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According to Bloomberg, the KOSPI index in South Korea plummeted in July, causing significant losses for many retail investors. Despite the index rebounding a record 18% on Friday, retail investors still recorded a record net sell-off of KOSPI stocks that day; the index fell a cumulative 22% in July, marking the largest monthly decline since the global financial crisis, with the total market capitalization of the South Korean stock market around $3.9 trillion.Influenced by President Lee Jae-myung's push for stock market reforms and the listing of single-stock leveraged ETFs, South Korean retail investors bought approximately 78 trillion won ($54.2 billion) worth of KOSPI stocks from May to June. After the sharp market decline in July, many investors on social media pointed fingers at the government.A 30-something investor in Seoul stated that he entered the Korean stock market for the first time in May and has now decided "not to invest in the Korean stock market anymore"; another 40-year-old investor borrowed 50 million won against his home to trade stocks and criticized the government for introducing leveraged ETFs, turning the market into a "casino."During July, the KOSPI triggered trading halts due to circuit breakers four times, setting a monthly record. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix together accounted for over 50% of the KOSPI's weight, with their stock prices falling 21% and 35% respectively in July; however, since early 2025, Samsung Electronics has still risen over four times, and SK Hynix has increased nearly tenfold.Analysts say this is a typical result of crowded trading combined with leverage, and deleveraging is difficult to complete in a matter of days. In the coming months, technology and semiconductor stocks may still experience significant volatility, but this should not be seen as a complete collapse of the AI investment logic.The South Korean government suspended the listing of new single-stock leveraged ETFs in mid-July and promised to introduce more measures to stabilize the stock market and limit retail participation in high-risk products.However, the head of the Korean Shareholders Alliance stated that retail investors' anger and criticism towards the government have reached a peak, with many investors believing that the relevant measures have come too late.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market event "Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Dodgers" on Polymarket, the "Boston Red Sox" option in the sub-market "Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Dodgers" has experienced a dramatic fluctuation in winning probability, soaring from 30.5% an hour ago to the current 70.5% (a fluctuation of 40%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

The Kobeissi Letter posted on platform X that the U.S. ETF market has recently experienced rapid expansion, with approximately 390 U.S.-listed ETFs launched in the past two months, setting a record for the largest two-month issuance increase in history, growing more than three times compared to the beginning of 2024.Data shows that among the ETFs launched this year, about 54% of the products employ derivative strategies, with more than one-third being leveraged or inverse ETFs.In addition, fund issuers have submitted over 1,000 applications for leveraged ETFs so far this year, and the market expects the issuance of ETF products to continue to grow in the future.

Strive Vice President Joe Burnett posted on platform X that the recent weeks may be among the worst in Bitcoin's history. Many people purchased recognized hardware wallets, generated mnemonic phrases offline, and followed established best practices, yet still lost a significant amount of Bitcoin due to a vulnerability affecting COLDCARD wallet that generated mnemonic phrases since March 2021 and beyond. This vulnerability went undetected for over 5 years.Joe Burnett stated that this will permanently change people's confidence in self-custody. Self-custody will still exist, but it has been permanently altered. For those who wish to directly control a large amount of Bitcoin, the standard should be multi-vendor multi-signature, with keys generated independently using different hardware and different software, and stored in different physical locations. If this approach is unacceptable, then institutional-grade custodians should be used.Joe Burnett mentioned that the current wave of Bitcoin adoption is happening through ETFs, treasury companies, and institutional custodians, primarily from individuals who unintentionally become experts in private key generation, hardware security, firmware, backups, inheritance planning, and physical storage. A single key generated by one hardware wallet protecting a large amount of Bitcoin poses excessive concentration risk.Joe Burnett also stated that institutional custody may ultimately lead to excessive Bitcoin concentration in the hands of large companies, resulting in risks of censorship, seizure, and confiscation. However, Bitcoin's portability and settlement attributes provide a crucial counterbalance, allowing users to create wallets and request custodians to send Bitcoin, transitioning from counterparty risk to direct ownership within minutes.Joe Burnett believes that as long as Bitcoin itself remains secure, the failure of any particular custody method does not negate the underlying monetary system, but rather forces the market to develop better tools, stronger standards, and more resilient custody frameworks. This week may ultimately mark the end of an era for Bitcoin custody and the beginning of the next wave of Bitcoin adoption.

