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Investors are betting that the Fed will restart interest rate cuts in September, nine months after the last rate cut in December 2024. Analysts said such a long period of policy stagnation could be particularly beneficial to stocks, potentially prolonging and extending the rally.

A big source of support for optimism comes from historical data. Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, posted on the social platform

Although it's difficult to pinpoint the cause, Detrick said in a phone interview that investor psychology may be a factor. "As the situation stabilizes, the Fed will return to more accommodative language. To some extent, your previous concerns about policy stagnation may be alleviated, and the stock market will return to its previous bull market trajectory."

This background may explain why investors reacted strongly to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech last Friday. Powell said a rate cut may be justified given growing concerns about the health of the job market.

Mike Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy at Glenmede, said Powell's statement marked a subtle but significant shift: the market's focus has shifted from "whether the Fed will cut interest rates this year" to "how many times it may cut interest rates and the pace of the rate cuts."

According to data from CME Group's FedWatch tool, traders currently see an 85% chance that the Fed will cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points in September, up from 75% a week ago; at the same time, they see an 83.9% chance that the Fed will cut interest rates at least twice in the remaining three policy meetings this year.

U.S. stocks closed higher last week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) hitting a new all-time closing high, rising 1.5% for the week, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) rising 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) falling 0.6%.

Potential Variables: What factors could upset this expectation?

Nonetheless, a number of economic data may still affect the final decision before the end of the Fed's next meeting on September 17. Investors this week will welcome the July personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index – the Fed's favored inflation measure; followed by the August non-farm payrolls report in early September; and on the eve of the September meeting, the latest consumer price index (CPI) and producer price index (PPI) data will also be released.

Powell has reminded the market that the Fed will still adhere to the principle of "data dependence", but analysts said that only a truly unexpected situation may change the current trend. "For the Fed to abandon plans to cut interest rates in September, it would probably take something completely unexpected, such as an unusually strong inflation report," Reynolds said on the call.

However, Reynolds believes that this situation is "extremely unlikely" at this time. "Current labor market problems appear to be more concerning than inflation. And given that interest rates are currently at mildly restrictive levels, combined with the balance of risks, we believe the Fed needs to move rates closer to neutral."

James Ragan, director of wealth management research at DA Davidson & Co., also agreed that a rate cut in September is highly likely. "I think it is unlikely that there will be too many factors that will change the expectation of a 25 basis point interest rate cut at the September meeting. Now the focus of discussion may turn to: Will there be a 50 basis point cut? What action will be taken in October?"

If the interest rate cut is finalized, which sectors will benefit?

Analysts said the stock market rally could spread beyond broad-market technology stocks to more sectors if the Federal Reserve cuts key policy rates. Falling interest rates typically prompt investors to move further up the risk curve in search of higher returns. Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, said: "In general, assets with greater exposure are likely to perform better after interest rate cut expectations increase."

Reynolds noted that small-cap stocks in particular could benefit – such companies typically hold more floating-rate debt and are more sensitive to changes in borrowing costs. The Russell 2000, which tracks the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell index, rose 3.9% on Friday, outpacing the S&P 500's 1.5% gain.

Reynolds added that growth stocks generally perform better in a low interest rate environment, but current valuations of growth stocks are already at high levels, and if earnings growth cannot keep up, their upside may be limited.

Risks ahead still exist

Despite the positive sentiment, not everyone believes the market rally can continue unimpeded. Sosnick warned that the market may now be in a "hyper state."

"How long can this go on? Will other Fed officials start expressing disapproval?" he said.

Opposition has actually emerged. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said last week she was reluctant to support a rate cut in September based on current data. This highlights the differences within the Fed on the "pace of easing policy."

"There are a lot of other cross-over risks in the market right now, but right now, investor sentiment is very positive," Sosnick said.

This year, the U.S. stock market indexes have repeatedly hit new highs. The market capitalization-weighted indexes Nasdaq Index (IXIC.US) and S&P 500 Index (SPX.US) have cumulative gains of 11.11% and 9.84% respectively, reaching 21,455.55 points and 6,460.26 points, mainly due to the strong trend of the "Seven Sisters" Driven by the trend, Google (GOOG.US), Microsoft (MSFT.US), Meta (META.US), and NVIDIA (NVDA.US) all hit new highs in the second half of this year. Among them, NVIDIA has repeatedly set the highest market value in the history of global listed companies, but this does not hinder the pace of repurchases by giants. Is their aggressive repurchase activity a vote of confidence in themselves, or is it a helpless move due to lack of confidence in potential investments in the market?

NVIDIA buyback

As rational economic people, technology giants like Nvidia, which has the most professional financial analysis team, control every penny of the company very scientifically and accurately, which means that every penny of its use can bring it the greatest economic value.

See the figure below. The AI ​​wave will begin to break out at the end of 2022, and Nvidia's stock price will also start to soar at the end of 2022. According to our estimates, from the beginning of 2023 to the present, Nvidia's stock price has increased by a cumulative 10.93 times.

According to our estimates, NVIDIA's non-accounting net profit for the 12 months ending July 27, 2025 was US$87.753 billion, which is 6.94 times higher than the company's non-accounting net profit of US$11.058 billion for the 12 months ending July 31, 2022 before the AI ​​boom.

Its current stock price trend far outperforms its profit growth. However, Nvidia still chooses to increase repurchases and increase dividends at this time. Nvidia paid a dividend of US$488 million in the first half of fiscal year 2026, a year-on-year increase of 41.86%.

As of the end of July 2025 this year, the company has returned US$24.3 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends. By the end of July, the company still has a repurchase authorization of US$14.7 billion, plus an additional US$60 billion of unlimited repurchase quota, which means that there is still US$74.7 billion of repurchase authorization that can be fulfilled.

Making buyback commitments and increasing dividends may, on the one hand, reflect Nvidia's confidence in its future prospects – buying its own shares at current prices is much more cost-effective than investing in other projects on the market, and it may also mean that the company's expected future earnings growth has not yet been reflected in its current stock price.

But on the other hand, it may also be to appease shareholders. Nvidia's management also mentioned at the July quarterly results meeting that the company will seize investment opportunities in AI solutions and sovereign AI in the future, which means it will increase investment. At the same time, it faces the possibility of missing out on China's major AI market and its current valuation is overvalued. The company may increase returns to shareholders to ease shareholders' concerns about returns on capital investment.

Capital spending ramps up with buybacks

While the "Seven Sisters" are increasing capital expenditures to consolidate their AI development advantages, they are also increasing repurchase amounts and increasing dividends to please shareholders.

Cash-neutral Apple (AAPL.US) has been a big spender on repurchases, with Wind data showing its repurchases amounted to $46 billion this year. However, Cook said at the June financial quarter results conference that Apple will invest US$500 billion in the United States over the next four years to promote innovation and create jobs in cutting-edge fields such as advanced processes, chip engineering, and AI. It is unknown whether this will affect its future repurchase capabilities.

Meta and Google are also the main players in repurchases. Although the stock prices of both companies have hit new highs this year and they have continued to significantly increase capital investment in the construction of data centers, they have not been stingy with repurchases.

