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AMC CEO Adam Aron once again criticized Robinhood's stock token business in a post, raising several questions to Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev and Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher. Aron stated that stock tokens violate the fundamental concept of stock ownership and questioned why Robinhood continues to heavily promote stock tokens on its U.S. site when it cannot provide relevant products to U.S. users.Aron also questioned whether stock tokens might lead buyers to mistakenly believe they have the same rights as actual shareholders, as well as the 1:1 stock support mechanism: if some of the underlying real stocks used to support the stock tokens are simultaneously lent to short sellers, can the related tokens still be considered truly 1:1 supported? Aron further criticized Robinhood for conducting related business through a Jersey entity, stating that while stock tokens may represent innovation in Robinhood's view, in his view, "it will only bring shame to Robinhood."Yesterday, Robinhood co-founder Vlad Tenev published a lengthy article outlining Robinhood's vision of enabling global investors (especially non-U.S. users) to gain exposure to U.S. stocks and ETFs through blockchain, and he focused on the question of whether issuers need to agree to the tokenization of stocks.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that the company will not go public this year, with the IPO potentially delayed until 2027. In an interview with Fortune, Altman mentioned that given the current circumstances surrounding safety issues, going public now is not a wise move, and the company feels no pressure in this regard.He added that the company has a lot of work to do, including meeting safety and alignment requirements, as well as promoting collaboration between the industry and the government. This statement comes as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei publicly called for a slowdown in the AI race on Saturday, with both Altman and Elon Musk quickly expressing their agreement.

Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison has joined the nonprofit organization Manifund. Manifund co-founder Austin Chen stated that Ellison will be responsible for developing the organization’s donation platform and enhancing its charitable work. Ellison has been on a trial basis at the organization since July, transitioned to full-time in August, and has been posting work updates under the alias "Carol."Ellison pleaded guilty in December 2022 to fraud and conspiracy charges related to the collapse of the FTX exchange in 2022, which resulted in billions of dollars in customer losses. She cooperated with prosecutors and testified against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Ellison is set to begin serving a two-year sentence in November 2024 and will be released early in January 2026 for cooperating with the investigation.Chen stated in a post, "I believe in redemption. Caroline has acknowledged her mistakes, is working to repay creditors, and has served time in prison. I hope the world can recognize that too." Ellison expressed excitement about her new position, apologized for her past actions, and thanked Austin for giving her a second chance, stating that he judges her based on her current work performance rather than her past. According to its website, Manifund focuses on artificial intelligence safety and effective altruism projects.

Institutional digital asset custodian Zodia Custody's CEO Julian Sawyer announced his resignation and will take on the role of strategic advisor. In a memo sent to employees on September 10, Sawyer stated that Standard Chartered Bank's acquisition of Zodia Custody's custody business and the establishment of Zodia Solutions provided an appropriate time for him to hand over daily leadership responsibilities, and he will continue to be closely involved in company affairs.According to the memo, Zodia Custody's Chief Revenue Officer Richard Clark will lead the company’s transition to Standard Chartered Bank and will be responsible for the custody business; current executives Craig Perrin and Anoosh Arevshatian will be responsible for the establishment of Zodia Solutions. A spokesperson for Zodia Custody confirmed this personnel change. Zodia Custody is an institutional-grade digital asset custodian based in London, supported by Standard Chartered Bank and other banks, providing regulated asset custody, wallet infrastructure, staking, and over-the-counter settlement services for financial institutions, asset management companies, and others.This arrangement differs from previous plans. In May of this year, SC Ventures announced that Sawyer would serve as CEO of Zodia Solutions after the acquisition was completed. Standard Chartered Bank stated in May that Zodia's shareholders and noteholders had accepted its non-binding acquisition offer, and the custody business would be integrated into the bank's financing and securities services division, while the infrastructure platform would be spun off into Zodia Solutions, which is under SC Ventures.

Chevron's CEO stated that the early buffer in the oil market has disappeared, and the price risks brought by the Iran war are now higher.

According to CNBC, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan stated at the YC annual Demo Day that regarding the distillation of OpenAI and Anthropic models by Chinese companies (including DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, etc.), he chose to "do nothing" and suggested that regulators focus instead on maintaining a commercial balance between open-weight models and cutting-edge models.Tan also holds a reserved attitude towards the doomsday theory of AI, believing that cybersecurity is currently the most urgent risk, while the employment impact and economic transformation caused by AI will take decades to truly permeate society.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that he is considering slowing down the development pace of cutting-edge artificial intelligence and hopes other AI companies will follow suit.According to informed sources, Altman mentioned the possibility of adjusting the AI development pace during a company meeting, collaborating with other AI labs. Recently, concerns among AI company employees about the risks of advanced AI systems have heightened internal anxiety.

