expansion

According to Bloomberg, EdgeConneX Inc., a data center operator supported by EQT, is seeking banks to provide a power cost guarantee of up to $2.5 billion to support its global data center expansion plans.EdgeConneX is negotiating a letter of credit financing arrangement with several banks, including France's Natixis and Spain's BBVA. This arrangement will help the company lock in power supply costs for its data center projects.With the rapid growth in demand for artificial intelligence training and inference, global data center construction has entered an accelerated phase, and operators are exploring new financing tools to cope with rising power procurement costs and infrastructure investment needs. EdgeConneX's request for bank support reflects that AI infrastructure companies are shifting from traditional real estate and equipment financing models to establishing new financing structures around energy supply, long-term power contracts, and other assets.In recent years, major cloud computing companies and AI infrastructure firms have increased their investments in data centers, while power supply has become a significant bottleneck constraining the expansion of AI computing power. Securing future power costs through bank credit support is becoming a new way for data center operators to obtain expansion funding.

On August 12, institutional digital asset lending technology provider Digital Prime Technologies announced a strategic investment from global institutional digital asset prime broker LTP. LTP will become its chief strategic partner in the Asia-Pacific region, helping the Tokenet platform expand institutional participation in the Asia-Pacific market.Tokenet is Digital Prime Technologies' institutional-grade digital asset and tokenized asset lending platform. Following this investment, LTP will work alongside previously joined EquiLend, Galaxy Digital, and Marex to promote the global institutional infrastructure development of Tokenet. LTP stated that it will leverage its network of institutional clients, prime brokerage capabilities, and financing expertise to accelerate the adoption of Tokenet among financial institutions in the Asia-Pacific region.

The issuer of the Japanese yen stablecoin, JPYC, announced the completion of its Series B expansion financing, raising approximately 6 billion yen in total. The company stated that the funds will primarily be used to expand the financial and Web3 ecosystem, accelerating the social application of the yen stablecoin "JPYC."

According to Jinshi reports, Guangdong Province is publicly soliciting opinions on the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Draft for Comments)," which aims to orderly expand financial openness and promote the expansion of pilot projects for cross-border payments using digital RMB.The plan mentions supporting the establishment of headquarters for international financial institutions, promoting innovative businesses such as cross-border finance and green finance, and deepening pilot projects for the transfer of cross-border credit assets.

According to Jinshi, Federal Reserve Governor Cook stated that the current economy is resilient and the pace of expansion is steady.

According to Jinshi, the U.S. service industry maintained a stable expansion in July, with the ISM Services Index rising by 0.1 points to 54.1, indicating that the industry is in an expansion state. The growth rate of new orders accelerated, and the business activity index rose to a five-month high, showing resilience in consumer demand.However, service and material costs continue to rise, with the ISM Input Cost Price Index climbing to 70.3, putting pressure on corporate profits, and some companies may delay hiring.

According to PR Newswire, AI data center company Hyperscale Data (NYSE: GPUS) announced the successful implementation of a Bitcoin-backed DeFi financing strategy through the Morpho protocol.As of August 2, 2026, the company has completed approximately $30 million in Bitcoin collateralized loans through the protocol, with a current variable interest rate of about 4.9%. The funds raised will be used to support the ongoing construction of its AI data center campus in Michigan, as well as general corporate purposes such as daily operating capital.The company stated that this move aims to transform Bitcoin reserves from passive storage assets into a low-cost source of growth capital, while maintaining exposure to the long-term appreciation of Bitcoin and reducing reliance on dilutive equity financing.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov posted on X that the CLARITY Act will grant banks the legal authority to use digital assets and distributed ledgers without prior notice or approval, covering custody, staking, and lending, which represents a significant expansion of accessible market space for the crypto industry.Previously, he also stated that the bill is not perfect, and many aspects depend on the subsequent formulation of actual authorization rules, but it is the first regulatory framework to touch on DeFi, creating certainty for institutions, fintech companies, and banks to use on-chain business. He noted that once the CLARITY Act is passed, it will bring favorable conditions and investment for on-chain business similar to what the GENIUS Act has done for stablecoins.

According to Jinshi reports, OpenAI is expanding its European headquarters in Dublin, which is expected to create 250 new jobs. OpenAI stated that it will lease 88,000 square feet of office space in Dublin to meet the "rapidly growing demand from users, customers, and developers across Europe."The company currently has about 100 employees in Ireland. Ireland is already home to the European headquarters of many large tech companies (such as Meta, Apple, and Alphabet). Anthropic is also expanding its workforce in Dublin.

The parent company of Kraken, Payward, has partnered with financial technology infrastructure provider GTN to promote the expansion of xStocks tokenization business into more overseas markets. The announcement stated that the two parties will first advance the tokenization of Hong Kong stocks, followed by expansion to the UK, Europe, South Korea, and other international markets, gradually covering more asset classes.According to the cooperation arrangement, GTN will provide execution, custody, and bookkeeping infrastructure covering over 90 markets, and will advance the necessary license applications in various locations. Once the relevant licenses are approved, tokenized xStocks will be opened to GTN's institutional clients.

According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin mining company and AI infrastructure developer Hut 8 (HUT) has signed a second phase 15-year lease agreement with the same investment-grade tenant, amounting to approximately $9.8 billion, for its Beacon Point AI data center campus located in Texas, USA.The new agreement will add 352 megawatts of AI computing power based on Nvidia architecture, bringing the total contracted computing power for the tenant in the campus to 704 megawatts and achieving full commercialization of the campus's 1 gigawatt power capacity, raising the total value of the campus's base contracts to approximately $19.6 billion.Boosted by this, the stock prices of IREN, Cipher Mining (CIFR), TeraWulf (WULF), and CoinShares Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) rose simultaneously in early trading.

