AI startup CuspAI has completed nearly $500 million in financing and announced the formation of the AI Materials Factory Alliance.

A crypto contract whale, who "set 10 major goals first", has posted on social media about its Bitcoin trade: it went long on the leading cryptocurrency with 4x leverage, with unrealized profit once surpassing $4.5 million, delivering a 7.12% return on investment. Earlier, the whale noted in a post that recent trades have been dominated by short-term long positions, with no short positions opened so far. Currently, the risk-reward ratio for shorting Bitcoin is low, as the asset is relatively near its phased bottom. Its subsequent trend may gradually emerge and kick off a new upward rally, prompting the whale to avoid missing the potential entry signal. The current position may be held for medium and long term, but adjustments will still be made based on market conditions, and further short-term trading is not ruled out. Additionally, a large-scale correction in U.S. AI-related tech stocks over the next six months is not ruled out.

According to monitoring by Lookonchain, a newly created wallet withdrew 74,033 ETH (valued at $136.17 million) from Gemini and staked all of it.

The U.S. military has carried out airstrikes on Iran for the 10th consecutive day. Trump stated that Iran will "pay the price" for the recent deaths of U.S. service members. Meanwhile, the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen announced a blockade of Red Sea shipping lanes leading to Saudi Arabia, further escalating regional tensions. This week, major tech companies including Tesla and Google will release their second-quarter earnings results one after another. Markets will focus on whether these reports can validate the rationale behind large-scale AI investments via revenue and profit performance. Against the backdrop of ongoing Middle East tensions and the approaching tech earnings season, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed lower on Monday, marking their third consecutive session of declines. According to market data from BIT (bit.com), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.59%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.19%, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.05%. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 fell back below their 50-day moving averages. The sell-off in chip stocks paused, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rising more than 3% at one point before paring gains to around 0.6%. Among individual chip stocks: Marvell Technology (MRVL) rose 3.32%, Intel (INTC) gained 2.13%, Broadcom (AVGO) increased 1.98%, KLA Corporation (KLAC) fell 2.42%, and Lam Research (LRCX) dropped 2.09%. Optical communication-related stocks mostly advanced: Credo Technology (CRDO) climbed 4.63%, Lumentum (LITE) gained 4.47%, Marvell Technology (MRVL) rose 3.32%, Coherent (COHR) increased 2.82%, and Broadcom (AVGO) added 1.98%. The storage sector strengthened, with SanDisk (SNDK) up 2.67%, Western Digital (WDC) gaining 2.14%, Micron Technology (MU) rising 1.94%, and Seagate Technology (STX) adding 1.88%.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), SpaceX’s native token SPCX closed 3.34% lower on Monday, trading at $119.85, hitting a new all-time low since its listing. SpaceX was scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on July 20 to transport 24 Starlink satellites, but the launch suffered a rare failure: after the countdown reached zero, the engine ignited but the rocket failed to liftoff, with the live stream commentator immediately announcing the launch was canceled, marking the second aborted mission in recent times. SpaceX subsequently announced it would suspend all Starlink launches with immediate effect to ensure safety. Additionally, SpaceX said it will release its Q2 2026 financial and operational results on August 4. Last week, the company’s Starship rocket was set to conduct its 13th test flight from Texas, but triggered an automatic abort sequence just 1 second before liftoff. Source: Jin10

According to Lookonchain's monitoring, Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, bought another 1,332.5 ETH worth $2.53 million three hours ago.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, BlackRock is leading efforts to raise at least $12 billion in debt financing for Meta’s new data center project in El Paso, Texas. BlackRock and its infrastructure and private credit divisions hold an 80% stake in the project, while Meta owns the remaining 20%. The campus is projected to have a capacity of approximately 1 gigawatt. JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are leading the large-scale debt issuance and are engaging with other potential investors. The project’s structure mirrors that of Meta’s Louisiana data center, where Blue Owl holds an 80% stake in the joint venture and Meta owns 20%, with construction supported by debt financing. Separately, Meta has agreed to lease a large data center project developed by Aligned Data Centers—backed by BlackRock—in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Over the past year, BlackRock has continuously expanded its AI data center investments, including the $40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers. BlackRock was also a key investor in the $27 billion private debt financing for Meta’s Louisiana data center, purchasing more than $3 billion in bonds in that transaction.