infrastructure

According to The Block, Bitcoin mining service company Luxor is expanding its business into the AI infrastructure sector and extending its operations in energy, hardware, software, and computing power trading to this sector.Luxor's hardware brokerage has previously traded over 1 billion dollars in Bitcoin mining ASICs.

According to Bloomberg, artificial intelligence infrastructure company Verda has completed a new round of financing of $189 million, led by Emergence Capital, with participation from MUFG Innovation Partners, computer manufacturer Super Micro Computer, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance, and Lifeline Ventures.It is reported that the company's valuation has reached at least $1 billion after the financing.

According to The Block, stablecoin infrastructure company HIFI has completed a $37 million Series A funding round, led by Left Lane Capital, with specific valuation yet to be disclosed.HIFI CEO Zach Walsh stated that this is the company's first priced funding round, and the platform currently processes an annualized transaction volume of approximately $7 billion. This round of funding will be used to expand stablecoin payment products and tokenized capital market infrastructure.HIFI currently supports the inflow and outflow of funds between the US dollar and stablecoins, facilitates payments through the US banking system and bank cards, and provides US dollar cash settlement services for tokenized repurchase agreements and US Treasury transactions. HIFI has also participated in the tokenized securities production trading tests of the US Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the construction of artificial intelligence is becoming the largest economic bet in American history, surpassing investments in railroads, highway systems, and internet infrastructure. The report states that spending on data centers has exceeded the combined expenditures on canals, railroads, and power grid construction, and this related construction is driving inflation while creating jobs and wealth.Economist Stijn van Nieuwerburgh, in estimates published by the Brookings Institution, shows that total investment in data centers and related artificial intelligence infrastructure is expected to reach $10.3 trillion from 2025 to 2032, averaging about 3.6% of GDP annually. The report states that the U.S. economy has never been so dependent on the construction of a single industry. Goldman Sachs estimates that by 2026, U.S. investment in artificial intelligence will reach 1.9% of GDP; the last time a single new industry accounted for a larger share of the economy was during the railroad boom in the late 19th century.The estimates list the average annual infrastructure spending as a percentage of GDP as follows: canals from 1836 to 1841 at 0.66%, railroads from 1870 to 1890 at 2.24%, electrification from 1905 to 1925 at 0.5%, highways from 1956 to 1973 at 1.13%, telecommunications and fiber optics from 1996 to 2003 at 1.1%, and artificial intelligence from 2025 to 2032 at 3.63%. The report also states that this investment is transforming various sectors of the economy, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and producing new billionaires, while also carrying significant risks, as a large portion of it is supported by debt.

According to Business Insider, Oracle launched its second round of layoffs this year last week. A leaked document shows that 546 employees from its U.S. cloud infrastructure organization were laid off, accounting for about 7.6% of the listed 7,185 employees. The most affected positions include managers, engineers, software developers, and employees in the data center maintenance and service departments. The document states that the information was provided to comply with federal age discrimination laws. Oracle did not disclose the total number of layoffs last week and did not respond to requests for comment.Oracle previously revealed that it expects to reduce its workforce by 21,000 employees, a decrease of 13%, by May 31, 2026, with the total number of employees before the recent layoffs being 141,000. The cloud infrastructure department's revenue grew by 121% year-over-year in the most recent quarter. The document indicates that 57 software developer III positions were cut, with software development-related positions accounting for about 17% of the layoffs; the data center support services department laid off 41 people, including the department's vice president and two senior directors.A total of 128 positions containing the word "manager" were eliminated, accounting for about 23% of the layoffs, with project managers totaling 61 people. Most affected employees are over 40 years old, with about 16% being 60 years or older. Oracle is increasing its investment in AI data centers, expecting related expenditures to be between $90 billion and $95 billion this year.

Global payment and financial infrastructure Infini announced the completion of a $6 million seed round financing, with participation from SNZ, Reforge, Enlight Capital, NDV (NextGen Digital Venture), FORTWEST, Vernal, and others.Infini stated that the funds will be used to further strengthen its global payment and financial infrastructure, making it easier and more efficient for individuals and businesses to manage and use funds globally.

