PA Daily roundup
PANews’ Aug. 14 daily briefing pulled together a broad set of developments across regulation, macro, project updates, fundraising, market commentary and data. The headline items were Databricks closing a $5 billion strategic financing and DeepSeek opening testing for the developer preview of DeepSeek Harness v0.1.
Regulation and macro
JPMorgan ended its banking relationship with Polymarket last year
JPMorgan ended its banking relationship with Polymarket last year because of regulatory concerns. Polymarket has since partnered with a new bank, though the company has not disclosed its name. JPMorgan still maintains business ties with Polymarket and invited CEO Shayne Coplan to a private banking client conference in Miami in February.
Tether completes its first full independent financial audit
Stablecoin issuer Tether said Thursday that it had completed its first full independent audit of financial statements. KPMG U.S. issued an unqualified opinion on the 2025 accounts of Tether International, S.A. de C.V.
Tether said an unqualified opinion, also described as a clean opinion, means the auditor attached no reservations, exceptions or warnings during the audit process and that it is the most favorable opinion an independent auditor can issue.
A KPMG U.S. spokesperson said, 「We can confirm that we have issued an unqualified opinion, in accordance with AICPA standards, on the financial statements of Tether International, S.A. de C.V. for the year ended December 31, 2025. Due to client confidentiality obligations, we have no further comment.」
Tether had said in March that it hired one of the Big Four accounting firms to complete its first financial audit, but it did not disclose the firm’s name at that time.
Fed hold probability for September stands at 65.2%
According to CME FedWatch, the probability that the Federal Reserve leaves rates unchanged by September is 65.2%, while the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point increase is 34.8%.
For October, the probability of no change is 50.1%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point increase is 41.8%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point increase is 8.1%.
U.S. July PPI rose 4.7% year over year
U.S. producer prices in July rose 4.7% from a year earlier, below market expectations.
CFTC advisory committee to discuss crypto assets, AI and prediction markets
Michael S. Selig, chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, released the agenda for the first meeting of the Innovation Advisory Committee, or IAC. The committee is scheduled to meet on Aug. 20 and will focus on regulation tied to crypto assets, artificial intelligence and prediction markets.
Selig said the United States has long been a global center for financial innovation and that engagement with entrepreneurs, researchers and industry builders can help examine how emerging technologies and financial products may drive market development while exploring what he called the financial frontier. The meeting will be livestreamed on the CFTC website.
Committee members and participants are set to discuss digital asset regulatory frameworks, the effect of AI technology on financial markets, and the development of prediction markets. Members of the public can submit comments through Aug. 27, and those comments will be published through Regulations.gov. The CFTC said the agenda may change based on later committee priorities.
The Innovation Advisory Committee is intended to provide the CFTC with recommendations on emerging technologies, financial products and market innovation trends, with discussion areas including digital assets and AI that may shape future market structure.
Cleveland Fed President Hammack reiterated that rates must rise now
Cleveland Fed President Hammack reiterated that rates must rise now.
Project updates
Binance Alpha to list KiiChain (KII) on Aug. 14
Binance Alpha said it will list KiiChain (KII) on Aug. 14. Eligible users will be able to use Binance Alpha points on the Alpha event page to claim an airdrop after trading opens. Further details are to be announced separately.
Zhipu releases GLM-5.3
Zhipu officially released GLM-5.3. Compared with GLM-5.2, the base model is unchanged, but post-training scaling materially raised the model’s upper bound for intelligence, including environments for long-horizon tasks that are dozens of times larger, more diverse environment types and much longer post-training time.
Zhipu said GLM-5.3 currently ranks as the top open-source model across several mainstream benchmarks, with coding and agent capabilities close to Claude Fable 5 and a coding experience that exceeds other domestic models.
LG Electronics targets a next-generation humanoid robot in Q1 2027
LG Electronics said Friday that it plans to launch a next-generation humanoid robot in the first quarter of 2027. The machine will be based on Nvidia’s robotics platform and will have bipedal walking capability.
