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SoftBank Group is seeking an additional $10 billion loan to refinance the related debt incurred from its investment in OpenAI and to raise further funds. According to informed sources, this loan has a term of two years and an interest rate approximately 275 basis points higher than the secured overnight financing rate (SOFR), with Mizuho Bank serving as the lead arranger and bookrunner.

According to CoinDesk, the developers of the Bitcoin Lightning Network payment software Core Lightning (CLN) issued an urgent warning to node operators after the team received a large number of AI-generated security reports, revealing several real vulnerabilities. The development team advised operators not to directly shut down the machine power but to restart the software in "--offline" mode, which stops communication with other Lightning Network nodes while still keeping it operational to continuously monitor the Bitcoin blockchain and protect the funds in the payment channels.The Core Lightning team began receiving a large number of AI-generated vulnerability reports since early August, some of which have been confirmed to be valid. Developers will keep the details confidential for two weeks to complete the patch development and plan to release a signed patch version for operators to verify the source. The source code and vulnerability details will be made public after the confidentiality period ends.This is the second AI-related security incident in the Lightning Network this month. Earlier in early August, BTCPay Server experienced a vulnerability that led to the leakage of credentials for some Lightning Network nodes and theft of funds. Additionally, the "Bitcoin Red Team," composed of 16 developers, used AI models to scan 390 Bitcoin code repositories at the end of July, discovering nearly 5,000 issues, 85 of which were rated as critical.

According to The Information, informed sources revealed that SoftBank is negotiating to acquire a majority stake in the startup 1X Technologies, which is a humanoid robot development company supported by OpenAI. This deal would value the company at approximately $6 billion. This investment will support SoftBank's ambitions in the robotics field while also providing 1X with more funding to bring its robots, designed with flexible bodies, into consumers' homes to help users with household chores. The startup, founded 12 years ago, attempted to raise $1 billion last fall at a valuation of $10 billion but reportedly ended up raising less than half of its target.SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has long been an investor and owner of robotics developers. He predicts that physical devices combining robotics technology and artificial intelligence will give rise to the next trillion-dollar company. Another sign is that OpenAI reportedly discussed the possibility of acquiring 1X last year, but negotiations ultimately broke down.

Market news indicates that SoftBank Group is in discussions with investment banks regarding a potential bond issuance of $10 billion to $20 billion to help refinance its investment in OpenAI.

Tom Lee posted on platform X that ETH's weekly increase reached 30%.He stated that, based on historical performance, such a significant single-week increase in ETH often indicates that there may be even larger upward movements in the coming weeks.

Blue Cloud Software Technology Solutions Company has signed a master service agreement worth $150 million with SpaceX Malaysia.

Japan's SoftBank Group plans to issue 1 trillion yen (approximately 6.29 billion USD) in seven-year corporate bonds aimed at individual investors. The bonds are tentatively set with a coupon rate range of 4.3% to 4.9%.This issuance will be the largest bond issuance in SoftBank's history, nearly double the previous record. SoftBank is expected to announce the final terms on September 4.

Market news reports that Meta Platforms is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into Microsoft's Azure AI services.

According to Nikkei News, SoftBank Group is preparing to issue corporate bonds aimed at individual investors, with an issuance scale expected to be 1 trillion yen, which will become the largest corporate bond issuance for individual investors in Japanese corporate history.This move aims to utilize sources of funds such as Japanese personal savings against the backdrop of intensified global competition in artificial intelligence investment and rising funding demands. The bond has a term of 7 years, and the interest rate and other issuance conditions are expected to be determined in early September.

According to Bloomberg, SoftBank Group invested $200 million in Swiss construction robotics startup Gravis Robotics, completing its Series A funding.Gravis originated from ETH Zurich and primarily develops autonomous hardware and software for earthmoving construction equipment, enabling heavy machinery to operate autonomously and allowing remote supervision of robotic fleets.

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.

Binance announces that it will distribute dividends of Applied Materials (AMAT) and Microsoft (MSFT) to users holding AMATB or MSFTB balances through bStocks. After deducting applicable withholding taxes, fees, costs, and other expenses, the net cash dividend will be reinvested into additional units or fractional shares of the same underlying securities.Users holding AMATB or MSFTB at the snapshot time of August 20, 2026, 08:00 (UTC+8) will receive dividends in the form of AMATB or MSFTB bStocks tokens.

