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Micron announced today that it will distribute 2026 fiscal year bonuses to over 60,000 employees worldwide to acknowledge the company's achievements this year, marking the highest bonuses in Micron's history. Taiwan is a key hub for Micron's global technology leadership, with approximately 15,000 employees and a cumulative investment of over NT$1.6 trillion.In Taiwan, the 2026 fiscal year bonuses include a NT$1 million cash bonus for each employee who joins before August 29, 2025, with subsequent hires receiving bonuses proportionate to their duration of employment; an annual performance bonus that can reach up to 500% of the basic target; and additional stock awards. Production line employees in Taiwan will receive total compensation equivalent to 35 to 68 months of salary. The cash compensation for Micron's employees in Taiwan for the 2026 fiscal year will start at NT$1.7 million; entry-level engineers will have an average cash compensation of NT$2.9 million, with an average total compensation of NT$3.4 million after including stock awards calculated at grant value. The annual performance adjustment stock awards will cover 100%.Regarding Micron's announcement without reaching a consensus with the union, the union stated after collecting member opinions: grassroots members demand institutional reform and equal negotiation, calling for a change in the IPP profit-sharing system to a 15% profit-sharing system, stating that one-time bonuses cannot resolve the issue, and expressing the hope to establish a calculation basis directly linked to the company's actual profits. If there is no response, the union will continue to move towards a strike. The Ministry of Labor stated that it has fully grasped the relevant information and is maintaining close contact with the Taoyuan City Government, the Central Taiwan Science Park Administration, and the Taichung City Government.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) stated in its latest risk report that major prediction market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi have not obtained the necessary authorization to provide event contract services in the EU, and some platforms only restrict users from certain EU countries. ESMA questioned the effectiveness of their geographical restrictions and VPN blocking measures.ESMA pointed out that event contracts may be classified as financial instruments based on their specific structure, fall under the MiCA framework, or be regulated by member states' betting regulations. If classified as financial instruments, their marketing, distribution, and sale to retail investors are generally subject to existing binary options restrictions.

According to CoinDesk, European financial and cryptocurrency industry organizations have written to the EU Council and the European Parliament, urging lawmakers to remove the cap on the scale of tokenized securities platforms or set it at least at €1.5 trillion (approximately $1.74 trillion), arguing that the €100 billion cap proposed by the European Commission will hinder industry development. Signatories include the French Digital Asset Association Adan, Crypto Council for Innovation, the European Ethereum Institute, as well as companies like Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart.The EU's distributed ledger pilot regime allows operators to test the trading and settlement of tokenized stocks, bonds, and investment funds while exempting some existing financial rules. After observing "moderate" participation, the European Commission proposed to expand the pilot framework and raise the current €6 billion cap to €100 billion. Adan stated that considering the development of the global market, this increase is still insufficient, and their preferred option is to completely remove the cap or at least set it to €1.5 trillion, which is 15 times the proposed cap.The joint letter pointed out that some existing European projects have reached a scale of €350 billion and plan to grow further, but did not disclose specific projects or calculation methods. The letter also emphasized that the relevant threshold targets the market capitalization of admitted securities rather than trading volume and opposed giving central securities depositories a significantly higher differentiated cap than other blockchain market operators, arguing that this would be detrimental to emerging service providers.The alliance also compared the restrictive measures in Europe with an unnamed mainstream settlement platform in the United States, which can tokenize assets like stocks without a trading volume cap; if the cap is retained, the alliance hopes the Commission can flexibly raise it as the market grows, without presetting a maximum limit.

According to a report by AML Intelligence, the European Commission has passed an authorization bill to expand the "Central Contact Point" (CCP) framework to include Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASP), granting regulatory authorities in member states the power to require local contact persons to be designated by institutions such as cryptocurrency exchanges operating in their countries.This framework previously only applied to electronic money institutions and payment institutions. After the revision, it will include crypto service providers in the anti-money laundering and compliance regulatory network, allowing regulatory authorities to have a fixed contact window domestically and enhance information sharing and law enforcement collaboration.