According to Decrypt, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated in an interview with CNBC Squawk Box Asia that a Bitcoin price of $400,000 by 2030 is still a "reasonable goal," despite the current BTC price being around $77,000. He cited the four-year cycle pattern of Bitcoin, noting that the current downturn has lasted about a year, and said, "I personally believe that the bottom of this cycle for Bitcoin has already occurred." He also mentioned that typically there is a price increase before Bitcoin halving, which is expected to occur in about 18 months, stating, "The next one or two years will be a good time for Bitcoin."On the regulatory front, Armstrong is more optimistic about progress in Washington. The U.S. Senate will vote on the Clarity Act on September 15, and he stated that the bill is "ready to pass," with support from law enforcement agencies, several banks, and crypto companies, and the objections previously raised by Coinbase have been resolved. The remaining disagreement concerns the ethical rules regarding the president's family's crypto business, and negotiations are close to reaching a solution. Armstrong expects that regardless of whether the bill passes, there will be regulatory clarity within a month, as the SEC and CFTC have indicated they are ready to issue rules and innovation exemptions based on existing authority.He also cited last year's Genius Act as an example, stating that within three months of the bill's passage, over 150 large companies integrated stablecoins. If the Clarity Act passes, U.S. customers will be able to access tokenized stocks and perpetual contracts.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. Senate vote on the Clarity Act on September 15, the cryptocurrency industry will gain regulatory clarity. In an interview with CNBC, he mentioned that if the bill passes, the industry will receive legislative support; even if it does not pass, the SEC and CFTC have indicated their readiness to issue rules, and the industry will still gain regulatory clarity around the time of the vote.The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act aims to establish a federal regulatory framework for cryptocurrency exchanges, brokers, and stablecoins by dividing token regulatory authority between the SEC and CFTC. Armstrong noted that the bill has broad bipartisan and industry support, with law enforcement agencies, banks, and cryptocurrency companies all expressing their backing. Key issues previously raised by Coinbase have been resolved. The only outstanding matter is the ethical provisions concerning elected officials holding digital assets; the White House has proposed a plan that includes strong ethical clauses, while Democrats are pushing for further measures, including mandatory asset divestiture, with both sides nearing a resolution.In response to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's criticism regarding Coinbase's regulatory arbitrage using the bill's stablecoin provisions, Armstrong remarked that critics with large payment businesses are facing "competitive issues" and are "speaking for themselves." He also stated that Goldman Sachs, Bank of New York Mellon, and Fidelity all support the bill.

Apple's new CEO John Ternus stated at the company's Surprise and Shine event that the iPhone is currently the best AI device, and Apple places more importance on data privacy than its competitors. This statement comes as Ternus takes over as CEO from Tim Cook, who is now the Executive Chairman. Apple does not plan to create new hardware for AI but hopes to make the iPhone the central way for consumers to interact with this new technology.Ternus described the ideal AI device as a "smart personal hub," stating that it should widely understand the user's personal context, always be with them, have a powerful processor capable of running AI models on the device, connect to cloud models via the internet, and feature a large display, high-quality camera and microphone, long battery life, ease of use, and seamless collaboration with other devices, applications, and services. He stated that there is no product better suited to become a smart personal hub than the iPhone.Ternus also emphasized that Apple places greater importance on data privacy, stating that others view users' personal data as something to be collected and stored. He mentioned that when data is no longer controlled by the user, trust can only go so far, which is why Apple Intelligence runs as much as possible on the device.

Liquid Compute CEO Ronit Jain published an article introducing the hedging of computing power prices. Purchasing computing power, holding GPUs, or lending based on this has exposed them to computing power price fluctuations. Hedging is a cash-settled contract that locks in future prices against an index without the need to transfer GPUs.Companies can buy forwards to fix the cost of next year's capacity as a budget item while still being able to purchase from any supplier. Neocloud can sell forwards to convert uncontracted hours into fixed cash flow, making it easier for lenders to provide loans based on this. Regarding the residual value of sale-leaseback, recent forwards can be rolled over when entering a tradable range, or put options can be bought on forwards, with more liquid near-term options available to pay for the option premium.Hedging locks in prices rather than quantities, and does not completely match actual rates, nor is it free: it requires giving up favorable price movements or paying option premiums. Legally, it usually requires signing an ISDA Master Agreement with the counterparty, obtaining permission for the settlement index, and determining the ratio of hedging exposure.

Zora co-founder Dee Goens has taken over as CEO, succeeding co-founder Jacob Horne, who held the position for over six years. Goens stated in a post on Wednesday that Horne will leave the company to embark on a new chapter but "won't stray too far from crypto." Goens revealed that Zora has conducted layoffs this year, reducing the team size to fewer than 10 people, and is shifting towards a more AI-driven operational model.On the product front, Zora has shifted its focus from the Creator Coins model launched on Base last June to supporting trading pairs on other networks. The Custom Pairs feature, launched on August 20, allows users to customize token trading pairs, with over 4,000 created so far. Zora also expanded to Robinhood Chain and Solana this summer, supporting cross-chain trading and eliminating fees for direct messages and comments. According to DefiLlama data, Zora recorded only $14,800 in fees deployed on Base in August, a 99.4% drop from $2.51 million in the same period last year.Goens outlined five key priorities, with the top priority being to align the business with the interests of ZORA token holders through the implementation of buyback and reward mechanisms, though he did not disclose specific scales, sources of funds, or timelines. The remaining priorities include rebuilding community trust, focusing on mobile app user acquisition, and restarting community incentive distribution. As of the time of publication, ZORA is priced at $0.00814, with a market cap of approximately $36.3 million, down 94.4% from its historical high of $0.1456 reached on August 11.

