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Vitalik Buterin stated that the "killer application" of adversarial governance mechanism design theory may ultimately appear in the field of artificial intelligence safety. He believes there is a deep correspondence between governance mechanisms and artificial intelligence safety: both involve how "weaker principals" can achieve ideal outcomes from "stronger agents."In governance scenarios, the principal is a static algorithm, and the agent is a human; in artificial intelligence safety scenarios, the principal is humans and weaker large language models, while the agent is a stronger large language model. Vitalik pointed out that if the degree of collusion among agents can be limited, the system can achieve better outcomes, and this mechanism design conclusion may be transferable to the field of artificial intelligence safety.

Castle Labs released a research report on September 10, comparing the execution costs of the swaps products launched by Variational with traditional perpetual contracts. The report shows that for most trading volumes, Variational is currently the lowest-cost venue among listed assets, with the cost of a $1 million trade in the US100 market being only $47.The report points out that the trading volume of RWA perpetual contracts has grown from less than $1 billion in October 2025 to over $12 billion in August 2026, currently accounting for about 12% to 13% of on-chain perpetual contract trading volume, with a peak in July reaching 20%. As of the report's release, the total open interest of RWA perpetual contracts was $4.9 billion, with TradeXYZ and Variational accounting for nearly 90%.Variational's swaps utilize RFQ execution and the proprietary liquidity provider Omni, with liquidity coming directly from traditional financial partners, and the fees being a holding cost charged once at the daily close, rather than relying on market supply and demand funding rates. Since the launch of the US100, US500, XAU, XAG, and USOIL markets at the beginning of the month, a total trading volume of $3.8 billion has been accumulated, with a peak open interest of $245 million. Currently, swaps have contributed over 50% of Variational's daily trading volume and more than $220 million in open interest.

According to market news, predict.fun posted on platform X stating that the predicted probability of Variational reaching a fully diluted valuation of 1 billion dollars one day after its launch has increased from 41% to 59%.

According to Catcher Predict monitoring, in the market prediction on Polymarket for the event "US Open: Tomas Etcheverry vs Mariano Navone," the option "Tomas Etcheverry" in the sub-market "US Open ATP: Tomas Etcheverry vs Mariano Navone" has experienced a dramatic fluctuation in winning probability, soaring from 61.5% an hour ago to the current 88.5% (a fluctuation of 27%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the event "US Open ATP: Jamie Faria vs. Carlos Alcaraz" on the prediction market Polymarket, the "Total Sets: Over/Under 4.5" sub-market's "Over 4.5" option has experienced a sharp fluctuation in winning probability, dropping from 44.5% an hour ago to the current 22% (a fluctuation of 22.5%). Please note the impact of relevant breaking news.

The derivatives protocol Variational on the Arbitrum ecosystem has announced the launch of its swaps market, initially including gold (XAU) and the Nasdaq 100 index (US100) markets. Swaps are similar to perpetual contracts in that they provide exposure to the underlying asset, but differ in terms of liquidity sources and holding costs: the holding cost for swaps is based on the USD borrowing interest rate, with long positions currently paying an annualized rate of 4% to 6%, and short positions receiving an annualized rate of 2% to 3%, replacing the more volatile funding rates.The swaps market charges no trading fees, with an initial open contract limit of approximately $10 million per market. The team plans to increase the limit to over $50 million in the coming days, and the initial protocol can support an open contract size of over $1 billion. The team stated that in the coming months, they will continue to raise limits, launch more swaps and perpetual contract markets, introduce trading APIs, and promote around-the-clock liquidity.

According to Chao Xiang Research, a Morgan Stanley report points out that the total off-balance-sheet commitments disclosed by hyperscale vendors, Nvidia, and Broadcom have exceeded $3.1 trillion. Among them, lease commitments amount to $1.1 trillion, procurement commitments to $1.7 trillion, and the total on-balance-sheet debt and lease liabilities of hyperscale vendors is $770 billion.Amazon and Google's free cash flow turned negative in the second quarter of 2026, and Meta is expected to follow suit next quarter. Financing tools are restructuring the capital structure of AI computing power from six aspects: off-balance-sheet lease and procurement commitments constitute the first layer of financing, the proportion of debt issuance rises from 2% in 2025 to 19% in 2026, Google frees up $110 billion by cutting buybacks and issuing equity, Oracle's customer prepayments in the second quarter amount to $4.6 billion, and Broadcom and Nvidia launched a chip leasing SPV to support unrated AI labs.Morgan Stanley believes that as the financing structure itself becomes a core variable of the AI supply chain, the importance of tracking off-balance-sheet commitments and changes in accounting judgments is approaching that of tracking chip shipments themselves.

Economists say that the mixed July employment report released last week has heightened the importance of inflation data. LPL Financial Chief Economist Jeffrey Roach pointed out that the path of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes will depend on how long inflation remains elevated.Vanguard analyst Hicklin believes that the July employment report and the expected improvement in inflation will strengthen the Federal Reserve's reasons to hold steady before the end of the year. Recent data releases have bolstered market confidence that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged this year.

Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Timiraos stated that for the Federal Reserve, the July employment report will be a difficult data set to interpret. New evidence that the labor market has not re-accelerated may weaken the urgency for a rate hike next month, but this still depends on better inflation data.The decline in the unemployment rate will continue to keep the market focused on inflation data. Whether price pressures are rising or falling will determine if more officials conclude that they cannot maintain their inflation target forecasts with interest rates unchanged. A moderate inflation report will strengthen the rationale for keeping rates unchanged (as two consecutive months of moderate data begin to show a trend rather than noise). Conversely, strong data would call the forecasts into question again and give officials opposing a rate hike the opportunity to seek a fourth vote in favor.