According to Bloomberg, citing informed sources, Binance announced in June plans to exit the European Union, and the market generally expected it to be forced out due to not obtaining a MiCA license. However, the July 1 deadline has passed, and Binance is still maintaining operations in the EU through various means.European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde personally intervened to push for Binance's application, which was not approved, and Binance has withdrawn its license application in Greece. Previously, users in six EU countries with local entities were asked to migrate away from the platform, and some users later regained trading access through "reverse solicitation" clauses. Binance has also routed some EU users' trades to its Abu Dhabi entity, which is under different regulations.Currently, the European Securities and Markets Authority has sent a letter requesting confirmation of its orderly exit progress. Binance stated that it is committed to achieving long-term compliant operations under the MiCA framework. Data shows that its global spot trading volume share exceeds 45%, with the euro-denominated trading share around 3% to 4%, which has not changed significantly from before.

The prediction market platform Kalshi has permanently banned former U.S. Congressman George Santos and fined him $71,356 for manipulating a market related to his attendance at the State of the Union address, profiting nearly $18,000. This is the first time the exchange has imposed a lifetime ban on a former member of Congress.According to a disciplinary notice issued by Kalshi's compliance department on August 28, Santos conducted multiple large transactions in this market between February 2 and 25. Since he was able to influence the outcome, exchange rules prohibited him from participating in trading. He subsequently issued a series of public statements regarding his attendance, some of which were false or misleading, intending to drive price movements in the "Yes" and "No" contracts. The compliance department determined that these statements did indeed manipulate prices, allowing him to profit $17,839.57 in the relevant market, violating multiple rules regarding market manipulation, influencing trading outcomes, and using deceptive practices, and he faced additional penalties for failing to cooperate with the investigation.The prediction market allows users to bet on the outcomes of real-world events such as elections, sports, and economic data by purchasing "Yes" or "No" contracts. As event contracts have become mainstream, Kalshi and its crypto-native competitor Polymarket have seen a surge in trading volume over the past year, attracting significant institutional interest.

According to The Block, the prediction market platform Kalshi has permanently banned former U.S. Congressman George Santos, marking the first time the platform has imposed a permanent ban on an individual. According to a disciplinary action and settlement notice submitted on Monday, Santos violated platform rules by trading on a prediction contract regarding whether he would attend the State of the Union (SOTU) address and was fined over $71,000.Previously, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) accused Santos of using his public statements made two weeks before the SOTU to influence the prices of related event contracts and reached a $35,000 settlement with him. Santos's lawyer stated that he had booked a hotel and flight to Washington, believing he would attend the event. Santos served as a congressman representing New York from January 2023 until the end of the year, when he was expelled for ethical violations.As the prediction market grows to billions of dollars, concerns about insider trading are increasingly being raised. The CFTC recently fined former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez $172,000 for profiting in Kalshi's "mention market" by using advance access to Trump's speech content. Legislators have proposed several bipartisan bills to restrict trading on non-public information, but they have not yet passed; platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket are taking preventive measures, such as requiring employment verification for sensitive market traders.

On August 25, according to the Korea Herald, the SK Hynix union rejected the preliminary wage agreement reached with management. The preliminary agreement was voted down with 50.08% of the votes against it.Previously, the union leadership had reached this preliminary agreement with management before submitting it for a member vote.

Market news indicates that Apple will implement several adjustments across the EU, including changes to the advertising transparency consent tool, which was previously reviewed by the German competition regulator.

According to ThePayPers, the digital investment service platform InvestiFi has completed a $20 million financing round, led by Vibe Credit Union, with participation from several U.S. credit unions including BankTech Ventures, ICCU (Idaho Central Credit Union), United Financial Credit Union, and Coastal Credit Union.InvestiFi enables traditional financial institutions to directly offer cryptocurrency trading, as well as investment services for stablecoins, stocks, ETFs, etc., within their existing online banking systems, allowing users to invest directly through checking or savings accounts without the need to transfer funds between bank accounts and external brokers or crypto platforms. The new funding will be used to scale the platform.

Global remittance giant Western Union announced that its Stablecard, built on the Rain stablecoin infrastructure, is officially launched.Users can directly receive the stablecoin USDPT issued by Western Union and issued on Solana by Anchorage Digital Bank, and can make instant purchases at Visa-supported merchants worldwide through an integrated Visa card, or choose to withdraw cash.The first batch of Stablecard covers 37 markets, and Western Union plans to expand to more than 60 markets by the end of the year. The company stated that the stablecoin will help reduce the pre-funding requirements for cross-border remittances, improve capital efficiency, and support the launch of more digital financial services.