Meta repurchased 36 million Class A ordinary shares for US$23.16 billion in the first half of this year. By the end of June 2025, the company still has a repurchase limit of US$28.23 billion. At the same time, Meta will increase its cash dividend by 5% from the first quarter of 2025. However, it should be noted that Meta's increase in capital expenditures is far greater than its return to shareholders. In 2024, its capital expenditure will be US$39.2 billion, and it recently raised its capital expenditure budget for 2025 from US$64-72 billion to US$66-72 billion, which means an increase of at least 68%. Management expects capital expenditures in 2026 to be similar to this year. It is not difficult to understand that Meta needs to give shareholders some small favors through buybacks and increased dividends to rationalize its expansion of AI capital investment.

In the first half of 2025, Google repurchased 164 million shares at a price of US$28.564 billion. In April this year, its board of directors increased its repurchase quota by another US$70 billion. As of the end of June 2025, Google still had a repurchase quota of US$86.3 billion. Similarly, Google, like Meta, increased its quarterly cash dividend by 5% in April this year. However, it should be noted that Google has further increased its capital expenditure, raising its capital expenditure guidance for 2025 from US$75 billion to US$85 billion, and stated that capital expenditure in 2026 will further increase.

The situation is similar at Microsoft.

In fiscal year 2025, which ends in June 2025, Microsoft has repurchased 31 million shares for US$13 billion, and currently has an approved repurchase quota of US$57.3 billion. At the same time, Microsoft is also one of the companies with the highest capital expenditure budget among the "Seven Sisters", although it stated that its fiscal year 2026 resources will This expenditure will increase moderately year-on-year, but we checked the company's previous records and found that Microsoft's capital expenditures have increased exponentially in the past two years. Capital expenditures in fiscal year 2024 and fiscal year 2025 increased by 74.61% and 58.35% year-on-year, respectively, to US$55.7 billion and US$88.2 billion.

Conclusion

Therefore, technology giants represented by Nvidia are currently significantly increasing stock repurchases and cash dividends. Their deep strategic purpose is not simply shareholder returns, but to pave the way for larger-scale capital expenditures to consolidate and expand their lead in the fierce AI competition.

Through buybacks and dividends, these companies aim to:

Please and appease shareholders: When investing huge amounts of money in long-term, high-risk AI infrastructure (such as data centers, chip research and development), balance shareholders' concerns about profit dilution and long investment cycles through stable cash returns, maintaining market confidence and stock price stability.

Optimize the capital structure and support strategic investment: demonstrate its excellent cash flow management capabilities and prove to the market that the company has the strength to simultaneously "invest in the future" and "return in the present". The ample repurchase quota is more like a financial strategic reserve, ensuring that while fully betting on AI, it can still flexibly use financial tools to manage market value and offset the dilution effect.

In essence, generous repurchases are an extension of its rational economic man’s thinking: it is a necessary measure to exchange short-term profit distribution for shareholders’ long-term strategic support. The ultimate goal is to allocate capital more efficiently and without resistance in areas that can generate the greatest future value—that is, to win the dominance of AI development.

British electric drive specialist Helix manufactures the world's highest power density motors. The company is now working to expand this compact, high-power design into a marine propulsion ecosystem that it believes will help change the face of everyday recreational and utility watercraft (at least the bottom of the hull). The company’s newly launched “pod module” integrates the necessary electric drive components and aims to make the 360-degree pod thruster a widely available solution, which is expected to improve energy efficiency and enhance maneuverability in the huge ship market.

Notice: The electric flame stove is here, you no longer have to pay the gas bill

Electric pod thrusters evolved from azimuth thruster systems dating back to the mid-20th century or even earlier. As a flexible, distributed form of ship propulsion, electric pod thrusters can increase efficiency, improve maneuverability, and free up space inside the hull. Unlike the traditional method, which relies on a large central engine to drive a propeller through a long propeller shaft and is equipped with an independent rudder system for steering, these devices integrate all powertrain and running gear components into a horizontally gimbaled underwater pod mounted on the keel of the ship.

The pod then functions as both a propulsion and steering mechanism, with its 360-degree rotation capability achieved through slip rings that deliver electrical power. This omnidirectional rotation allows each pod to accurately direct thrust in the desired direction, eliminating the need for an independent rudder system and greatly improving maneuverability. It can even enable giant ships to turn in place, much like the performance of torque vectoring electric vehicles on land.

In addition to improving maneuverability, pod thrusters are also claimed to increase energy efficiency. They utilize their full range of rotation capabilities to direct thrust in the most efficient manner based on current sailing direction and conditions, while reducing energy-consuming vibrations and eliminating additional drag from rudder components.

According to the Swedish-Swiss multinational ABB Group, which currently promotes Azipod, the first electric pod thruster launched in the early 1990s, in open waters, ships propelled by Azipod systems can typically reduce energy consumption by 5% to 15%, and in some cases may even achieve a 20% to 25% reduction. That's a lot for a ship like a cruise ship that consumes hundreds of thousands or even millions of gallons of fuel to travel between ports. A few years ago, a Deltamarin study found that Azipod-powered ferries could save up to $1.7 million in annual fuel costs.

This series of advantages makes pod thrusters a popular solution for some large ocean-going ships (such as cruise ships, container ships, oil tankers and ferries, etc.). We have previously discussed that pod thrusters can rotate directional thrust 180 degrees between "pull" and "push" orientations. This ability is particularly beneficial for icebreakers adapted to polar environments.

However, Helix believes that pod thrusters still have a lot of untapped potential in terms of downstream market expansion, and explained that due to the limitations of traditional motor power density, pod thrusters have long been limited to large ships. To achieve the high power levels required to propel ships, huge motors had to be installed inside giant underwater pods, resulting in high drag. Only in the very large power range above the megawatt level will the ratio of drag to power drop enough to realize the energy efficiency gains of pod propulsion. In smaller pods, the drag ratio becomes too high to overcome.

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Helix is ​​poised to revolutionize this with its rapidly evolving motor topology technology that enables high power and torque in an extremely light and small package. While Helix’s range-topping 25kW/kg SPX177 motor was developed by its experimental division for a supercar prototype and is not optimized for mass-market use, its SPC177 radial flux motor, planned for use in the marine pod ecosystem, can still deliver up to 9.7kW/kg of power density, delivering a sustained output of 300kW from a 31kg package.

Helix reasoned that at this power density level, at sub-megawatt scale, the drag caused by the pod body would become insignificant, opening the door to efficient propulsion of small to medium-sized ships. In fact, the company even claims that its small, high-power motor construction will allow shipbuilders to reduce drag by 70% compared to traditional (giant) pod thrusters.

Rather than developing complete pods, Helix hopes to create modular flexibility by offering what it calls “pod modules” to manufacturers of small and medium-sized recreational, commercial and passenger vessels in the sub-megawatt range. Each “module” will be a plug-and-play set of pod internal components for shipyards and propulsion system manufacturers to install into their own designed subsea pod structures and pair them with propellers, battery systems, generators and control software solutions configured to specific vessel requirements.

Each first batch of "modules" will contain an SPC177 motor, complete with Xtrac gear reduction system, CAN bus interface, bearings and seals, and an optional Helix inverter.

