U.S. CPI: +2.9% YEAR-OVER-YEAR (EST. +2.9%); U.S. CORE CPI: +3.2% YEAR-OVER-YEAR (EST. +3.3%)

Institutional crypto trading platform LMAX Group is working with Morgan Stanley and Stifel’s investment banking arm KBW to evaluate strategic options, including a sale, SPAC merger, or listings in the U.S. and Europe, with a potential valuation of up to $5 billion. According to people familiar with the matter, a Nasdaq listing is currently the priority, but the company is in no rush to move forward, as its core foreign exchange business hedges against the current downturn in the crypto market. Headquartered in London, LMAX is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and provides institutional trading venues for foreign exchange and digital assets to banks, brokers, hedge funds, and asset management firms. In 2021, private equity firm J.C. Flowers acquired a 30% stake in the company for $300 million, valuing LMAX at roughly $1 billion at the time. In January this year, Ripple made a $150 million strategic investment in LMAX to drive institutional adoption of its RLUSD stablecoin. (CoinDesk)

Data shows that the 30-day correlation between U.S. major capital expenditure firms and the Semiconductor Index (SOX) has dropped to near zero, the lowest level in at least 4.5 years, a sharp decline from +0.78 in April and well below the average of +0.60 since 2022. Since early June, semiconductor stocks have risen while shares of AI infrastructure spending giants have fallen, indicating investors no longer view chipmakers and hyperscale data center builders as a single trade: chipmakers are benefiting from AI demand, while hyperscalers face questions about returns on their spending. Analysts believe the next phase of the AI trade will be determined by profitability rather than investment scale, and hyperscalers need to prove their massive spending can generate sufficient returns.

Israeli officials announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with US President Donald Trump next Tuesday.

Coinbase is experiencing its largest executive shakeup in recent years. Chief People Officer Lawrence Brock has stepped down to take on an advisory role, while Greg Tusar, co-head of the institutional division, has shifted to a policy position. This follows earlier announcements that General Counsel Paul Grewal plans to leave, and Jesse Pollak is stepping down as head of the Base app, resulting in changes to multiple core executives. According to reports, after Coinbase laid off 14% of its workforce in May, the company is accelerating its transformation into a "full-category trading platform" that includes stocks and prediction markets. (The Information)

DeFi protocol Fluid and AGI3 Group have released a governance proposal announcing a strategic ecosystem partnership. Kinetic Group plans to acquire up to 10% of the total FLUID token supply via secondary market purchases and over-the-counter (OTC) trades, with the acquired tokens not sourced from the DAO treasury or team allocations. The Fluid Foundation will separately provide 5% of FLUID tokens to be held in custody at compliant private banks and institutional digital asset custodians in Switzerland, the EU, Hong Kong, and Singapore; these tokens will be locked for at least four years through 2030. As part of the strategic collaboration, AGI3 will grant a 2% equity stake to the Fluid Foundation, also locked for four years. AGI3 is an entity established by Kinetic Group, a private asset management firm regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), focused on building composite financial infrastructure spanning payments, banking, capital markets, and tokenization sectors. The partnership’s core product is AGI3 Markets, a permissioned DeFi instance for institutional users, equipped with KYC/AML checks, supporting lending and trading of real-world asset (RWA) classes including tokenized private credit, government bonds, commodities, equities, and corporate bonds. The two parties have agreed that all protocol revenue and incentive budgets generated by AGI3 Markets will be split on a 50/50 basis.

Robinhood Chain ecosystem token issuance platform Memecoin.Fun announced the completion of a $3.5 million strategic financing round. The round was executed via USDG Token, with Becker Ventures leading the investment, and BitValue Capital, Mason Labs, Negentropy Capital, and angel investor Billy Wen participating. According to the announcement, the funds will be used to accelerate core product and infrastructure development, including Robinhood Chain Launchpad infrastructure, cross-chain bridge functionality development, and the research and operation of the revolutionary Memecoin All-chain Platform.