StablecoinX Inc. (USDE) closed at $12.60 on September 22, up $2.41 from the previous closing price of $10.19, an increase of 23.65%, with a market capitalization of approximately $303 million. The trading volume that day was 10.5266 million shares, with a price range of $12.20 to $13.79.In after-hours trading, the stock was at $12.72, up $0.12, an increase of 0.95%. Its 52-week price range is $1.33 to $13.79.It is reported that StablecoinX Inc. is a stablecoin infrastructure company focused on the Ethena digital dollar ecosystem, providing infrastructure services, stablecoin middleware software, and distribution services.

On-chain gold and foreign exchange trading infrastructure XStable has recently completed a new round of financing, which was supported by several institutions including YZi Labs, Sui Foundation, Taisu Ventures, and CatcherVC.Previously, XStable had received investments and support from institutions such as Solana, Amber Group, KuCoin Ventures, and Singchain, accumulating millions of dollars in financing from more than ten institutional investors worldwide. Currently, XStable has focused on market development around gold, silver, and major foreign exchange trading pairs. According to data disclosed by the platform, XStable's average daily trading volume has exceeded 100 million dollars, with a cumulative trading volume of over several hundred billion dollars.

Korean Air Bank issued a 100 million USD foreign currency digital bond with a term of 5 years, directly utilizing the digital financial market infrastructure of Euroclear. This is the first digital bond in Korea issued directly using Euroclear's blockchain infrastructure.The issuance, registration, and settlement of the bond are all processed on a distributed ledger network, shortening the bond allocation and payment settlement from 3 to 5 working days to the same day. Investors can trade the bond through the Euroclear global settlement network using their existing accounts and trading systems.

According to CoinDesk, Hut 8 co-founder Marc van der Chijs warned in an interview with CoinDesk that the fierce competition between enterprises and nations is accelerating the development of artificial intelligence, with its speed exceeding human control, potentially posing systemic risks to the financial system and critical infrastructure. He stated, "We have already lost control," and expressed concern that systemic disruption or catastrophic failure is almost inevitable before real international safeguards are established.Van der Chijs predicts that AI and robotics could ultimately replace 90% to 95% of existing jobs and significantly lower the costs of goods and services. At that point, governments will need to find new sources of revenue, such as taxing the use of robots or AI. He also believes that AI could expose vulnerabilities in traditional banking software, threatening the confidence of institutions that rely on interconnected systems; in the crypto space, businesses built around Bitcoin, such as exchanges, are more susceptible to impact than the underlying network itself.Van der Chijs previously sold a large amount of Bitcoin to shift towards AI investments and believes that the capital shift by investors towards AI has prevented Bitcoin from reaching the previously expected levels of $200,000 to $250,000. He is now reinvesting some of the AI profits back into crypto assets through exchange-traded funds. He still views Bitcoin as the only asset worth holding in his lifetime and claims that Hut 8's shift to AI data centers is "the best decision ever."

Stablecoin infrastructure company Bastion announced that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted it preliminary conditional approval for a national trust bank charter. This charter allows Bastion to incorporate stablecoin issuance, custody, and exchange products under the same federal regulatory entity, adding OCC federal oversight on top of its existing state licenses. The company will operate under the name Bastion Platforms National Trust Company, providing stablecoin custody and wallets, payment infrastructure, and white-label issuance services.Bastion previously obtained a New York trust license in February 2025. Under the new charter, the company will offer custodial services for USDC and other digital assets compliant with the GENIUS Act, as well as white-label stablecoin wallet and issuance services (minting, redemption, and exchange), and continue to provide technology and operational infrastructure to other regulated issuers. Bastion itself does not issue stablecoins but primarily provides technology, operations, and compliance stacks for enterprise stablecoin projects.Bastion also appointed four new advisors: Colleen Taylor (Board, former President of American Express U.S. Merchant Services), Michael Patterson (Board, former Chief Compliance Officer of Genesis), Stuart Breslow (Advisor, former Chief Compliance Officer of Morgan Stanley), and Gabriella Fitzgerald (Advisor, former CEO of Optum Financial Medical Payments).

