Arthur Hayes: I bet that Bitcoin will surpass $110,000 before retracing to $76,500

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index opened higher and trended upward this Monday, with its intraday gain expanding to 2%. SK Hynix rose 4.5%, while Samsung gained 2.81%. On the news front, Bank of America forecasts that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will announce specific shareholder return plans as follows: For Samsung Electronics, Bank of America expects the firm to return 50% of its free cash flow to shareholders, mainly including: a special dividend of over 30 trillion won to be distributed in either the third or fourth quarter; share buybacks of more than 40 trillion won in the first half of 2027; and a 30 trillion won year-end dividend to be paid in April 2027. In addition, Samsung Electronics will conduct an extra share buyback of over 30 trillion won for employee compensation. For SK Hynix, Bank of America also projects it will return 50% of its free cash flow to shareholders, with a higher proportion allocated to share buybacks than cash dividends: the chipmaker is expected to repurchase more than 40 trillion won worth of shares and distribute cash dividends exceeding 20 trillion won.

F2Pool co-founder Wang Chun posted that OCEAN Pool co-founder and CTO Luke Dashjr is not only financially bankrupt but also has lost his personal credibility. Wang also "suggested" Luke might as well try changing the PoW algorithm next, though the result would still not be favorable. Separately, yesterday's news reported that the Bitcoin BIP-110 fork faced failure just 8 hours after its launch, due to insufficient hash rate support, having produced only two blocks.

The summary of opinions from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) Monetary Policy Meeting Board Members for July is as follows: A representative from the Cabinet Office noted that appropriate monetary policy conducive to achieving price stability is critical for building a robust economy, and expressed hope that the BOJ will closely coordinate policies with the government and implement proper monetary policy. Additionally, key views from several board members include: Against Japan’s economic, price, and financial backdrop, the BOJ’s pace of interest rate hikes may be faster than market expectations. While staying vigilant to upside inflation risks, it is essential to adjust policy rates in an agile and flexible manner. The BOJ must normalize monetary policy by lifting policy rates above the lower bound of the neutral interest rate estimate range. Given that inflationary pressures may emerge starting this summer, the BOJ must clarify its resolve to prevent excessive inflation. The BOJ must accelerate adjustments to monetary support, as the cost of delaying interest rate hikes is far from negligible.

According to Bitget market data, South Korean and Japanese stock markets opened steadily higher this Monday. The Nikkei 225 index opened 0.4% higher, while South Korea’s KOSPI opened 0.8% higher. For individual stocks, Samsung and SK Hynix both gained over 2%.

Following last week’s unexpectedly weak U.S. jobs data that cooled rate hike expectations, markets will closely monitor the U.S. July CPI and PPI data set to release on Wednesday, which will further clarify the Federal Reserve’s subsequent policy path. In addition, U.S. optical module giants Lumentum and Coherent, as well as computing infrastructure firm CoreWeave, will release their earnings reports this week, wrapping up the semiconductor earnings season. Key events for the coming week are as follows: Monday: The Bank of Japan releases the summary of opinions from its July Monetary Policy Meeting members; Unitree Robotics opens its IPO subscription, with an IPO price of RMB 150.8 per share. The STAR Market IPO plans to issue 40.4464 million shares, representing 10% of the total share capital post-issuance; each lot consists of 500 shares, requiring a total subscription payment of approximately RMB 75,400. Tuesday: Weekly change in U.S. ADP employment for the week ending July 25; Wednesday: Earnings calls for optical module leader Lumentum and AI computing power leasing firm CoreWeave (held after U.S. market close on Tuesday); U.S. July CPI and core CPI; U.S. EIA crude oil inventories for the week ending August 7; Thursday: Cisco (CSCO) earnings call at 4:30 AM UTC+8 (held after U.S. market close on Wednesday); Coherent releases its earnings on the same day; U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ending August 8; U.S. July PPI; 2026 FOMC voter and Cleveland Fed President Harlan Harker delivers a speech; 2027 FOMC voter and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin speaks on the economic outlook; Friday: Applied Materials (AMAT) earnings call at 4:30 AM UTC+8 (held after U.S. market close on Thursday); U.S. July retail sales month-over-month rate; U.S. preliminary August University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, preliminary one-year inflation expectation, and June business inventories month-over-month rate.

Alliance co-founder Imran stated on X that competition between Pump and Fomo could act as a key catalyst to drive onchain finance into the mainstream. The rivalry between the two platforms will push onchain finance from its current niche status on Crypto Twitter to products accessible to mass consumers. Imran also pointed out that with the growth of transaction-focused content creators and trading-related content such as Market Bubble and Counterparty, the onchain finance industry could expand by at least an order of magnitude in the future. Earlier reports noted that pump.fun is using incentive programs to attract users from FOMO platforms to its application. According to its disclosed protocol documents, pump.fun intends to provide eligible users with a one-time $20,000 signing bonus plus a fixed monthly stipend of $30,000.