Iran: Destroys control center and drone hangars at US military base in Jordan.

Samsung Electronics plans to bring forward the mass production timeline of the first wafer fab at its Yongin semiconductor cluster in South Korea by two years, targeting to start operations in October 2029. Separately, SK Hynix is considering building new production facilities in the U.S., as AI demand drives South Korean semiconductor firms to accelerate expansion plans. Samsung originally planned to construct a total of six wafer fabs at the Yongin National Industrial Park, with the first unit scheduled to launch operations in 2031. Now, the South Korean government and Samsung have reached a consensus to advance the timeline to October 2029. The government will speed up the construction of key infrastructure including land development, power supply, and water resources to support the project’s early progress. For SK Hynix, following its successful listing on the NASDAQ on July 10, the company is weighing plans to build a new production base in the U.S. According to reports, SK Hynix has been studying the establishment of a semiconductor production hub in the U.S.—a region with a concentrated AI industry ecosystem—since the start of this year. Global storage chip leaders including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are ramping up production capacity to ease the chip supply crunch spurred by the AI sector. The South Korean government is also pushing for the development of new semiconductor industrial parks, and plans to accelerate project delivery by simplifying environmental assessments and optimizing approval processes. Industry insiders noted that while market concerns linger over a peak in the semiconductor cycle, current demand for chip production capacity remains robust. To compete for industrial dominance in the AI era, expanding semiconductor manufacturing capacity has become a key priority.

Ian Ralby, senior research fellow at the Maritime Strategic Center and president of Auxilium Worldwide, warned that the war between the U.S. and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz cannot be resolved via military means, adding that ongoing fighting will only drive up global fuel and food costs. One side has the willingness to continue fighting, while the other is intent on further undermining and weakening its opponent’s capabilities. This in itself is the formula for the conflict to persist. Unfortunately, this could mean long-term problems for the Strait of Hormuz as a navigable waterway. Parties affected by the conflict may push for the resumption of diplomatic processes between the U.S. and Iran, but changing this dynamic will be difficult, as both sides are volatile and hold deeply entrenched interests tied to success and victory. Unfortunately, the U.S. has a very flexible definition of victory; for Iran, meanwhile, there is now a very clear desire to exact some form of retaliation for all that has occurred, a mindset that fuels prolonged violent conflict. (Jin10)

Eric Trump, the second son of Donald Trump, posted on X: "ETH is surging strongly! Glad to see this! Cryptocurrency is the future."

On-chain investigator ZachXBT has published a post stating that over the past 48 hours, an entity originally funded by the LAB team deposited 18.4 million LAB tokens (worth roughly $18.3 million) into Aster and has been continuously selling them on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). This has caused LAB’s price to crash from $1.2 to $0.55, a total decline of 54%. ZachXBT noted that the entity received more than 196 million LAB tokens from the LAB team in April 2026, and gradually transferred these tokens to multiple Bitget deposit addresses. In May, it withdrew around 100 million LAB from Bitget to 10 separate addresses. Since market data at the time showed no independent buyer building such a large position, ZachXBT believes these addresses remain controlled by the same entity. The tokens in question had remained dormant until July 10–11, when they began being transferred to Aster for sale. Currently, the entity still holds approximately 81.5 million LAB tokens. ZachXBT also pointed out that in May this year, he released an investigation accusing the LAB team of opaque private placement lending and over-the-counter (OTC) transactions, unilaterally modifying token unlock rules, controlling over 95% of the token supply, and engaging in abnormal market making practices. He argued that LAB plunged this week amid market rumors ahead of unlocks, while the team only attributed the price drop to a “large market participant”. Additionally, he criticized Bitget, Binance, and Gate for failing to take action against the relevant market manipulation, leading to user losses.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, two on-chain addresses suspected to belong to the same entity purchased 6,358 ETH for approximately 11.59 million DAI, at an average transaction price of around $1,823. Onchain Lens stated that the relevant funds may belong to hackers, and the involved addresses are 0x18B44C68eA2Cd6B1E59731af8e49E62e90E92E66 and 0x5657de5CeBC75eca6B97a99A864a3ef07ed11e55.

Crypto KOL Nikita disclosed that he tested the same €9.69 transaction across six crypto debit cards in Europe: Ether.fi, Plasma, Backpack, Lava, Jup Mobile, and KAST. After accounting for exchange rates, fees, and cashback, Ether.fi ranked first with an actual cost of $10.72, Plasma came second at $10.93, and Backpack placed third at $11.07. The test found that actual transaction costs varied by roughly 5% across the cards, driven mainly by foreign exchange spreads, fees, and cashback mechanisms. Ether.fi claimed the top spot for the second consecutive test thanks to its competitive exchange rates and on-chain cashback; Plasma, while its exchange rate lagged behind some newer offerings, held onto second place via its 3% cashback. KAST, due to unfavorable exchange rates and extra fees, was the most costly product in the test for the second straight time.