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Ant Group's three independent sectors, Ant International, OceanBase, and Ant Technology, have recently launched intensive external financing. Among them, Ant International completed approximately $1.2 billion in Series A financing in July, OceanBase is seeking about 2 to 3 billion yuan in Series A financing, and Ant Technology is preparing for Pre-IPO financing. All three companies will operate independently starting in March 2024. Sources close to Ant indicate that this round of financing is more of a phased test of the effectiveness of the three companies' independent operations, and they have not yet entered the preparation stage for an IPO.OceanBase's annual revenue has exceeded 1.4 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of about 70%; Ant Technology's revenue is expected to be around 5 billion yuan in 2025, with a target of about 8 billion yuan in 2026. Ant International's revenue is projected to be around $3.75 billion in 2025. Since 2023, Ant Group has invested nearly 80 billion yuan in technology, shifting its strategic focus from fintech to AI and data elements, with its financial business humorously referred to internally as the department that "earns living expenses" for the AI business.Currently, Ant's overall valuation is approximately 592 billion yuan, a reduction of more than 70% from 2.1 trillion yuan on the eve of its IPO in 2020. The market believes that a spin-off listing is a more realistic path than an overall listing for the group, but each sector still needs to prove its independent customer acquisition capabilities to open the doors to the capital market.

Stable has released an updated white paper, whose core design concept is to rebuild blockchain infrastructure around stablecoins. Unlike traditional public chains that treat stablecoins as application layer assets, Stable uses USDT as a native Gas asset and primary settlement asset, allowing users to complete transactions without holding additional volatile tokens. At the same time, the network supports PYUSD issued by PayPal as a primary settlement asset.In terms of token economics, the total supply of STABLE is 10 billion tokens. Among them, approximately 1.8 billion tokens (18%) were in circulation at the time of token generation, including 10% for Genesis Distribution and 8% for the foundation's first-day unlock; the remaining 8.2 billion tokens (82%) will enter a Universal Lock pool.The white paper indicates that the 8.2 billion locked tokens will adopt a unified release mechanism, unlocking gradually in 7 phases:Phase 1: 5% (410 million tokens) released on December 8, 2027Phase 2: 5% (410 million tokens) released on March 8, 2028Phase 3: 10% (820 million tokens) released on June 8, 2028Phase 4: 15% (1.23 billion tokens) released on September 8, 2028Phase 5: 15% (1.23 billion tokens) released on December 8, 2028Phase 6: 20% (1.64 billion tokens) released on March 8, 2029Phase 7: 30% (2.46 billion tokens) released on June 8, 2029All locked tokens will be unlocked through daily linear release, expected to be fully in circulation by December 8, 2029, at the latest. Additionally, the white paper sets a price protection mechanism; if the volume-weighted average price of the token is below $0.025 in the 30 days prior to the specified release date, the relevant unlocking phase may be postponed by up to 9 months.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, Machi (@machibigbrother) withdrew 1,540 USDC from Binance and sold Bored Ape #5715 for 8.3 ETH (worth $15,600).This NFT was purchased by him 3 years ago for 34.17 ETH. Machi currently holds 2,800 ETH long positions, valued at $5,300,000, with a liquidation price of $1,863.08.

According to South Korean media NATE, the Korea Regulatory Reform Committee has proposed amendments to the enforcement decree of the Specific Financial Transaction Information Act, excluding minor violations from the qualification restrictions for major shareholders of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP).This move has sparked discussions in the market regarding exchange mergers and acquisitions, the entry of new businesses, and the fairness of regulation. The proposal to relax restrictions also involves issues related to the boundaries of the enforcement decree's authority.

An FBI agent, Patrick Yaroch, was arrested last Friday for allegedly stealing approximately $1 million in cryptocurrency from "hostile crypto accounts." According to the submitted affidavit, Yaroch is suspected of transferring the relevant assets starting from late 2024 or early 2025. Yaroch told investigators that he discovered some keys that allowed him to transfer funds from the digital wallet to himself. He expressed frustration at being unable to further prevent personnel related to "hostile nations" from using cryptocurrency and made about a dozen transfers.Department of Justice documents show that Yaroch admitted to a Department of Justice employee that he had "made some very bad decisions" regarding issues related to crypto wallets. In another interview with federal agents, he also acknowledged that he had "screwed up." Yaroch was previously a supervisory special agent in the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division and had earlier served in the FBI's Boston field office. The FBI terminated him on July 31. The investigation also indicated that Yaroch mixed personal funds with cryptocurrency assets and had used ChatGPT to inquire about how to handle these funds, including how to spend or invest $1 million and whether to leave the United States for a country in Europe.

