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According to a report by Nikkei Asia citing multiple informed sources, TSMC (TSM.N) plans to raise the foundry prices for advanced and mature process chips by up to 10% in 2027, in response to rising costs of materials, manufacturing equipment, and the construction of new overseas plants. TSMC has begun discussions with customers regarding the price increase, which involves 7-nanometer and more advanced processes. This segment contributed approximately 77% of TSMC's revenue in the quarter from April to June this year.Informed sources indicated that the basic price increase will range from 5% to 10%, depending on the customer and product. For new orders of high-performance computing (HPC) chips that exceed the customer's original forecast, TSMC plans to impose an additional premium of 10% to 15% on top of the basic price increase. As a result, the overall price increase for some advanced process chip orders may exceed 10%. In terms of mature processes (including 12-nanometer, 16-nanometer, 28-nanometer processes, and other traditional technologies), TSMC plans to raise prices by up to 10%, but some products will see increases below this level. The mature process business accounted for about 23% of the company's revenue in the last quarter. Informed sources stated that relevant negotiations began around June and were finalized in July, with the new prices set to take effect in early 2027.

Global chip foundry giant TSMC announced its financial report for the second quarter of 2026. Benefiting from the strong demand for advanced process chips driven by global AI infrastructure development, TSMC's performance this quarter significantly exceeded market expectations. During the period, it achieved revenue of NT$1.27 trillion (approximately US$40.2 billion), a year-on-year increase of 36%; net profit reached NT$706.6 billion (approximately US$22 billion), a year-on-year surge of 77.4%, far exceeding the market's previous estimate of NT$623.7 billion. In addition, the company's gross margin for the quarter reached 67.7%, and the operating margin was 60.3%, both better than expected.In terms of process structure, advanced processes (7 nanometers and below) contributed a total of 77% to the total wafer revenue this quarter. Among them, the 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer processes accounted for 30% and 33%, respectively, while the 7-nanometer process accounted for 11%. Notably, TSMC's newly shipped 2-nanometer advanced process recorded revenue for the first time, accounting for 3%.Looking ahead, TSMC confirmed that its capital expenditure for 2026 will approach a record US$56 billion and plans to invest approximately US$26.5 billion in its advanced manufacturing park in Arizona, USA. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei stated that the current pace of capacity expansion still lags behind demand, and the situation of supply not meeting demand is expected to continue for several years. Meanwhile, despite TSMC's strong performance, the market remains somewhat cautious and concerned about whether the massive AI investments by tech giants can translate into actual returns and the medium- to long-term competitive landscape.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett posted on the X platform that Patrick Witt, the Executive Director of the White House Cryptocurrency Council, stated that this week will be a "critical week" in the advancement of the U.S. CLARITY Act. As the crypto industry prepares to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the GENIUS Act officially becoming law, the construction of the U.S. digital asset regulatory framework has once again become a focal point for the market.Patrick Witt mentioned that the current U.S. crypto policy is at an important stage, and the advancement of the CLARITY Act will have significant implications for the market structure of digital assets, the division of regulatory responsibilities, and the future development direction of the industry.Previously, the CLARITY Act was regarded as one of the important legislations for establishing comprehensive regulatory rules for the U.S. crypto market, aiming to clarify the classification of digital assets, the authority of regulatory agencies, and the compliance requirements for market participants.Market participants believe that if the bill makes substantial progress, it could further enhance regulatory certainty for the U.S. crypto industry and impact the future strategies of exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and blockchain companies.

According to The Information, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) plans to showcase a real-time stock trading settlement process based on blockchain technology this Wednesday, focusing on verifying the feasibility of this technology in the clearing, settlement, and recording stages to enhance the operational efficiency of capital market infrastructure.

According to Jinshi reports, SK Hynix officially launched its marketing process for its U.S. stock listing this Monday, aiming to leverage investors' continued enthusiasm for the memory chip sector to advance its trading on U.S. exchanges.According to the filing documents, SK Hynix plans to issue approximately 17.79 million shares of common stock corresponding to American Depositary Receipts. Based on last Friday's closing price in the Korean market, the scale of this issuance is approximately $28 billion. As a leading supplier of HBM chips, SK Hynix's listing in the U.S. opens up efficient financing channels for the company.According to previously disclosed regulatory documents, SK Hynix expects its American Depositary Receipts to officially begin trading on July 10 (this Friday). Based on the current proposed issuance scale, this ADR sale will rank among the top three largest IPOs in history (the specific amount depends on the exchange rate), potentially rivaling the $29.4 billion IPO scale set by Saudi Aramco in 2019.

