Strategy confirms selling 3,588 BTC to net $216 million, with the proceeds used to pay dividends on digital credit securities.

Renowned venture capitalist Tim Draper stated that his investment philosophy has always been to bet on innovative projects that have not yet reached a market consensus. He recalled that his venture capital firm Draper Associates was one of SpaceX’s earliest external investors. After the investment, SpaceX’s first two rocket launches ended in failure, but with the success of its third launch, the company ultimately attracted a large number of clients by offering launch costs far lower than NASA’s, growing into a firm valued at over $2 trillion. When discussing AI, Draper said that although xAI lags behind rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic in market share and enterprise adoption rates, he remains more optimistic about xAI, believing it focuses more on providing accurate information rather than catering to users. He predicts that the AI industry will undergo a shakeout similar to that after the dot-com bubble, and the true industry giants may emerge after the next round of adjustments. Draper believes innovation requires a free entrepreneurial environment, noting that the U.S. and Singapore remain the most attractive startup destinations currently.

US stock market opens: Dow Jones rises 0.11%, S&P 500 gains 0.32%, Nasdaq climbs 0.78%. Chip stocks rally across the board: SanDisk (SNDK.O) jumps 4%, Western Digital (WDC.O) surges over 5%. Broadcom (AVGO.O) advances 3.5% as its partnership agreement with Apple is extended to 2031.

Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, after meeting with Strategy’s Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, stated that restoring preferred stock STRC to its $100 par value is the company’s top priority and key to restarting its bitcoin purchase engine and improving its capital structure. Cantor believes Strategy will continue to build cash reserves for STRC dividends to drive the stock’s price back to par, and may take measures such as share repurchases if necessary. A recovery in STRC is expected to benefit the company’s common stock (MSTR), paving the way for subsequent stock offerings to raise funds and continue increasing its bitcoin holdings. Earlier, Strategy announced it had sold approximately $216 million worth of bitcoin to fund STRC dividend payments. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase warned last week that the practice of selling bitcoin to pay preferred stock dividends could increase the company’s risk exposure and market volatility.

Blockchain security firm CertiK released a report stating that crypto security incidents caused roughly $1.32 billion in losses in the first half of 2026, a 46.8% year-over-year decline. However, CertiK noted that this decline is misleading and does not reflect an improvement in the industry’s security posture. The report revealed that crypto attack losses rose 59% quarter-over-quarter to $807.5 million in the second quarter, with over 70% of the total stemming from two attacks on KelpDAO and Drift Protocol, both believed to have been carried out by North Korea-backed hacking groups. Separately, data from TRM Labs shows that the number of security incidents in H1 2026 jumped to 207 from 83 in the same period last year, marking an all-time high for the first half of any year. CertiK pointed out that private key management and multi-signature wallets remain the most critical security risk vectors, and advised protocols and institutions to strengthen hardware security, optimize multi-sig governance, and diversify the locations of signatories to reduce their risk of being targeted by attacks.

Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Levin published an article stating that US President Donald Trump and his allies are pushing personnel changes to influence Federal Reserve decisions, including attempts to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and interfere in the selection of the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, in a bid to expand the influence of White House supporters on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Levin argues that Kevin Warsh, a leading contender for the next Federal Reserve chair, should publicly oppose the White House’s interference, back Jerome Powell and Cook to serve out their terms, and demand the White House withdraw from the selection process for regional Fed bank presidents. Failure to do so would erode Warsh’s credibility and internal influence within the Fed should he lead the central bank in the future. Fed independence is key to maintaining stable inflation expectations and upholding monetary policy credibility, and ongoing political interference could harm US macroeconomic stability.

Saudi Aramco has cut the official selling price (OSP) of its flagship Arab Light crude oil for August shipments to Asia by $11 per barrel, to a discount of $1.50 per barrel against the regional benchmark. The cut, the largest in at least 26 years and exceeding market consensus, underscores its intention to compete for market share in Asia. The steep price cut comes as the Strait of Hormuz resumes navigation and crude oil supplies from the Middle East rebound. Meanwhile, OPEC+ announced it will continue increasing production in August, stoking market concerns over a global crude oil supply glut. Institutions including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have recently warned that with supply continuing to recover and demand growth remaining weak, the global crude oil market may face a renewed supply glut next year. Citigroup, meanwhile, forecasts that Brent crude oil prices could fall back to $60 per barrel by the end of the year.