Huang Renxun has left Beijing, and NVIDIA has not disclosed whether Huang Renxun met with the DeepSeek founder.

a16z Crypto general partner Ali Yahya announced in a post that he will leave the firm to launch his own company. Yahya noted that while the venture is still in its early stages, his current focus is on building infrastructure that enables an "open software ecosystem". Earlier reports revealed that a16z Crypto was recently rebranded as a16z Frontier, with its investment scope expanded to cover frontier startups.

According to the New York Post, a source familiar with the matter disclosed that Matthew Modabber, who has served as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Polymarket since January 2024, has been dismissed. The termination follows an internal investigation the company launched into a series of high-profile incidents that raised concerns among its investors. One key incident involves Modabber’s team being accused of creating fake web pages to promote staged videos showing users profiting from fraudulent trades. This scheme was exposed in a June Wall Street Journal report, which subsequently triggered an investigation by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The probe remains ongoing, and no violations have been identified so far. Insiders noted that Modabber is a close confidant of Coplan, Polymarket’s 28-year-old CEO. During his executive tenure, Modabber often made impulsive decisions that led to public relations crises for the company. Polymarket is currently finalizing Modabber’s separation agreement, with both parties maintaining mutual respect throughout the process.

Tom Lee, chairman of Ethereum treasury firm BitMine, told CNBC in an interview today that the market is in a sell-off, with tech and semiconductor sectors under heavy pressure. Defensive sectors have instead strengthened, reflecting clear risk-averse traits in the market. Lee added that the market is currently overly pessimistic, and his technical analyst Mark Newton believes tech stocks have basically hit their support levels.

JPMorgan analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said in a report that recent actions by U.S. regulators have, to some extent, offset the negative impact of the Senate’s failure to advance the Clarity Act, though political and legal risks persist. The report notes that measures led by agencies including the SEC, CFTC, and OCC can encourage institutional participation in the crypto ecosystem in the short term, but only legislation can establish a more durable regulatory framework. Until a comprehensive market structure bill is passed, political and legal risk premiums will remain elevated. The crypto industry currently relies on a series of fragmented regulatory measures, which could be rolled back as soon as two years from now if Democrats win the White House. The analyst assesses that the Clarity Act is unlikely to pass this year and may be delayed until 2027. Crypto market sentiment remains relatively upbeat, with the market focused on what steps the SEC, CFTC, and OCC can take to make it easier for institutions to enter the crypto space. (The Block)

Aave founder Stani announced during a third-quarter live stream that Coinbase’s tokenized stocks (AAPLc, AMZNc, GOOGLc, METAc, MSFTc, NVDAc, TSLAc) have launched on the Aave V4 Equity Center on Base. The service is only available to eligible non-US users, who can deposit these tokenized stocks as collateral to borrow USDC, with Chainlink providing official oracle data.

Pershing Square Capital CEO Bill Ackman stated that the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Iran war, persistent high inflation and interest rates are weighing on an otherwise stronger market environment. However, with geopolitical risks easing and energy prices declining, he expects market prospects to improve notably, dubbing 2027 "an amazing year". In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Ackman noted that if war-related uncertainties recede—especially if the Russia-Ukraine situation progresses in a positive direction—energy prices could fall sharply, which would support lower inflation and better financial market performance. He also referred to the Iran war as "an extremely well-executed war", adding that peace in the Middle East would not only benefit the region but also ultimately the United States.