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Y Combinator, a startup incubator, released a report on the direction of cryptocurrency startups, focusing on stablecoins, asset tokenization, and AI Agents. The report states that over the past year, cryptocurrency applications have been led by institutions rather than consumers for the first time, with the main driving force shifting from speculation to actual financial needs such as hedging oil price risks and cross-border capital transfers for businesses.The report predicts that stablecoins, as well as assets like stocks, debts, commodities, and property rights, will be further tokenized. New types of assets, such as equity in startups and small securities valued under $10,000, will also be issued via blockchain, promoting financial services like trading, lending, and derivatives. AI Agents will become one of the main participants in financial activities.In the next six months, the report focuses on using blockchain to finance the AI industry, new types of dollar stablecoins and non-dollar stablecoins targeting niche markets, new banks based on stablecoins, tokenization of real-world assets, new trading platforms and trading interfaces, as well as AI Agent trading and related API infrastructure. The text mentions that blockchain technology and stablecoins may pose a threat to traditional stock exchanges and banking systems.

According to official news, YZi Labs announced the launch of the first phase of the Atlas Scout program, recruiting four students from Stanford University, Yale University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Los Angeles, to participate in early investment projects in the fields of Web3, artificial intelligence (AI), and biotechnology.The program aims to allow outstanding university students to gain early exposure to venture capital, participate in project discovery, preliminary research, due diligence, and investment judgment, and encourage them to organize entrepreneurial communities on campus and explore investment opportunities. YZi Labs will provide a maximum of $1 million in intended investment for related investment opportunities in this program and open its ecosystem network composed of over 300 portfolio companies.YZi Labs stated that many potential entrepreneurs often begin their explorations in laboratories, open-source projects, campus entrepreneurial organizations, and technology communities before entering traditional financing channels, and their peers who learn and work with them usually discover their potential earlier. The Atlas Scout program hopes to leverage students' own campus networks to help these early entrepreneurs obtain capital, mentorship, and industry resources. Eligible entrepreneurial teams will also have the opportunity to connect with YZi Labs' EASY Residency program or further discuss investment collaboration.The Atlas Scout program not only expands financing and resource channels for early entrepreneurs but also allows participating students to accumulate venture capital experience through practical projects, enhancing their project evaluation, founder communication, and investment judgment skills.YZi Labs stated that Scouts can independently carry out campus activities based on their interests, such as organizing technical exchanges, gathering entrepreneurial teams, or discovering potential investment projects, while receiving guidance and ecosystem resource support from YZi Labs in the process. The program aims to establish connections before entrepreneurial projects gain widespread attention, allowing initial ideas on campus to have the opportunity to develop into actual projects, while cultivating a new generation of investors who can identify technological trends and entrepreneurial potential earlier.

Binance founder Zhao Changpeng stated, "I am often asked whether my entrepreneurial ideas are feasible, as if my opinion is that important. As long as the team's execution ability is strong enough, 99% of ideas are good.The problem is that 98% of teams cannot execute effectively. Therefore, there is no need to promote entrepreneurial ideas; just demonstrate execution ability."

Crypto KOL Kuai Dong (@_FORAB) posted that Fox has released the list of American entrepreneurs for the China-U.S. banquet, which is scheduled to be held this Thursday at the White House.The list includes Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, Apple Executive Chairman Tim Cook, Citigroup Chair Jane Fraser, and Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon.

According to a report by the Financial Associated Press, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued the "Entrepreneurship Support Plan for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Artificial Intelligence (2026-2028)." Over three years, it aims to cultivate a large number of innovative and dynamic artificial intelligence startups with significant growth potential in key areas such as industry applications, data services, and intelligent computing power. More than 10,000 new technology and innovation-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises will be nurtured, with over 2,000 "specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative" small giant enterprises emerging, along with a number of gazelle and unicorn companies.Focusing on the field of artificial intelligence, the plan will establish 10 high-standard technology enterprise incubators and 10 national public service demonstration platforms (bases) for small and medium-sized enterprises. It will also cultivate 10 national-level characteristic industrial clusters for small and medium-sized enterprises. The entrepreneurial and innovative vitality of small and medium-sized enterprises in artificial intelligence will continue to surge, and a preliminary pattern of high-quality development for small and medium-sized enterprises empowered by artificial intelligence will take shape.

According to Cointelegraph, Cathie Wood of Ark Invest stated that AI is likely to trigger an entrepreneurial explosion, and she encourages recent graduates to use AI as their sole employee to start their own companies.

MEXC Chief Strategy Officer Cecilia Hsueh posted on X that July 30 is her last day at MEXC. She stated that this does not mean leaving the crypto industry; the simple narratives have ended, and many no longer believe in crypto, which instead signifies that speculators are exiting, and some larger opportunities are forming. Blockchain is more meaningful than ever in solving real problems. She mentioned that she will return to an entrepreneurial mode next.According to RootData, Cecilia Hsueh previously served as CEO of Phemex and co-founder and CEO of Morph, and will take on the role of Chief Strategy Officer at MEXC in June 2025.

