News linked to both this project and an event.
The Situational Awareness fund, managed by "AI Stock God" Leopold Aschenbrenner, accumulated a gain of 439% before June 2026. However, it suffered severe setbacks during the AI sector sell-off in July. The fund is currently communicating with existing investors and lenders to seek new capital and is offering some LPs the opportunity to purchase assets from its portfolio.Sources say this capital discussion appears more like an ad-hoc response than an organized new fundraising round. The fund had previously used leverage through prime brokers at several major investment banks to amplify its AI trading exposure, turning market drawdowns further into funding pressure.In a letter to investors on July 24, Aschenbrenner acknowledged that the fund failed to avoid this market shock, noting that Asian markets were particularly affected. However, he believes this sell-off could present the best buying opportunity since early 2025. He plans to open a window for new capital on August 1st and views Anthropic's potential IPO as a catalyst for the second half of the year.According to disclosures, some holdings saw significant declines in July. Oracle and AMD fell approximately 20% for the month, while Nebius, Saronic AI, Bloom Energy, Sandisk, and others saw even larger drops. The Nasdaq 100 index fell about 10% in July, and South Korea's Kospi index dropped by roughly one-third.Currently, lacking specific data on the fund's exact drawdown magnitude, it is difficult to determine whether this fundraising is a passive capital injection driven by leverage pressure or an active move to increase positions for an opportunity. However, market trends suggest it is closer to the former. If forced selling occurs, the deleveraging process could also create discount opportunities in assets whose fundamentals haven't materially changed.
According to Bitcoin.com, Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR) Executive Chairman Michael Saylor stated that since the company established Bitcoin as its primary reserve asset in August 2020, MSTR stock has achieved an annualized return of 42%, surpassing Bitcoin itself, the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks, and the S&P 500 Index. As of July 29, Strategy holds 843,775 BTC, with a cumulative purchase cost of approximately $63.69 billion, and an average price of approximately $75,476 per coin, currently showing an unrealized loss of approximately 17.9% compared to the cost price (approximately $11.4 billion). To address the increasingly complex capital structure, Strategy launched three new metrics on July 24: Net BTC Per Share, BTC Hurdle ARR (minimum annualized return required to cover financing costs), and BTC Floor ARR (minimum annualized return required to maintain leverage ratio sustainability), to help investors more clearly assess the actual value of their Bitcoin holdings. Additionally, the company plans to provide funding for preferred stock repurchases through the future sale of a portion of its Bitcoin.
Prediction market traders have priced the probability of OpenAI publicly releasing GPT-6 by September 30 at approximately 78%. The Polymarket related market trading volume is about $731,000, an increase of approximately $32,000 from the previous index snapshot; probability for the contract releasing before September 30 has risen to 77%, probability for release before August 31 is in the mid-30% range, and probability for release before August 21 has dropped to 15%. On Myriad, the probability for a September release has also risen to 77%, up from 64% last week. As of July 27, OpenAI has not yet publicly announced GPT-6, its technical design, or a release date. Its current flagship general-purpose model, GPT-5.6 Sol, was publicly released on July 9. OpenAI previously confirmed that GPT-5.6 Sol and a more capable pre-release model breached Hugging Face during a cybersecurity evaluation. The company also announced the addition of 250 new positions in Dublin, while SoftBank is providing financing for OpenAI's related initiatives through a $40 billion bridge loan.
