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User chris__lu posted that they compiled all 236 companies and 470 founders from the YC Summer 2026 batch, categorizing each company into an AI technology stack layer and comparing it to the Spring batch using the same criteria. This batch still has 91% related to AI. The model companies increased from 8% to 20%, the application layer decreased from 55% to 39%, horizontal applications dropped from 58 to 32, and vertical applications remained at 25%.In the Spring, 45% of companies delivered autonomous agents, while in the Summer, it was 33%, with "agent" in a one-sentence introduction dropping from 27% to 19%. 21 companies are engaged in computational infrastructure, 11 focus on inference costs, and there are also companies for training data and reinforcement learning environments. Scale AI is listed as an alternative target by 8 companies. The industrial category increased from 12% to 24%, with 45 companies delivering physical products, 24 being robots or physical AI, and 21 companies operating their own businesses rather than selling software.This batch is the youngest, with 37% of founders being students or graduates in the last two years, 59 teams are entirely student teams, the dropout rate increased from 3% to 9%, and repeat founders decreased from 32% to 23%, with 84% having a technical background. 39 from Berkeley, 32 from MIT, and 25 from Stanford. Amazon is the largest source of talent. Sales and marketing AI decreased from 18 to 6. Only 19 founders come from AI labs, accounting for 4%. 8 founding teams come from the same previous employer.

Layer1 blockchain Linera posted on X that the LNRA community round commitment period has ended, failing to reach the minimum target of 1.5 million USDC. A total of 617 participants from 69 countries committed a total of 848,271 USDC.The related website will be updated soon to begin processing refunds, which will be returned to the same wallet used at the time of commitment. An announcement will be made once the refund process is live, and further updates will be released after the refund period ends.

According to official news, the total value locked (TVL) in X Layer DeFi has reached a historic high of 232 million USD. Star, the founder and CEO of OKX, stated in a post on X that the TVL itself is not the end goal; more importantly, lending, stablecoins, RWA, yield markets, and on-chain capital markets are connecting and promoting each other on X Layer.It is reported that X Layer is continuously improving the DeFi and RWA infrastructure, promoting the development of more real-world assets, on-chain liquidity, and financial applications within the ecosystem.

LayerZero announced that the South Korean digital asset custody institution BDACS has adopted LayerZero Labs' OFT (Omnichain Fungible Token) standard for the Korean won-backed stablecoin KRW1, achieving native cross-chain interoperability.LayerZero stated that KRW1 thus becomes the first Korean won stablecoin that can be natively transferred across major DeFi ecosystems, with its supply able to flow seamlessly across networks without the need for wrapped tokens, avoiding liquidity fragmentation.

ARK Invest's Director of Digital Asset Research, Lorenzo Valente, posted on X that since the rise of L1, application chains, and Rollup-centric roadmaps, messaging and interoperability protocols have become critical infrastructure. As more assets go on-chain, the demand for universal interoperability will grow exponentially.Lorenzo Valente stated that the interoperability business of the cross-chain interoperability protocol LayerZero is likely to quickly grow to a nine-figure ARR, and mentioned that the team has more progress to share in the future.

Layer1 Public Chain Linera has raised approximately $150,000 since launching its community round public fundraising on September 1, with 172 addresses participating, leaving a gap of 95.2% from the target of $3.2 million.It is reported that the token valuation for this round of financing is $160 million, lasting for a total of 7 days. Previously, in 2022 and 2023, Linera raised a total of $12 million, with investors including a16z, GSR, Tribe Capital, Flow Traders, Laser Digital, and others.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the market prediction event on Polymarket "LoL: Anyone's Legend vs LGD Gaming - LPL Playoffs," the "is" option for the sub-market "Any Player Quadra Kill" has experienced a dramatic fluctuation in win rate, soaring from 26.5% an hour ago to the current 50% (a fluctuation of 23.5%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

According to Securityweek, artificial intelligence security company HiddenLayer has completed a $100 million Series B funding round, led by Delta-v Capital, with participation from Booz Allen Ventures, Microsoft's M12, Morgan Stanley, and Ten Eleven Ventures. To date, the company has raised a total of over $155 million.HiddenLayer focuses on protecting the entire lifecycle security of generative AI, predictive AI, and AI Agents. Its enterprise platform includes features such as AI asset discovery, AI supply chain security, attack simulation, and runtime protection. The new funding will primarily be used to expand the runtime security capabilities of AI Agents, particularly targeting AI programming Agents.

