JOON HYOUNG LEE

China’s YMTC Advances IPO Plans, Listing May Come in First Half of 2027

China’s NAND flash maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. is pushing ahead with an initial public offering. Bloomberg reported on Aug. 19 that YMTC recently completed the pre-listing guidance process for a domestic stock listing in China. A report dis

SkyBridge Capital Says Bitcoin Will Climb Back Above $100,000

SkyBridge Capital, the U.S. hedge fund, said Bitcoin will rise back above $100,000. Anthony Scaramucci, the firm's founder, told CNBC on Aug. 18 that Bitcoin will top $100,000 again ahead of the 2028 halving. He said the cryptocurrency's price will g

White House Plans Crypto Summit Ahead of September Clarity Act Vote

The White House is planning a meeting with cryptocurrency industry executives. Cointelegraph reported on Aug. 19 that the White House plans to hold a crypto summit soon. Executives from the US cryptocurrency industry are expected to attend. The marke

Ava Labs Names COO Charlie Cooper President, Citing Next Growth Phase

Ava Labs, the developer of Avalanche (AVAX), has appointed Chief Operating Officer Charlie Cooper as president. John Wu announced the appointment on X on Aug. 18. He described Cooper as a traditional finance veteran with experience at the Commodity F

SK Hynix to Buy Back, Retire $28.9 Billion of Shares to Boost Shareholder Value

SK Hynix will buy back and retire shares worth about $28.9 billion to boost shareholder value. The company said in a regulatory filing on Aug. 19 that it had decided to acquire 24.07 million common shares through open-market purchases. The buyback is

HSBC Upgrades South Korea Stocks to Overweight as Correction Unwinds Excess Leverage

HSBC upgraded South Korean equities to overweight from neutral, saying a recent market correction has largely unwound excessive leverage. Odaily reported on August 19 that HSBC raised its recommendation on South Korean stocks. The bank said volatilit

Kalshi in Final Talks to Raise $750 Million at $40 Billion Valuation, The Information Reports

Kalshi, the US prediction-market platform, is in final talks to raise $750 million in a new funding round that would value the company at $40 billion, according to The Information. The technology news outlet reported on Aug. 13 that Kalshi is in late

On-Chain Lender Figure’s Q2 Revenue Jumps 113% to $226 Million

Figure, an on-chain lending platform, more than doubled its second-quarter revenue from a year earlier. CoinDesk reported on August 13 that Figure posted net revenue of $226 million in the quarter, up 113% from a year earlier. Net income rose 192% to

S&P 500 Breaks Above 7,800 for First Time, Sets Intraday Record

The S&P 500 set a fresh intraday record on August 13. According to TradingView, the index stood at 7,808.42 as of 11:23 p.m. Korea time, up 0.78% from the previous session. It was the first time the S&P 500 had topped 7,800. Earlier in May, Morgan St

Binance Rises to No. 2 in Tokenized Stock Issuance Two Months After bStocks Launch

Binance has become the industry’s second-largest issuer of tokenized stocks by issuance volume just two months after launching its bStocks service. Cointelegraph reported on August 13, citing Token Terminal data, that bStocks had issued about $624 mi

Bitmine’s Staked Ethereum Tops 5 Million, Annual Yield Seen at $260 Million

Bitmine, the world’s largest corporate holder of Ether, is estimated to generate about $260 million in annual staking income. Bitmine recently said the amount of Ether it has staked surpassed 5 million, Cointelegraph reported on August 13. The compan

Bullish Posts $280 Million Q2 Net Loss as Trading Volume Falls 44%

Bullish, the US cryptocurrency exchange, posted a net loss of nearly $300 million in the second quarter. The company said Aug. 13 that cryptocurrency trading volume fell about 44% to $32.6 billion in the second quarter from $58.6 billion a year earli

US Initial Jobless Claims Rise to 209,000, Above Forecast

US initial jobless claims came in slightly above market expectations last week. The Labor Department said Aug. 13 that initial jobless claims totaled 209,000 last week. That was 7,000 higher than economists’ forecast of 202,000 and 9,000 above the pr

US July PPI Flat From Prior Month, Below Forecasts

U.S. producer prices were unchanged in July, coming in below market expectations. The Labor Department said on August 13 that the producer price index was flat from the previous month, undershooting economists’ forecast for a 0.2% increase. The readi

Robinhood’s July Crypto Trading Volume Tumbles 62% as Bear Market Drags On

Robinhood’s cryptocurrency trading volume sank more than 60% in July from a year earlier as the crypto bear market weighed on activity. BlockBeats reported on Aug. 13 that Robinhood’s crypto trading volume totaled about $10.9 billion last month, down

