seen on TikTok's recommendation page.In recent years, TikTok has become an important distribution channel for low-quality Meme coins, creating an illusion of credibility through AI-generated celebrity videos and false associations, combined with the token's concentrated holding structure, resulting in typical high-risk Rug tokens after the hype fades.

U.S. stock index futures were little changed after the economic data was released.

The founder of the DeFi platform Flying Tulip and creator of the Fantom Network, Andre Cronje, stated that most DeFi protocols are no longer truly decentralized, with only a few niche areas still qualifying as DeFi. He believes that DeFi has evolved into "on-chain finance" or "open finance."He pointed out that true DeFi should possess characteristics such as decentralization, immutability, and the absence of intermediaries, while the intermediaries in most current protocols have become companies, taking on the roles of decision-makers and risk committees typical of traditional financial institutions. Cronje stated that this does not mean that true DeFi no longer exists, as some protocols are still innovating.Data from DefiLlama shows that the total value locked in DeFi has dropped from $167 billion at the beginning of October 2022 to $75 billion at the time of the original publication, a decline of more than half.The European Central Bank (ECB) analyzed Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth, and Uniswap in a working paper released in March, finding that based on snapshots of holdings from November 2022 and May 2023, the top 100 addresses holding governance tokens in these protocols control over 80% of the token supply. The ECB thus questioned the degree of decentralization of the relevant DAOs and whether they should continue to be regarded as "fully decentralized" services not subject to the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). (Cointelegraph)

Glassnode published a market perspective stating that Bitcoin is currently caught between the median realized price (around $63,000) and the cost basis of short-term holders (around $68,700). Spot trading volume has hit its lowest level since 2019, and the market is in an extremely quiet compression state. Despite core inflation falling to 2.5% in July and the stock market reaching new highs, Bitcoin has shown almost no reaction and even weakened, indicating a clear lack of demand.On the other hand, selling pressure is easing: profit supply is approaching the past bear market bottom area, the seller exhaustion indicator has hit a cycle low, and the adjusted SOPR has been rejected near the breakeven line nine times. Meanwhile, buyers continue to be absent, with minimal net inflows into ETFs, and coins are still flowing into exchanges; however, derivatives leverage has already massively gone long, with open interest relative to trading volume being high, and the order book's buy side is also thinning. Glassnode believes that the key observation points are the upper level of $68,700 and the lower level of about $58,500: effectively standing above the former with accompanying volume and ETF inflows recovering may confirm improvement, while losing the latter could easily lead to accelerated declines under thin buy support and crowded longs. Glassnode remains cautious overall, believing this is the late-stage bear market compression phase, and real demand signals have yet to appear.

The TRON DeFi Summer S2 event is currently ongoing. Users can stake TRX through JustLend DAO to exchange for sTRX, continuously accumulating returns while maintaining asset liquidity; the Energy generated from staking can also be rented to users with on-chain demand, forming a revenue cycle within the TRX ecosystem.As the largest single prize pool of this season, the 1.2 million USD TRX incentive pool remains open. Users can enter JustLend DAO through the Binance Wallet DeFi section, and by depositing 500 TRX, they can unlock basic staking returns and a Boosted APR of over 20%, and additionally share rewards daily. The S2 season covers core asset pools such as TRX, USDD, JST, and SUN.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has lowered its global oil demand forecast for this year, primarily due to ongoing export disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and high fuel prices. The IEA expects global oil demand to decline by 1.56 million barrels per day by 2026, reaching 103.29 million barrels per day. It is anticipated that global oil demand will decrease by 4.9 million barrels per day year-on-year in the second quarter, with a recovery in the fourth quarter, increasing by approximately 580,000 barrels per day.

According to a report by South Korea's Asia Economy, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek has decided to invest in the South Korean stock market for the first time, having selected Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as investment targets, and is in contact with the South Korean government to discuss the timing of fund execution. Temasek manages assets of approximately 518 billion Singapore dollars (about 572 trillion Korean won), and this investment will be managed internally rather than through external asset management.Temasek believes that the storage semiconductor sector in the AI value chain is undervalued by the market. Recently, it has been increasing its investments in AI-related fields and already holds shares in semiconductor giants such as Nvidia, TSMC, and ASML, and is also one of the major institutional investors in OpenAI and Anthropic. Temasek plans to increase the proportion of AI-related investments from the current 6% to a maximum of 15% over the next five years. If executed smoothly, this will be Temasek's first direct entry into the South Korean stock market.