Articles by Khal
Latest from Khal
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China's factories surge 5.2% as retail sales stall at 0.4%, widening economic divide
China's industrial output surged 5.2% in August while retail sales crawled at 0.4%, revealing a widening gap between production and domestic demand. Property investment plunged nearly 20%, eroding household wealth and consumer spending power.
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CoinEx Shuts Down Exchange by December 22 Amid Regulatory Costs
CoinEx announced it will wind down its crypto exchange beginning September 15 and cease all operations by December 22, citing weaker market conditions, declining trading activity, and rising regulatory and compliance costs. Users can withdraw assets in full during the wind-down period.
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Ethereum and Base abandon joint wallet standard, exposing L2 fragmentation
Ethereum and Coinbase-backed Base ended collaboration on a unified account-abstraction wallet standard in mid-September, with each network now pursuing separate technical approaches that reflect competing priorities between security and speed.
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Korea Exchange's debut after-hours session roiled by retail-driven volatility
South Korea's Korea Exchange held its first after-hours trading session on September 14, generating $1.33 billion in turnover but triggering over 1,600 volatility halts as retail investors dominated thin order books.
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BlackRock Digital Assets Chief Speaks at Bitcoin Treasuries Conference NYC
Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock's global head of digital assets and architect of the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, will speak at the second annual Bitcoin Treasuries Conference on September 28 in New York City, joining speakers representing over 1 million BTC in holdings.
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Fed rate hike odds surge to 92% as oil disruptions fuel inflation
Markets are pricing in an 86–92% probability of a Federal Reserve rate hike as Middle East tensions disrupt oil supplies and push crude past $107, complicating the inflation outlook and weighing on gold prices.
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Samsung Urged to Buy Back Preferred Shares, Close Valuation Gap
Life Asset Management pushed Samsung Electronics to repurchase and cancel its preferred shares, which trade at a steep discount to common stock. The move could narrow the so-called Korea discount and signal a shift in South Korean corporate governance.
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Ethereum ePBS: Builders Face Capital Lock or Trusted Payment Trade-off
Jason Vranek argues that collateral-backed payments under ePBS impose costs on builders—idle reserves, failed delivery risk, and opportunity cost. Trusted payment arrangements could offer relief but shift risk, creating a structural choice for the network.
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Gold prices fall 1% amid Middle East oil disruptions and inflation concerns
Gold dropped over 1% to around $4,355.85 per ounce as Middle East oil supply disruptions stoked inflation concerns, potentially prompting tighter Federal Reserve policy and dampening gold's safe-haven appeal.
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Morgan Stanley endorses Bitcoin as digital gold, recommends 0-4% portfolio allocation
Morgan Stanley's Global Investment Committee formally endorsed Bitcoin as a scarce, non-sovereign store of value, recommending 0-4% exposure across portfolio types and projecting annualized returns ranging from 3% to 10% depending on adoption scenarios.
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US blocks Iran's nuclear chief from IAEA conference, escalating diplomacy
The United States prevented Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, from attending the IAEA General Conference in Vienna by opposing a UN sanctions exemption and invoking the 2015 nuclear deal's snapback mechanism. Iran and Russia criticized the move as a political maneuver.
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Fry and Subramanyam launch bipartisan Innovators Caucus for small AI businesses
Reps. Russell Fry (R-SC) and Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) formed the Innovators Caucus to champion small and medium-sized AI companies facing structural disadvantages against tech incumbents. The group backs legislation studying barriers to capital, talent, and regulatory clarity.
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Standard Bank strategist raises US Treasury yield forecast to 5.2%
Steven Barrow, G10 strategist at Standard Bank, raised his year-end forecast for the 10-year US Treasury yield to 5.2%, with expectations for a further push to 5.3% in early 2027, citing sticky inflation and supply-side pressures that could strain borrowers and fixed-income investors.
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Saudi Arabia reroutes crude via Strait of Hormuz after pipeline drone strikes
Saudi Arabia is routing oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz after drone attacks shut down the East-West Crude Oil Pipeline on September 10. Brent crude surged above $100 per barrel as global supply faces renewed pressure amid geopolitical tensions.
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Goldman Sachs: 85% probability of Fed rate hike in September
Goldman Sachs estimates an 85% chance the Federal Reserve will raise rates by 25 basis points at its September 15-16 meeting, tightening monetary policy and reshaping market expectations for interest-sensitive assets.
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Coinbase quantum workshop reveals Bitcoin exchange risks and mitigation strategies
Coinbase hosted a September post-quantum Bitcoin workshop with Stanford and Localhost Research, identifying how exchanges can reduce quantum exposure through address hygiene and reserve management before a network upgrade adopts quantum-resistant signatures.
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Bitmine Stakes 5M+ ETH, Projects $334M Annual Staking Revenue
Bitmine has staked more than 5.06 million ETH, roughly 85% of its holdings, generating an estimated $334 million in annualized staking revenue at current rates. The company's $15.8 billion treasury now produces recurring yield, differentiating it from Bitcoin-focused treasury firms.
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Texas Capital Bancshares moves listing to Texas Stock Exchange
Texas Capital Bancshares is transferring its listing from Nasdaq to TXSE, becoming the fifth company to switch in a single week and signaling mounting pressure on the decades-old Nasdaq-NYSE duopoly.
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Anthropic, OpenAI leaders call for slower AI development over safety risks
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay calling for paced frontier AI development, citing risks that capabilities are advancing faster than safety controls. OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk have offered qualified support, while employee resignations and autonomous agent incidents underscore industry anxiety.
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BlackRock's ETHB staking ETF hits $1B AUM, but ETHA fund still dominates
BlackRock's iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) has accumulated roughly $1 billion in assets since launching staking rewards in May, but its original non-staking fund (ETHA) continues to attract substantially larger inflows and trading volume, suggesting yield alone may not be the primary driver of Ethereum ETF demand.
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Swiss Bitcoin Pay shuts servers after suspected data breach
Swiss Bitcoin Pay, a licensed Bitcoin payment processor in Switzerland, temporarily shut down its servers after a suspected data breach. No customer funds or private keys were reported at risk, though the company has not disclosed details of the incident.
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CLARITY Act watershed moment for DeFi, Aave's Kulechov says
Aave founder Stani Kulechov called the CLARITY Act a watershed moment for decentralized finance, comparing DeFi's current regulatory limbo to the pre-GENIUS Act stablecoin era. The bill cleared the Senate Banking Committee and faces a cloture vote.
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Microsoft releases humanist AI code of conduct with mandatory human oversight
Microsoft published a 37-page code of conduct for its AI model family on September 14, establishing mandatory human oversight and rejecting AI consciousness claims. The move follows Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call for industry-wide AI safety measures.
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Companies Shift Sourcing Back to China as Tariffs Make Alternatives Costly
Manufacturers are reversing supply-chain diversification efforts and returning to Chinese suppliers, citing tariffs and production constraints elsewhere. China's 20% effective US tariff rate remains competitive against alternatives, and its manufacturing ecosystem proves difficult to replicate.