The robot will use Nvidia’s Jetson Thor robotics chip module and will be developed on top of the Nvidia Isaac GR00T humanoid foundation model and Holoscan for Robotics safety system. LG said it will integrate capabilities from key affiliates, including actuators from LG Electronics, sensors from LG Innotek and batteries from LG Energy Solution.
The two companies will also expand cooperation in three areas: robotics, AI factories and mobility.
DeepSeek API pricing update takes effect on Aug. 17
DeepSeek announced a pricing update for its API, adopting peak and off-peak pricing, with off-peak rates set at half of peak rates.
Peak hours are Beijing time 9:00-12:00 and 14:00-18:00, with all other periods treated as off-peak. The new pricing will take effect at 00:00 Beijing time on Aug. 17, 2026. For deepseek-v4-pro, the highest peak-hour price for output per million tokens reaches 27 yuan.
WLFI delays token sale tied to a Maldives resort project
A digital token project linked to a Trump-branded resort has been delayed, marking the latest setback for World Liberty Financial, or WLFI, in its push into tokenized real-world assets.
World Liberty Financial and its partners have postponed the sale of digital tokens tied to a Trump-branded Maldives resort. The token had been expected to launch this spring and would have given investors rights to part of the income used to finance the resort’s loan project.
People familiar with the matter said the offering was delayed because the Iran war affected travel activity in the Middle East and nearby regions. Because the delay has not been made public, the people requested anonymity.
The project had been viewed as an important attempt by WLFI to tokenize real-world assets by opening traditional real estate income rights to investors through blockchain rails.
DeepSeek Harness v0.1 developer preview opens for testing
The developer preview of DeepSeek Harness, version 0.1, has opened for testing to Harness developers globally and has been released as open source under the MIT license.
DeepSeek Harness uses an 「everything is a plugin」 design approach. Its open plugin-based architecture is used to build Agent Harness, with model, tool, skill, session, sandbox, storage, loop, scheduling and UI functions all composed of interchangeable plugins that can be swapped and recombined.
SharpLink stakes $200 million in ETH through Lido
Nasdaq-listed Ethereum treasury company SharpLink said it will stake $200 million worth of ETH through Ethereum liquid staking protocol Lido to improve the yield capacity of its ETH reserves.
After the staking transaction, SharpLink will receive wrapped staked ETH, or wstETH, representing staked ETH and the yield generated on it. Institutional digital asset custodian Anchorage Digital will provide custody. The setup expands SharpLink’s existing ETH staking and restaking strategy.
Binance Wallet Meme Rush adds support for Pools Trade on Robinhood Chain
Binance Wallet Meme Rush now supports Uniswap’s new launchpad Pools Trade on Robinhood Chain.
Fundraising and financing
Kalshi in talks for a new round at a $40 billion valuation
People familiar with the matter said Kalshi is in advanced discussions with Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management on a new $750 million financing round that would value the company at $40 billion.
Sequoia, based in Silicon Valley, manages $56 billion in assets and already has an executive serving on Kalshi’s board. For Boston-based Wellington Management, which oversees $1.3 trillion in client assets, the round would mark its first investment in Kalshi.
Kalshi raised $1 billion in May at a $22 billion valuation and has become the top prediction market platform by revenue. Polymarket follows behind it and had previously sought a $20 billion financing. In August, Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, invested $600 million in Polymarket at a $15 billion valuation.
AMD may raise up to $5 billion through bond issuance
AMD is preparing a bond sale that could raise as much as $5 billion, potentially the company’s largest-ever investment-grade debt offering, joining a wave of corporate issuance driven by the AI boom.
People familiar with the matter said the final size has not been determined and may change based on demand. Another person said AMD will sell notes in four tranches with maturities ranging from three to 10 years. Initial price guidance on the longest maturity was about 1.15 percentage points over U.S. Treasuries.
Pershing prepares its first venture capital fund
The investment firm of hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman is preparing a new vehicle that would allow investors to gain exposure to pre-IPO companies, adding it to the list of firms launching products aimed at high-growth startups.