"By freeing up aft deck space previously reserved for outboards, or internal space reserved for engine rooms and propeller shafts, our Helix pod modules offer the industry a landmark opportunity to rethink the way ships are designed, while enabling more efficient sailing and supporting the shipping industry's journey towards net-zero emissions," James Edwards, chief marine engineer at Helix, said in the launch last month.

Helix gives examples of how extra hull space can be used to make a trawler more comfortable and practical for fishermen, or a yacht more relaxing and enjoyable for leisure customers.

Three sub-megawatt pod module sizes will be launched at launch: 100kW, 200kW and 300kW. 100 and 200 kW models will be available in low and high torque variants, with Helix planning to eventually expand the product line to output power ranges from 480 kW to 3 MW.

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Given the limited range of battery-powered electric boats, you may be wondering how on earth ship operators can power conventional multi-megawatt electric pod motors. This does not rely solely on batteries, but requires an onboard power generation system using diesel or hydroelectric power.

Likewise, Helix noted that pod module customers will be able to develop their own powertrains, whether a pure battery system or a series hybrid powered by a diesel generator or other alternative energy source. Unsurprisingly, the company expects customers to gravitate towards hybrid systems in the initial phase.

#shippropulsion#motortechnology#podmodule#shipenergyefficiency

Recently, regulatory authorities have issued fines one after another to severely crack down on the illegal behavior of "rebates"!

Sending refrigerators, gold and other valuables is not acceptable!

Send clients for physical examination? No way!

Four employees of a certain life insurance branch were punished for giving or promising to give refrigerators, gold and other property to policyholders when selling insurance!

Another life insurance center branch was punished for providing 43 VIP customers with a physical examination package worth 200 yuan each!

Supervision issued huge fines, and some people were banned from business for life!

According to the official website of the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission fined a life insurance company 300,000 yuan because of illegal activities such as "rebate commission" by insurance agents. At the same time, the relevant responsible persons of the company were warned and fined 100,000 yuan each.

The administrative penalty decision showed that upon investigation, the insurance company had committed the following illegal acts:

From 2017 to August 2019, the insurance company provided overseas (overseas) physical examination services to some customers. Physical examination-related expenses included round-trip air tickets, accommodation, free travel, meals, etc., which was a provision of other benefits to policyholders, insureds, and beneficiaries other than those stipulated in the insurance contract.

During the period, 70 customers from the bancassurance channel participated in Japanese physical examinations, involving 86 insurance policies, with a physical examination fee of 2.7169 million yuan; 2 customers participated in Taiwanese physical examinations, involving 2 policies, with a physical examination fee of 59,600 yuan. From the personal insurance marketing channel, 5 customers participated in the physical examination in Taiwan, involving 10 insurance policies, and the physical examination fee was 154,000 yuan; 2 customers participated in the Japanese physical examination, involving 3 insurance policies, and the physical examination fee was 60,500 yuan. The then assistant to the general manager and head of the customer marketing department was directly responsible for the above-mentioned illegal acts.

In this regard, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission decided to impose the following administrative penalties: a fine of 300,000 yuan on the insurance company; in accordance with the provisions of Article 171 of the Law, the two relevant persons in charge were given a warning and each was fined 100,000 yuan.

"Give policyholders benefits other than those stipulated in the insurance contract" is commonly known in the industry as rebates or disguised rebates. This problem is a common violation in the insurance industry, and it can be said that it has been banned repeatedly.

According to incomplete statistics from Insurance With My Life, in the past few years, the national regulatory system has issued hundreds of various fines for the illegal situation of "giving policyholders benefits other than those agreed in the insurance contract." In 2022 alone, a total of nearly a hundred fines were issued, with fines ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan.

The official website of Shanxi Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau once disclosed an administrative penalty decision:

Cao, a personal insurance agent of a Shanxi branch of a life insurance company, was banned from entering the insurance industry for life for promising to provide policyholders with benefits beyond what was stipulated in the insurance contract, deceiving policyholders and insureds, and concealing important information related to the insurance contract.

This time I was directly fined and banned from entering the insurance industry for life. This was the first time that I was punished with such a heavy penalty. This also demonstrates the determination of supervision to crack down on rebates, eliminate vicious competition, and safeguard the rights and interests of insurance consumers. It reflects the determination of supervision to rectify irregularities in marketing.

In the insurance industry, rebates can be said to be an open secret. In today’s fashionable terms, rebates are the involution of the insurance industry. To put it bluntly, it is vicious competition that disrupts the market order. Therefore, I have been with insurance all my life and believe that rebates have become a fatal cancer in the insurance industry and it is time to eradicate it.

In fact, in recent years, supervision has focused on illegal phenomena such as "giving policyholders benefits other than those stipulated in the insurance contract", "deceiving policyholders and insureds", and "concealing important information in insurance contracts".

Last year, the official website of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission also announced the penalties for such commission rebates:

A certain An Life salesperson was fined 1,000 yuan for giving hot pot to a customer during the insurance application process;

A Chinese Life salesperson was fined 1,000 yuan for giving a water purifier to a customer during the insurance application process.

The phenomenon of a large number of rebates makes people ignore their own protection needs and product functions when buying insurance, and blindly fall into the comparison of rebates.

So if we are smart and think that the products of various insurance companies are similar, in order to return a little commission, we choose an unprofessional agent and start hastily. Then it is very likely that you will be blinded by the returned commission and make a very irrational purchasing decision.

What’s more serious is that rebate itself is an illegal act.

Article 131 of my country’s current Insurance Law stipulates: Insurance agents, insurance brokers and their employees shall not engage in the following conduct when handling insurance business activities: granting or promising to grant benefits other than those stipulated in the insurance contract to the policy holder, the insured or the beneficiary.

An insurance agent also said that in order to get customers to pay the bill or to avoid being snatched away by others, agents will directly return part of their personal commissions to customers in the form of gifts, travel or cash. This behavior is very common in the insurance industry.

As the saying goes: "Money can make the world go round." However, unreasonable distribution of "interests" often breeds greater greed.

Driven by commissions, in order to obtain more income, some insurance marketers attract consumers by "giving premium rebates to policyholders other than those stipulated in the insurance contract", or obtain improper benefits through "long-term insurance and short-term insurance" and "false business". From the perspective of Insurance Is My Life, more and more misleading sales have made the insurance industry, a large market with tens of millions of people, become chaotic.

The video below is a wonderful conversation between Bian Hongqi and a beautiful colleague in the TV series "The Story of Bian Hongqi" when she rejected a customer's request for a commission rebate.

Click the video↓↓↓

Is the scene in the video very familiar to insurance salespeople? In order to improve performance, insurance salespeople sometimes ask customers for rebates, and some customers take the initiative to ask for rebates. No matter what the situation, this is a very dangerous thing.

Wang Guojun, a professor at the School of Insurance at the University of International Business and Economics, said that commission rebates are a vicious competition method adopted by individual agents for sales performance. They are repeatedly banned because agents who do this can indeed gain certain competitive advantages in the short term or achieve a specific purpose, but it is very detrimental to industry development and the reputation of the insurance industry. Therefore, regulatory authorities have also increased penalties for rebates.

Don't touch the red line of "rebate". A small fine is a small matter. In serious cases, it may involve a crime, and you will regret it later.

