Report: Rug Pull Incidents in the Crypto Space Have Decreased, but Their Impact Has Grown

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index has broken through the 5,900-point mark, with its intraday gain expanding to 4.25%. Samsung Electronics rose 4.5%, and SK Hynix gained 2%.

According to Bitget's market data, South Korea's KOSPI index rose 5% intraday, now standing at 5950.55 points. Samsung Electronics gained 7%, while SK Hynix rose 3.2%.

According to data from Vanda Research, U.S. retail investors recorded their largest single-day net sell of individual stocks since the March 2020 pandemic crash this Tuesday, amounting to $213 million. Around 88% of the selling pressure was concentrated in the memory chip sector, with Micron (MU), SanDisk (SNDK), Seagate (STX), and Western Digital (WDC) being the main targets of the sell-off. Vanda Research noted that retail investors have been net selling individual stocks for 9 consecutive trading days so far this year, a rare phenomenon in recent years. However, the funds did not exit the stock market; instead, they shifted to diversified allocations such as ETFs. On the same day, retail investors also net bought the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM). The firm believes that retail investors are becoming more cautious and selective, reducing their exposure to individual stock risks rather than being broadly bearish on the overall market.

AI invoice audit and procurement automation platform Freehand AI announced it has secured $75 million in funding, with investors undisclosed. The company stated its AI system has helped enterprises including Meta, Unilever, and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) identify unjustified charges from over 19 million invoices, generating cumulative savings of more than $260 million. Freehand AI also rolled out a new service commitment: if it fails to identify at least $500,000 in overpaid invoices for a client, the company will pay the client $10,000. Its AI system automatically reconciles invoices, contracts, rate cards, purchase orders, logistics documents, and historical transaction data, and handles processes such as dispute resolution, supplier communications, and payment approvals, achieving 100% SOX-compliant audits.

According to Bitget market data, Japan's Kioxia Holdings rose over 11%, the Nikkei 225 index gained 1.75%, and SoftBank fell 0.59%.

After the close of U.S. Eastern Time on Wednesday, Meta released its second-quarter financial results. The company reported Q2 revenue of $60.8 billion, up 28% year-over-year and exceeding market expectations. Earnings per share came in at $6.18, below both forecasts and the $7.14 recorded in the same period last year. Net profit dropped to $158.5 billion from $183.4 billion, a 14% year-over-year decline. Following the earnings release, Meta’s share price saw a notable pullback in after-hours trading. Its core advertising business remained robust: Q2 ad revenue hit approximately $59.36 billion, growing 27% year-over-year. Meta’s Family of Apps (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads) recorded 3.6 billion daily active users, with Instagram’s daily active users reaching 2 billion and Threads’ monthly active users rising to 500 million. The expanding app portfolio continues to support high growth in Meta’s advertising segment. However, the market is more focused on costs and cash flow. Meta’s total costs and expenses in Q2 rose to $42.03 billion, surging 55% year-over-year, including legal fees and severance costs. Spending on AI infrastructure kept expanding, with capital expenditures reaching $31.08 billion, up 83% year-over-year. Free cash flow fell to $784 million from $8.55 billion in the year-ago period. The company also revised its full-year capital expenditure guidance to a range of $130 billion to $145 billion. D.A. Davidson maintained its "Buy" rating on Meta but cut its price target from $850 to $700, citing slower growth indicated in Meta’s Q3 revenue guidance. Aptus Capital also noted that the lower end of Meta’s capital expenditure range was raised without a corresponding stronger revenue guidance. Going forward, the market will closely monitor whether Meta’s Q3 revenue can reaccelerate, and whether its AI ad tools, AI assistants, and computing power business can deliver clear returns.