Ackman and chief investment officer Ryan Israel said in a shareholder letter on Wednesday that Pershing Square Inc. has started preparations for Pershing Square Ventures Ltd. The vehicle is designed as an evergreen permanent capital structure that can continue holding shares after portfolio companies go public.
The letter said Pershing Square recently completed several investments in private companies and that those positions will form part of the new fund’s initial portfolio. Some private company investments from Ackman’s family office will also be transferred into the fund.
Databricks closes $5 billion strategic financing
AI data infrastructure company Databricks said it has completed a $5 billion strategic financing led by Coatue, with participation from Blackstone, MGX and T. Rowe Price. Sixth Street Growth joined as a new investor.
The company said its post-money valuation reached $190 billion, above the previously disclosed $188 billion valuation framework. Proceeds will be used for AI infrastructure expansion, product research and development, and potential acquisitions.
Co-founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi said Databricks’ current revenue run rate has exceeded $7 billion, up more than 80% year over year. On AI agent infrastructure, the company said AI-generated software is likely to expand sharply and that every AI application needs database support.
Views and analysis
CryptoQuant analyst says ADX has hit its lowest level in more than two years
CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said in a post that the Average Directional Index, or ADX, has just touched its lowest level in more than two years. He said that shows Bitcoin has remained in a range for a long period and that price will need to choose a direction soon.
ADX is used to measure trend strength. It is a non-directional indicator that focuses on the strength of a trend rather than price direction itself.
Murphy says this cycle’s bear-market bottom may be down 50% to 60% at most
Analyst Murphy said Bitcoin bought in 2025 and held until now is, as a group, in a loss position. Data cited in the note showed there are still 4.77 million BTC from 2025 cohorts, down 41.5% from the peak reached in December last year.
The decline was steep before February, then slowed after February while still keeping a noticeable slope. Murphy said this group may now be the market’s largest source of supply. Compared with cohorts from 2024, 2023 and 2022, holders still in profit have largely moved past the phase of rapid reduction, and the longer the holding period, the slower the slope of coin reduction.
Murphy said changes in these earlier cohorts may stay limited even if prices fall further. He put the maximum drawdown to the bear-market bottom in this cycle at 50% to 60%, versus 41% now, and said the estimate does not yet account for Bitcoin locked by ETF and MicroStrategy purchases in 2025.
Vida says he cut one-third of his Bitcoin position near $63,000
Formula News founder Vida said on his personal channel that he reduced one-third of his Bitcoin position near $63,000.
Vida said Bitcoin still has a bull market ahead, but its narrative has been overshadowed by AI and no new narrative is visible in the next one to two years. He said the remaining core narrative is fiat replacement and hedging against fiat debasement, and that the next bull market would require problems in U.S. Treasuries or the dollar, something he does not see in the short term. Before the next bull market, he expects a broad repricing of global assets.
On that basis, he said he expects to buy the position back at cheaper levels in one to three years, with an expected range of $45,000 to $55,000.
Garrett Jin focuses on Korean semiconductors and upcoming SpaceX unlocks
Garrett Jin, described as the agent of the 「1011 insider whale」, released his latest weekly market analysis. On Korea, Jin said his team had been waiting to rebuild exposure in SK Hynix after a pullback to a key support area. The stock recently fell back to around 1.42 million won, touching the second support region of a previously identified double-bottom structure, and then rebounded quickly. It rose as high as 1.634 million won intraday on Aug. 13 and closed up 5.9%.
He said the Korean equity market remains in a wide trading range rather than a new trend phase. Short-term overseas flows have not yet turned into long-term allocation, and pressure from leveraged ETFs is still affecting the market.
On macro assets, Jin said gold’s recent move exceeded expectations, rising 7.8% in a week and reaching as high as $4,467, driven mainly by expectations of a weaker dollar, soft U.S. employment data and reduced expectations for rate increases. He added that the short-term setup in gold looks crowded and that a pullback may provide the next add-on opportunity.
Bitcoin, by contrast, remains comparatively weak, trading around $63,600 and still constrained by support at $62,500 and resistance between $65,000 and $70,000. He said the bottoming structure that began at $57,700 in July is still gradually taking shape.
