South Korea’s stock market has been at the center of the latest AI-driven equity shakeout, according to a ChainCatcher article by author Ge Jila with data support from Gugu Big Data. The piece says the KOSPI has fallen as much as 32% from its June 19 peak of 9,385.6, and argues that the sharp move was amplified less by deteriorating fundamentals than by a highly concentrated leverage structure inside the market. The article identifies leveraged exchange-traded funds as the main trigger. It says leveraged ETF assets had approached $50 billion at the peak, then shrank to about $26 billion, implying a reduction of roughly $24 billion. Based on an estimated “reasonable” residual size of $18 billion, the deleveraging process is described as roughly 75% complete. It also highlights new rules beginning Aug. 5, Aug. 19 and November that tighten issuance, margin, and trading requirements for single-stock leveraged ETFs. The second major pressure point was hedge funds using total return swaps to increase Korean equity exposure. By the article’s estimates, leverage in that segment has dropped by more than 50% from stressed levels. Retail margin, by contrast, is portrayed as a smaller systemic risk because balances are lower, concentration is tilted toward KOSDAQ, and standard financing accounts lack the mechanical daily rebalancing feature seen in leveraged ETFs. Overall, the article argues that the most acute phase of Korea’s forced deleveraging has largely run its course.

Nvidia has released additional details about Vera, its data center CPU built for AI workloads, as the company expands beyond GPUs into another core part of the AI server stack. The new information includes chip specifications, benchmark data and architectural material intended to help potential customers evaluate the product. A company representative said Vera was delivered in June to customers including OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX. The disclosure comes as Nvidia, already the world’s most valuable company on the back of strong demand for its graphics processing units, begins selling a CPU designed specifically for AI use. The move opens a new front for Nvidia in the AI server market, where it will compete more directly with Advanced Micro Devices and Intel. By adding CPUs to its data center lineup, the company is extending its reach beyond the GPU segment that has driven its recent rise.

NVIDIA on July 21 introduced its new Spectrum-6 Ethernet switching system, designed to support hyperscale AI infrastructure built on the Vera Rubin platform. The company said the system delivers 102.4 Tbps of switching capacity per device, twice that of the previous generation. It is intended to connect hundreds of thousands of GPUs and CPUs and provide networking support for large-scale AI training, agent-based applications, and inference workloads. NVIDIA also said Spectrum-6 will serve as a core component of the next-generation Spectrum-X Ethernet platform. According to the company, the product is built to improve overall computing efficiency in AI factories through high bandwidth, intelligent traffic management, and fault recovery capabilities. CoreWeave, Microsoft, Nebius, SpaceXAI, and Tesla are set to be among the first infrastructure builders to deploy the system.

Morpho, a major onchain lending protocol, has launched Midnight on Base, introducing fixed-rate and fixed-term credit markets to the network. The release also includes a new Markets App that lets users lend and borrow directly through those markets, with Base supported at launch and additional networks planned later. Morpho co-founder Paul Frambot said the protocol allows users to choose their own rates and terms, calling Midnight the team’s most ambitious step so far. He tied the launch to Morpho’s broader effort to bring the global credit market onchain and said the product could create new use cases for fintech firms, institutions, and credit desks. The company also noted that its reference to a $200 trillion market reflects its own view of the addressable opportunity, rather than an independent measure of protocol activity.

OKX has appointed former New York governor Andrew Cuomo to its board, putting a central figure behind the 2014 creation of the BitLicense inside a company that still does not appear on the New York Department of Financial Services register for that license. Protos framed the move as a notable development for an exchange that has spent years operating without the New York approval that several rivals, including Coinbase, Gemini, Mastercard, and MoonPay, have secured. The report also revisited OKX’s past compliance issues in the US, including more than $1 trillion in transactions by US customers between 2018 and early 2024 despite a policy that barred US persons from using the platform, and an employee message in 2023 telling an American user to enter a random country. In parallel, OKX has already brought on former NYDFS superintendent Linda Lacewell and in June 2026 entered a 50/50 joint venture with Intercontinental Exchange that expects to run a US broker-dealer and futures firm after obtaining “certain regulatory approvals.”

Oracle is facing multi-billion-dollar cost overruns tied to its AI supercampus developments near Wisconsin and New Mexico, according to a report cited by CryptoBriefing. The company is also dealing with regulatory litigation, power infrastructure challenges, and a lower credit rating as the projects move forward. Oracle has committed $165 billion in long-term investment, while the Wisconsin campus alone had originally been planned as a $15 billion buildout designed to support nearly 1 gigawatt of energy capacity. Regulatory requirements are adding to the burden, including more than $100 million in annual financial guarantees. With Oracle’s credit rating now at BBB, the company may need to rely on additional debt and equity financing to keep construction on track.

Odaily, citing Jin10, reported that U.S. President Donald Trump said the situation between the United States and Iran is "far from over" and that Washington is not leaving at this stage. He said the U.S. has already had a major impact on Iran and added that any agreement would not allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons. Trump also said the U.S. would strike any location in Iran that is considered for nuclear weapons use. In the same remarks, he said Iran "has not seen anything yet" and described the U.S. as having been restrained so far. He added that the U.S. would strike the Gaoshan area very soon and with great force. The remarks were carried by Odaily in a newsflash that cited Jin10 as the source.

BlockBeats reported on July 21 that U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran had “not seen anything yet” and that the United States had “been very restrained.” He also said the U.S. would soon strike the Gaoshan area. The remarks were presented by BlockBeats as a 7X24 flash update. No further details were provided in the source on the timing, context, or scope beyond Trump’s quoted comments and the reference to the Gaoshan area.