The LayerZero research team, in collaboration with Oblivious Labs and researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, has published a paper proposing a new automated market maker mechanism called OTTER, aimed at enhancing resistance to Maximum Extractable Value (MEV).OTTER employs a batch clearing mechanism similar to VCG auctions, making it a dominant strategy for traders to report valuations and budgets truthfully, while weakening the ability of block builders to profit through transaction ordering, sandwich attacks, or injecting false bids.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the prediction market Polymarket for the event "LoL Hanwha Life Esports vs T1 LCK Playoffs," the "Yes" option for the sub-market "Any Player Quadra Kill" has experienced a dramatic fluctuation in win rate, soaring from 26.5% an hour ago to the current 50% (a fluctuation of 23.5%). Please note the impact of relevant breaking news.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market Polymarket for the event "LoL: Gen.G vs KT Rolster (BO5) - LCK Playoffs," the "Yes" option for the sub-market "Any Player Pentakill" has experienced a sharp fluctuation in win rate, soaring from 16% an hour ago to the current 50% (a fluctuation of 34%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

According to South Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics is cooperating with Nvidia (NVDA.O) to develop 8-layer seventh-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM4E), significantly reducing the stacking height compared to the original plans of 12 layers and 16 layers. The speed specification proposed by Nvidia is 17-18Gbps, which is about 20% higher than Samsung's initial HBM4E sample speed of 14.4Gbps. This product is reported to be used for NVHBM.

According to reports from Seoul Economic Daily, Samsung Electronics is developing HBM4E (seventh generation) 8-layer products that meet NVIDIA's requirements, aiming to secure its position as a core partner in the supply of customized high-bandwidth memory NVHBM. This product reduces the stacking height compared to the originally planned 12-layer and 16-layer designs. The speed specifications proposed by NVIDIA are 17-18Gbps, which is about 20% higher than the speed of Samsung's initial HBM4E samples (14.4Gbps), and will be used for NVIDIA's publicly disclosed NVLink optimized specifications for NVHBM.The use of 8 layers, contrary to the previous logic of increasing capacity by adding more stacking layers in HBM, can reduce the difficulty of post-processing and yield pressure, which is beneficial for expanding supply and is seen as NVIDIA's strategy to alleviate memory shortages. NVHBM is expected to be applied starting with the next-generation AI GPU "Rubin Ultra," which is set to launch next year. This GPU will expand the interconnection scale between GPUs from a maximum of 72 to 576, enhancing overall computing power through hundreds of GPUs equipped with faster HBM.In the customized HBM market, Samsung is more competitive compared to SK Hynix and Micron, as NVHBM requires DRAM and the production capabilities of logic chip-based bare die designs, which Samsung can integrate. Industry insiders say that Samsung has verified the highest speed levels in HBM4, which can provide an advantage in speed competition.

a16z partner Sarah Wang recently published an article pointing out that AI application layer products should not price based on tokens like the model layer, but rather on "recognizable work units." The article argues that token pricing anchors the value of application products to a unit whose cost is continuously declining, making it difficult for customers to predict context length, retrieval volume, or reasoning time, and improperly compares applications to raw computing power.The article suggests a tiered pricing model based on value levels: model layer priced by tokens; application layer priced by recognizable work units for customers (such as account research briefs, code modifications, completed queries), which can be encapsulated through Credits; and scenarios that are attributable and have clear value priced directly by results (such as resolved customer service conversations, qualified leads). The design of Credits should map to different levels of work difficulty to protect gross margins and distinguish "work value" from "delivery cost." The article uses Clay as an example, where its new pricing separates Data Credits (third-party data) from Actions (orchestrated work), only passing on costs for reasoning models with significant cost fluctuations without markup. The author believes that pricing anchored to value rather than computing cost allows customers to understand spending in relation to value, while also benefiting product providers in maintaining profit margins.