Commission rebate is a lose-lose behavior

1. Service discounts

Insurance is not a "one-and-done deal" that can be bought and sold in a casino, because life insurance policies are usually valid for more than 10 years. The purchase of the policy is only the first step. The agent's services will accompany the policy for its "lifetime", including policy annual inspections, policy renewals, claims consultation and a series of services.

You have taken away the commissions that people depend on for survival. It would be weird if you don't leave. Think about it, if you work in a company and your boss says: I give you half of your salary every month, will you continue to work?

When you go to the hospital to see a doctor, will you ask the doctor to give you a discount on your medical bills? If you go to the bank and deposit 1,000 yuan, will the staff give you 500 yuan back? If you get into an accident and your claim is discounted because you don’t have professional guidance, do you think you’re getting a good deal?

2. Discounts on insurance products

Each insurance salesperson brings not only products, but also different family protection solutions. Insurance has been with me all my life. I believe that the process of buying insurance is the process of choosing a plan. Choose whichever price is close to your expectations and which type of insurance is suitable.

However, "rebate" takes advantage of human nature's inherent tendency to take advantage and blurs the focus of what should be paid attention to when buying insurance. The customer's original intention is to "choose a plan", but the focus has shifted to "how much advantage can be obtained".

Customers can originally choose the product that best suits them. With benefits other than insurance, they may choose products that "seem to be the cheapest". This goes against the original intention of rational insurance planning and is not good for customers.

3. How can agents survive if they have no money?

Commissions are the bread and butter of an insurance agent’s life. He will provide customers with high-quality services, and the quality of services will improve as his abilities improve. Services are meant to be rewarded.

The income of insurance salespeople mainly comes from commissions. They also have to eat, refuel their cars, develop customers, and spend time and energy to do this job. Commissions support them to continue doing it.

If all commissions were given to customers, they would not be able to survive. If you work in a job and all your salary is given to the person being served and you get nothing, how can you stick to this job? Once you leave your job, who will service your policy?

Therefore, commission sales are tantamount to digging one's own grave, showing only nihilistic prosperity, or even more serious, like the reflection of a dying person. He seemed to be in good spirits, but in reality he was already dead.

Experts pointed out: "Agents who recruit customers on the basis of commission rebates cannot choose, because rebates are not allowed by insurance companies and are only private transactions between agents and customers. Agents who ask for commission rebates are mostly because their performance is poor and they are eager for success, so they use this as a way to deal with assessments."

At the end, the insurance industry has only been in my country for a few decades. Compared with the hundreds of years of history in Europe and the United States, there is indeed a big gap. This requires the joint efforts of domestic insurance companies, insurance practitioners and insurance consumers to make this industry more standardized and better. It is not an empty talk that insurance makes life better.

The material comes from the Internet and is for learning and communication only. If there are copyright issues, please contact us in time to delete it. This platform has nothing to do with any disputes caused by reprinting articles from this official account to other platforms.

The official version of LeechBlock is a browser plug-in that helps users easily manage their Internet usage time and provides efficient prevention of network interference. The official version of LeechBlock has a variety of time management tools, such as timers, statistical functions, blocking specific websites, etc., which can help users control their network usage behavior and improve work efficiency. The official version of LeechBlock supports a variety of custom settings. Users can adjust the plug-in settings according to their own needs to meet their personalized needs.

LeechBlock software features

The nice thing about LeechBlock is that you can configure it to block websites for a specific period of time, so if you want to visit a website occasionally, you don't have to activate and deactivate it all the time. This includes between specific times, specific moments, or a combination of both.

Although it's primarily designed for people with shaky mouse cursors, which is why it even lets you set passwords to access banned websites to help "slow things down" in your moments of weakness. If you can't help yourself, LeechBlock will track the time you spend on blocked websites. Adding sites to your Block list is easy – just go into the LeechBlock extension in your add-on manager and click Options to add a site.

The concept of LeechBlock is very admirable, although the fact that you set a password to access the site means it won't really stop you if you're tempted. I'm more likely to use it to block unwanted websites or other people from accessing websites on my machine.

If you really can't trust yourself not to check your email every two minutes, or are distracted by playing poker when you should be working, LeechBlock can help you break that habit.

Added option to pass the URL of the blocked page in the URL of the blocked page (using $U) Added option to keep blocked pages in the browser's "back" history Added option to show a warning message before the site is blocked Added option to calculate time spent when a page is not focused (workaround for some sites using Flash/Java) Added hyperlink from options dialog to examples (online) Redesigned options dialog to use less screen real settings Removed localization (translator not available)

LeechBlock software features

Lock: Immediately blocks the website for a specified period of time.

Access Control: Set a password or random access code for the options page to slow you down when you're vulnerable!

Delay: Set countdowns to delay access to websites instead of blocking them entirely.

Wildcard: Block a range of websites (e.g. *.somesite.com).

Exceptions: Whitelist sites you don't want to be blocked (e.g. +allowedsite.com).

Keywords: Block or allow websites based on keywords (e.g. ~badword).

LeechBlock update log

Added option to pass the URL of the blocked page in the URL of the blocked page (using $U)

Added the option to keep blocked pages in the browser's Back history Added the option to display a warning message before a site is blocked

Added option to calculate time spent when page is not focused (workaround for some sites using Flash/Java) Added hyperlink from options dialog to examples (online) Redesigned options dialog to use less screen real settings Removed localization (translator not available)

LeechBlock update log

1. Fixed several bugs;

2. Optimize details;

PCSOFT editor recommends:

LeechBlock has always been a common network accessory for most netizens. Its dominance in the minds of netizens is obvious. It is strongly recommended that users download LeechBlock and use it. Come to the PC download website to download it. In addition, ec, qq, uc, Aiku, and Maxthon provide downloads.

In 2025, against the background of intensified global geopolitical fluctuations, rising financial uncertainty, and the strengthening of national strategic resource positioning, China's gold industry will usher in a historically high boom cycle, bid farewell to the traditional operating model dominated by cyclical fluctuations in gold prices, and enter a new development stage of bullish gold prices, demand differentiation, policy regulation, and leading concentration. The latest data from iiMedia Research, the world's leading third-party data mining and analysis organization for the new economic industry, released the "2025 China Gold Industry Market Status and Benchmark Enterprise Operation Data Analysis Report" shows that China's gold investment demand will surge in 2025, with net inflows of gold ETFs exceeding 180 tons throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 127%; sales of investment products such as physical gold bars and gold coins increased by 63% year-on-year, and gold jewelry consumption showed the characteristics of "volume reduction and price increase". The capital market presents a significant stratification pattern, with core indicators such as market value, revenue, profit, and capital flow continuing to cluster towards the top. Among them, Zijin Mining’s cumulative net profit attributable to the parent company in the first three quarters reached 37.864 billion yuan, which is particularly outstanding.

iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that the current operating performance of upstream mining companies and downstream retail companies in China's gold industry is clearly differentiated, and companies with resource reserves, global layout and full industry chain operation capabilities are occupying an absolute advantage. At the same time, multiple favorable factors such as the implementation of the new taxation policy and the continued promotion of high-quality development policies have accelerated the elimination of inefficient entities in the Chinese gold market, forcing the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure and steadily moving towards strategic, intensive, high-end, and financialization.