According to The Defiant, the defunct DeFi yield protocol Stream Finance has begun collecting potential creditor information through an online form in preparation for "potential global solutions." Stream first revealed its intention to liquidate in May. The debt structure is complex: direct holders of xUSD, xBTC, and xETH are one class of creditors, while institutional lenders (curators on Euler, Morpho, Silo, Gearbox) accepting Stream tokens as collateral are another.Research institution Yields and More estimates the direct debt exposure to be approximately $285 million, with the largest curator TelosC accounting for about $124 million and Elixir for about $68 million (which represents 65% of its deUSD stablecoin reserves). Stream has collected claims information but has not committed to a specific compensation plan, and the priority of creditors has yet to be determined. Stream is also involved in legal disputes with former operator Caleb McMeans.Last November, Stream disclosed that external fund managers had lost approximately $93 million in assets, leading to the de-pegging of xUSD and freezing about $160 million in deposits. xUSD is currently quoted at approximately $0.08, down about 92% from its pegged price.

Gate announces the launch of a new USD ecosystem and upgrades its two major product modules, Gate Pay and Exchange, further integrating USD asset management, capital flow, and digital asset usage scenarios. Currently, this feature is gradually being opened to users. After updating the app to version 8.24.0 or above, users can manage USD assets, recharge USD, trade digital assets, withdraw USD, and transfer funds between accounts within Gate. Through the new USD account, users can hold and manage USD assets and directly use their USD balance to participate in digital asset trading.At the same time, Gate Pay has completed a product design upgrade, optimizing the display of accounts, assets, and capital flow, enhancing the clarity and smoothness of fund management. Both the Gate App and Gate Pay now support USD recharge and withdrawal functions. Users can recharge USD to the platform via SWIFT bank wire transfer and withdraw USD funds to their bank accounts. Meanwhile, users can also directly use their USD balance to purchase cryptocurrencies or sell their held crypto assets with one click to exchange for USD balance, achieving convenient conversion between USD assets and digital assets.This upgrade by Gate aims to integrate USD asset management and digital asset usage processes into the same product system, covering core aspects such as recharge, trading, withdrawal, and fund transfer, providing global users with a more efficient one-stop USD fund service. In the future, Gate will continue to expand the usage scenarios of USD assets and fiat currency service capabilities, continuously providing global users with a more convenient and efficient fund management experience.

The latest report from Binance Research shows that the on-chain tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) has grown by 589% since the beginning of 2025, now exceeding $31.4 billion, further expanding from $21.5 billion at the beginning of 2026, and growing approximately fivefold since the beginning of 2025. The main drivers of growth come from bonds and money market funds, which together added about $6.5 billion, an increase of 83%. Tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds, money market funds, gold-backed assets, and tokenized listed stocks are the main driving forces behind this round of growth. Although the base for tokenized stocks is relatively small, the growth rate is particularly remarkable, indicating that issuing institutions are testing whether blockchain tracks can support the circulation of a broader range of traditional securities.Analysts point out that this round of RWA growth differs from the previous narrative of the crypto market dominated by speculative trading or DeFi yields, and is more closely linked to traditional financial infrastructure, focusing on institutional needs such as settlement efficiency, collateral liquidity, and programmable asset services. However, compared to the global bond, money fund, and stock markets, which are worth tens of trillions of dollars, $31.4 billion is still a drop in the bucket. The report indicates that the key to the next phase of growth lies not in the issuance of tokens themselves, but in the improvement of liquidity depth, legal enforceability, custody standards, and access to secondary markets. The regulatory framework remains the core bottleneck restricting further expansion of scale.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong disclosed three platform-level data points on Thursday: the annual stablecoin transaction volume is nearly $1 trillion, the platform holds approximately $20 billion in USDC, and the x402 payment protocol processed over 160 million autonomous transactions in the past year. According to SEC filings, Coinbase's average USDC holdings in the first quarter reached a historic high of $19 billion, with over 25% of the total USDC circulation located within the Coinbase ecosystem.The total circulation of USDC currently stands at $75 billion. The $1 trillion stablecoin transaction volume refers to transfers made through Coinbase's payment infrastructure, in comparison, Visa is expected to process about $14.5 trillion in fiscal year 2025. The x402 protocol is named after the HTTP 402 error code and allows AI agents to make on-chain payments in USDC directly within network requests, with transactions over $1 accounting for 95% of x402 transfer volume.The Base chain has processed $190 trillion in stablecoin transaction volume this year, with over 90% of x402 transaction volume operating on Base. Founding members of the x402 foundation include Google, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, and AWS.

Senator Kevin Cramer stated in an interview that the U.S. Congress must immediately pass the Clarity Act, or else the cryptocurrency industry and future financial control will completely shift to other countries around the world.He emphasized, "This is not a Bitcoin issue, but a strategic issue of who controls the future of finance."

According to Gate market data, influenced by the latest news from the Middle East, the three major U.S. stock indices opened lower, with the Dow Jones down 0.3%, the S&P 500 down 0.2%, and the Nasdaq down 0.19%. Nvidia (NVDA.O) rose 2.7%, and Microsoft (MSFT.O) rose 3% as both companies jointly launched the Arm architecture RTX Spark PC chip, marking Nvidia's official entry into the personal computer core processor market. Arm (ARM.O) surged 8.8%, while Intel (INTC.O) fell 6.6%. Storage concept stocks collectively rose, with Micron Technology (MU.O) up over 5%, breaking the $1,000 mark, and SanDisk (SNDK.O) up 3.4%.

