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White House economic advisor Hassett stated, "Both Trump and I believe there is no reason to raise interest rates, and it is important for the Federal Reserve to maintain the status quo before the election. Trump fully respects Waller's independence."

The BRICS countries issued a joint statement expressing deep concern over the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, calling on countries in the region to exercise maximum restraint. The statement did not name specific countries involved in the Middle East conflict but urged avoiding actions that could exacerbate the situation and encouraged promoting long-term peace and stability through dialogue and diplomatic efforts.

SaxoBank pointed out that the supply risks in the Middle East continue to escalate, the US PPI is supported by a surge in diesel prices, European and American bond yields have risen significantly, and gold, copper, and the stock market are all under pressure.The market is concerned whether the energy shock will rewrite the Federal Reserve's interest rate expectations.

According to Bloomberg, Dell Technologies is seeking to raise approximately $4 billion through the issuance of investment-grade bonds for refinancing existing debt. Insiders say the final issuance size has not yet been determined and will be adjusted based on market demand.This bond issuance comes at a time when demand for AI-driven servers continues to grow, and Dell is benefiting from the surge in investment in AI infrastructure, boosting its performance.

According to CoinDesk, DoubleZero has integrated Kalshi's election and political prediction market data into its low-latency data platform DoubleZero Edge, providing real-time order book information for institutional and automated traders. This subscription data stream covers transactions, best bid and ask prices, and market depth aggregated by price, distributed through DoubleZero's contributor-driven fiber network built on Solana.DoubleZero co-founder Austin Federa stated that prediction markets are becoming a source of real-time information, but their value depends on the speed of action. If debates, court rulings, or breaking news change market direction within seconds, delayed snapshots become outdated. Placing Kalshi's real-time order book data for elections and politics on DoubleZero Edge can convert probabilities into machine-readable market data for professional traders and AI systems to consume and execute in real-time.This launch coincides with the acceleration of trading related to the U.S. midterm elections. According to data from the Anti-Corruption Data Collective, as of August 10, bets on the 2026 congressional elections on Kalshi, Polymarket, and Polymarket US have exceeded $133 million, surpassing the $92.4 million for the entire 2024 congressional election cycle. Kalshi is a federally regulated prediction market exchange, and the midterm elections on November 3 will determine control of Congress.

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the world's leading digital asset trading platform Gate has launched a limited edition gift box themed around the festival, specifically for global partners and VIP users. As an important traditional festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival carries cultural meanings of reunion, gathering, and good wishes. Gate also takes this opportunity to extend sincere greetings to global users and partners, further strengthening interactions with the community and ecological partners.The design of this gift box incorporates visual elements such as the moon and space travel, along with outdoor lifestyle products like picnic mats and inflatable sofas, extending the "moon viewing" imagery of the Mid-Autumn Festival into a more modern outdoor setting. It is worth mentioning that the lunar elements naturally resonate with the long-standing "To the Moon" culture in the cryptocurrency industry: on one end is the bright moon symbolizing reunion and good wishes in Mid-Autumn culture, while on the other end is the cryptocurrency industry's expression of exploration, breakthroughs, and future visions.From holiday gifts to brand cultural expression, Gate's Mid-Autumn gift box integrates the festival's meaning of reunion, outdoor lifestyle, and cryptocurrency culture into a single scene, conveying the spirit of the festival while also strengthening emotional connections with global users and partners in a more industry-specific manner.

According to Gate market data, as hostilities in the Middle East escalate, industrial metal prices have pulled back. The London Metal Exchange (LME) six-base metal composite index has reached a historic high, with copper and aluminum prices rising, and zinc prices breaking through $4,000 per ton. The intensifying U.S.-Iran conflict has caused Brent crude oil to rebound to nearly $100, heightening inflation concerns.

According to The Defiant, the decentralized lending protocol Morpho deployed its fixed-term, fixed-rate lending agreement Midnight to Ethereum on September 8, expanding the product from the Base network to Ethereum, allowing Ethereum users to access USDC loans collateralized by WBTC or cbBTC. Morpho co-founder Merlin Egalite stated that the Ethereum launch will start with the "USDC | cbBTC and USDC | WBTC markets" and will gradually expand.The core difference between Midnight and Morpho Blue lies in interest rate certainty. Blue uses open loans where interest rates fluctuate according to a formula; Midnight, on the other hand, trades credit units at market-priced rates with fixed terms, allowing borrowers to determine financing costs in advance, and lenders can lock in returns instead of bearing interest rate changes with each block. Midnight lenders purchase credit units at prices below the one-to-one redemption value at maturity.However, the largest potential source of funds for Midnight remains constrained. The Morpho Vaults, holding approximately $5 billion in deposits, can only allocate to the Morpho Blue market until the DAO enables the Midnight configuration. Morpho co-founder and CEO Paul Frambot stated that enabling the Vault configuration requires just one DAO transaction, but Vault activation is expected to be achieved in the fourth quarter. At launch, the total deposits in the Ethereum Midnight market were approximately $7.41 million, with outstanding loans of about $2.63 million.

