BlockBeats news, on August 12, the New York City Council is investigating the advertising practices of Polymarket, Kalshi, Coinbase, and Titan, the prediction market platform under Gemini, as the prediction market industry faces new regulatory pressure. New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin has sent inquiry letters to the four platforms mentioned above as part of a legislative investigation to assess whether existing city laws can adequately protect residents from false or deceptive marketing. Additionally, the New York City Council is studying related policies to address issues such as prediction market products potentially inducing users to engage in "compulsive betting" on event contracts. In a letter to Polymarket, the City Council stated that the investigation not only involves allegations against Polymarket but will also evaluate the prevalence of similar marketing practices across the entire prediction market industry and their possible social harms.

BlockBeats news, on August 12, neocloud company Nebius (NBIS) announced its Q2 financial report, with Q2 revenue reaching $582.3 million, a 454% increase compared to $105.1 million in the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 was $236.2 million, compared to a loss of $21 million in the same period last year, turning from negative to positive; adjusted net loss was $33.2 million, narrowing 64% from a loss of $91.5 million in the same period last year. However, the company's net loss from continuing operations in Q2 was $190.4 million, compared to a net profit of $502.5 million in the same period last year. In the first half of 2026, Nebius accumulated revenue of $981.3 million, a year-on-year increase of 529%; adjusted EBITDA reached $365.7 million, compared to a loss of $74.7 million in the same period last year. According to BIT(bit.com) market data, as of press time, NBIS is up 12.05% pre-market, currently trading at $217.5.

BlockBeats news, on August 12, regarding the Q2 performance of AI-dedicated computing power cloud service provider CoreWeave (revenue of $2.575 billion, a year-on-year increase of 112%), Wall Street institutional analysts generally maintain a constructive view, believing the company's performance exceeded expectations mainly driven by strong growth in AI infrastructure demand and improved profit margins. Among them, five analysts raised their target prices: Wells Fargo to $160 (overweight rating), Piper Sandler to $153 (overweight rating), Baird to $130 (outperform rating), emphasizing net new active megawatt growth, strong Q3 bookings, and diversification of enterprise-level AI applications. JPMorgan and Mizuho maintained neutral ratings and slightly raised target prices to $120 and $115, respectively, with analysts noting the improvement in Q2 profit margins but short-term revenue upside remains uncertain.

BlockBeats news, on August 12, Goldman Sachs analyst James Schneider maintained a buy rating and a $285 target price for Nvidia ahead of the company's Q2 earnings release. The firm expects investor focus to be on the details of the $500 billion financing platform recently announced by Nvidia in partnership with collaborators, the ramp-up trajectory of the Rubin product in the second half of the year, future gross margin trends, and the potential upside of proxy AI for CPUs.

BlockBeats news, on August 12, Bank of America released a report stating that Intel's $20 billion equity issuance will dilute earnings per share by about 4%-5% due to the increase in the number of shares, but this is still a "good leading indicator" of management's growing confidence in the foundry business. The institution believes that this financing is overall a net positive factor because the foundry scale and customer confidence will drive long-term revenue growth and operational efficiency improvements, enough to offset the mild short-term dilution of earnings per share. The analyst added that he reaffirmed a buy rating on Intel but lowered the institution's price target from $160 to $145 to reflect the mild earnings per share dilution and the recent readjustment of valuation multiples among AI computing peers.

BlockBeats news, on August 12, Wells Fargo raised Microsoft's price target from $650 to $700 and maintained an overweight rating on the stock. The firm pointed out that open models accelerate the spread of intelligence by reducing costs and expanding availability, adding that its CIO survey shows customers are increasingly adopting a hybrid model approach. Wells believes the terminal value of the current platform continues to increase, which will improve the price-to-earnings ratio, outperforming previous market pricing, but given investors' growing concerns about the increasingly intense competitive landscape, it also expects the yield dispersion between software winners and losers to persist.

BlockBeats news, on August 12, JPMorgan's trading desk provided the latest scenario analysis for tonight's CPI data, showing that if the core CPI data is between 0.15% and 0.20%, the S&P 500 index is expected to rise by about 0.5% to 1%; even within the benchmark range of 0.20% to 0.25%, an increase of about 0.25% to 0.75% is still expected. However, JPMorgan expects that if the core CPI falls between 0.25% and 0.30%, the S&P 500 may decline by about 0.5% to 1.25%.

BlockBeats news, on August 12, ZEC treasury company Cypherpunk Technologies (Nasdaq: CYPH) released its Q2 2026 financial report, with a net profit of $39.39 million, diluted earnings per share of $0.18, compared to a net loss of $16.64 million in the same period last year; operating loss of $4.69 million; R&D expenses of $200,000, a significant decrease from $10.54 million in the same period last year, mainly due to the completion of clinical trials; general and administrative expenses of $4.49 million, an increase of $2.75 million year-over-year, mainly due to increased stock-based compensation. As of June 30, cash balance was $7.6 million. Regarding ZEC holdings, in Q2 the ZEC price rose from $243.35 to $400.09, generating an unrealized non-cash gain of $46 million, which was the main source of profit for the quarter. As of August 11, 2026, the company held a total of 323,394.38 ZEC at an average price of approximately $341.83, accounting for about 1.92% of the total circulating supply of ZEC, with a holding market value of approximately $129 million. In terms of business progress, the company appointed Dev Ojha, founder of Valar Group, as an advisor. Valar Group is a team focused on Zcash network development and research, leading the development of high-performance full node software Zakura and the Ironwood shielded pool. The subsidiary Leap Therapeutics reached an agreement with the U.S. FDA on the Phase III clinical trial design for sirexatamab (DKK1 monoclonal antibody) and received FDA Fast Track designation in May 2026 for the treatment of second-line metastatic colorectal cancer patients with high DKK1 expression; the company also initiated a strategic process to evaluate the optimal path for sirexatamab development, either through independent financing or collaboration with partners.

BlockBeats news, on August 12, according to analysis by Société Générale, artificial intelligence may accelerate the development of a K-shaped economy, in which income increasingly concentrates among those already at the top. The analysis points out that although artificial intelligence can help reduce wage gaps by assisting less specialized workers in completing more complex tasks, its impact on wealth may be quite different. Because artificial intelligence rewards ownership of computing power, models, data, and financial assets, this may further concentrate wealth. This trend has already manifested among AI winners who are increasingly dominant in the stock market and corporate profits.

BlockBeats news, on August 12, according to swap market trading conditions, traders currently price in about a 50% probability of a 25 basis point rate hike. After the unexpected weakness in July's nonfarm payrolls, Wall Street is almost evenly split 50:50 on whether the Fed will raise rates by 25bp in September, while the Fed under Chair Powell has clearly reduced forward guidance, forcing the market to rely again on hard data to determine policy direction. The impact of July's CPI is clearly asymmetric — moderate inflation data can further weaken the case for a rate hike, but hotter-than-expected data is more likely to quickly revert a September rate hike back to the baseline scenario. For the "global asset pricing anchor," the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, the current bond market risk premium has clearly tilted toward pricing in "a rapid decline in yields driven by moderate July CPI," mainly because macro data and CTA bond market positioning are generating positive resonance. (Zhihong Finance)