In a Bloomberg Businessweek Daily interview, Affirm Holdings CEO Max Levchin described the company’s customers as financially healthy, paying on time, and continuing to shop.
Levchin also addressed Affirm’s latest earnings results, noting an improved revenue outlook and calling the quarter the most profitable on record. He pointed to recent partnerships and gains in e-commerce activity.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy asserted that U.S. officials have misrepresented the status of the Strait of Hormuz, alleging attempts to influence oil prices and conceal policy shortcomings, a claim reported by Jiemian News.
The IRGC Navy said Tehran fully controls the strategic waterway and ordered that any vessel attempting to pass without Iranian coordination be blocked from transiting.
It said the measures will persist until U.S. military operations against Iran end and Washington fulfills its obligations.
Wallstreetcn reports that President Donald Trump said the United States had reached an oil deal with Venezuela and would secure a majority stake in the country’s proven oil reserves.
The report notes the reserves are described as exceeding 65 billion barrels in size.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Walmart has agreed to pay $50 million to resolve allegations that it illegally issued opioid prescriptions.
The company also signed a memorandum of agreement with the Drug Enforcement Administration to clarify its future obligations in dispensing controlled substances.
An economist at the Anderson Institute and a former deputy director of the Federal Reserve's monetary affairs division, James Clouse told Wallstreetcn that the market's reaction looked hawkish and that assessment is reasonable.
He added that Powell indicated there is still work to be done, but he did not address any timing for potential policy moves.
A report from Wallstreetcn quotes Fed Governor Kevin Warsh describing the September policy meeting as a pivotal moment in the central bank's effort to curb inflation.
He argued that price pressures have not shown meaningful easing, indicating inflation remains stubborn in the near term.
Warsh said that if inflation stays well above the 2% target, there would be little choice but to lift policy rates this year.
Bloomberg reports that U.S. employers are facing the steepest rises in health-plan premiums in roughly 15 years, with more firms moving away from traditional group insurance.
In 2026, over 20,000 companies adopted Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) as an alternative to providing direct medical benefits.
U.S. natural gas futures edged lower ahead of Energy Transfer LP's Hugh Brinson pipeline in Texas, which is slated to begin operations on September 1, according to Wallstreetcn.
The October contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled at $2.888 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), down 0.026 dollars, or 0.9%.
As September begins, Bitcoin, US stocks and government bonds are testing a historical midterm-election pattern that has often preceded market lows, even as traders price a higher likelihood of a Federal Reserve rate increase.
Bitcoin sits around $77,500.
The S&P 500 remains near record highs, and the 30-year Treasury yield is elevated after briefly touching 5.28% on August 21.
Kalshi traders are pricing in roughly a 53% odds of a September rate hike, versus about 48% for keeping rates unchanged.
Stellar’s tokenized real-world assets (RWA) surpassed $3 billion in July, according to a report from oracle provider RedStone cited by ChainCatcher. The same analysis notes that on-chain liquidity, measured by total value locked (TVL), lags behind the RWA growth, with RedStone putting TVL at about $213 million.
The report attributes most of the RWA expansion to four products: Amundi and Spiko’s overnight fund at $713 million, Spiko’s Treasury fund at $536 million, Ondo’s USDY at more than $533 million, and VuMe Bond 2030 at $500 million.
DeFiLlama data show Stellar’s TVL at $232.72 million, with the Blend lending protocol holding $150.03 million, while pools that accept RWA as collateral total around $2 million.
The report notes that traditional settlement times for Treasuries, credit funds, and money market funds do not align with the instant liquidation needs of on-chain lending, underscoring the importance of 24/7 price oracles to make RWA usable as collateral.
Stellar has integrated 55 SEP-40 price feeds from RedStone, covering Treasuries, corporate credit, tokenized gold, and money market funds. The report also states that the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation plans to bring custodial assets to Stellar in 2027, with those assets totaling $114 trillion.
Data from Wallstreetcn show that Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) reported speculators' net long positions in raw sugar futures rose to 70,766 contracts for the week ended August 25, a record high.
According to Jin10, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said that the United States has repeatedly claimed it defeated Iran, but such a victory has never occurred.
A Wallstreetcn report states that in a letter to Senator Warren, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated the Exchange Stabilization Fund drew on existing foreign currency assets to swap into yen.
The arrangement reportedly did not involve any new congressional appropriation or the extension of credit to Japan, according to the source.
Nikkei reports that Honda and Nissan will collaborate on developing next-generation cars.