According to data from Dune Analytics, the payment-specific Layer 1 blockchain Tempo, incubated by Stripe, has processed 3.9 million transactions across 177,000 addresses since its mainnet launch on March 18. Its native TIP-20 stablecoin standard currently supports a circulating supply of over $25 million, covering multiple issuers and yield-bearing token variants. The TIP-20 standard is implemented through precompiled contracts rather than ERC-20 contracts, making the stablecoin native to the Tempo protocol, allowing issuers to utilize programmable strategies including transfer rules, whitelists, and fee logic.The distribution of stablecoin supply spans multiple issuers, with pathUSD leading at $8.2 million, followed by USDB, USDT0, and USDC.e and EURC.e bridged through Stargate, each holding between $4.5 million and $5.5 million in circulation. The Tempo architecture supports direct payment of Gas fees in stablecoins, eliminating the need for a native token. Tempo has been fully indexed by Dune Analytics, allowing for direct comparison with stablecoin data from major blockchains such as Tron, Solana, and Ethereum.

According to The Block, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) under the Office of Management and Budget of the White House stated on its website on Tuesday that it has received the proposed rules for prediction markets submitted by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and is currently under review. A CFTC spokesperson stated that more information will be released after the OIRA review is completed.CFTC Chairman Michael Selig has consistently argued that prediction markets fall under the "exclusive jurisdiction" of his agency and has filed lawsuits against five states, including Wisconsin, Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, and New York. Trump publicly supported Selig on Tuesday, stating that the CFTC's exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets is "critical."

According to a report by Reuters, since 2023, Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex has processed at least $2.3 billion in transactions through TRON and BNB Chain. These two blockchains were founded by crypto tycoons Justin Sun and Changpeng Zhao, both of whom are major supporters of the Trump family's World Liberty Financial.On-chain data first disclosed by Reuters shows that since the outbreak of the war in Iran in February, at least $22.6 million in crypto assets have flowed through Nobitex on the BNB Chain, with at least $550,000 flowing through TRON. Nobitex is widely used by sanctioned Iranian institutions, including the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. A White House spokesperson denied any conflict of interest in Trump's business dealings. World Liberty stated that it has no connection to Nobitex. Binance and BNB Chain responded that BNB Chain is a decentralized public blockchain, and Binance does not operate or control the network. TRON stated that it cannot monitor every transaction.

The lending protocol HyperLend on HyperEVM tweeted that it will gradually stop the USDH lending service process. Within 48 hours, users will not be able to continue providing or borrowing USDH on HyperLend. Meanwhile, the team encourages users to actively repay any USDH loans they hold.Previously, it was reported that Coinbase has become the official USDC fund deployment agency for Hyperliquid, and USDH will gradually exit the market over time. As part of this collaboration, Native Markets has agreed to grant Coinbase the right to purchase USDH brand assets. In the coming months, users will continue to exchange USDH for USDC or fiat currency through the USDH dashboard of Native Markets without any fees.

At the Tencent shareholder meeting, Chairman and CEO Ma Huateng gave the most candid response to date regarding doubts about whether Tencent is falling behind in AI. He stated, "A year ago, we thought we were on board, but later found that the boat was leaking. Now it feels like we are on board, but we can't sit down yet. We hope the speed of the boat can be a bit faster." Ma Huateng acknowledged the company's bumpy journey in the field of artificial intelligence and humorously illustrated the current situation: on the boat, but not yet stable.Ma Huateng also emphasized that Tencent may not be the fastest in the industry to seize opportunities, but it insists on following the right path, combining its unique advantages to proceed steadily. "We can't just look at others doing things and casually jump in to take over their territory. We have done that in the past but mostly failed."

NASDAQ-listed Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings has initiated a consent solicitation process for holders of its $600 million senior secured notes to amend certain covenant terms.MARA had previously signed an agreement on April 29 to acquire 100% of the parent company of Long Ridge. Since this transaction would trigger the "change of control" clause in the notes, it theoretically requires a cash buyback of all outstanding notes at 101% of the price. MARA is seeking the consent of noteholders to exclude this transaction from the definition of "change of control" and to designate MARA and its affiliates as "permitted holders."

According to market news, Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings has initiated a holder consent solicitation process regarding Long Ridge Energy's $600 million senior secured notes to amend the relevant covenant terms.MARA had previously signed an agreement on April 29 to acquire 100% of the parent company of Long Ridge. Since this transaction would trigger the "change of control" clause in the notes, it theoretically requires a cash buyback of all outstanding notes at 101% of the price. MARA is seeking the consent of the noteholders to exclude this transaction from the definition of "change of control" and to list MARA and its affiliates as "permitted holders."