energy

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel stated in an interview with CNBC that the company plans to hold its stakes in Japan's five major trading companies as a long-term investment, expecting to hold them for decades. Currently, Berkshire holds over 10% of shares in each of the five major trading companies and is continuously exploring other cooperation opportunities in Japan and overseas with these enterprises. Abel also mentioned that despite the 10-year Japanese government bond yield rising to about 3%, the five major trading companies do not view the rise in interest rates as a fundamental challenge, and Berkshire still plans to issue yen bonds as needed.Regarding AI investments, Abel stated that the rapid development of artificial intelligence and the practical applications of AI by Berkshire's subsidiaries are among the important reasons for the company's optimism about Alphabet. On the construction of AI data centers, he believes that energy supply and related infrastructure development remain major constraints, which also presents significant opportunities for Berkshire and Berkshire Energy. Abel pointed out that the company is willing to provide energy services for large tech companies' data centers, but on the condition that it does not harm the interests of other customers and should bring net benefits to the local community.In terms of the U.S. housing market, Abel stated that Berkshire takes a long-term view of the housing industry, believing that the "American Dream" will continue, but there will not be a rapid recovery in the short term, and the industry may still face fluctuations for some time. Regarding the overall economy, he noted that most of Berkshire's large businesses performed strongly as of the second quarter, with demand still robust, but American consumers are under significant pressure and need to be more cautious in managing their income; overall, the economic fundamentals that Berkshire currently sees remain "very strong."

According to EU-Startups, Berlin-based AI-native energy platform Cloover announced the completion of a new funding round of €86.2 million (approximately $100 million) and received €350 million in guarantees from the European Investment Fund (EIF), bringing the total funding amount to over €1.12 billion (approximately $1.3 billion). Meanwhile, the company announced that it has officially achieved profitability three years after its establishment, with an annualized revenue exceeding €301.7 million (approximately $350 million).Cloover focuses on residential solar energy, heat pumps, and home electrification, providing financing, software, and energy products in collaboration with independent installers. It currently covers the five major markets in Europe, completing approximately 20,000 installation projects each year, making it one of the top three residential energy players in Europe's largest energy market. The company plans to further expand into the UK, France, and Poland markets. In addition, Cloover has officially launched an AI-native "new utility" model, transforming each household into a virtual power plant through a home energy management system, aggregating distributed solar energy, energy storage, heat pumps, and electric vehicle charging stations to enable real-time trading of electricity flexibility.

Before the IPO of SB Energy, supported by SoftBank, the company offered a huge incentive to attract OpenAI as a tenant for its data centers. The IPO draft documents show that OpenAI received warrants worth approximately $5.5 billion from SB Energy, which OpenAI had previously invested in.SB Energy is expected to publicly submit its IPO documents as early as this week, and the company is working with bankers to potentially conduct the IPO next month, aiming to raise between $5 billion and $7 billion. Currently, SB Energy's data center customer base consists of companies that are also investors in the company. The documents indicate that SoftBank and OpenAI plan to become tenants of three data centers of SB Energy. The fourth data center, located in Scurry County, Texas, has a capacity of 900 megawatts and currently does not have confirmed customers.

The Hyperliquid Policy Council (HPC) and TradeXYZ jointly submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), calling for the inclusion of energy perpetual contracts in the regulated U.S. market.The article mentions that in February this year, due to the Middle East conflict causing disruptions in crude oil exports and the U.S. futures market being closed, overseas market participants were able to manage risk exposure through crude oil-linked perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid. Approximately two-thirds of the price changes were completed on-chain during the first weekend of the conflict.In May this year, the CFTC approved the first batch of cryptocurrency-based perpetual contracts to be traded as futures in the U.S., and in June, it publicly solicited opinions on energy perpetual contracts. The comment letter suggests that the CFTC establish a technology-neutral framework to evaluate energy perpetual contracts and 24/7 trading, confirm that exchanges can operate around the clock, recognize stablecoins and tokenized collateral as eligible margin, and allow regulated markets to use on-chain infrastructure for execution, clearing, and settlement.

Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor posted on the X platform, stating that the most profound innovation of Bitcoin is its ability to convert economic energy into digital form and securely bind it to individuals, families, businesses, machines, and even nations.Michael Saylor pointed out that Bitcoin is not only a digital asset but also a brand new mechanism for value storage and economic coordination, allowing wealth to be preserved in digital form for the long term and verified and transferred globally. Bitcoin achieves secure control over digital value through decentralized networks and cryptographic technology, providing individuals and organizations with a form of economic asset that does not rely on traditional financial systems.

On August 20, JustLend DAO announced the launch of the "Buy Energy" one-stop energy direct purchase service, providing TRON ecosystem users with a more efficient and economical way to acquire resources. This feature focuses on short-term energy needs, with funds arriving within 10 seconds after placing an order, eliminating the traditional 14-day staking lock-up and redemption waiting time, achieving "buy and use immediately."Single orders support bulk purchases of energy for up to 50 addresses, enhancing the convenience of multi-account operations. Compared to directly burning TRX to obtain energy, Buy Energy can save about 63% in costs, lowering the interaction threshold on the TRON chain.

