A trading dispute involving Taipei-based card store "Little Sheep Card Shop" has triggered a growing backlash among trading card game players after the business abruptly went dark on Aug. 3. The shop, located in Taipei’s Ximending area, reportedly shut down its LINE community, Instagram and Facebook channels overnight, while its physical storefront was found closed. The person in charge, surnamed Zheng, was at one point unreachable. Players say the store was still holding pre-ordered products, consigned cards, grading submissions and unsettled payments, prompting affected customers to organize a self-help group that quickly grew to more than 1,000 members. Online estimates of possible losses have ranged from over NT$100 million to NT$300 million, though police have not confirmed those figures. Taipei City Police Department’s Wanhua Precinct said it has received reports and will ask Zheng to appear for questioning as investigators examine cash flows, the whereabouts of cards, the number of affected customers and whether fraud may be involved. The report also noted that tokenized collectibles platforms such as Collector Crypt, Courtyard and Phygitals have tried to bring trading cards on-chain, but transparency on blockchain does not by itself remove custody risk tied to real-world assets.

Michael Burry, the fund manager best known for his prescient bet against subprime mortgages, has again drawn market attention after disclosing a new round of short positions tied to the AI buildout. In posts published through his Substack newsletter on June 30 and July 25, Burry said he had shorted Nvidia, Tesla, Applied Materials, Caterpillar, the iShares Semiconductor ETF tracking SOXX, and later Micron Technology. His stated concerns centered on two accounting and financing issues: what he described as off-balance-sheet circular financing in AI infrastructure spending and the use of extended depreciation schedules by large cloud buyers of AI chips. The article also reviews how Nvidia shares traded after those disclosures, including a late-July drop that followed a report saying Nvidia was discussing roughly $250 billion in financing support for OpenAI. Burry argued that such a structure would amount to Nvidia guaranteeing customers buying its own chips. At the same time, the piece places his latest call in a longer record of mixed short-selling results since 2008, contrasting his views with those of Steve Eisman and Jim Chanos. While all three investors have voiced concern about excesses around AI, they differ sharply on whether to short Nvidia directly, avoid the trade, or bet against other parts of the financial chain instead.

BlueBay Chief Investment Officer Mark Dowding said in a report, cited by Jin10 and carried by ChainCatcher, that investors have reason to believe Federal Reserve Chair Warsh would be inclined to deliver hawkish remarks and do everything possible to reinforce his anti-inflation credentials, even if he is not expected to take any concrete action at this stage. Dowding said that stance could push the U.S. yield curve to flatten further in the short term. He added that over a longer horizon, the continued deterioration in the U.S. fiscal position and rising spending by Trump on the Middle East conflict could eventually cause the curve to steepen again at some point in the future.

eBay has rejected GameStop’s $56 billion takeover proposal, shifting attention to GameStop’s 4,709 BTC position and financing plan. DOGE held at $0.1116 while LINK traded at $10.29.

Ryan Cohen, CEO of GameStop, had his personal eBay seller account permanently banned two days after submitting a non-binding $56 billion offer to acquire eBay. He had been selling socks on the platform.

eBay’s board formally rejected GameStop’s $56 billion unsolicited bid, citing financing uncertainty and lack of credibility. The $125-per-share offer represented a 46% premium. GameStop shares fell 4%, while the market watches its bitcoin holdings.

Powell reaffirmed the Fed’s 2% inflation target and linked higher oil prices to short-term inflation, keeping rate-cut hopes in check. Even with strong results from Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Qualcomm, and eBay, macro pressure remains the main driver for stocks and BTC.

PayPal's stock fell from $307 to $41.49, wiping out 86% of market cap. Its alumni—Musk, Thiel, Hoffman—created over $2 trillion in value. New CEO from HP faces a painful restructuring.