Citigroup lifts S&P 500 earnings forecast, AI remains a key variable pushing the index toward the 8,100 level.

Citi Group CEO Jane Fraser has stated that while she remains concerned about how the CLARITY Act addresses stablecoin reward mechanisms, she overall hopes the bill will pass, arguing it would benefit the financial system. Fraser added that Citi is still pushing for improvements to the legislation. She pointed out that if stablecoin platforms offer rewards on user deposits, this could lead to outflows of traditional bank deposits, in turn weakening banks’ ability to provide loans and credit services to parts of the U.S. The bill currently prohibits platforms from offering rewards solely for users holding stablecoins, but allows rewards tied to trading and payment activities. This issue remains at the heart of the ongoing dispute between the banking and crypto industries as the legislation advances.

UBS’s latest 13F filing shows that as of June 30, the Swiss bank held roughly 2.5 million shares of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT, with a holding value of nearly $90 million. Compared to the roughly 549,000 shares it held at the end of 2025, the holding volume surged by about 355%, while the holding value jumped around 230% from approximately $27 million. It’s important to note that 13F filings do not clarify whether these IBIT shares are held via UBS’s own capital or client assets, so this cannot be simply interpreted as UBS directly investing $90 million in Bitcoin.

According to Bitget market data, Hong Kong stocks opened lower, with the Hang Seng Index down 0.7% and the Hang Seng Tech Index down 0.6% at opening. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC, 00981.HK) rose 4.74% after releasing its quarterly results, with the company forecasting Q3 revenue to grow 2% to 4% quarter-on-quarter and a gross profit margin guidance of 26% to 28%.

Bitwise has announced a partnership with fintech firm Superstate to explore tokenizing portions of its fund shares on blockchain, with the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) expected to be the first fund to support this option. Under the plan the two parties are developing, tokenization only alters the record-keeping of fund share ownership—investors will still purchase the same fund shares and hold identical rights. Going forward, investors will have the choice to hold their shares either via the Depository Trust Company (DTC) in traditional book-entry form, or through Superstate’s transfer agent infrastructure as blockchain-based tokens. Tokenized shares carry exactly the same rights as traditional shares, though they cannot be freely transferred outside this registration system. Bitwise stated that tokenized BSOL shares will still need to meet relevant legal and regulatory requirements, and there is currently no guarantee as to when or if this feature will launch officially. Other Bitwise funds may adopt similar schemes in the future.

AVAX One announced its Q2 2026 financial and operational results, with revenue reaching $2.8 million for the period, more than five times the $452,000 recorded in the same period of 2025. Of this total, AVAX staking rewards accounted for approximately $2.1 million, while Bitcoin mining revenue was around $700,000. Due to fluctuations in digital asset market values, the company posted a net loss of $35.1 million in Q2, including $29.75 million in unrealized losses on digital assets and $2.61 million in impairment of liquid staking tokens. Excluding these non-cash items, the adjusted net loss stood at $2.2 million. As of August 13, AVAX One held a total of 14.091 million AVAX and equivalents, of which roughly 800,000 had been deployed to Treehouse, with approximately 95% of its assets staked and an annualized yield of around 5.4%. In Q2, the company repurchased about 144,800 shares; cumulative repurchases since November 2025 have reached approximately 417,500 shares. Separately, AVAX One plans to divert roughly 100 kW of idle Bitcoin mining capacity at its Redwater facility to AI inference operations. The company maintained its full-year 2026 guidance: assuming current spot prices, it projects revenue of $11 million to $12 million and EBITDA of $2 million to $3 million. AVAX One is a U.S. Nasdaq-listed digital infrastructure company (NASDAQ: AVX), with core businesses including building Avalanche (AVAX) digital asset reserves, generating on-chain returns via staking, operating Bitcoin mining facilities, and developing modular data centers and AI computing services.

AI-driven rallies continue to lift U.S. stocks, but a Bank of America research report warns the current market is showing traits similar to the late stages of the 1999 dot-com bubble. The most prominent red flags include extreme concentration in the S&P 500, active stock-picking activity hitting a record low, and persistent capital flows chasing a small handful of AI winners. Recent plans by NVIDIA, in partnership with Wall Street giants, to raise $500 billion for AI infrastructure have further stoked these concerns. Optimists argue this will provide longer-term funding channels for AI clients, supporting demand for chips, data centers, and computing power; while skeptics worry such arrangements carry a "supplier financing" element, potentially shifting AI capital expenditure from industrial investment to more complex financial structures. Bank of America’s analysis holds that when chipmakers, cloud providers, and large tech firms become the core drivers of index gains, the market’s apparent prosperity may mask underlying vulnerabilities. If large amounts of capital flow passively into the AI stocks with the highest market capitalization weights, and active stock-picking fades, the rally will become more dependent on the performance delivery of a small number of companies. Once AI revenue returns lag behind capital expenditure expansion, index volatility could be amplified.