Liquid Clarification: No private keys were leaked; the theft resulted from exploitation of a vulnerability in the open-source Elements software, and 3,400 BTC have been recovered.

Bloomberg aggregated data from the Japan Financial Futures Association and Tokyo Financial Exchange shows that as of last week, Japanese individual investors held a net short yen position of approximately 3.61 trillion yen (about $23.5 billion), a further increase from August. This size hit 4.41 trillion yen in July, the highest level since 2015. Japanese retail investors have long followed a contrarian trading pattern: selling when the yen rises and buying when it falls. But as the yen continues to strengthen, these short positions are facing growing pressure to close out. Masayuki Nakajima, a strategist at Mizuho Bank, noted that if the yen appreciates further, some retail investors may be forced to close their long dollar positions—selling dollars to buy yen, which would amplify the yen’s rally. Bets on yen strength in the options market have also heated up. CME Group data shows the most actively traded USD/JPY option on Tuesday was a put option expiring in November with a strike price of 142.86. The volume of USD/JPY put options expiring by the end of the year is more than three times that of call options. The market is largely betting USD/JPY will fall to 150–152, with some 12-month options even pricing in a drop to 140. Meanwhile, Wall Street remains divided on the yen’s outlook. Some strategists argue the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has limited room for further rate hikes, and USD/JPY may face policy resistance after approaching 150. Other institutions counter that if the BOJ signals additional policy tightening, paired with Japanese exporters accelerating repatriation of overseas funds, the yen still has room to rise. Current market focus is shifting to the policy paths of the Federal Reserve and the BOJ. If the yen continues climbing, Japanese retail investors’ massive long-dollar and short-yen positions could shift from a force that “suppresses the yen” to a catalyst driving the currency higher as they close out their trades.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, a whale with address 4Hw4QR withdrew 16,976 SOL from Binance, worth approximately $1.76 million, and subsequently purchased 9.32 million STONK at an average price of $0.19.

JPMorgan Securities Japan strategists noted that yen strength is expected to ease upward pressure on Japanese government bond (JGB) yields, thereby spurring an earlier recovery for Tokyo-listed AI and semiconductor sectors. Strategists including Rie Nishihara wrote in a report that the recently underperforming real estate sector could also stand to benefit. Some sectors are facing negative impacts on earnings from yen appreciation, such as transportation, logistics, and automotive industries. JPMorgan’s view on potential gains for Tokyo’s AI and semiconductor sectors stands in contrast to Saxo Bank’s global stock outlook for the same segments. Saxo strategist Charu Chanana previously stated that a yen rebound could trigger liquidation of some crowded and leveraged positions. (Jinshi)

Solana ecosystem cat-themed meme coin Anonymous Cat (ZCAT) has distributed roughly 2,320 ZEC to eligible holders via its unique transaction tax mechanism, worth approximately $2.75 million at current prices, with over 470,000 reward distributions completed. ZCAT levies a 3% transaction tax on every transfer; most of the proceeds are converted into Zcash (ZEC) and then allocated to wallets holding at least $20 worth of ZCAT. With ZEC surging sharply recently, this mechanism has significantly increased the ZEC rewards earned by ZCAT holders. It is worth noting that these ZEC do not come from business revenue, but from transaction taxes generated by other users buying, selling, and transferring ZCAT. As such, ZCAT’s reward scale is highly dependent on its own trading activity; once trading volume declines, ZEC rewards for holders will also drop substantially. Per GMGN market data, ZCAT currently has a market capitalization of around $111 million, a 4.39% 24-hour drop, and a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $20.5 million.

Andy, founder of Rollup, published a post stating that market rumors suggest the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is preparing to roll out its largest-ever tokenization innovation exemption policy. The policy would potentially allow tokenized securities to trade exclusively through registered transfer agents, eliminating the need for broker-dealer licenses or compliance with rules for traditional trading platforms or alternative trading systems (ATS), and is reportedly set to cover U.S. retail investors and overseas participants. Andy noted that if the news is true, the potential impact would be significant. Tokenized funds could be issued and traded directly as on-chain tokens, with transfer agents maintaining legal ownership records on-chain. Meanwhile, underlying assets held by funds—such as stocks and bonds—could also be further tokenized, forming an on-chain trading system of "fund tokens + underlying asset tokens". Andy further added that a major fund has received the SEC's "green light", though this has not been officially confirmed. He speculated that potential participants could include ARK, Fidelity, or BlackRock. If the policy is ultimately implemented, U.S. asset management firms may accelerate the issuance of native equity tokens to compete for round-the-clock liquidity and on-chain distribution channels, rather than waiting for third parties to mirror-tokenize traditional securities. He further linked this potential policy shift to recent moves by the Trump administration to open up crypto market regulation and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)’s push to bring perpetual contracts into the U.S. market, suggesting that the U.S. regulatory environment may be gradually opening the policy gates for on-chain finance.

Insight Beating AI News Flash: Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon announced his resignation and plans to exit the AI industry. Over the past three years, he has worked on pre-training research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. He criticized that neither company is advancing AI responsibly, and they are racing to build superintelligence that continuously enhances their own capabilities, "betting with our lives." He switched from OpenAI to Anthropic earlier this year, originally because he believed the latter placed more emphasis on model safety. Coxon admitted that Anthropic’s safety work is earnest, but argued that as long as companies compete to be the first to develop AGI (artificial general intelligence, AI that outperforms humans across a wide range of tasks), safety compromises will be unavoidable, and self-regulation by a single company cannot resolve the issue. His assessment of the two firms: many at OpenAI still haven’t truly realized how severe these risks are; Anthropic is aware of the risks but believes others cannot be trusted, so it must develop AGI first. Coxon noted that some AI practitioners are far more pessimistic in private than their public statements, even fearing AI could destroy humanity before the end of this decade. He himself judges that in the most extreme scenario, AI could spiral out of control as early as next year, so such decisions should not be made solely by internal engineers at a handful of companies.