Joseph Tsai puts his confidence behind Alibaba’s AI strategy, spending an additional HK$82 million to acquire 720,000 shares today.

Binance announced that it will launch spot trading pairs for USDC/ARS, ACE/USDC, and PUMP/U at 16:00 (GMT+8) on August 26, and will simultaneously roll out spot algorithm order trading bot services for these pairs. It noted that ARS is a fiat currency code, not a digital asset code, so users in some countries or regions are ineligible to trade these spot pairs. All participants must complete account verification.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), pre-market gains for U.S. stocks have widened: Nasdaq 100 futures are up over 1%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.53%, and Dow Jones futures gained 0.47%.

Beating AI News Brief: OpenAI is offering free ChatGPT Plus to students once again. Eligible U.S. undergraduate and graduate students, whether full-time or part-time, can receive 4 months of complimentary ChatGPT Plus, valued at $80. The promotion runs through October 31. Existing ChatGPT Plus subscribers who signed up directly for the service can also add the free period to their accounts. This year’s offer is twice as generous as last year’s. In 2025, OpenAI provided 2 months of Plus access to college students in the U.S. and Canada; this year, the duration has doubled to 4 months. Critically, the official terms explicitly note that students who participated in last year’s student discount can claim the offer again this year, provided they still meet eligibility requirements. However, this year’s promotion has a narrower scope, currently covering only eligible U.S. colleges and universities. Verification is conducted via SheerID. A ChatGPT account does not need to be linked to a school email, but possessing an education email alone does not guarantee qualification. SheerID will verify active enrollment status, and some schools may require SSO login or additional documentation. Several Reddit users have reported that student IDs and class schedules failed verification, with some ultimately completing the process by uploading tuition payment receipts.

According to HTX market data, PENGU has broken through $0.01 to hit a recent high, with a roughly 60% gain over the past seven days. Recent positive catalysts include: Renewed expectations for a US IPO. On the 23rd, its CEO Luca Netz posted a mysterious emoji tweet, which the market interpreted as signaling progress in the company’s listing process. Netz had previously stated his goal to complete an IPO by 2027, and this expectation has reignited, becoming one of the key narratives driving the recent price rally. Smooth progress in IP commercialization: Pudgy Penguins announced yesterday its entry into the South Korean retail market, with ongoing launches of physical products including trading cards, comics, and larger-sized plush toys. The brand had earlier expanded into major US retail channels such as Target and Walmart.

The crypto whale codenamed "Set 10 Big Targets" resurfaced after four days of silence, stating: "I will look for opportunities to cover my long positions next. This round of trend has been more violent than I originally imagined, so we can be bolder in our expectations. It’s not too late to enter the market at $80,000 or even above $80,000; there’s still room to run. The $100,000 mark will likely be hit earlier than I anticipated. We’ll re-assess how far this trend can go once we reach $100,000." Earlier today, BTC broke through the stop-loss price of $80,500 set by the whale. If his positions remain unchanged, he is currently sitting on an unrealized loss of $9.86 million. Previously, he disclosed holding 1,830.724 BTC short positions (valued at approximately $148 million) with an average entry price of $76,397.56, and 12,756.739 ETH short positions (valued at approximately $32.05 million) with an average entry price of $2,371.57.

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has dropped below $79,000, with a 0.14% decline over the past 24 hours.