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Apollo is a Web3 payments and loyalty infrastructure for consumers and enterprises.
DeFi asset management and risk analysis company Gauntlet secures $125 million financing from Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings
According to Fortune, DeFi asset management and risk analysis company Gauntlet completed a $125 million financing round, exclusively invested by Japanese financial group SBI Holdings. The financing was completed in June this year, and the specific valuation was not disclosed. This is Gauntlet's largest financing round since its establishment in 2018, far exceeding its $24 million Series B round in 2022 led by Ribbit Capital at a $1 billion valuation. Gauntlet was founded by former Wall Street quantitative trader Tarun Chitra. It initially focused on providing stress testing and vulnerability analysis services for DeFi protocols. Later, as the DAO governance model waned, it gradually transitioned to a "treasury curation" business—assessing yield strategy risks through quantitative analysis to help institutional investors manage digital asset allocation. Currently, its clients include asset management giant Apollo, Coinbase, and stablecoin issuer Circle.
Apollo Chief Economist: Massive Bond Issuance by AI Companies May Crowd Out Demand for U.S. Treasuries
Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok issued a risk warning, stating that major AI companies are heavily borrowing for industrial expansion, with the total scale of related bond issuance estimated to reach $700 billion. This massive new supply is diverting market funds, creating a significant crowding-out effect on U.S. Treasuries and other credit products.Torsten Slok stated that if the scale of debt financing for AI infrastructure continues to expand, the overall capital allocation logic in the bond market will undergo a restructuring, persistently suppressing demand for U.S. Treasuries while exerting medium- to long-term pressure on the liquidity of the entire credit market.
Goldfinch’s African crypto-lending project collapses, GFI token plunges 99.8%
According to Protos, Goldfinch—a decentralized lending protocol backed by a16z and originally designed to serve Africa’s unbanked population—is now in deep crisis. On-chain data shows that out of the project’s eight borrowers, two have formally defaulted and six have entered debt restructuring, resulting in cumulative losses exceeding $18 million. Depositors lament that their $50 million investment has “gone down the drain.” Its native token, GFI, has plummeted from its January 2022 high of $32.94 to under $0.07—a 99.8% decline—and the project’s market cap has shrunk from a peak of $390 million to less than $6 million. Goldfinch previously extended over $100 million in loans to borrowers across 18 countries—including a Kenyan motorcycle rental company and a Nigerian salary-advance platform—but its core problem lies in the severe lack of off-chain credit assessment. Borrowers frequently misappropriated funds and refused to repay. As default rates climbed, the project quietly abandoned its original focus on African emerging markets and pivoted toward institutional credit funds such as Ares and Apollo—effectively rendering its original inclusive finance vision hollow.
Broadcom, Apollo, and Blackstone Support Anthropic Computing Project
Broadcom has announced supporting Anthropic's computing project alongside Apollo and Blackstone. The move is seen as an indirect strategy to stimulate demand for chips. While the transaction is ostensibly an AI computing infrastructure financing arrangement, industry insiders believe the deeper goal is to boost long-term demand for Broadcom's custom AI chips by promoting large-scale AI computing deployments. Such AI computing projects involving private equity capital are emerging as a new financing model connecting chip designers, AI model companies, and data center capital. However, they also carry uncertainties regarding demand forecasts and capital returns. (The Information)
Digital Asset, developer of the Canton Network, has completed a $355 million funding round led by a16z.
According to CoinDesk, Digital Asset, the blockchain developer behind Canton Network, has announced a $355 million funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from global institutions including ABN Amro, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, HSBC, SBI Group, and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The round exceeded its original target of $300 million, valuing the company at $2 billion. Canton Network is designed specifically for large financial institutions and enables the issuance and trading of tokenized real-world assets—such as bonds, loans, and funds—on a shared ledger, while maintaining privacy and meeting regulatory compliance requirements. In addition to financial support, a16z crypto will provide specialized assistance in development, policy, and research.
Digital Asset Completes $355 Million Funding Round Led by a16z crypto
According to Odaily, Digital Asset, the developer of the Canton network, has announced the completion of a $355 million equity funding round, led by a16z crypto. Participating investors include subsidiaries of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, CME Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, HSBC, S&P Global, SBI Group, SoFi, Tradeweb, and others. The project's primary business is developing the Canton blockchain network designed for institutions. The funds will be used to accelerate partnerships with institutional players, pursue mergers and acquisitions, and participate in related projects. (The Block)
Baidu Apollo Go Obtains Hong Kong's First Fully Driverless Test License, Trial Operation Launches on July 27
According to official announcements, Baidu Apollo Go has received the Hong Kong Transport Department's first fully driverless test license and will commence trial operations on Airport Island on July 27. This marks the first Level 4 autonomous driving test without safety drivers on public roads in Hong Kong, as well as the first fully driverless trial in the global right-hand drive market. Over the past year and a half, Apollo Go has accumulated over 240,000 kilometers of safe driving across various locations in Hong Kong.
Digital Asset, developer of the Canton Network, has completed a $355 million funding round led by a16z.
