Gold prices climbed past $4,650.

ChainThink reports that on Aug. 24, Alibaba said in an official statement it plans to place 710 million new shares at HK$112.70 each, aiming to raise about HK$80 billion (around US$10.2 billion). The offer price implies an estimated 3.6% discount to the latest closing price. The deal would be Alibaba's first primary share sale since its Hong Kong listing in 2019. The company said it will allocate 100% of net proceeds to full-stack AI, spanning chips, AI infrastructure, and the development and deployment of models. Upon completion, the placement is expected to be the largest follow-on offering in Hong Kong listing history, and the third-largest globally in 2026, behind Alphabet and Intel. People familiar with the transaction said the placement was oversubscribed, attracting long-term investors including sovereign wealth funds. Alibaba's latest financial report showed capital expenditure in the most recent quarter rose 75% year over year to RMB 67.678 billion, largely directed to AI infrastructure. Revenue from AI cloud and computing-power services grew 45% year over year.

Spot gold rose 0.7% to $4,636.34 an ounce, its highest level since May 15. Prices gained more than 5% last week. Goldman Sachs said gold could surpass its $4,900 year-end target. Poland's central bank lifted its gold holdings in July to 20.6 million ounces.

Aug. 24 — The United States has imposed 50% tariffs on select Canadian goods after U.S.-Canada trade talks collapsed, CNBC reported. Canadian Prime Minister Carney said Ottawa will respond with tit-for-tat measures, with retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products slated to begin Sept. 8. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to unveil sweeping sanctions on Iran on Monday, describing the package as the U.S. government's "largest financial offensive ever" against an adversary. Markets opened the week on a cautious note. U.S. stock index futures fell Sunday as long-term Treasury yields continued to push higher, with the 30-year yield at 5.273% and the 10-year yield around 4.734%. Separately, AI startup Anthropic is preparing to go public. Its IPO filings are expected to flag public opposition to AI development and data-center expansion as a key risk factor.

Huo Xing Cai Jing said Aug. 24 that EmberCN tracking shows Huang Licheng, also known as "Maji Dage", profited from last week's one-way rally in crypto by rolling a long position from about $1.5 million to roughly $11.15 million, effectively recouping around $11 million of prior losses. Over the past 10 months, his ETH long positions had posted losses of about $35 million. After the latest gains, his cumulative historical loss has narrowed to around $24 million. Earlier on-chain data had indicated his total losses were still in the tens of millions of dollars. Huang currently holds approximately $129 million in long exposure across ETH, BTC, HYPE and PUMP, with an overall leverage ratio of about 12x. If the market maintains its one-sided advance, the earlier $35 million drawdown could shrink further. A shift into consolidation or a downturn could also quickly wipe out the recent $11 million profit given the high-leverage rollover strategy.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is pressing ahead with a long-dated Treasury buyback program, saying each operation will repurchase at least an additional $2 billion of long-term Treasuries through Nov. 4. Markets read the move as a signal the government is seeking to rein in financing costs and steady the bond market. After the announcement, gold extended its rally, jumping 2.4% on Friday and posting a cumulative gain of 5.9%. Silver and platinum also climbed sharply, up 8.6% and 9.3%, respectively.

ChainThink, citing The New York Times on Aug. 23, said Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto is facing a deepening crisis after two successive leaders disappeared. Founder Sylwester Suszek went missing in 2022. His successor, CEO and attorney Przemyslaw Kral, reportedly vanished in April and has not appeared publicly for four months. The platform, previously known as BitBay, was founded in Poland in 2014 and later moved to Estonia. It has claimed about 1.3 million customers and hundreds of millions of dollars in assets. In April, the Zondacrypto website abruptly went offline, leaving hundreds of thousands of users unable to withdraw funds or trade. Its ZND token subsequently crashed by more than 99.9%. On June 29, Estonia's Financial Intelligence Unit revoked the operating license of the exchange's parent company. Before his disappearance, Kral told clients the platform held roughly 4,500 BTC, valued at more than $330 million, but said access required a private key controlled by Suszek. Crypto industry sources have questioned whether the wallet has been inactive for nearly a decade. Suszek reportedly disappeared at a gas station in southern Poland after sending voice messages and texts to his sister saying he had been kidnapped and demanding a BTC ransom. Polish prosecutors have charged a business partner, Marian Wszolek, with organized crime, VAT fraud, money laundering and other offenses; he also later disappeared. The prosecutor's office in Katowice has opened an investigation into Zondacrypto's formation and operations. Polish politicians and media are examining whether the exchange failed due to market risks or was allegedly tied to money laundering from the outset.

