Tom Lee: Ethereum to Be Ensured as Future Financial and AI Settlement Layer, Continues to Bullish on ETH

US August inflation data heats up again. China International Capital Corporation (CICC) research report shows that US August CPI rose 0.4% month-on-month, core CPI rose 0.3% month-on-month, both indicators accelerated compared to the previous period; core CPI rose 2.4% year-on-year, slightly above market expectations. CICC believes that August inflation has reached the threshold for the Federal Reserve to resume rate hikes, and expects the Fed may raise interest rates by 25 basis points at its September 16 policy meeting, lifting the federal funds rate target range to 3.75% to 4%. In terms of structure, rising energy prices and resilient service prices remain key drivers of inflation, while some AI-related price pressures have also begun to emerge. CICC forecasts that the Fed may lower its unemployment rate forecast, raise its inflation forecast, and lift its 2027 and 2028 interest rate paths at this meeting, signaling a more hawkish policy stance. CICC also warns that a bigger risk is the Fed may raise rates further this year or next, meaning the market’s current pricing for a rate-cut cycle still has room for readjustment.

After US August CPI data came in slightly above expectations, markets largely confirmed the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates next week — a development that instead sparked a Friday rebound in US stocks. Investors view the clear rate hike path as helping reduce policy uncertainty and avoiding more aggressive rate hike expectations down the line. The S&P 500 rose 0.9% on Friday, the Dow Jones gained around 1%, and the Nasdaq climbed 1%, though all three major indexes ended the week lower overall. Meanwhile, the 10-year US Treasury yield closed at 4.974%, near the 5% threshold, a notable jump from 4.783% a week earlier. Markets now expect the Fed to raise rates by 25 basis points at next week’s meeting. RBC Capital Markets has even shifted its forecast for rate cuts this year to three rate hikes, noting that high interest rates could further weigh on corporate earnings and stock valuations. The energy market also remained under pressure: Brent crude closed at $104.61 per barrel on Friday, up more than 8% for the week. Houthi attacks on Saudi energy facilities, shipping risks in the Strait of Hormuz, and Saudi Arabia’s shutdown of east-west oil pipelines have all amplified supply concerns. While market sentiment improved somewhat on Friday, the simultaneous presence of high oil prices and elevated interest rates means US stocks could remain highly volatile going forward. Wall Street’s core question has now shifted from “whether the Fed will raise rates” to “how long high interest rates will persist, and whether they can curb inflation without harming the economy and corporate earnings.”

Beating AI Express: OpenAI has fixed a series of quality issues following the launch of Astra. The most notable problem stemmed from legacy Skills: some Skills written for previous models were triggering incorrectly on Astra, even preventing the model from auditing its own work. Another issue related to context management experiments, which caused Astra to terminate responses early or revert to replying to earlier messages. OpenAI has shut down these experiments, affecting an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 users. The team also decommissioned a batch of misconfigured inference engines that degraded model quality. Post-fixes, Astra is expected to be more stable in following the latest instructions and performing self-checks. OpenAI also announced an additional user reset.

Beating AI Express: According to two people familiar with the matter, humanoid robot data startup Mecka AI is nearing the completion of a new financing round led by Sequoia Capital, with a valuation of approximately $500 million. The round’s size and specific terms have not yet been finalized and remain subject to change. Mecka AI primarily collects data on human daily movements via body sensors and smartphones, then uses this data to train humanoid robots and other robotic systems. Founded in 2024, the company just closed a $60 million funding round in June this year, led by Framework Ventures with participation from Menlo Ventures, SV Angel, and Kindred Ventures. Notably, Mecka AI’s founding team previously worked primarily in food and beverage fintech and crypto startups, and has no prior background in the robotics sector.

According to a Financial Times report, former Huobi founder Li Lin recently sold The Holme, a luxury mansion in London’s Regent’s Park, for approximately ￡190 million. Li purchased the property in 2024 for ￡139 million; after holding it for nearly two years, he realized a paper profit of around ￡51 million. The Holme features 40 bedrooms and roughly four acres of private gardens, and has long been leased to the UK’s Crown Estate. The seller’s identity had remained undisclosed prior to the transaction, and Li’s actual ownership stake was not reflected in UK public property registries. Li founded cryptocurrency exchange Huobi in 2013 and sold his stake in the firm in 2022. His family office, Avenir Group, is headquartered in Hong Kong and focuses on digital asset investments. Li is currently the largest shareholder of crypto wealth management group Bitfire Group, holding a 30% stake.

According to a report by the Financial Times, the UK crypto industry is entering a phase of regulatory implementation. Nick Jones, founder and CEO of Zumo, stated that the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will open its crypto asset authorization application window on September 30, with the new regulatory regime expected to take effect in October 2027. He noted that for a long time, regulatory uncertainty and counterparty risk have made financial institutions cautious about the UK crypto market, not due to a lack of interest in digital assets. As the regulatory path becomes clear, traditional financial institutions including Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s largest retail investment platform, are starting to enter the crypto market. The industry will gradually move away from offshore operations, startup-style business processes, and unregulated models, while the importance of compliant infrastructure and local service providers will further increase.