The European Central Bank has selected 36 payment service providers to join the digital euro project's pilot program.

Swedish telecom equipment giant Ericsson’s stock plunged sharply on the Stockholm market, logging its biggest drop in 18 months. The move came after the company warned that its core network business would face margin pressure this quarter due to surging component costs. Ericsson’s shares fell as much as 10% on the Stockholm exchange. Outgoing CEO B?rje Ekholm said the company’s input costs are rising, partly driven by a surge in demand for AI-powered storage chips that has pushed up prices of related components. Citigroup analysts noted the market’s biggest concern is that margin pressure could persist until 2027. Citi analyst Andrew Gardiner stated: “We believe the biggest challenge is the building pressure from component costs. The short-term impact is not the main issue; more importantly, this pressure could intensify further in 2027.” Ericsson’s adjusted EBITA for the second quarter dropped 7% year-on-year to 6.88 billion Swedish kronor, slightly above the Bloomberg market consensus forecast of 6.82 billion Swedish kronor. As weak capital expenditure by telecom operators continues to weigh on the broader telecom equipment sector, Ericsson has been cutting costs in recent years. The company laid off roughly 5,000 employees in 2025 and plans to continue similar-scale staff reductions this year.

Changxin Technology announced that it has launched its initial public offering (IPO) of shares for listing on the STAR Market, with an offering price of RMB 8.66 per share. Investors are required to apply for shares at this price on July 16, 2026 (T Day) via both online and offline subscription channels, with no subscription funds payable at the time of application. The offline subscription period runs from 9:30 to 15:00, while the online subscription period is divided into two sessions: 9:30 to 11:30 and 13:00 to 15:00. The initial number of shares offered in this IPO is 668,808.8608 million shares, representing approximately 10.00% of the company's total share capital post-offering, and China International Capital Corporation (CICC) is granted an over-allotment option of up to 15.00% of the initial offering shares.

According to GlobeNewswire, EthSystems has announced its official launch. The firm was founded by the entire original team of the Ethereum Foundation’s Institutional Privacy Working Group, with backing from entities including Bitmine, Sharplink, and Joe Lubin. EthSystems primarily develops Ethereum-based privacy and compliance technologies for regulated entities such as banks and asset management firms, aiming to enable institutions to conduct on-chain financial activities without disclosing sensitive information like transaction details and client identities. The company stated that it has completed one year of open-source development work ahead of schedule, and has already established cooperative ties with multiple central banks, regulatory authorities, and top-tier financial institutions.

Key pre-market news for US stocks is as follows: 1. US June unadjusted annual CPI came in at 3.5%, against expectations of 3.8%. Traders pushed back their bets on Federal Reserve interest rate hikes to October; 2. Federal Reserve Chair Walsh stated the Fed has "zero tolerance" for persistent high inflation and holds a cautious stance toward the AI boom; 3. IBM (IBM.N) pre-market shares fell over 20%, as the company reported preliminary Q2 revenue of $17.2 billion, vs. consensus estimate of $17.86 billion; 4. Goldman Sachs (GS.N) pre-market shares rose over 2%, with Q2 stock sales and trading revenue hitting $7.42 billion, vs. consensus of $5.02 billion; 5. KeyBanc raised price targets for multiple AI chip stocks: Arm’s target was lifted to $430, while Micron Technology (MU)’s target rose to $1750; 6. New York will temporarily ban the construction of large new data centers; 7. SK Hynix accelerates mass production of HBM4 for NVIDIA; 8. NVIDIA has established a new client "whitelist" in Asia. After a new round of reviews, the number of approved clients in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan for AI chip purchases has dropped by more than half; 9. Trump plans to strengthen control over the Strait of Hormuz, while the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve has fallen to its lowest level since 1983.

According to official announcements, Tether today announced it has led Pact Labs' $7 million Series A funding round, with Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna participating. The investment will support Pact Labs' development, enabling it to become a core infrastructure provider for USAT in areas including payroll, early wage access, credit, and daily payments.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), semiconductor stocks in pre-market trading on US equities are broadly higher, with Marvell Technology (MRVL) up 5.7%, Intel (INTC) up 3.89%, Arm (ARM) up 3.71%, and Applied Materials (AMAT) up 6.53%. Optical communication concept stocks lead pre-market gains: Corning (GLW) up 5.4%, Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) up 6.26%, Coherent (COHR) up 4.05%, Astera Labs (ALAB) up 6%, and Credo (CRDO) up 6.36%. The storage sector is also strengthening, with Seagate Technology (STX) up 5.43%, Western Digital (WDC) up 5.3%, SanDisk (SNDK) up 6.54%, and Micron Technology (MU) up 5.03%. Earlier, the US reported June unadjusted annual CPI at 3.5%, compared to the prior reading of 4.2% and market expectations of 3.8%.