Articles by Khal
Latest from Khal
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RBA signals further rate hikes as inflation fight outweighs property strain
Australia's central bank held rates steady at 4.35% in August but signaled readiness to raise further, prioritizing inflation control even as unemployment rises and global peers ease monetary policy.
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Longsys Electronics invests $704M from Hong Kong IPO in AI memory R&D
Longsys Electronics raised $903 million in its Hong Kong IPO and committed 78% of proceeds to AI memory chip research, as first-half 2026 revenue surged 136% year-over-year to 24.1 billion yuan.
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RBA's Sarah Hunter signals willingness to slow economy to tame inflation
The Reserve Bank of Australia's Assistant Governor for Economics warned that containing inflation within the 2-3% target band may require deliberately weakening economic growth and accepting higher unemployment, echoing the painful 1990s recession.
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Sheba Medical Center deploys OpenAI ChatGPT for Healthcare, first outside US
Israel's Sheba Medical Center announced on July 28 it will deploy OpenAI's specialized ChatGPT for Healthcare platform, making it the first hospital outside the United States to do so. The partnership includes strict data safeguards and maintains clinician authority over all medical decisions.
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Huawei targets 600,000 AI chips in 2026, challenging U.S. dominance
Huawei and SMIC plan to double AI chip production to 600,000 units in 2026 using novel architecture to bypass U.S. export restrictions, with Bernstein predicting Huawei will capture 50% of China's AI chip market while Nvidia's share collapses to 8%.
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China records $119B trade surplus in August, extending $100B streak
China's trade surplus reached $119 billion in August, marking the third consecutive month above $100 billion and putting the country on pace for over $1 trillion annually. The surge reflects growing exports of high-tech goods like semiconductors and electric vehicles, though tariff uncertainty and weak domestic demand remain structural headwinds.
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Wheat prices surge 25% as Russia signals no end to Ukraine war
Global wheat prices have climbed nearly 25% since January 2026 as Black Sea grain shipments plummet due to Russia-Ukraine conflict. Russia and Ukraine together account for 27-32% of global wheat trade, with supply constraints expected to persist through late 2026.
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Chainalysis: Global Crypto Tax Non-Compliance Exceeds 90%
Chainalysis estimates potentially taxable on-chain crypto activity will exceed $457 billion globally in 2025, with only about 14% expected to comply with emerging reporting frameworks. France reported just €368 million in declared gains against $9.4 billion in estimated taxable activity.
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Samsung SDS joins OpenAI Daybreak, deepens Anthropic partnership
Samsung SDS became the first South Korean firm to join OpenAI's Daybreak Partner Program and formalized a strategic partnership with Anthropic in July 2026, deploying Claude Enterprise to 70,000 employees across Samsung affiliates and positioning itself as a dual-model provider for enterprise AI services.
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Canadian dollar rebounds as US jobs miss, rate-cut odds shift
The Canadian dollar recovered to three-month highs in early September after the Federal Reserve held rates steady and US employment data missed expectations by 103,000 jobs, narrowing the interest-rate gap that had weakened the loonie earlier in the year.
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Vitol CEO warns China's crude import collapse poses unsustainable market risk
Russell Hardy, CEO of Vitol, argues that China's crude imports have plummeted from 11.6 million barrels per day in 2025 to 6 million bpd by mid-2026, creating an unsustainable gap that could trigger violent market swings when demand rebounds later this year.
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China imposes 99.2% anti-dumping tariffs on Japanese semiconductor chemicals
China's Ministry of Commerce issued preliminary anti-dumping rulings on September 7 targeting Japanese dichlorosilane imports, imposing deposit rates as high as 99.2% and threatening to disrupt semiconductor supply chains as trade tensions escalate.
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Data center construction hits record $75B pace as markets weaken
Private data center construction spending reached $75 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in July 2026, up 57% year-over-year, while overall private construction declined 0.5% and residential and office sectors continued to soften.
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Bank of America: Fed rate hikes add $50B to annual T-bill costs
Bank of America estimates that Federal Reserve rate hikes could add roughly $50 billion in annual interest costs on outstanding Treasury bills, highlighting the fiscal strain from the government's reliance on short-term borrowing.
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Tether CEO outlines strategy to expand dollar network while building Bitcoin and gold reserves
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has positioned the stablecoin issuer as a diversified financial entity, allocating profits to Bitcoin and gold holdings worth approximately $31-32 billion combined, while maintaining $186 billion in USDT circulation.
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LG TVs Record Audio With Screen Off, Gamers Nexus Investigation Finds
Gamers Nexus spent 500 hours and $70,000 investigating LG smart TVs and found them scanning Wi-Fi networks, recording microphone audio with the screen dark, and uploading captured speech—contradicting LG's July statement to regulators and reporters.
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Ethereum arbitrage: builders earn $5.24 per $1 burned, Bitquery finds
Bitquery's 30-day analysis of Ethereum arbitrage found builders captured $5.24 in receipts for every $1 in network fees burned, though onward payments to validators complicate the final profit picture.
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Ethereum Foundation Designates FOCIL and Frame Transactions as Hegotá Must-Ships
The Ethereum Foundation has identified two "must ship" proposals for the Hegotá upgrade after evaluating 62 EIPs: FOCIL (EIP-7805) to strengthen censorship resistance and Frame Transactions (EIP-8141) to enable native account abstraction.
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Xverse launches self-custodial Bitcoin staking with pooled access
Xverse opened enrollment for a pooled Bitcoin staking product that lets users earn BTC yields without surrendering custody. The pool went live September 7, with rewards beginning around September 10, and enrollment closes September 9 or at capacity.
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Chinese corporate profits surge 26% in Q2 2026 as AI boom triggers stock selloff
Onshore-listed Chinese firms posted a 25.7% year-on-year profit jump in Q2 2026, with IT sector gains reaching 142%, yet major indices fell sharply as investors fret over massive AI capital spending and domestic economic headwinds.
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Liquid Network Hackers Return $269M Bitcoin, Retain $47M
Hackers who withdrew 4,000 BTC from Liquid Network returned 3,400 BTC worth $269.2 million after Blockstream patched the bridge nodes, but roughly 600 BTC remains unaccounted for amid questions about their white-hat claims.
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US home listings hit 2-year high as affordability crisis halts buyer demand
New home listings climbed to their highest level since August 2022, but pending sales fell to lows not seen since February, signaling a supply-demand mismatch as mortgage rates and prices squeeze buyer purchasing power to record lows.
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AUSTRAC Cancels GetCoins Registration Over Scam Exploitation
AUSTRAC canceled the registration of GetCoins (BA Digital Ventures Pty Ltd) on June 4, 2026, citing alleged exploitation by organized cryptocurrency investment scams. The cancellation is part of a broader regulatory enforcement wave that saw 45 remittance and virtual asset provider registrations canceled, suspended, or refused renewal over the past year.
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Malone Lam Faces Plea Hearing Over $245M Bitcoin Theft
Malone Lam, a 22-year-old Singaporean, appears in federal court Tuesday for a plea agreement hearing in connection with a $245 million Bitcoin theft orchestrated by an 18-person racketeering group called the Social Engineering Enterprise.