Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) is already worth about $2.2 trillion, with shares of the chip foundry trading at about $427 as of this writing.

My prediction: The company's market value passes the $3 trillion mark before 2029. To be specific, that means sometime before the end of 2028, about two years and four months away.

That may sound like a bold call. The stock would need to reach about $580 per share, about 21% above its 52-week high of $479.

But the yearly return the milestone requires is more ordinary than it sounds. And it's a fraction of the pace TSMC's business is growing at today.

TSMC needs about 14% a year to get there

Going from about $2.2 trillion to $3 trillion is a gain of about 35%. Spread over that stretch, it works out to about 14% compounded annually.

For a business growing the way TSMC is right now, that isn't a high bar.

I'm not assuming investors pay more for each dollar of TSMC's earnings than they do today, either. If the stock's price-to-earnings multiple simply holds steady, the share price should track earnings growth over time. In other words, earnings compounding at about 14% a year through 2028 could arguably get the company there on its own.

A 40% year

Highlighting how far ahead of that bar the business is running, TSMC's second-quarter revenue rose 36% year over year to NT$1.27 trillion ($40.2 billion in U.S. dollars), while net income surged 77%. Gross margin was 67.7%, a big step up from 58.6% a year before. And the momentum has carried into the second half of the year. July revenue rose about 45% year over year, putting revenue through the first seven months of 2026 up 37%.

Management expects more of the same. Guidance calls for third-quarter revenue of $44.6 billion to $45.8 billion. Against the year-ago quarter's $33.1 billion, the midpoint represents about 37% growth -- an acceleration from the second quarter's pace in dollar terms.

In July, management also raised its full-year outlook to revenue growth slightly above 40% in U.S. dollar terms.

"Moving into third quarter 2026, we expect our business to be supported by continued strong demand for our leading-edge process technologies, including the steep ramp-up of our 2-nanometer technology," said Wendell Huang, TSMC's chief financial officer, in the company's second-quarter earnings release.

The company is spending like it expects the demand to last, too. Management now plans $60 billion to $64 billion of capital spending in 2026, up from its earlier budget, and it announced an additional $100 billion investment in Arizona to build several more leading-edge chip fabs and advanced packaging plants.

What could go wrong?

The main risk is concentration.

High-performance computing accounted for 66% of TSMC's revenue in the second quarter, tying the company's growth closely to the artificial intelligence (AI) build-out. If the biggest spenders on AI infrastructure pull back, growth could slow quickly.

Of course, margins could give back some ground, too. Gross margin guidance of 65% to 67% for the third quarter sits below the 67.7% the company just posted. If profitability drifts lower from here, earnings could grow more slowly than revenue does -- and it's earnings growth, not revenue growth, that has to average about 14%.

But the prediction can absorb a lot of deceleration. Say revenue growth halves to 20% in 2027, then halves again to 10% in 2028.

Even that path compounds at about 15% a year over those two years, still above the requirement, assuming profit margins hold near current guidance and the price-to-earnings multiple stays put. And it leaves out the rest of 2026, when growth is running at about three times that pace.

The scenario I take more seriously, however, is a market that changes its mind. If investors sour on AI infrastructure spending, they could pay less for each dollar of TSMC's earnings even while those earnings keep growing. A compressing price-to-earnings multiple would likely raise the bar on the business -- possibly well past 14% a year.

Ultimately, though, a business guiding for revenue growth slightly above 40% this year clears a 14% hurdle with plenty of room to spare, even if growth fades hard through 2027 and 2028. I expect Taiwan Semiconductor's market value to top $3 trillion before the end of 2028.

Daniel Sparks and his clients do not have positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

An unauthorized withdrawal of 3,998.5 BTC (~$320 million) from the Liquid Network, a bitcoin sidechain, prompted a network halt. By disabling nodes that bridge between Liquid and the bitcoin mainchain, attackers are limited in their ability to cash out via bridge. Blockstream, the developers of Liquid Network, also said they had contacted exchanges to ask them to pause LBTC deposits and withdrawals, cutting off another avenue.

The unauthorized transaction included a message reading "we are whitehats. contact us on chain", suggesting the possibility that the withdrawal was in fact well-intentioned security researchers aiming to "rescue" funds after discovering they were vulnerable and then return them to a secure wallet. However, as of the afternoon on September 6, Blockstream had only said that they were "working on contacting" the "purported white-hat hackers".

• Tweet by Liquid Network

Nvidia's ambitious revenue forecast highlights a transformative shift in tech industry dynamics, emphasizing AI's growing economic influence.

The post Nvidia forecasts year-ahead revenue, aims to surpass Apple and Alphabet appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has established itself as the artificial intelligence (AI) chip leader, delivering double- and even triple-digit growth in recent quarters. This is thanks to the company's early presence in the space and its commitment to constant innovation.

Though Nvidia clearly dominates, it isn't alone in this high-growth field, and rivals are also seeing success here. This increasing competition is one risk that investors have kept on their radar screens, with the idea that this market giant may eventually lose some share.

But, in recent times, Nvidia has made key moves to stay ahead. One of these is the development of stand-alone central processing units (CPUs) -- an area where Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) dominate. Nvidia's entry may represent a threat to these players. And now a fresh $12 billion move could represent yet another challenge for Intel and AMD. Did Nvidia just say checkmate to its fellow chip players? Let's find out.

Nvidia's leadership

First, let's consider Nvidia's competitive path so far. As mentioned, Nvidia ensured its market position by entering early -- that headstart, along with frequent launches of updated platforms and an expansion of products and services, has maintained the company's market position. Though rivals such as AMD and Intel have launched AI chips and systems and have delivered growth, Nvidia remains significantly ahead.

AMD and Intel, however, are longtime leaders in CPUs, the type of chips found in all computers. In the earliest stages of the AI boom, the CPU didn't play a big role. Instead, chips such as graphics processing units (GPUs) powered tasks like model training. But in the next stages of the boom, the CPU is expected to shine as it fuels the actions of AI agents.

Nvidia, aiming to benefit from this next phase of AI growth, is launching its first stand-alone CPU -- and already forecasts $20 billion in CPU sales this year. The company says it expects to dominate this market too.

This isn't great news for AMD and Intel, and Nvidia's latest move might represent an even bigger challenge. Nvidia this past week announced its plan to buy open-source AI platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion.

What is Hugging Face?

What exactly is Hugging Face? It's a place where developers, researchers, companies, and tech fans can go to freely access, build, and test AI models. The acquisition, Nvidia's second-largest after the purchase of Groq assets last year, is a wise move for Nvidia as it broadens the company's position in the AI ecosystem and brings it into contact with a wide range of developers who require compute.

Nvidia has pledged to keep Hugging Face neutral, a platform supporting the use of compute from any provider.

"Nvidia compute will not be required to build on or deploy through Hugging Face," chief Jensen Huang wrote in a blog post announcing the deal.

But analysts have speculated that Nvidia software stacks could eventually see better integration than those of others, a point that could work in Nvidia's favor.

So, considering all of this, did Nvidia just say checkmate to AMD and Intel? This latest acquisition isn't the best news for Nvidia's rivals, as it further expands this leader's presence in the AI ecosystem and offers it a certain level of control in yet another area. But it's unlikely Nvidia would take steps that would significantly weigh on rivals -- if developers relying on AMD or Intel compute face difficulties on Hugging Face, they may not stick around. Nvidia must ensure a high-quality user experience for everyone to maintain Hugging Face's usefulness and popularity.