Aug. 24 (PANews/Reuters) — Tether has scrapped a planned $120 million Bitcoin mining investment in Uruguay following a contractual dispute with UTE, the country’s state-owned power utility. The disagreement centered on the electricity allocation for two proposed mining sites. Tether said the volume set out in the agreement was a minimum that could be increased later, while UTE treated it as a fixed ceiling. The two sides sought to settle the issue through an amended contract, but Tether representatives did not attend the signing. Reuters also reported that Microfin, Tether’s legal entity in Uruguay, stopped paying electricity bills two months after a change in government.

Spot gold posted a powerful weekly rally, climbing more than 5% to $4,604.53 an ounce and marking a three-month high. Prices also pushed through closely watched technical levels, including a break above the 200-day moving average, reinforcing a bullish chart setup. The surge came as the US dollar weakened after the US Treasury said it would at least double the size of its buyback operations for long-dated Treasuries (10- to 30-year maturities) from $2 billion per operation to at least $4 billion. The move was designed to curb the rise in long-term yields after the 30-year yield touched its highest level since 2007, but markets interpreted it as a fresh hit to confidence in the dollar. The US Dollar Index slid to its lowest level since mid-May, closing near 98.84, while the euro rose to a three-month high against the dollar. Gold's advance was also supported by renewed safe-haven demand amid elevated geopolitical risks in the Middle East. Tensions around the Strait of Hormuz intensified after an Iranian parliamentary committee approved a proposal that would allow Iran to charge fees for vessels transiting the waterway for services including maritime support, environmental services, fuel supply, insurance and security-related matters. Shipping volumes through the corridor have reportedly dropped sharply from more than 130 cargo ships a day before the conflict to only a handful now. Brent crude has climbed toward $94 a barrel, adding to inflation concerns and reinforcing gold's appeal. In futures markets, US gold futures rose 2.4% to settle at $4,680.60. Spot gold's intraday peak reached $4,632.10, the highest level since May 15. The rally delivered gold's third straight weekly gain. Analysts pointed to three overlapping drivers: a technical breakout, growing doubts over the dollar's credibility and a revival of geopolitical risk premiums. TD Securities' Bart Melek said technical factors were a key driver and added that if momentum holds, the next target could be $4,700. Goldman Sachs noted a sharp rise in demand for gold call options as interest in macro hedges returns, which can mechanically amplify price moves. Currency strategists said the Treasury's expanded buyback program is adding pressure to the dollar through the prospect of lower yields and increased investor concern about "financial repression." Marc Chandler of Bannockburn Global Forex said the push to suppress yields has done little to keep rates down but has weakened the dollar. Citigroup cut its three-month forecast for the US Dollar Index to 98.34 from 102.12. Some market participants argue the buyback approach risks stoking inflation expectations. Rich Checkan of Asset Strategies International said accelerating purchases could expand the money supply, leaving "more dollars chasing limited gold." The policy debate is unfolding against a backdrop of US government debt having surpassed $40 trillion. Sentiment has turned decisively bullish. Kitco's latest survey showed 8 of 11 Wall Street analysts (73%) expect further gains, while the remaining 3 see consolidation; none forecast a decline. Among retail participants, 164 of 211 respondents (78%) projected higher prices. In early Asian trading on Monday (August 24), spot gold held near recent highs, around $4,617.50 an ounce. At 07:36 Beijing time, spot gold was quoted at $4,618.24. Investors are now looking to a busy week of event risk. Federal Reserve Chair Powell is due to speak at the Jackson Hole symposium, his first public appearance since taking office in May. TD Securities said dollar risks remain tilted to the downside, warning that a lack of clarity on inflation-fighting credibility could weigh further on the currency. US data releases on Wednesday (August 26) include the core PCE price index, the second estimate of second-quarter GDP and durable goods orders, all due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Federal funds futures imply markets see a roughly 40% chance of a rate hike in September, rising to 73% by December. Also on August 26, NVIDIA is set to report second-quarter earnings. As a bellwether for the AI trade, its results could influence risk appetite; any cooling in AI-linked momentum could prompt additional flows into safe-haven assets such as gold. Strategists say the broader narrative is shifting. Gold is increasingly being framed not only as an inflation hedge but also as a strategic hedge against dollar credit and fiscal-sustainability risks, alongside steady central-bank accumulation. Saxo Bank said gold's ability to rise even as nominal yields increase suggests fiscal and debt concerns are becoming a more important driver of demand for hard assets. UBS has forecast gold could reach $5,400 over the next 12 months. Analysts also caution that short-term overbought signals are emerging after the rapid run-up, leaving room for a technical pullback. Some said a retreat toward $4,400 would still be constructive if that level holds as support.