Linera Launches Babbage Testnet

June 16. Fueled by the AI boom that’s sent tech giants like SK Hynix’s stock prices surging, South Korea’s stock market has been performing strongly this year. After locking in their stock gains, local retail investors have poured heavily into the high-end real estate market. Data from South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport shows that from January to April 2026, roughly 3.7 trillion won (about $16.5 billion) in proceeds from South Korean residents selling stocks and bonds flowed into residential property purchases. Of that total, 65.5%—around 2.4 trillion won—concentrated in Seoul, specifically wealthy neighborhoods like Gangnam-gu (370.7 billion won), Songpa-gu (353.2 billion won), and Seocho-gu (290.4 billion won). High-end luxury homes are the top target for these funds. Between 2020 and 2025, less than 5% of stock and bond liquidation funds used for home buying went to properties costing over 1.5 billion won (about $6.7 million). But this year, that share has

SoftBank Group announced Tuesday that it will roll out an AI-powered cybersecurity service for Japanese enterprises, aiming to meet surging market demand for AI-based defense capabilities. The official launch event was held in Tokyo on June 16, with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son attending and delivering a keynote speech. During the event, Son warned that AI-enabled cyberattacks could become Japan’s "Black Ship Crisis" moment—referencing the 19th-century historical incident when U.S. warships arrived to coerce Japan into opening its borders, implying AI-driven cyber threats could similarly wreak widespread disruption on the country. This launch comes as the U.S. tightens restrictions on the foreign expansion of competing AI models, with industry observers framing SoftBank’s move as a strategic step to solidify its foothold in Japan’s AI security market amid intensifying geopolitical tech competition.

June 16. Bank of America’s latest survey suggests the upward trend in AI stocks is poised to continue, fueled largely by investor FOMO (fear of missing out). In the bank’s monthly poll, roughly 56% of fund managers described the current AI cycle as “prosperity”—a term that typically signals a strengthening market uptrend drawing in more investors anxious not to miss the wave. Only 21% of respondents pegged the sector as being in “mania” (where stock prices are pushed to extreme heights), while 9% labeled it the “profit-taking” stage. The survey, which covered investors overseeing a combined $465 billion in assets, was conducted between June 5 and June 11—just ahead of SpaceX’s IPO. Still, it uncovered growing tech sector jitters: four-fifths of respondents cited buying and holding global semiconductor stocks as the most crowded trade currently, marking the highest level of this metric in the survey’s history. Overall, investors trimmed their overweight stake in the tech sector

June 16: Data from Defillama shows Polymarket’s 24-hour revenue has surged to $1.26 million, temporarily putting it in sixth place on the cryptocurrency revenue leaderboard. The spike is likely linked to the World Cup kicking off on June 11, with Polymarket’s 24-hour average revenue jumping significantly from roughly $600,000 just one week ago.

June 16 – Per an official announcement, Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) has previously declared a cash dividend distribution. Bitget has disbursed the corresponding dividend to eligible users based on the snapshot of users’ rGOOGL holdings taken at that time. The holding snapshot was captured at 8:00 a.m. EDT on June 7 (equivalent to 8:00 a.m. Beijing Time on June 8). All users who held rGOOGL in their accounts as of the snapshot time will receive the dividend automatically—no additional action is required on their part. The dividend rate is $0.22 per share, and all payouts have been issued to users in USDT. In compliance with U.S. tax regulations, the securities custodian will withhold a 30% federal tax on dividend income from this distribution. For more details, please refer to Bitget’s official platform.

June 16 — A new Reuters report says the U.S. military has been overseeing dozens of covert ship-to-ship oil transfer operations in the Gulf region to keep energy exports flowing. The missions use aerial drones, surface unmanned vessels, and helicopters to guide a fleet of craft to waiting oil tankers. Carried out on the edge of the Strait of Hormuz, the operations rely on a transfer tactic Iran has long used to evade international sanctions, per sources familiar with the effort. Those sources confirmed two specific transfer sites: one off the coast of the UAE’s Fujairah, and another outside Oman’s Sohar port. Shipping data and satellite imagery show the operations launched in early May, with at least 92 vessels taking part in the transfers. As of June 11, satellite images showed 17 pairs of vessels conducting crude oil transfers at those two locations simultaneously. Four sources — including a former U.S. official — revealed that the Apache helicopter shot down by Iran on June 9 (whi