On SpaceX, Jin said the team flagged a buying opportunity on Aug. 6, the day lockup shares were unlocked. About 911.5 million insider shares were released, more than doubling the freely tradable float, while roughly 35% of the float was sold short, creating broad expectations of pressure on the stock.
SpaceX then moved higher instead, gaining about 22% over two days, adding about $327 billion in market value and moving back above its $135 IPO price. Using the previously highlighted level of about $110, the one-week gain was about 35%.
Jin said the combination of a large unlock and a high short position became a catalyst because the market had already priced in selling pressure. He added that more unlocks are still ahead, including about 319 million shares on Aug. 20 and about 700 million shares each in September and October, making the area around $160 more suitable for taking profit than chasing momentum.
Analysis says Anthropic valuation could reach $3 trillion
Citrini analyst Jukan reposted a report on X saying Anthropic investors believe fast-growing demand for the company’s Claude series of AI models and tools is enough to support much higher valuation expectations.
According to the report, investors expect Anthropic’s annualized revenue to reach $100 billion to $120 billion by the end of 2026, more than 10 times higher than at the start of 2026.
One institutional investor involved in the company said that if Anthropic can sustain revenue growth of about 800% a year, then even on a lower 30x revenue multiple, its potential valuation could reach $3 trillion.
Investors said Anthropic is shifting from an AI model provider toward an enterprise AI infrastructure platform as demand from businesses for advanced AI models keeps growing. They argued that commercial execution speed and revenue growth potential are driving a reassessment of its long-term value. The report also noted that future valuation will still depend on commercialization speed, enterprise adoption and AI infrastructure costs.
Key market data
KOSPI rises 11.5% for the week
South Korea’s KOSPI closed up 164 points, or 2.41%, at 6,977.34. The index gained 11.5% for the week, ending a seven-week losing streak.
Bitcoin spot ETFs posted $131 million in net outflows on Aug. 13
Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded total net outflows of $131 million on Aug. 13, U.S. Eastern time.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF, BTC, had the largest single-day net inflow at $38.9268 million, bringing cumulative historical net inflows to $2.739 billion. Morgan Stanley’s ETF MSBT followed with a daily net inflow of $7.0806 million, taking cumulative inflows to $436 million.
The largest single-day net outflow came from ARKB, the ETF from Ark Invest and 21Shares, at $58.8155 million. ARKB’s cumulative historical net inflows stand at $1.277 billion.
As of publication, total net assets across Bitcoin spot ETFs were $77.271 billion. The ETF net asset ratio, measuring ETF market value as a share of Bitcoin’s total market capitalization, stood at 6.07%, and cumulative historical net inflows had reached $51.846 billion.
Reddit to join the S&P 500
Reddit will officially join the S&P 500 on Aug. 18, replacing AvalonBay Communities. With online forums covering thousands of topics, Reddit will become the second pure-play social media company in the index after Meta. Its shares rose 11% following the news.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund holds about $81.87 million in BitMine stock
As of June 30, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global held about 6,151,062 shares of BitMine Immersion Technologies worth $81,870,635.
BitMine did not appear in the fund’s year-end 2025 holdings report, and the documents did not disclose when the shares were purchased or at what cost.
Three-year Bitcoin whale appears to begin selling
On-chain watcher Ai Yi said a Bitcoin whale that has held for about three years appears to have started selling. Address bc1q7…jvlgw sent 158.7 BTC, worth about $10.01 million, to Coinbase eight hours earlier.
The funds came from address 3JLdM…jEp9L, which withdrew BTC from Kraken on March 11, 2023 and held through the period. During the current bull market, the position at one point had floating profit of more than $15.31 million, but no profit was taken. If the latest transfer is sold, the gain would be about $6.206 million, more than 40% below the peak profit.
Gemini reports a $107.7 million net loss in the second quarter
Crypto exchange Gemini reported second-quarter revenue of $45.5 million, up from $33.3 million a year earlier for growth of 37%. Net loss was $107.7 million, narrowing 19% from $133.2 million a year earlier.