"White-haired stock god" Serenity stated that AI investment may be simpler than the market imagines, as Nvidia and its CEO Jensen Huang have actually been releasing signals of future industry trends in advance, but the market often chooses to ignore these trends before they truly explode. Serenity noted that when Nvidia heavily locked in EML (Electrically Modulated Laser) and laser production capacity in 2025, the market questioned the photonics sector, believing that related companies had issues with speculation or even management. However, a year later, the stock prices of related optical communication companies surged significantly. Among them, LITE rose by 678%, and AAOI rose by 475.12%.Serenity believes that the market is currently repeating a similar pattern. In 2026, Nvidia locked in continuous wave (CW) laser and EML production capacity through long-term agreements, while clearly promoting the transition to an 800V power architecture and repeatedly emphasizing that co-packaged optics (CPO) and "Physical AI" will become important trends in the next phase. The market may once again underestimate the industry signals released by Nvidia, but Nvidia and Jensen Huang's judgments often serve as leading indicators of AI industry trends.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents show that SoftBank Group has reduced its stake in TSMC by 71.5%, down to 565,000 American Depositary Receipts.

According to a report by Reuters, influenced by multiple factors such as the tense Sino-U.S. relations, China's push for domestic software alternatives, and U.S. export controls, Microsoft has closed at least 15 branches and joint ventures in China over the past five years, executing a strategic contraction. In 2023, the company internally considered exiting the Chinese market, as some executives believed that "the geopolitical risks outweighed the limited economic returns," but ultimately did not proceed with the exit. Microsoft disclosed in 2024 that its business in China accounted for only about 1.5% of its global revenue.The report states that Microsoft's final decision to remain in China was primarily due to the establishment of a profitable path—providing Azure cloud and AI services to Chinese companies like ByteDance and Shein, helping them operate compliantly in overseas markets. Additionally, the company believes that retaining its business in China remains strategically significant for acquiring engineering talent. However, analysts question the sustainability of this AI business model: the service relies on third-party models like OpenAI, and Chinese companies are increasingly adopting domestic alternatives like Kimi, which offer comparable performance at lower costs.Microsoft's research and development presence in China is also contracting. Its predecessor, Microsoft Research Asia, has successively established new labs in Vancouver, Singapore, and Tokyo. In 2024, the company offered job opportunities to 1,000 top engineers to relocate to the U.S. and three other countries, but only about one-third accepted, with most senior engineers moving to domestic universities and tech companies. A Microsoft spokesperson responded that the company will continue to commit to the Chinese market but did not comment on specific decision details. ByteDance and Shein did not respond to related inquiries.

The proposed soft fork BIP-54 (Consensus Cleanup) specification for Bitcoin was completed in May 2026, aimed at fixing four consensus rule boundary issues without adding new Bitcoin features. Wang Chun, co-founder of the digital asset mining pool F2pool, stated that they do not support BIP-54 and mentioned that if the proposal obtains the required majority through the standard BIP-9 process, F2pool will upgrade its mining nodes but will not issue a support signal in advance.BIP-54 has been tested in the Signet-based testing environment Bitcoin Inquisition, and the mining pools MARA and ViaBTC have voluntarily produced compatible coinbase transactions; the formal activation parameters have not yet been determined, and the mainnet voting is still incomplete. Previously, BIP-110, which attempted to restrict certain non-financial data in Bitcoin transactions, did not receive enough support from miners and stalled around block height 961635; BIP-54 does not involve restricting general script functionality.

According to Thrive Holdings, the AI investment platform Thrive Holdings announced the completion of a $2 billion financing round, with the company's valuation reaching $12 billion, with participation from SoftBank, D1 Capital Partners, and Altimeter Capital.Thrive Holdings was founded in 2025 by Thrive Capital founder Joshua Kushner. Unlike traditional investment firms, it does not directly invest in AI large model research and development companies, but primarily acquires traditional service companies and integrates AI technology into business processes to achieve efficiency improvements. Its goal is to build platforms and products that bring cutting-edge artificial intelligence into key industries that millions of businesses and individuals rely on daily. The company had previously secured approximately $1 billion in initial funding.

According to Bloomberg, the foreign exchange reserves of U.S. stocks held by the Swiss National Bank grew by more than 10% in the second quarter, reaching the highest level on record. As of June 30, the bank held shares in over 2,300 U.S. listed companies, with a total value of $191.4 billion.The top three holdings are Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft. In addition, the Swiss National Bank also holds shares worth $716.6 million in defense software company Palantir, although activist investors have called for the sale of some holdings, the bank has refused.

Microsoft plans to publicly release its next-generation Maia 300 AI chip this fall (possibly as early as September). To meet delivery demands for 2027, Microsoft has engaged with TSMC to secure manufacturing capacity for over 300,000 units of the chip.