Tencent's official X account stated that its research agent Hyra collaborated with the Hy3 model to explicitly prove an issue that has troubled the mathematical community for over 50 years: the optimal growth rate exponent of the size of the sum set |A+A| and the size of the difference set |A-A| for a finite integer set A is exactly 2. The theorem from 1969 provided an upper bound of 2, but for the following 50 years, the best constructed exponent was only slightly above 1.1.This achievement demonstrates the potential of AI agents in the field of pure mathematical reasoning. Tencent stated that Hyra is an AI research agent developed in-house, specifically designed to assist in the exploration of complex mathematical and scientific problems. This conclusion still requires confirmation through peer review by the mathematical community.

According to former Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, one of the largest police unions in the United States, the National Fraternal Order of Police, has shifted its support to the latest version of the Clarity Act, stating that the revised provisions of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) address its previous concerns and preserve law enforcement's ability to investigate cryptocurrency crimes.The report notes that the text of the latest version of the BRCA, released on Wednesday, has not changed, and it is currently unclear what specific revisions the union is referring to.

According to a report by Reuters, the Italian fintech company Conio has obtained a European Union cryptocurrency asset service provider license, allowing it to provide custody, transfer, and distribution services for digital assets under the MiCAR framework. The license was granted after a review by the Italian market regulator Consob and the Bank of Italy.

The approval voting rate for the preliminary agreement on wages and collective bargaining for 2026 by the largest union of Samsung Group has sharply increased. As a result, expectations for the approval of the agreement are rising. However, due to the significant bonus gap between the semiconductor sector and the equipment experience sector, as well as between the memory and non-memory sectors, discussions about fairness are expected to continue.According to the union, as of 8:29 AM local time on the 25th (7:29 AM Beijing time), out of 57,291 eligible voters, 49,363 have voted on the approval of the preliminary agreement on wages and collective bargaining, resulting in a voting rate of 86.16%. This vote is the final step in determining whether to accept the preliminary agreement reached by both labor and management regarding wages and collective bargaining. The core of the agreement is to allocate 10.5% of the operating performance of the DS department as a special management performance bonus fund, to be paid in the form of treasury stock.Industry insiders believe that members of the DS department, who account for about 80% of all union members, are likely to push the agreement through. As long as a majority of eligible voters participate and a majority of those who vote are in favor, the vote will be finalized. Voting will end at 10 AM on the 27th.

According to The Block, large trading firm IG Europe has partnered with Bitpanda to expand its digital asset business in the European Union. IG Europe has taken several measures in recent months to grow its cryptocurrency business, including acquiring the Australian cryptocurrency exchange Independent Reserve and obtaining a MiCA license, allowing it to offer cryptocurrency products and services across the EU.IG also sold its futures trading platform Small Exchange Inc, which it acquired in 2023, to Kraken. IG Europe GmbH is the European subsidiary of the large online trading company IG Group, headquartered in the UK, and is regulated by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in Germany. Bitpanda, founded in 2014, is one of the cryptocurrency exchanges in Europe, and the company is considering going public this year.

According to the Korea Herald, a South Korean court partially approved Samsung Electronics' request for an injunction against the union's planned strike. Samsung turned from a decline to an increase, and the South Korean KOSPI index turned positive, reversing a previous decline of 4.68%.

According to an official announcement, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has released a proposed rule outlining the operational and risk management standards for stablecoin issuers permitted under the GENIUS Act. NCUA Chairman Kyle Hauptman stated that the proposed rule aims to ensure that credit unions are not at a disadvantage in terms of standards and aligns with the proposed standards for bank subsidiaries. The proposed rule has been published in the Federal Register, and the comment period will close on July 17, 2026.

B.AI announced full access to China's mainstream payment systems, with WeChat Pay, Alipay, and UnionPay now open to users. Starting today, users can complete the entire process of account recharge, subscribing to AI services, and accessing top AI models and Agent services in a familiar payment environment. This payment upgrade lowers the usage threshold, allowing individual developers and enterprise clients to more conveniently experience cutting-edge AI capabilities, making the entire usage process smoother, more natural, and localized. B.AI will continue to optimize the product experience in the future, committed to integrating smarter and more efficient artificial intelligence services into everyone's daily work and life.