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According to The Block, research and brokerage firm Bernstein stated that Bitcoin mining company IREN plans to invest $25 billion to $30 billion to expand its AI cloud business in fiscal year 2027. This scale of capital expenditure may "scare the market," but analysts believe investors are overlooking the improving economic benefits.Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani pointed out in a report to clients on Friday that the payback period for GPU capital expenditures has shortened from about three years under the 2025 Microsoft contract to about two years. IREN's fiscal year 2026 performance released on Thursday showed that AI cloud service revenue grew nearly eightfold from $16.4 million the previous year to $128.8 million, while Bitcoin mining revenue reached $578.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 19%. Total revenue rose from $501 million to $707 million, but the company recorded a net loss of $702.6 million, partly reflecting a $638.8 million impairment due to the retirement of Bitcoin mining hardware to support AI cloud expansion.Bernstein stated that IREN currently has an annualized run rate revenue of $1 billion from operating cloud and $4 billion in contract revenue, with its 2026 capacity nearly sold out. In addition to the expected $700 million related to the Nvidia contract in 2027, IREN's total contract cloud ARR amounts to $4.7 billion. Over the past 12 months, IREN has raised $19 billion through customer prepayments, GPU financing, convertible bonds, and equity issuance.

The cryptocurrency protocol Ethena, which issued $4 billion in synthetic US dollars (USDe), announced plans to expand its basis trading strategy to stock perpetual contracts. According to Ethena's data, the open interest in stock perpetual contracts has grown tenfold to $6.2 billion since March. Over the past few months, the funding rates on Hyperliquid and Binance averaged approximately 14% and 17.5%, respectively, while the Bitcoin funding rate during the same period was only in the low single digits.Ethena pointed out that the average Bitcoin funding rate was 11% in 2024, 4.9% in 2025, and has dropped to 2.2% as of August 11 this year. In contrast, stock perpetual contracts had positive funding rates on 94% of trading days on Hyperliquid and 97% on Binance, with a median funding rate of 13.9%, while Bitcoin's was 3.9%. Co-founder Guy Young stated that stocks tend to rise in the long term, creating a continuous demand for leveraged longs to pay fees, and that the funding rate for stocks has almost no correlation with Bitcoin, providing USDe with a revenue source that relies less on the crypto market.The global stock market had a market capitalization of approximately $166.5 trillion in July, far exceeding the crypto market's approximately $2.2 trillion. This expansion is one of Ethena's initiatives to seek new revenue sources after the supply of USDe fell from a peak of about $15 billion to below $5 billion. Last week, it also announced a $1 billion financing arrangement with FalconX.

According to CoinDesk, Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings plans to acquire a 20% stake in Indonesian online brokerage Ajaib Group for $270 million by the end of this month to expand the circulation of its yen stablecoin JPYSC in Southeast Asia and utilize blockchain technology to build cross-border settlement infrastructure.Ajaib provides a foothold for SBI to enter the Indonesian market. Indonesia is one of the largest retail investment markets in ASEAN, with over 20 million retail investors and an estimated retail market size of $375 billion. Ajaib operates online brokerage, forex margin trading, cryptocurrency, and asset management businesses in Indonesia, and this $270 million deal is also the largest tech financing in Indonesia in years.SBI Chairman and President Yoshitaka Kitao stated that in the era of tokenization, the importance of global digital asset infrastructure is becoming increasingly prominent. This investment is part of SBI's strategy in Southeast Asia, having previously acquired Singapore cryptocurrency exchange Coinhako for about $100 million and invested in Singapore digital securities trading platform DigiFT. The Japanese government has also recently announced plans to build blockchain infrastructure for stocks and government bonds, with the expectation of launching 24/7 on-chain settlement in the early 2030s.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the merger registration documents of Evernorth, a treasury company supported by Ripple, with the special purpose acquisition company Armada Acquisition Corp. II, clearing the way for the company to land on Nasdaq. Armada shareholders will vote on September 30, and if approved, the merged entity will be listed on Nasdaq under the code XRPN, with Evernorth expecting the transaction to be completed by the end of September or October.Evernorth is a company based in San Francisco, aiming to incorporate XRP into a public balance sheet and planning to invest in XRP infrastructure, gradually increasing the corresponding XRP reserve per share. The company was founded and is led by Asheesh Birla, who has been responsible for payment operations at Ripple for over a decade. In addition to Ripple, institutions such as Arrington Capital, Japan's SBI Group, Pantera Capital, Kraken, and GSR are also involved in the investment.As of the time of publication, XRP is quoted at approximately $1.41, with a weekly increase of over 27%.

Market expectations for the Bank of Japan tightening monetary policy are heating up, with weak demand for Japan's two-year government bond auction, the bid-to-cover ratio at 2.97, lower than last time's 3.63 and the past 12 months' average of 3.74. The tail difference is 0.034, higher than last month's 0.007, marking the weakest since 2016. The government led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi supports an interest rate hike as early as September, with overnight index swaps indicating a probability of about 84% for a rate hike in September.

SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung stated that the company is exploring ways to deepen cooperation with Japanese memory chip customers and suppliers, and is cautiously assessing how to jointly develop the NAND flash memory market. Regarding the company's significant indirect stake in Kioxia, he mentioned that there are currently "no definite plans."After Toshiba's recent divestment, SK Hynix's investment vehicle BCPE Pangea Cayman2 has become Kioxia's largest shareholder, holding a 14.19% stake. SK Hynix holds bonds that can be converted into nearly all voting rights of this investment vehicle; according to a previous agreement, its voting rights cannot exceed 15% before 2028 without Kioxia's consent.In addition, SK Hynix is investing over $4 billion to build its first U.S. HBM packaging facility in Indiana. The cleanroom of the factory is expected to be operational by October 2028, with mass production of the next generation HBM planned for the second half of 2029, and it is expected to employ about 1,000 people once fully operational. The company is also still evaluating the possibility of listing its U.S. NAND subsidiary Solidigm, but no decision has been made yet.

According to the official announcement, Gate's Japanese stock trading service has officially launched on the App side, following its previous launch on the Web side, now achieving coverage on both Web and App platforms. Users can view market data, conduct trades, and manage their positions through either the computer or mobile platform, allowing for flexible switching between different usage scenarios. The first batch covers approximately 300 stocks listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, including popular targets such as Toyota Motor, Sony Group, SoftBank Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Nintendo, and Tokyo Electron.With the launch of the mobile service for Japanese stocks, Gate's stock trading service now covers four core markets: US stocks, Hong Kong stocks, Korean stocks, and Japanese stocks. In addition to continuously expanding the global stock market, Gate is also enhancing its product layout around Pre-IPOs, direct IPOs, and gStocks tokenized stocks, and supports fractional trading, stock dividends, and cross-brokerage transfer services. Through a unified stock account and collaboration across Web and App multi-terminals, Gate is further connecting different markets and asset types, continuously improving a one-stop multi-asset trading experience.

According to Crunchbase, AI fraud prevention company Socure announced the completion of a $156 million strategic growth round financing, with the company's valuation reaching $5.2 billion. Summit Partners led the investment, with participation from Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Docusign, and others. Currently, its fraud prevention services are applied to companies such as cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, stablecoin issuer Circle, digital bank Revolut, and Robinhood.In addition, the company also announced the acquisition of AI startup Fravity, aiming to leverage AI agents to conduct fraud, risk, and compliance investigations, with the specific acquisition amount not yet disclosed.

Physics AI company Transfyr announced the completion of a $25 million seed round financing, led by General Catalyst, with participation from Lux Capital, Breakout Ventures, Factory, Neo, SV Angel, MVP Ventures, Underscore VC, Lyda Hill, and several angel investors.The company is dedicated to bridging the gap between the physical and digital worlds, transforming scientific operational data into machine-readable data, and achieving a truly closed-loop system driven by artificial intelligence and automation.

The Bitget 2026 King Cup Global Invitation Tournament KCGI has opened registration on August 26. As of now, 796 teams have been formed, with a total of 20,801 participants. Early bird benefits are also available; users who join a team and complete the specified requirements among the first 10,000 users before August 30 can compete for an early bird prize pool of 200,000 USDT.It is reported that this year's KCGI has been fully upgraded, with "UEX Panoramic Competition" as the core highlight, for the first time integrating three major tracks: crypto contracts, TradFi contracts, and stock spot (rToken), achieving the same competition field, the same prize pool, and the same ranking, providing a multi-asset competitive scenario for users with different trading preferences, with a total prize pool of 3 million USDT. The registration period for the tournament ends on September 22, and more details can be found on the Bitget official platform.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Nvidia has suspended some transactions in its new financing plan. This plan aims to provide credit support to AI cloud companies in exchange for revenue sharing. Insiders say that the chip giant withdrew from the related arrangements last week but may adjust the plan in the future or incorporate it into other projects.A Nvidia spokesperson stated that the new business model aimed at the rapidly growing AI ecosystem and open computing power access is still progressing and continues to evolve due to strong demand. The plan was announced less than two months ago, intending to support the financing needs of small AI cloud companies: if customers cannot sell computing power, Nvidia can lease back the relevant computing power, acting as a guarantee buyer, thereby facilitating companies in raising funds to purchase Nvidia AI chips; Nvidia would then share cloud revenue generated by customers based on its chips, in addition to hardware sales.Nvidia stated in this week's earnings call that this model is expected to contribute billions of dollars in revenue in the medium to long term. However, recent investor scrutiny regarding its capital flow back to the AI ecosystem has increased, raising concerns that so-called circular transactions may inflate demand. Reports indicate that some employees had expressed antitrust concerns to customers; in the early stages of the plan, Nvidia also faced dissatisfaction from some potential partners due to attempts to limit chip rental targets, preferring to distribute to multiple small customers rather than a single large customer, and requiring a 50% revenue share after reaching a certain threshold.

