Multiple Chinese quant and long-only private funds have seen steep net asset value drawdowns over the past month, with several products falling more than 20%, according to Jiemian News. Wind data showed Wembow Investment’s "Wembow Small-Cap Aggressive Timing Enhanced Index No. 1" had a cumulative NAV of 1.4332 as of July 17, down 39.24% from its June 26 peak of 2.3588, and 2.11% lower over the past year. Jiemian News reported that Wembow had eight products updated through July 17, all of which fell over the past month, while four other products dropped more than 20%. On July 19, Wembow posted an article saying its strategy is an end-to-end AI model that may buy into panic selling during sharp declines, but it said it would not assume the market has bottomed or reject the model’s long-term logic solely because prices kept falling. Other large quant managers also posted losses, including Quantdao, Sixiang, Mingshi, Abama, Hanyu, Black Wing Asset, Longqi Technology, Banyang, Mingxi, Ziwu, Nianjue, Pinghe, Shanghai Qianshu, Lingjun, Qilin, Monex, Ruitian, Torte, and Qianyan, with products at many firms down more than 20% over the month. Among long-only private funds, Xi Yue Investment’s "Xi Yue Steady Growth No. 1" fell 35.38% to a NAV of 3.0424 as of July 20 from 4.7079 on June 24, while Qushi Asset’s "Qushi Preferred No. 1 - Haomai Phase 2" dropped 35.38% to 1.428 as of July 17 from 2.21 on June 22. Wanfang Private Fund’s "Wanfang Progress No. 1" fell 31.62% and Wangzheng Investment’s "Wangzheng Win-Win No. 8" declined 31.97%. Jiemian News said the worst drawdowns were concentrated in the four weeks from June 22 to July 17, when 20 of 100 Wind popular indices fell more than 20%, mostly in technology-related subsectors. In response to the volatility, 18 private fund managers had announced share buybacks by the evening of July 21, totaling 763 million yuan, including 636 million yuan from 11 managers with assets under management above 5 billion yuan. Lingjun Investment, Pinghe Investment and Ruiqun Asset led the buybacks at 200 million yuan, 100 million yuan and 100 million yuan, respectively. The tech sector then rebounded on July 21, with the STAR 50 Index rising 10.73% and the ChiNext Index up 7.05%.

South Korean investors increased their holdings of China-related stocks and ETFs in mid-July, with Semiconductors and AI names drawing the heaviest buying, according to Jiemian News. In the week of July 13 to July 19, Cambricon led A-share purchases with a net buy of $2.8577 million, while SMIC, Montage Technology, Hua Hong Semiconductor and ACM Research also drew net inflows of more than $1 million each. Over the month from June 20 to July 20, Luxshare Precision topped South Korean A-share buying with a net inflow of $6.4571 million, followed by Cambricon with $3.1986 million. In Hong Kong, South Korean investors bought Premia China STAR50 ETF for $3.1729 million in the latest week and bought more than $3 million of Global X China Semiconductor ETF; over the past month, the ETF drew $15.9148 million in net inflows. For the first half of 2026, South Korean investors bought a net $2.819 billion of China assets through stocks and ETFs, including $678 million in A shares, up 130.55% year on year. In Hong Kong, SMIC was the top stock with $85.46 million in net buying, while MiniMax ranked second at about $66.65 million and Alibaba ranked third. Global X China Semiconductor ETF was the most popular sector ETF with $42.3946 million in net buying, and Huaxia CSI 300 ETF took in $18.3417 million. Jiemian News said the flows coincided with a sharp correction in South Korea's market after the KOSPI index had risen more than 100% in the first half. The index later fell from a record 9,385 points to 6,820 points, while Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both dropped more than 30% over the past month. Goldman Sachs, Standard Chartered and Morgan Stanley also raised their views on China stocks, and Citigroup on July 20 upgraded China equities in emerging-market allocation to overweight.

Hong Kong-listed property developers rose in short-term trading, with Sunac China (01918.HK), China Vanke (02202.HK), Seazen Group (01030.HK), Country Garden (02007.HK), and China Resources Land (01109.HK) following the move. According to Jin10, CIFI Holdings Group (00884.HK) gained more than 7%, while Agile Group (03383.HK) rose more than 5%.

The Ethereum validator entry queue has risen to nearly 2.5 million ETH, with the estimated waiting time for new validator activation now exceeding 43 days. According to Odaily, the queue and wait time have both increased to these levels.

Financial platform Ramp has launched stablecoin accounts on Solana for businesses. According to Odaily, the accounts allow companies to hold USDC or USDT and make cross-border payments around the clock through existing approval and accounting workflows.

A new address, 0x4ba6, received about $464,000 from three addresses yesterday evening and quickly moved the funds into a BTC contract after converting UBTC to USDC. According to Odaily, the address first opened a short position of 68.1 BTC, then repeatedly switched between long and short test trades before buying 181.3 BTC in two orders about half an hour ago. The position was opened at an average price of $66,411.6, with the trades totaling about $12.039 million. As of press time, the address held a 40x leveraged long position of 181.3 BTC valued at about $12.026 million, with a liquidation price of $64,580.7 and an unrealized loss of about $13,000. After building the position, the address placed a take-profit trigger order covering the entire position at $67,300.0. The account has been active for less than a day, its trading has been concentrated in BTC, cumulative turnover has reached $67.28 million, and overall profit and loss are currently flat.

Ramp announced stablecoin accounts and payment services, with settlement conducted on the Solana network. According to Foresight News, the new feature allows customers to use USDC or USDT for faster cross-border supplier payments and fund transfers. Ramp's stablecoin accounts can send USDC or USDT directly to wallets in more than 140 countries and regions, or convert them into fiat for local payments in more than 40 currencies. Users holding stablecoin balances can earn rewards of up to 3.25%. Ramp Bill Pay has also added stablecoins as a payment method, allowing companies to pay suppliers without holding stablecoin balances themselves.

According to Yonhap, Samsung Heavy Industries Co. signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. engineering firm Sargent & Lundy to jointly develop floating small modular reactors, or FSMRs. The South Korean shipbuilder said the partners aim to build a standardized FSMR platform that can support multiple reactor technologies rather than a single type. Samsung Heavy said the collaboration will combine its engineering, procurement and construction capabilities for offshore plants with Sargent & Lundy's nuclear design and engineering expertise, and it expects the deal to bolster its position in the U.S. market. An FSMR is a floating nuclear power platform that generates electricity using a small modular reactor installed on a floating structure.

Moo Deng the hippo turned one, sparking a four-day festival at a Thai zoo and renewed interest in her memecoin. The MOODENG token surged over 17% on her birthday, driven by fan hype, whale activity, and Solana’s growing memecoin market.

A cryptocurrency investor turned $1,331 into $3.4 million in just 15 days by buying Moo Deng tokens, raising questions about potential insider trading. The surge in value contrasts with a more conservative approach, where some investors focus on holding established assets for long-term gains.