SEC Lets Franklin Templeton Invest Proprietary Cash in Its Tokenized Money Market Fund

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has allowed Franklin Templeton to invest its own money in its tokenized money market fund. Cointelegraph reported on Aug. 13 that the SEC issued a no-action letter to Franklin Templeton on Aug. 12 saying the

JPMorgan Plans Real-Time Blockchain Settlement Test for Japanese Government Bonds

JPMorgan is planning to test real-time blockchain-based execution and settlement of Japanese government bond trades. BlockBeats reported on August 13 that the bank will trial a blockchain-based system for processing Japanese government bond transacti

Charles Schwab Offers Spot Bitcoin, Ether Trading to Retail Clients

Charles Schwab is offering spot cryptocurrency trading to retail clients, according to reports. Odaily and other outlets reported on August 13 that Schwab has been gradually rolling out spot crypto trading to individual customers since mid-May. The f

Metaplanet Issues New ‘BitBonds’ With 4.0%-4.3% Annual Coupon

Metaplanet, often dubbed Japan’s answer to Strategy, has issued new corporate bonds branded as BitBonds with annual coupon rates of up to 4.3%. The company said Aug. 13 it issued 200 million yen ($1.35 million) of the new bonds through a private plac

Korea Investment Corp. Takes First Stake in Circle, Buys About $4.1 Million in Shares

Korea Investment Corp. made its first investment in Circle, the issuer of the dollar-backed stablecoin USDC, in the second quarter. BlockBeats reported on Aug. 13, citing a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, that the South Korean

South Korea’s Ruling Party to Propose Another Bill to Delay Crypto Tax to 2029

South Korea’s ruling People Power Party plans to propose another bill to delay taxation on virtual assets, or cryptocurrencies. Edaily reported on August 13 that People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon plans to introduce as early as this month a pr

Anthropic Backers See $2 Trillion IPO Valuation, With Some Eyeing $3 Trillion

Some existing investors in artificial intelligence company Anthropic believe it could command a valuation of more than $2 trillion in an initial public offering. The Financial Times reported on Aug. 13 that some Anthropic backers expect the company t

South Korea Tightens Screening of Crypto Firms’ Major Shareholders, Mandates Advance Notice of Changes

South Korea will tighten regulatory screening of major shareholders in virtual-asset service providers starting Aug. 20. The Financial Intelligence Unit, or FIU, under the Financial Services Commission said Aug. 13 it will finalize and implement a re

DTCC Completes Live Tokenized Securities Trial, Eyes October Rollout

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. has completed a live trading test of blockchain-based tokenized securities with about 40 major Wall Street firms, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Bloomberg reported on Aug. 12 that DTC

Kalshi to Offer Real-Time Full Order Book Data in Prediction-Market First Through DoubleZero

Kalshi, a U.S. prediction-market platform, will offer real-time full order book data in an industry first. The Block and other media outlets reported on August 12 that DoubleZero announced Kalshi would distribute real-time quote data through DoubleZe

Trump Says US Has ‘Complete and Total Control’ of Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump said on August 12 that the US had "complete and total control" of the Strait of Hormuz. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote, "The United States now has complete and total control over the Strait of

Google Raises New Smartphone Prices as Memory Shortage Pushes Up Costs

Google has raised prices for its new smartphones as a shortage of memory chips pushes up costs. BlockBeats and other foreign media outlets reported on August 12 that Google unveiled new smartphones including the Pixel 11 Pro. Prices for the newly int

Wintermute to Invest $1 Billion Over Five Years in AI, HFT Buildout

Global crypto market maker Wintermute plans to invest $1 billion over the next five years in AI data centers and high-frequency trading infrastructure as it expands into traditional finance. Chief Executive Officer Evgeny Gaevoy told Bloomberg on Aug

Standard Chartered-Backed Anchorpoint Starts First-Phase Issuance of Hong Kong Dollar Stablecoin

Anchorpoint, a joint venture backed by Standard Chartered, has started issuing a Hong Kong dollar-based stablecoin. Odaily and other outlets reported on August 12 that Anchorpoint began the first phase of issuance for the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin

US July CPI Rises 3.4%, Matching Forecasts

U.S. consumer prices rose 3.4% in July from a year earlier, matching market expectations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said on August 12 that the consumer price index increased 3.4% last month from a year earlier, in line with economists’ forecast.