Michael Saylor: Bitcoin's "hard consensus" acts as its immune system, making it difficult for poorly conceived protocol changes to pass.

According to Coinglass data, current funding rates on major centralized (CEX) and decentralized (DEX) crypto exchanges show that the bearish sentiment for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) has weakened compared to earlier, but most platforms have not yet formed sustained bullish signals. Specifically, BTC funding rates on multiple platforms hover around the 0.0100% benchmark line, reflecting an overall neutral-to-weak pattern. For ETH, funding rates on multiple platforms have risen above the 0.005% threshold, with ETH’s long sentiment recovering slightly stronger than BTC’s, though no broad bullish signal has emerged yet. BlockBeats Note: Funding rates are fees set by crypto trading platforms to maintain the balance between perpetual contract prices and their underlying asset prices, typically applied to perpetual swaps. They function as a fund exchange mechanism between long and short traders; platforms do not collect this fee, instead using it to adjust the cost or return of holding contracts to keep contract prices aligned with underlying asset prices. A 0.01% funding rate is the benchmark. A rate above 0.01% indicates widespread bullish market sentiment, while a rate below 0.005% signals widespread bearish sentiment.

According to Polymarket data, the probability that the CLARITY Act will be signed into law in 2026 has climbed to 52%, a 12-percentage-point increase from July 3. On the news front, the U.S. Major County Sheriffs' Association (MCSA) announced that after initially raising concerns about how the bill would affect illicit financial investigations, it no longer opposes the CLARITY Act. Analysts note that the MCSA’s shift in stance has eliminated a key barrier to the bill’s advancement, improving its feasibility of moving to a Senate vote. Still, opposition from the banking sector to stablecoin yield products and DeFi regulation remains a major source of uncertainty.

The Kobeissi Letter stated in a post that leverage levels in South Korean chip stocks have spiraled out of control. Total assets of single-stock leveraged and inverse ETFs tracking SK Hynix currently stand at roughly $19 billion, more than four times the stock’s approximately $4.5 billion average daily trading volume (ADTV) this year. Meanwhile, leveraged ETFs linked to Samsung hold around $12.4 billion in assets, a 176% premium over its roughly $4.5 billion ADTV. The Hong Kong-listed 2x long SK Hynix ETF has about $13 billion in assets, roughly double SK Hynix’s average daily stock trading volume — the largest gap among major stocks tracked by leveraged ETFs. By comparison, leveraged ETFs tied to Micron Technology (MU) hold roughly $9.9 billion in assets, below its approximately $27.5 billion ADTV; leveraged ETFs for Tesla (TSLA) and NVIDIA (NVDA) have around $6 billion and $5.6 billion in assets respectively, also far lower than their respective ADTVs of roughly $23.6 billion and $28.8 billion. Leverage concentration in South Korean chip stocks has reached extremely high levels.

Intel is considering adopting a dual-side power supply architecture (utilizing both front and back sides) for its 1.4-nanometer ultra-fine process to catch up with competitors. Industry sources said Intel originally planned to use PowerDirect, a dedicated backside power supply technology, for its 1.4-nm base process 14A, but is now considering introducing a dual-side architecture that leverages both front and back sides in its subsequent 14A2 process. Intel previously announced plans to achieve 1.3x higher chip density on its 14A process compared to 18A; the 14A process targets an M0 pitch of around 28nm, while the 14A2 process could push the M0 pitch to 21nm via a half-node improvement. Intel will maintain a backside power network as its primary setup, while reallocating some front-side metal interconnects for auxiliary power and clock signals to compensate for insufficient power headroom caused by scaling and lithography limitations. Intel’s 14A process is scheduled to enter risk production in 2028 and mass production in 2029. The chipmaker needs to release the 0.9 version of its 14A process design kit (PDK) to external customers this October, and secure firm orders from large fabless clients within the following 18 months. By comparison, TSMC plans to ship its true 1.4nm A14 products in 2028, while Samsung Electronics aims to commercialize its SF2Z, a modified 2nm process utilizing backside power supply technology, in 2027.

According to HyperInsight’s monitoring, crypto personality "Big Brother Ma Ji" Huang Licheng has added to his ETH long positions. He currently holds a 25x leveraged long position of 9,390 ETH (valued at $16.56 million), with an average entry price of $1,721.04 and an unrealized profit of $400,000.

South Korea's Presidential Office Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said Sunday that the government plans to use additional tax revenue from the semiconductor industry boom to establish a future fund, earmarked for investing in economic growth engines, supporting the younger generation, and addressing widening social inequality. The government will leverage the "Future Response Fund" to finance major national investment projects and boost the country’s long-term competitiveness. Kang emphasized, "At this critical juncture that will shape South Korea’s future, we must not squander the additional tax revenue generated by factors like the semiconductor boom." He added that the fund will support the government’s three "super projects," foster new growth drivers, tackle what he termed "K-shaped" economic polarization, and provide housing, entrepreneurship, and employment assistance for people aged 20 to 39. The proposed fund serves as a cornerstone of President Lee Jae-myung’s goal of "making South Korea irreplaceable globally," and he urged the government to collaborate closely with the ruling party to advance the initiative promptly. (Jin10)