betting

According to a report by Reuters, one of the world's largest multi-strategy hedge funds, Millennium Management, is negotiating to raise approximately $20 billion in new capital, significantly higher than the initial plan, which is expected to set a record for the largest fundraising in the company's history.The report states that this fundraising will be conducted in two phases, while Millennium also plans to swap capital managed by external fund managers, with the work overseen by President Ajay Nagpal. Reuters cited a Goldman Sachs report stating that, driven by the AI boom, the hedge fund industry is expected to welcome another strong year. In the first half of 2026, all major hedge fund strategies achieved net inflows for the first time in five years, with quantitative funds and multi-strategy funds attracting particularly strong capital. Millennium's return rate reached 10.5% in 2025, and it currently manages assets exceeding $92 billion.

On July 22, Pennsylvania State Representative Tarik Khan introduced HB 2711, co-sponsored by 24 bipartisan legislators (20 Democrats and 4 Republicans), which has been submitted to the House Consumer Protection, Technology, and Utilities Committee. The bill aims to prohibit the provision of prediction market services to Pennsylvania residents while engaging in gambling activities in the regular business of liquidity providers or market makers, extending the restrictions to parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, and joint ventures, and prohibits prediction platforms from sharing revenue with gambling companies.This move could impact sports betting groups like DraftKings (which has acquired CFTC-registered Railbird Technologies and launched its own DKeX exchange) and Flutter, which are entering the prediction market-making field. The bill also sets a minimum age limit of 21, prohibits contracts involving high school sports, events with minor participation, and death markets, and requires platforms to establish anti-fraud and insider information abuse protection mechanisms.The bill does not establish a licensing system, and enforcement authority is granted to the state Attorney General. Previously, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2:1 in April that the federal Commodity Exchange Act takes precedence over state gambling laws, but Pennsylvania has joined a coalition of 40 states advocating for sports contracts to be subject to state-level regulation.

Mango Labs founder @dov_wo expressed market views stating, "I have gone long on Changxin Technology. In my opinion, Changxin presents a rare 1:5 betting opportunity with a 20% downside and a 100% upside, risking one to gain five."@dov_wo listed the reasons for being bullish as follows: low circulation ratio, regulatory intervention, and institutions optimistic about its investment opportunities below a market value of 3 trillion. The suggested strategy is "if it opens high tomorrow, directly close the position to take profit; if it opens low and rises, patiently wait, and resolve the battle within 3 days."

According to a report by Reuters, the French National Gaming Authority (ANJ) has stated that it has requested French internet service providers to block the prediction market platform Polymarket, citing that it promotes illegal betting services, which may lead to significant losses for users, and that some bets may be subject to manipulation risks.Polymarket will remain blocked until it complies with French betting regulations.

According to CNBC, the American prediction market platform Kalshi stated that a teleprompter operator is under investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for allegedly trading prediction contracts related to public speeches by President Trump.

According to Bloomberg, researchers at Stanford University have found signs of manipulation in the Polymarket five-minute Bitcoin betting market. The study analyzed contract data over approximately two months and discovered repeated one-way trading pulses on the Binance exchange that briefly affected Bitcoin prices just seconds before the betting ended, benefiting those with aligned positions. The researchers referred to this pattern as "temporary manipulation to drive up spot prices" and pointed out that such contracts have structural vulnerabilities—participants can influence the outcome by trading the underlying asset itself that determines win or loss.A Polymarket spokesperson stated that the platform uses multiple independent price oracles to ensure accuracy and plans to transition some markets to a settlement method using longer time windows next year to enhance market integrity. The study estimates that suspected manipulators profited about $8.2 million over two months, primarily from losses incurred by retail traders. Similar patterns are not evident in the 15-minute market, where longer time windows make it more difficult to influence outcomes.

According to CNBC, Kraken plans to launch a trading feature centered around AI agents (agentic trading) in its app, allowing users to automatically monitor the market, discover opportunities, and execute trades through natural language commands. This feature utilizes AI during the account opening process to assess users' risk preferences, sources of funds, and financial status, generating a portfolio for users to adjust and confirm. It will subsequently provide portfolio-related information and rebalancing suggestions. Kraken stated that AI agents will help non-professional users participate in the market in a manner close to high-frequency and professional traders, and will be part of its strategy to extend into broader financial services such as payments, banking, and lending, integrating stablecoins and asset tokenization.

