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A profound generational shift is underway among Chinese entrepreneurs. The wealth and influence once dominated by real estate and internet giants is now being claimed by a new wave of founders driving breakthroughs in AI, semiconductors, and robotics. This change is vividly reflected in 2026's wealth rankings. Figures like Zhang Yiming (ByteDance), Liang Wenfeng (DeepSeek), Chen Tianshi (Cambricon), and Wang Xingxing (Unitree Robotics) are ascending. Their wealth stems not from traditional business models but from market expectations for future technological competitiveness, with AI, chips, and smart hardware becoming the primary engines of wealth creation. Their common trait is a foundational focus on technology, often starting from the laboratory rather than a business plan. Examples include Chen Tianshi's decade-long push in AI chips, Liang Wenfeng's core algorithmic innovations at DeepSeek with a compact team, and Zhu Yiming's "no salary until profitable" 9-year journey to build Changxin Memory into a global DRAM player. This transition marks a fundamental shift in China's economic imperative: from commercial expansion and learning to indigenous innovation and deep industrial capability. While the previous generation built the foundational market and infrastructure, this new cohort is tasked with achieving global leadership in core technologies, moving China from "keeping pace" to pioneering original, breakthrough innovations that are industrialized at scale. The baton is being passed to those competing on the world stage through technological originality.

The world's largest public holder of Bitcoin, the company "Strategy," has announced another sale of its Bitcoin holdings. According to founder Michael Saylor, the company sold 1,638 BTC for approximately $105 million between July 27th and August 2nd, at an average price of $63,957 per Bitcoin. The stated purpose of the sale was to fund preferred stock dividends and buy back its stock, ticker STRC. As a result, Strategy's total Bitcoin holdings have decreased to 842,138. The company has not purchased any Bitcoin for roughly six weeks, with its last purchase occurring in July. During the same period, Strategy also raised $290.6 million through a sale of its MSTR stock. A portion of these funds, $81.2 million, was used for the STRC buyback. The company reported that its US dollar reserves have grown to approximately $4 billion. This increase in cash extends the projected period for which it can fund dividends using these reserves by 57 days, to a total of 2.3 years. Strategy emphasized its current asset position, stating it holds 842,138 BTC in its Bitcoin treasury and $4.0 billion in its US dollar treasury as of August 2, 2026.

Japan and the U.S. conducted a rare coordinated intervention in the foreign exchange market around August 3rd to stem the yen's sharp depreciation. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessette's notepad, photographed by Reuters, revealed plans for a $5-10 billion yen-buying operation. Following official confirmation, the USD/JPY pair plunged from near 164 to around 155-156. The intervention marks a significant shift as the U.S. moved from verbal support to practical coordination. While the core carry trade logic—exploiting the higher U.S. interest rates—remains intact, the risk structure has changed. Traders must now account for potential repeated bilateral actions, altering the risk-reward calculation for yen shorts. The intervention's immediate effect is forcing leveraged positions to unwind, amplifying the yen's rebound. However, analysts note this does not signal the end of the yen carry trade. The fundamental driver—the wide interest rate differential between the U.S. (3.50%-3.75%) and Japan (1%)—persists. The action is seen more as buying time for the Bank of Japan's gradual policy normalization while mitigating imported inflation pressures. To avoid destabilizing the U.S. Treasury market during intervention, authorities utilized the Fed's FIMA repo facility, allowing Japan to obtain dollar liquidity using its Treasury holdings as collateral instead of selling them. The move aims to contain spillover risks. While creating short-term volatility and compressing leverage for yen bears, the long-term trend for the yen will ultimately depend on the convergence of U.S. and Japanese monetary policies, not unilateral market operations. The current action is narrower in scope than historical agreements like the Plaza Accord, focused on curbing excessive yen weakness rather than engineering a broad-based dollar decline.

The Eliza token and its foundation are being permanently shut down by founder Shaw Walters following a legal settlement. The foundation settled a lawsuit filed by Burwick Law, which alleged false advertising and deceptive practices, by distributing its remaining treasury to token holders. Walters stated the foundation lacked resources to fight the case, though he considered the claims groundless. While the Eliza token is officially "dead" with no future funding or buybacks, the development of the underlying technology, ElizaOS, will continue independently. Walters, who owns the intellectual property, confirmed he holds no tokens and will not launch a new cryptocurrency. ElizaOS is an AI agents platform launched in early 2025.

The Step App project, a blockchain-based fitness and earning platform, has announced its shutdown after four years of operation. All services will cease on August 21, and the team has urged users to unlock their tokens and manage any open positions before that date. According to the press release, the decision to close was long-considered and difficult. The project reported over 1 million downloads, tracked billions of steps, and formed various Web2 and Web3 partnerships. Step App was a prominent Move-to-Earn model, allowing users to earn digital assets for physical activity. Despite its user base and data, the team decided to terminate the project. The project's governance token, FITFI, once reached an all-time high of approximately $0.73, representing a 150x increase from its initial IDO price of $0.0049 at its peak. The closure follows recent announcements from South Korean exchanges Upbit and Bithumb, which discontinued support for FITFI trading on July 16. FITFI holders must check and manage their locked tokens and other platform positions before the August 21 deadline.