According to official news, The Sandbox announced the official opening of SAND compensation claims. Users affected by the cross-chain contract vulnerability incident involving Base and BNB Smart Chain (BSC) networks on August 22, who held bridged SAND on the affected networks before the incident, can receive full compensation in SAND on the Ethereum network at a 1:1 ratio. Eligibility for compensation is based on the on-chain balance snapshot before the incident and is unrelated to any transactions, transfers, or holdings by users after the incident.The Sandbox stated that eligibility for compensation is determined based on the on-chain balance recorded before the contract was compromised. The snapshot for the Base network corresponds to block 50283188 at 23:42:03 UTC on August 21, 2026, and the BSC snapshot corresponds to block 117322025 at 11:42:44 UTC on August 21, 2026.Users holding Base or BSC network SAND through centralized exchanges do not need to take any action, as The Sandbox is coordinating with the relevant exchanges to handle compensation; however, users holding SAND in personal wallets will need to claim it themselves. The claim period is from September 8 to September 22, 24:00 (UTC+8). Claims only require a transaction initiated from the original wallet that held SAND at the time of the snapshot, without the need for token authorization, signing off-chain messages, or transferring to any address.

The latest report from the Bitcoin Policy Institute shows that due to the Iran conflict, the annual blockchain transaction volume in the Middle East and North Africa is expected to reach $350 billion in 2025-2026, more than three times the approximately $100 billion in 2022. The report points out that regional conflicts typically accelerate capital outflows, but the Iran conflict presents a different dynamic: an increasing amount of capital is shifting towards digital assets, highlighting the growing role of cryptocurrencies (especially Bitcoin) as a hedge against economic and geopolitical uncertainty.The report states that after the outbreak of the conflict, Bitcoin initially fell in sync with other risk assets, but then investors shifted from higher-risk cryptocurrencies to Bitcoin, raising its market capitalization share to a one-month high of 64.8%. In countries like Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, and Iran, due to currency devaluation, more people are increasingly using Bitcoin and dollar-pegged stablecoins to preserve value. Meanwhile, Gulf countries like the UAE and Bahrain are attracting crypto firms and institutional investors by establishing regulatory frameworks.Chainalysis data also shows that after the US-Israel airstrikes from February 28 to March 2, approximately $10.3 million left Iranian crypto exchanges. The report believes that in countries suffering from sanctions, conflict, or currency instability, cryptocurrencies have become tools for preserving and transferring value outside the traditional financial system, while regulated Gulf markets continue to attract institutional capital.

According to Reuters, citing informed sources, the artificial intelligence company Anthropic is adjusting its IPO plans, with a roadshow expected to start as early as mid-October, aiming to complete the listing before the U.S. midterm elections in November.Informed sources revealed that Anthropic originally planned to publicly release its IPO prospectus as early as next week, but the expected release date has now been postponed to the end of September. If the latest plan proceeds, the company's listing valuation could reach as high as approximately $2 trillion, potentially making it one of the largest IPOs in history.Meanwhile, Anthropic is advancing a $15 billion revolving credit facility. Bank analysts participating in this financing are expected to meet with the company before the prospectus is published. Institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup are currently involved in the IPO preparation work.This listing plan is expected to attract significant market attention and may coincide with potential listing plans from other AI companies like OpenAI.

The Hong Kong-listed company OSL Group (HKEX:863) announced its interim results for the six months ending June 30, 2026. Total revenue was HKD 55.813 billion, an increase of 65.8% year-on-year; payment business revenue was HKD 49.083 billion, an increase of 69.3%, accounting for 88% of total revenue; total trading volume was HKD 172 billion, an increase of 241.3%; revenue outside of the Asia-Pacific region was HKD 7.8 billion, a tenfold increase year-on-year; adjusted non-IFRS earnings were HKD 331 million, an increase of 75.5% year-on-year.OSL Group's Executive Director and CEO, Kevin Choi, stated that despite a significant market correction in the first half of the year, the company's trading volume and revenue both reached new highs, and noted that it has become the world's largest stablecoin payment infrastructure company by B2B stablecoin payment transaction volume. In 2025, the company completed a strategic upgrade, achieving an annual B2B stablecoin payment volume of USD 12.3 billion. In February 2026, it launched the corporate dollar stablecoin USDGO issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A., with a circulation exceeding USD 800 million in four months, and surpassing USD 1.2 billion by August.During the reporting period, OSL completed the acquisition of Banxa Holdings Inc. in January 2026 and obtained the EU MiCAR license granted by the Austrian Financial Market Authority and the AFSL issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, while also launching the stablecoin payment infrastructure OSL AgentPay aimed at AI agents.

According to a Reuters report, Polymarket's new Global Head of Research and Intelligence, Shana Bautista (former analyst at Coinbase, former investigator at the FBI), stated that as the U.S. midterm elections approach, Polymarket has established a system to identify unusual trading activities and will continue to prevent U.S. users from using its international platform to comply with the settlement agreement reached with U.S. regulators in 2022.In addition, Polymarket plans to launch a new webpage to publicly disclose the operational details of market integrity review mechanisms such as machine learning, blockchain analysis, and trading monitoring, and revealed that it has referred over 100 cases to law enforcement agencies.