According to Fortune, the software-driven mining startup Mariana Minerals has completed a $310 million Series B funding round, led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Greenoaks, BHP Ventures, and Mitsubishi Corporation. To date, the company has raised a total of $400 million, with a valuation of $1.5 billion.Mariana was co-founded in 2024 by Turner Caldwell, a former member of the Tesla factory design and construction team, and is headquartered in San Francisco, aiming to reshape the traditional mining industry with software technology. The company currently operates two mines: Copper One in Utah (copper mine, targeting an annual refined copper production of 50,000 tons) and Lithium One in Texas (lithium mine, expected to commence commercial production in 2027).

According to Cointelegraph, the Hungarian Parliament voted to abolish the previously mandated cryptocurrency asset verification requirements that were set to take effect on July 1, 2025. This requirement mandated that specific cryptocurrency conversions must be verified by a licensed third party regarding the source of assets, wallet ownership, and customer information before execution. Finance Minister Kármán András stated that the previously stringent regulatory requirements had led to several service providers exiting the Hungarian market, and the market is currently showing signs of recovery.Meanwhile, the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) officially granted the first local license under the EU MiCA framework to Budapest-based cryptocurrency platform CoinCash operator Tiwala Solutions on July 20, authorizing a range of services including custody, cryptocurrency exchange for fiat, cryptocurrency swaps, transfers, investment advice, and portfolio management.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the event "Hungarian Grand Prix: Driver Winning Prediction" on the prediction market Polymarket, the "Yes" option for the sub-market "Oscar Piastri" has experienced significant fluctuations in winning probability, soaring from 5.65% an hour ago to the current 38.9% (a fluctuation of 33.25%). Please note the impact of relevant breaking news.

The non-custodial fixed-rate lending platform Tenor announced the completion of its seed round financing, led by Variant, with participation from Nascent, Prelude, Coinbase Ventures, Lattice, Very Early, and several angel investors continuing to provide support. The amount of financing has not been disclosed.Tenor is built on the fixed-rate lending underlying protocol Midnight based on Morpho. It is currently live on the Base network and will expand to more chains in the future, supporting features such as automatic extensions, OTC quotes, and floating interest rates for pending orders. The platform currently supports crypto asset collateralized lending and plans to expand into the foreign exchange and credit markets.

According to Jinshi reports, the overall inflation in June decreased by 0.4% month-on-month. Although the data has declined, it has not kept up with current events, and energy prices are expected to become the biggest variable in the future.

According to The Block, investment bank Benchmark pointed out in its latest research report that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed to repeal Rule 611 and Rule 610(e) of Regulation NMS, which could become the "most decisive regulatory change" affecting the market structure of cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets in 2026.The proposal was announced on June 11 and aims to eliminate trading protection and quote constraint rules that have been in place for nearly 20 years in the U.S. stock market. The SEC stated that this move is intended to reduce trading costs and provide greater space for market competition and technological innovation.Benchmark's analysis believes that the current Rule 611 (order protection rule) requires trades to adhere to the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO), while Rule 610(e) restricts "locked/crossed quotes." These mechanisms are effective in traditional matching systems but create structural constraints for automated market maker (AMM) models in decentralized finance (DeFi).The report pointed out that if the relevant rules are repealed, it will significantly lower the compliance barriers for tokenized stocks and on-chain trading systems, making AMM-based trading models easier to access the U.S. capital market system.In terms of potential beneficiaries, Benchmark specifically mentioned Securitize, believing that it will benefit most directly as a provider of tokenized securities infrastructure, while Coinbase and Galaxy Digital will also benefit from the expansion of trading, market-making, and custody infrastructure. However, the report also emphasized that the rule adjustments do not address all core issues, such as the exchange registration system, custody and clearing framework, and the legal positioning of DeFi-native trading still needs further clarification.The industry generally expects that the subsequent "innovation exemption mechanism" will become a key supporting policy. The SEC has currently opened a 60-day public comment period on the proposal, and the market anticipates that the final vote may take place in early 2027.

According to Slow Fog's disclosure, a new variant of Shai-Hulud Hades has been found attacking PyPI. The malicious package drops a .pth file that executes automatically when Python starts, and checks if Bun is installed locally; if not installed, it downloads the official Bun binary from GitHub Releases, and then executes a multi-layer obfuscated JavaScript payload to steal credentials from GitHub, npm, AWS, and cloud services.Slow Fog stated that this variant uses the same RSA public key and infrastructure as previous Shai-Hulud attacks, and has capabilities such as encrypted exfiltration, persistence, CI/CD injection, and GitHub Actions injection.

According to Bloomberg, the Hungarian government will abolish criminal penalties for cryptocurrency transactions, revoking the regulations tightened during the tenure of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.Last year, Hungary tightened the rules for cryptocurrency asset exchanges, requiring that cryptocurrency-to-fiat and cryptocurrency-to-cryptocurrency transactions go through an approved verification process; otherwise, related violations could face imprisonment.

According to Fortune, the crypto-focused venture capital firm Variant has completed the fundraising of its new fund, Variant 4, totaling $222 million. The fund will invest in projects at their earliest stages, focusing on the theme of "autonomy" to integrate AI and crypto applications.Partner Jesse Walden stated that in the future, the label "crypto investor" will disappear, and crypto will become a universal "underlying pipeline" like internet infrastructure. The core is to provide users and businesses with greater autonomy and security through decentralized and contract security architecture, supporting the development of applications including DeFi platforms Uniswap and Morpho.