According to Jinshi reports, Federal Reserve Chairman Waller stated that the balance sheet should be as small as possible so that it can be expanded during a crisis.

According to Bloomberg, several major banks in the United States, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and HSBC, have announced the formation of a joint network operated by The Clearing House, using blockchain to connect tokenized bank deposits in response to the rapid expansion of dollar stablecoins represented by USDT and USDC in the payment and clearing sectors.The network is scheduled to launch next year, aiming to achieve interoperability among the internal blockchain systems of various banks, with a priority on wholesale payments and liquidity management scenarios.Data from Artemis Analytics shows that the trading volume of stablecoins is expected to reach approximately $33 trillion by 2025, and Bloomberg Intelligence predicts that related payment flows could exceed $50 trillion by 2030. The banking industry believes that this trend has already posed direct competitive pressure on traditional deposit and payment businesses.

According to Bloomberg, Nubank's parent company Nu Holdings, a crypto-friendly digital bank in Brazil, has been granted a formal banking license by Mexico's financial regulatory agency Comision Nacional Bancaria y de Valores, allowing it to conduct business such as payroll accounts, checking accounts, higher limit deposits, and more loan products locally.Since entering Mexico in 2019, Nubank has invested billions of dollars, and currently has over 15 million customers, accounting for about 15% of the local adult population. Founder and global CEO David Vélez stated that total investment in Mexico is expected to reach approximately $4.2 billion by 2030. Obtaining a full banking license is expected to help Nubank replace some wholesale financing with low-cost deposits and compete directly with large traditional banks in Mexico as well as fintech institutions like Revolut and Klar.

According to Bloomberg, Micron officially broke ground on its factory expansion project in Higashi-Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan on Saturday. The total investment for the project is approximately 1.5 trillion yen (about 9.3 billion USD), aimed at producing advanced memory chips for the AI era.The new production line will focus on key chips such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which are core components supporting the performance of AI processors like those from Nvidia. The related chips are expected to start shipping as early as the summer of 2028.The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has provided up to 500 billion yen in subsidy support for the project to strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing capabilities and enhance supply chain resilience.This expansion project is seen as an important step for Japan to strengthen its semiconductor manufacturing layout in the global AI chip competition.

According to The Block, influenced by the maturation of the crypto market and the rapid development of emerging technologies, several leading crypto venture capital firms are shifting their investment focus from the pure crypto sector to a broader "frontier technology" track, involving AI, robotics, fintech, and biotechnology.It is reported that Framework Ventures and Haun Ventures have recently raised $400 million and $1 billion funds respectively to support cross-domain layouts; Paradigm is planning to raise up to $1.5 billion for a frontier technology fund; and the former Binance incubator YZi Labs has also ventured into the fields of AI and biotechnology.Industry investors analyze that the core reasons for this strategic shift are the demand for capital deployment brought about by the expansion of fund sizes, the decrease in high-quality pure crypto projects, and the increasing integration of adjacent technologies such as blockchain and AI. Some venture capitalists predict that as cryptocurrencies gradually integrate into a broader technology ecosystem, the exclusive label of "crypto VC" may gradually fade, and the market will ultimately differentiate into large multi-strategy investment funds and a few vertical investors focused on digital assets. However, some institutions like a16z Crypto and Dragonfly still insist on deepening their investment strategies in the pure crypto sector.

The founder of the decentralized lending protocol Aave, Stani, posted on the X platform stating that the "Spokes" mechanism in Aave V4 will become a key architecture for the protocol's expansion, enabling quick access to diverse lending and financial scenarios.

The decentralized stablecoin USDD released its May transparency report. The data shows that by the end of May, the total collateral assets of USDD reached $2.2 billion, with a circulation of $1.44 billion, and the over-collateralization rate maintained at 154.65%, demonstrating strong risk buffer capability.In addition, Smart Allocator's cumulative earnings reached $18.34 million, with new earnings of $2.1 million for the month, a month-on-month increase of 12.94%. In terms of ecological progress, sUSDD officially launched on the Pendle fixed income market, providing users with more earning options; it continues to adopt a 100% on-chain verifiable reserve mechanism and promotes a multi-platform incentive program to accelerate ecological expansion.These core data and significant progress in ecology indicate that USDD continues to strengthen its stability and transparency while consolidating its position in the decentralized stablecoin market.

Data shows that the market value of tokenized stocks has grown from $2.23 billion at the beginning of the year to $5.5 billion, an increase of approximately 147% in six months, and it has now become the fourth largest RWA asset class. This growth reflects the rising structural demand among crypto users for exposure to the stock market, with more users wanting to access stock-like assets through on-chain tools rather than relying on traditional brokerage accounts.Exchanges are also accelerating the layout of related products. Kraken and Bybit have provided access to SpaceX IPO-related entries within their platforms, allowing users to participate in the highly anticipated private company listing opportunities without leaving the crypto ecosystem. Binance has also launched stock perpetual contract products for non-U.S. users, further meeting the global retail demand for on-chain trading of U.S. stock markets.

According to PR Newswire, Bitmine Immersion Technologies announced that the expanded Series A perpetual preferred stock issuance is priced at 3.5 million shares, at $80 per share, with settlement expected to be completed on June 10, raising a net amount of approximately $273.8 million.The company stated that the funds will be used for general corporate purposes, including increasing holdings in ETH and other digital assets, expanding staking and validation infrastructure, advancing related layouts through MAVAN, working capital, strategic investments related to the Ethereum ecosystem and digital asset adoption, as well as common stock repurchase. The Series A preferred stock has a dividend yield of 9.50% per annum.