Houthi Rebels Attack Again in Hodeidah｜Rewire News Morning Brief

Iran Sets Up Toll Booth in the Strait of Hormuz, Court Rules Trump's Tariffs Illegal. Both Orders Loosen at the Same Time, One at Sea, One in Court.

1｜US-Iran Exchange Fire in the Strait of Hormuz as Iran Imposes Toll, Escalating Control Battle

As the ceasefire agreement remains fragile, Iran launched missiles and drones at three US ships, prompting US military strikes against Iranian launch sites. Both sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire, with the US stating that the exchange of fire "does not constitute a resumption of hostilities." Meanwhile, Iran established the "Persian Gulf Strait Management Authority" to levy taxes on commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, leading to hundreds of merchant vessels being stranded awaiting the implementation of the new rules.

The overlay of these two events is more serious than viewing each individually. The exchange of fire indicates a lack of an enforcement mechanism for the ceasefire, while the toll imposition shows Iran transforming temporary military control into institutionalized power. Approximately 21 million barrels of oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz daily, accounting for one-third of global seaborne oil trade. If the toll mechanism becomes permanent, shipping costs will permanently increase, regardless of whether the military conflict ends. The White House announced the "termination" of hostile actions on the same day, disrupting the Democratic Party's planned daily war powers vote strategy.

(Source: Axios / Fortune / PBS)

2｜US Trade Court Rules 10% Global Tariff Unconstitutional, First Judicial Halt to Presidential Trade Authority

The US International Trade Court ruled that Trump's 10% global baseline tariff imposed under Section 122 is unlawful, issuing a permanent injunction against the plaintiffs. Section 122 was invoked for the first time since its inclusion in law in 1974 and marks the first court rejection. The court found that the government conflated the international balance of payments with the trade deficit, with the former being a prerequisite for Section 122 and the latter not.

The scope of the ruling is limited, with the injunction applying only to the plaintiff companies, while other importers continue to pay the original tax rate. The government has stated its intention to appeal. On the same day, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on the EU with a July 4 deadline. Legal constriction and political escalation coincided on the same day, with the logic of tariffs as a negotiating tool not bound by judicial rulings. The appeal process could extend into 2027.

(Source: Axios / Al Jazeera / US International Trade Court)

3｜White House Considers Pre-Release Mandatory Review of AI Models, Regulatory Focus Shifts from Relaxation to Control

The Trump administration is drafting an executive order requiring government review of AI models before their release, following a process similar to FDA drug approval. This marks a shift from the early administration's revocation of Biden's AI executive order and advocacy for "unleashing innovation." The trigger point was the surge in capabilities. Anthropic Mythos has approached a national-level capability in the field of cyber defense, with Mozilla confirming that its discovery of 271 Firefox vulnerabilities was "almost error-free." OpenAI simultaneously opened its GPT-5.5 network security model "Spud" to defenders, with its offensive and defensive capabilities nearing Mythos.

The IMF has warned that the new generation of AI models poses a "systemic" impact risk to the financial system. Security researchers and international financial institutions have sounded the alarm, shifting the White House's focus from "who gets ahead first" to "who bears the cost of losing control".

(Source: Tom's Hardware / Ars Technica / Axios / IMF)

4｜OpenAI's In-house Chip Development Hindered as Microsoft Refuses to Back $18 Billion Broadcom Project

Microsoft has declined to commit to purchasing 40% of the custom chip designed by OpenAI in collaboration with Broadcom, leading Broadcom to be unwilling to fund the initial $18 billion project. This marks a key step for OpenAI to reduce its reliance on NVIDIA, with both sides having disagreements on chip infrastructure design.

Microsoft is already OpenAI's largest funder and a major cloud provider, and further locking in 40% of the custom chip capacity would deepen the partnership. OpenAI expects to burn through $200 billion by 2029, and Microsoft needs to weigh the return on investment for each incremental commitment. On the same day, the Stripe CEO revealed another loophole in the AI economy, with a doubling in abuse of the free trial over the past six months. Stripe Radar intercepted 3.3 million suspicious sign-ups last month, with one out of every six new users being a "fraudster".

(Source: The Information / Fortune / Stripe)

5｜Dark Side of the Moon Valued at $20 Billion after $2 Billion Funding Round, Fueling China's Open Source AI Demand

Dark Side of the Moon has raised $2 billion in funding, led by Meituan, valuing the company at $20 billion. With an April ARR exceeding $200 million, the total funding in the past six months has reached $3.9 billion. This marks another major transaction in the Chinese AI sector following the DeepSeek Mega Fund's financing.

The pricing logic for the two funding rounds is different. The $45 billion valuation for DeepSeek is based on a geostrategic pricing of national strategic assets, while the $20 billion valuation for Dark Side of the Moon is a commercial validation. Kimi's daily active users and payment conversion rates support revenue figures, and the deployment of open-source models in the enterprise sector in China and Southeast Asia is generating actual revenue. Chinese AI companies are taking a different commercialization path from OpenAI's closed-source approach. Kalshi also confirmed a $1 billion funding round on the same day, valuing the company at $22 billion, with the prediction market doubling in valuation over five months.

（Source: TechCrunch / CoinDesk / FT）

Also Worth Knowing ↓

AMD unveils MI350P PCIe AI accelerator card with 144GB of HBM3E memory, offering approximately 40% faster FP16 and FP8 theoretical performance compared to NVIDIA's H200 NVL. The PCIe form factor means existing servers can be upgraded directly without the need for a full system replacement. This represents AMD's most direct challenge to NVIDIA in the data center GPU market. (Source: Tom's Hardware)

Kraken acquires stablecoin payments company Reap for $600 million in its second major acquisition in weeks, expanding into the Asian market. The competition focus of the cryptocurrency exchange is shifting from trading fees to payment infrastructure and regional coverage. (Source: CoinDesk / Bloomberg)

A Michigan town blocks AI data center ahead of new project, defying opposition votes for the $16 billion Stargate project which plans to consume 1.4 gigawatts of power. Local community resistance to AI infrastructure is shifting from isolated cases to proactive legislation. (Source: Tom's Hardware)

Motherboard sales see a "collapse" of over 25%, with ASUS expecting to sell 5 million fewer units, while Gigabyte and MSI follow suit with declines. Consumer PC hardware capacity is rapidly shifting towards AI processing power, making way for AI in the traditional DIY market. (Source: Tom's Hardware)

Datadog's stock price soars 31% in a single day, with earnings far exceeding expectations. AI-driven software companies are starting to differentiate themselves, and winners who can translate AI infrastructure needs into paying customers are emerging. (Source: CNBC)

CZ unveils Binance.US revival plan to offer global crypto liquidity to US users. This announcement coincides with the news of the US Treasury Department's request for Binance to enhance compliance regarding reports of Iranian crypto dealings. (Source: CoinDesk / The Information)

Anthropic Skill scanner found to have a security blind spot where the public document scanner does not check .test.ts files, allowing malicious code to bypass all checks by hiding in test files. Security audits of AI toolchains are failing to keep pace with deployment speed. (Source: VentureBeat)

US auto loan debt reaches $1.68 trillion, surpassing credit card and federal student loan debt, with one-quarter of Americans currently repaying auto loans. A report by the Century Foundation highlights that auto debt is becoming the largest single financial burden for American households. (Source: Fortune / Century Foundation)

Welcome to join the official BlockBeats community:

Telegram Subscription Group: https://t.me/theblockbeats

Telegram Discussion Group: https://t.me/BlockBeats_App

Official Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia