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

Galaxy Research Head Alex Thorn stated in a post that the "white hat" attacker behind the abnormal fund transfer incident on the Liquid network is communicating with Blockstream via on-chain OP_RETURN messages and PGP-encrypted communications. The attacker noted that after the Liquid network’s vulnerability is patched, they will return "most" of the roughly 4,000 BTC transferred. At block height 965,822, a Blockstream address sent 1,000 satoshis to a related address with a message requesting contact with Blockstream’s security team. The subsequent block contained a PGP-encrypted message signed with Blockstream’s public key, confirming a communication channel had been established between the two parties. Later, in block 965,869, the attacker sent 1,000 satoshis to Blockstream’s Peg wallet via a self-transfer, asking: "Is it okay to return most of the funds to the Blockstream address?" The attacker further specified that the vulnerability must first be fixed, all nodes must complete the patch upgrade, and funds will be safely returned only after the fix is confirmed. Additionally, the attacker sent PGP-encrypted technical information accessible exclusively to Blockstream’s team. Earlier reports noted that the suspected white hat hacker withdrew approximately 4,000 BTC (valued at around $320 million) from the Liquid Federation wallet via SideSwap PAK (Peg-out Authorization Key).

Macquarie stated that it expects the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by 25 basis points in September 2026, bringing the timing forward from its prior forecast of a December hike, and still anticipates a 25 basis point rate increase in the first quarter of 2027.

Beating AI Express (Insight) – OpenAI set two goals for itself last year: to develop an "AI research intern" by September 2026, and a fully autonomous AI researcher by March 2028. The first goal has now been achieved. New internal data from OpenAI shows that when humans provide clear research questions, Agents can now independently complete tasks that would normally take skilled researchers several days. Researchers are increasingly delegating tasks to Agents. As of mid-August, based on the total workload of the research department, for every 8 hours of human work, multiple Agents collectively ran approximately 24.8 hours, equivalent to 3.1 Agent workdays. Prior to June this year, total Agent runtime was still lower than human work hours. It should be noted that this figure counts runtime, not a direct 3.1x increase in R&D efficiency. Agents are also taking on more demanding tasks: at the start of the year, they mainly handled research and infrastructure coding; now they are undertaking longer, more complex work such as experiment monitoring. In August, the number of experiments run per active experimenter also reached a new high since OpenAI began tracking this metric. However, research directions are still determined by humans. Agents rarely take charge of high-level research planning, and over the past six months, even for successfully completed 4-8 hour tasks, more than half required at least one human intervention. OpenAI’s next target is to upgrade the "intern" to an autonomous AI researcher capable of completing more comprehensive research work by March 2028.

According to HTX market data, Solana ecosystem DEX tokens are seeing broad gains today. Specifically: ORCA has rallied 14.33% in the past 24 hours, trading at $1.572; JUP is up 12.23% over the same period, now priced at $0.2626; RAY has risen 5.95%, currently at $1.202.

DeFi researcher Ignas posted on X that today’s crypto market shows signs of capital rotation from Robinhood Chain to Solana. Over the past 24 hours, Solana ecosystem tokens have posted strong gains: RAY rose roughly 60%, JUP gained 21%, ORCA climbed 12%, and MET increased 13%. By contrast, AI fell 11.5% while CASHCAT dropped 5.8%. Robinhood Chain’s meme coin sector as a whole declined around 16.5%. Meanwhile, cross-chain fund flow data shows Solana’s bridge recorded a net inflow of approximately $18.8 million over the past day, while Robinhood Chain saw a net outflow of $47.8 million. Though these bridge volumes remain small relative to the total value locked (TVL) of both chains, the capital shift may signal some traders taking profits on Robinhood Chain’s meme coins and shifting to Solana’s trading infrastructure tokens to continue participating in the related market rally. Notably, STONK — the launchpad token that pairs meme coins with tokenized stocks, fiat currencies and other assets — surged roughly 360% at one point today, emerging as a key market focus.

This week, the Federal Reserve will enter its pre-September policy meeting blackout period, with investors shifting their focus to upcoming PPI and CPI reports. The European Central Bank (ECB) will also announce its interest rate decision. Below are the key market highlights for the coming week (all times Beijing time): Monday, September 7: U.S. and Canadian stock markets will close for one day due to the U.S. Labor Day holiday. Thursday 1:00 a.m.: ECB President Christine Lagarde delivers a speech at the official dinner of the German Bundesbank. Thursday 1:00 a.m.: Apple holds its autumn new product launch event, themed "Shine Bright, Write a New Chapter". Thursday 8:15 p.m.: The ECB releases its interest rate decision. 8:30 p.m.: ECB President Lagarde holds the monetary policy press conference. Same Thursday 8:30 p.m.: U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ended September 5, plus U.S. August PPI year-on-year and month-on-month rates. Friday 8:30 p.m.: U.S. August unadjusted CPI and core CPI year-on-year rates, and U.S. August seasonally adjusted CPI and core CPI month-on-month rates. On the earnings front, Oracle (ORCL.N) will release its results after U.S. stock trading hours on Thursday. This report could have a significant impact on the market’s current AI trading trends. As one of the leading cloud service providers, Oracle is investing heavily in building AI data centers.