According to the latest seasonal research report from Bank of America Securities, since 1928, the rolling three-month window from August to October has typically been the weakest period for the S&P 500, with a probability of gain of only 55%, an average return of -0.02%, and an average drawdown of 7.35%, the largest among all rolling three-month cycles.The report indicates that over the next three months, the market may lean towards a defensive allocation, with the U.S. dollar, gold, and U.S. Treasury bonds historically outperforming equities. Since 1992, gold has had a 61% probability of rising from August to October, with an average gain of 2.52%. The U.S. dollar tends to strengthen in August against currencies such as the British pound and the Australian dollar. However, BofA emphasizes that seasonal patterns do not necessarily mean U.S. stocks will decline, and long-term market trends will still depend on factors such as corporate earnings, monetary policy, the economic cycle, and valuations. (Jinshi)
: Prediction market platform Pascal has announced the completion of a $9 million Series A funding round. The platform aims to create a next-generation prediction market platform for professional traders and institutional users, challenging the current market landscape dominated by Kalshi and Polymarket.This funding round was led by Union Square Ventures (USV), with the specific valuation not disclosed. This financing expands on a $6 million seed round from August last year, with early investors including Wintermute Ventures and DBA.Headquartered in New York, Pascal positions itself as a prediction market platform similar to Kalshi, but aims to offer users lower fees, higher liquidity, and more specialized trading tools through a trading model closer to perpetual futures.Pascal co-founder Ivo Crnkovic-Rubsamen stated that the hope is to establish highly liquid prediction markets for real business risks in the future, allowing companies to utilize these markets for risk management and hedging. (Fortune)
: The South Korean Financial Services Commission has published a revision draft of the "Enforcement Decree of the Special Act on Prevention of Telecommunications-Based Financial Fraud and Refund of Damages." The plan includes transferring funds from phone scams that have been moved into crypto assets under the scope of victim compensation, and clarifies the standards for returning and valuing crypto assets. The relevant regulations are expected to take effect on October 1st.According to the new regulations, if the frozen assets are cryptocurrencies, victims will, in principle, receive compensation in the same type and quantity of assets. If the defrauded assets differ in form from the frozen assets, compensation will be made in the form of the assets actually existing at the time the account was frozen. In cases involving a mixture of cash and crypto assets, regulators will value the crypto assets based on the market price at the time of freezing to determine the final compensation amount. The South Korean Financial Services Commission stated that clarifying the asset form for return and the valuation time point will facilitate faster and fairer compensation in complex cases where funds from multiple victims are mixed. It is reported that the public consultation period for the revision draft will last until August 24th. (Etoday)
: Digital asset trading platform Gate has announced that it will open subscriptions for the second phase of its Pre-IPOs project, OpenAI (OPENAI), from July 15, 2026, 15:00 to July 17, 2026, 15:00 (UTC+8), supporting participation with both USDT and GUSD. The total subscription value for the project is approximately $20 million, with 27,700 OPENAI asset certificates issued at a price of 1 OPENAI = $722. The minimum investment is 100 USDT or 100 GUSD, with implicit handling fees and custody costs waived. OpenAI, driven by products like ChatGPT, is advancing generative AI development and has received investments from Microsoft and others, with an implied market valuation of approximately $895 billion.The OPENAI asset certificate is a pre-IPO mirror note for OpenAI, designed to reflect the company's value before and after its public listing. Gate will hedge its exposure by acquiring the corresponding stocks and will offer pathways including pre-market trading, long-term holding, and future conversion into underlying stock assets, stock tokens, or USDT. Allocations are calculated based on the "average hourly locked amount"; the earlier the participation and the longer the lock-up period, the higher the weight. The certificates will be unlocked in three phases on July 17, August 17, and September 17, with pre-market trading opening on July 20. Concurrently, Gate is launching VIP/Super Agent airdrops, GT rewards, and a 3.8% annualized GUSD minting yield. Furthermore, Gate has already introduced Pre-IPOs, IPO Access, Gate Stocks, and gStocks, covering US, Hong Kong, and Korean stocks, encompassing over 12,500 stocks and ETFs, and will continuously expand its global asset ecosystem, including ETFs and RWAs. Gate will continue to bridge traditional finance with on-chain assets, providing global users with a more open, efficient, and one-stop investment service.
Seb Audet, CEO of DeFi portfolio tracker Zapper, announced that after nearly seven years of operation, the company has decided to fully shut down. All functions, including the website, mobile app, and API services, will officially go offline on August 3rd. Founded in 2019, Zapper was a mainstream portfolio tracking tool in the DeFi space, with features encompassing liquidity pool monitoring, yield farming tracking, DEX aggregation, and NFT support. At its peak, the project had 2 million monthly active users and processed over $13 billion in transaction volume. Zapper previously raised a $15 million Series A funding round led by Framework Ventures, with participation from investors including Mark Cuban. Seb Audet stated that after evaluating various options, the company believes an orderly shutdown is the best course of action at this time.
