U.S. House of Representatives passes a temporary funding bill to keep federal agencies funded through the November midterm elections.

According to a New York Times report, the ongoing escalation of conflict in Iran has put immense pressure on Pakistan’s business community. With the collapse of the ceasefire agreement, large quantities of goods bound for Iran, including mangoes and textiles, have been stranded at the border, with some fruits already spoiled. Business leaders noted that peace would not only bring down energy prices but also give Pakistan the chance to fully tap the trade potential along its roughly 900-kilometer border with Iran. Pakistan’s economy has remained under pressure due to factors including strained relations with India and Afghanistan, and the business community had originally hoped to ease its woes by deepening trade ties with Iran. However, long-standing U.S. sanctions on Iran have severely restricted bilateral bank settlements, energy cooperation, and trade, forcing much of the commerce to rely on barter, third-country transit, or smuggling channels. Pakistan’s business and industrial circles believe that if sanctions on Iran are relaxed in the future, bilateral trade volume is expected to expand significantly. Pakistan can export rice, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment to Iran, while Iran can supply Pakistan with cheaper oil and gas, and create opportunities for Pakistani companies to participate in Iran’s post-war reconstruction. Currently, several entrepreneurs said they will remain on the sidelines until the situation becomes clearer.

Bitcoin traded sideways near $66,000 on Wednesday, holding steady at its two-week high. Driven by upbeat AI sentiment, global chip stocks rose for the second consecutive session, while USD/JPY fell below 163 to hit its lowest level since 1986. As of press time, Bitcoin is up nearly 1% intraday, around 3% week-to-date, with 24-hour trading volume of ~$31 billion. Ethereum (ETH) trades at ~$1,920, up ~3% weekly; XRP gains 2% to $1.13, TRX edges higher; HYPE underperforms, down 4% on the day and ~10% over the past seven days. In Asian equities, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1%. South Korea’s KOSPI surged 5% before paring gains at midday, with SK Hynix leading gains by over 13%. The move follows the U.S. semiconductor index’s more than 5% jump on Tuesday, which helped it exit its technical bear market. In the forex market, USD/JPY broke below 163, marking a nearly 40-year low. While Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama stated authorities remain ready to take decisive forex intervention steps if needed, a stronger U.S. dollar, rising U.S. Treasury yields, and Iran-related oil price hikes have collectively amplified yen depreciation pressure. Analysts note that the fiat currency depreciation environment has long been a key pillar of Bitcoin’s narrative as an "inflation hedge and currency devaluation safeguard," though Bitcoin’s recent price correlation with chip stocks remains stronger than its link to the yen exchange rate.

According to Hyperinsight monitoring, SKHX on Hyperliquid hit a peak of $1,353.2 this morning, then plunged rapidly at midday, touching a low of $1,253.1 at 13:40, down 7.4% from the high. As of press time, SKHX is trading at around $1,256.8, with its earlier gains almost fully erased. A whale opened a short position just before this round’s peak. Between 7:00 and 9:00 today, it sold a total of 2,000 SKHX via 491 transactions, at an average entry price of $1,333.98, totaling approximately $2.668 million. As of press time, the whale holds a 10x full-leverage short position of 2,000 SKHX, with an unrealized profit of about $154,200 and a return of 57.8%; its liquidation price is around $4,120.9. Currently, the whale has not placed any take-profit or stop-loss orders for SKHX. Historical transactions show this whale is a medium-high-frequency, multi-asset short-term address. Its 7-day trading volume is about $116 million, with a profit of $510,300; it previously mainly traded BTC and ETH in the crypto market, and this marks its first shift of positions to SKHX. -HyperInsight Bot is now live. Add @HyperInsightBot to your Telegram group and set it as an administrator (enable the send messages permission) to automatically sync on-chain information.

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index fell in midday trading, with its daily gain narrowing to 3% and currently trading at 6952.26 points. SK Hynix is up 13.75%, while Samsung is up 3.86%.

According to Bitget market data, Hong Kong-listed large language model (LLM) stocks have weakened, with MINIMAX-W (00100.HK) falling more than 9% and Zhipu (02513.HK) dropping over 3%.

According to CNBC, driven by the Trump administration’s push to repatriate advanced chip manufacturing to the United States, global leading wafer foundry TSMC stated that its overseas capacity expansion is driving up production costs and will continue to weigh on the company’s profit margins over the next several years. Since Trump returned to the White House in 2025, TSMC has announced a total of $200 billion in U.S. investments, including the newly unveiled $100 billion advanced semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging project. The White House noted that these investments are outcomes of Trump’s trade and industrial policies. TSMC’s second-quarter net profit rose 77.4% year-over-year, hitting another all-time high, with a gross margin of 67.7%—up from 66.2% in the first quarter. However, Chief Financial Officer Huang Renzhao said the launch of overseas fabrication plants (fabs) will continue to dilute gross margins, projecting an initial gross margin pressure of 2 to 3 percentage points in the coming years, which could expand to 3 to 4 percentage points later. Morningstar analysts estimate that chip production costs in the U.S. are 20% to 50% higher than in Taiwan, China, depending on factors such as subsidies, tax credits, and other cost elements. The market widely expects TSMC to pass part of the costs to customers via price increases. Earlier media reports said TSMC plans to raise its advanced and mature process foundry prices by up to 10% in 2027. Analysts pointed out that despite higher onshore U.S. construction costs, driven by growing AI demand, supply chain diversification, and U.S. industrial policies, TSMC will continue to expand its U.S. capacity layout. Leveraging its leading position in advanced process technology, the company boasts strong cost-shifting capabilities.