All this means Nvidia didn't exactly say checkmate to AMD and Intel – they may face some headwinds, but I expect growth to continue, as there is plenty of room for more than one player in this space. At the same time, the acquisition of Hugging Face is a fantastic move for Nvidia, further broadening its role in this AI revolution.

Adria Cimino has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

This settlement sets a precedent for stricter social media regulations, potentially reshaping industry standards and youth protection policies.

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Ahead of Lululemon's (NASDAQ: LULU) fiscal Q2 earnings report, I wrote an article published on Aug. 26 that said the stock looked like a value trap and that the warning from Dick's Sporting Goods would likely spill over and impact it as well. The stock subsequently plunged 17% on Sept. 4, in the session following its earnings report, as the athleisure company reported disappointing results and cut its full-year outlook. The stock has now lost more than half its value this year and nearly three-quarters of its value over the past five years.

Let's dive into the yoga brand's latest results and prospects to see what could come next for the once-high-flying apparel stock.

Troubles continue

Unfortunately for Lululemon, cutting guidance has become commonplace. For the fourth time since last June, it slashed its full-year outlook. It now expects revenue to decline by 7% to 5% to between $10.35 billion and $10.5 billion, down from prior expectations for sales in a range of $11 billion to $11.15 billion. Full-year adjusted EPS is projected to be between $9.48 and $9.73, but that includes a $0.86 tariff refund. Earlier, it guided to adjusted EPS of $10.95 to $11.15 without a tariff refund.

The company's Q2 results were pretty dreadful, and it looks like things are only worsening. Management noted everything from negative social media commentary to weak responses to new product launches to increased competition and brand deterioration.

Overall, the company's Q2 revenue fell 4% year over year to $2.42 billion, missing the $2.46 billion consensus estimate. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) plunged 34% to $2.01, but were above the $1.79 consensus.

The underlying numbers were even worse. Americas revenue sank 8%, while same-store sales plunged 12%. International revenue rose 4%, but only 2% in constant currencies, while comparable sales in constant currencies slipped 6%.

China had long been a bright spot for Lululemon, but revenue fell 2% in constant currencies while same-store sales dropped 8% excluding foreign currency movements. The company said it was impacted by negative brand sentiment, which shouldn't be surprising given its big PR gaffe in China when, at an important yoga event held on the Great Wall, it inadvertently gave a Chinese actor a Japanese taiko drum to play instead of a Chinese dagu drum. Rest-of-world sales rose 6% in constant currencies, but comparable-store sales on the same basis dropped 6%.

Gross margin decreased by 200 basis points to 60.5%, but it would have been down 360 basis points when excluding the tariff refund.

Inventory was basically flat year over year, and it is doing a decent job of keeping this in check. This is an important metric to monitor for struggling brands, as big increases above sales growth can lead to more markdowns and sales.

Looking ahead, things will start getting worse for the company just as its new CEO takes over. While it is not uncommon to set a low bar when a new CEO or CFO comes on board, the company still projected a pretty meaningful sales decline. It expects Q3 revenue to decline by 10% to 11% to between $2.290 billion and $2.320 billion. Adjusted EPS is expected to fall to between $0.93 and $0.98 for the quarter, versus $2.59 a year ago.

Is the stock a buy on the dip?

While Lululemon stock looks cheap, now trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 9 times this year's and next year's analyst estimates, the stock looks like it is set to fall into the same trap as other once very popular athletic apparel brands like Nike and Under Armour. The brand has lost its luster and faces increased competition, and, quite frankly, from my viewpoint, the athleisure fashion trend is shifting. I was recently eating lunch at Panera, and nearly everyone was wearing jeans. That is not something you would have seen a few years ago.

As such, this is a stock I'd still stay far away from, and it will likely take at least several years for a potential turnaround.

Geoffrey Seiler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nike. The Motley Fool recommends Lululemon Athletica Inc. and Under Armour. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are recording their largest daily inflow in nearly eight months.

Analyst TedPillows tells his 314,300 followers on X that the funds bought $730.87 million worth of Bitcoin on September 3rd.

He warns that on the two prior occasions when daily ETF inflows topped $700 million, Bitcoin formed a local top shortly afterward.

“The last two times, Bitcoin ETFs had a $700,000,000+ in daily inflow; BTC shortly formed a top. Yesterday, ETFs bought $730,870,000 in BTC, the largest inflow in almost eight months. Is the local top close for Bitcoin?”

On-chain analyst Alex Adler Jr. says Bitcoin ETFs account for a large share of the net flows over the last 30 days.

“Of the ~105K BTC equivalent net capital inflow over the past month, US spot ETFs contributed ~42.8K BTC in net flows, equivalent 41% of that amount.”

Meanwhile, the pseudonymous analyst DonAlt, who has a long history of accurately timing Bitcoin moves, believes BTC is in bull territory as the largest crypto asset by market cap refuses to initiate a deep corrective move.

“You just don’t get massive pullbacks when the market is bullish.

Shallow? Yes.
Deep? No.

The only times when you actually get deep pullbacks are when bulls are proven wrong, in which case you can buy, but just for a bounce, not for continuation.”

DonAlt predicts that Bitcoin will surge to as high as $90,000 before any meaningful pullback.

“I’m not saying there won’t be pullbacks, by the way. I could see $90,000 to $70,000, for example.

It’s just rare that you get an initial impulse like we had and then immediately show weakness.

I’m pretty sure at $90,000, the people upset in my comments would start switching bullish too.”

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A Dallas nonprofit is notifying people across the country about a data breach that put sensitive personal and health information at risk.

The incident at Resource Center of Dallas exposed names, Social Security numbers, government IDs, financial details, health insurance and medical records belonging to 12,490 individuals, reports The HIPAA Journal.

Unauthorized access occurred between February 4th and February 12th of 2026. The organization completed its review on July 2nd of 2026 and began mailing notices on July 15th.

The breach affected 9,048 Texas residents and 13 Massachusetts residents.

Resource Center of Dallas is an LGBTQ health and advocacy nonprofit. The center says it regrets what happened in its notice letter.

“Resource Center values individual privacy and deeply regrets that this incident occurred.”

“Since detecting the incident, Resource Center has reviewed and revised its information security practices and implemented additional security measures to mitigate the chance of a similar event in the future.”

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Robust hiring figures in the most recent employment report have prompted President Trump to spark fresh demands for Federal Reserve interest rate reductions.

Employers added 162,000 positions in August, surpassing economist forecasts of 55,0000 by nearly three times and marking a sharp rebound from prior weakness, reports The Kobeissi Letter.

The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1% while revisions lifted earlier months’ tallies.

President Trump stated on social media that the central bank must lower rates because the United States represents a stronger credit risk than before.

“STRONG COUNTRY MEANS A LOWER INTEREST RATE – IT’S A BETTER CREDIT…Very simple! We should have the LOWEST RATE of any country in the World, like ‘the old days.’ Without the United States agreeing to allow them their big surpluses, and we could stop that immediately, they would no longer be considered financially ELITE! LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT…”

The US runs its largest deficits with partners including China, Mexico, and Canada, totaling over $1.2 trillion annually according to The Wall Street Journal.

Despite the strong jobs data, the stock market fell as investors brace for a potential Fed rate hike, says The Kobeissi Letter.

“You know the system is broken when stocks FALL after the US unexpectedly adds +162,000 jobs in a month, TRIPLING expectations.

