Norway's sovereign wealth fund has for the first time disclosed a 1.16% stake in BitMine, valued at approximately $88.25 million.

Washington state court has issued a final ruling ordering prediction market platform Kalshi to cease offering event contracts in the state covering sports, elections, politics, entertainment, culture, technology, science, and "person mentions". The court found Kalshi is likely violating Washington’s gambling regulations. Kalshi is required to implement geoblocking via IP addresses and user residency by August 19, and upgrade to a multi-source geofencing system by September 2 to block Washington state users from accessing restricted markets. The platform is also prohibited from promoting related betting products to consumers in the state. However, the ruling does not restrict all of Kalshi’s operations; contracts related to commodities, climate, and economic and financial instruments may still be offered in Washington. The decision stems from a prior lawsuit filed by Washington state. Kalshi had previously requested a stay of the injunction, but the Washington State Court of Appeals denied the request. Meanwhile, multiple U.S. states and local governments are questioning whether Kalshi’s event contracts constitute illegal gambling under state law, while Kalshi argues its business should be regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) per federal law. On the same day, Baltimore, Maryland’s largest city, also sued Kalshi and Polymarket, accusing them of offering illegal gambling products. Kalshi faces growing regulatory pressure from state and local authorities.

Recently, Web3 AI ecosystem network X-Agent announced the official launch of the "X-Agent AI MCP Hackathon 2026: Build, Verify, MCPize, Monetize" online hackathon. Open to global developers and Web3 AI teams, the event aims to break the limitation of projects being "only a demo" by creating realistically callable, verifiable AI APIs and on-chain capabilities with sustainable monetization potential. Featuring zero-threshold standardization, it covers everything from APIs to Agent business tools. The hackathon runs for nearly 4 weeks, including a 5-day warm-up period and a 14-day development phase. Participants do not need to build complex MCP (Model Context Protocol) frameworks from scratch; they only need to develop core AI or crypto functions based on APIs and submit their source code. Projects that pass technical verification and security audits will be standardized and packaged into MCP tools aligned with Agent architecture with X-Agent’s assistance. A key benefit of the hackathon is direct access to the OKX.AI ecosystem, enabling pay-per-call monetization. High-quality winning projects will be recommended by X-Agent and listed on the OKX.AI Agent Marketplace. Via the A2MCP and x402 protocols (integrating OKX X Layer’s gas-free on-chain USDC settlement channel), developers will earn continuous pay-per-call revenue every time another AI Agent or user uses their tool. The event includes four major tracks focused on AI, Web3, and on-chain automation. The official notes that to ensure ecosystem security, security audit-related projects involving smart contract audits, security risk control, phishing detection, and rug pull checks are not eligible for participation.

According to an official announcement, Bitget has launched the ANET (Arista Networks) stock perpetual contract. The contract is settled in USDT, supports up to 20x leverage, and is available for 24/7 trading. As of now, Bitget supports a total of 272 stock contracts.

Sandisk (SNDK.O)'s upbeat outlook boosted optimism about long-term profits from the AI boom, lifting Asian storage chip stocks. Shares of Sandisk partner Kioxia Holdings jumped as much as 8.7% in Tokyo, while memory chip maker SK Hynix rose 6.5% in Seoul. The Bloomberg Asia Semiconductor Index climbed as much as 1.6%, on track for its fifth consecutive session of gains. Sandisk previously said it expects revenue growth of 15% to 20% between 2028 and 2030, driven by long-term pricing agreements signed with customers. Andrew Jackson, head of Japanese equity strategy at Ortus Advisors, wrote: "A few years ago, it would have been unheard of for NAND flash manufacturers to issue such accurate long-term forecasts. Compared with more volatile spot memory prices, long-term agreements could help smooth out the classic boom-bust cycle."

According to Reuters, AMD has closed a four-tranche USD bond offering worth $4.75 billion, marking the largest USD debt financing in the company’s history. The issuance comprises senior unsecured notes maturing in 2029, 2031, 2033 and 2036. The 10-year tranche was priced at 90 basis points (bps) above U.S. Treasuries, a roughly 25 bps tightening from initial guidance, indicating strong investor demand. AMD said the bond proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including potential debt repayment. As of June 27, AMD held approximately $13.1 billion in cash and short-term investments, and carries a high investment-grade credit rating. The financing is not driven by liquidity pressure, but rather to provide flexibility for future investments and capital arrangements. The bond offering comes amid a continuous expansion in AI infrastructure investment. AMD is accelerating its expansion in AI and data center businesses, competing with NVIDIA in the AI accelerator chip market. The company recently announced partnerships with Anthropic, Microsoft and others, and plans to invest up to $50 billion in Anthropic. Market projections expect AMD’s revenue to grow 47% this year, exceeding $51 billion. The $4.75 billion financing is significantly larger than its previous investment-grade bond offering of $1.5 billion in March 2025, also reflecting that AI industry chain enterprises are entering a stage of sustained capital expansion.

Duan Yongping responded to recent queries about shifts in his Pop Mart holdings on Chinese investment platform Xueqiu yesterday, clarifying he has "never directly sold a single share of Pop Mart." After purchasing some of the stock, he directly sells call options, a strategy essentially identical to selling put options. Duan explained that when his short put positions approach their upper limit, he adopts the "buy stock + sell call" tactic; if the calls are assigned at expiration, the outcome is fundamentally the same as if puts had been exercised at expiration. He added that he may stick to similar strategies for a long time, with Pop Mart’s current option premium standing at roughly 5% per month. On Pop Mart’s long-term value, Duan remarked, "Looking at the long term, I don’t think Pop Mart’s current price is expensive; I have no idea about the short term." He noted this is the core logic behind his option strategy. This approach may result in lower returns, but it is a relatively conservative strategy; he may adjust his tactics if future premiums decline. Duan also stressed he has no plans to sell Pop Mart at a specific time or price, "and may not have such plans for a very long time." He further disclosed that selling puts is just one of his investment strategies, and he has used similar methods across other investments; roughly 80% to 90% of his past Apple stock holdings were likely acquired via put options. In response to recent market questions about his "simultaneous reduction and increase of holdings," Duan’s earlier comments clarify that these holding changes mainly stem from trading mechanisms like option expirations and exercises, and do not signal a long-term bearish outlook on Pop Mart.