Linera Launches Babbage Testnet

The White House formally submitted bipartisan nomination lists for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the Senate on Thursday, pending approval. The move comes after last week’s midterm election losses, as President Donald Trump’s Republican Party is set to lose control of the Senate next January. Democratic nominee Kristin Johnson has been tapped for an SEC commissioner seat, with a term expiring in 2029. She previously served as a CFTC commissioner, appointed by then-Democratic President Joe Biden. Another SEC nominee announced Thursday is Republican Steven Levine, who will serve as an SEC commissioner with a term ending in 2030. Democrat Matthew Rowland is nominated as a CFTC commissioner to fill a vacant seat with a remaining term expiring in 2028. Republican Nathan Anonick is also nominated for a CFTC commissioner post, with a term expiring in 2031.

US President Donald Trump said he spoke with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Wednesday. He noted that Huang has extraordinary, irreplicable talent, adding that everything Huang has achieved is remarkable, and the Nvidia he built from the ground up is simply incredible. No matter the circumstances, Huang always manages to find a way forward and re-establish his position.

Federal Reserve's John Williams said the Fed will need to take action over a period of time to bring the inflation rate back to 2%.

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index rose 2.05% at the start of trading. Both SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics gained over 3%.

US Senate Democrats have accused Elon Musk-owned social media platform X of granting special treatment to prediction market platform Polymarket. "Typically, X allows users to report ads for multiple reasons. However, when users attempt to report Polymarket ads via X’s standard interface, they cannot select any reporting options," wrote Nevada Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, Nevada Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen, and Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal in a letter first reported by Semafor. The letter also points out that other ad types, including ads from rival prediction market platform Kalshi, do not have this issue. The correspondence, which includes screenshot evidence, states that X’s seemingly unfair differential treatment has raised questions about whether it is trying to give Polymarket an improper competitive advantage—one that could further benefit the US president and his family. Donald Trump Jr., eldest son of former President Donald Trump, is both an investor in and advisor to Polymarket. Neither X nor Polymarket responded to media requests for comment.

Federal Reserve officials delivered a series of hawkish remarks on Thursday, reinforcing market expectations of further monetary tightening by the Fed. Additionally, the Nvidia controversy continues to escalate: Jensen Huang resigned from all his positions; he agreed to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs; U.S. media reported that Nvidia is facing an antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice; and Jensen Huang was exposed to having a close relationship with a second Nvidia employee. Nvidia's stock decline dragged down U.S. AI-related stocks. According to HTX market data, Bitcoin's downtrend continues, currently trading at $71,222, hitting its lowest level since September, with a 3.6% drop in 24 hours. According to data from the BIT stock platform, U.S. stocks closed on Thursday: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.36%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.35%, and the Nasdaq declined 0.39%. Nvidia (NVDA.O) closed down 4.3% and plunged as much as 13% during intraday trading. Nvidia's competitors Broadcom (AVGO.O) and AMD (AMD.O) rose more than 5.5%.