Why? Because a strong jobs report means a higher chance of rate hikes.

This is the product of 60 straight months of 2%+ inflation.

Markets now ‘want’ a labor market collapse.”

The odds of a Fed rate hike at the September meeting have surged to around 53%.

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Scammers have drained tens of millions of dollars from elderly American timeshare owners through an elaborate international resale fraud operation.

Federal prosecutors in Texas have charged Christian Felipe Rodriguez Peraza, also known as Jose Mario Ochoa Rodriguez, of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, and his wife Brenda Tamayo Corona also known as Jazmin Oliva Chacon, of Mexico, along with co-defendants Michael Ian Hollands, of the United Kingdom, and Yorlena Alfonso Cuesta, with running the scheme that netted $40 million, according to the Justice Department.

The defendants allegedly contacted victims about selling timeshares on Mexico’s Pacific coast. The alleged fraudsters targeted timeshare owners with a fake sales scheme, claiming the victims’ properties had been sold and that the proceeds were ready for collection. The victims were subsequently told they needed to pay various fees and taxes upfront before they could receive their money.

To make the scheme appear legitimate, the perpetrators allegedly posed as US and Mexican government officials and used the identities of real American attorneys.

According to the indictment, Rodriguez allegedly worked with Hollands and other co-conspirators to move the victims’ money through US-based companies and bank accounts in an effort to launder the proceeds.

Two elderly San Antonio residents sent $1.2 million and received nothing in return.

Rodriguez and Tamayo were arrested in France and extradited to face charges in San Antonio federal court.

Says US Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas,

“Many of the elderly victims in this case sent all the money they had and more based on the lies told to them by this group of fraudsters. In case you haven’t noticed, this Department of Justice is uniquely committed to rooting out fraud in all of its forms, especially fraud conducted against Americans by transnational criminal organizations like this one. The long arm of American justice will continue to reach out and touch those who seek to enrich themselves to the detriment of Americans.”

Each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud charge and 20 years for the money laundering conspiracy charge if convicted.

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San Diego County sheriff’s investigators say they’ve arrested two suspects after uncovering evidence of identity theft in a sprawling fraud probe.

Detectives seized boxes of forged documents, stolen credit cards and passports during the operation, reports FOX 5 San Diego.

Katie Ann Rhew, 44, of Temecula and Michael Sundstrom, 46, of San Marcos were arrested after searches at their homes. The probe centers on fraud, forgery and burglary with evidence suggesting dozens of victims in Southern California and Arizona.

Rhew was booked on suspicion of identity theft, possession of personal identifying information belonging to more than 10 victims, forgery, burglary, possession of methamphetamine, committing a felony while on bail and criminal conspiracy. Sundstrom was booked on suspicion of identity theft, mail theft, possession of stolen property and criminal conspiracy.

Detective Brian Bentley outlined the types of property investigators believe may have been stolen.

“Mail, credit cards, personal identifying information stolen from either a mailbox or it could have been someone’s vehicle…

We are in the process of going through all of that evidence and trying to contact as many of these people as possible, so I don’t have an exact number yet. But I can say we seized a lot of evidence yesterday. There was well over 100 different individuals’ personal identifying information.”

Bentley advised residents to regularly monitor bank accounts to guard against financial crimes.

“You really have to be on top of monitoring your online financial presence. One of the ways I tell people quite often is managing and monitoring your own bank accounts. It has to be a regular kind of a thing.”

Bail was set at about $600,000 for each suspect with arraignment scheduled for Tuesday.

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Memphis authorities are accusing a bank teller accused of draining customer accounts through unauthorized cash withdrawals using old slips.

The Memphis Police Department arrested Demeries Coplin Brooks, 24, this week on charges of theft of property, forgery, criminal simulation and fraudulent use of marks and logos, reports WREG.

Brooks worked as a teller for First Bank on Poplar Avenue in Memphis.

Authorities said Brooks made several unauthorized cash withdrawals between December of 2023 and February of 2024 using old withdrawal slips from customer accounts.

The total loss from customer accounts was said to be $60,000.

A fraud investigation identified Brooks as the suspect.

His charges include theft of property, forgery, seven counts of criminal simulation and seven counts of the fraudulent use of marks or logos. He is being held on a $25,000 bond.

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The U.S. Department of Justice has broadened its antitrust probe into high beef prices by seeking six years of records on retail sales, wholesale costs, profit margins and pricing strategies from eight major grocery chains.

The letters go to Walmart, Amazon, Costco, Kroger, Publix, Albertsons, Aldi and Ahold Delhaize USA, says the U.S. Department of Justice.

Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. sent the letters in mid-July. He called beef prices a critical concern to Americans and a priority for the department.

The letters state.

“We will be seeking data and information that we anticipate to be in your company’s records relating to your company’s retail sales and prices, wholesale purchases and prices, costs and margins for beef products, pricing and purchasing strategy, your company’s analyses of market trends in the wholesale or retail price of beef, and information about factors influencing beef prices.”

The expanded inquiry follows a May investigation of meatpackers after President Trump accused the industry of collusion and price manipulation.

Beef has become more expensive as the U.S. cattle herd shrank and drought and a screwworm outbreak tightened supply.

The administration has eased some tariffs and import limits to try to add supply. The grocers have not commented.

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A US financial giant is accused of secretly intercepting the online communications of its website visitors through embedded tracking technologies.

Plaintiff Franceska Herrera filed the suit against Citigroup Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, reports Top Class Actions.

The complaint alleges the bank and financial services firm deployed third-party tracking pixels that captured users’ page navigations, searches and content interests in real time.

Herrera claims this happened without notice or consent and supported commercial goals including behavioral profiling and monetization through targeted advertising.

The complaint says.

“During her use of the website, [the] plaintiff navigated to multiple pages on the website, unaware that [the] defendant was causing and permitting third parties to intercept the contents of her communications and reveal her personal searches and content interests.”

“[Citigroup] intentionally deploys these technologies to accomplish its commercial objectives, including cross-session behavioral profiling, audience measurement, audience segmentation and the monetization of users’ browsing activity through targeted advertising.”

Herrera accuses Citigroup of violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, the Federal Wiretap Act, the California Constitution and Unfair Competition Law, along with unjust enrichment and intrusion upon seclusion.

She requests declaratory and injunctive relief plus statutory, punitive, compensatory and nominal damages.

Similar pixel-tracking lawsuits have targeted other companies including Wells Fargo, PNC Bank, Hilton and LinkedIn.

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President Trump is pledging to allocate up to $500 million from his super PAC to support Republican candidates in the November midterms.

He delivered the comments while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, reports CNBC.

“I think I have like close to a billion dollars in the super PAC, and I’m allocating probably four or $500 million. We’re going to spend a lot of money because we don’t want to lose our country.”

MAGA Inc. reported $403.45 million in cash on hand as of July 31st, according to its latest Federal Election Commission filing. The political action committee has been relatively restrained with its spending, shelling out roughly $21 million since the start of 2025, including about $1.7 million on independent expenditures.

Despite that, the pro-Trump PAC holds more cash than any of the major party committees, according to the Associated Press.

The group has started spending in key battleground states, including funding an event in Michigan this week featuring Vice President JD Vance. But with less than two months remaining before the election, MAGA Inc. has yet to come close to deploying the level of spending Trump outlined Friday.

The hybrid PAC can make unlimited independent expenditures but cannot contribute directly to candidates.

