FT: U.S. restricts oil tankers from transiting the Strait of Hormuz during air defense periods

Beating AI Express: According to two people familiar with the matter, humanoid robot data startup Mecka AI is nearing the completion of a new financing round led by Sequoia Capital, with a valuation of approximately $500 million. The round’s size and specific terms have not yet been finalized and remain subject to change. Mecka AI primarily collects data on human daily movements via body sensors and smartphones, then uses this data to train humanoid robots and other robotic systems. Founded in 2024, the company just closed a $60 million funding round in June this year, led by Framework Ventures with participation from Menlo Ventures, SV Angel, and Kindred Ventures. Notably, Mecka AI’s founding team previously worked primarily in food and beverage fintech and crypto startups, and has no prior background in the robotics sector.

According to a Financial Times report, former Huobi founder Li Lin recently sold The Holme, a luxury mansion in London’s Regent’s Park, for approximately ￡190 million. Li purchased the property in 2024 for ￡139 million; after holding it for nearly two years, he realized a paper profit of around ￡51 million. The Holme features 40 bedrooms and roughly four acres of private gardens, and has long been leased to the UK’s Crown Estate. The seller’s identity had remained undisclosed prior to the transaction, and Li’s actual ownership stake was not reflected in UK public property registries. Li founded cryptocurrency exchange Huobi in 2013 and sold his stake in the firm in 2022. His family office, Avenir Group, is headquartered in Hong Kong and focuses on digital asset investments. Li is currently the largest shareholder of crypto wealth management group Bitfire Group, holding a 30% stake.

According to a report by the Financial Times, the UK crypto industry is entering a phase of regulatory implementation. Nick Jones, founder and CEO of Zumo, stated that the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will open its crypto asset authorization application window on September 30, with the new regulatory regime expected to take effect in October 2027. He noted that for a long time, regulatory uncertainty and counterparty risk have made financial institutions cautious about the UK crypto market, not due to a lack of interest in digital assets. As the regulatory path becomes clear, traditional financial institutions including Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s largest retail investment platform, are starting to enter the crypto market. The industry will gradually move away from offshore operations, startup-style business processes, and unregulated models, while the importance of compliant infrastructure and local service providers will further increase.

Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research and ex-girlfriend of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), has joined nonprofit charity Manifund, where she is responsible for developing its funding platform and participating in charitable projects. Manifund co-founder Austin Chen said Ellison has been working there on a trial basis since July this year, officially becoming a full-time employee in August, and has published related work under the pseudonym "Carol". Chen noted he wanted to give Ellison a "second chance to start over", adding that she has admitted her faults, assisted in compensating creditors' losses, and served her sentence. Ellison pleaded guilty in December 2022 to fraud and conspiracy charges related to the FTX collapse, and testified against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried during the trial. She was originally sentenced to two years in prison, incarcerated in November 2024, and released early in January 2026. Manifund focuses primarily on AI safety and effective altruism projects. Ellison expressed gratitude to Chen for giving her a "second chance", saying she is glad to work at an organization that aligns with her mission.

Bitcoin's daily chart "golden cross" only held briefly before failing again. On September 12, BTC briefly rose to $79,837, pushing the 50-day exponential moving average (EMA) above the 200-day EMA, but later pulled back to around $77,438, with the 50-day EMA falling back below the 200-day EMA. This move coincided with a sharp rise in expectations of Federal Reserve rate hikes. Latest data shows the U.S. core CPI month-over-month came in at 0.3%, higher than the market expectation of 0.2%; CME FedWatch data indicates the probability of the Fed raising rates by 25 basis points next week has climbed to 86.5% from roughly 69% following the CPI release. The market’s repricing of rate hikes put pressure on risk assets, leading Bitcoin to give up its earlier gains. However, Bitcoin’s medium-term trend has not fully turned bearish. The 4-hour timeframe’s 50-period EMA remains above the 200-period EMA, so the golden cross still holds; the daily Average Directional Index (ADX) stands at 45, signaling the overall trend remains strong. Meanwhile, the 4-hour Relative Strength Index (RSI) dropped to 43.3, with short-term momentum cooling significantly.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has secretly approved at least three insider trading investigations into Polymarket trades, targeting contracts related to Biden pardons, the Iran war, and Google-linked events. The investigative documents were obtained by WIRED via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Among these probes, CFTC Chair Michael Selig approved the investigation into Biden pardon-related contracts in May, after a trader earned over $300,000 in profits from the relevant market. That same month, the CFTC also greenlit an investigation into Iran war contracts, following reports that a group of suspicious accounts had reaped $2.4 million in profits with a roughly 98% win rate. In July, the CFTC launched an additional probe into Google-linked Polymarket contracts, focusing on individuals who may have traded using non-public information about Google’s 2025 search rankings. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is also conducting a parallel investigation. It remains unclear whether the aforementioned accounts are linked to individuals previously under investigation. Polymarket stated it will refer the matter to law enforcement and cooperate with the probes. As prediction markets expand rapidly, U.S. regulators are significantly stepping up scrutiny of insider trading and market manipulation.