government

According to South Korea's "JoongAng Ilbo," China's semiconductor industry is organized through collaboration among the central government, local governments, state-owned financial institutions, and enterprises, forming a system for fundraising, factory construction, and infrastructure support. The China National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund has a first phase of 138.7 billion RMB, a second phase of 204 billion RMB, and a third phase of 344 billion RMB, totaling 686.7 billion RMB, with investments in companies such as SMIC, Hua Hong Semiconductor, and Yangtze Memory Technologies.Changxin Memory, established for 10 years, has risen to fourth in global DRAM market share, with a net loss of 21.13 billion RMB over the past three years, while R&D and equipment investments during the same period reached 185.2 billion RMB, with Hefei's state-owned capital providing about 80% of the funding for early projects. South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are responsible for investments, employment, technology development, and support for partners. The South Korean government plans to guide 622 trillion KRW in private investment by 2047 and provide 17 trillion KRW in low-interest loans and 1.1 trillion KRW in semiconductor ecosystem funds, but most of the burden will fall on enterprises.Park Kyung-soo, Executive Vice President of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association: The semiconductor industry will fall behind in the next upturn if investment stops; even during downturns, R&D, equipment investment, and orders for materials and components must be maintained, requiring long-term policy, financial, and tax support. China is catching up with a national-level support system, and South Korea also needs a response system involving the government, political circles, financial institutions, and enterprises to act together.

On-chain detective ZachXBT posted on his personal channel that Revolut allegedly leaked some users' personal identifiable information (PII) due to failing to recognize a forged government agency information request.According to his disclosure, Revolut previously received a request for customer information retrieval that appeared to come from a real government agency and was sent through the agency's official email domain. Because the email had valid domain authentication information, Revolut believed the request was legitimate and responded accordingly.The potentially involved data includes users' names, birth dates, occupations, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers, as well as copies of passports or driver's licenses, identity verification selfies, account statements, IBANs, withdrawal records, and complete transaction histories, including Bitcoin transaction records. Revolut stated in the notification sent to users that no biometric facial telemetry data was leaked.ZachXBT indicated that the scale of the incident may currently be limited, but it appears to primarily target high-net-worth users. Several Revolut users received notifications regarding the related security incident yesterday. Revolut officials had previously reminded users to verify suspicious information through in-app customer service to avoid providing personal or financial information.

The yield on Japan's 10-year government bonds continued to rise, briefly touching 3%, reaching a new high in over a week.

According to Gate market data, the yield on Germany's 10-year government bonds rose by 6 basis points to 3.51%, the highest level since 2009.

The head of government affairs at Paradigm stated that the external view that the Clarity Act is almost hopeless to pass is not credible. The related pessimistic rhetoric mostly comes from anonymous staff members who did not participate in the core negotiations (intending to guide public opinion), or from legislators using the media to voice their demands, pressuring the White House and Senate leadership to meet their own requests.Major banks plan to invest heavily in lobbying and advertising next week; if the bill is doomed to fail, the banks would not invest such resources. The time window is indeed tight: the Senate reconvenes on Monday, and the House will recess on Friday in five days. However, the bill is far from dead. Those who assert that the bill has no chance are either seeking attention or trying to create a predetermined narrative of "bill failure."

According to monitoring by Lookonchain, the Bhutan royal government has transferred 400 bitcoins again, worth 30.62 million USD.

According to Cointelegraph, the global bond bear market continues to ferment, with Japan's 10-year government bond yield rising to 3% on Tuesday, the first time since 1996; the 30-year government bond yield also broke through the historical high of 4.18%. The U.S. 10-year government bond yield simultaneously rose to a multi-year high of 4.78%, and global long-term sovereign bond yields are at their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.In this context, Bitcoin remains in a sideways consolidation, maintaining around $78,000, slightly retreating from an earlier high of nearly $79,000. There is a dense resistance area between the current spot price and $86,000, which limits Bitcoin's upward momentum. Market sentiment remains cautiously optimistic in the short term, with the $76,000 to $82,000 range seen as a key battleground in the coming weeks.This round of selling occurred after U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen announced an increase in the upper limit of government bond repurchase transactions to $4 billion starting in September, with some commentators likening it to a form of yield curve control. Arthur Hayes has long argued that the Federal Reserve will eventually activate the FIMA repo facility, a mechanism that will create new dollar liquidity, which is also why he recommends allocating Bitcoin, gold, and cryptocurrencies; Yellen hinted at the future use of this tool as early as August.

