Iran and Oman hold multiple rounds of consultations on the Strait of Hormuz issue.

Crypto trading platform BitMart announced that after evaluating its operational status, market environment and future strategic direction, it has decided to orderly cease its trading business. Shortly after, Bruce, founder of MSX, called out to BitMart, stating, “Don’t shut down—I’ll acquire it.” He added that he has already contacted BitMart’s team. Bruce further said that if he acquires BitMart, his first step will be completing the transfer procedures, followed by slashing all spot and derivatives trading fees to zero, as he believes crypto trading platforms charge excessively high fees.

South Korean exchange data shows that pension funds, including the National Pension Service (NPS) — one of the largest institutional investors in South Korea's stock market — have turned net buyers in the Korean stock market for the first time this month. As of July 24, the NPS and other pension funds have net purchased 68.4 billion won (approximately $46.8 million) of KOSPI index constituent stocks in July this year. This marks the first monthly net purchase by pension funds this year after six consecutive months of net selling. In terms of individual stocks, SK Hynix is the most bought stock by pension funds since July, with a net purchase amount of 425.8 billion won. (Jinshi)

Changxin Technology will list on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange on July 27, with an initial market capitalization of around 580 billion yuan. The IPO is priced at 8.66 yuan per share, and the final online subscription winning rate hit 0.4714%, a new record for STAR Market IPOs. After full exercise of the over-allotment option, total fundraising can reach up to 66.6 billion yuan. According to Hyperinsight monitoring, the price of CXMT (Changxin Memory, with Changxin Technology as its listed entity) Pre-IPO contract on Hyperliquid is currently quoted at $6.087, equivalent to a share price of 41.2 yuan. Calculated based on the total share capital of 66.881 billion shares post-IPO, the on-chain implied market value stands at approximately $407.1 billion, or around 2.76 trillion yuan. Based on this valuation, the subscription cost for a single retail lot of 500 shares is 4,330 yuan, with an estimated market value of 20,600 yuan for 500 shares on the first trading day, translating to a single lot profit of roughly 16,000 yuan. Founded in 2016, Changxin Technology is China’s largest and most technologically advanced integrated DRAM R&D, design and manufacturing enterprise. In Q4 2025, it held a 7.67% global DRAM market share, ranking fourth worldwide and first in China, with ambitions to become the world’s third-largest DRAM supplier. In Q1 2026, the company’s revenue reached 50.8 billion yuan, surging 719% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders hit 24.762 billion yuan, a 1688% year-on-year jump. For the first half of 2026, it forecasts net profit attributable to shareholders of between 50 billion and 57 billion yuan.

Elon Musk stated in an interview with The Economist that China will most likely emerge as an AI leader at some point in the future, and even if the U.S. bans Chinese AI models, it cannot prevent this outcome. (The Paper)

According to South Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong met with OpenAI founder Sam Altman at OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters to discuss cooperation in the fields of artificial intelligence and semiconductors. OpenAI announced on the 26th that Lee and Altman held talks at the company’s San Francisco headquarters on the morning of the 25th local time. While OpenAI did not disclose specific discussion contents or topics, industry observers believe the two sides likely communicated about deepening cooperation on AI infrastructure such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), and advanced wafer foundry. They may also have explored Samsung’s digital transformation plan for rolling out generative AI across its entire business lines. (Jinshi)

"The 'Big Short' protagonist Michael Burry has disclosed his latest portfolio adjustments, continuing to increase short exposure to semiconductor stocks. Specifically, he added to short positions in Micron Technology (MU), NVIDIA (NVDA), and semiconductor ETF SOXX at prices of $933.86, $210.28, and $535.83 respectively. Additionally, Burry also added to his short position in Caterpillar (CAT) at $893.49. On the long side, he increased holdings in Flutter (FLUT), DraftKings (DKNG), and Molina Healthcare (MOH) at prices of $100.72, $23.07, and $197.02 respectively. Burry’s short positions in Tesla, Palantir, and Nasdaq 100 Index ETF QQQ remained unchanged."