According to Bloomberg, the venture capital firm Paradigm, focused on the cryptocurrency sector, has raised approximately $1.2 billion and plans to increase its investment in artificial intelligence (AI) related projects.According to informed sources, this fundraising will focus on AI infrastructure, AI Agents, and the integration of AI with blockchain technology. Paradigm hopes to capture the next wave of technological innovation through the new fund and expand its investment footprint in emerging technology sectors.Founded in 2018 by Matt Huang and Fred Ehrsam, Paradigm is one of the leading cryptocurrency venture capital firms in the industry, having invested in several blockchain projects including Coinbase and Uniswap.This fundraising indicates that after experiencing previous market cycle adjustments, crypto capital is refocusing on the intersection of AI and blockchain. With the rapid development of AI agents, decentralized computing, on-chain data infrastructure, and other areas, more and more crypto investment firms are beginning to see AI as an important growth opportunity for the next stage.

According to Bloomberg, Micron officially broke ground on its factory expansion project in Higashi-Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan on Saturday. The total investment for the project is approximately 1.5 trillion yen (about 9.3 billion USD), aimed at producing advanced memory chips for the AI era.The new production line will focus on key chips such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which are core components supporting the performance of AI processors like those from Nvidia. The related chips are expected to start shipping as early as the summer of 2028.The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has provided up to 500 billion yen in subsidy support for the project to strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing capabilities and enhance supply chain resilience.This expansion project is seen as an important step for Japan to strengthen its semiconductor manufacturing layout in the global AI chip competition.

According to informed sources, U.S. regulators are investigating allegations made by Susquehanna International Group. The allegations claim that unknown insider traders profited $100 million through options bets before recent regulatory crackdowns on cross-border brokers Futu and Tiger Brokers in China. Susquehanna publicly disclosed these allegations in a lawsuit filed on June 29 in Manhattan federal court. Sources indicate that the U.S. SEC is reviewing the trades described in the market maker's complaint.Susquehanna claims in the lawsuit that it lost over $70 million as the counterparty to most of the alleged insider trading. The lawsuit states that traders purchased U.S. exchange-traded options from Chinese securities firms, which subsequently became targets of the regulatory crackdown on May 22. The scope and stage of the SEC investigation remain unclear. A U.S. judge approved Susquehanna's request to freeze related accounts on June 29. The Chinese government stated that Futu and Tiger Brokers provided unlicensed trading services to mainland residents. Following the announcement on May 22, the stock prices of both companies fell. Futu was fined 1.85 billion yuan in regulatory penalties, and founder Leaf Li's wealth decreased by $1.7 billion in a single day.

A Massachusetts judge approved a revised complaint submitted by the state attorney general against the prediction market platform Kalshi on Tuesday. The new complaint accuses Kalshi of illegally offering sports betting without the permission of the state's betting commission and allegedly attracting users under the age of 21 to participate in betting through marketing on college campuses.The state had previously issued a preliminary injunction against Kalshi, suspending its sports event contract business. However, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had previously submitted a brief to the court supporting Kalshi, arguing that federal agencies have exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets and are not subject to state-level regulation. Additionally, several traditional betting organizations in the U.S. are lobbying Congress to explicitly prohibit such sports-related event contracts in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act).

According to The Block, the public chain MANTRA, focused on the tokenization of RWA assets, will be fully acquired by its strategic investor Inveniam Capital Partners, with the transaction expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year. Inveniam had previously invested $20 million in MANTRA before its restructuring in 2025.MANTRA holds a VASP license issued by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), allowing it to operate a digital asset exchange and provide services such as brokerage, proprietary management, and investment. The Layer2 network NVNM Chain, jointly developed by both parties, is positioned to register identities and limit permissions for autonomous AI agents in compliant scenarios, as well as to record on-chain evidence that can be independently verified by regulators and counterparties.

Bitcoin has returned above the $65,000 mark, currently reported at $65,568. As the Federal Reserve's interest rate meeting approaches this week, market risk appetite has warmed, with Bitcoin and U.S. tech stocks rebounding in tandem. Analysts believe that behind this round of increase, in addition to the return of funds to risk assets, the easing situation in the Middle East and the resulting expectations of falling oil prices are also important factors. The market expects that the decline in energy price pressures is likely to alleviate inflation concerns, thereby reducing the possibility of the Federal Reserve sending further hawkish signals.Currently, the market generally expects the Federal Reserve to maintain interest rates, but investors are more focused on the statements regarding future policy direction from the new chairman Kevin Warsh during his first meeting. If the Federal Reserve sends a dovish signal, market risk appetite may further rise; conversely, if it emphasizes persistent inflation and maintaining high interest rates for a longer period, risk assets such as Bitcoin may face certain pressures. As the correlation between digital assets and traditional financial markets increases, more and more investors are beginning to pay attention to global asset allocation opportunities. As a global one-stop multi-asset allocation platform, BiyaPay supports trading and management services for various assets, including digital assets, U.S. stocks, and Hong Kong stocks, providing users with a more convenient global asset allocation experience.