In 2025, against the backdrop of escalating global geopolitical volatility, rising financial uncertainty, and the strengthened positioning of gold as a national strategic resource, China's gold industry ushered in a historic high-boom cycle, bidding farewell to the traditional operating mode dominated by cyclical fluctuations in gold prices and entering a new development phase characterized by a long-term bull market in gold prices, differentiated demand, standardized policies, and concentrated leading enterprises. Data from the latest Analysis Report on the Market Situation of China's Gold Industry in 2025 and Data on the Operations of Leading Enterprises released by iiMedia Research, a world-leading third-party data mining and analysis institution in the new economic industry, shows that China's gold investment demand surged in 2025: the annual net inflow of gold ETFs exceeded 180 tons, a year-on-year increase of 127%; the sales volume of investment-oriented products such as physical gold bars and gold coins rose by 63% year-on-year, while gold jewelry consumption showed the characteristic of "decreased volume but increased price". The capital market presented a distinct stratification pattern, with core indicators such as market value, operating income, profits, and capital flow continuing to gather towards leading enterprises. Among them, Zijin Mining's cumulative net profit attributable to parent company in the first three quarters reached as high as 37.864 billion yuan, delivering an especially outstanding performance.

Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that in the current China's gold industry, there is a clear differentiation in the operating performance between upstream mining enterprises and downstream retail enterprises, and enterprises with resource reserves, global layout and full industrial chain operation capabilities are seizing an absolute advantage. At the same time, multiple positive factors such as the implementation of new tax policies and the continuous advancement of high-quality development policies have accelerated the clearance of inefficient entities in China's gold market, forced the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure, and promoted its steady progress towards strategization, intensification, high-endization and financialization.

gold industry definition

Golden type classification

Top 10 companies in gold industry revenue

Monitoring data shows that the top three companies in the gold industry revenue are: Zijin Mining (254.200 billion yuan), Shandong Gold (83.783 billion yuan), and Hengbang Co., Ltd. (76.444 billion yuan). iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that the revenue distribution of leading companies is concentrated, with the top three accounting for more than 60%, indicating a high degree of market concentration. Zijin Mining and Shandong Gold mainly focus on gold, copper and other metal products, while Hengbang Co., Ltd. has more diversified business, which reflects its leading position in the gold industry. The revenue structure of the industry is relatively healthy and the competition pattern is relatively stable. The scale of revenue is closely related to the size and development stage of the enterprise. Most of the leading enterprises are large enterprises in the mature stage.

Top 10 profit companies in the gold industry

Monitoring data shows that the top three profit companies in the gold industry are: Zijin Mining (55.646 billion yuan), Shandong Gold (7.568 billion yuan), and CICC Gold (5.636 billion yuan). iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that the profit distribution of leading companies shows that Zijin Mining has an absolute advantage. The core reason is that in the first three quarters of 2025, the average price of London gold has risen sharply, and companies have acquired new gold mines. The overall profit concentration of the industry is high, and the profit level and quality are high. Overall, the industry's profit model mainly relies on gold mining and sales, and leading companies have significant scale effects.

Gold industry funds flow into TOP10 companies

Monitoring data shows that the top three companies with capital inflows into the gold industry are: Zijin Mining, China Gold, and Western Gold. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that the capital inflow structure of leading companies shows that the top three companies have significant net inflows of very large orders, indicating a clear preference for large funds, while Zijin Mining has a larger net inflow of small orders, which may be related to the market's attraction to small and medium-sized funds. The concentration of funds within the industry is high, with the top three accounting for 96.37% of the capital flow scale of the TOP10, indicating that market hot spots are concentrated in leading companies. There are significant differences in capital preferences of different sizes. Super large orders are more inclined to leading companies, while large orders show net outflows in some companies, which may be related to the market's cautious attitude towards the short-term performance of these companies. The internal logic of capital flows may be related to gold price fluctuations, corporate fundamentals, and the market's long-term expectations for the gold industry.

Top 10 companies with proportion of gold industry R&D investment

Monitoring data shows that the top three companies in the gold industry in terms of R&D investment in revenue are: Chao Acer (1.16%), CICC Gold (0.97%), and Shanjin International (0.85%). iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that companies with high proportions of R&D investment, such as Chao Acer and CICC Gold, reflect their emphasis on technological innovation, especially in terms of investment intensity in product design, process upgrades and other aspects. The overall technological innovation investment intensity of the industry is relatively low, lower than the average level of high-tech and manufacturing industries, which may affect the long-term competitiveness of the industry to a certain extent. The rationality of R&D investment needs to be analyzed based on the company's scale and development stage. Large companies such as CICC Gold and Chifeng Gold have relatively high R&D investment, which is consistent with their company size and industry status, and helps improve innovation capabilities and market competitiveness.

Top 10 companies with debt ratio in the gold industry

Monitoring data shows that the top three companies in the gold industry with debt ratios are: Yuyuan Holdings (68.91%), Cuihua Jewelry (68.78%), and Western Gold (68.49%). iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that companies with high debt ratios are generally concentrated in the field of gold mining and processing, which is consistent with the characteristics of capital-intensive industries. The gold industry has a large demand for funds, and the high debt ratio reflects the needs of corporate expansion and operations to a certain extent. The overall debt level and financial leverage level of the industry are relatively high, but risks need to be comprehensively assessed based on cash flow and profitability.

Top 10 companies with the highest price-to-book ratio in the gold industry

Monitoring data shows that Zhaojin Gold (41.38 times), Xiaocheng Technology (20.86 times), and Sichuan Gold (17.83 times) rank among the top three in terms of price-to-book ratio. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that companies with high price-to-book ratios usually have high asset scarcity or brand value, such as Zhaojin Gold’s dual layout in real estate and mining, Xiaocheng Technology’s diversified development in solar power generation and gold mining business, and Sichuan Gold’s focus on gold mining. These companies have high asset quality, good growth potential, and stable returns on net assets, so the market gives them higher valuations. At the same time, the high price-to-book ratio also reflects the market's recognition and expectations of the future development potential of these companies.

Top 10 companies with gross profit margin in the gold industry

Monitoring data shows that Xiaocheng Technology (65.07%), Sichuan Gold (64.11%), and Huayu Mining (51.02%) rank among the top three in terms of gross profit margin. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that the gross profit margin of leading companies is significantly higher than the industry average, showing strong profitability and competitive advantages. Especially in the resource-based industry of gold, high gross profit margin often means strong resource control and excellent cost control capabilities. The overall industry profitability is relatively high, and the gross profit margins of the top 10 companies are mostly above 20%, reflecting the high value-added nature of the gold industry. High gross profit margins are closely related to corporate moats. Resource endowment, technological advantages and brand influence are the keys for companies to maintain high gross profit margins.

Typical case studies in the industry: Zijin Mining (operations)

Zijin Mining's revenue scale continues to expand rapidly, growing from 293.403 billion yuan in 2023 to 303.640 billion yuan in 2024. In the first three quarters of 2025, it has reached 254.200 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.33%, maintaining strong growth. The company's performance shows significant seasonal and cyclical characteristics. The first quarter of each year is the low point of the year, which is mainly affected by holidays and production arrangements. Profit performance is in line with revenue and growing at a faster rate, highlighting its profitability flexibility in the upward cycle of metal prices. In terms of business, the company takes gold and copper production from mines as its core profit source, and its performance is highly tied to international metal prices. As a global mining giant, Zijin Mining fully benefits from the commodity boom cycle, but its performance is also closely linked to global macroeconomic and price fluctuations.