According to Crypto in America, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the National Sheriffs’ Association jointly sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council, expressing strong opposition to Section 604 of the “Clarity Act”—the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA). Law enforcement groups argue that this provision could create regulatory loopholes exploitable by criminals for illicit activities including drug trafficking, fraud, child exploitation, sanctions evasion, and terrorist financing. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency-backed candidates achieved sweeping victories in primary elections across Maryland, New York, and Utah. Fairshake—a pro-crypto super PAC—has collectively spent over $7.6 million supporting these candidates, including $5.5 million backing Adrian Boafo, the candidate for Maryland’s 5th congressional district. Miller Whitehouse-Levine, founder of the Solana Policy Institute, warned that August 7, 2026, may be the final window for Congress to pass cryptocurrency market structure legislation. He stated that the industry is willing to make limited revisions to the BRCA provisions to address law enforcement concerns—but firmly opposes any fundamental changes that would weaken the core protections enshrined in the provision. Additionally, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on “The Future of Payments” the same day.
: Citrini analyst jukan posted on platform X, stating that according to Korean media reports, the listing process for SK Hynix ADR has entered its final stage, pending only SEC approval. Citing informed sources, Korean media reported that the ADR listing is currently expected to take place after mid-July, rather than early August. The final issuance size is anticipated to account for approximately 2.5% of SK Hynix's outstanding shares. Based on current valuations, the underlying equity value corresponding to the ADR issuance could reach up to $27 billion. As the transaction may be entirely structured as a new share issuance, it is expected to generate substantial cash inflows for the company.
Odaily News According to the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) official website, the STAR Market IPO application of Shanghai Enflame Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Enflame") has been reviewed and approved by the exchange's listing review committee. Enflame initiated its IPO辅导 in August 2024 and completed the辅导 evaluation in January this year. Notably, the company changed its sponsor from CICC to CITIC Securities in October last year, and its listing application was accepted by the SSE on January 12, 2025.According to the prospectus, Enflame Technology plans to raise 6 billion yuan for the research and development and industrialization projects of its fifth-generation AI chip series, the research and development and industrialization projects of its sixth-generation AI chip series, and an advanced AI software and hardware collaborative innovation project. (Caixin)
NFTfi, an NFT抵押借贷平台, officially announced on X that due to the shrinking NFT market resulting in potential revenue being insufficient to cover operational costs, it has decided to gradually shut down the project over the coming months.Starting today, the platform will no longer support initiating new loans. Existing loans can be refinanced until July 31. Borrowers can repay loans at any time before August 31, and all existing loans will be executed according to their original terms. NFTfi will cease operations and take down its frontend website on August 31, 2026. The smart contracts will continue to operate autonomously on-chain, and users can directly repay loans and claim collateral through the contracts thereafter. Before the shutdown, the official team will release detailed instructions for directly interacting with the smart contracts. The Discord channel will remain open during this period to provide support.
WLFI treasury company AI Financial Corporation has disclosed that the company currently holds WLFI tokens worth approximately $380 million, of which about half can be used for collateral, staking, or lending transactions.According to the Form 8-K filed today, 3,321,690,994 WLFI (worth approximately $180 million) are immediately available, and these tokens are expected to be fully transferable by August 12, 2026. The remaining 3,583,585,650 WLFI are subject to a 12-month contractual lock-up and will also unlock on the same date. The above valuations are based on a WLFI price of $0.055 (as of 19:00 Eastern Time Monday).CEO Tony Isaac emphasized that the availability of usable tokens does not mean the company intends to sell them; WLFI is viewed as a strategic asset to optimize the balance sheet and support the company's liquidity. He stated that the availability of these tokens helps alleviate the going concern uncertainty disclosed in the recent Form 10-Q, and the company expects to have sufficient funds to maintain operations and fulfill its obligations for at least the next 12 months.AI Financial describes itself as a fintech company, providing blockchain-based payment, trading, and settlement infrastructure with cumulative transaction volume exceeding $8 billion. The company has a market capitalization of approximately $94.91 million, and its stock price has fallen 93% over the past year to $0.68, with liquidity challenges persisting. (Investing)
the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Department of Justice have filed a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota and Governor Tim Walz, opposing the state's newly signed ban on prediction markets.The new Minnesota law, set to take effect on August 1, prohibits users from engaging in prediction market trading related to outcomes in sports, weather, company valuations, and government events. In the lawsuit, the CFTC stated this is the first state-level law in the U.S. to explicitly impose a comprehensive ban on prediction markets.The CFTC and the Department of Justice argue that the relevant products fall under federally regulated derivatives and "swap" contracts, over which the CFTC holds exclusive regulatory authority, and that state governments are not permitted to classify them as illegal gambling or prohibit them.This lawsuit further escalates the jurisdictional conflict between federal regulators and state-level gambling oversight authorities. Previously, the CFTC had sued states such as Illinois, Arizona, and Connecticut to oppose their attempts to shut down prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket.
