Articles by Khal
Latest from Khal
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Bitcoin ETFs post worst month ever, shedding $4.5B in June
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs suffered their largest monthly outflow since January 2024, bleeding $4.5 billion in June as institutional investors rotated away from crypto amid a hawkish Fed pivot and competing capital flows to SpaceX's IPO debut.
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Crypto Fear & Greed Index hits 11, signaling extreme investor anxiety
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to 11, reflecting extreme fear among investors and historically preceding volatile market conditions for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
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Supreme Court upholds Fed independence, keeps Lisa Cook on board
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on June 29 that President Trump cannot fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, reinforcing the Fed's independence from presidential removal power and carving out special protections for the central bank.
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Vertiv opens Malaysia factory to power Asia Pacific AI infrastructure
Vertiv announced a new manufacturing facility in Johor, Malaysia on December 11, 2025, expected to be operational by Q1 2026. The plant will produce liquid cooling and power systems for AI data centers, creating up to 500 local jobs and reducing regional supply chain delays.
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Trump earned $1.4B from crypto vs. real estate in 2025, filings show
Trump's cryptocurrency ventures generated over $1.4 billion in 2025, surpassing his real estate and resort income, according to his annual financial disclosure filed with the Office of Government Ethics.
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Carl Rinsch sentenced to 30 months for $11M Netflix fraud scheme
Hollywood director Carl Rinsch has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for defrauding Netflix out of $11 million, which he used to gamble on Dogecoin, stocks, and luxury goods instead of completing a sci-fi show.
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World Bank caps lending to China at $2 billion through 2031
The World Bank is limiting total loans to China to $2 billion from mid-2026 through 2031, after which lending stops. The move reflects US pressure to redirect development finance toward poorer nations and China's shift from borrower to lender.
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Trump reports $1.4 billion crypto income in annual disclosure
Trump's family collected over $1.4 billion from crypto projects in 2025, according to financial filings submitted in June 2026. The income came largely from World Liberty Financial token sales and meme coin royalties, raising questions about regulatory conflicts of interest.
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2026 World Cup becomes crypto's biggest mainstream sports stage
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the US, is emerging as the industry's largest mainstream sports integration, with Kraken as the official crypto exchange supporter and fan tokens seeing trading surges tied to match outcomes.
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Goldman Sachs cuts Brent crude forecast to $80 amid oil oversupply
Goldman Sachs revised its 2026 and 2027 Brent crude forecasts downward to $80 per barrel, citing a US-Iran interim agreement and normalizing Strait of Hormuz flows. Fitch Ratings projects a return to global oversupply by September 2026, with a 4 million barrel-per-day surplus by year-end, pressuring shale producers below $85.
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Nearly 1,700 UK investors sue Binance, Changpeng Zhao over unregulated derivatives
A group of almost 1,700 UK investors filed a lawsuit in London High Court against Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao, seeking 150 million British pounds ($200 million) over the exchange's alleged sale of crypto derivatives without regulatory approval after a 2021 Financial Conduct Authority ban.
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AMD Versal Premium Gen 2 MoP SoC integrates 32GB on-package memory for AI
AMD announced the Versal Premium Gen 2 Memory on Package (MoP) adaptive SoC, integrating up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory directly into the chip package for AI and defense workloads. Sampling begins end of 2026; production ships H2 2027.
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Hodli becomes Italy's first licensed crypto portfolio manager under MiCA
Hodli, a Genoa-based fintech startup, received authorization from the Bank of Italy as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider under MiCA, becoming Italy's first licensed crypto portfolio manager with the ability to actively manage digital asset portfolios across the EU.
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U.S. Conditions Iranian Asset Release on Nuclear Limits
A U.S. official stated that blocked Iranian assets will not be released until Tehran meets specific conditions, including limits on nuclear capabilities, as part of a "relief for performance" strategy aimed at maintaining leverage during ongoing 2025–2026 negotiations.
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Bending Spoons prices IPO above range, raises $1.62B in largest European tech listing
Bending Spoons, a Milan-based digital acquirer, raised $1.62 billion in its Nasdaq IPO priced above the marketed range, valuing the company near $20 billion. The offering marks the largest European tech IPO in recent memory.
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US labor market strength limits Fed rate cuts, keeps Bitcoin range-bound
Strong US employment data and a resilient jobs market are giving the Federal Reserve less reason to cut interest rates, which dampens the hunt for riskier returns and keeps Bitcoin range-bound as equities post their best quarter in six years.
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Takaichi unveils $6.8T GDP roadmap with $2.3T investment through 2040
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi laid out Japan's most ambitious economic roadmap in over a decade, targeting ¥1,100 trillion in nominal GDP by 2040, backed by ¥370 trillion in investments across AI, semiconductors, defense, and space sectors.
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OpenAI cuts inference costs over 50% with quantization and caching
OpenAI has achieved a significant reduction in inference costs by more than half for some existing models through techniques like quantization and caching, according to The Information, strengthening its competitive position in the AI infrastructure market.
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Claude Sonnet 5 Matches Opus 4.8 Performance at Lower Cost
Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 5 on Tuesday as its new default mid-tier model, delivering performance nearly identical to the pricier Opus 4.8 while remaining suspended for foreign nationals under U.S. export controls.
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Heavy AI investors expand payrolls, Ramp study finds—not cutting jobs
A Ramp and Revelio Labs study of 21,559 U.S. companies found firms making the largest AI investments increased headcount by roughly 10% and entry-level hiring by 12%, contradicting widespread fears that generative AI is already driving white-collar layoffs.
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1,700 UK investors sue Binance and Changpeng Zhao over unauthorized derivatives
Nearly 1,700 UK investors filed a lawsuit against Binance in London High Court, claiming the exchange sold leveraged crypto derivatives without FCA authorization starting in 2019—two years before regulators formally banned retail access to such products. The claim seeks at least £150 million in damages.
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Open USD stablecoin launches with 140+ companies, challenges USDT and USDC
More than 140 companies including Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase have backed Open USD, a new dollar-pegged stablecoin that lets businesses mint at no cost and retain reserve earnings, setting up a challenge to Tether and Circle's market-leading coins.
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DeFi hacks cost $780.3M in Q2, now a structural yield risk
DeFiLlama's Q2 tracker recorded $780.3 million in known hack losses across 88 incidents, with infrastructure breaches (bridges, oracles, admin keys) now factoring as a structural cost of yield-seeking in decentralized finance.
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Higgsfield AI raises $300M–$500M at $5B valuation, reshaping AI funding
Higgsfield AI, a text-to-video startup, is raising $300M to $500M at a $5B pre-money valuation, a fourfold jump from its $1.3B valuation in January 2026. The round reflects explosive revenue growth and highlights how traditional AI valuations now influence crypto markets.