Typical case study in the industry: Zijin Mining (R&D investment)

Zijin Mining's R&D investment scale will show a stable and progressive development trend from 2023 to 2025. Looking at the first three quarters, it increased from 1.130 billion yuan in 2023 to 1.160 billion yuan in 2025, with an average investment of 392 million yuan in a single quarter, showing the stability of R&D investment. The intensity of R&D investment has declined, reaching 0.46% in the first three quarters of 2025, which may affect the sustainability and stability of technological innovation. Considering that Zijin Mining is in the gold industry, its R&D investment intensity is lower than that of industries with high R&D investment, but higher than that of traditional manufacturing industries, showing the rationality of the company's investment in technological innovation. In the long run, increased R&D investment will help improve the competitiveness of enterprises, but attention needs to be paid to the long-term effects of technological innovation.

Industry typical case study: Shandong Gold (capital inflow)

Shandong Gold's capital flow data shows that the main capital showed a net outflow on most trading days, especially a large outflow of nearly 800 million yuan on January 29, showing the market's strong concern and cautious investment attitude towards the company. Large order funds were mostly net inflows before January 22, and then showed net outflows. The core reasons were the correction of gold prices and the strength of the US dollar. However, the overall net inflow of mid-order funds may reflect that small and medium-sized investors are relatively optimistic about the company's development prospects and have high market attention. After January 22, investors became more cautious, and the large outflow of main funds may be related to Shandong Gold's recent operating conditions or market expectations.

Typical case study in the industry: Shandong Gold (valuation analysis)

The price-to-book ratio (PB) and dynamic price-to-earnings ratio (PE) data of Shandong Gold in the past 30 days show that both PB and PE show a fluctuating upward trend. The average PB is 6.76, with a wide range of fluctuations, from 5.48 to 9.19, showing that there are large differences in the market's assessment of the value of its assets. The average PE is 39.01, with fluctuations ranging from 31.62 to 52.97, indicating that the market's expectations for its profitability fluctuate greatly. The current PB and PE are both higher than the industry average, which may indicate that the market has higher expectations for Shandong Gold and there is a certain degree of overestimation. Combined with the characteristics of the gold industry, the market is sensitive to gold price fluctuations. The recent rise in gold prices may have pushed up the market's valuation of Shandong Gold. Overall, valuation changes reflect the market’s optimistic expectations for the prospects of the gold industry, but one needs to be wary of the risks posed by gold price fluctuations.

Industry typical case study: Lao Fengxiang (business situation)

As the leader in jewelry, Lao Fengxiang's revenue scale fell back to 56.793 billion yuan in 2024 after hitting a new high of 71.436 billion yuan in 2023. The 48.001 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2025 was also lower than the same period last year, showing the impact of industry cycle adjustments. Its revenue is highly concentrated in the jewelry business, accounting for 84.55%, and its performance is directly related to the strength of the gold consumer market. The profit trend is highly synchronized with revenue, with a year-on-year decrease of 14.10% in 2024. Despite facing a short-term correction, its core competitiveness in channels and brands remains solid. Future performance requires close attention to the trend of gold prices and the recovery of terminal consumption.

Industry typical case study: Lao Fengxiang (asset analysis)

Lao Fengxiang's total assets showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing from September 2024 to September 2025, with an average total assets of 25.030 billion yuan, showing that the company's assets are relatively large. The proportion of non-fixed assets is as high as 94.77%, and fixed assets only account for 5.23%. The asset structure is similar to that of the technology industry and is in line with the characteristics of light-asset enterprises. This helps enterprises quickly respond to market changes and improve the efficiency of capital use. In terms of asset growth, both fixed assets and non-fixed assets showed slight growth, and asset growth was relatively balanced. Overall, Lao Fengxiang's asset scale matches the company's operating scale, and its asset structure is reasonable, which helps the company's flexible operations and risk control.

The content of this article is selected from the "iiMedia Consulting | 2025 China Gold Industry Market Status and Benchmark Enterprise Operation Data Analysis Report" released by iiMedia Research. The report has a total of 66 pages. Follow iiMedia.com for more industry reports to decode business trends and help you make accurate decisions!

According to the Litecoin trading platform Huobi.com, as of 10:00 on July 26, Beijing time, the price of Litecoin was RMB 287.96. The opening price of Litecoin on Huobi today was 289.99 yuan. The current highest price is 292 yuan and the lowest price is 282.01 yuan, a decrease of 0.7%.

Look at the hourly chart of Litecoin market on Huobi.com. The price of Litecoin on Huobi.com has broken the shock pattern. The recent shock box of 290-310 yuan has been effectively broken. However, judging from the decline in trading volume and the intensity of the decline, the decline is not large compared with Bitcoin, showing a certain resistance to the decline. Although the willingness to fall is not strong, as the daily-level short position trend has been formed, in the short term, attention is still focused on risks. Shrinking means that the possibility of imminent changes in the market is increased.

LTC Litecoin market hourly chart from Huobi.com

Industry:

Ethereum ICO Veritaseum was stolen, losing $4.5 million in funds

Over the past few months, crypto-asset ICOs have been both a blessing and a curse. This type of business model allows users to raise funds without going through official channels. Yet, at the same time, people must entrust millions of dollars to strangers. To make matters worse, ICOs may also face theft and fraud. Veritaseum is the latest ICO to be hacked. The project had $4.5 million worth of tokens stolen last night.

It’s terrible to see a crypto asset project stolen. In most cases, these types of thefts are the result of hacking. The Veritaseum ICO that just concluded recently encountered this accident. Specifically, someone successfully stole a large amount of VERI tokens. All funds were transferred to two different addresses. Currently, the cumulative value of stolen tokens is around $4.5 million, and this attack has gained a lot.

Millions of dollars stolen from Veritaseum ICO

Details about the attack are currently unknown. The hackers appear to have used some "very sophisticated attack techniques," although the team did not disclose specific details. What we do know is that the attack vector has been adjusted to ensure that similar situations don't happen again in the future. Unfortunately for the team, retrieving the funds is nearly impossible. There is no doubt that the stolen tokens will soon be cashed out on multiple exchanges.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time an Ethereum ICO has encountered this type of problem. In fact, recently, theft of funds has become the "normal" for crypto asset ICOs. Not long ago, several projects were stolen due to the MyEhterWallet vulnerability. Additionally, approximately $37 million worth of Ethereum was stolen from some projects in the past few weeks. It is clear that the technology used by these ICOs combined with centralized servers creates a large number of problems. This is the price to pay for adopting immature technology.

Fortunately, the theft had little impact on investors participating in the ICO. It appears that the stolen funds belong to Veritaseum team members, although this has not been confirmed.

Cryptoasset ICOs continue to grab media headlines, often in a negative light. Whether this situation will change anytime soon is uncertain.