Trump said he would personally direct the spending toward winnable races and that some funds are expected to remain after November.

“I’m going to spend whatever amount of money necessary to try and help us. This is my money that I control… I’m going to help a lot of the congressmen and senators that need help.”

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A Houston genetics testing laboratory is notifying patients and staff about a cyberattack that exposed their personal and medical information.

Baylor Genetics says the breach occurred in a limited portion of its IT environment. An HHS filing lists 2,810,878 people affected.

The company detected suspicious activity on or around June 15th and later confirmed unauthorized access between June 11th and June 17th.

Affected data includes names, dates of birth, laboratory test results, medical testing details and in limited cases health insurance information or Social Security numbers for patients.

Certain current and former employees also had Social Security numbers, government identification and financial account data exposed.

The firm completed its review around July 30th and has notified affected individuals while reporting the incident to regulators.

Baylor Genetics states it has enhanced security controls and is offering identity protection resources.

The company says it has no evidence of misuse.

“At this time, Baylor Genetics is not aware of any confirmed identity theft, fraud, or misuse of personal information related to this incident.”

“Laboratory operations continued without interruption throughout the investigation, and there was no impact on Baylor Genetics’ ability to provide genetic testing services.”

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The Bitcoin sidechain has been paused, with exchanges suspending LBTC deposits and withdrawals as Blockstream works to contact those responsible.

Bitcoin Magazine

Alleged White-Hat Hackers Withdraw 4,000 bitcoin from Blockstream’s Liquid Network Federation Reserves

The Liquid Network said Sunday that purported white-hat hackers withdrew about 4,000 bitcoin, worth about $320 million, from the federation wallet that backs L-BTC. Bridge nodes were disabled, and the sidechain was paused. Other issued assets, including USDT, DePix and RWAs, were unaffected, the official account said on X.

The Liquid Network is a federated sidechain of Bitcoin, founded by Adam Back’s Blockstream. The Liquid chain issues a variety of assets such as LBTC, which it backs with BTC on the Bitcoin main chain, held in a large multisig of 15 corporate and known members. 11 of the 15 members need to sign a valid multi-signature transaction to move coins from the treasury. Before the hack, the treasury held over 4200 BTC; after the hack, Blockstream’s proof of reserves page reports a little over 207 BTC left. 

The hackers withdrew 4,019.4 BTC from the reserve address in a peg-out transaction using the SideSwap Peg-out Authorization Key. SideWap is a bridge exchange and a member of the Liquid Federation. While details on the mechanism of the hack are not confirmed yet, it appears an inflation bug on the LBTC side chain was exploited by the hackers to create over 4,000 LBTC that did not exist before, and cash them out for on-chain bitcoin from the federation. Because the transaction appeared as valid, given the consensus bug, the federation members’ HSM security servers signed the BTC withdrawal transaction, worth roughly 320 million at the time. 

The hacker moved the funds to an address ending in 6gyqjlte, from which they quickly signed a new transaction with a message on the OP_RETURN arbitrary data field saying “we are whitehats. contact us on chain.” Those coins were still at that address at the time of writing.

A small mainnet transaction to the hacker address followed by an OP_RETURN saying “Please contact security@blockstream.com”, presumably from a Blockstream public address, though that remains unconfirmed. A later OP_RETURN spend from the hacker address carried “Please contact us on Signal @m671aw.70”, however, this may be spam and does not share a link to the address with the stolen funds.

In response to the breach, exchanges were told to pause L-BTC deposits and withdrawals. Bridge nodes on the Liquid Network have been paused, limiting access to the side chain, which continues to produce blocks. 

JAN3 CEO Samson Mow said Aqua’s Liquid features were affected and that on-chain bitcoin still worked. Other wallets in the industry that use the Liquid Network are expected to be affected. Users holding LBTC now effectively have their savings at risk, since the underlying BTC is currently not redeemable. Given the private nature of the Liquid chain, user onchain analytics are scarce and not much public information is known about how much LBTC is held by retail users versus corporations of Blockstream itself. Nevertheless, should the funds not be returned, it would be a heavy blow to the Liquid Network’s user base.

Users of LBTC don’t have many options but to wait for conversations with the hackers to resolve. Given the size of the hack, it would be difficult for the hackers to get away with stealing all that bitcoin, though perhaps not impossible. What may happen is that the hackers ask for a finder’s fee and return the majority of the funds. 

This post Alleged White-Hat Hackers Withdraw 4,000 bitcoin from Blockstream’s Liquid Network Federation Reserves first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.

Michael S. Perry, a Director at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR), sold 11,600 shares of common stock on Aug. 18, 2026, according to an SEC Form 4 filing.

Transaction summary

Metric	Value
Transaction value	$1 million
Shares sold	11,600
Post-transaction shares (directly held)	111,459
Post-transaction value	$9.8 million

Transaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average sale price ($87.30); post-transaction value based on Aug. 18, 2026, market close ($87.90).

Key questions

• What were the specific execution details of this open-market sale?
  The shares were disposed of in multiple transactions at prices ranging from $87.20 to $87.44, with the reporting person providing full trade data to the company and the SEC upon request.
• How does this transaction impact the insider's total stake in the company?
  By selling 11,600 shares, the director liquidated 9% of his direct holdings. However, he remains a stakeholder with 0.0791% of the company's equity and continues to hold common stock underlying unvested restricted stock units.
• What is the current market valuation context for Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals?
  The Pasadena-based biotechnology company maintains a market capitalization of $12.2 billion, with shares priced at $89.41 as of the Aug. 19, 2026, market close.
• What are the fundamental financial metrics for the firm?
  Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals reported trailing twelve-month revenue of $669.5 million and a net loss of $320 million as it continues to advance a therapeutic pipeline centered on RNA interference technology.

Company Overview

Metric	Value
Share Price (as of market close 2026-08-19)	$89.41
Market Capitalization	$12.6 billion
Revenue (TTM)	$669.5 million
Net Income (TTM)	-$320 million

Company Snapshot

• Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals develops innovative biopharmaceutical treatments leveraging RNA interference (RNAi) technology, with a clinical pipeline focused on complex, challenging-to-treat diseases, and generates revenue through therapeutic development and commercialization.
• The company operates as a discovery-stage to clinical-stage biopharmaceutical enterprise, advancing multiple therapeutic candidates through clinical trials to achieve regulatory approval and subsequent commercialization in the United States market.
• Arrowhead targets patients with rare genetic diseases and complex liver conditions, including alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, positioning itself in the specialty pharmaceutical and orphan drug markets where unmet medical needs remain substantial.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, founded in 1989 and headquartered in Pasadena, California, represents a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a market capitalization of $12.2 billion and 711 employees. The company's strategic focus on RNAi-based therapeutics provides a differentiated technological platform for addressing genetic and metabolic disorders with limited treatment options. With TTM revenue of $669.5 million and continued investment in its pipeline, Arrowhead demonstrates the capital-intensive nature of biopharmaceutical development. However, the company remains positioned to capture significant value upon successful advancement and commercialization of its clinical candidates.

What this transaction means for investors

Over the last 12 months, the Arrowhead stock price has skyrocketed 217.7%. In comparison, over the same period, the S&P 500 has climbed 18.8%. With that context and the amount of shares sold, this appears to be a routine transaction from Perry. While he did sell 11,600 shares, he still directly holds 111,459 shares, signaling continued confidence in the company. The sale is likely just Perry taking some profits off the table, and not something shareholders should read too much into.

