On Aug. 19, SoSoValue hosted a public Space to discuss Unitree Technology’s first trading day, the commercialization pace of embodied AI, Unitree’s position in the humanoid robotics race, and how value may be distributed across the supply chain. Participants included SoSoValue co-founder Levi, embodied AI investor Adam, and industry practitioner Echo. The central takeaway was that Unitree’s listing has given the sector a visible public-market benchmark, but the stock’s pricing still appears to reflect long-term expectations rather than proof that the business model is already established. Unitree opened at 1,100 yuan on its first day and later closed at 845 yuan, up 460.34% from its 150.80 yuan offering price. Its market capitalization ended the session at about 341.8 billion yuan, with turnover reaching 23.1 billion yuan. Based on Unitree’s prospectus, the company reported 392 million yuan in revenue and 94.5 million yuan in net profit attributable to shareholders in 2024, then 1.167 billion yuan in revenue and 105 million yuan in net profit for the first nine months of 2025. Speakers said the next key test for the sector is not just shipments or pilot programs. What matters more is whether customers place follow-on orders after initial deployments. They also said Unitree’s manufacturing and delivery strengths are clearer today than its long-term platform and model capabilities.

On Aug. 21, BlockBeats said this week’s market focus shifted from AI earnings to macro conditions and crypto assets. Bitcoin’s rebound on improving regulatory expectations pulled Strategy and related preferred shares back into view, while gold stayed supported by safe-haven demand and dollar moves. In China, Unitree’s STAR Market debut kept trading active. MSTR rose about 4.37% on the week after Strategy said it would use equity proceeds for its Bitcoin treasury and add dollar reserves. STRC gained about 2.53% as investors tracked its variable-dividend preferred structure. PURR jumped about 33.65%, while GLD advanced about 2.63% and Unitree fell about 20.42% from its first-day close.

The Bank of Italy said in a research report released in July 2026 that it conducted a “mystery shopper” study to track 200 USDC transfers across 10 remittance corridors linking Italy with Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan. The study followed the full payment chain and found that total stablecoin remittance costs varied widely, from as low as 0.3% to nearly 9%. According to the report, on-chain blockchain transfer fees accounted for an average of just 0.4% of the total. Most of the cost came from fiat on- and off-ramp steps, including exchange spreads, credit card fees, and withdrawal charges. Compared with traditional services such as Wise, stablecoins were cheaper on some routes, including Brazil to Italy, but more expensive on others, including the United Arab Emirates to Italy. The report also found that blockchain settlement itself took only a few minutes, while end-to-end speed depended on local payment infrastructure. Countries with instant payment systems, such as Brazil’s PIX, Italy’s TIPS, and Argentina’s Transferencias 3.0, could complete the process in under 20 minutes. In South Africa and other markets still reliant on bank transfers, settlement could take one to two business days.

US federal debt has officially crossed the $40 trillion mark, reaching the threshold just about 150 days after moving past $39 trillion, a pace the report said was nearly two months faster than market expectations. The figure has added fresh attention to the size of Washington’s borrowing burden, especially with average Treasury interest costs now around 3.75% and annual interest expenses approaching $1.5 trillion. Economist Paul Krugman, the 2008 Nobel Prize winner, argued in a column published on the 20th that the $40 trillion level should be treated as a warning sign, but not as proof that the United States is headed toward an imminent Greek-style default crisis. His view is that the US differs fundamentally from countries such as Greece during the eurozone debt crisis because US debt is denominated in dollars and the Federal Reserve, in theory, retains the capacity to create money to meet maturing obligations. The report also cited Treasury Secretary Bessent, who pointed to tariff refunds exceeding $160 billion, higher military spending linked to the Iran war, weaker tax revenue under pressure from energy prices, and a 2025 Republican tax package that may cut government receipts by more than $100 billion this year. Krugman said the deeper issue is a long-running tax structure tilted toward higher earners and argued that stronger IRS enforcement, closing multinational tax loopholes, and restoring progressivity in the tax code are the real tools for addressing the deficit.