Fomo co-founder Se Yong Park says the crypto trading app has completed its first funding round, with 140 angel investors taking part. ChainCatcher reports the company now has more than 200 angel investors on its cap table.
Park emphasizes that founders often misinterpret the relationship with angel investors, arguing that angels should be viewed as a bullish indicator of product success rather than hands-on mentors. He notes that even if a cap table includes tech CEOs, celebrities, or athletes, their active involvement in early stages is unlikely.
As Fomo continues to scale and builds a product that angel investors genuinely want to use and share, Park believes more people will naturally start recommending it to others.
Bitcoin options data from Glassnode, as cited by Odaily, show open interest climbing back toward roughly 550,000 BTC, with derivatives activity rebounding and the DVOL index around 41, below the prior high range.
The 25-delta skew across maturities has narrowed markedly, with the near-term skew turning negative, indicating softer demand for downside hedges and a more neutral to bullish positioning bias.
BTC is in a concentrated gamma zone roughly between $75,000 and $80,000, with recent flows centered at the $72,500 and $79,250 strikes where call buying has been more pronounced and put demand has been limited.
According to Wallstreetcn, the secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) was 3.64% on August 27, unchanged from the prior session. The effective federal funds rate stood at 3.63%, also unchanged from the day before.
Bitwise's Solana staking ETF, BSOL, has surpassed $1 billion in assets under management just ten months after its debut.
Per Foresight News, Bitwise indicated that the majority of inflows occurred during a bear market.
A Jin10-compiled Reuters poll of 35 economists indicates the Bank of Canada is likely to keep its policy rate at 2.25% at the upcoming meeting and hold it for at least the next year.
All respondents expect no change at the September 2 policy decision, which aligns with current market pricing.
They also forecast the rate rising to 2.50% in the fourth quarter of next year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, citing the Main Directorate of Intelligence, said a sizeable refinery in Kstovo, in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region, has stopped production. He added that the plant processes around 17 million tons of crude oil annually.
He also claimed that other Russian refineries have halted operations, according to Jin10.
Hong Kong's cross agency regulators, including the Monetary Authority, the Securities and Futures Commission, the Insurance Authority, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority and Cyberport, unveiled the first cohort for the GenA.I. Sandbox++ program. The initial participant list includes 36 use cases chosen from roughly 100 proposals submitted by 30 financial institutions and 27 technology partners.
Participants include Bank of China (Hong Kong), China Asset Management, Ant Blockchain, Google and IBM.
The GenA.I. Sandbox++ will focus on agentic AI applications and will test how to responsibly increase AI autonomy beyond content generation. Testing will cover end to end processes such as customer onboarding, payments, insurance claims and customer interactions.
Xunxun Technology (01640) said on August 28, 2026 that it has agreed to sell its entire equity interest in Xunxun Hong Kong to Wu Dan for RMB 200,000, according to ETNet.
The disposal group has not actively carried out any business activities since 2025 and has been loss-making in each of the two years ended December 31, 2025, as well as in the six months ended June 30, 2026, excluding one-off gains. As of June 30, 2026, the disposal group had unaudited consolidated net assets of about RMB 200,000.
Xunxun Technology expects to record a slight loss of about RMB 400,000 from the sale, subject to review by its auditor.
PA Inv Funds reduced its holding in YTO International Education Leasing (01563) by 13.456 million shares, or 7.95%, on August 24, 2026, according to ETNet.
The off-market average price was HK$0.122 per share, with data sourced from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
SIV Technology (01202) said the extended public listing period expired without receiving any bids, causing the proposed sale of all equity interests in its subsidiary Poteen New Materials to lapse and be terminated, according to ETNet.
The company noted that the lapse is not expected to have a material adverse impact on its financial position or business operations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said rescue operations faced extreme difficulties after a deadly mudslide struck the Himalayas near the Nepal border, Bloomberg reported.
He directed that surveys of glaciers and glacial lakes across the Tibetan Plateau be conducted more rapidly to assess risks and guide response efforts.
Longfor Group executive director and chief financial officer Zhao Yi said at the interim results briefing that the company’s total liabilities are currently above RMB 140 billion and are expected to stay at a similar level at year-end, a report by Ming Pao noted.
He added that roughly 90% of the debt is bank borrowings, and the company still has room to increase borrowing if needed.
Zhao also indicated that the current financing cost is about 3.36%, lower than a year earlier, and there is potential to reduce funding costs further after ongoing optimization.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry extended congratulations to Prime Minister Brown on his re-election after the Cook Islands Party, led by the incumbent prime minister, secured a parliamentary majority.