For what's ahead for the company, analysts are bullish, but shareholders may still want to keep their expectations in check. With the stock already climbing over 217.7% over the past year, it will be difficult to keep that pace. According to CNN, all 14 who cover the stock rate it a buy. Among those analysts, the median one-year price target is $109.50, representing a 26.8% gain from the current price of $86.34. The highest price target, $126, would represent a gain of nearly 46%. The lowest price target, $100, still would represent a gain of 15.8%.

Jack Delaney has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Increased U.S. diplomatic engagement may signal a shift towards serious peace talks, impacting geopolitical strategies and market dynamics.

The post US resumes Kyiv talks after meeting with Putin in Moscow appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Heightened U.S.-Iran tensions risk disrupting global oil supply, potentially driving Brent crude prices to new highs amid market volatility.

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The ruling may amplify the influence of well-funded party committees, potentially reshaping campaign dynamics and market strategies.

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Heightened tensions may destabilize regional security, affecting diplomatic negotiations and increasing market uncertainty over military actions.

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The Clarity Act's delay risks prolonging regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. crypto market, potentially hindering innovation and competitiveness.

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Anthropic's massive AWS investment signals a transformative shift in AI-cloud partnerships, potentially reshaping tech industry dynamics.

The post Anthropic commits over $100B to AWS as IPO prospectus prepares to reveal deal details appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The Pentagon's funding request highlights tensions over military spending priorities and raises questions about war powers and fiscal accountability.

The post Pentagon claims existing funds cover Iran war costs while seeking $80 billion more appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Anthropic, the company behind the Claude artificial intelligence (AI) models, plans to publish its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus after Monday's Labor Day holiday, The Information reported late last month. A listing may follow as soon as late September or in October. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) shareholders have a more specific reason than most to open the document when it lands.

On April 20, Anthropic committed to spend "more than $100 billion over the next ten years" with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon's cloud computing segment. That promise is equal to about a fifth of AWS's backlog of contracted work, which reached about $496 billion in June.

In other words, Amazon has already told investors how much one of its biggest cloud customers intends to spend. What no Amazon filing can show is whether the customer's own finances support it. That's what the prospectus is for.

The contract is already in Amazon's filings

April's agreement covers up to 5 gigawatts of capacity on Amazon's own silicon -- Graviton processors and Trainium2 through Trainium4 AI chips, with an option on future generations.

Amazon's filings show what a deal that size does to the backlog. AWS's backlog (commitments in customer contracts with original terms longer than one year that haven't yet been recognized as revenue) had grown to about $496 billion by June 30. That was up from about $364 billion in March, and from $195 billion in the middle of 2025 -- growth of 154% year over year, including a $132 billion jump in a single quarter. And the Anthropic deal wasn't alone. The filing also discloses a $100 billion, eight-year expansion of AWS's existing $38 billion commitment from OpenAI, announced a quarter earlier.

Not only is AWS's contracted future far bigger than it was a year ago, but more of it also sits years away from becoming revenue. The weighted-average remaining life of the segment's long-term contracts stretched from 4.0 years to 6.4 years over those 12 months.

One half of the deal is easy to check

Of course, a backlog is signed work, not guaranteed revenue. Amazon says the amount and timing of what it recognizes "will be driven by customer usage and our performance in accordance with contractual obligations."

Amazon's half of that sentence looks strong. In the second quarter of 2026, AWS's revenue rose 37% year over year, to $42.2 billion -- the segment's fastest growth in 18 quarters and a $169 billion annualized pace. Segment operating income rose about 63% year over year to $16.6 billion. And the AI business inside AWS passed a $25 billion annualized revenue pace of its own, growing triple-digit percentages.

The customer's half is the part I can't verify yet. Anthropic is private, and its reported growth is extraordinary. In April, the company said its annualized revenue pace had passed $30 billion, more than triple its level entering the year. And by mid-August, CNBC reported, Anthropic was telling investors the pace had reached $65 billion by the end of July.

Spread evenly, the commitment works out to more than $10 billion a year, or about 6% of AWS's current annual revenue pace. That's arguably affordable if Anthropic's growth holds, and heavy if it doesn't.

And Amazon isn't just supplying the capacity. Its latest quarterly filing shows the company has put another $10 billion into Anthropic this year, with up to $15 billion more available under a financing arrangement tied to compute-delivery milestones. That means Amazon's interest in Anthropic's financial health goes beyond the contract itself.

What does a prospectus settle?

Nearly everything the market knows about Anthropic's finances today is reported, not filed. The company's only filing on record is the confidential draft it submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission in June.

Its expected market value is a projection. People familiar with the matter told CNBC last month that the company could go public at a valuation of about $2 trillion, about double its private-market value. Its revenue pace is self-reported, and no audited numbers are public.

A prospectus replaces the estimates with audited financial statements: actual revenue, actual profit or losses, and actual cash. Even more useful for Amazon shareholders, it should carry Anthropic's own accounting of its purchase commitments, the other side of the agreements that swelled AWS's backlog.

At about $259 as of this writing, Amazon's stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of about 24. For a company whose cloud segment just accelerated to 37% growth, I think that's a reasonable price.

But AWS has now disclosed more than $200 billion of multi-year commitments from just two private AI companies, and until those companies file, investors can only judge them by reported figures.

Ultimately, Anthropic's prospectus is the first chance to check one of them. I'll be reading it closely.

Daniel Sparks and his clients do not have positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS) is offering investors a nearly 3.5% yield. The average bank's yield is around 2.2%, and the S&P 500 index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) has a tiny 1% yield. If you are looking for a high-yield bank stock, Scotiabank, as it is more commonly known, is probably worth a close look. But the real dividend story is about consistency. Here's what you need to know.

Bank of Nova Scotia has shifted gears, but not changed its dividend policy

Recently, Scotiabank made a major change in its business. For a long time, the Canadian bank had skipped the U.S. market, focusing instead on Central and South America. That differentiated it from its large Canadian peers, which had focused on growth in the U.S. Scotiabank's plans didn't work out as well as hoped, so it shifted gears. Now, like its peers, it is increasing its focus on the U.S., with a goal of offering its services from Mexico to Canada. Those three countries are contiguous and important trading partners.

What's notable is that Scotiabank has made this shift without resorting to a dividend cut. In fact, the biggest impact that dividend investors felt was a one-year pause in dividend increases. When you look at the company's history, however, that makes total sense. Scotiabank has paid dividends every year since 1833, over 190 years ago. And, unlike many of the largest U.S. banks, it also didn't cut its dividend during the Great Recession.

Scotiabank's efforts to grow in the U.S. market will likely be a net positive, but the real story here isn't about growth. This is a slow-and-steady business that will help you build wealth over time. Dividend reinvestment would allow for powerful compounding, given the above-average yield and incredible dividend history. The real story, then, is consistency, which is powered by the bank's Canadian operations.

Canada's banking system is highly regulated. That has left Scotiabank with a fairly conservative corporate culture and provides it, along with a small number of other large banks, with a protected market position. So its efforts outside of Canada are building atop a strong foundation. That foundation is so strong that Scotiabank was able to materially change its corporate direction without a major impact on the dividend.

When it comes to dividends, slow and steady can be very exciting

Will Bank of Nova Scotia make you rich? Perhaps, but certainly not quickly. This is the type of company you buy and hold for the long term because it has a fundamentally strong business. If you give it long enough, it can be a powerful wealth builder when included in a diversified income portfolio.