HashKey Holdings Limited's latest announcement states that its wholly-owned subsidiary HKDAG SG has entered into a non-binding framework agreement with the major shareholders of the Singapore Derivatives Exchange APEX regarding a potential acquisition of all its equity. The acquisition price and payment arrangements have yet to be determined.According to HashKey, APEX holds a recognized exchange license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and its member company Asia Pacific Clear holds a recognized clearing house license, possessing comprehensive issuance and clearing capabilities. HashKey indicated that if the acquisition is completed, it will help establish a more scalable regulated presence in Singapore.The announcement also emphasizes that the proposed acquisition is subject to the execution of final documents and obtaining approval from MAS before it can be finalized. As of the announcement date, neither party has executed any final documents, nor has MAS approval been obtained, and the transaction may or may not proceed.

According to reports from China News Service, multiple South Korean media outlets believe that the recent sharp decline in the stock market is interpreted as a shock from the listing of China's largest semiconductor company, Changxin Technology. The market is worried that Changxin Technology will use the funds raised from its stock market listing to catch up with semiconductor companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, and this concern has spread, leading to a setback in investor sentiment.According to a previous report by CNBC, Z-Ben Advisors analyst Peter Alexander believes that, referencing the development paths of the steel and new energy vehicle industries, Changxin Technology will quickly seize market share in the low-end memory chip market and ultimately shake the monopoly positions of Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology in the global memory industry.

According to the WSJ, Robinhood is in talks with the cryptocurrency trading platform Crypto.com to further expand its prediction market business.Insiders revealed that both parties plan to integrate Crypto.com's prediction market business into the Robinhood platform, allowing users to participate in the "yes/no" prediction contracts offered by Crypto.com directly through the Robinhood trading interface.

According to on-chain analysis platform Lookonchain (@lookonchain), "Machibigbrother" (@machibigbrother) has once again faced liquidation. To raise funds to maintain an ETH long position, he sold Bored Ape #6801 for 8.61 ETH two hours ago, while the purchase price of the NFT three years ago was 23.5 ETH. This sale resulted in a loss of approximately 14.89 ETH (about $28,000).

Recently, market risk appetite has cooled, and high-valuation technology chip sectors are under significant pressure; in contrast, supported by expectations in infrastructure, manufacturing, and cyclical demand, industrial machinery-related assets have shown relative resilience. According to Gate platform data, ARM/USDT (Arm) is currently priced at $284.29, down 1.13% in the last 24 hours; CATG/USDT (Caterpillar) is currently priced at $892.11, up 0.16% in the last 24 hours; GEG/USDT (General Electric) is currently priced at $341.55, down 0.61% in the last 24 hours. In terms of performance, Caterpillar-related trading pairs have slightly strengthened, while Arm and General Electric-related trading pairs have fluctuated downwards, overall still showing a divergent pattern.

On July 17, Interlace and BlockSec jointly held the summit "The Next Decade of Payments: Digital Currency, AI Agents, and the New Global Financial Order." The event brought together industry guests from AI, Web3, security, and payments to discuss the development trends of stablecoin payments, security compliance, AI agents, and global payment infrastructure.BlockSec co-founder Zhou Yajin and Interlace founder and CEO Michael Wu delivered keynote speeches on "Security and Compliance in Crypto Payments" and "Agentic Payment and the New Infrastructure of Global Finance," respectively, sharing their latest observations on the development trends of digital asset payments. As the scenarios for stablecoin payments continue to expand, the security compliance system and the construction of a new generation of payment infrastructure are becoming key supports for driving industry development. In the future, payment infrastructure will not only serve the function of capital flow but will also further evolve into a programmable, trusted, and verifiable value transfer system, providing underlying support for the connection between digital assets and real-world commerce.At the event, Interlace also officially released the white paper "The Value Transmission Layer of the AI Economy: From Concept to Implementation." The white paper was jointly initiated with ecosystem partners such as Bitget, BlockSec, Cobo, Conflux, Stable, Xagent, and Hetu, systematically defining the architecture, standards, and implementation paths of Agentic Payment infrastructure, providing a reference for value transfer in the era of the AI economy.

Binance is transforming from a cryptocurrency exchange into a payment-oriented super app, with stablecoins becoming its new growth engine and emerging market users as the core driving force.