PANews hosted a Twitter Space on Aug. 11 to discuss the latest pullback in global AI and compute-linked equities and what may define the next leg of the trade. The conversation followed recent volatility in Korean memory stocks and a broad correction across U.S. AI hardware names, alongside a view cited from Morgan Stanley China chief economist Xing Ziqiang that AI investing is entering a “halftime break.” In that framework, the market’s next main line could shift away from pure compute “pick-and-shovel” suppliers toward companies that can actually use AI to cut costs, improve efficiency, and grow revenue. Guests including Investment TALK, BIT brokerage head Elio Cui, Virtuals ecosystem lead Harry, and The Mu co-founder Sun argued that the recent sell-off looked more like a leverage flush and a reset in sentiment than a deterioration in fundamentals. They pointed to still-rising capital expenditure from major cloud companies, continued interest in AI data center buildout, and ongoing debate over whether hardware, power infrastructure, AI applications, and open-source models from China will shape the sector’s next phase. The discussion also touched on credit conditions, rate sensitivity, and whether strong fundamentals and weaker share prices can converge again.

Protos argues that Ken Griffin and Citadel have repeatedly ended up on the winning side of crypto-adjacent transactions, with the latest example being Citadel’s discounted purchase of most of Situational Awareness’ AI stock portfolio. Citing The New York Times, the report says Citadel won an overnight auction for the holdings at a “considerable reduction” to market value after margin calls hit the AI hedge fund tied to former FTX Future Fund member Leopold Aschenbrenner. The article also revisits several earlier episodes. It points to ConstitutionDAO’s failed 2021 bid for a physical copy of the US Constitution, where the DAO’s on-chain treasury made its spending limit visible to rivals and Griffin ultimately won at $43.2 million. Protos says Sotheby’s irrevocable-bid structure trimmed about $4.2 million from his final cost. Beyond auctions, the report highlights payment for order flow as another channel through which Citadel benefits from retail trading activity, including crypto-linked flow routed by platforms such as Robinhood. It also revisits Ripple’s November 2025 $500 million raise at a $40 billion valuation, in which Citadel Securities affiliates co-led the round, and notes Bloomberg’s reporting on investor protections tied to that deal.

PANews’ July 25 daily roundup collected a broad set of crypto regulatory, market, project, funding, and data developments, led by two market signals: analysts said stablecoin inflows to exchanges have fallen to their lowest level of 2025, while U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a combined net outflow of $240 million on July 24, with BlackRock’s IBIT accounting for $212 million of that figure. The report also covered a Hong Kong court sentencing Xiao Rui, son of former Wuhan supervisory official Xiao Jun, to six years and nine months in prison in a money-laundering case involving more than HK$64 million; Thailand’s SEC filing criminal complaints against Bitkub Online and two former directors over disclosures tied to a 2021 theft; and India’s move to ask GitHub to remove repositories for Bitchat, an offline messaging app backed by Jack Dorsey. On the project and corporate side, PANews highlighted Robinhood’s talks with Crypto.com on prediction markets, Across Protocol’s post-mortem on a relayer incident, LayerZero’s plan to wind down support for 20 low-activity chains, Phantom’s scheduled end of support for Monad, BlackRock’s transfer of about 3,126 BTC to Coinbase Prime, Circle’s mint of 250 million USDC, and World Foundation’s $52.5 million strategic WLD sale led by Pantera Capital. The roundup also included updates on Anduril, LMAX, B2C2, Capital Group, ARK, Kinetic Group, Bitcoin volatility, and Hyperliquid buybacks.

Crypto market maker B2C2 has spent the past 18 months in acquisition talks with several potential buyers, but discussions have been held back by a gap in valuation expectations. According to CoinDesk, the firm is seeking a deal price above $1 billion, a level that one person familiar with the matter said is difficult to achieve in the current crypto market environment. B2C2 is 90% owned by SBI Holdings, which bought its stake in 2020. Founded in 2015, the company provides deep liquidity across spot, derivatives, structured products and OTC trading for banks, exchanges, brokerages, hedge funds and asset managers. Its standalone financials have not been disclosed and are instead included within SBI’s broader crypto business segment.

Crypto market maker B2C2, which is 90% owned by SBI Holdings, has held acquisition talks with multiple potential buyers over the past 18 months, according to ChainCatcher. The discussions were affected by disagreements over valuation. B2C2 was seeking a deal price above $1 billion, but one person familiar with the matter said that level would be difficult to achieve in the current crypto market environment. The talks came as consolidation continued across the digital asset sector, where several companies have been using acquisitions to expand their institutional businesses and add scale. No transaction was announced in the report, and the item focused on the gap between seller expectations and what buyers may be willing to pay under current market conditions.

CoinDesk’s July 24 Daybook excerpt argues that the maturing crypto market is leaving less room for the memecoin trade that dominated parts of the 2021 cycle. The combined market capitalization of dogecoin and shiba inu, still the two largest memecoins by value, has dropped to $13.27 billion, a three-year low, after slipping about 2% this month even as bitcoin has climbed 10%. The comparison looks even starker against bitcoin’s $1.30 trillion market capitalization. DOGE and SHIB together now equal just 1.02% of bitcoin’s market value, the lowest ratio on record. CoinDesk contrasts that with 2021, when the pair reached 7% of bitcoin’s market cap at the height of memecoin enthusiasm. The report links the shift to a broader change in how capital moves through crypto. It says the launch of U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs in 2024 accelerated institutional participation, drawing in investors far more interested in bitcoin as a macro asset than in meme tokens. At the same time, capital has also been pulled toward other sectors tied more closely to traditional finance, including real-world assets. CoinDesk adds that options positioning still reflects a constructive near-term outlook for BTC, with traders looking for a move to at least $72,000.

SoFi has rolled out a Solana-based enterprise banking platform that lets companies hold deposits, move funds, and settle in fiat or crypto around the clock within a federally regulated bank structure. Mastercard, Galaxy, Wintermute and seven others joined at launch.

Crossover Markets has introduced CROSSx Disclosed, letting institutions build custom liquidity pools with more than 30 OTC market makers while settling centrally through Ripple Prime and BitGo Prime.