The popular AI framework Virtuals Protocol will host an in-person meet-up in Hong Kong on Friday, January 17.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, BlackRock is leading efforts to raise at least $12 billion in debt financing for Meta’s new data center project in El Paso, Texas. BlackRock and its infrastructure and private credit divisions hold an 80% stake in the project, while Meta owns the remaining 20%. The campus is projected to have a capacity of approximately 1 gigawatt. JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are leading the large-scale debt issuance and are engaging with other potential investors. The project’s structure mirrors that of Meta’s Louisiana data center, where Blue Owl holds an 80% stake in the joint venture and Meta owns 20%, with construction supported by debt financing. Separately, Meta has agreed to lease a large data center project developed by Aligned Data Centers—backed by BlackRock—in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Over the past year, BlackRock has continuously expanded its AI data center investments, including the $40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers. BlackRock was also a key investor in the $27 billion private debt financing for Meta’s Louisiana data center, purchasing more than $3 billion in bonds in that transaction.

Local time on July 20, the White House announced in a statement that the United States will impose an additional 50% ad valorem tariff on certain Canadian products, in response to what it called "discriminatory measures taken by Canada against the United States in trade of automobiles and auto parts". The new tariffs will take effect at 00:01 a.m. Eastern Time on August 19, and will be levied on top of existing relevant tariffs, taxes and other fees. (CCTV)

According to South Korea’s Seoul Economic Daily, on the 20th, the Democratic Party of Korea urged the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to intensively monitor single-stock leveraged ETFs and roll out supplementary measures if needed. The same day, Democratic Party lawmakers from the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee held a party-government meeting with the FSC at the National Assembly in Seoul’s Yeouido district, receiving work reports from FSC Chairman Lee Eok-won and other officials. Park Sang-hyuk, the ruling party’s floor manager of the Political Affairs Committee and a Democratic Party lawmaker, told reporters after the meeting: “The FSC briefed on the relevant measures announced last Thursday. Lawmakers generally called on regulators to further strengthen market monitoring and situation assessment, and if necessary, to explore additional supplementary measures.” (Jinshi)

According to official announcements, Native Markets has announced that the USDH official website has been sunset. Over the coming months, users will still be able to redeem and exchange USDH for U.S. dollar assets at a 1:1 ratio via the redemption page provided by the Bridge. Native Markets stated that the final exit procedures for USDH and related information will continue to be made available through the USDH official website.

Kenya's government is investigating the hacking incident targeting President William Ruto's official website. On July 18, attackers briefly altered the president's official site page and demanded a ransom of 5 BTC, threatening to leak undisclosed data if not paid. Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Digital Economy stated that the government has activated its cybersecurity response mechanism and is conducting a forensic investigation in collaboration with relevant agencies. There is currently no evidence indicating unauthorized access to or leakage of sensitive data, and government digital services remain operational.

Bitcoin mining company LM Funding America (NASDAQ: LMFA) announced it will rebrand to PowerCompute Inc. and adopt a new stock ticker "PWCM" effective July 22. The company stated that the rename marks its strategic transformation, as it leverages its existing 26 megawatts (MW) of owned power infrastructure to expand into high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure businesses. Currently, the firm operates two facilities in Oklahoma and Mississippi, U.S., with 26 MW of power capacity, and plans to provide infrastructure services to AI computing clients. It will also continue holding Bitcoin assets as part of its balance sheet.