Gate Insights and Crypto Market Analysis

On July 17, US listed semiconductor stocks saw a sharp sell-off. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 4.3% in a single day, closing at 11,867.50. Compared with the mid-June peak, it had already pulled back by more than 22%, officially entering a technical bear market. Memory chips were the hardest hit. SanDisk (SNDK) plunged 12.63% to $1,411.08; Western Digital (WDC) tumbled 9.15% to $466.81; SK hynix ADR (SKHY) fell 13.69% to $152.31; Micron Technology (MU) dropped 5.65% to $853.20. Seagat

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced on July 16 that it has designated MoneyGram, Figure Markets, and blockchain security firm Range as Stellar primary validators, enabling the three regulated entities to shift from being simple network users to blockchain operators. According to the announcement, the three new validator nodes are expected to be added to Stellar’s quorum configuration in mid-August. Business Background of Stellar’s New Primary Validators Based on the SDF announceme

Network School founder Balaji Srinivasan is seeking a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia after authorities investigated his Forest City tech community over allegations it hosted Israeli citizens using second passports. Malaysia's Home Affairs Ministry said Tuesday it was probing Srinivasan's

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) shares rose 1.38% on July 17, and that day 282 hedge funds held MSFT stock. According to a Bloomberg report, Microsoft has begun replacing OpenAI and Anthropic models with its own MAI models in some software products, aiming to lower AI usage costs and reduce reliance on external vendors. Three Drivers Behind Microsoft Replacing Outlook and Excel With MAI Models According to a July 7, 2026 Bloomberg report, Microsoft’s decision to replace third-party AI models is driven

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has launched an investigation into whether Samsung Electronics, Google, NVIDIA, Broadcom, and Super Micro Computer infringed Netlist memory chip patents. The patents at issue cover HBM (high-bandwidth memory) and DDR5 memory. The ITC has agreed to hold a hearing for this case on July 16. This is Netlist’s second lawsuit against the ITC; this time, it expands both the companies involved and the scope of the patents at issue. ITC Launches Investigation

Economist Peter Schiff warned on July 16 that Strategy Inc. (Nasdaq: MSTR) is no longer a leveraged bitcoin bet and that continued share issuance threatens to dilute common shareholders' bitcoin exposure. Schiff's critique centers on Strategy's capital structure: the company holds 843,775 BTC

IBM (IBM), Oracle (ORCL), and NuScale Power (SMR) stocks dropped to 52-week lows on Thursday amid concerns over AI-related investments and financial returns. IBM reached $204.44, Oracle fell to $123.66, and NuScale hit $7.52. The declines followed analyst downgrades and credit rating cuts, with

Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron announced on X on July 17 that it is launching another round of layoffs, saying Polygon will “say goodbye to many colleagues,” and will officially begin its transition from the Blockchain Foundation to a “blockchain payments company.” Boiron explained that this does not mean the colleagues who are departing are not up to par; rather, the company being built needs something different. This means changing the organizational structure and talent requirements, not just c

PayPal (PYPL) shares declined 0.4% in after-hours trading on Thursday after Reuters reported the company's board considers the $53 billion takeover offer from Stripe and Advent International inadequate. The board believes the $60.50-per-share proposal undervalues PayPal and is evaluating financing c

The Bank of Korea raised the base interest rate from 2.5% to 2.75% on the 16th, marking the first rate increase in 3 years and 6 months since January 2023. Governor Shin Hyun-song explained the decision was driven by inflation remaining above target for a considerable period and sustained

Project Eleven introduced a post-quantum cryptographic proof technique designed to help Bitcoin users verify wallet ownership after quantum computers become powerful enough to break current encryption. The solution uses a wallet's key derivation path to prove control of a parent key without

Google released an update with two feature additions on July 16: AI Mode can now connect to third-party apps such as Instacart, Canva, and YouTube, converting AI search answers directly into in-app actions; Google Vids also adds a digital virtual avatar feature based on users’ selfies and voice recordings, with the avatar image featuring an invisible SynthID watermark and linked to the user’s Google account. Google AI Mode App Connections （Source: Google blog） According to an official Google sta

Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky’s X account was hacked on July 14, when the attacker posted a series of bullish “real-world asset (RWA) tokenization” tweets in his name. After Fortune magazine used the AI detection tool Pangram to analyze the posts, the system flagged them as 100% generated by AI; users said the posts lacked typical AI writing signals such as commas. Timeline of the Brian Chesky X account hack （Source: Brian Chesky） According to Fortune magazine’s report and the Airbnb an

Bitcoin (BTC) gave back midweek gains, temporarily around $63,890 on July 17. The U.S. “CLARITY Act” is entering the final sprint, and Trump’s conflicts of interest remain a key obstacle. He is accused of promoting Nvidia, Tesla, and Apple stocks just a few days after buying shares in those companies. Macro Events & Crypto Market Hotspots According to The Block, the U.S. Congress is in the final sprint for the “CLARITY Act.” Optimism among lawmakers is rising, but ethical provisions around confl

Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML is raising prices for EUV and DUV lithography equipment, facing pushback from TSMC, which holds 73% of the foundry market. ASML CFO Roger Dassen cited AI chip supply constraints and stated 'there is considerable room for price increases.' T

Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi both invest in 10 US stocks, according to financial disclosure reports analyzed by investment media outlet Benzinga. Trump, who made over 21,000 stock trades in 2025, prefers high-volume large-cap stocks and conducts transactions through a blind trust. Pelosi, whose por

Japanese tech stocks tumbled on Friday as SoftBank dropped 8.8%, Tokyo Electron lost 9%, and Advantest slid 9.4%, tracking steep overnight losses on Wall Street. The declines followed another weak session for US technology stocks, with the Nasdaq Composite falling 1.47% as semiconductor shares

The Blockchain Association publicly classified the CLARITY Act in July as a measure to combat cryptocurrency crime and strengthen law-enforcement cooperation. Federal rules would clearly allow investigators to trace illegal financial activity and bring more digital-asset activity under U.S. regulatory oversight. The bill would expand AML (anti-money laundering) obligations, sanctions compliance requirements, and registration and reporting rules for digital-asset exchanges, brokers, dealers, and

Congress is considering the Clarity Act, legislation that would establish a comprehensive federal market structure for digital assets in the United States. Patrick McHenry, former House Financial Services Committee chairman who retired in January 2025 and now serves as senior adviser at Lazard,

Morgan Stanley’s stock and investment trading platform ETRADE announced it has completed the full launch of spot trading for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, continuing the May pilot program. Qualified customers can now trade three cryptocurrencies directly on the ETRADE platform through a partnership with Zerohash, with a 0.5% trading fee charged for each transaction. Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF net assets are currently $384 million. ETRADE spot crypto trading fully launches: Zerohash partnership