According to CoinDesk, as crude oil prices retreat, refined oil prices continue to rise, with the "crack spread" between U.S. diesel and crude oil reaching $102.2 per barrel, a record high.Due to disruptions in global energy supply from the Iran and Ukraine conflicts, diesel supply is tightening, and with the current agricultural harvest season, the demand for fuel for agricultural equipment such as tractors is strong, further pushing up diesel prices, which may transmit inflation through food, transportation, and heating costs.Meanwhile, WTI crude oil prices have broken through the downward trend line formed since the peak in April, indicating that the four-month downward trend may be coming to an end. If oil prices continue to rise, market inflation expectations may heat up again. The combination of energy prices and inflation risks, along with concerns about government debt, is driving up U.S. Treasury yields and the yields of other developed economy bonds, increasing the opportunity cost of holding risk assets like Bitcoin, which may limit further upside for BTC.However, the weakening dollar still provides some support for Bitcoin. The dollar index fell to 99.29 on Monday, a two-and-a-half-month low, and broke below the previous upward trend line. Currently, Bitcoin is being influenced by multiple factors including oil prices, bond yields, and dollar trends, with the macro environment showing clear divergence.

NVIDIA announced it will invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank, and ensure that the Ports-Pike Technology Park in Ohio is dedicated to supporting its artificial intelligence computing business.According to the agreement, SB Energy will operate the data center under a 20-year lease agreement signed with OpenAI, which will become a customer of the project's 8 IT gigawatt capacity; NVIDIA will also provide credit support for the project's first 4.25 IT gigawatt phase and retain the option to add an additional 3.75 IT gigawatt capacity.The Ports-Pike project is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs and establish an $80 million community fund, with OpenAI also contributing an additional $40 million to the community welfare fund. Meanwhile, market news indicates that after reaching a deal with NVIDIA, Groq's valuation in the new round of financing has reached $3.5 billion.

According to The Information, Nvidia (NVDA.O) is in talks to invest $3 billion in SB Energy as part of the OpenAI data center deal.

According to Fortune, Bank of America announced a $250 billion infrastructure investment plan on Wednesday, committing to invest in key infrastructure areas in the United States over the next year. The investment scope covers multiple fields including data centers and computing power, renewable energy generation, energy storage, natural gas, transmission networks, and critical minerals and mining, with the goal of supporting energy security, job growth, and economic competitiveness.

Russia's oil production in July was nearly 1 million barrels per day below its OPEC+ quota, with an average daily output of 8.887 million barrels, significantly lower than the monthly target of 9.824 million barrels.Ukraine has been attacking Russian oil infrastructure almost daily, threatening crude oil processing and export volumes, while the global energy market is also under pressure due to the conflict in the Middle East.

According to Crowdfund Insider, Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings disclosed in its latest quarterly SEC filing that it has pledged 18,750 BTC as collateral for two Bitcoin-backed loans, with a total principal of $750 million.The financing provided by Coinbase Credit includes refinancing of an existing $150 million credit line and an additional $300 million; Two Prime Lending also provided a $300 million loan. Both loans have been fully drawn, with a combined financing cost of approximately 7.56%, primarily maturing in August 2028.The pledged 18,750 BTC was valued at approximately $1.2 billion at the time of the transaction. If the price of Bitcoin falls and the collateral ratio drops below the agreed level, MARA may face additional collateral requirements; otherwise, the related BTC is at risk of liquidation. The new funds will primarily be used for general corporate purposes and to support MARA's acquisition of Long Ridge Energy & Power.The transaction values the company at approximately $1.5 billion, with Long Ridge owning a natural gas power plant in Ohio, USA, with an expected installed capacity of 505 MW, as well as over 1,600 acres of industrial land. MARA plans to further develop the area into a base for Bitcoin mining, AI, and high-performance computing infrastructure.

SpaceX plans to build its own power facilities for the large semiconductor manufacturing plant Terafab being developed in Texas. Riley Trettel, who is responsible for energy and data center development, stated that a gas power plant and a large battery array will be constructed to store energy to meet the surging power demand. Elon Musk's companies have long favored vertical integration, and Tesla is also participating in the energy market in Texas.

According to Jinshi, U.S. President Trump stated that energy prices will decrease, and businesses should start lowering prices.

According to Jinshi reports, Fed's Schmid stated that the recent easing of energy prices may be temporary.

According to the latest data from Gate, gStocks related to clean energy have shown active performance. Among them, Fluence Energy (FLNCG/USDT) rose 5.78% in 24 hours, reaching a high of $15.333 in 24 hours, with a trading volume of 50,600 USDT. At the same time, Bloom Energy (BEG/USDT) rose 3.90% in 24 hours, with a highest price of $223.93 in 24 hours, and a trading volume of 854,600 USDT. As representatives of fuel cells and distributed energy, BEG and the energy storage solution FLNCG have jointly driven increased attention to the clean energy sector in Gate gStocks.

According to CoinDesk, American Bitcoin (ABTC), a Bitcoin mining company associated with the Trump family, announced that President and interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Matt Prusak will leave on August 4 to join AI and energy infrastructure company Giga Energy as Chief Business Officer and interim CFO.Prusak stated that after "years of building the Bitcoin business," he will shift to the upstream energy infrastructure sector, focusing on the current power supply issues that limit the development of Bitcoin mining and AI computing.American Bitcoin was co-founded by Eric Trump and supported by Hut 8, and it is a publicly traded Bitcoin mining company listed on NASDAQ. Prusak was previously responsible for driving the company's Bitcoin accumulation strategy, including expanding hash power and increasing the BTC holdings per share.Giga Energy, headquartered in Houston, primarily develops power equipment and AI data center infrastructure. The company stated that it has delivered over 6.5GW of power infrastructure and is developing over 500MW of AI data center capacity.Industry insiders believe that Prusak's transition reflects the accelerating migration of the Bitcoin mining industry towards the AI infrastructure sector. As competition in the mining business intensifies and profit margins are pressured, more mining companies are beginning to leverage their own power resources, land reserves, and data center capabilities to enter the AI computing infrastructure market.As large tech companies compete for power and data center capacity, energy supply has become a core bottleneck for the expansion of AI computing, and companies with the ability to integrate power resources are gaining more attention.