The theft of Veritaseum may also be another phishing attack. 4,500 VERI have been sent to Etherdelta so far, worth approximately $500,000.

Research | Written by Wang Yugang and Lu Shiyu | Zhang Yang

In recent years, quantitative investment has attracted more and more attention, and financial practitioners and institutions have tried to lift the mystery of quantitative investment and obtain higher returns through it. At the same time, with the support of AI, quantitative investment is more efficient. However, for individuals, there are currently only a handful of AI quantitative platforms; for institutions, building an AI quantitative platform has high technical requirements.

Founded in 2016, Kuanbang Technology applies its own AI technology to quantitative investment, exports a simple and easy-to-use quantitative platform to C-side customers, and provides overall solutions to B-side customers, allowing customers to overcome technical difficulties and directly use AI quantitative tools.

Strategically, Kuanbang Technology first launched the AI ​​quantitative application platform BigQuant for C-end users. In the process, it improved its technical capabilities, optimized its products, demonstrated its strength through the C-end platform, and cultivated brand awareness.

After that, we will provide overall solutions for the AI ​​quantification platform for B-side financial institutions, especially securities firms. At the same time, Kuanbang Technology has commercialized BigQuant’s underlying technology platform and launched the Big AI full-stack artificial intelligence platform, which is commonly used in the financial industry.

For C-side users, the BigQuant website not only has efficient strategy writing functions, but also has a very low technical threshold.

The platform data is mainly public financial market data, and users can also define their own data sources. In terms of technology, users understand the basic principles of AI and quantification, and if they understand a little bit of code, they can write their own strategies on the platform. Through the simulated real trading function, users can easily conduct model backtesting and optimization. Moreover, through authorization, C-side customers can connect their trading strategies to the brokerage platform where they have opened an account and conduct real trading. In addition, platform users can exchange methods, share function tools, and sell their own strategies.

For B-side customers, after Kuanbang Technology has deployed the AI ​​quantification platform, they can directly apply its writing strategies at work, conduct transactions, and pursue high returns.

Kuanbang Technology will provide overall solutions for the AI ​​quantification platform based on the B-end customer situation. The advantage of BigQuant is that it encapsulates data processing, model building, backtesting, trading and other modules and presents them to strategy writers in a visual interface. This not only greatly reduces the technical requirements for quantitative traders, but also lowers the technical threshold for model development and maintenance.

Kuanbang Technology's overall service eliminates the need for B-end customers to set up their own AI and algorithm teams, reduces the cost of platform construction, and can be quickly applied to work.

01

Brokerages are the main source of income

Cultivate C-side users with a view to commercialization

As mentioned above, Kuanbang Technology serves C-side customers through the BigQuant website and B-side financial institutions through solutions. In addition, it opens the BigQuant platform to universities to assist in cultivating AI quantitative talents.

The C-side has accumulated tens of thousands of strategy developers, 1/3 of which are professional investors. Users who develop strategies on the platform can be subscribed by other users for a fee, and some users can earn over RMB 10,000 per month in strategy subscription fees from the platform. Strategies developed by investors through the platform are used by many quantitative asset managers to release private equity products and for real trading.

B-side financial institutions are Kuanbang Technology’s current main source of income, especially securities firms. Brokerages are the most active party in investment activities in the financial market. They hope to use new methods to increase investment returns, but their own technical capabilities are limited.

On the one hand, Kuanbang Technology has solved the problem of building an AI quantification system for securities companies, enabling the system to go online quickly and reducing personnel barriers and costs for operation and maintenance. On the other hand, compared with traditional trading methods, AI quantitative trading returns have significantly improved.

Based on the above two benefits, brokerages are willing to pay for BigQuant. The charge for the overall solution is divided into two parts, the project deployment fee and the subsequent annual maintenance fee. At present, Kuanbang Technology has served dozens of securities firms and private equity institutions, including leading companies such as CITIC Securities.

Recently, AiAnalysis conducted an exclusive interview with Liang Ju, founder and CEO of Kuanbang Technology, and now shares the exciting content as follows.

02

China’s quantitative trading market is still in its early stages

AI application potential is huge

AiAnalysis: What can we learn from in the foreign quantitative trading industry?

Liang Ju: Relatively speaking, the foreign quantitative industry is much more mature and has many types of transactions. If high-frequency trading is included, about 80% of the trading orders in the market are issued by machines, and the machines are algorithm-driven in the background. Some larger funds, such as Renaissance and Two Sigma, are using machine learning and other methods to make machines better able to trade.

The domestic quantitative industry is in its early stages. First of all, the market share of companies that conduct transactions through quantitative trading is still very low; secondly, tradable targets are not abundant, and market effectiveness is relatively low; in addition, compared with traditional trading methods, the performance accumulation of quantitative trading is not enough, and it needs to accumulate for a period of time for the market to see the effect.

At the same time, in the face of changes in the domestic market, securities firms are looking for new trading methods. The advantages of AI quantitative trading are reflected in two aspects: on the one hand, AI is a greater productivity; on the other hand, the performance advantages of quantitative trading will gradually emerge. Quantification has many natural advantages, such as not being affected by human emotions. Therefore, the application of AI and quantification is likely to grow significantly in the next few years.

iAnalysis: How is the application of AI quantitative trading in the Chinese market different from that in the United States?

Liang Ju: We found that China is a very large market. Applying our algorithm to A-shares, it is easy to achieve an annualized return of 50%. However, in the US stock market, it is very difficult to achieve 10%-20% because market information is very transparent and other companies are very competitive.

There is a lot of information asymmetry in China's A-share market, and some good results can be achieved by using volume and price. And the machine digs deeper, getting better results. At this stage, those using AI will gain first-mover advantages.

AiAnalysis: Is there any competition with other domestic quantitative trading platforms?

Liang Ju: The entire investment activity covers many aspects. Broadly speaking, it covers investment strategy (which financial products to do), investment strategy (how to do investment transactions), and transaction execution from top to bottom. Companies that provide quantitative services will do a certain part of the business in a targeted manner based on their own capabilities and understanding of the market. So it may be a competitive relationship or a cooperative relationship.

Traditional quantification focuses on the execution level, where people write strategies. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, is more strategic and involves machine-written strategies. On our platform, you don’t need to give instructions to the machine. You only need to set goals for the machine. For example, screen out the stocks with the highest price increases in the next five days, and then the machine will find the stocks through the machine learning model. People can combine their own abilities to screen and further optimize.

Quantification is low-dimensional, while AI is high-dimensional. We provide a platform with both quantification and AI functions.

03

Provide customers with overall solutions, extending downward from industries with high data concentration

Love Analysis: Is AI an improvement on traditional strategies, or is it using a completely new strategy?

Liang Ju: Including these two aspects. On the one hand, it is optimization, which allows the machine to learn the parameters of the original strategy; on the other hand, AI may find a better path with less resistance, thereby obtaining better results.

Love Analysis: What is the difference between BigQuant and traditional AI technology?

Liang Ju: We mainly treat machine learning as a service, and do not require customers to do data processing, build machine learning frameworks, and build algorithm models themselves.

CITIC Securities used to take 40 minutes to access data, but we helped them optimize it to the second level. They don’t know how to build a machine learning framework, but our platform is transparent to them and can handle large amounts of data.

