Apple suddenly enters the fray to develop a China-exclusive large model, partnering with Alibaba for training.

Ethereum Layer2 network Robinhood Chain has recorded abnormal user growth recently, with daily active addresses surging from a previous normal level of around 280,000 to 1.9 million on August 11, and further exceeding 5.2 million on August 12, drawing widespread market attention. On-chain activity indicates this growth is primarily driven by three applications: Uniswap (trading, liquidity pools, and Poolstrade launchpad), StonkPit (stock token trading), and OpenSea (NFT trading), with Uniswap accounting for a large share of the activity. Robinhood Chain integrated Uniswap as its core AMM liquidity infrastructure at launch, and also supports OpenSea trading of stock tokens, NFTs, and community tokens. Robinhood’s key advantage is its native user base: through Robinhood Wallet integration, low-barrier experience, and potential incentive mechanisms, the platform can rapidly convert traditional finance users to on-chain users. When paired with meme trends, new product launches, or ecosystem subsidies, it can easily generate short-term explosive growth. That said, on-chain daily active address data requires cautious interpretation. Such a large short-term surge typically includes a significant number of bot addresses, wash trading accounts, incentive farming participants, and low-quality interaction addresses, meaning the actual number of valid users may be far lower than the reported figure. The market will closely monitor the sustainability of Robinhood Chain’s user growth moving forward. If activity is mainly fueled by meme speculation, short-term events, and gas subsidies, user data could see a sharp decline once the hype subsides.

According to GMGN market data, the stock-themed meme token UTILITY on Binance Wallet has seen its market cap drop back to $7.3 million, with its 24-hour price surge narrowing to 18.5x and 24-hour trading volume hitting $20.3 million. UTILITY’s market cap once briefly surpassed $10 million last night. Earlier, on January 30, CZ posted that GME should issue a utility token on the blockchain, preferably on BSC. Today, bStocks’ official account reposted CZ’s old tweet and announced that GMEB, the tokenized GameStop stock on bStocks, is now tradable on the platform. BlockBeats Note: UTILITY’s trading pair is UTILITY/GMEB, not the usual liquidity pairs like BNB or USDT. This is part of the popular "stock meme" trend on BSC, using bStocks’ tokenized US stock (here GMEB) as the liquidity pool, centered on the classic narrative of GameStop’s retail investors vs. Wall Street and meme stocks. BlockBeats reminds users that most meme coins have no real use cases, experience high price volatility, and investment requires caution.

The average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages in the U.S. rose to 6.67% this week, hitting its highest level in over a year, up from 6.43% in early July and 5.98% before the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran conflict. The recent rise in the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds is one of the key factors driving the increase in mortgage rates. As a result, the average monthly mortgage payment for a typical U.S. home has risen by nearly $150 since the start of the year. In the UK, the average rate on 5-year fixed mortgages climbed to 5.66% in July, marking its first month-over-month increase since April. Germany’s 10-year fixed mortgage rate rose from 3.3% in early July to 3.7% this week, while France’s 10-year fixed mortgage rate increased from 3.02% in June to 3.15% in July. Market analysts note that the U.S.-Iran conflict has pushed up oil and energy prices, stoking concerns about a resurgence in inflation and driving up financing costs including U.S. Treasury yields and UK swap rates. High interest rates are further dampening real estate transactions in Europe and the U.S. The "low-rate lock-in effect" persists in the U.S. market, while signed home purchase agreements in the UK fell by nearly 10% year-on-year in July.

Serenity says the mass production timeline for semiconductor glass substrates is likely to be delayed by at least another quarter. It points out that Samsung Electro-Mechanics recently pushed back its related investment plan after customers encountered bottlenecks in reliability evaluations of glass substrate prototype products, and further adjusted the project’s launch time to 2028 during its latest second-quarter earnings call. Additionally, the mass production timeline of Absolics, a subsidiary of SKC, was previously delayed from the second half of 2026 to the first half of 2027. Serenity concludes that the current key industry mass production milestones are: SKC Absolics delayed from H2 2026 to H1 2027, and Samsung delayed from H2 2027 to H1 2028. Serenity notes that while delays in mass production timelines are not necessarily negative, adjustments to the glass substrate industry chain’s schedules appear “imminent”. For some relevant manufacturers, their capacity ramp-up pace will follow the mass production timelines of the above-mentioned large players, including $LPK, Philoptics (161580), and E&R (8027).

According to sources familiar with the matter, Goldman Sachs is in discussions with potential investors to participate in NVIDIA’s $500 billion AI financing initiative. Leveraging its long-standing partnership with NVIDIA, Goldman Sachs has secured a coveted role in this highly sought-after deal. One source noted that U.S. insurance firms, asset management companies and banks are expected to form the core investor group for the financing; another source added that asset managers plan to hold a substantial portion of the funding. NVIDIA announced on August 10 that it has partnered with six major financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, to launch a computing platform aimed at raising over $500 billion in third-party capital for AI infrastructure. A second source said Goldman Sachs can provide subordinated capital and private credit financing through its asset management division; its investment banking arm can also help allocate related debt to private credit funds and eventually to the public bond market. (Jinshi)

According to the Financial Times, JPMorgan Chase terminated its banking services relationship with prediction market platform Polymarket last October over regulatory concerns, but has not fully cut off business ties with the firm and is currently pursuing the opportunity to underwrite Polymarket’s future initial public offering (IPO). Sources familiar with the matter said Polymarket was barred from serving U.S. customers in 2022 due to an enforcement action by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), prompting JPMorgan to request the firm find a new banking partner. Polymarket has since partnered with a new bank, whose name has not been disclosed. Even so, JPMorgan continues to maintain business dealings with Polymarket. In February this year, the bank also invited Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan to attend a private banking client conference in Miami, where he delivered a speech alongside former NFL star Tom Brady. Sources said JPMorgan aims to retain the possibility of underwriting Polymarket’s future IPO. Polymarket stated that it still maintains a "close, active relationship" with JPMorgan across multiple entities, operational integrations, and client fund processing, adding that any claims to the contrary are a serious misrepresentation of their ties. In recent years, prediction markets have expanded rapidly and drawn ongoing regulatory scrutiny. Since 2026, platforms including Polymarket and Kalshi have faced legal actions from multiple U.S. states over allegations of operating illegal sports betting, though both companies argue they function as exchanges that match buyers and sellers rather than betting operators. According to aggregated data from Dune users, the nominal trading volume of prediction markets has exceeded $250 billion since 2026. Meanwhile, Polymarket is seeking to raise over $1 billion in funding, targeting a $20 billion valuation—more than double the roughly $8 billion valuation from its previous funding round in 2025.