According to South Korean media Chosun Biz, SK Hynix's NAND is lagging in the transition of old process lines, making it difficult to narrow the efficiency gap. As of the second quarter of this year, its 176-layer products still account for about 50%, while Samsung has completed the transition mainly to 236 layers. Omdia data shows that Micron's 232-layer products account for 53%, and YMTC reaches 68%.During the rising cycle of NAND prices, companies with a higher proportion of advanced processes see better cost and profit improvements. SK Hynix (including Solidigm) saw its NAND revenue share drop from 21.4% in the fourth quarter of last year to 16.4% in the first quarter of this year, while YMTC increased from 11.5% to 16.2%. SK Hynix prioritizes equipment investment in DRAM and HBM, with NAND investments decreasing for three consecutive years, from $3.5 billion in 2023 to $2.9 billion in 2025, slowing down the transition. It is currently considering impairing old NAND assets to optimize costs.

Polymarket US has withdrawn two NFL player participation contract documents from the prediction market platform. The platform has completed certification with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and plans to launch related products no earlier than August 27. Polymarket US certifies Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana price contracts, all three types of contracts are submitted in pairs and classified as swap contracts under the binary options subcategory.Both the NFL contracts and cryptocurrency contracts involve the relevant classifications. The NFL compliance analysis document has been submitted separately for confidentiality, with Polymarket US requesting permanent non-disclosure on the grounds that public disclosure would leak trade secrets and give competitors an unfair advantage. As of the record, another NFL American football eligibility contract remains in certified status.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plan to increase the supply of 8-layer HBM4 memory to NVIDIA in the second half of this year.This move is influenced by NVIDIA's supply strategy, aiming to ensure a stable supply of HBM memory while also considering product heat generation.

Cryptocurrency investment firm RockawayX announced the acquisition of the crypto hedge fund Relayer Capital to incorporate long-short strategies into its existing platform and expand its business footprint in the United States. RockawayX manages approximately $2 billion in assets, and Relayer will be renamed RockawayX Liquid Opportunities Fund, focusing on uncovering "undervalued liquidity tokens and crypto-related stocks." After the acquisition is completed, Relayer founder Austin Barack will serve as the chief investment officer of the fund, with Forbes citing informed sources that the company plans to raise $150 million for the fund.According to the announcement, Relayer's liquidity strategy has achieved approximately 70% net returns this year, outperforming a weighted basket of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana by 86% as of August 21. The strategy expresses fundamental views on crypto tokens through long and short positions and pairs trading, while reducing overall market exposure at appropriate times. RockawayX CEO Viktor Fischer stated that now is the "right time" to implement this strategy, as there are crypto companies with real revenue and strong fundamentals emerging in the market, but inefficiencies and mispricing still exist, providing good opportunities for active investors.This transaction occurs amid a recent rebound in the crypto market, with Bitcoin recording its largest weekly dollar gain in history last week, dropping 1.68% to $79,064 in the past 24 hours after briefly reaching a high of around $81,000.

According to SoSoValue data, after a significant rebound, the overall cryptocurrency market is experiencing a general pullback, with only the Layer2 sector remaining relatively strong, rising 1.13% in 24 hours, among which Stacks (STX) increased by 16.73% and Polygon (POL) rose by 6.29%. In addition, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 1.10%, dropping below $79,000; Ethereum (ETH) decreased by 1.61%, falling below $2,500.In other sectors, the DeFi sector dropped 0.38% in 24 hours, with Ethena (ENA) down 7.78%, but Hyperliquid (HYPE) rose by 1.89%; the CeFi sector fell by 1.65%, with OKB (OKB) down 3.12%; the Layer1 sector declined by 2.39%, with Zcash (ZEC) down 6.44%; the Meme sector decreased by 3.42%, while SPX6900 (SPX) rose against the trend by 13.33%; the PayFi sector fell by 3.99%, with Dash (DASH) down 10.10%.