BlockBeats News, July 15th, according to BFM News, the Johor state government in Malaysia has requested the federal government to investigate Network School founded by former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, citing allegations that some Israeli citizens used third-country passports to participate in the project.

The Johor state government has requested the Ministry of Home Affairs and relevant law enforcement and security agencies to verify the identities, nationalities, and purposes of entry of the individuals involved, and to investigate whether the operation of Network School needs to be registered or approved in accordance with Malaysian law. At the same time, the authorities will also review whether the project complies with relevant regulations such as site permits, building usage, land use, accommodation operation, and commercial activities. If any illegal activities are found, enforcement action will be taken in accordance with the law.

It is understood that Network School is located in Forest City, Malaysia, founded by Balaji Srinivasan. It is a private residential community built based on his concept of "Network State," with membership fees starting at $1,500 per month, offering accommodation, dining, fitness, and shared office space services.

BlockBeats News, July 15th, Cathie Wood's Ark Invest increased its position in Circle (CRCL) by approximately $13.9 million on Tuesday, and purchased around $1.5 million worth of Block (XYZ) stock. At the same time, Ark Invest reduced its holdings of Robinhood (HOOD) by about $3.2 million.

BlockBeats News, July 15th, according to the Financial Times report, based on the latest publicly available court documents, stablecoin issuer Circle had reportedly frozen Heka Funds, a Tether-backed crypto fund, at the end of 2023, on suspicion of market manipulation through large-scale arbitrage and assisting Tether in expanding its market share.

The documents show that during the 2023 Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) crisis, USDC briefly dropped below its $1 peg. Heka continued to buy discounted USDC in large quantities and redeemed them for US dollars from Circle. Circle believed that Heka's redemption volume far exceeded that of other market participants and suspected that the related funds ultimately flowed to Tether to help it expand the USDT market size.

The arbitration documents also revealed that Tether had invested approximately $800 million in Heka, accounting for about 75% of the fund's assets, and waived the stablecoin minting fees. The arbitrator found that Heka did not truthfully disclose the relationship with Tether and was aware that the related information would cause concern for Circle.

In 2024, Heka filed for arbitration after its accounts were frozen, claiming around $49 million in profit losses. In February of this year, the arbitrator dismissed all of Heka's claims, finding evidence of malicious behavior, and ruled that Heka should pay approximately $166,000 in attorney's fees and expert costs to Circle. Heka denied engaging in market manipulation and stated that it had never been subject to regulatory investigations for this; Circle declined to comment, and Tether did not respond to media requests for comment.

BlockBeats News, July 15th - Japan's largest credit card network JCB has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Circle. The two parties will explore the use of USDC for cross-border payments, merchant settlements, and fund management, promoting the application of stablecoins in Japan's daily payment scenarios.

JCB has approximately 140 million cardholders and 40 million merchants worldwide. In the initial stage, the two parties will conduct a Proof of Concept (PoC) around JCB's internal fund transfers. They will further study the use of USDC to improve cross-border payment efficiency, reduce remittance costs, and support international tourists in Japan using stablecoins for payment at merchants.

This collaboration is part of Japan's stablecoin commercialization process. Previously, Circle announced a partnership with Nomura to develop a USDC-based foreign exchange settlement service, and the Japanese convenience store chain Lawson also plans to launch a stablecoin payment pilot in August this year.

BlockBeats News, July 15th, Coinbase's Head of Platform, Rob Witoff, stated that currently 95% to 100% of the company's code has been written or assisted by a Large Language Model (LLM), with almost all employees using AI on a daily basis. Compared to the approximately 40% of code disclosed in February this year, written by AI, this proportion has more than doubled.

Witoff mentioned that in key areas such as core cryptography, they still mainly rely on human review, while internal prototyping has achieved almost 100% automation. The proliferation of AI has enabled Coinbase to adopt smaller-scale teams with deeper expertise, with teams of 2 to 3 people now able to complete the work that used to require over 10 people.

