dea

The crypto investment firm YZi Labs announced the launch of EASY Residency Season 5, a 10-week acceleration program for early-stage innovative projects, which includes 5 weeks of online phase and 5 weeks of offline residency in Thailand, culminating in a Demo Day. Accommodation, meals, and workspace are fully covered, allowing founders to focus on building.Priority investment directions include programmable capital and on-chain markets, stablecoin payment infrastructure, computing and trusted agent systems, embodied AI, emerging AI interfaces, and AI × Bio. Selected projects can receive up to $500,000 in investment (including a $150,000 SAFE for 5% equity and an additional $350,000 unlimited SAFE), with the opportunity to secure up to $2 million in additional investment. The application deadline is September 13 at 23:59 (GMT-7).

Bitcoin.com published an article stating that the model of Web3 startups conducting corporate pilots by paying traditional financial institutions "is a dead end," with 95% of pilot projects failing to reach production environments. Web2 companies only want the idle venture capital and revenue sharing from startups, rather than their open-source innovations. The article argues that true defensiveness comes from a "structural moat"—compliance licenses, deep network liquidity, or distribution lock-ins that Web2 engineering teams cannot replicate.The article cites recent cases: Stripe was acquired for $1.1 billion after proving an annual cross-border transaction volume of $5 billion with Bridge, and Robinhood acquired Bitstamp for $200 million to gain 50 global regulatory licenses and institutional liquidity, rather than maintaining long-term vendor relationships. The article predicts that the next round of B2C expansion will present an 80/20 pattern: 80% of retail liquidity will be controlled by 3 to 5 Web2/fintech giants such as Visa, Stripe, Robinhood, PayPal, and BlackRock, providing compliance and fiat entry; 20% will be an unlicensed DeFi sandbox for validating initial product-market fit. The growth path for startups should be to first validate PMF in the DeFi sandbox, then integrate or sell to the few Web2 gateways controlling the 80% distribution layer. The article believes that the current protocol cancellations and wave of startup closures are part of a "necessary market cleanup."

According to La Tribuna, the body of a Chinese man was found outside the Jade Park high-rise apartment in the Trinidad district of Asunción, Paraguay. Preliminary identification confirmed the identity as Harry Chun Tak Yeh, the founder and managing partner of Quantum Fintech Group. The police stated that he is suspected to have fallen from the 30th floor of the building, and his body was found completely naked and covered with a black plastic bag. Investigators found the apartment door on the 30th floor ajar, with the interior in disarray, and confirmed that he also owned another apartment on the 27th floor of the same building. Criminal technicians have collected evidence outside the building and from both apartments, and relevant physical evidence has been handed over to the prosecution. The prosecution is currently investigating multiple possibilities, including accident, suspected suicide, and homicide, while the judicial department will determine the specific cause of death and the circumstances through an autopsy.It is reported that Chinese-American cryptocurrency investor Harry Yeh entered the Bitcoin market in 2013 when the BTC trading price was $60. He launched his first fund with $250,000, and his investment network claims to manage over $2.4 billion in assets, closely linked with Fantom, Tomb Finance, Lif3, ZooCoin, L3 USD, and L3 Reserve.

According to a video released by Bitcoin Magazine on the X platform, U.S. President Trump stated that he is seeing more and more people using Bitcoin for payments, "they don't even know what cash is anymore." Trump said, "Cryptocurrency is a big deal."

According to CoinDesk, the tokenized asset company Ondo Finance is embroiled in a corporate control dispute following the death of founder Nathan Allman this year. The estate has filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court, accusing former president and current CEO Ian De Bode of improperly attempting to seize control of the company while the estate certification process is not yet complete and the company's voting rights are temporarily suspended. The three legal documents request the judge to determine who legally controls Ondo Finance and to prohibit the company from taking significant actions until the governance dispute is resolved.According to the complaint, Nathan Allman was the CEO, sole director, and controlling shareholder of Ondo at the time of his death, and his voting rights could not be exercised until his mother, Kathleen Allman, was formally appointed as the estate representative through the Hawaiian probate process on June 26. The estate alleges that De Bode claimed to automatically become CEO and appointed himself as the sole director before this, taking actions such as hiring consultants and approving performance grants.After obtaining the voting rights, Kathleen Allman voted to remove De Bode from all positions and appointed herself as chairwoman and interim CEO during the board meeting on July 24. De Bode responded that he regretted the lawsuit filed by Allman, stating that her claims lack basis, and that the company still has the support of major investors and key stakeholders such as the Ondo Foundation. The court has not yet ruled on the related allegations, and the aforementioned documents only reflect the statements of the estate.