Japan Bitcoin Industry Co., Ltd. launched the self-custody Bitcoin payment platform Aurora at the Bitcoin Asia conference held in Hong Kong, aiming to help Japanese businesses sell content such as anime, manga, and games to international fans. The company stated that the overseas Japanese anime content market is expected to reach 21.7 trillion yen in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 26%, but traditional payment systems often keep overseas consumers at bay.Aurora allows international customers to make Bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network while providing Japanese merchants with a simple point of sale (POS) and API layer for managing invoices, payment tracking, and integration. The core design principle of the platform is that JBI does not touch the funds; each merchant operates their own self-custody Lightning Network node, directly receiving Bitcoin from customers, which provides merchants with a clearer regulatory foundation.JBI stated that Aurora draws on the experience of its existing consumer business UseBitcoin.jp, which has allowed customers to purchase digital gift cards including au PAY, V-Preca, and Kyash using the Lightning Network for the past two years. The company invites media, potential merchants, and wallet providers to contact the team at the 2026 Hong Kong Bitcoin Asia conference.

According to Cointelegraph, Bitcoin's rebound in August has driven a surge in the stock prices of some previously underperforming mining companies, reversing the market preference that had shifted towards artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) mining firms. The latest report from BlocksBridge Consulting shows that Bitcoin's approximately 23% increase over the past week has outperformed most AI-related infrastructure stocks.The stock prices of three mining companies, Canaan, American Bitcoin, and Cango, rose between 41% and 67%, while CoreWeave increased by about 21%, Nebius by 17%, and IREN by 15%. Some mining companies with higher exposure to AI and HPC remained flat or declined. BlocksBridge pointed out that the three main catalysts for Bitcoin's rise include: the U.S. Treasury's announcement on August 19 to at least double the liquidity support for long-term Treasury repurchase agreements; a rise in regulatory optimism following a meeting between the White House and crypto executives, with Trump urging Congress to pass the CLARITY Act; and a short squeeze triggered after Bitcoin's breakout, leading to over $1.6 billion in crypto positions being liquidated within 24 hours.Additionally, BlocksBridge's previous analysis found that publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies' investments in AI data centers are about 15 times their AI-related revenue. From 2026 to date, the AI and HPC revenue of nine listed mining companies has reached $341.2 million, while related capital expenditures have amounted to $5.11 billion.

According to Gate market data, NVIDIA's stock price increase expanded to 8.22%, marking the largest single-day increase since April 2025, with a total market capitalization reaching $5.47 trillion.

The Block reported that Hyperliquid Strategies raised $647 million in equity capital and more than doubled its Hyperliquid native token treasury to 29.3 million HYPE, valued at approximately $1.9 billion at the end of the fiscal year, while maintaining $149.9 million in cash and no debt.The company stated that it has since deployed $773.4 million to acquire approximately 16.5 million additional HYPE at an average cost of $46.77, and spent $27.8 million to repurchase PURR shares, with $132.6 million in cash remaining as of August 19.

Ripple's multi-asset brokerage business Ripple Prime has launched the Delta One service aimed at institutional investors, officially expanding into the U.S. equity derivatives market. This service allows clients to execute total return swaps linked to U.S. listed stocks, indices, and digital assets, and supports cross-asset margin calculations.Noel Kimmel, President of Ripple Prime, stated that this is an important step in the development of Ripple Prime and a natural extension of the platform. The service is primarily aimed at financial institutions such as hedge funds and asset management companies, allowing clients to trade around the clock through a single counterparty. Ripple Prime currently has over $1 billion in regulatory net capital.Ripple Prime was renamed after Ripple's $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road completed in October 2025. In August of this year, Ripple Prime completed a $275 million private placement of senior unsecured notes, and in May, it secured $200 million in debt financing from a fund managed by Neuberger Specialty Finance to expand its institutional lending capabilities.

According to Gate market data, Salesforce (CRM.N) has increased by 19%, marking the largest increase since August 2020.

Charles Schwab announced plans to add trading services for Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), and Chainlink (LINK) to its Schwab Crypto platform in the coming months.Schwab Crypto began offering clients direct trading in Bitcoin and Ethereum in May 2026. Charles Schwab stated that it will continue to gradually add more cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

According to SolanaFloor, Solana's treasury company DeFi Development Corp announced the resumption of SOL purchases, with the latest acquisition of 19,000 SOL, investing approximately 1.86 million USD, at an average purchase price of 98.14 USD.After this acquisition, DeFi Development Corp's SOL treasury holdings increased to approximately 2.33 million SOL, valued at about 182 million USD at current prices.

According to Bitcoin News, Sparrow Wallet v2.5.4 has been released after extensive AI-assisted review, containing multiple security enhancement updates aimed at reducing users' reliance on external servers such as Electrum.Additionally, this version strengthens Ledger, Keycard, Trezor, Payjoin, PSBT, and multi-signature handling, removes Bitcoin Core credentials and other confidential information from debug logs, restricts existing wallet and backup directory permissions to owner access only, closes local DNS resolution leaks when using Tor, and enhances wallet import, signing, downloading, and server response verification. This update expands Sparrow Wallet's scope for independently verifying transaction data, hardware devices, and other inputs, reducing reliance on external servers for data provision.