Liquid Capital founder Jack Yi posted on the X platform, stating that once again, in line with expectations, after the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike, Bitcoin briefly dropped below $76,000 but continued to rise after fluctuations. He repeatedly reminded that during a bull market trend, one should not short, and various factors will influence the process; one must not easily exit until the end of the bull market.Next, in line with the bull market, asset explosions, especially trading infrastructure and on-chain finance, are essential. During this cycle, try not to chase narrative projects and follower projects.

According to the Gate Institutional Weekly Report, the market was influenced by energy shocks, persistent inflation, and interest rate hike expectations over the past week. WTI crude oil briefly surpassed $100, and the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond approached 5% during the session. BTC fell to about $76,800 during the week. Institutional funds showed significant differentiation, with a net outflow of about $463 million from BTC ETFs, while ETH ETFs saw a net inflow of about $197 million. Gate TradFi's weekly trading volume was approximately $120 billion, with a notable increase in commodity trading activity.In an environment where market volatility and asset rotation coexist, Gate continues to improve its multi-asset service system covering digital assets and traditional financial markets, forming a trading system that includes spot, contracts, stocks, ETFs, options, and other TradFi assets. Recently, Gate launched U.S. stock options trading services, providing more tools for institutions to participate in global diversified asset allocation.At the same time, Gate is continuously promoting the collaborative upgrade of institutional trading infrastructure by reducing cross-exchange trading costs, optimizing API trading capabilities, and improving anomaly handling mechanisms, further enhancing institutional trading efficiency and execution experience. The product collaboration between OES and CrossEx is also accelerating; currently, OES supports CrossEx trading settlement functions, which have entered the internal testing phase, covering key aspects such as trade execution, margin management, fund settlement, and API services, driving the development of institutional trading infrastructure towards greater efficiency and collaboration.

According to official news, Robinhood's Robinhood Ventures Fund I (RVI) participated in the $3.9 billion Series F financing of AI infrastructure company Crusoe, with an investment amount of $25 million.Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev stated that AI infrastructure is just as important as models, and RVI investors now indirectly hold equity in Crusoe through this fund.

Asset-backed financial infrastructure project Tenka announced the completion of a $2 million Pre-Seed round of financing, led by Maven11 Capital, with participation from Gami Capital.The funds from this round will be used to build market infrastructure for asset-backed finance, covering everything from bookkeeping to secondary trading.

According to The Wall Street Journal, AI computing infrastructure startup Crusoe has completed a $3.9 billion Series F funding round, with a post-money valuation of approximately $30.9 billion. This round of financing was co-led by Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, and Mubadala Investment, with participation from Founders Fund, TPG, and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).Founded in 2018, Crusoe initially provided services for cryptocurrency miners and later shifted to AI computing infrastructure. It spent two years building a large AI data center in Abilene, Texas, to provide computing power for OpenAI and Microsoft. The company is currently transitioning to producing compact data centers named "Spark," loading prefabricated facilities onto trucks and deploying them to locations with excess power to more quickly meet the demand for AI inference computing power.

According to SlowMist monitoring, a Brazilian banking malware operation, active since at least May 2025, known as REF9334, has recently been disclosed. Its KREMLIN malware ecosystem uses a multi-stage loader and malicious browser extensions to steal credentials, session tokens, and sensitive data. The malicious extensions can be installed into Chrome and Edge without user approval by bypassing the Chromium integrity mechanisms, including Secure Preferences, HMAC, and App-Bound encrypted hashes.The operation also uses Ethereum smart contracts as "dead letter parsers" to dynamically update C2 endpoints and payload hosting locations. After registering the network Canary domain name, analysts observed 1,515 infected hosts checking in, with 98.75% located in Brazil. SlowMist recommends that security teams monitor related malware, browser extension activities, and infrastructure associated with this operation.

The Financial Services Agency of Japan announced the "2026 Fiscal Year Financial Administrative Guidelines," proposing to clarify the issues of on-chain finance in terms of technology, systems, and regulation through verification and dialogue between the public and private sectors, while ensuring user protection and the stability of the financial system, and to build a financial infrastructure that is both convenient and competitive.The Financial Services Agency of Japan will also promote the shortening and upgrading of securities settlement processes in conjunction with the development of asset tokenization, and plans to establish an on-chain financial forum aimed at the AI era to discuss the applications of digital finance, decentralized finance, and AI technology in the financial sector.