Credit card revenue jumped 231% to $16.2 million, while staking revenue rose 50% to $4 million. Prediction markets generated $500,000 in revenue, slightly above the $400,000 disclosed when the product launched last December. Event contracts traded on the platform rose 93% from the first quarter.
Monthly transacting users grew 11% year over year, but assets on the platform fell from $18.2 billion to $8.4 billion as the value of major assets including Bitcoin dropped 50%.
AVAX One posts a $35.1 million net loss in Q2
Nasdaq-listed AVAX One reported second-quarter revenue of $2.8 million, up sharply from $500,000 a year earlier, mainly because of $2.1 million in staking rewards from AVAX tokens and a small amount of BTC mining revenue.
The company posted a net loss of $35.1 million, or $4.41 per share, largely because of unrealized non-cash losses on digital assets it holds, including 14.10 million AVAX tokens.
Bullish reports a $280 million net loss in Q2
Crypto exchange Bullish, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker BLSH, reported second-quarter digital asset trading volume of $32.6 billion, down from $58.6 billion a year earlier. Net income swung to a loss of $280 million from profit of $108.3 million in the year-ago period.
Adjusted revenue was $92.6 million and adjusted EBITDA was $29.5 million. Subscription, services and other revenue reached a record $62.7 million.
1kx says crypto industry revenue fell 23% to $47 billion in the first half
1kx released its report on crypto industry revenue for the first half of 2026, showing total revenue fell 23% year over year to $47 billion.
The report said the decline came mainly from two areas. First, finance-related revenue was lower than in 2024: CEX, derivatives and market-making revenue fell by $5.2 billion; on-chain DeFi revenue fell by $1.8 billion, or 32%; and ETF and fund management fees declined by $1.1 billion.
Second, blockchain revenue kept shrinking: staking and mining rewards fell by $6.2 billion; transaction fees and MEV were cut in half; and blockchain-related revenue accounted for only 25% of total revenue, a record low.
At the same time, stablecoin and RWA issuer revenue increased by $700 million, stablecoin cards and payments rose by $100 million, prediction market fee revenue increased roughly tenfold for an estimated gain of $300 million, DePIN fees nearly doubled, and middleware on-chain fees, led by Chainlink, rose about 70%. DeFi and finance revenue in dollar terms declined, but its share of industry revenue climbed to 64%. Consumer on-chain fees fell 20%, outperforming the broader average.
Bit Digital bought 8,568 ETH in Q2
Ethereum treasury company Bit Digital, listed on Nasdaq under BTBT, reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2026. The company bought 8,568 ETH for $20 million during the quarter, at an average cost of about $2,334.25 per ETH.
Bit Digital did not sell any ETH during the quarter and now holds about 164,310.5 ETH in total, including 75,757.5 ETH held directly.
Total revenue in the second quarter was $32.1 million, up 15% from $27.9 million in the first quarter. Ethereum staking revenue was $900,000, compared with $2.3 million in the prior quarter. For the first half, Ethereum staking revenue rose 246% year over year.
Digital asset mining revenue was $2.4 million, with 32.3 BTC mined, down from 48.1 BTC in the prior quarter. First-half mining revenue fell 58% year over year, in line with the ongoing contraction of that business. Net loss attributable to Bit Digital shareholders was $107.2 million in the second quarter.
Arkham says Garrett Jin lost $16 million on a Bitcoin long
Arkham said Garrett Jin, described as the agent of the 「1011 insider whale」, went long nearly $100 million worth of Bitcoin at an average entry price of $76,117. The position lost $16 million, not including the $1.2 million in funding he paid.
Nakamoto held 4,467 BTC at the end of June
Bitcoin treasury company Nakamoto reported second-quarter revenue of $35.87 million and a net loss of $133 million.
Mark-to-market losses on Bitcoin-related digital assets reached $48.7 million, while revenue from Bitcoin derivatives was $10.4 million. As of the end of June, the company held about 4,467 BTC with a total fair value of about $261.5 million.