Chainlink has launched the Pangea Project in collaboration with a consortium of multinational banks to explore T+0 settlement for stablecoin foreign exchange transactions.

Jefferies Group on Monday downgraded Apple (AAPL.O) from "Hold" to "Underperform", and cut its price target from $285.56 to $263.66, representing roughly 16% downside from last Friday’s closing price. As of press time, Apple’s pre-market shares were down 0.97%. Analyst Edison Lee noted in a client report that the originally planned 20th anniversary all-glass iPhone has been canceled due to poor yield. The model was initially expected to achieve a blended retail average price of $2,060. Apple’s broader plan was to extend the all-glass feature to future iPhone Pro and Pro Max models to further boost its average selling price and profit margins. Jefferies views this move as a "major setback" for Apple’s strategy of pushing higher-priced iPhones amid surging memory costs. In response, Jefferies cut its forecast for the compound annual growth rate of iPhone average selling prices from 9.0% to 6.8% for fiscal years 2026 through 2031, and lowered its fiscal 2028 earnings per share forecast by 2.1%.

According to market sources, GameStop (GME.N) CEO Ryan Cohen is reportedly considering withdrawing the proposed $56 billion acquisition of eBay. On May 3, GameStop formally proposed to acquire 100% of eBay’s equity at $125 per share, with a total equity value of approximately $55.5 billion, and disclosed it had built a roughly 5% economic interest in eBay through stocks and derivatives. The company stated at the time the transaction would be backed by around $9.4 billion in cash and liquid investments, plus up to $20 billion in acquisition financing from TD Securities. On June 26, GameStop noted management was still advancing the proposed acquisition, with more materials to follow. However, eBay’s board of directors formally rejected the non-binding proposal on May 12, calling the offer “neither credible nor attractive,” and specifically pointed to uncertainties in the financing plan, post-merger leverage and operational risks, as well as issues related to governance and management incentives. eBay also previously said it had not had any contact or negotiations with GameStop on the deal prior to receiving the proposal.

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, stated that U.S. President Donald Trump will decide when to retain his Intel (INTC.O) stock. BlockBeats previously reported that on June 18, Trump posted on social media that the U.S. clearly needs to bring its semiconductor industry back to domestic soil. “We design everything, and we also need to manufacture right here in the U.S. now,” he wrote. “So I decided to help Intel because we need to design and manufacture our chips in the U.S. First, we brought in Nvidia, which agreed to partner with Intel to produce its first-tier chips. Second, Elon Musk agreed to build his TerraFab – the world’s largest chip factory, co-designed with Intel’s technical team. Finally, Apple has agreed to collaborate with Intel to design and manufacture its chips in the U.S. We decided to help Intel in exchange for a 10% stake in the company. Is this too much or too little? When the U.S. government made the offer, Intel was valued at roughly $100 billion. Now, it is worth over $600 billion. In nine months, its value has risen by more than $500 billion. The U.S. government’s stake is now worth more than $60 billion.

Trump Media is selling early access to posts by former President Donald Trump on Truth Social to trading institutions, with some firms paying up to $1.2 million annually to obtain market-moving information faster. The service has sparked market attention, as Trump’s policy statements on Truth Social have proven to have significant market impact. For example, after Trump previously announced the cancellation of a planned strike on Iran, WTI crude oil fell nearly 5% in a single day. Market participants are concerned that early access to the president’s related statements could give some trading firms an informational advantage, particularly creating asymmetric edges in trading of energy, financial, and geopolitically linked assets. Currently, the arrangement is under external scrutiny, with the core controversy focusing on whether the advance commercialization of market-sensitive information will undermine trading fairness.

Unitree Robotics (688836.SH) launched its online IPO subscription on the STAR Market on August 10. The highly anticipated results of the share allocation lottery will be announced on August 12, with the deadline for payment for winning shares also set at 16:00 on the same day. According to the issuance announcement, Unitree’s offering price is 150.80 yuan per share, with a planned public offering of 40.4464 million shares, representing 10% of the total post-issuance share capital. The company’s post-issuance market cap is projected at around 60.993 billion yuan, with expected fundraising of approximately 6.099 billion yuan. The online subscription code for this offering is 787836, while the stock code is 688836. Each winning lottery number entitles investors to subscribe for 500 shares, requiring a payment of roughly 75,400 yuan per winning lot. As Unitree, dubbed the "first humanoid robot stock," has drawn intense market attention, paired with the limited offering scale, multiple institutions forecast its online IPO subscription lottery rate will likely stay at a low level. After the clawback mechanism was triggered, the final offline offering volume reached 22.650148 million shares, accounting for approximately 70.00% of the total offering after deducting final strategic placements; the final online offering volume stood at 9.707 million shares, making up around 30.00% of that base. The final online offering lottery rate following the clawback activation is 0.01809759%.

Fintech firm and crypto-friendly bank Revolut has secured a French banking license, marking its second full banking license in the European Union after Lithuania. The license was jointly reviewed by France’s Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) and the European Central Bank (ECB), and approved by the ECB’s Governing Council. With the license, Revolut Bank S.A. will be able to offer a broader range of banking services in France, including loans, mortgages, and regulated savings products. France is one of Revolut’s largest Western European markets. Previously, the company operated in France primarily under its Lithuanian banking license, offering only payments and basic financial services. Following the approval, Revolut will gradually migrate its French operations to the new French banking entity, with plans to subsequently expand to Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Revolut noted that it has invested over €1 billion in Western Europe over the past several years, created more than 600 local jobs, and plans to set up its Western Europe headquarters in Paris by 2027. However, the license comes with regulatory conditions. Reports suggest the ECB may impose restrictions on new products for Revolut’s French operations, similar to the measures previously applied to its Lithuanian unit, which could delay the launch of loans and savings products. So far this year, Revolut has continued its global regulatory expansion drive. The firm obtained a full banking license in the UK in March 2026, and another full banking license in Australia in July. Currently, Revolut operates across 40 markets, with its valuation rising to $115 billion after secondary stock transactions in 2026.