According to CoinDesk, Digital Asset, the blockchain developer behind Canton Network, has announced a $355 million funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from global institutions including ABN Amro, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, HSBC, SBI Group, and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The round exceeded its original target of $300 million, valuing the company at $2 billion. Canton Network is designed specifically for large financial institutions and enables the issuance and trading of tokenized real-world assets—such as bonds, loans, and funds—on a shared ledger, while maintaining privacy and meeting regulatory compliance requirements. In addition to financial support, a16z crypto will provide specialized assistance in development, policy, and research.
Bernstein: CLARITY Act Yield Compromise to Strengthen Circle's Competitive Edge
Odaily. Bernstein stated in its latest research report that the newly reached compromise on stablecoin yields under the U.S. CLARITY Act is structurally beneficial for Circle and the USDC ecosystem.The report notes that the current version of the bill prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying interest to passive holders that is "economically equivalent" to bank deposits, but allows reward mechanisms tied to actual transaction, payment, and usage activities to continue. Bernstein believes this means Circle's current model, which relies on partners like Coinbase to provide USDC reward programs, will gain regulatory recognition, while also limiting the industry's ability to compete for market share through high yields.Bernstein points out that the bill effectively reinforces the positioning of stablecoins as "payment tools" rather than "deposit substitutes," helping to protect Circle's current business model that relies on reserve income. The firm maintains an "Outperform" rating for Circle with a $190 target price.Data shows that the total global supply of dollar-pegged stablecoins has surpassed $300 billion, with USDT and USDC collectively accounting for approximately 97% of the market share. Bernstein notes that USDC's share in on-chain payments and wallet transfers is steadily increasing, and its share of payments in the AI Agent payment protocol x402 has exceeded 99%.Additionally, Bernstein mentioned that Circle's ARC chain has cumulatively completed 244 million testnet transactions. The ARC token pre-sale previously raised $222 million, with investors including a16z crypto, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, and BlackRock.However, the report also points out that the CLARITY Act still needs to complete multiple legislative procedures before it takes effect, including a 60-vote threshold in the full Senate and coordination with the House version. Polymarket currently estimates its probability of passage by 2026 at approximately 62%. (The Block)
Securitize Plans $400M Acquisition Push to Strengthen Institutional Tokenization Platform
: Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo stated that after its NYSE listing, the company will utilize approximately $400 million in capital reserves to pursue mergers and acquisitions, aiming to expand its institutional-grade asset tokenization business. By completing its listing through a merger with Cantor Fitzgerald's SPAC, the company retained about 70% of its trust funds, providing sufficient cash reserves to support the next phase of expansion.Carlos Domingo noted that the acquisition targets will primarily focus on areas complementary to the tokenization business, rather than direct competitors, with the goal of building a "full-stack tokenization service platform" for institutional clients.Securitize currently serves institutions including BlackRock, KKR, Apollo, and VanEck, having issued approximately $4.4 billion in tokenized assets, including products such as BlackRock's BUIDL fund. (CoinDesk)
Apollo Chief Economist: Massive Bond Issuance by AI Companies May Crowd Out Demand for U.S. Treasuries
Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok issued a risk warning, stating that major AI companies are heavily borrowing for industrial expansion, with the total scale of related bond issuance estimated to reach $700 billion. This massive new supply is diverting market funds, creating a significant crowding-out effect on U.S. Treasuries and other credit products.Torsten Slok stated that if the scale of debt financing for AI infrastructure continues to expand, the overall capital allocation logic in the bond market will undergo a restructuring, persistently suppressing demand for U.S. Treasuries while exerting medium- to long-term pressure on the liquidity of the entire credit market.
Broadcom, Apollo, and Blackstone Support Anthropic Computing Project
Broadcom has announced supporting Anthropic's computing project alongside Apollo and Blackstone. The move is seen as an indirect strategy to stimulate demand for chips. While the transaction is ostensibly an AI computing infrastructure financing arrangement, industry insiders believe the deeper goal is to boost long-term demand for Broadcom's custom AI chips by promoting large-scale AI computing deployments. Such AI computing projects involving private equity capital are emerging as a new financing model connecting chip designers, AI model companies, and data center capital. However, they also carry uncertainties regarding demand forecasts and capital returns. (The Information)
Digital Asset, developer of the Canton Network, has completed a $355 million funding round led by a16z.
According to CoinDesk, Digital Asset, the blockchain developer behind Canton Network, has announced a $355 million funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from global institutions including ABN Amro, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, HSBC, SBI Group, and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The round exceeded its original target of $300 million, valuing the company at $2 billion. Canton Network is designed specifically for large financial institutions and enables the issuance and trading of tokenized real-world assets—such as bonds, loans, and funds—on a shared ledger, while maintaining privacy and meeting regulatory compliance requirements. In addition to financial support, a16z crypto will provide specialized assistance in development, policy, and research.
Apollo and Blackstone Complete $35 Billion Financing for Anthropic to Expand AI Infrastructure
According to Bloomberg, Apollo Global Management and Blackstone Group have finalized a total $35 billion financing arrangement for Anthropic to support its expansion of AI infrastructure.
