An individual World Cup predictor with a daily win rate of 100% has made a profit of $9.24 million.

June 17 (Bloomberg) — Prediction market platform Kalshi plans to expand its perpetual contract business beyond digital assets, co-founder Tarek Mansour announced. The company is in discussions with regulators to add contract options for additional asset classes. Launched just two weeks ago, Kalshi’s perpetual contract product has already generated over $5.5 billion in total trading volume. To date, the platform offers 11 perpetual contracts, all tied to cryptocurrencies.

June 17 update, via Hyperinsight’s Telegram monitoring (https://t.me/HyperInsight): Since early June 12, when Trump scrapped the planned strike on Iran and explicitly announced arrangements to sign a peace deal, WTI crude oil has pulled back 15.8% from its recent high. Recently, as details of the U.S.-Iran agreement emerge and market expectations rise for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, WTI crude dipped below $75 today. WTIOIL on Hyperliquid is currently trading at $74.92; since the official start of the U.S.-Iran war on February 28, oil prices have retraced 87.7% of their earlier gains. A Hyperliquid whale opened a short position on June 12, shorting 42,139 WTIOIL contracts with 20x leverage, for a total position value of roughly $31.57 million. This position now holds an unrealized profit of $3.45 million, translating to a ~200% return. The average entry price was $83.10, making this the largest WTIOIL short position on the platform. Wallet Address: 0x9e8b1e51c642f4c8b87c6ba1

June 17: According to Al Arabiya, Israel launched a drone strike on the southern Lebanese town of Ansariyeh. (FXStreet)

On June 17, Morgan Stanley noted that AI servers and data centers will fuel explosive demand growth for high-end multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. stands out as the top pick in Japan’s electronics components sector, thanks to its ability to consistently mass-produce small, high-capacity MLCCs—an edge no peer has matched yet. In a June 16 research report, analysts including Shoji Sato sharply raised Murata’s price target from ￥5,100 to ￥12,500, maintained an Overweight rating, and named the Japanese firm their industry Top Pick. The report projects Murata will hold a 40.8% share of the global MLCC market by 2025, outpacing rivals Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Taiyo Yuden. Morgan Stanley forecasts global MLCC shipment values will jump from $14.67 billion in 2025 to $24.25 billion in 2028, translating to a 18.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the three-year period. Demand for small, high-capacity, high-value MLCCs tailored to AI servers a

June 17: Chinese social media and lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu is targeting an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, with the earliest possible launch timeline falling at the end of this year, according to a new report from *The Wall Street Journal*. Anonymous sources familiar with the matter reveal that Xiaohongshu’s latest projected valuation tops $70 billion, and the firm is on track to post more than $3 billion in net profit this year. Major investors have maintained strong optimism about its long-term value, citing its robust growth and consistent profitability. Recent secondary market transactions have already valued Xiaohongshu at over $50 billion. If the IPO proceeds smoothly, it will emerge as one of the most closely-watched new listings in China’s internet sector in recent years, a development that highlights a growing repricing trend for consumer internet and content platforms in global capital markets.

NEW YORK, June 17 (The Block) — Several U.S. gambling industry associations are urging Congress to insert explicit provisions in the upcoming crypto market infrastructure bill that would ban crypto platforms from offering "prediction markets" tied to sporting events and casino-style betting as financial products. In a letter to the Senate, groups including the American Gaming Association, Indian Gaming Association, and Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers argued such platforms deliver nationwide gambling services via products like "sports event contracts," effectively bypassing state gambling regulators and local licensing requirements. These offerings, marketed under the guise of "financial derivatives," weaken consumer protections, pose risks to young users, and upend the traditional gambling ecosystem—an industry reliant on local tax revenue and job creation. The controversy unfolds against the backdrop of ongoing U.S. crypto regulatory efforts: the Senate Banking Committ