Reuben Gregg Brewer has positions in Bank Of Nova Scotia. The Motley Fool recommends Bank Of Nova Scotia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Crypto holders relied more on loans backed by digital assets as market conditions weakened in 2026, according to research from CryptoQuant.

The report analyzed data from crypto lender CoinRabbit. It found higher borrowing activity among both retail and high-net-worth users.

Borrowing Activity Rises

Crypto-backed loans allow holders to access cash without immediately selling their digital assets. Borrowers usually pledge more collateral than they receive, but falling prices can trigger liquidation or require more collateral.

According to the report, retail users recorded the biggest change in borrowing activity during the period. Their average number of loans rose 74%, from 30.8 per user in 2025 to 53.5 in 2026, while high-net-worth users rose 18%, from 16.5 to 19.4.

Repeat borrowing also became more common across the platform. The share of users taking multiple loans increased from 61.9% to 65.1%. Retail borrowers waited an average of 21 days between loans, compared with 11 days previously.

Beyond borrowing activity, collateral preferences also shifted, particularly among wealthier users.  Bitcoin’s share of pledged assets among high-net-worth users fell from 57.8% to 30.5%, while Zcash reached 24.2% after not appearing among the previous top 10.

CryptoQuant linked part of Zcash’s rise in collateral use to its sharp price rally. Zcash climbed from about $50 in late 2025 toward $800, while Monero, Chainlink and Cardano also gained larger shares among high-net-worth collateral.

Shifting Asset Preferences

Retail users continued to rely heavily on XRP as collateral during the period. However, its share fell from 41.7% to 35.2%, while Bitcoin remained close behind. TRON, Stellar, BNB, Kaspa, and Velo also entered the mix.

Meanwhile, the assets users traded most frequently changed during the period as market conditions shifted. Tether and Bitcoin remained the two largest assets by volume, while USD Coin moved into third place. Flare, Ether, and Ondo also entered the top 10.

Solana, Stellar, and Shiba Inu dropped out of the top 10 by trading volume. Together, these changes show that users adjusted both their borrowing and asset preferences during the weaker market period.

The post Crypto Holders Turn to Loans as Markets Cool in 2026: CQ appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The increasing difficulty in aligning AI models underscores the urgent need for global regulatory frameworks to ensure safety and control.

The post OpenAI’s chief scientist warns that advanced AI models are becoming harder to align and control appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Applied Digital: Accelerating and Sustained Revenue Curve

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) primarily generates its revenue by operating centralized digital infrastructure campuses and providing dedicated computing services designed for high-performance workloads across the North American region.

It recently signed an additional facility lease for a new campus and secured supplemental credit financing for ongoing construction, while reporting an operating margin of -45% for the quarter ended May 31, 2026.

IREN: Navigating a Period of Sequential Contractions in Top-Line Revenue

IREN (NASDAQ:IREN) earns the majority of its ongoing revenue by managing vertically integrated data center facilities and actively mining digital assets across its international infrastructure footprint.

While integrating a newly acquired European data center developer and closing the purchase of cloud software provider Mirantis, it recorded an operating margin of -452% for the quarter ended June 30, 2026.

Why Examining Core Revenue Generation Matters for Investors

Revenue serves as a primary starting point for investors to evaluate a corporation's ability to attract paying clients and generate gross business volume before standard operational expenses, local taxes, or daily administrative costs are finally subtracted. For neocloud operations such as Applied Digital and IREN, revenue growth is essential to understanding if their costly artificial intelligence infrastructure buildouts are paying off.

Analyzing the Comparative Quarterly Revenue Trajectories for Applied Digital and IREN

Calendar quarter	Applied Digital Revenue	IREN Revenue
Q3 2024	$60.7 million (quarter ended Aug. 31, 2024)	$52.8 million (quarter ended Sept. 30, 2024)
Q4 2024	$63.9 million (quarter ended Nov. 30, 2024)	$116.1 million (quarter ended Dec. 31, 2024)
Q1 2025	$52.9 million (quarter ended Feb. 28, 2025)	$144.8 million (quarter ended March 31, 2025)
Q2 2025	$38.0 million (quarter ended May 31, 2025)	$187.3 million (quarter ended June 30, 2025)
Q3 2025	$64.2 million (quarter ended Aug. 31, 2025)	$240.3 million (quarter ended Sept. 30, 2025)
Q4 2025	$126.6 million (quarter ended Nov. 30, 2025)	$184.7 million (quarter ended Dec. 31, 2025)
Q1 2026	$126.6 million (quarter ended Feb. 28, 2026)	$144.8 million (quarter ended March 31, 2026)
Q2 2026	$258.7 million (quarter ended May 31, 2026)	$137.2 million (quarter ended June 30, 2026)

Data source: Company filings. Data as of Sept. 4, 2026.

Foolish Take

When it comes to neocloud providers such as Applied Digital and IREN, understanding revenue trends is essential to investing in these companies. A neocloud's massive, debt-fueled costs to build AI data centers means they must achieve top-line sales growth, or their business could collapse.

That's why it's important to unpack IREN's recent trend of declining quarterly revenue. The company decided to shift away from mining cryptocurrency and focus on the high-growth AI infrastructure market. This caused its crypto sales to fall.

In IREN's 2026 fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30, its crypto mining revenue dropped to $66.7 million compared to $111.2 million in the previous year. That said, its fiscal Q4 AI cloud sales took off, hitting $70.5 million, up from $33.6 million in the year prior. So while overall revenue dropped from fiscal Q3, it's experiencing strong growth in AI. That's the trend investors want to see.

Applied Digital's situation is more straightforward. As a landlord to AI companies, it just needs to sign lease agreements that grant it long-term revenue predictability, while tenants bear the brunt of outfitting data centers with the AI hardware. The skyrocketing sales in its fiscal fourth quarter, ended May 31, demonstrates it is gaining traction in this arena.

Robert Izquierdo has positions in Iren. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Zcash price climbed 20% within 24 hours, reaching $1,210.67 while the broader cryptocurrency market remained largely unchanged. The privacy-focused coin briefly touched $1,225 after buyers accelerated their shift toward alternative cryptocurrencies. Rising volume, institutional demand, and short liquidations supported the advance. ZEC price has gained about 550% from its yearly low and nearly 4,000% from

The post How High Can Zcash Price Go? appeared first on CoinGape.

The shutdown highlights the critical need for stringent regulatory oversight and transparency in cryptocurrency exchanges to protect investors.

The post Orionx halts withdrawals ahead of permanent shutdown after $7M custody shortfall appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

BlackRock's strategy could reshape crypto asset management, making Bitcoin more accessible to high-net-worth individuals and smaller funds.

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Nvidia's AGI claim could reshape AI industry standards, emphasizing economic productivity over traditional benchmarks, impacting AI development.

The post Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declares AGI has arrived for many practical tasks appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The platform integrated with Raydium's LaunchLab on Saturday as RAY also saw gains of more than 40%. 

The shutdown comes after attempts to commercialize, license or find a buyer for its technology failed to produce a sustainable business. 

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest was on the case to jump in and buy the dip on Sept. 4, Inc. has added shares of Robinhood Markets and the 3iQ Solana Staking ETF. The purchases came as stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report that resulted in a selloff across Wall Street and fueled rising expectations that the Federal Reserve

The post Cathie Wood Buys The Dip In Robinhood Stock, Solana ETF As Jobs Data Sparks Market Crash appeared first on CoinGape.

