Polymarket users referred to prosecutors in South Korea: Report
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South Korean regulators are reviewing whether Polymarket constitutes illegal gambling, giving it an opportunity to respond before making a decision.
PANews reported on July 6 that, according to The Block, South Korea's media regulator will give Polymarket an opportunity to respond before deciding whether to take corrective action against its prediction market platform. The regulator is reviewing whether Polymarket's services constitute illegal gambling activities prohibited by South Korean law.
South Korean beauty and retail stocks led the market gains, and Gate.com continues to expand its investment portfolio in South Korean stocks.
According to ChainCatcher, Gate's market data shows that the South Korean stock market was active today. Manyo Factory, a cosmetics stock, reached $11.60, up 18.43%; Heung Koo Petroleum reached $6.88, up 14.72%; and IT'S HANBUL reached $7.25, up 13.51%, with several popular South Korean stocks leading the market gains. Gate has established a 24/7 trading service system covering the three core markets of US, Hong Kong, and South Korea, supporting over 10,000 US stocks and ETFs, over 1,500 Hong Kong stocks, and over 1,000 South Korean stocks, totaling over 12,500 stocks and ETFs globally. Users can participate in global stock investment through their Gate unified account using USDT, supporting fractional share transactions starting from as low as 0.01 shares, and enjoying stock dividend rights. The platform also supports cross-brokerage transfers for US and Hong Kong stocks, as well as corporate actions such as stock splits and consolidations, further optimizing the stock investment service experience.
Meta alone dragged down AI stocks, and the opening circuit breaker in South Korean stocks continued the decline in US AI stocks.
According to Mars Finance, on July 2nd, the news that "Meta plans to build its own cloud business and sell surplus AI computing power" ignited the market, which interpreted it as a sign that the capital expenditure of hyperscale manufacturers has peaked. Meta surged 8.81%, its best performance in six months, while memory chip stocks, often referred to as "shovel sellers," experienced a significant sell-off. The S&P 500 closed at 7485.02 points, down 0.19%; the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 52305.24 points, essentially unchanged; the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.66%, while the Nasdaq 100, dominated by chip and momentum stocks, fell 1.5% to close at 29809.13 points. Some market analysts believe that the market is repricing the reversal of the pricing logic in the computing power industry chain. The market is concerned that hyperscale manufacturers are slowing down their procurement, directly impacting memory and semiconductor "shovel sellers." According to BIT (bit.com) market data, US AI stocks plummeted across the board: Heavyweight stocks Micron closed down 10.57%, AMD fell 6.8%, and Nvidia fell 1%. In the storage sector, SanDisk led the decline, falling 10.62%, while STX and WDC both fell over 5%. Small and mid-cap stocks, represented by CPO concepts, suffered even steeper losses, with GLW falling 13.62%, AAOI falling 6.18%, and MRVL falling 8.71%. AI equipment and infrastructure stocks, which had performed well in the past two days, also saw significant pullbacks, with AMAT and LRCX both falling nearly 10%. This morning, the South Korean stock market continued its downward trend, with the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) opening down 5% and subsequently triggering a circuit breaker. The Nikkei 225 index fell 2.00% intraday. It's worth noting that as the AI craze cools down, Bitcoin seems to have seen some capital inflow, rebounding to above $61,000 last night and this morning.
The South Korean government denies plans to establish a think tank to "share" huge profits from chip manufacturers.
BlockBeats reported on July 1st that, according to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy issued a statement today formally denying rumors circulating online that the government plans to establish a new think tank to capitalize on the enormous profits of chip manufacturers. The statement said, "The rumors circulating online that Seoul has sent letters to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix regarding the proposed establishment of a government-led profit-sharing think tank are completely false. We will take strict measures against those who maliciously spread such misleading information and refer them to investigative authorities." This rumor comes against the backdrop of rising domestic debate over how to utilize the resulting additional tax revenue to support long-term growth, as the AI boom has driven record profits for South Korean chip manufacturers. Last month, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, in an interview with The Economist, proposed a universal basic income subsidy, stating that "a portion of the excess profits could be distributed to the general public," referring to the recent debate over how to share the chip manufacturers' exorbitant profits. The presidential office subsequently explained that the remarks were not directed at any specific company, but rather referred to the challenges South Korea must ultimately face in its AI transformation. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, as the dominant players in the global HBM (High-Bandwidth Memory) market, have seen their profits soar during this AI supercycle, and the social distribution of their enormous capital returns is increasingly coming into the policy discussion arena. According to Bitget market data, the South Korean KOSPI index closed down 2.04%, SK Hynix fell 3.4%, and Samsung Electronics fell 5.84%.
South Korean stocks plunge 20%, nearing a bear market; the AI boom faces the awkward situation of "the more disastrous the earnings, the steeper the decline."
According to BlockBeats, on Wednesday afternoon, July 8th, South Korean stocks extended their losses as investors reassessed the outlook for AI demand. The KOSPI index fell by more than 6% at one point, breaking below 7200 points, and has cumulatively fallen by more than 20% from its all-time high last month, poised to enter technical bear market territory. Memory chip maker SK Hynix fell by as much as 5%, and Samsung Electronics fell by 6.9%. The Korea Exchange initiated a temporary trading halt on the KOSPI index, suspending algorithmic trading. South Korean stocks were among the strongest performing markets globally this year, but their performance is highly dependent on SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, amplifying volatility when sector sentiment weakens. Even with Samsung Electronics announcing a 19-fold surge in quarterly profits earlier this week, chip stocks continued to be under pressure. Jordan Klein, a TMT sector expert at Mizuho Securities, stated that investors overreacted to Samsung's preliminary second-quarter results. He believes this sell-off in semiconductor stocks is more a sign of waning momentum than a deterioration in fundamentals. Klein stated that excluding one-off bonus expenses, Samsung's operating profit actually significantly exceeded expectations, with its storage business implied operating margin potentially exceeding 80%. He indicated that Samsung's single-quarter operating profit has already surpassed the total of the past three years, and reacting to Samsung's stock price based solely on preliminary results is "extremely short-sighted." Meanwhile, an AI trading rotation occurred in Asian markets. Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks rose, with the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rising as much as 3.4%, the Hang Seng Tech Index rising over 5% intraday, Alibaba rising over 8%, and Tencent rising over 3%. Market analysts believe that funds are flowing from crowded trades focused on AI infrastructure to markets with lower valuations and more value-oriented characteristics. Reuters' report on DeepSeek's self-developed chip and The Information's report on Zhipu AI considering designing its own AI chip further fueled this rotation. (Jinshi)
Rebellions, a South Korean AI chip startup backed by Samsung Electronics, plans to IPO in South Korea next year.
According to reports, Sunghyun Park, CEO of Rebellions, a South Korean AI chip startup backed by Samsung Electronics, stated that the company plans to IPO in South Korea in the first or second quarter of next year. Park said that Rebellions has already begun generating actual revenue, "and for this reason, we are working with the underwriting teams at JPMorgan Chase and Samsung Securities to prepare for the IPO." (Jiemian)