U.S. pre-market semiconductor stocks extended their recent downward trend, with SK Hynix down 1.9%.

Fred Thiel, CEO of MARA Holdings, stated that revenue generated from using electricity for AI infrastructure is far higher than that from Bitcoin mining, making power resources the most critical strategic asset for mining firms. He said: “For every unit of electricity used, the returns from AI are significantly higher than those from Bitcoin mining.” Thiel pointed out that as Bitcoin halvings continue to compress mining revenues, and electricity remains the largest operating cost for mining companies, firms must secure power resources or form close partnerships with utilities to stay competitive. MARA has partnered with Starwood to build a roughly 1GW computing power platform, with plans to expand further to 2.5GW; this month, the company also announced the acquisition of a Texas campus with approximately 2GW of power access capacity for developing digital infrastructure. However, Thiel emphasized that AI will not completely replace Bitcoin mining. In regions with low-cost, idle, or surplus power, Bitcoin mining remains an important method to boost power utilization rates. He believes that in the future, for mining firms with grid access and developable land, Bitcoin mining will become one of the uses for power resources, rather than the sole purpose.

According to South Korean lawmaker Yoo Dong-soo, South Korea's financial authorities will hold an emergency meeting today, set to begin at 6 PM local time (17:00 Beijing time). (Jinshi)

According to official announcements, decentralized full-asset trading platform Vanta will launch a trading competition with a total prize pool of 100,000 USDC at 16:00 Singapore time on July 30. During the event, users will split the 100,000 USDC prize based on their trading volume, with higher volume translating to larger rewards. Participants in the trading competition can also join Vanta’s weekly 1 million-point reward program, earning Vanta points based on trading volume, new user referrals, liquidity provision, and other ecosystem contributions. It is reported that Vanta officially opened to all users on July 16, with the platform’s cumulative trading volume already exceeding $300 million. The project is also advancing its global expansion by establishing local teams in multiple countries. Founded by core executives from exchanges including Bitget and OKX, the platform supports trading of multiple asset classes such as crypto assets, stocks, gold, forex, commodities and indices, and has launched Smart Trading and AI trading assistance features.

Moonshot AI (Chinese name: 月之暗面) has raised $3.5 billion, exceeding expectations, in a recently completed funding round, bringing its valuation to $35 billion. (Jinshi)

According to official announcements, Bitget’s Unified Trading Account (UTA) has launched an interest-free lending program for USDGO holdings. The event runs from 15:00 UTC+8 on July 29 to 15:00 UTC+8 on August 29. During the period, users holding USDGO who borrow USDT via their UTA will receive an interest-free lending quota equivalent to 30% of their USDGO holdings’ value, with a per-user cap of 10 million USDT. Relevant benefits will automatically take effect during the event, no manual registration or application required. For more details, please refer to Bitget’s official platform.

Attorneys general from 44 U.S. states have jointly sent a letter to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), arguing that the CFTC lacks jurisdiction over sports event prediction markets, and urging it to withdraw its current proposed rules and draft new regulations that comply with the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and the U.S. Constitution. The letter notes that sports betting has long been regulated by individual U.S. states, while the CFTC’s proposed rules would significantly expand federal regulatory authority beyond its statutory mandate. Recently, the CFTC has been embroiled in legal disputes in multiple states over regulatory authority for sports event contracts with prediction market platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket. Currently, U.S. state courts have taken inconsistent stances on the issue. A Minnesota state court this week temporarily blocked the enforcement of a local prediction market ban, allowing Kalshi and Polymarket to continue operating during the litigation period; while a New York state court again refused to halt the application of local gambling-related laws to Kalshi, and Michigan and Washington states have also successively restricted Kalshi’s provision of sports event prediction contracts.