Alpen Labs Launches Bitcoin-Backed Stablecoin 'BTD'

According to a report by The Washington Post, multiple officials from Arab and Western countries say frustration among U.S. Gulf allies toward the U.S. is steadily rising. Informed officials disclosed that several Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, have reached a consensus on their dissatisfaction with the Trump administration, with some countries now debating whether it remains necessary to allow the U.S. to maintain large military installations on their territory. Trump has repeatedly threatened in recent times to launch a new round of major strikes against Iran, only to later backtrack on those threats citing progress in negotiations. This has left Gulf countries increasingly concerned that Trump lacks the diplomatic capacity to finalize a peace agreement with Iran.

Iranian Army Commander-in-Chief Hatem said today that U.S. forces have been expelled and are no longer permitted to enter the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and Strait of Hormuz. Hatem emphasized that U.S. military bases in the region will never return to their previous state, and Iran will never allow such a situation to occur. (CCTV International News)

China’s leading quantum precision laser enterprise Pinzhun Laser announced it will list on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board (STAR Market) of the Shanghai Stock Exchange on August 18, 2026. The initial public offering (IPO) will issue 10 million shares at RMB 186.88 per share, bringing the company’s total share capital to 40 million post-issuance. The company reported 2025 revenue of RMB 418 million and net profit of RMB 151 million. At the initial listing stage, 7.6178 million tradable shares (no lock-up period) will be available, accounting for 19.04% of total share capital. Pinzhun Laser, full name Shanghai Pinzhun Laser Technology Co., Ltd., was established in November 2017. It masters the full-chain precision laser technology covering "seed source + fiber amplification + nonlinear frequency conversion + frequency stabilization", enabling output of narrow linewidth, low-noise, high-power lasers across the full 177-5000nm wavelength range. Its core business is R&D, production and sales of precision lasers, with products mainly applied in quantum technology fields such as quantum computing and quantum precision measurement, as well as semiconductor sectors including wafer manufacturing, quality inspection, and stealth dicing. The IPO proceeds will be primarily used for the precision laser system industrialization construction project, R&D center construction project, Wuhan R&D center construction project, and working capital supplementation.

Serenity wrote in an article that AI investments are far less complex than the market perceives, as Nvidia and Jensen Huang have consistently made their next strategic moves clear to the public—yet the market almost always ignores them until the rally actually materializes. Looking back to 2025, when Nvidia pre-positioned EML and laser production capacity, the market dismissed photonics as a "bubble, on par with quantum technology" at the time, labeling related companies as scams. A year later, LITE surged 678%, AAOI rose 475%, COHR gained 261%, and AXTI skyrocketed 3844%—only then did the market retroactively acknowledge this round of optical interconnect rally. Serenity further pointed out that in 2026, Nvidia is repeating the same playbook: locking in CW/EML production capacity via long-term agreements (LTA), pushing the 800V architecture, explicitly betting heavily on the CPO transition, and positioning physical AI as the next major theme. However, the current market still mocks CW players as meme stocks, claims 800V and CPO are still far off, and argues humanoid robots are unprofitable. Serenity clearly stated: "We will see results in 2027. I am choosing to bet my money on Jensen Huang and Nvidia as a leading indicator."

Israel’s largest licensed crypto exchange, Bits of Gold, has suffered a data breach, with personal data of around 200,000 customers—nearly the platform’s entire user base—stolen by hackers. Bits of Gold was Israel’s first crypto company to obtain a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license, receiving regulatory approval in September 2022. The specific types of leaked data have not been disclosed, but crypto brokers typically collect extensive identity information under KYC rules, including government-issued identification documents, address proofs, and financial details. The compromised data could be used for phishing, SIM swapping, and social engineering attacks. Additionally, Bits of Gold secured approval in April this year to issue the BILS stablecoin, which is pegged 1:1 to the Israeli shekel.

According to Axios, citing three people familiar with the discussions, U.S. negotiators encountered a major hurdle in mid-May while attempting to broker a war-ending deal with Iran: they could not verify whether the Iranian representatives at the table truly represented the influential Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In response, Trump administration officials took an unusual approach—bypassing Iranian negotiators to directly reach out to senior IRGC leaders. The U.S. tapped Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, to oversee this secret backchannel. Barzani held a rare advantage: he was trusted by both U.S. and IRGC leadership. A key challenge complicating U.S.-Iran talks was Washington’s uncertainty over who actually holds decision-making authority in Iran. Though the two sides did eventually strike a memorandum of understanding, the deal quickly fell apart.