Preview: Federal Reserve Chair to Deliver High-Stakes Speech at 22:00, a Critical Guide for Interest Rate Expectations

According to Reuters, Anthropic had planned to acquire AI chip startup MatX for $7 billion but ultimately scrapped the deal. MatX is now seeking roughly $4 billion in new funding. Anthropic is currently in discussions with several chip startups, with plans to develop custom chips in-house to accelerate hardware development for its Claude AI model, aiming to reduce its reliance on Nvidia chips.

The Hongkou District Public Security Bureau of Shanghai, China recently cracked a case involving cross-border illegal settlement and illegal foreign exchange trading using virtual currency, arresting 9 suspects with the case involving over 200 million yuan. Since early 2024, suspect Li and his accomplices established a tech company to pursue illegal profits, building two online platforms: "Cross-Border Fund Exchange" and "Virtual Credit Card Issuance and Settlement". They solicited customers both online and offline, illegally conducting exchange and settlement services for virtual currency and cross-border funds, and reaped illegal gains by charging transaction fees, consumption service fees, card issuance fees, withdrawal fees, and other charges. Investigators stated: "The particularity of this case is that the criminals developed two apps and solicited customers on such a large scale publicly, which is unprecedented. The platforms built in this case form a closed-loop illegal financial service system, with all transactions settled internally on the platforms. This criminal model is more large-scale, has a longer chain, and is more deceptive." According to reports, on the "Cross-Border Fund Exchange" platform, the criminal group collects virtual currency from overseas customers, converts it into foreign currencies to form a "fund pool", then conducts cross-border foreign exchange settlement by fabricating false contracts and other means to realize the exchange and transfer between virtual currency and RMB. On the "Virtual Credit Card Issuance and Settlement" platform, the group "cooperated" with multiple overseas private banks to issue virtual credit cards to customers, who could use the cards for consumption but were required to settle repayments in virtual currency. The group converted virtual currency into foreign currencies overseas and completed clearing with overseas card merchants through false cross-border foreign exchange settlement.

Crypto KOL Ansem outlined his on-chain investment selection criteria during a recent podcast, noting he "relies mainly on intuition" but also follows three key screening rules: 1. Target sectors with no upper limits, focusing on new mechanisms no one has implemented before; 2. Ignore new trading pairs, letting the market signal which assets are gaining traction and trading volume; 3. Skip projects with a market capitalization under $10 million, and start monitoring them only once they are operational.

According to official information, DTCC (The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation) has listed the 21Shares Polkadot Staking ETF, with the trading ticker TDOT.

On-chain data shows that Aave V4’s user deposits have reached $806 million, surging 30% in seven days to an all-time high, while its active loan volume stands at $216 million. Currently, Aave V4 is deployed across Ethereum, Optimism, and Avalanche, with deposit breakdowns as follows: $378 million in Ethereum Core, $257 million in EtherFi Cash on Optimism, $75 million in Ethereum Global Dollar, and $63 million in Ethereum Prime. Aave V3’s user deposits still total $31 billion, of which Ethereum Core accounts for $25 billion.

Prediction market platform Polymarket US has withdrawn two NFL player participation contract applications. The contracts, which had just been certified by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the day prior, were pulled one day before their scheduled listing, with the platform offering no public reason for the withdrawal. The contracts are based on metrics including whether players will participate in at least one offensive or defensive play, and are set to be settled per official NFL game records, classified as binary option swaps. On the same day, Polymarket certified Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana price contracts with the CFTC — also binary option swap contracts in paired form.