NEAR Protocol Teases Next Major Protocol Upgrade, SPICE, Reducing Block Time to 200ms

Italy’s largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, disclosed in a 13F filing that it cut its holdings of IBIT common shares from 646,809 to 40,723 at the end of the second quarter, a 93.7% drop. The lender also reduced the underlying share count of its IBIT call options from 2,496,500 to 18,000, a 99.3% decline. While trimming its Bitcoin spot ETF positions, Intesa Sanpaolo added IBIT put options and lifted its stake in the iShares Staked Ethereum ETF from 116,200 shares to 349,600, an increase of just over threefold.

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio delivered his sternest market warning on the "CEO Diary" podcast, bluntly stating that the AI frenzy has pushed markets into bubble territory similar to the 1929 and 2000 bubbles. When the host referenced Jeremy Grantham’s earlier claim that the current period is "the biggest investment bubble in U.S. history," Dalio responded directly: "He’s right." Dalio outlined the core contradiction of bubble dynamics with a simple scenario: Investors buy AI company shares for $100, then borrow against them as collateral. When the market reverses and everyone needs cash simultaneously, prices could crash to $25, while the loans remain due. "Wealth is not money," Dalio emphasized. "You see many people getting rich, but wealth can’t be spent—you have to sell it to get cash. Many inexperienced investors flooding into leveraged ETFs in today’s market are essentially gambling." Dalio noted two typical bubble-popping forces: rising interest rates increasing debt financing costs, and a surge in stock issuance. The latter is already a reality: SpaceX went public in June but trades below its issue price; S&P projects its free cash flow will stay negative through 2029. Anthropic has secretly filed for an IPO, set to debut as early as October with a nearly $1 trillion valuation. OpenAI has also filed an application, targeting over $1 trillion. Dalio’s more urgent warning is not about the market itself, but the political and geopolitical conflicts that could follow a bubble burst. The U.K. changing six prime ministers in seven years is a symptom of government funding drying up and voters clashing over how to raise money, he said. An AI bubble burst could trigger political turmoil at the end of an 80-year cycle. Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs and Apollo have recently issued similar signals, pointing to an earnings bubble in tech stocks and the breakdown of the 60/40 investment portfolio strategy that worked for 40 years.

Hyperliquid has launched the pre-IPO perpetual contract for Unitree, currently priced at around $74, corresponding to a post-IPO market capitalization of approximately $30 billion. The UNITREE pre-market perpetual contract price represents the USD price of one ordinary share of Unitree. Unitree’s STAR Market IPO plans to issue at least ~40.45 million shares, accounting for 10% of its total post-issuance share capital, with total post-issuance shares standing at roughly 404.5 million. The current contract price translates to an implied market cap of $30 billion, or around RMB 205 billion. Unitree’s IPO prospectus targets an issuance valuation of approximately RMB 42 billion (roughly $5.8–6.2 billion), implying an expected IPO return of 4.88 times after listing. Unitree is set to hold its initial public offering and list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market. The offering will combine strategic placement, off-line subscription, and online subscription. The proposed public offering size is 40,446,434 shares, with total post-issuance share capital of 404,464,340 shares. The preliminary inquiry date is August 5, 2026, and the off-line subscription date is August 10, 2026.

Hyperliquid has launched pre-IPO perpetual contracts for Unitree, with the ticker UNITREE, currently priced at $54. Unitree is a leading Chinese civilian robotics company set to conduct its initial public offering (IPO) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market. The offering will adopt a combined approach of strategic placement, institutional offline issuance, and retail online issuance. The company plans to issue 40,446,434 shares, accounting for 10% of its total post-IPO share capital, with the total post-IPO share count reaching 404,464,340. The preliminary inquiry date is August 5, 2026, and the institutional subscription date is August 10, 2026. The company has a special voting right mechanism; under the voting right differential arrangement, actual controller Wang Xingxing controls a total of 68.78% of the company’s voting rights.

Polymarket has become the official prediction market provider for the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour, securing exclusive streaming rights for prediction market categories across all ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events. Polymarket users registered in the U.S. will be able to stream all ATP matches live directly, with the opportunity to trade in related prediction markets. Under the agreement, Sportradar, the exclusive distribution partner of TDI, will provide official real-time data for all matches to ensure timely settlement. The deal covers approximately 20,000 matches per ATP season, including main draw and qualifying singles and doubles events on the ATP Tour.

Tibo, product lead for OpenAI Codex, said that based on recent results, Codex has proven to be an excellent AI workflow framework. However, it could appear quite rudimentary in the next two to three months. We are on the cusp of a major evolution in the application of cutting-edge AI, and next-generation models will require more than just a standard laptop.