Sell-Side Warning: Google’s AI Capital Expenditure Set to Hit a New High, Projected to Reach $250 Billion by 2027
As Alphabet, Google’s parent company, prepares to release its second-quarter financial results after today’s U.S. stock market close, sell-side Wall Street analysts have issued a cautious consensus forecast for its future capital expenditure (Capex) trajectory. According to aggregated market data, analysts’ consensus forecast for Alphabet’s full-year 2026 Capex is roughly $186 billion, which aligns closely with the company’s previously raised official guidance range of $180–190 billion. This figure represents more than a five-fold increase from the $32.3 billion recorded in 2023, with funds earmarked primarily for AI data centers and computing infrastructure to support the ongoing expansion of Google Cloud and the Gemini model. Of greater note is the 2027 outlook. Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak previously projected publicly that Alphabet’s Capex could jump further to roughly $250 billion next year. This aligns with remarks made by Alphabet CFO Anat Ashkenazi during multiple earnings calls, where she explicitly told investors that 2027 Capex would “increase significantly” compared to 2026. Market observers note that the surging Capex has put pressure on the company’s free cash flow (Q1 free cash flow fell approximately 47% year-over-year). During tonight’s earnings call, in addition to focusing on revenue and EPS performance, whether management will further raise its 2026 guidance and provide more specific details on 2027 spending levels will be key variables affecting stock price movements.
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A crypto whale that has remained dormant for two years holds a large Ethereum (ETH) position; after incurring an unrealized loss of $1.8 million over four months of holding, its position is now nearly back to break-even.
According to monitoring by crypto analytics account Ai Yi, wallet address 0x9BF…4564a has reactivated after nearly two years of dormancy and is accumulating large amounts of ETH, with its current position nearly breaking even. On February 8, the address withdrew 4,819 ETH at an average price of ~$1,941.25 per token, totaling approximately $9.35 million. This marks the first on-chain transaction from the address since it went dormant in March 2024. During the holding period, the address once faced an unrealized loss of around $1.8 million. With ETH’s recent price rebound, the loss on the position has narrowed significantly. Half an hour ago, the address transferred 1,200 ETH to crypto exchange Gate.io; if sold at current prices, the transaction would result in a loss of roughly $20,000. The address had previously accumulated ETH at low levels and has held onto the asset despite prolonged unrealized losses.
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Russia has cut its gold reserves for six consecutive months, marking a shift from its 20-year gold accumulation cycle to a "fiscal replenishment tool".
Russia is reducing its gold reserves, breaking the more than 20-year trend of continuous gold accumulation the country has maintained. Since the start of this year, Russia’s official gold reserves have declined for six consecutive months, falling by approximately 43.5 tons as of early July to their lowest level since 2022. Data shows Russia’s current gold reserve stands at around 73.4 million troy ounces (about 2,282 tons), valued at roughly $299 billion. Meanwhile, Russia’s total international reserves dropped from $747.4 billion at the end of May to $720.4 billion at the end of June, with foreign exchange reserves remaining largely stable, indicating the reserve decline is mainly driven by gold assets.
Analysts attribute Russia’s gold sales primarily to growing fiscal pressure. Fuelled by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, falling energy revenues and expanded government spending, Russia’s budget deficit widened to around 4.6 trillion rubles as of the end of March. Some of the gold may have been sold to domestic banks or converted into foreign exchange to ease fiscal and liquidity pressures.
Previously, Russia was a major buyer in the global gold market for a long period. Between 2002 and 2025, Russia accumulated over 1,900 tons of gold, with only a notable reduction in 2005 over the past 24 years. The current sell-off comes amid high gold prices; Russia’s central bank previously stated it sold part of its gold reserves after gold prices broke through the historical high of $5,500 per ounce. Analysts believe Russia is not abandoning its gold strategy, but rather converting gold from long-term reserve assets to accessible funding sources amid fiscal strain.
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Binance adds 10 new bStocks tokenized securities to its margin collateral assets, expanding trading scenarios for securities assets.
Binance announced it will add 10 bStocks tokenized securities as eligible collateral for Cross Margin, Portfolio Margin, and Portfolio Margin Pro, further expanding its margin trading support. The newly added assets include: 3x Long Korea ETF (KORUB), AXT (AXTIB), CoreWeave (CRWVB), Direxion MU Bull 2X ETF (MUUB), GraniteShares 2X Long MRVL ETF (MVLLB), Tradr 2X Long SNDK ETF (SNXXB), GraniteShares 2X Long INTC ETF (INTWB), ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQB), Quantinuum (QNTB), and Oracle (ORCLB). Binance noted that corresponding bStocks trading pairs will support margin trading simultaneously. Eligible users can use these tokenized securities as collateral to expand their asset options in margin trading. Currently, these bStocks assets are only supported for use as collateral, with lending functions not yet available. The service is exclusively open to VIP 3 and above users in eligible regions.
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Upbit has added Zilliqa (ZIL) to its trading watchlist due to suspected unresolved security risks.
South Korean crypto exchange Upbit announced that Zilliqa (ZIL) has been added to its "Transaction Attention" asset list, with trading pairs including ZIL/KRW and ZIL/BTC.
In line with South Korea’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act, Upbit stated it detected potential unaddressed or unrepaired security risks—such as hacking incidents—in ZIL’s wallet or the distributed ledger it relies on for issuance, transmission, and storage, which could lead to user losses. The platform therefore decided to implement risk warning measures.
The notice specifies ZIL’s transaction attention period runs from July 22, 2026 to the third week of August (August 17–21). During this review period, Upbit will assess relevant risks per its trading support termination policy, and may choose to extend the observation period, lift the warning, or terminate trading support entirely.
Additionally, ZIL deposit and withdrawal services were suspended earlier. Upbit noted that if services are resumed in the future, withdrawals will be prioritized for restoration only; a decision on resuming deposits will be announced separately based on subsequent review results. Currently, new deposits cannot be credited, and all related deposit transactions will be refunded.
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A whale opened nearly 3,000 long positions in GOOGL ahead of market hours, marking the only new million-dollar position in the asset today.
Google parent company Alphabet will hold its Q2 2026 earnings call at 4:30 AM Beijing time on July 23, with financial results to be released ahead of the call. According to Hyperinsight’s monitoring, ahead of the earnings release, an on-chain whale bought 2,978.2 GOOGL shares in pre-market trading, worth ~$1.041 million, at an average entry price of $349.5 — the only new seven-figure GOOGL position detected.
As of press time, GOOGL is down 1.5% on the day at $349.6, with the whale’s entry price near the intraday low after the pullback. The whale holds this long position with 10x leverage, posting an unrealized profit of ~$186 and remaining flat. Its liquidation price is $82, leaving a ~76.5% downside buffer from current levels. The whale has no other positions besides this one.
This address favors left-side trading, has repeatedly held semiconductor stocks including MU, SKHX, and SNDK, and typically trades short-term positions worth ~$1 million, with an average holding period of ~15 hours over the past week. Its past losses stem mainly from failed early bets on trend reversals.
Related reading: Among the U.S. "Magnificent Seven" tech giants, Google will release its earnings first tonight; the whale that front-ran the long position is now sitting on nearly 40% losses. An unverified online rumor has reignited panic: the AI bubble is bursting, and Google may become the first large enterprise to cut AI spending. HyperInsight Bot is now live.
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