According to BlockBeats, on August 12, Min Kyung-seop, head of the Innovation and Growth Office of the Ministry of Finance of South Korea, said that South Korea is expected to allocate 600 billion to 1 trillion won (about US$707 million) of new funds to a new sovereign wealth fund targeting strategic industries such as AI next year. The final investment amount may exceed the initial expectation, depending on which targets are identified and their funding needs.

Min Kyung-seop stated that there are currently no plans for the fund to directly invest in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. In July of this year, the South Korean government announced the establishment of a new "Strategic Industry Investment Account" under the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), with initial funding of at least 20 trillion won (approximately 94 billion yuan). Investment targets include AI, semiconductors, data centers, and core companies in overseas supply chains. The plan is to formally establish and operate this "South Korean version of a sovereign wealth fund" next year. The fund will also target infrastructure such as robotics, energy and batteries, and power grids; nuclear energy, space, and quantum technology are also under consideration.

According to BlockBeats, on August 12th, Cole Villemain (online name ColeThereum), co-founder of Robinhood who was ousted in a vote by the "Fat Penguins" community in January 2022, launched an NFT series called Spritehood on the Robinhood Chain in the early hours of August 11th. The total supply of 44,444 NFTs sold out in less than an hour. According to on-chain analyst 0xlaplaced, the first paid minting began at 06:17 UTC and lasted 53 minutes and 48 seconds. 37,430 NFTs were sold at $17 each, and 5,526 were sold at $117 each. After deducting the 1,488 NFTs minted for free in 20 transactions, the total revenue was approximately $1,282,900. Villemain himself posted just 16 minutes after the minting began, "It feels so good to be back. There will be haters tonight, but I don't care."

However, the source code of this NFT contract remains unverified. Robinhood Chain's Blockscout browser shows a total supply of 44,444 Spritehood Wisp ERC-721 tokens (code WISP), but no publicly available code outlines its pricing and distribution mechanisms. User X, HanIsRich, directly stated that the issuance is "purely a money-grabbing scheme," lacking any infrastructure or mechanism sufficient to consume 20% of the minting funds. Chain detective ZachXBT published a lengthy analysis five years ago (August 11, 2021) describing Villemain as a "speculator who will do anything to deceive others." The 44,444 buyers currently know nothing about the specifics of the subsequent infrastructure and mechanisms, relying solely on Villemain's verbal promises.

According to Beating , Google announced that Gemini's monthly active users have officially surpassed 1 billion, making it the fastest-growing product in the company's history. User behavior data shows that voice is becoming the core interaction method—63% of users directly converse with Gemini, and busy parents are 43% more likely to use voice to handle daily tasks than other users. More than 20% of Gemini Live interactions have gone beyond pure voice, with users solving problems instantly through real-time camera feeds and screen sharing, especially popular among DIY enthusiasts and students. On Android, Gemini can automatically perform operations across more than 40 mainstream applications, covering scenarios such as ride-hailing and restaurant reservations.

38% of learning requests from students included attachments. Demand for creative features for small business owners is strong—Gemini generates over 150 million images daily, supporting integrated image, video, and audio creation. The Apple ecosystem is performing strongly, with over 100 million monthly active users on iOS, and heavy macOS users receiving notifications approximately twice as frequently as on other platforms. Google stated it will continue to strive to create the "most personalized, proactive, and powerful assistant" for its next billion users.

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