US SEC steps up scrutiny of SPV investments in private companies, requires proof of asset authenticity.

Binance founder CZ recently attended Bitcoin Asia 2026 in Hong Kong and gave an exclusive interview to Hong Kong 01. CZ stated that Hong Kong has a more progressive mindset, essentially serving as a "sandbox" for China’s exploration of digital currencies and financial innovation, making it well-suited for Web3 development. To retain its leading position in Asian finance, Hong Kong must keep experimenting with financial innovation—"simply clinging to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will likely not suffice." CZ is particularly optimistic about RWA tokenization, arguing that on-chain assets can overcome time zone and cross-border barriers, connect global investors, and boost the liquidity of assets in small and medium-sized markets. However, he noted Hong Kong still needs to expand regulatory flexibility, as some local markets face the issue of "either no regulation or overly strict oversight," requiring a balance between risk control and innovation space. On global regulatory progress, CZ pointed to the UAE as the current leader, with the U.S. advancing more on stablecoin and trading platform regulation, Japan holding a positive stance, Hong Kong making rapid strides, and Singapore remaining relatively conservative. He also added that the crypto industry has survived its harshest "winter" and boasts healthy fundamentals. After 8 years of development, decentralized exchanges have grown more mature in both technology and user adoption. Should global regulatory policies continue to loosen, the industry will see a major boom. On the AI sector, CZ said Hong Kong is not a hub for internet and AI industries, but the integration of AI and cryptocurrency is an irreversible trend. In the future, when billions of AI agents engage in automated trading, negotiation, and transactions, they may first use stablecoins, before gradually incorporating Bitcoin and other public chain assets.

Strategy announced in a statement that the dividend yield of STRC will remain at 12.00% in September 2026, unchanged from its previous level.

Binance founder CZ recently attended Bitcoin Asia 2026 in Hong Kong and gave an exclusive interview. He revealed that most of the first draft of his 374-page autobiography *Binance Life* was completed in prison, where he was only allowed to use a computer for 15 minutes at a time, with no copy-paste function, forcing him to queue multiple times to write in fragmented time. CZ said the most tormenting part of his detention was not the writing conditions, but the persistent "uncertainty". The fine amount changed from $800 million to $4.3 billion, and his sentence shifted from the originally expected home confinement to 4 months in prison; during his detention, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued detention orders three times, with the last one coming when only 14 days of his sentence remained. Regarding Binance paying a $4.3 billion fine in 2023, his personal payment of a $150 million fine, and his resignation as CEO, CZ said this move at least took on a major incident for the entire industry. He argued that against the backdrop of the FTX collapse and Bitcoin dropping to $16,000, if Binance had not taken responsibility, the exchange and the entire industry could have suffered severe impacts, so "bearing it was a cost-effective move for the whole industry", adding that he believed it was worth it. CZ also stated that his prison experience strengthened his belief in "financial freedom", but also made him realize that real-world freedom is very fragile. He believes there is no such thing as 100% freedom, that society still needs constraints, and the key is to maximize freedom as much as possible without compromising safety and the rights and interests of others.

According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter have revealed that prediction market platform Polymarket is planning to close a $1 billion funding round, which would give the company a post-money valuation of $21 billion. The round is led by venture capital firm 1789 Capital, where Donald Trump Jr. serves as a partner; the firm plans to contribute roughly $300 million. A Polymarket spokesperson declined to comment. Polymarket was valued at $15 billion during its April funding round, when D.E. Shaw and G Squared joined as new investors. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, also completed a $1.6 billion investment in Polymarket earlier this year. The new capital will be used to attract more institutional users, and Polymarket is currently seeking regulatory approval to offer margin trading in the U.S. The prediction market industry remains embroiled in regulatory disputes: U.S. states assert their regulatory authority over the sector, while platforms argue oversight should fall to federal derivatives regulators. A U.S. federal appeals court last week issued a ruling favoring state-level regulation. Donald Trump Jr., a partner at 1789 Capital, also currently serves as an advisor to both Polymarket and Kalshi.

According to a TechCrunch report, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has expanded its fifth growth fund from the $6.75 billion it launched in January this year to $8.5 billion, adding $1.75 billion in new capital. The fund primarily invests in growth-stage startups scaling products, entering new markets, and expanding their businesses. This fund expansion comes just days after a16z announced it had raised $1.1 billion for its "Machine Age Fund," which focuses on AI hardware, including infrastructure startups in chips, storage, networking, and data storage. David George, head of a16z’s growth investment team, noted that the firm’s growth funds have invested in over 100 companies over the past seven years. As AI companies enter growth stages faster, their financing needs and valuations are rising. Currently, a16z is focusing on sectors including enterprise and consumer AI, defense tech, robotics, software and hardware infrastructure, and health tech.

According to monitoring by Lookonchain, BitMine (BMNR), the Ethereum treasury company under Tom Lee, appears to have purchased 51,000 ETH from FalconX and BitGo again two hours ago, valued at approximately $126 million.