TL;DR

Bullish triples in NYSE debut; Nvidia, AMD regain China chip sales; Advent acquires Sapiens for $2.5B.

Highlights

• Bullish, a Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange, raised $1.1B in its NYSE IPO at a $5.4B valuation; shares opened 143% above the offer, briefly hitting a $13B market cap 1.
• Advent International is acquiring Sapiens, an Israel-based insurance SaaS provider, for $2.5B in cash (47.5% premium), with plans to accelerate AI-driven SaaS expansion 2.
• Nvidia and AMD received US approval to resume scaled-down AI chip sales to China under a 15% revenue-sharing agreement with the US Treasury; the White House may extend this model to other chipmakers 36.
• US agencies are embedding trackers in select AI chip shipments to prevent illegal diversions to China, increasing enforcement of export controls 4.
• CoreWeave’s Q2 revenue rose 207% YoY to $1.21B, but losses widened to $290M; OpenAI contracts now total up to $11.9B through 2030 5.
• Google Play now requires crypto wallet and exchange apps to obtain regulatory licenses in 15 major markets, raising barriers for non-custodial wallet developers 7.
• CMB International tokenized its USD Money Market Fund across Solana, Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Plume; OpenEden partnered with BNY Mellon for tokenized US Treasury fund custody 8.
• Fonte Capital received approval to launch Central Asia’s first spot Bitcoin ETF on Kazakhstan’s Astana International Exchange 9.
• OpenAI’s GPT-5 update halves latency and surpasses human professionals on medical reasoning benchmarks 10.
• Robinhood ’s July assets under custody reached $298B (+106% YoY), with 2.5M new accounts in 12 months; shares fell 4% on margin risk concerns 15.
• Google’s Gemini AI adds memory and incognito modes, improving personalization and privacy controls 13.

Commentary

Bullish ’s strong NYSE debut, with shares opening at nearly triple the IPO price, highlights renewed institutional demand for crypto infrastructure with regulatory credibility 1. This performance, alongside Circle’s recent IPO, may drive up late-stage valuations for well-positioned crypto startups and increase the likelihood of further public listings or strategic exits in the sector. However, Google Play’s new licensing requirements for crypto apps will raise compliance costs and may limit market access for smaller or non-custodial wallet developers, favoring well-capitalized and regulatory-focused teams 7.

In AI, Nvidia and AMD ’s ability to resume China sales under a 15% revenue-sharing deal with the US Treasury preserves a key revenue stream but introduces new compliance and geopolitical risks 3. The White House’s openness to expanding this model to other chipmakers signals a more interventionist approach to cross-border tech sales 6. US agencies embedding trackers in AI chip shipments further underscores the heightened regulatory scrutiny on hardware supply chains, which could impact startups dependent on global distribution or Chinese customers 4.

CoreWeave’s rapid revenue growth, driven by large contracts like OpenAI’s $11.9B commitment, signals ongoing demand for AI compute infrastructure. Yet, persistent losses and heavy capex highlight the capital intensity and customer concentration risks in this segment 5. Investors may favor startups offering differentiated AI tooling or power management solutions as hyperscale infrastructure faces cost and power constraints.

Tokenization of traditional assets is advancing, with CMB International and Fonte Capital both launching regulated blockchain-based products 89. Institutional partnerships, such as OpenEden’s with BNY Mellon, suggest growing mainstream acceptance of tokenized finance, which could spur new venture opportunities in compliance-first DeFi and digital asset infrastructure 8.

VCs should monitor regulatory developments in crypto, AI hardware, and digital assets, as policy changes are directly influencing market access, exit options, and the investability of emerging companies.