The first-half 2026 funding rankings have been released, with Kalshi and Polymarket raising a combined $1.8 billion.

Bitunix has officially launched the "Trading King Challenge" individual trading contest, running from July 28 to August 12 (UTC+0), open to all registered users on the platform. The contest features two leaderboards: the trading volume leaderboard and the return rate leaderboard, with their respective prize pools accounting for 80% (560,000 USDT) and 20% (140,000 USDT). Eligibility requires a valid contract trading volume of at least 50,000 USDT; users ranking on both leaderboards will receive the higher reward. As Bitunix's contract trading ecosystem continues to expand, the platform is giving back to the community with a total prize pool of up to 700,000 USDT, inviting traders worldwide to compete and claim the "Trading King" title.

Fred Thiel, CEO of MARA Holdings, stated that revenue generated from using electricity for AI infrastructure is far higher than that from Bitcoin mining, making power resources the most critical strategic asset for mining firms. He said: “For every unit of electricity used, the returns from AI are significantly higher than those from Bitcoin mining.” Thiel pointed out that as Bitcoin halvings continue to compress mining revenues, and electricity remains the largest operating cost for mining companies, firms must secure power resources or form close partnerships with utilities to stay competitive. MARA has partnered with Starwood to build a roughly 1GW computing power platform, with plans to expand further to 2.5GW; this month, the company also announced the acquisition of a Texas campus with approximately 2GW of power access capacity for developing digital infrastructure. However, Thiel emphasized that AI will not completely replace Bitcoin mining. In regions with low-cost, idle, or surplus power, Bitcoin mining remains an important method to boost power utilization rates. He believes that in the future, for mining firms with grid access and developable land, Bitcoin mining will become one of the uses for power resources, rather than the sole purpose.

According to South Korean lawmaker Yoo Dong-soo, South Korea's financial authorities will hold an emergency meeting today, set to begin at 6 PM local time (17:00 Beijing time). (Jinshi)

According to official announcements, decentralized full-asset trading platform Vanta will launch a trading competition with a total prize pool of 100,000 USDC at 16:00 Singapore time on July 30. During the event, users will split the 100,000 USDC prize based on their trading volume, with higher volume translating to larger rewards. Participants in the trading competition can also join Vanta’s weekly 1 million-point reward program, earning Vanta points based on trading volume, new user referrals, liquidity provision, and other ecosystem contributions. It is reported that Vanta officially opened to all users on July 16, with the platform’s cumulative trading volume already exceeding $300 million. The project is also advancing its global expansion by establishing local teams in multiple countries. Founded by core executives from exchanges including Bitget and OKX, the platform supports trading of multiple asset classes such as crypto assets, stocks, gold, forex, commodities and indices, and has launched Smart Trading and AI trading assistance features.

Moonshot AI (Chinese name: 月之暗面) has raised $3.5 billion, exceeding expectations, in a recently completed funding round, bringing its valuation to $35 billion. (Jinshi)

According to official announcements, Bitget’s Unified Trading Account (UTA) has launched an interest-free lending program for USDGO holdings. The event runs from 15:00 UTC+8 on July 29 to 15:00 UTC+8 on August 29. During the period, users holding USDGO who borrow USDT via their UTA will receive an interest-free lending quota equivalent to 30% of their USDGO holdings’ value, with a per-user cap of 10 million USDT. Relevant benefits will automatically take effect during the event, no manual registration or application required. For more details, please refer to Bitget’s official platform.