Jeff Yan, co-founder of Hyperliquid, recently stated in the VALR podcast that one of the biggest challenges currently facing the cryptocurrency and fintech sectors is the failure to attract enough top entrepreneurial talent.Jeff Yan believes that, influenced by factors such as the AI boom and social prestige, many of the best young people are unclear about which fields they should engage in to create the most value, resulting in very few choosing to enter the cryptocurrency industry.He stated that reconstructing the financial system from first principles and transforming academic theories into scalable market designs is a highly meaningful endeavor, and he urged young entrepreneurs not to focus solely on the surface value of things but to concentrate on the real problems facing the world and participate in the development and innovation of on-chain finance.

The Hurun Research Institute released the "2025 Hurun U35 China Entrepreneur Pioneers," and TRON founder Justin Sun was selected. The list shows that TRON's enterprise value has reached 227.5 billion RMB, ranking first among U35 founded companies, accounting for nearly half of the total value of all listed U35 generation entrepreneurial companies, demonstrating its scale advantage and infrastructure value in the global blockchain industry.Currently, the issuance of TRC20 - USDT on the TRON blockchain has surpassed 90 billion USD, continuously consolidating its important position in the global stablecoin issuance and settlement network. Justin Sun previously stated in an exclusive interview with Hurun that truly innovative solutions that can transcend cycles must be supported by real demand. This selection further reflects his long-term entrepreneurial practice, global vision, and TRON's leading influence in the Web3 ecosystem.

Investigative journalist Whitney Webb released a series of investigations about the origins and ambitions of Polymarket.She stated that the claim in Polymarket's official narrative that "Shayne Coplan founded the company alone in 2020 and started it in a bathroom" is not true; the origins of Polymarket can be traced back to the earlier company TokenBnk and has connections to Israeli-related crypto projects.Webb said that the first part of the series will outline Polymarket's early history and discuss its potential connections with Peter Thiel-related forces and DARPA's early prediction market projects.

a16z Crypto Operating Partner Jason Rosenthal posted on the X platform that cash flow is the moat. The best companies often establish themselves by placing themselves in the "cash flow," and cryptocurrency is the first modern technology born for this purpose. If your startup has not designed its products and business models around these principles, you will miss a great opportunity. Thanks to stablecoins, funds and value can now flow at the speed of the internet—global settlement, 24/7 uninterrupted, with end-to-end programmability.Railway companies do not make money from locomotives, but from every ton of goods that pass through the tracks; companies like Visa and Jane Street are all part of the cash flow. Cash flow combined with network effects is one of the most enduring business structures in history. There is a lot of profit margin in traditional financial services, and processes such as payments, custody, lending, foreign exchange, settlement, and market making can all be compressed. Crypto entrepreneurs have the opportunity to build the next generation of cash flow businesses that are programmable, instant, and global.This model can also be extended to computing, GPU markets, AI training data, energy, robotics, space, rare earth metals, and other fields. Founders should ask themselves: Are you in the cash flow? When the value of product activities grows tenfold, does your revenue grow accordingly? In your target market, where are the segments with the highest profit margins relative to the value created?

According to Decrypt, Republican fintech entrepreneur Michael Carbonara sold 10 Bitcoins for $800,000 to fund his congressional campaign and demonstrated his support for cryptocurrency in this critical battle as the election landscape changed. Besides the election, Carbonara believes that blockchain can also help the government improve the transparency of taxpayer fund usage.

According to Decrypt, a former Ukrainian police officer kidnapped a cryptocurrency entrepreneur and extorted approximately $2.2 million through violence, intimidation, and false debt claims. Prosecutors stated that the gang targeted at least four victims and committed crimes using law enforcement methods, official vehicles, and impersonating police officers. The Kyiv regional prosecutor's office announced that the pre-trial investigation has been completed, and the gang includes four former police officers and one previously convicted civilian, but none of them have been formally charged for these attacks yet. This case comes amid a global surge in "ransomware attacks" in the cryptocurrency space, where criminals use violent coercion to steal digital assets.

According to Decrypt, the Kyiv regional prosecutor's office in Ukraine has completed a pre-trial investigation into a gang that includes four former police officers and one civilian with a criminal record, suspected of kidnapping a cryptocurrency entrepreneur through violence, intimidation, and false debt claims, extorting over $2.2 million.The prosecution stated that the individuals involved targeted at least four victims, using law enforcement skills, official vehicles, and police identities to disguise their crimes, forcing victims to hand over funds and sign documents for non-existent debts. In one case, a victim from Kyiv was kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to sign a false debt document for $5 million.The prosecution accused the individuals of creating and participating in an armed gang, kidnapping, illegal detention, robbery, extortion, and illegal possession of drugs. The gang's activities were terminated in November 2025, and all individuals involved have been dismissed from police duties, with the case materials transferred to the court.