According to the WSJ, Wintermute's U.S. subsidiary has registered as a broker-dealer, marking the company's official entry into the regulated U.S. financial market. This registration qualifies it to apply to become a designated market maker on securities exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, providing a foundation for its expansion into the traditional financial services sector. The report noted that Wintermute is competing with large market-making institutions such as Jane Street Capital and Citadel Securities.

According to Jinshi reports, the latest 24-hour situation tracking of the Russia-Ukraine conflict shows that Ukrainian President Zelensky stated that the supply of Ukraine's air defense systems has decreased by two-thirds compared to last year. In the Kyiv region, 16 people have died, and the number of injured has risen to 36.The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have damaged three ships near Odessa and disrupted logistics hubs in Kyiv and its surrounding areas. In addition, French President Macron and European Commission President von der Leyen both stated that they would continue to increase pressure on Russia, with the latter also mentioning that an additional 1.4 billion euros would be allocated to Ukraine from the profits of frozen Russian assets.

According to an exclusive report by Business Insider, Google is in negotiations with San Francisco AI programming agency startup Mechanize for a potential deal involving the acquisition of some of its talent at a valuation exceeding $1.5 billion, while also discussing a non-exclusive technology licensing agreement. The acquired talent will be responsible for model evaluation and development. The details of the deal are still in progress and may change.Mechanize was founded last year with the long-term goal of "automating all valuable work," currently focusing on the software engineering field. The company has previously completed $9.1 million in funding, with a valuation of $500 million, and investors include former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, among others. CEO Tamay Besiroglu co-founded Epoch AI. Reports indicate that Google is facing competitive pressure in the AI programming field from OpenAI's Codex and Anthropic's Claude Code, and Mechanize's technology could help enhance model programming performance. Neither Google nor Mechanize has responded to requests for comment.

Eliza Labs founder Shaw Walters announced that the ai16z/ElizaOS token is officially "dead," and the related foundation will be closing. The reason is that the law firm Burwick Law initiated a class action lawsuit on behalf of the holders, and the foundation chose to settle due to its inability to bear the litigation costs, compensating all remaining treasury funds.Shaw stated that he has never sold ai16z tokens, has never profited from them, and only receives the same basic salary as engineers, currently living off savings. He emphasized that he will continue to develop the underlying technology of Eliza but made it clear that no tokens will be associated with Eliza anymore and advised holders to handle their tokens independently, as the foundation will not provide any buyback support.

According to Jinshi reports, Russia's nighttime attack on the Kyiv region of Ukraine resulted in 14 deaths and 27 injuries.

According to Jinshi reports, on August 2 local time, Moscow Mayor Sobyanin stated on social media that the explosion incident at a restaurant in the city on August 1 was a terrorist attack, resulting in 3 deaths and 21 injuries. Sobyanin mentioned that law enforcement agencies are investigating the specifics of the incident.The Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee reported that the incident was caused by the explosion of a homemade explosive device.

The tokenized asset company Ondo Finance is evaluating a potential acquisition deal, with a valuation range of $250 million to $500 million. According to insiders, the company has not yet appointed formal advisors and is considering expansion through mergers and acquisitions.In 2026, trading activity in the cryptocurrency sector remains active, with tokenization and institutional infrastructure being the acquisition directions of interest for companies seeking to scale.

According to Jinshi reports, Ukrainian officials stated that Russian missile and drone attacks overnight resulted in at least 8 deaths.