According to Gate market data, on August 28, both the Hang Seng Index and the Hang Seng Tech Index rose in the morning session. By the midday close, the Hang Seng Index was up 0.47%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index was up 0.6%.Hong Kong stock telecommunications infrastructure concept stocks led the gains, with Junzhi Group and Huanlian Lianxun rising over 4%, and Zhongji Xuchuang rising over 3%. Domestic property stocks collectively rose, with Xuhui Holdings Group and Sunac China rising more than 5%.

HashKey Holdings Limited announced its unaudited consolidated interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2026, on August 27. During the reporting period, revenue was HKD 342.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 20.6%; gross profit was HKD 207.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 12.5%; gross margin improved from 51.0% in the second half of 2025 to 60.6%; adjusted losses narrowed by 21.0% to HKD 314.8 million.Revenue from transaction facilitation services was HKD 267.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 38.6%. Platform transaction volume reached HKD 2,822 billion, a year-on-year increase of 31.8%, of which institutional transaction volume was HKD 2,315 billion, a year-on-year increase of 58.8%, accounting for 82.0% of total transaction volume. The on-chain RWA TVL reached HKD 2,678.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 167.8%, and completed Hong Kong's first real estate RWA project and the first regulated silver RWA token. The asset management scale was HKD 5,941.2 million, with segment revenue of HKD 38.84 million, launching stablecoin and Bitcoin financial products as well as the industry's first Bitcoin mining power fund.HashKey was established in 2018 and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 17, 2025. Its business covers transaction facilitation, on-chain services, and asset management. During the period, its wholly-owned subsidiary signed a framework agreement for the acquisition of Singapore's Asia Pacific Exchange, HashKey Capital made a strategic investment in Vietnam's CAEX and led the B+ round of SignalPlus, while deepening cooperation with JPMorgan, DBS, and others.

Bernstein expects Bitcoin to reach a new high of $150,000 by mid-2027, followed by a peak of around $300,000 around 2029. The agency pointed out that this trend is related to the rise of the "debasement trade."At the same time, Bernstein maintains an Outperform rating on Strategy but has lowered its target price from $450 to $350, citing the updated Bitcoin cycle outlook and the accelerated equity dilution of the company.

According to Gate market data, the main Hong Kong stock indices fluctuated in the morning session. As of the midday close, the Hang Seng Index rose by 0.68%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index rose by 1.58%. Tech stocks rebounded in the morning, with Xiaomi Group rising over 4%, Meituan and Kuaishou rising over 2%, and Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent Holdings rising over 1%. The financial sector was also active, with CICC and Shenwan Hongyuan Hong Kong rising over 8%, and Nanhua Futures and China Merchants Securities rising over 5%.

Although Nvidia's upcoming earnings report and Federal Reserve Chairman Waller's speech at the Jackson Hole annual meeting are the main events of interest for investors this week, traders in the stock derivatives market have already begun preparing for potential volatility increases around the November U.S. midterm elections.Traders focused on volatility in the futures market linked to the VIX index have noted signs indicating that demand for hedging S&P 500 index volatility has increased before and after the elections. VIX futures expiring in September are currently trading at around 17.4, but October contracts have risen to 19, and November contracts have further increased to 19.7.Matthew Thompson, co-portfolio manager at Little Harbor Advisors, stated, "The U.S. elections are approaching, and you are entering a time window where the elections will impact the VIX. You can already see this 'backwardation' in the term structure of VIX futures."A study by analysts at the Chicago Board Options Exchange Global Markets shows that since 1945, in 80% of midterm election years, actual volatility has been higher than the previous year, with an average increase of 3.5 volatility points. In years when both the White House and Congress are controlled by the same party, actual volatility increases by an average of 6 volatility points.

According to Reuters, the cryptocurrency advocacy organization Stand With Crypto, supported by Coinbase, announced endorsements for 32 incumbent congressional candidates for the midterm elections in November. All 32 candidates voted last year in favor of sending the cryptocurrency industry's top legislative priority, the CLARITY Act, out of the House of Representatives, which is currently stalled in the Senate due to opposition from some lawmakers.The list includes key allies in the cryptocurrency industry such as Republican Representatives Tom Emmer and Bill Huizenga, as well as Democratic Representatives Ritchie Torres and Josh Gottheimer, some of whom are facing fiercely competitive races.Mason Lynaugh, Executive Director of Stand With Crypto, stated, "In 2024, we proved that crypto voters are real, and in 2026, we want to demonstrate our organizational mobilization ability; our advocates are a voting bloc that can truly impact outcomes."Stand With Crypto was launched by Coinbase in 2023 to influence elections by mobilizing voters rather than through large-scale campaign spending, and it claims to have over 3 million registered "advocates." In 2024, the cryptocurrency industry invested $170 million to support congressional candidates, most of whom won, and pushed Congress to pass the GENIUS Act for stablecoin regulation. During this midterm election cycle, the cryptocurrency industry has already invested nearly $200 million through channels such as the Fairshake super PAC to continue solidifying its influence in Congress.