HSBC downgrades NVIDIA's rating to "Hold", and cuts its target price from $365 to $170.

Bitcoin has pulled back to around $68,500. Matt Mena, senior crypto research strategist at 21Shares, stated that if Bitcoin breaks below $69,000, it could retest $65,000 again. For Bitcoin to stage a sustained rally, it must first reclaim $70,000, followed by $74,000. Mena added that Bitcoin still has the potential to rally to $87,000 and climb further above $90,000. He pointed out that historical data shows Bitcoin’s average return in the fourth quarter exceeds 61%.

It is reported that Anthropic's initial public offering (IPO) will not be open to investors from mainland China and Hong Kong.

Federal Reserve’s Collins said the U.S. central bank may have to raise interest rates more than expected. She declined to specify how high or how fast rates should move, noting decisions will be made on a meeting-by-meeting basis. Recent inflation data has not been as optimistic as she had hoped, adding that the right direction for monetary policy is clear and further policy tightening will soon be necessary.

Microsoft (MSFT) said it is making progress restoring access to its flagship software and ending the global outage that disrupted operations for government agencies, traders, and businesses worldwide. In a statement released around 9 a.m. ET, the company noted service availability is improving, adding that "mail queues have decreased significantly and are near normal levels". Even so, Microsoft warned users of more than 20 products and services may continue to experience errors. The root cause of the outage remains unclear, but the company described "core processes" on some servers had completely stopped responding due to overload. Initial efforts to troubleshoot the issue and deploy fixes were hampered by additional server errors that emerged later. Microsoft added it will provide more details once the outage is resolved, noting there is no evidence of malicious activity.

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin is currently trading at $68,515.90, down 4.00% in 24 hours; Ethereum is at $1,925.97, down 3.56% in 24 hours. CoinGlass data shows BTC’s position-weighted funding rate stands at 0.0040% and its volume-weighted funding rate at 0.0035%; ETH’s position-weighted funding rate is 0.0027% and its volume-weighted funding rate is 0.0026%. Both rates are below 0.005%, placing them in the bearish zone. ETH’s funding rate is overall lower than BTC’s, indicating more pronounced bearish sentiment. BlockBeats Note: CoinGlass standardizes funding rates across all platforms to an 8-hour timeframe. The funding rate is a mechanism for exchanging funds between long and short positions to align perpetual contract prices with spot prices. A 0.01% funding rate is the benchmark; a rate above 0.01% signals broad bullish sentiment, while a rate below 0.005% points to widespread bearish sentiment.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated in a post that the crypto exchange stores over 99% of its custodial crypto assets in cold wallets and uses the latest AI models to bolster security, sometimes gaining early access to these models. He noted that Coinbase’s security framework accounts for the risk of employee deception, with no single individual, computer, or system able to transfer user funds independently. Armstrong added that seven of the world’s largest banks partner with Coinbase, and the company holds more than 80 licenses globally. AI agent finance is a key focus area for Coinbase. Armstrong cited forecasts that transactions processed by AI agents could reach $3 trillion to $5 trillion by 2030. He argued that crypto networks are well-suited as infrastructure for agents to execute transactions, and developing financial accounts tailored for AI agents is among Coinbase’s top priorities. On tokenized stocks, Armstrong said trading volume for tokenized stocks on Coinbase’s Base layer-2 network has exceeded $5 billion. He views tokenized stocks as more accessible than traditional equities and compatible with DeFi protocols, such as enabling holders to generate yields using their stock assets. Regarding U.S. stock perpetual contracts, Armstrong said Coinbase has long advocated for the compliant launch of such products in the U.S., and welcomed collaboration between the heads of the SEC and CFTC on this issue. He noted that stock perpetual contracts are already traded in markets outside the U.S. Armstrong also teased the upcoming launch of Coinbase Pro, though no specific timeline was provided in the post.