The U.S. government previously seized the shares of Anthropic held by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's two key allies, Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh, and sold the related shares to existing investors of Anthropic in 2025. However, the specific buyers, transaction prices, and the amount received by the government have not been disclosed. The court previously ruled that Ellison and Singh must forfeit their shares in Anthropic. The U.S. government acquired the shares of the two in February and April 2025, respectively. The two had previously invested $10 million and $40 million to participate in Anthropic's Series B financing in 2022.As Anthropic's valuation skyrocketed, the value of their shares significantly increased. UCLA professor Olav Sorenson estimated that based on Anthropic's announced valuation of $965 billion in May this year, the total value of their holdings is approximately $4.17 billion to $5.03 billion; if Anthropic goes public at a valuation of $2 trillion in the future, the value of the related shares could reach about $5.44 billion. It is currently unclear at what price the U.S. government sold these shares. Estimates indicate that if the transaction occurred at different points in time in 2025, the proceeds from the sale of the related shares could range from approximately $250 million to $1.1 billion. Notably, as of the end of June 2026, the proceeds from the sale do not appear to have been transferred into the FTX bankruptcy estate management system. FTX victims' representative Sunil Kavuri stated that the government should use the related funds to compensate the victims; the U.S. Department of Justice claimed that it prioritizes providing compensation to victims from forfeited assets, but information regarding the sale of related assets and fund distribution is confidential.

According to ZEIT, the Berlin city government suffered a cyber attack two weeks ago, and the hacker group is suspected of implementing ransomware using the stolen data. According to Der Spiegel, the attackers are believed to be the long-active Rhysida hacker group, demanding a payment of 30 bitcoins (approximately 2 million euros) and threatening to release the data.The sensitive information involved may include records of violations and passwords. The Berlin state government has not yet confirmed the extent of the data breach and has not responded to the ransom amount or the identity of the attackers, stating that it will not comment "for reasons of investigative strategy." Berlin's mayor, Kai Wegner, has made it clear that Berlin will not yield to extortion. The main departments affected are transportation and construction management, which were temporarily isolated from the state government's network after the incident.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has effectively banned Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading nationwide, threatening to prosecute traders and related businesses. More than 20 crypto shops in Herat have closed, and at least 13 traders have reportedly been arrested. Monthly inflows of cryptocurrency in Afghanistan have dropped from a peak of over $150 million to less than $80,000.After Afghanistan was largely cut off from the global banking system, Bitcoin and stablecoins had become important tools for savings and remittances. Taliban officials claim that digital assets are fraudulent and believe that cryptocurrency speculation is akin to gambling under Islamic law. Although the related actions have compressed the visible cryptocurrency market in Afghanistan, Bitcoin can still be traded via the internet, private keys, and counterparties.

Eurozone government bond yields rose in the morning, with the yield on Germany's 10-year government bonds rising to 3.276%, a 15-year high. Deutsche Bank stated that rising oil prices, increasing inflation in the Eurozone, and the European Central Bank's hawkish stance are driving yields higher.

Market expectations for the Bank of Japan tightening monetary policy are heating up, with weak demand for Japan's two-year government bond auction, the bid-to-cover ratio at 2.97, lower than last time's 3.63 and the past 12 months' average of 3.74. The tail difference is 0.034, higher than last month's 0.007, marking the weakest since 2016. The government led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi supports an interest rate hike as early as September, with overnight index swaps indicating a probability of about 84% for a rate hike in September.

Zhao Changpeng stated at the "Bitcoin Asia 2026" conference in Hong Kong that Bitcoin itself does not weaken or strengthen government power; what truly matters is the choices made by the government. Historically, weak governments have sometimes led to better economic performance. For example, the U.S. government is relatively weak, yet it has created one of the strongest economies in the world; after the current SEC chairman relinquished some regulatory power, the industry actually experienced growth, while former chairman Gary Gensler's attempts to control everything stifled industry growth.He mentioned that Bitcoin, as a decentralized technology, allows individuals to have more sovereignty, but its privacy design has flaws, and on-chain transactions can be easily tracked; governments can choose whether to utilize these characteristics. For instance, declaring Bitcoin ownership illegal or imposing a 36% tax on every transaction would stifle industry development. The government may seem to have significant power, but a zero tax rate still results in zero revenue, while taxing a trillion-dollar market at 6% would yield substantial income.He also noted that most governments have relatively recognized Bitcoin, but many countries still lack a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. Among government officials, those who understand Bitcoin remain a minority, and in some countries, the older generation's dominance leads to a more conservative attitude. However, he does feel that a shift is occurring, despite some still holding the biased view that Bitcoin is primarily used by drug lords.