Spokesperson Lin Jian stated that China congratulates Brown on his re-election.
According to Jin10, the Cook Islands Party won a majority of seats in the Cook Islands parliamentary election.
The National Pension Service of Korea posted a 27.2% return for the first half of the year, marking its strongest H1 performance since at least 2022, according to Bloomberg.
A robust rally in domestic equities helped lift results at one of the world's largest pension funds.
For the first half of 2026, Xpeng Group reported revenue of 32.78 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.8%, while net loss widened to 3.12 billion yuan, about 173.7% higher than a year earlier.
Its robotics division completed an initial financing round of more than $900 million, with a post-investment valuation above $6.3 billion (roughly 4.3 billion yuan).
In the second quarter, revenue advanced 8% year over year to 19.74 billion yuan, while revenue from vehicle sales reached 17.05 billion yuan, up 1%.
The gross margin reached 20.7%, with the automotive gross margin at 12.1%. Service and other revenue climbed 93.9% to 2.7 billion yuan, carrying a gross margin of 75.1%.
R&D expenditure rose 32.1% to 2.91 billion yuan, and selling, general and administrative expenses increased 15.2% to 2.5 billion yuan. Net loss for the quarter widened to 1.34 billion yuan from 480 million yuan a year earlier, though it improved from 1.78 billion yuan in the first quarter.
Xpeng Group delivered about 166,000 vehicles in the first half, down 15.8% year on year, with 62,682 shipped in the first quarter and 103,295 in the second.
The company projected third-quarter deliveries of 115,000 to 121,000 and revenue of 21.7 billion to 23.4 billion yuan, both figures below market expectations.
July deliveries reached 38,027 vehicles, up about 4% from a year earlier, bringing year-to-date deliveries to 204,004.
Martins Kazaks, a member of the European Central Bank's Governing Council, said the central bank cannot permit elevated inflation to persist. The remarks were reported by Bloomberg.
BNP Paribas Co., Ltd. is reported to be planning a panda bond issue in yuan with a maximum size of 6 billion yuan, according to people familiar with the matter.
The offering would be split into three tranches: a 3-year tranche with an initial maximum size of 1 billion yuan, a 5-year tranche with a maximum size of 4 billion yuan, and a 7-year tranche with a maximum size of 1 billion yuan. Marketing is expected to begin as early as September.
China's two leading copper producers reported that their profits more than doubled in the first half of 2026, aided by stronger copper prices and a rise in sulfuric acid revenue, Bloomberg said.
Sulfuric acid is produced as a by-product of the smelting process.
The Bank of Russia has expanded its surveillance of illicit crypto activity by adding 2,600 cryptocurrency wallet addresses to a dedicated information system, according to Bits.media.
ChainCatcher reports these addresses are linked to legal entities, project teams, and individual business owners, collectively holding about 1 billion rubles in crypto assets.
The information system is now accessible to government agencies and law enforcement, and bank transactions connected to the listed addresses are likely to be frozen.
The central bank said roughly 74% of the addresses are associated with financial pyramids and fraud, including fake crypto investments, bogus data-center projects, and unlawful crypto lending involving USDT stablecoins.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. notes that shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have rebounded to roughly two-thirds of pre-war levels.
The partial recovery is viewed as helping to limit the war's influence on global crude prices.
The Japanese hybrid bond market is rebounding as investors seeking higher yields and issuers looking to finance acquisitions or refinance debt turn to hybrids to avoid equity dilution, Bloomberg reports.
Demand for these securities has revived as companies tap hybrid bonds for deal financing and refinancing needs.
Tencent Holdings completed a HK$301 million share repurchase on August 27, extending its streak to nine consecutive trading days of buybacks dating from August 17, according to Jiemian News.
As of August 27, the company217;s year-to-date buybacks total HK$28.832 billion, the highest figure in the Hong Kong market, with Xiaomi Group in second place at HK$11.815 billion, the same report noted.
Tang Daosheng, Tencent217;s executive vice president who leads the cloud and smart industries group, stated in an internal publication that the AI sector217;s momentum in the second half has only just begun, emphasizing the importance of staying power over early starts.
Tencent and Xiaomi are the top two holdings in the Huaxia Hang Seng Internet ETF (513330.SH). Jiemian described the ETF as the largest product tracking the Hang Seng Internet Technology Index and the only Hong Kong-listed internet index fund that fully covers Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Kuaishou and Xiaomi.