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

Crude oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are slowly recovering, but a notable gap persists between the accelerated loading of Gulf oil producers and actual imports to Asia, leaving the market skeptical about the authenticity of the supply recovery. Traders currently estimate that around 6 million to 8 million barrels of crude oil pass through the strait daily, roughly half the pre-conflict level. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar, and Kuwait have all seen a rebound in loading activities recently, with Iraq’s daily loading capacity once exceeding pre-conflict levels. However, some crude oil still requires transshipment via locations such as Oman’s Sohar Port and the UAE’s Fujairah, so increased loading does not mean the oil has actually reached Asian buyers. Data from Kpler shows that Asia’s crude oil imports in August are projected to hit 23.12 million barrels per day (bpd), about 14% lower than the average of 26.91 million bpd in the three months before the conflict. Among these, India’s August crude oil imports are expected to be only 4.51 million bpd, with around 1.45 million bpd coming from the Middle East—just half the pre-conflict average. Additionally, Middle Eastern crude oil arriving in Asia in August stands at around 11.11 million bpd, higher than July’s 10.76 million bpd but still nearly 30% below the pre-conflict level of 15.82 million bpd. Analysts note that the current gap between loading volumes and arrival figures may partly result from shipping delays, and data in the coming weeks will be critical to determining whether supplies through the Strait of Hormuz have truly recovered.

According to CNBC, prominent financial host Jim Cramer said the core reason for the accelerating demand for Nvidia’s AI chips is that downstream clients can now generate profits quickly via AI infrastructure, with returns on investment no longer a distant expectation but an ongoing reality. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang previously stated on an earnings call that some $500 billion worth of data center projects have seen their capital return periods shortened to less than a year. Cramer believes this means the market’s debate over when AI infrastructure will turn profitable is gradually being resolved. Additionally, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced it will purchase an extra 2 million Nvidia GPUs between 2027 and 2028, deploy Vera CPUs, and apply related technologies to the robotics sector. Notably, even as Amazon actively develops its own in-house AI chips, it continues to expand its procurement of Nvidia products. Nvidia CFO Colette Kress noted that the company’s quarterly growth will be driven primarily by non-hyperscale cloud provider clients, including "new cloud" firms like CoreWeave and Nebius, as well as enterprise customers. Cramer pointed out that roughly 50% of Nvidia’s clients are not hyperscale cloud providers, indicating AI computing power demand is spreading further into the broader enterprise market.

Goldman Sachs analyst Jim Schneider told CNBC in an interview that NVIDIA’s just-released fiscal 2027 second-quarter results beat market expectations, while its next-quarter revenue guidance also exceeded analyst projections. Driven by the company’s optimistic outlook for revenue growth in the coming fiscal year, NVIDIA’s stock rose roughly 4% in after-hours trading. Schneider noted that NVIDIA expects to post around 70% revenue growth in fiscal 2028, a sign that demand for AI infrastructure remains robust. The market’s current focus has shifted from short-term performance to whether the AI computing power investment cycle can sustain, and whether NVIDIA’s multi-year high growth expectations will be delivered.

Coinbase has published a post outlining its Agentic Finance (AiFi) strategy, arguing that AI agents are emerging as participants in economic activities. In the future, they will not only make decisions on behalf of users but also need the ability to pay, receive payments, hold, and transfer assets. Coinbase divides AiFi into two core areas: "agentic trading" and "agentic commerce", and believes that cryptocurrencies and stablecoins can provide 24/7, programmable, global, and low-cost financial infrastructure. The exchange says it has launched products including Coinbase Advisor, Coinbase for Agents, x402, and Coinbase Business to equip AI agents with investment management, trading, and machine-to-machine payment capabilities. Among these, Coinbase for Agents connects to AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor via MCP, allowing users to set trading goals, permissions, and guardrails, with AI agents executing trades autonomously when conditions are met. Coinbase also disclosed that based on its open payment standard x402, it has processed more than 205 million transactions to date, with a total transaction value of $53 million, covering 200,000 merchants, of which 67% were transactions facilitated by Coinbase. Coinbase added that USDC currently accounts for 99% of on-chain agentic commerce transaction volume, and x402 makes up 97% of agentic finance protocol usage, with related activities primarily running on Base. Coinbase believes that AI agents will become a new type of economic participant, and cryptocurrencies can provide them with global, 24/7, and programmable financial infrastructure that the traditional financial system lacks.

According to HTX market data, HYPE has surged past $85, hitting a fresh all-time high, and is now trading at $85.27, with a 24-hour gain of 4.89%.

Grayscale Research stated in a report that Zcash (ZEC), a privacy-focused, Bitcoin-like decentralized digital currency, is poised to pose a genuine challenge to Bitcoin’s network effects. Grayscale highlighted Zcash’s unique advantages over Bitcoin: robust financial privacy, ongoing development to mitigate cybersecurity risks from quantum computing, and cross-chain connectivity via "intents" technology—traits that could grow increasingly critical in the AI-driven surveillance era. The firm noted ZEC has rallied roughly 19 times over the past year, yet its current market capitalization remains less than 1% of Bitcoin’s. Grayscale added this indicates there is still room for competition in the monetary crypto asset segment, suggesting Zcash could continue to expand its market share. However, the firm also stressed that investing in Zcash carries high risk; even if it successfully challenges Bitcoin, its growth is unlikely to be linear.