Walmart reported fiscal 2027 second-quarter results that beat consensus on both revenue and adjusted earnings, according to MSX Research Institute’s daily U.S. equities RWA market note. Total revenue came in at $187.9 billion, up 5.9% year over year and above the $186.77 billion market consensus. Adjusted earnings per share reached $0.81, up 19% and ahead of the expected $0.74. Still, GAAP attributable net profit moved in the opposite direction, falling 9% year over year to $6.37 billion. The softer point was U.S. comparable sales. Growth slowed to 2.6%, below the 3.5% consensus and the lowest level in more than six years. Walmart said pharmacy price deflation reduced the figure by about 125 basis points. Segment data showed Walmart U.S. net sales at $125.2 billion, up 3.5%; international revenue at $35.2 billion, up 13%; and Sam’s Club U.S. revenue at $25.7 billion, up 8.8%, with comp sales excluding fuel up 4.4%. Higher-margin operations kept expanding at a faster pace, with global e-commerce up 23%, global advertising up 38%, Walmart Connect up 43%, and U.S. third-party marketplace sales up 52%. Walmart also raised full-year guidance, but the top end of its adjusted EPS outlook, $2.87, remained below the $2.90 market consensus.

U.S. President Donald Trump met behind closed doors in the Oval Office with senior figures from crypto and traditional finance on Wednesday, and attendees said he was upbeat about the CLARITY Act. The administration is working to get the bill through Congress as soon as next month. The meeting followed a press event with technology and regulatory leaders and included executives from Nasdaq, Robinhood, Kraken, ICE, Coinbase and Ripple. Trump also said regulators are studying how Hyperliquid could enter the U.S. market legally and renewed his call for Congress to pass what he described as a fair version of the CLARITY Act. According to Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov, the Oval Office discussion focused on the bill, unresolved issues, which senators still need to be persuaded, and strategy once Congress returns from recess.

A MarsBit opinion piece argues that crypto exchanges are no longer defined by how many asset categories they list, but by whether they can still generate a clear “wealth effect” for users. The article contrasts CZ’s 2021 comment that centralized exchanges were only a transitional step toward on-chain DeFi with what it describes as a very different 2026 market, where meme trading has returned to the center and major platforms are facing weaker liquidity, slower growth and pressure on their reputations. The piece says Coinbase has tried to build a broader “everything exchange” model through Base, social and meme initiatives, and acquisitions including Deribit and Opyn, yet product expansion alone has not opened a convincing second growth curve. Robinhood, by contrast, is portrayed as leaning more directly into crypto-native formats such as Meme, NFT, DeFi and a dYdX-powered perpetual DEX product called Arcus. MarsBit also argues that Binance and other offshore exchanges are losing momentum, while new businesses such as Pre-IPO products, stock perpetuals and tokenized traditional finance instruments still leave pricing power in the hands of Wall Street. In that framing, the core issue is no longer whether exchanges can broaden their SKU count, but whether they can reclaim liquidity and pricing power in the next cycle of crypto asset issuance.

A group of South Korean lawmakers has introduced a bill that would widen the Financial Intelligence Unit’s powers over unregistered crypto businesses. Filed Thursday by People Power Party lawmaker Eom Tae-young and nine other lawmakers, the proposal would amend the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information by adding a new provision tied to suspected violations. If passed, the measure would allow anyone to report suspected breaches to the FIU. The agency would be able to investigate and analyze alleged violations, file complaints with relevant authorities, request criminal probes, or share information directly with investigators. Under the current framework, the FIU can identify suspected unregistered operators but still depends on police and other authorities to carry investigations forward. According to Yonhap, police suspended investigations or preliminary inquiries into 23 of 25 unregistered virtual asset service providers referred by the FIU between August 2022 and August 2025. The companies and related individuals were reportedly based overseas. South Korea requires crypto companies serving local customers to register with the FIU. In June, the regulator said 28 providers were registered and that it had referred 40 suspected illegal operators to investigative authorities.