According to Wall St Engine, "AI stock god" Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness fund faced liquidity pressure during the market crash in July, with behind-the-scenes details revealed.The report states that after the market rapidly cooled in mid-July, the decline in stocks held by Situational Awareness triggered margin monitoring by banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, leading to margin calls.Insiders said that other hedge funds began shorting related stocks after learning about its positions, creating a cycle of "price drop → margin call → forced selling → further price decline."In late July, while Leopold was hosting a wedding in Carmel, he continued negotiations with his team to maintain fund operations. On the evening of July 29, he reached a preliminary agreement with a consortium led by Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital to sell approximately $3.5 billion in Anthropic equity.However, in the early hours of July 30, before the U.S. stock market opened, Leopold changed his decision, opting to retain the private equity portfolio and instead sell publicly traded stocks. Subsequently, Citadel and Millennium entered negotiations with the fund team, and Citadel ultimately acquired most of the fund's public stock investment portfolio at a discount of more than 10% below market value before Thursday's opening.This transaction helped Situational Awareness meet margin requirements and avoid formal default. After the deal was completed, related AI and semiconductor stocks rebounded on Thursday, benefiting Citadel.As of around July 31, Situational Awareness disclosed to investors that the fund had a net loss of about 67% in July, but was still up about 80% for the year. Leopold stated that he "takes full responsibility" for the incident, and the fund has removed bank leverage, planning to continue operations and invest in the public market while adjusting its portfolio management and risk control systems.

ARK Invest, led by Cathie Wood, announced its trading records for July 31, revealing that it purchased 109,127 shares of Circle (CRCL) stock through its ETFs, valued at approximately $6.83 million based on a price of $62.61 per share.Additionally, it bought 11,784 shares of the 3iQ Solana Staking ETF (SOLQ.U), valued at approximately $98,000 based on a price of $8.33 per share.

According to monitoring by Bitcoin News, Chainalysis stated that an analysis of the Coldcard exploit event involving over $38 million shows that the attackers deliberately targeted the highest value wallets, including one holding $1.8 million, indicating that the victims had been profiled before the asset transfers began. Approximately $30 million was stolen in the first 10 minutes, and then about 500 wallets were emptied within 25 minutes.Clay Garrett from Block stated that investigators also confirmed that the attackers used a paid account from a well-known blockchain service provider to query the victims' addresses during the operation. The provider's internal logs matched the request times and order, but Block stated that no evidence was found indicating that the company knowingly assisted in the theft. Relevant information has been shared with the authorities.

According to Gate market data, U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially rising by 0.53%, the S&P 500 index up by 0.7%, and the Nasdaq up by 1%. Technology and chip-related stocks had mixed performances, with Amazon rising by 15.32%, Google up by 6.73%, Nvidia up by 2.93%, Meta Platforms up by 3.28%, and Microsoft up by 3.02%. Apple fell by 7.35%, and SpaceX dropped by 3.41%.The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rose by 1.48%, with Alibaba up by 5.12% and Baidu up by 3.38%.

According to BTCtreasuries, Zhibao Technology announced that it has reached a private placement financing of $154.7 million in Bitcoin with non-U.S. investors, with a financing scale of 2,380 BTC. The company is a publicly listed company in China.

According to Jinshi reports, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the Gulf region at the United Nations headquarters in New York, urging the full restoration of international navigation rights and freedoms in the Strait of Hormuz, the Strait of Mandeb, and surrounding areas, and to resolve disputes through diplomatic means.Guterres pointed out that the military escalation in the Gulf region has been ongoing for six months, affecting global stability, leading to a contraction in trade and disruptions in energy markets.

According to Gate market data, Apple's (AAPL.O) stock price has widened its decline to 10%.

Tom Lee posted on platform X, stating that given the "panic" of policymakers, the South Korean stock market may be in the final stage of bottoming out.Tom Lee also quoted Appaloosa fund manager David Tepper, saying that when policymakers start to panic, the market will stop panicking.

According to Gate market data, Alphabet's stock price rose by 5.4%.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, a certain Hyperliquid whale has been liquidated a total of 360 times. The BTC and SOL positions held by this trader were partially liquidated again recently, with a total exposure of approximately 1.47 million dollars, resulting in a realized loss of about 35,100 dollars.Data shows that the historical cumulative profit and loss of this whale is approximately negative 12.5 million dollars.