According to CNBC, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev responded to AMC CEO Adam Aron's criticism of the stock token business, stating that after a company goes public, its stocks will become transferable property, and other financial institutions should be able to create financial products referencing the relevant stocks without needing the issuer's permission.Tenev stated that publicly traded companies have the right to control their own rights and obligations regarding the issuance of stocks, but cannot control other companies issuing securities that reference their stocks. Robinhood's stock tokens are issued by independent entities and are backed by the underlying stocks, so obtaining the consent of the publicly traded company should not be automatically required.Tenev also acknowledged that holders of stock tokens do not have voting rights in the underlying company. These tokens are designed as debt securities supported by the underlying stocks. As for how Robinhood will exercise the voting rights associated with the underlying stocks, the company has stated that it has not announced any related plans.

According to CoinDesk, the Algorand Foundation has officially appointed William Herkelrath as CEO, succeeding Staci Warden, who held the position for nearly five years. Herkelrath previously held leadership roles at blockchain data provider Chainlink and crypto custody company Curv, and co-founded the AI automation platform K3 Labs, officially taking office on August 31.Algorand stated that the new CEO will focus on driving institutional business expansion and post-quantum security initiatives. Currently, Algorand has introduced post-quantum accounts based on the Falcon-1024 cryptographic signature system in the v42 consensus upgrade and plans to achieve full quantum resistance by 2028. Additionally, the foundation's board has been adjusted, with Alex Fowler joining, while Rebecca Rettig and Michael Mosier have stepped down.

The tenth round of executive option pool at Japan's Bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet continues to spark shareholder dissatisfaction. This option pool was originally designed to be 20% of the fully diluted equity and automatically expands as the company issues new shares to increase its Bitcoin holdings. Some shareholders are calling for the cancellation of the newly added 273 million shares and for greater transparency in future decision-making. On August 18, Metaplanet froze the option pool at 319.5 million shares, but critics argue that this actually amplifies the dilution for existing shareholders, as the option pool increased from 46 million shares to 319.5 million shares.Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich has committed to re-evaluating the company's governance and compensation policies and clarifying its relationship with shareholder MMXX Ventures, stating that it is merely a non-controlling significant shareholder of MMXX's parent company and does not hold an executive position. On August 31, Metaplanet disclosed that Gerovich had exercised 92,000 shares from the option pool. Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, suggested freezing further exercise rights of the tenth round option pool, allowing holders to voluntarily waive excess rights, and replacing the tenth round option pool with a five-year incentive plan primarily linked to each share's fully diluted Bitcoin holdings, approved by shareholders.In its announcement on August 18, Metaplanet acknowledged that the decision to expand the option pool "amplified the dilution borne by existing shareholders." As of Wednesday's close in Tokyo, Metaplanet's stock price rose, narrowing the five-day decline to about 16.3%.

Former Silvergate Bank CEO Alan Lane stated in a Substack post that the political and regulatory pressures from the Biden administration led to the bank's voluntary liquidation in 2023. He mentioned that Silvergate could continue operating after meeting withdrawals equivalent to 70% of demand deposits in the fourth quarter of 2022, and the decision to liquidate was made "in the face of political pressure." The Federal Reserve's Office of Inspector General's review in September 2023 concluded that the liquidation stemmed from reliance on crypto depositors, funding risks, and governance and compliance deficiencies. The SEC had previously charged Silvergate, Lane, and former Chief Risk Officer Kathleen Fraher with misleading investors regarding their anti-money laundering program, with Lane settling for a $1 million fine and a five-year executive ban, while the Federal Reserve imposed a $43 million fine on Silvergate. Lane also cited a statement on crypto risks released by multiple agencies at the beginning of 2023 as evidence of industry pressure, which was later withdrawn in April 2025.

After Apple Inc.'s market value soared to $570 billion, the new CEO Tim Cook will welcome the release of the foldable iPhone. Since the price increase announcement on June 25, the stock price has risen by 15%, but it is still 7% lower than the peak on July 28.Morgan Stanley estimates the starting price of the foldable iPhone to be between $2,300 and $2,500, with first-quarter shipments expected to be around 6.5 million units and sales of approximately $14 billion.

According to CoinDesk, cryptocurrency custody company Copper's CEO Amar Kuchinad has resigned as the company seeks to sell and negotiations have entered their fourth month. Kuchinad joined Copper as CEO in October 2024, following the departure of the company's founder and CEO Dmitry Tokarev. Kuchinad previously worked at Goldman Sachs and served as an advisor at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Copper has been looking for buyers since May of this year and has hired Cantor Fitzgerald to assist with the sale, initially asking for $500 million. CoinDesk reported last month that the company received offers of about $200 million, while Copper's valuation at its peak exceeded $2 billion.Recently, Copper also added two executives: Elin Cherry as Chief Compliance Officer and Sean Bowen as Chief Operating Officer. As of the time of publication, neither Copper nor Kuchinad has responded to requests for comment.