According to Bloomberg, the UK government will grant the Bank of England (BoE) a new responsibility to promote innovation in the field of digital currency and payments. The UK Treasury stated that this responsibility will serve as a secondary objective for the Bank of England, still subordinate to its core mission of maintaining financial stability.This move responds to criticism that the UK central bank has been too conservative in its approach to emerging financial technologies. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has prioritized maintaining London's competitiveness in the rapidly evolving digital asset market as a key policy direction. This policy suggests that the UK regulatory framework may place greater emphasis on balancing risk control with financial technology innovation, potentially creating a clearer development environment for digital payments, stablecoins, and other digital asset-related businesses.

According to Arkham monitoring, the U.S. government recently transferred a small amount of Bitcoin. This Bitcoin was seized three years ago from Alameda's account on Binance US.This transfer only involves a small amount, and the market is paying attention to whether the U.S. government will begin liquidating Alameda's remaining Bitcoin assets.

According to a report by Reuters, British judge Samuel Goozee dismissed the extradition defense of former Saitama CEO Manpreet Kohli on August 19 and transferred the case to the UK government to make a decision on the US extradition request. Kohli can still appeal, and the extradition has not been finalized; he is currently released on bail set at £200,000 (approximately $272,400).US prosecutors have charged Kohli with wire fraud, market manipulation, and related conspiracy, as well as operating an unlicensed remittance business, involving the Ethereum-based token Saitama, which once had a market value of about $7.5 billion. Kohli defended himself by arguing that the US could not adequately handle his mental health and the risk of suicide during detention, but the judge believed that the transfer and the safeguards of the US prison system could reduce the risk to an acceptable level. Previously, a federal judge in Boston had also dismissed his motion to dismiss the charges.The case stems from the "Operation Token Mirrors" investigation initiated by the US Department of Justice in October 2024, involving fraud and wash trading. Prosecutors allege that 18 individuals, including Kohli, coordinated multiple wallets to purchase tokens and paid ZM Quant and Gotbit to conduct wash trading on several exchanges, with Kohli suspected of profiting about $20 million. Gotbit has admitted to manipulating token prices and trading volumes and was ordered to pay $23 million in June 2025, while its founder Aleksei Andriunin was sentenced to 8 months in prison.

According to the Nikkei, Japan's Financial Services Agency, Ministry of Finance, Bank of Japan, and financial institutions plan to establish a research group in the summer of 2026 to promote the construction of next-generation payment and settlement infrastructure based on blockchain (distributed ledger), with a specific preparation plan expected to be formed in early 2027.The plan initially focuses on government bonds and stock trading, aiming to achieve 24-hour instant settlement of funds and securities. The report notes that although there have been several blockchain financial application trials in the past, this is the first time the Japanese government and central bank have set a clear timeline for the actual implementation of related infrastructure.

Japan will issue 10-year and 30-year government bonds on September 1 and 3, respectively, and the market is closely watching their auction performance. Nomura Holdings strategist Andrew Ticehurst stated that if auction demand is weak, it could push up the yields of Japanese and U.S. government bonds, increasing market risk.

The signals sent by the bond market to Treasury Secretary Basant in recent days indicate that one cannot simply sweep the $40 trillion U.S. national debt under the rug and pretend nothing is wrong. Basant announced plans to increase the scale of long-term Treasury buybacks this fall, promising to utilize the Treasury's vast "toolbox" to support the market, and mentioned upcoming measures to curb the ever-expanding U.S. debt burden.John Arnold, former Enron energy trader, billionaire, and founder of the Arnold Ventures charity, stated that the turmoil in the bond market this summer may ultimately just be "another quickly settled episode," but the greater concern is that the lack of change in the U.S. fiscal situation will persist until it ultimately triggers a crisis.Tracy Chen, global portfolio manager at Brandywine Global, expressed that she feels very anxious because Basant has failed to rein in long-term Treasury yields. The performance of the bond market indicates that bond vigilantes still do not trust him. Basant needs to do more to convince investors that the Trump administration is taking U.S. fiscal issues seriously, but discussing tax increases or austerity measures to boost revenue before the midterm elections in November will be unpopular.