Bankless: Zcash's excess development funds spark controversy, four proposals target its block reward allocation mechanism

The "Big Short" figure Michael Burry stated via his Substack account that Anthropic’s newly public IPO S-1 filing reveals catastrophic systemic risks in the broader AI boom, not limited to Anthropic alone. His core arguments are as follows: 1. Massive compute commitments: Anthropic has signed approximately $537 billion in compute and infrastructure purchase/lease agreements, primarily with Amazon, Google/Alphabet, Microsoft, Broadcom, and other firms. Pending deals (including those with SpaceX AI) could add hundreds of billions more, bringing the total close to $800 billion. This is roughly 12 times its current annual revenue run rate of around $65 billion, and over 20 times its trailing 12-month revenue. 2. Circular and interconnected financing structure: Major tech giants act as Anthropic’s lenders, suppliers, distributors, and shareholders simultaneously. The financing arrangement is described as "garish and audacious". This high interconnectivity appears as a safety net during an upcycle, but once growth stalls or enters a downturn, the entire ecosystem becomes extremely fragile. He draws a parallel to vendor financing during the dot-com bubble. 3. Slowing growth + accelerating costs: Quarterly revenue growth dropped from ~144% in the prior quarter to roughly 46%, while compute costs surged by ~78%. Burry notes the S-1 data is as of June 30, failing to fully reflect changes in the developer ecosystem in Q3 and beyond, adding "nothing changes my overall view". He argues Anthropic’s structure works when AI grows at a sustained rapid pace, but any significant slowdown could trigger a chain reaction or even collapse. The risk, he emphasizes, lies in the system’s "circularity and interconnectedness", not just technical issues.

Shareholders of Strategy approved the company’s daily dividend proposal with a 99.3% approval rate. Moving forward, STRF, STRC, STRK, and STRD will accrue interest and distribute dividends on every calendar day.

Bank of America clients net sold $3.5 billion in U.S. stocks last week, following a $15 billion outflow the prior week. According to Bank of America analysts Jill Carey Hall and Trey Brown, retail investors led the sell-off. The communication services sector recorded its largest weekly outflow since tracking began in 2018, impacting the industry including Meta. The industrial sector also saw heavy selling, marking its 13th consecutive week of outflows.

Ibis has announced the end of its stealth mode, securing a $250 million credit line from FalconX while also closing its pre-seed financing round. The round was led by FalconX, with participation from executives at institutions including Anchorage Digital, Innovating Capital, Erebor, Revolut, Injective Foundation, Selini, and Pyth; the specific amount was not disclosed. Anchorage Digital Bank serves as Ibis' custody, banking, and design partner, with collateral held under the bank's regulated custody framework. Ibis is an on-chain credit platform responsible for originating, tokenizing, risk managing, and servicing structured credit, initially focusing on crypto and prediction markets, with plans to expand into GPU, robotics, and venture capital sectors later.

Circle has submitted comments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its proposed crypto asset regulatory rules. Circle supports the proposal’s goals of fostering innovation under clear rules while preserving the strengths of U.S. capital markets, including transparency, investor protection, market integrity, liquidity, and efficiency. Circle also recommends that crypto asset regulatory rules align with the GENIUS Act. Given that payment stablecoins are increasingly serving as key consideration and settlement assets for on-chain capital formation, Circle requests the SEC to clarify how GENIUS Act-compliant payment stablecoins may be used for these purposes. The letter further asks the commission to clarify that eligible payment stablecoins qualify as “cash” under proposed Rule 302(b), warranting appropriate U.S. dollar valuation treatment, and compliance with corresponding accounting and customer reserve requirements. Circle also recommends reducing the current 2% broker-dealer discount for GENIUS-compliant payment stablecoins to zero, provided objective safeguards are in place. Finally, Circle requests the SEC to clarify that technical services provided after a network goes live—including maintaining a known set of validator nodes—do not constitute necessary administrative work. Establishing a safe harbor rule for technical roadmaps would allow issuers to continue maintaining and improving operational networks without inadvertently triggering related regulatory scrutiny.

According to mempool data, a Bitcoin solo miner has mined block 973,413, taking the full 3.14 BTC block reward, valued at approximately $250,000 at current market rates. Relevant details show the mining rig has a hashrate of just around 6.5 TH/s. Technicians speculate the "lucky" rig is very likely a Canaan Avalon Nano 3S. Public information notes the Nano 3S is only router-sized, with a power draw of 140 watts. Compared to the hashrate of professional mining rigs such as the S21 XP (270 TH/s), the winning rig’s hashrate is less than one-fortieth of the S21 XP’s.