He also revealed that currently, most engineers at Coinbase manage 5 to 10 AI Agents simultaneously, with the overall AI Agents undertaking coding work equivalent to about 1200 employees, and it is expected that by 2030, this number may increase to the equivalent of 100,000 employees' workload. Previously, Coinbase laid off around 700 people, accounting for about 14% of its total workforce in May this year, with the company stating that AI has significantly improved work efficiency.

BlockBeats News, July 15th: U.S. President Trump announced the abandonment of the previously proposed 20% toll on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a plan that was scrapped just about 24 hours after its announcement. Trump stated that a trade and investment agreement between Gulf countries and the U.S. would replace the toll scheme. He mentioned that he had been in communication with countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain, who were more inclined to increase investments in the U.S. rather than accept a strait toll.

U.S. Energy Secretary Wright later confirmed that the 20% toll was "no longer on the table," and there would be no toll imposed on the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, the U.S. announced the resumption of a maritime blockade on Iranian ports and coastal areas, which officially took effect on Tuesday afternoon local time. The U.S. Central Command stated that the U.S. military had launched a new round of strikes against Iran to weaken its ability to attack commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump stated that military actions against Iran would continue and threatened that if Iran refused to return to the negotiating table, the U.S. would strike Iranian power plants and bridges as part of next week's actions, with energy facilities being the "ultimate target."

BlockBeats News, July 15th - According to sources familiar with the matter, the artificial intelligence cloud computing company Coreweave (CRWV.O) is exploring the use of financial derivatives as a potential hedge against future memory and storage chip price drops. This unusual move highlights how the AI boom is deeply tying cloud service providers to the volatile chip market.

To secure supply, cloud operators including CoreWeave have entered into long-term agreements with memory and storage chip manufacturers such as Micron and SanDisk. Many of these agreements provide suppliers with price downside protection for DRAM and storage chips. However, this arrangement is a double-edged sword, protecting chip manufacturers from the impact of market downturns but also exposing cloud service companies like CoreWeave to risks.

In the event of a price drop, they would be forced to continue purchasing at prices significantly above the market rate. Therefore, CoreWeave executives have held discussions on how to hedge against the risk of memory chip inventory devaluation due to future price declines. The discussions are in the early stages, and the company has not yet executed any hedging operations. Proposed solutions include put options and other potential derivative instruments.

BlockBeats News, July 15th, Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the US and Iran had a dialogue, urging Tehran to reach an agreement. Eamonn Sheridan, an analyst at the US financial website Investinglive, said that Trump's remarks (in the interview) indicate that there will be no de-escalation in the short term, consolidating the geopolitical risk premium that has been factored into oil and diesel prices following recent concerns about supply in the Strait of Hormuz.

He revealed that Iran's energy infrastructure has not been hit at the moment, indicating that Washington still retains the option of significantly escalating the situation. This factor may prompt traders to continue pricing in tail-end risks to regional oil supply.

At the same time, while confirming dialogue with Tehran amid ongoing pressure, contradictory signals were released, implying that even with continued military pressure, there may still be a negotiating path. Given that the energy infrastructure issue directly affects actual supply, the market may remain highly sensitive to any changes in rhetoric regarding energy facility issues. (Golden Finance)

BlockBeats News, July 15th - U.S. President Trump stated that the strike against Iran will continue "until I say 'enough'." Additionally, Trump mentioned that the U.S. held talks with Iran on Tuesday, urging Iran to reach an agreement. He also noted that the strike on Iran's energy facilities will be kept for last.

Trump threatened, "Next week we will destroy Iran's power plants, we will destroy their bridges. We will destroy every single power plant and bridge they have unless they come back to the negotiating table."

BlockBeats News, July 15th, a South Korean exchange initiated a temporary trading halt on the KOSPI index, pausing algorithmic trading for 5 minutes.