Odaily News: The official website of the President of Ukraine published a presidential decree announcing that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has awarded American billionaire Elon Musk the "Medal of Freedom." Market analysis generally suggests that Zelensky is seeking a favor from Musk as he bestows this honor. The Ukrainian government is reportedly seeking authorization to expand its military's use of SpaceX's "Starlink" satellite internet communications. Ukraine is currently seeking Musk's approval to use Starlink satellites over deep Russian territory to strike targets within Russia.

Odaily News: According to Reuters, a senior Iranian source stated that the agreement with Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz has not been finalized.

Odaily News: Piero Cipollone, a member of the European Central Bank's (ECB) Executive Board, stated that the digital euro will provide the highest level of privacy currently achievable with existing technology. For offline payments, transaction details are visible only to the payer and payee; for online payments, the Eurosystem cannot identify the parties involved in the transaction, while relevant banks retain the ability to do so.

The digital euro will still be distributed by commercial banks, which must continue to fulfill existing identity verification and reporting obligations, including anti-money laundering requirements. The European Parliament established its negotiating position on the relevant regulations in July, and EU member states plan to reach an agreement by the end of 2026.

The ECB has selected 36 payment service providers to participate in a 12-month pilot program, which is slated to launch in the second half of 2027. The first issuance of the digital euro is targeted for 2029. In contrast, U.S. law prohibits the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency before the end of 2030, and any subsequent issuance would require explicit authorization from Congress. (Decrypt)

Odaily News: Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas posted on X that ETF closures have increased 65% year-over-year, with nearly 200 shut down so far this year, on pace to break records. Meanwhile, new ETF launches are about five times the number of closures, also set to easily set a record, as issuers are closing zombie funds at a faster pace.

Odaily News The U.S. PCE price index has been released, serving as the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. The annual PCE inflation rate stands at 3.7%, unchanged from June. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, the core PCE inflation rate is 3.3% year-over-year, also flat compared to June. Since this report incorporates other inflation data previously released, PCE figures typically align closely with investor expectations. However, amid the Fed's ongoing inflation concerns, this report further clarifies the inflation picture, and Fed Chair Warsh is set to deliver a key speech on Friday.

The U.S. CPI data brought good news in July, with core CPI falling to a relatively moderate 2.5%. But the PCE inflation rate weights different spending categories differently, so it has consistently shown notably stronger performance. At this point, there remain many uncertainties regarding how Warsh views the inflation challenge he has inherited. He has yet to add his own economic projections to the quarterly "dot plot," which summarizes Fed officials' forecasts for the economy and interest rates. Additionally, he has not indicated whether he might support rate hikes at upcoming meetings — an issue that has already caused divisions among Fed officials. (Jin10)

Odaily News: Nick Timiraos, the "Fed Whisperer," posted on X platform that core PCE rose 0.25% month-over-month in July, translating to an annualized rate of 2.99%. This increase remains largely unchanged from July 2025, keeping the year-over-year core PCE growth at 3.34% (compared to 2.86% in July 2025). On an annualized basis, the 3-month annualized growth rate of core PCE is 3.0%, while the 6-month annualized growth rate is 3.5%.

Odaily News: The US annual inflation rate unexpectedly held steady in July, marking the 65th consecutive month it has remained significantly above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. The pause in the decline from recent elevated inflation levels, impacted by the Iran war, may intensify the internal debate within the Fed over whether to raise rates or hold them steady.

Data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Wednesday showed that the Fed's preferred gauge, the US PCE price index, rose 3.7% year-over-year in July, unchanged from June and slightly above analyst expectations of 3.6%. With trade talks between the US and Canada, its second-largest trading partner, breaking down on Friday, a new wave of tariff-driven inflationary pressures may be on the horizon.

On a month-over-month basis, the PCE price index rose 0.2% in July, also exceeding economist forecasts. In June, the index had declined 0.1% month-over-month, the lowest level since April 2020. The Bureau of Economic Analysis also updated second-quarter economic growth data, keeping the annualized growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP) unchanged at 1.5%. (Jin Shi)

Odaily News: Market pricing indicates a slight increase in expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike next month, following the release of U.S. government data showing that the inflation gauge closely watched by the Fed rose 3.7% year-over-year in July, slightly above economists' forecasts. Data from interest rate futures show that after the release, the market priced in approximately a 42% probability of a Fed rate hike in September, up from around 36% before the data was published.

Odaily reported that MiniMax disclosed at its mid-2026 results conference on the evening of August 26 that the company's annual recurring revenue (ARR) has surpassed $800 million in August, with Q2 revenue growing 81.8% quarter-over-quarter. July token consumption reached 20 times the January level, and B2B business now contributes over 80% of overall ARR.

MiniMax stated that in terms of computing power, the company is one of the first two independent large model companies in China to establish a large-scale, long-term stable infrastructure system. The infrastructure can now independently support the largest training tasks, with ETTR (Effective Training Time Ratio) reaching 97%.

Odaily News: Alibaba has released a smaller, more cost-effective Qwen AI model. (Jin Shi)

Odaily News Digital asset manager Grayscale Investments' Chief Legal Officer Craig Salm stated that the company's Zcash investment product has been upgraded to the world's first Zcash Exchange-Traded Product (ETP), marking a move of privacy-focused crypto assets into broader compliant investment channels. Following the launch of this Zcash ETP, investors can gain exposure to ZEC through SEC-registered traditional financial products. Grayscale noted that this signifies the Zcash ecosystem, after nearly a decade of development, is entering a new phase of institutionalization.

Salm recalled that Grayscale launched the Zcash Investment Trust in 2018, when the ZEC trust product was just one of four products offered by the company. After years of regulatory engagement, the product was recently converted into the Zcash ETP, with the ticker symbol ZCSH. The process of bringing the Zcash product to the public market was not easy. Due to ZEC's privacy features, the company underwent greater regulatory scrutiny when launching its first publicly quoted Zcash fund in 2021, but ultimately completed the product rollout.

Data shows that the adoption rate of Zcash's private transaction features has been steadily rising recently. In February 2026, ZEC shielded transactions reached an all-time high of 59.3% of total transactions, and after the latest Ironwood upgrade, it has again approached this level. Currently, the shielded pool holds approximately 4.4 million ZEC, accounting for about 26% of the circulating supply.

Odaily News: According to Gate data, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) rose nearly 10 points in the short term, reaching 99.03. Spot gold fell $11 in the short term, now trading at $4,619 per ounce.

The U.S. annual PCE price index for July came in at 3.7%, unchanged from the previous month, while the market had expected a slight decline to 3.6%.

Odaily News: The revised annualized quarterly rate of real GDP for the second quarter in the United States is 1.5%, consistent with the initial value and in line with market expectations. The annual rate of the core PCE price index for July in the United States is 3.3%, unchanged from the previous month and in line with market expectations. (Jin Shi)

Odaily reported that the U.S. real GDP annualized quarterly rate for the second quarter was revised to 1.5%, compared with the expected 1.50% and the previous value of 1.50%. (Jin10)

Odaily News: The U.S. core PCE price index rose 0.2% month-over-month in July, in line with expectations of 0.20%, and up from the previous 0.10%. (Jin Shi)