Businesses change over time. Sometimes that change can turn a once-risky company into an attractive investment, but only if you can overlook the prior history. Here's why Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) could be a buy now and why some investors may still prefer to own a lower-yielding peer like Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD).

Energy Transfer has made "mistakes"

Let's get the bad news out of the way first. Energy Transfer agreed to buy pipeline peer Williams (NYSE: WMB) in 2006. It got cold feet when the energy sector hit a weak patch and worked to scuttle the deal. That was probably the right move for the business, which would have likely needed to load up on debt to get the deal done and/or cut the dividend. However, as part of its effort to get out of the acquisition it had agreed to, the company issued convertible securities that appeared to protect insiders from a dividend cut if the deal had gone through.

The deal was called off, so the converts turned out to be a non-issue for dividend investors. However, it was a move that would justifiably leave investors with trust issues. Then, during the 2020 oil downturn that accompanied the coronavirus pandemic, the partnership cut its distribution in half. The goal was to strengthen the balance sheet and reposition the business.

This was, again, likely a good move for the business. However, the problem is that the recession during that period was probably a point when dividend investors were hoping for consistency, not dividend cuts. The distribution is growing again and is above its level prior to the cut. And, perhaps more importantly, the business is on a different trajectory today than it has been historically, with what appears to be a focus on slow and steady growth.

Energy Transfer wants to be a tortoise like Enterprise

At this point, Energy Transfer is looking to grow its distribution by 3% to 5% per year. That's the slow-and-steady pace that investors have come to expect from peer Enterprise Products Partners. The difference is that Enterprise doesn't have the same negative events in its past. In fact, Enterprise has increased its distribution annually for 28 years. Conservative investors will probably be better off with Enterprise.

There's just one niggle here. While Enterprise offers an attractive 5.6% yield, Energy Transfer's yield is an even higher 6.3%. To be fair, Enterprise is a simpler business, noting that Energy Transfer also controls two other publicly traded master limited partnerships. The higher yield isn't just about the history; it requires more time and effort to track Energy Transfer. And Energy Transfer does appear to be a riskier investment than Enterprise.

That said, for investors willing to take on the risk, the reward is roughly 12.5% higher income due to the 0.7 percentage-point difference in yields offered by Enterprise and Energy Transfer. Given the repositioning of Energy Transfer's business, including reduced leverage, that could be enough to entice more aggressive and active income investors.

Energy Transfer is not a slam dunk

The real takeaway here is that Energy Transfer is a far more attractive income investment today than it was in the past. But that past is important to understand because it could leave more conservative investors with trust issues. And, if that's the case, Energy Transfer, despite an attractive yield, may not be the right choice for you. But, if you can forgive those transgressions and believe the MLP has turned into a slow and steady income tortoise, you might want to give it a shot. Just go in with your eyes open and track the business fairly carefully.

Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

If you are old enough, you remember a time before the internet. And you also remember Yahoo! and America Online being two of the most dominant internet companies early in the internet's development. The stocks were hot way back then, but today, both have basically flamed out and been swallowed up by other companies. Other internet companies became more dominant.

This isn't unusual in the tech sector, and investors piling into artificial intelligence (AI) stocks should keep that in mind. Sure, you could make a big bet on an AI stock that you think has winning tech, like a high-powered chip or a specialized application, or you could go with a picks-and-shovels play like Brookfield Renewable (NYSE: BEP)(NYSE: BEPC). Here's why this clean energy company could be the better bet.

AI Investors are being driven by emotion

Right now, artificial intelligence is a hot sector. Too many investors see it as a way to get rich quickly. And that has had pretty predictable consequences. For example, SoundHound (NASDAQ: SOUN) provides AI voice services. That's exciting, but probably not unique enough to build a business around. Still, its stock skyrocketed as investors jumped on the next hot thing. The shares have since plunged back to earth, down 70% from their 2024 peak.

The same could be happening now with Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC), a maker of data storage devices. Huge demand from the AI build got investors excited about the stock, but that excitement has begun to fade. The stock has fallen roughly 40% from its recent highs. That's actually the second huge drawdown over the last three years. Even AI poster-child Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has proven to be a highly volatile stock.

NVDA data by YCharts

If you can't stand the AI volatility, go with a picks-and-shovels play

But, there's one thing that AI can't live without: electricity. After all, AI is really just a fancy computer program. Electricity demand is so high right now that there's been a step change. Between 2005 and 2025, U.S. electricity demand increased by 10%. Between 2025 and 2045, U.S. demand is projected to increase 60%. AI is playing a major role in the changing dynamics of electricity. Globally, however, there's also a shift toward cleaner power sources and increasing demand from developing nations. A great way to benefit from AI, clean energy, and broader economic growth is Brookfield Renewable.

Brookfield Renewable owns a globally diversified portfolio of clean energy assets, with exposure to North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Its power portfolio includes solar, wind, hydroelectric, and storage. It also owns a stake in Westinghouse, a key global supplier to the nuclear power industry. It is a one-stop shop for clean energy exposure, and it is already working with AI-focused companies like Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) to help them build out their AI businesses.

The best part of the story, however, is likely to be Brookfield Renewable's dividend. The yield is currently around 5% for the partnership share class and 4.9% for the corporate share class. The quarterly disbursement has been increased at a roughly 5% annualzed pace over the past decade. Add a 5% dividend to a 5% dividend growth rate, and you get roughly 10%, which is about the return most investors expect from the broader market.

The future is bright for Brookfield Renewable

AI is just part of the electricity story that supports Brookfield Renewable's long-term growth opportunity. Which is actually more exciting than if AI were the only thing this clean energy company had going for it. If you are a dividend investor looking to benefit from AI, forget trying to pick a winner in the volatile AI sector and dig into high-yield Brookfield Renewable. It is already benefiting from AI's intense demand for power, but there's much more opportunity than that.

Reuben Gregg Brewer has positions in Brookfield Renewable Partners. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Microsoft, Nvidia, SoundHound AI, and Western Digital. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Renewable and Brookfield Renewable Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Anthropic's IPO could redefine AI market valuations, but rapid revenue growth raises concerns about sustainability and financial transparency.

The post Potential Anthropic IPO investors seek detailed revenue metrics ahead of blockbuster listing appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Ethereum's DeFi resurgence, fueled by meme coin interest, highlights shifting retail capital flows and potential volatility in crypto markets.

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This innovation could democratize access to advanced AI by reducing resource demands, enabling broader deployment without infrastructure changes.

The post Microsoft, Cornell University unveil Free Pause Tokens method for efficient language model training appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Since the start of 2026, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) has generated total returns, aka price appreciation with dividends reinvested, of around 14% well above historical averages.

However, plenty of stocks have beaten the S&P 500 this year, and not just the hottest names in tech. In fact, there's one stock in particular, one that may not exactly scream "cutting edge," that has crushed it thus far in 2026, with total returns of more than 24%.

The stock? Altria Group (NYSE: MO), America's largest tobacco company and purveyor of popular brands such as Marlboro and Skoal, as well as the nicotine pouch brand On! The question now is whether Altria Group's shares will remain one of the top-performing high yield dividend stocks.

Altria Group has smoked the S&P 500 in 2026

At the start of 2026, investors were mixed on this Big Tobacco stock. At the time, concerns ran high about Altria's ability to adapt to changing nicotine and tobacco consumption habits. Namely, investors were concerned about the company's falling market share in smokeless tobacco and oral nicotine products.

