Bank of Japan does not view growth risks as skewed to the downside, with AI demand offsetting geopolitical headwinds.

According to Bloomberg, the South Korean government plans to inject 20 trillion won (approximately $13.9 billion) into the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), its sovereign wealth fund, for strategic investments specifically in artificial intelligence, data centers, and infrastructure.

Japanese listed company Eole, which trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Growth Market, announced it purchased 1,078.2547 HYPE tokens on July 28, valued at around 10.08 million yen (approximately $66,000), making it Japan’s first publicly listed company to disclose a HYPE purchase. The firm plans to acquire additional HYPE in batches by the end of August, bringing its total investment in the asset to 100 million yen (about $611,000). Eole stated that HYPE will be held as a strategic asset alongside BTC under its “Neo Crypto Bank” strategy, with the goal not limited to capital gains but to support on-chain finance and Web3 business development. The company also intends to boost asset utilization via digital asset lending, traditional financial market hedging, and explore integrating related assets with its own services. Separately, Japanese listed firm Quantum Solutions announced it has sold 1,000 ETH, generating roughly $1.9 million in proceeds, which will be used for AI infrastructure development including data center operations.

At Binance’s offline private gathering, renowned economist Hong Hao shared insights on topics including Binance’s launch of stock contracts for Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Hyundai Motor, as well as global pricing trends for core assets. Hong stated that trading platforms lowering entry barriers for investors will help make these assets more open, diversify investor bases, boost price discovery efficiency, and reduce vulnerability caused by closed-off structures and homogeneous investor groups. “One of the core reasons why U.S. stocks have thrived compared to other markets is capital openness,” Hong commented, adding that expanding access to more asset classes is a positive development. Hong further pointed out that the value of a listed company is ultimately determined by its profitability, and the global market’s arbitrage mechanism will drive prices to converge. Unlike assets such as gold and Bitcoin, which derive their prices from market trading, listed companies generate consistent cash flows, so their value can be calculated by discounting future earnings. A company’s intrinsic value does not change regardless of whether it trades in South Korea, the U.S., or any other market. “Arbitrage activities will continuously eliminate such price gaps, driving the convergence of the same asset’s price across global markets,” he said. When discussing financial innovations like on-chain stocks, Hong argued that crypto technology is pushing global capital markets toward a 24-hour on-chain trading era, which essentially enhances the efficiency of global price discovery and represents a key manifestation of financial innovation. He also noted that financial innovation and regulatory relaxation are two sides of the same coin, and historical experience shows that grand narratives, credit expansion, and regulatory relaxation are three essential factors in financial market boom cycles.

At Binance’s offline private sharing event, renowned economist Hong Hao stated that both investment research and traditional fortune-telling are essentially forms of future prediction, differing only in their underlying methodologies. Hong Hao noted that traditional fortune-telling draws more on long-term empirical observations to derive patterns, while investment research relies on historical data, uses quantitative analysis to summarize patterns, and extrapolates future trends—both are fundamentally attempts to understand future uncertainty. He added that there is no one-size-fits-all standard answer for market predictions. “For example, I cannot give everyone a uniform answer on when to buy the dip, as investment decisions vary from person to person.” In his view, both cycle research and prediction are essentially explorations of future patterns, yet all predictions have their limits and require a sense of reverence. Hong Hao concluded: “Prediction is, at its core, peeking into the future, and ‘divulging heavenly secrets’ is inherently a highly challenging endeavor.”

Sony's semiconductor subsidiary announced that it will gradually resume operations at its factory in Kikuyo Town, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, starting August 4, and is expected to return to pre-earthquake production levels by mid-August.

According to Hyperinsight monitoring, during SKHX’s sharp rebound today, a whale address starting with 0x890 was liquidated of short positions at 08:02, marking the largest single liquidation event on the entire network to date. Data shows that 4,892.6 SKHX short positions were forcibly closed in a short period, with execution prices ranging from $1,126 to $1,140 and a liquidation price of approximately $1,133.6. The total liquidation size reached $5.547 million, with position losses of around $866,000. At the time of liquidation, SKHX’s mark price had already risen to $1,146.5. The price continued to climb afterward; as of press time, SKHX trades at $1,152.5, up 23.4% intraday, with a 24-hour trading volume of roughly $1.558 billion and open interest of about $451 million. However, the whale did not exit the market post-liquidation. Just 17 seconds after its original short positions were cleared, it reopened a short position on SKHX. Currently, this address holds 770 SKHX short positions with 10x isolated margin, worth approximately $887,000, at an average entry price of $1,147.8, with an unrealized loss of around $3,337 and a liquidation price of $1,249.99. Compared to the liquidated short positions, the new position is smaller in size but retains the same trading direction.