SK Group's top executive pay revealed: Choi Tae-won earns 1.75 billion won in half a year.

Dark Side of the Moon (Kimi) issued a solemn statement, noting that in response to illegal and criminal activities involving false financing conducted under its name in the market, the company has reported the case to public security authorities and vowed to pursue accountability to the fullest extent. The firm emphasized that there are no so-called "friend funds" or "special channels", no so-called "old share allocations" or "reserved quotas", nor any so-called "official agents" or "authorized intermediaries". It reminded market participants to be vigilant against related false information and suspicious transactions.

According to Axios, two weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, where Trump asked Netanyahu about his poll numbers ahead of the October 27 general election. Netanyahu paused in silence for a moment before one of his advisors interjected: "Mr. President, he’s leading." Netanyahu’s lead is not substantial. Despite repeated queries from reporters, Trump has not yet provided the support Netanyahu had expected. Trump could still change his mind, but with only 75 days remaining until the election, Netanyahu is running out of time. Netanyahu’s current ruling coalition is polling at just 49 to 53 seats—far below its current 68 seats and short of the 61 seats needed to form a government. Meanwhile, Israel’s opposition holds 67 to 70 seats in surveys. Netanyahu’s main rival, former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, has higher support in most polls. (Jinshi)

According to CNBC, JPMorgan Chase has upgraded its rating on SanDisk (SNDK) from Neutral to Overweight, setting a $2,250 target price that implies roughly 47% upside from Thursday’s closing level. SanDisk’s stock has surged 544% so far this year. JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur noted that the rapid growth of AI inference is driving a structural inflection point in NAND demand, leaving SanDisk uniquely positioned to benefit. The acceleration of AI applications has lifted storage demand and created supply tightness. At its New York Investor Day, SanDisk disclosed it will adopt a new business model including structured pricing mechanisms and advance payment agreements with major clients. JPMorgan said this framework is expected to boost the company’s profit margins and reduce its business cyclicality. To date, SanDisk has signed 8 related long-term agreements, with a total contract value of approximately $94 billion based on the price floor, and a weighted average contract term of over four years. LSEG data shows that among the 25 analysts covering SanDisk, 22 have assigned a Buy or Strong Buy rating, while the remaining 3 have given a Hold rating.

According to Bloomberg, Payward Inc., parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, reported an adjusted pretax profit of $23 million in the second quarter, down 71% year-over-year from $79.7 million in the same period last year. Adjusted revenue rose 17% YoY to $508 million, while total platform trading volume reached $310 billion, an 18% YoY decline. Payward said the number of funded accounts grew 42% YoY to 6.6 million in Q2, hitting an all-time high. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi noted that as spot trading volumes in the crypto industry fell, Kraken’s traditional futures, equities and tokenized equities businesses all grew, with the firm’s spot market share rising for three consecutive quarters. Against the backdrop of slowing crypto market trading activity, multiple exchanges are expanding into derivatives and real-world asset-related trading. Payward laid off roughly 150 employees earlier this year, adding that AI technology adoption has improved operational efficiency. Bloomberg previously reported that Payward’s highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) could occur as early as later this year, or may be delayed until early 2027.

According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin’s monitoring, approximately 3.72 million UNI tokens (valued at around $12.63 million) were transferred by market maker Cumberland to trading platforms including Binance, Coinbase, OKX, and Bybit over the past 23 hours. During the same period, UNI’s price fell from $3.59 to $3.22, a decline of roughly 10%.

Prominent crypto trader Killa noted in a post that Bitcoin has been in a steady downtrend leading up to August 14, with the key focus now being whether it can hold its current trading range and stay above $60,000. He believes that if BTC continues to trade above $60,000, a short-term low may form near the current price zone. Conversely, if BTC breaks below $60,000 and loses its current range, the likelihood of further declines over the remainder of August will rise significantly. A break below $60,000 from its current position could push BTC down to below $57,000. On the flip side, if Bitcoin retains its technical structure after August 14 and reclaims the $61,000 to $62,000 level, Killa predicts it may rebound within its range for the rest of the month.