Odaily reports, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand stated at the Consensus conference that cryptocurrency market structure legislation will not receive a floor vote unless it includes an ethics clause. Gillibrand pointed out that it is necessary to prohibit members of Congress, senior government officials, and the President and Vice President from using their insider positions to profit in the crypto industry. Currently, multiple Democratic senators have expressed concerns about President Trump and his family's crypto connections. Bloomberg estimates that Trump has already profited at least $1.4 billion through crypto ventures. The bill had previously stalled in the Senate over issues related to stablecoin reward handling. While a compromise has now been reached, the ethics clause has become a new obstacle. Gillibrand stated that she is working with the White House and both parties to ensure the clause is included, and is also pushing for the addition of consumer protection and anti-terrorism financing provisions. The bill is expected to pass before the August recess.
Exponent Finance, a Solana-based yield trading platform, announced the completion of a $5 million seed funding round. The round was led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Solana Ventures, RockawayX, L1D, Prelude, and Theia Blockchain, along with several key figures from the Solana ecosystem as angel investors. The round was initiated in May last year and closed in August, bringing Exponent's total funding to $7.1 million. Exponent stated that the funds will be used to expand its yield trading platform and upgrade it into a more comprehensive on-chain yield infrastructure, covering active yield management needs within the Solana ecosystem. (The Block)
Odaily AI Financial (formerly Alt5 Sigma), a publicly listed crypto company linked to the family of U.S. President Donald Trump, has announced it will acquire crypto infrastructure startup Block Street for up to $43 million. Block Street was founded by Matthew Morgan, who currently serves as an advisor to AI Financial and is also its CEO and largest shareholder.According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the deal was reached last Monday. Block Street was registered in October 2025, but Morgan stated that its business operations had started about 16 months prior.The acquisition has raised market concerns about potential conflicts of interest, as Morgan is both an advisor to AI Financial and the founder of the acquired company. He was briefly nominated for the position of Chief Investment Officer in a previous cooperation deal between AI Financial and World Liberty Financial, but the role was later adjusted to an unpaid advisor position.In August, AI Financial reached an agreement with World Liberty Financial to include approximately $1.5 billion in crypto assets on its balance sheet, in exchange for equity and a board seat. This collaboration also positioned the company as part of the "Trump family crypto ecosystem."In interviews, Morgan has denied that the transaction constitutes self-dealing, stating that Block Street focuses on tokenization and ICO infrastructure capabilities, areas AI Financial is looking to enter. He claimed to have pitched the asset to several other public companies and turned down acquisition offers with higher valuations.However, since establishing ties with the Trump family crypto project, AI Financial's stock price has fallen by over 90%, reflecting ongoing market skepticism toward the "crypto reserve public company" model.This transaction has also reignited controversy over insider transactions and governance structures within public companies. Similar cases have frequently emerged in the crypto industry recently, with multiple listed companies criticized for mixing assets with related-party transactions, raising investor concerns about the risks of conflicts of interest. (Fortune)
Odaily Odaily Planet Daily reports that investors including Pantera Capital Management are pushing UK Bitcoin reserve company Satsuma to sell its $50 million Bitcoin reserve. In August 2025, Satsuma shifted to an "AI-driven" Bitcoin reserve strategy, successfully raising £164 million (approximately $221 million) through convertible loan notes. The round was led by ParaFi Capital, with participation from Pantera, Digital Currency Group (DCG), Kraken, Arrington Capital, and others.It is reported that Satsuma confirmed that some shareholders have "demanded a return of capital," but did not disclose the specific identities of those shareholders. In an email statement, Satsuma's Executive Chairman Ranald McGregor-Smith said the company is exploring options to facilitate these requests while protecting the interests of all shareholders. (The Block)