As these products continue to gain or sustain usage rates, while cigarette smoking rates in the United States keep declining, Altria's future hinges heavily on the company making a successful smokeless transformation, much like its former subsidiary, Philip Morris International, has successfully accomplished.

However, during much of early to mid 2026, these concerns took a back seat. For one, due to better-than-feared quarterly results. Tobacco stocks in general also performed well during this time, on growing confidence in the industry's smokefree pivot, which inspired some institutional investors who had shunned the sector to reenter major stocks in the space.

Trading for as much as $77.06 per share in 2026, Altria tumbled back to the mid-$60s per share in August, on the heels of the company's Q2 2026 earnings release on July 30.

Recent pullback highlights long-term risks

For the quarter, Altria reported just 1.2% net revenue growth, with sales net of exice taxes rising to $5.35 billion. GAAP earnings came in at $1.37 per share, down 2.8% from the prior year's quarter, and falling short of analyst estimates.

Despite declining domestic cigarette usage, Altria has continued to raise earnings and, in turn, its dividend, thanks to cigarette price hikes and growth from its smokeless products. However, price elasticity with cigarettes may only go so far. While demonstrating some success with products like On!, this still pales in comparison to the success of Philip Morris International's Zyn nicotine pouches.

Since August, shares have inched higher, thanks to an announced 4.7% dividend raise and news of a contract manufacturing agreement with Philip Morris International that could help utilize excess production capacity .

Trading for 12 times forward earnings, and with a 6.4% forward dividend yield,Altria still seems cheap. Coupled with its high dividend and strong 2026 performance, it may still seem like a winner. However, this stock could still prove risky for the long-term health of your portfolio. If the company's earnings gambit starts to fail, earnings could take a dive, threatening the stock's Dividend King status and turning this deep-value winner into a yield-and-value trap.

Thomas Niel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Philip Morris International. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) raised prices on every one of its U.K. plans in the past few days. The ad-supported standard plan took the biggest jump, moving from £5.99 to £7.99 a month (a third more), while the ad-free standard plan went to £13.99 and premium to £20.99. New members pay the new prices right away, and existing members typically get 30 days' notice before the change reaches their bills.

Shares of the streaming giant fell 5.4% on Friday to $78.25, the same day the increase made headlines.

Price increases are nothing new for this company, though. Netflix has been raising prices for 15 years, in markets all over the world, and its annual revenue has grown every single year through all of them.

But that streak is a low bar. The better measure, I'd argue, is what each increase did to the company's revenue growth rate -- and that record is more interesting than the streak itself.

The increases are coming faster

Netflix last raised U.K. prices in February 2025, when the ad-supported plan went from £4.99 to £5.99 a month. That makes this the second U.K. increase in about 19 months, and it leaves the ad tier costing 60% more than it did at the start of last year.

Netflix raised U.S. prices in March too, its second increase there in about 14 months, taking the standard plan from $17.99 to $19.99 a month.

Notably, the ad-supported tier (the plan built to catch price-sensitive members) is climbing fastest in both markets.

Revenue has grown through every increase

The worst increase Netflix ever made came in July 2011, when the company split its $9.99 streaming-plus-DVD plan into two $7.99 plans. Management acknowledged in its second-quarter 2011 shareholder letter that the change could be "as much as a 60% increase" for members who wanted to keep both services.

Hundreds of thousands of members canceled. Netflix ended the third quarter of 2011 with about 23.8 million U.S. subscribers, down about 805,000 in three months. And still, revenue rose 48% that year, and it grew another 13% in 2012.

The closest the streak has come to breaking was 2022. Netflix had raised U.S. prices that January, taking the standard plan from $13.99 to $15.49, and revenue for the year grew just 6.5% -- the company's slowest year of growth in at least a decade. A subscriber slump and a strong dollar contributed too. Even then, the top line grew. Growth stayed slow in 2023, then reaccelerated: revenue rose about 16% in both 2024 and 2025, reaching $45.2 billion last year, and 2025 opened with another round of U.S. price increases.

In short, no Netflix price increase has ever been followed by a down year of revenue. Where an increase can show up is in the growth rate, and even the clearest case took more than pricing to get there.

Will the ad tier change the pattern?

What's different this time is where the increase lands. Netflix's advertising business is its fastest-growing revenue line (ad revenue topped $1.5 billion in 2025, up more than 150%, and management is aiming to roughly double it this year), and that business depends on the ad-supported plan attracting members. Raising the plan's price by a third may test how much that audience is willing to pay.

The early evidence from the U.S. increase looks fine. In the shareholder letter accompanying its second-quarter results, Netflix said U.S. and Canada revenue grew 10% year over year, with what it described as only a partial quarter of impact from the March increase. The change, in management's words, "has gone well and as expected."

The companywide trend deserves more caution. Second-quarter revenue growth was 13% year over year, and the forecast for the third quarter is 11.7% -- a decelerating path. Full-year revenue guidance sits at $51.0 billion to $51.4 billion, or 13% to 14% growth, down from nearly 16% in 2025.

Meanwhile, engagement is nearly flat, with members watching only 2% more hours in this year's first half than in last year's. In other words, more members, higher prices, and advertising are carrying the growth, not more hours watched.

Ultimately, I expect the streak to survive this increase too. That kind of pricing power, I think, is rare, and Netflix has proved it over and over.

But the stock's valuation arguably already gives the company credit for it. At about $78, the price-to-earnings ratio is about 20 measured against expected 2027 earnings, a level that arguably assumes the pricing power continues.

Daniel Sparks and his clients do not have positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Netflix. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Iran's move may escalate regional instability, affecting global oil markets and complicating diplomatic efforts for U.S.-Iran agreements.

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Het bericht Chris vindt verloren Bitcoin uit 2011 terug: $4,5 miljoen waard verscheen eerst op Newsbit.

If you were fortunate enough to invest $1,000 in Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) a decade ago on Sept. 3, 2016, you would have roughly $126,810 today -- an incredible return that absolutely crushed the market. Take a look at that incredible growth in the chart below:

Data by YCharts.

Note that the calculation excludes trading fees and taxes, and the exact total fluctuates daily with Bitcoin's price. Still, turning four figures into six figures in one decade is a remarkable result by any standard.

Bitcoin's 62% annualized return beat every mainstream asset since 2016

That's putting it lightly. Few things came remotely close to a 12,581% return -- a 62% annual rate -- in that time. Compare Bitcoin's annual rate of return with some other options you would have had in 2016.

Investment	Annualized Return (Sept. 2016-Sept. 2026)
Bitcoin	~ 62%
Nasdaq Composite	~ 18%
S&P 500	~ 14%
Gold	~ 13%

Source: YCharts.

Wall Street now holds Bitcoin despite a decade of major crashes

Bitcoin suffered some brutal drawdowns along the way, and most investors jumped ship. It wasn't easy to hold on after a 70% crash while the "smart money" said to stay far away from Bitcoin.

Things have changed. Major institutions across Wall Street now hold Bitcoin. Motley Fool Research tracks major Bitcoin holdings by governments, public companies, and exchange-traded funds.

Of course, the flip side of that adoption is that it's highly unlikely we'll see returns in the future that come close to what we saw in the past. Still, I think Bitcoin is a smart addition as a small portion of a well-balanced portfolio.

Johnny Rice has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The incident raises critical concerns about the security and trustworthiness of federated sidechain models, necessitating urgent scrutiny.

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