CPI slows as expected, dimming Fed rate hike bets; AI stocks surge, Bitcoin edges lower.

UBS’s latest estimates indicate that global AI capital expenditure will hit $998 billion in 2026, nearly doubling from $506 billion in 2025, and climbing further to $1.447 trillion in 2027. This sharp upward revision is driven primarily by the rapid surge in memory prices, rather than an overall expansion of infrastructure investment scale. Memory spending will jump from $71 billion in 2025 to $367 billion in 2026, then expand to $923 billion in 2027; over the same period, non-memory AI capital expenditure will reach roughly $631 billion in 2026, but fall back to $525 billion in 2027. The share of memory in total AI capital expenditure will rise from around 14% in 2025 to 37% in 2026, and jump further to 64% in 2027. UBS calculates that about 60% of the year-on-year increase in AI capital expenditure in 2026 comes from rising memory costs. In 2027, incremental memory spending will even exceed the total net increase in overall AI capital expenditure, as spending on other components declines during the same period. Of the nearly $1 trillion total increase between 2025 and 2027, roughly 90% is attributable to higher memory spending. UBS specifically notes that if the incremental spending is driven mainly by price hikes, its boost to U.S. real GDP will be quite limited, instead largely translating to a transfer of revenue and profits to Asian memory manufacturers, thereby delivering a more direct positive contribution to the GDP of those economies. The world’s major memory producers are concentrated in Asia, meaning that as the AI investment cycle deepens, the Asian memory industry chain may benefit more than the market previously expected. This structural shift signals that the economic driver of the AI investment cycle is moving beyond simple expansion of infrastructure scale to rising costs of key components required to support more powerful computing systems, and investors’ tracking framework for AI capital expenditure will also need to adjust accordingly.

Analyst Miller Cole noted that one Bitcoin is currently worth roughly 18.55 ounces of gold. At this time last month, one Bitcoin was only equivalent to about 15.3 ounces of gold. This ratio has once again crossed above the 50-week simple moving average, indicating a bullish signal. The analyst believes the BTC/XAU pair will reach notable new highs in the coming years.

SlowMist’s Chief Information Security Officer 23pds has issued a reminder urging iOS users to update their devices. According to his post, the DarkSword iOS attack tool, which was leaked in March, is now being actively exploited by cybercriminal groups. Attackers trick users into opening malicious web pages via Safari, then gradually break through the browser’s sandbox, escalate privileges, and ultimately access the iOS Keychain and wallet data to steal private keys and mnemonics. The suspected affected iOS versions range from iOS 13 to 26.5 (pending confirmation).

South Korean police spent five months identifying individual Polymarket traders via public blockchain transaction records and filed gambling-related cases. The Cyber Investigation Unit of the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency launched the probe in March, opened cases in May, while the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) only ordered the blocking of Polymarket on August 18. As of September 15, police have filed cases against 26 people, with 18 referred to prosecutors. The total amount involved in the case stands at $12.7 million, and the single largest trader invested $4.1 million. South Korean police noted that since Polymarket operates as a non-custodial peer-to-peer market and does not hold a list of South Korean users’ real identities, obtaining a user roster from the operator is not practical. However, on-chain transaction records are publicly available, so the police used open-source intelligence analysis to independently identify and track users.

"BTC OG Insider Whale" agent Garrett Jin has consecutively posted two screenshots of ZEC (Zcash) spot withdrawals from Binance, along with corresponding Zcash blockchain explorer links. Records show that on December 20, 2025, he withdrew 134,000 ZEC and 68,076.23 ZEC from his Binance spot account successively, totaling approximately 202,100 ZEC. At ZEC’s current price of around $1,560, this address’s holdings are valued at roughly $315 million. Garrett recently drew attention for holding a large-scale ZEC short position on Hyperliquid, which has incurred tens of millions of dollars in unrealized losses. This post is intended to reveal that his contract short position is more likely a hedge against his massive spot holdings, rather than a pure naked short. According to TradingBeats’ monitoring, the unrealized loss on the ZEC short position held by "BTC OG Insider Whale" agent Garrett Jin has reached $33.83 million, with the short position size at 37,999.54 ZEC, valued at $59.33 million, funding rate income of $660,000, and liquidation price at $4,790.

On September 18 local time, Trump signed the Lindsey Graham Russia and Iran Sanctions Act of 2026, authorizing the expansion of legal sanctions, tariffs and bans on Russia, and extending sanctions against Iran. The same day, Trump said he is weighing whether to take further military action against Tehran, remarking "We will see," and noted that the U.S. is in contact with Yemen’s Houthi movement. Additionally, Trump announced that the U.S. has reached an agreement with Denmark on security issues for Greenland, which will ensure Washington’s permanent capability to maintain local security. He also named three media outlets, including CNN, on social media, banning them from entering the White House, and claimed his approval rating among Republicans has hit 95%, a record high.