Private equity giants Blackstone and Apollo are planning a massive chip financing deal for Anthropic
private equity giants Apollo Global Management and Blackstone Group are bringing in more investors for a debt financing deal worth approximately $36 billion to help Anthropic build its artificial intelligence infrastructure.According to insiders, this debt financing will be used to purchase Google's custom TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) chips, which will then be leased by Anthropic. Broadcom, which assisted Google in developing the chip, will provide guarantees for the majority of this deal. This move is expected to become one of the largest private credit transactions in history and potentially the biggest debt financing deal for chips to date. The plan aims to leverage Broadcom's credit standing to provide computing power support for Anthropic.
Related news
Baidu Apollo Go Obtains Hong Kong's First Fully Driverless Test License, Trial Operation Launches on July 27
According to official announcements, Baidu Apollo Go has received the Hong Kong Transport Department's first fully driverless test license and will commence trial operations on Airport Island on July 27. This marks the first Level 4 autonomous driving test without safety drivers on public roads in Hong Kong, as well as the first fully driverless trial in the global right-hand drive market. Over the past year and a half, Apollo Go has accumulated over 240,000 kilometers of safe driving across various locations in Hong Kong.
DeFi asset management and risk analysis company Gauntlet secures $125 million financing from Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings
According to Fortune, DeFi asset management and risk analysis company Gauntlet completed a $125 million financing round, exclusively invested by Japanese financial group SBI Holdings. The financing was completed in June this year, and the specific valuation was not disclosed. This is Gauntlet's largest financing round since its establishment in 2018, far exceeding its $24 million Series B round in 2022 led by Ribbit Capital at a $1 billion valuation. Gauntlet was founded by former Wall Street quantitative trader Tarun Chitra. It initially focused on providing stress testing and vulnerability analysis services for DeFi protocols. Later, as the DAO governance model waned, it gradually transitioned to a "treasury curation" business—assessing yield strategy risks through quantitative analysis to help institutional investors manage digital asset allocation. Currently, its clients include asset management giant Apollo, Coinbase, and stablecoin issuer Circle.
Securitize Plans $400M Acquisition Push to Strengthen Institutional Tokenization Platform
: Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo stated that after its NYSE listing, the company will utilize approximately $400 million in capital reserves to pursue mergers and acquisitions, aiming to expand its institutional-grade asset tokenization business. By completing its listing through a merger with Cantor Fitzgerald's SPAC, the company retained about 70% of its trust funds, providing sufficient cash reserves to support the next phase of expansion.Carlos Domingo noted that the acquisition targets will primarily focus on areas complementary to the tokenization business, rather than direct competitors, with the goal of building a "full-stack tokenization service platform" for institutional clients.Securitize currently serves institutions including BlackRock, KKR, Apollo, and VanEck, having issued approximately $4.4 billion in tokenized assets, including products such as BlackRock's BUIDL fund. (CoinDesk)
Apollo Chief Economist: Massive Bond Issuance by AI Companies May Crowd Out Demand for U.S. Treasuries
Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok issued a risk warning, stating that major AI companies are heavily borrowing for industrial expansion, with the total scale of related bond issuance estimated to reach $700 billion. This massive new supply is diverting market funds, creating a significant crowding-out effect on U.S. Treasuries and other credit products.Torsten Slok stated that if the scale of debt financing for AI infrastructure continues to expand, the overall capital allocation logic in the bond market will undergo a restructuring, persistently suppressing demand for U.S. Treasuries while exerting medium- to long-term pressure on the liquidity of the entire credit market.
Goldfinch’s African crypto-lending project collapses, GFI token plunges 99.8%
According to Protos, Goldfinch—a decentralized lending protocol backed by a16z and originally designed to serve Africa’s unbanked population—is now in deep crisis. On-chain data shows that out of the project’s eight borrowers, two have formally defaulted and six have entered debt restructuring, resulting in cumulative losses exceeding $18 million. Depositors lament that their $50 million investment has “gone down the drain.” Its native token, GFI, has plummeted from its January 2022 high of $32.94 to under $0.07—a 99.8% decline—and the project’s market cap has shrunk from a peak of $390 million to less than $6 million. Goldfinch previously extended over $100 million in loans to borrowers across 18 countries—including a Kenyan motorcycle rental company and a Nigerian salary-advance platform—but its core problem lies in the severe lack of off-chain credit assessment. Borrowers frequently misappropriated funds and refused to repay. As default rates climbed, the project quietly abandoned its original focus on African emerging markets and pivoted toward institutional credit funds such as Ares and Apollo—effectively rendering its original inclusive finance vision hollow.
Broadcom, Apollo, and Blackstone Support Anthropic Computing Project
Broadcom has announced supporting Anthropic's computing project alongside Apollo and Blackstone. The move is seen as an indirect strategy to stimulate demand for chips. While the transaction is ostensibly an AI computing infrastructure financing arrangement, industry insiders believe the deeper goal is to boost long-term demand for Broadcom's custom AI chips by promoting large-scale AI computing deployments. Such AI computing projects involving private equity capital are emerging as a new financing model connecting chip designers, AI model companies, and data center capital. However, they also carry uncertainties regarding demand forecasts and capital returns. (The Information)