Thomas Eichenberger, Chief Strategy Officer of Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum, stated on Thursday that institutional clients are no longer waiting for a single stablecoin to prevail, but are instead demanding the integration of tokenized deposits, regulated stablecoins, and tokenized money market funds within the same infrastructure to achieve interoperability, allowing treasury departments to flexibly switch between permitted settlement, 24/7 cross-border flows, and on-demand liquidity yields.Sygnum has already launched a Swiss franc stablecoin testing project this year in collaboration with Swiss banking institutions such as UBS, PostFinance, Raiffeisen, and Zürcher Kantonalbank. At the infrastructure level, Eichenberger pointed out that most institutional discussions still default to using private chains, but actual operators are leaning towards a "public but permissioned" model, which combines public infrastructure with regulated access control.In addition, the Qivalis alliance, composed of 37 major banks from the European Union, plans to launch a digital euro by the end of this year, with the banking industry's autonomous push directly challenging European Central Bank President Lagarde's stance on central bank-led digital currencies.

A Spanish La Liga football club faces the risk of relegation before the final match of the season. To avoid losses in ticket and broadcasting rights revenue due to relegation, the club's owner placed a bet of millions of dollars on the prediction market Kalshi against their own relegation.In the end, the club lost the last match 0 to 1 but still managed to avoid relegation. Sources revealed that the counterparty of this transaction was the quantitative trading firm Susquehanna, which profited over 1 million dollars from this deal. The transaction was facilitated by Game Point Capital, an agency that assists professional and college teams in managing risks, with intermediary services provided by Greenlight Commodities.

The World Cup will kick off on June 11, and the Hong Kong police have launched operations "Gobi" and "Wind Shield" to combat illegal betting on sports through publicity, education, intelligence, and law enforcement. The police pointed out that in recent years, illegal gambling has shown a trend of digitalization, including online betting, social media attracting gamblers, and using virtual currency for bets. The police stated that they still have the capability to trace participants.According to the law, betting with illegal bookmakers can result in a maximum sentence of 9 months and a fine of 50,000 HKD, accepting bets can lead to a maximum sentence of 7 years and a fine of 5 million HKD, and money laundering can result in a maximum sentence of 14 years and a fine of 5 million HKD. The police also shared a case of a young person who was once addicted to illegal gambling, who owed a maximum of 160,000 HKD at his peak. A police clinical psychologist warned that those who start gambling before the age of 18 have a risk of developing gambling disorders of over 80%.

According to CoinDesk, Mastercard is expanding its settlement network to support regulated stablecoins, planning to offer stablecoin settlement, intraday settlement, weekend and holiday settlement services to meet the demand for real-time fund flow.The new framework will run in parallel with existing fiat settlement processes, aiming to provide financial institutions with more flexible liquidity management. Mastercard will initially support Circle's USDC, Paxos-issued PYUSD, USDG and USDP, Ripple's RLUSD, and SoFiUSD, covering blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum, and XRPL. Financial institutions such as Cross River, Lead Bank, CBW Bank, ARQ, and Nuvei will be among the first participants.

According to the 13F filing submitted by the Australian financial services company Macquarie Group Ltd in mid-May, comparing the two periods ending December 31, 2025, and March 31, 2026, its IBIT holdings decreased from 5.126 million shares to 4.139 million shares, a reduction of about 19.3%, corresponding to an asset value decrease from approximately $255 million to $159 million; the ETHA holdings also decreased from 3.634 million shares to 3.289 million shares, a reduction of about 9.5%, corresponding to an asset value decrease from approximately $81.5 million to $52.1 million.At the same time, in the crypto stock sector, Macquarie Group reduced its position in Coinbase by 19%, but increased its position in Circle by 188% (valued at $2.326 million at the end of the first quarter) and added a position in BitMine (valued at $4.153 million at the end of the first quarter). In contrast, it did not show aggressive increases in the AI sector either, but rather maintained a cautious overall stance, with positions in Nvidia, Palantir, AMD, and others significantly decreasing, while only a few semiconductor stocks like Micron Technology saw slight increases.

The prediction market platform Polymarket submitted a self-certification document to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to apply for the listing of parlay trading of sports event contracts in the United States.Polymarket describes parlay trading as a combination of two or more underlying sports event contracts, which can only settle at $1 if all the specified sub-event outcomes occur; otherwise, it will go to zero. By adopting a self-certification approach, Polymarket is notifying the CFTC of its listing plans rather than seeking permission. The document indicates that the listing date will be no earlier than May 21, 2026.