AiAnalysis: Is it connected to the securities firm’s trading system?

Liang Ju: When we help securities companies with privatization deployment, we will directly extend it to the trading side. Whether it is for the internal needs of securities firms or the needs of their customers, the transaction interface needs to be opened. The docking of the transaction interface is very simple, but compliance must be ensured.

AiAnalysis: Are there any technical or financial barriers to users?

Liang Ju: In fact, we have lowered the ability requirements for users very low, and we will further lower them in the future. Our platform now still requires users to have a certain understanding of AI and quantification. People who understand the rules of market operation will choose better features and let the machine learn them, and the results will be better.

AiAnalysis: Can strategy developers see how their models are optimized?

Liang Ju: AI technology itself is a black box, but we try to open up the AI ​​algorithm part so that strategy developers know how the results come from. So we are also doing investor education and training.

iAnalysis: What securities products can BigQuant be applied to?

Liang Ju: You can do US stocks, A-shares, Hong Kong stocks, and futures. To us, these transactions are actually data. Some foreign exchange institutions are also cooperating with us, and there are even digital currencies. For different securities products, the same AI platform is used, but the trading algorithms are different.

AiAnalysis: In addition to quantification, in what fields do you plan to implement Big AI in the future?

Liang Ju: In the early days, we visited many companies, including securities firms, banks, and insurance companies. Among them, securities companies have many scenarios that can be implemented, and quantification is the most direct. At the same time, quantification can also assist traditional investment, such as screening stocks for investors, and then letting people do further processing.

Other implementation scenarios include intelligent customer service. The original intelligent customer service only needed to add a corpus and knowledge base, but now machine learning can make intelligent customer service do a better job.

The choice of implementation scenario is to start from industries with a high degree of data concentration or a high degree of acceptance of AI, and then expand to areas with a lower degree of data concentration or a relatively low degree of acceptance. During this process, we will also continue to polish the products.

04

Breaking down AI quantitative talent barriers for securities firms

iAnalysis: Which types of financial institutions are the main customers?

Liang Ju: We mostly serve companies with weak IT in the financial field. Brokerages want to do AI quantification, but the IT and development departments themselves lack capabilities and need to rely on mature outside technologies.

AiAnalysis: What are the benefits of Kuanbang’s overall solution to securities companies?

Liang Ju: On the one hand, excellent AI technical personnel are scarce, and it is difficult for brokerage firms to build their own teams and build platforms. The threshold of our platform is very low, which reduces the dependence on talents. AI quantified knowledge can be deposited in enterprises.

On the other hand, when it comes to big data, machines can do better than people. Humans can only see part of the world and achieve local optimization, but machines can see more and achieve global optimization. For example, the results obtained by a human based on 3 stocks may be different from the results obtained by a machine based on 3,000 stocks.

iAnalysis: How long does it take for a brokerage’s privatization deployment process?

Liang Ju: It can be deployed in a week or two, and then it has to be connected to the customer's system. The whole process takes about a few months because the customer's internal system is relatively complex.

As the central bank's digital currency began to recruit troops, a campaign against the currency circle began across the country.

According to rectification notices from Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing, any local Internet companies or exchanges that are engaged in virtual currency activities, including digital currency fund raising, will be deemed to be operating illegally, and the companies will be urged to immediately correct and exit. As of November 22, the official Weibo of two of China's three major digital currency exchanges has been blocked, and one has been filed for review by the court due to customer prosecution.

On the morning of November 22, the progress of the central bank’s digital currency accelerated again, and the Yangtze River Delta Financial Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the People’s Bank of China, released recruitment information for 2019.

Due to the heavy blows of regulatory authorities in the past three weeks, the regular army may replace the existing currency trading ecosystem. Investors' willingness to hold currency has been significantly reduced, selling has been fierce, and the digital currency market has been bleak. On the evening of November 22, the digital currency market suddenly plummeted across the board. Amid investors' fright, the price of Bitcoin once fell below US$7,000 during the session. The market value of Bitcoin fell by 150 billion yuan in 24 hours, and the decline was close to 30% in the past three weeks.

The crackdown on bandits and arrests in the currency circle may be serious.

If the regular army wants to enter the scene and gain the support and trust of the people, they must first drive away the bandits who are harvesting leeks.

On November 22, the Shanghai Headquarters of the Central Bank of China announced that the Shanghai Financial Stability Joint Conference Office and the Shanghai Headquarters of the People's Bank of China, together with relevant departments at both urban and Shanghai levels, carried out special rectification of virtual currency-related activities in the Shanghai area, ordering problematic companies found during the survey to provide publicity, diversion and other services for virtual currency trading platforms registered overseas to immediately rectify and exit.

On November 22, the official website of the Shenzhen Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau announced that the Shenzhen Leading Group Office for Internet Financial Risks and Other Special Rectification Work recently issued a risk reminder on preventing illegal activities of "virtual currency". The notice stated that in response to some phenomena of organizing virtual currency transactions, issuing virtual currencies, raising funds or virtual currency assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum within the country, the Shenzhen Internet Financial Risks and Other Special Rectification Leading Group Office will investigate and collect evidence for the above illegal activities. Once discovered, it will be dealt with seriously in accordance with the requirements of the "Announcement on Preventing Token Issuance and Financing Risks".

On November 15, under the leadership of the Shanghai Mutual Finance Rectification Office, the Shanghai Joint Financial Stability Office and the Shanghai Headquarters of the People's Bank of China jointly issued the "Notice on Carrying out Rectification and Rectification of Virtual Currency Trading Places" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") to carry out the Rectification and Rectification of Virtual Currency Exchanges within their jurisdiction, and complete the investigation and rectification work before November 22.

On November 13, the Beijing Local Financial Supervision Bureau issued the “Risk Warning Regarding Trading Venue Branches Carrying Out Business Activities Without Approval.” According to relevant reports, the "Tips" clearly stated that if branches of out-of-town trading venues (especially financial asset exchanges) carry out business activities in Beijing, it is an illegal operation.

On November 11, the Department of Industry and Information Technology of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region issued a notice on a joint inspection of the cleanup and rectification of virtual currency “mining” companies. The inspection period will last from November 11 to November 25, 2019.

It is worth mentioning that the notice of this rectification activity in Shanghai stated that recently, with the promotion of blockchain technology, virtual currency speculation has shown signs of resurgence. In order to prevent a resurgence, according to the relevant deployment of the National Mutual Finance Rectification Office, each district rectification office is requested to conduct a survey and ranking of the three types of virtual currency-related activities within its jurisdiction.

It is reported that the activities included in the scope of rectification include: organizing virtual currency transactions within the country; issuing virtual currencies in the form of "xx coins" and "xx chains" on the grounds of "implementation of blockchain application scenarios" to raise funds or virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum; providing publicity, diversion, agency trading and other services for ICO projects and virtual currency trading platforms registered overseas. The "Notice" requires that once Internet companies engaged in the above-mentioned virtual currency-related activities are discovered, the rectification offices of each district in Shanghai should immediately report to the Shanghai Financial Stability Joint Office (Shanghai Local Financial Supervision Bureau) and the Shanghai Headquarters of the Central Bank, and urge the companies to rectify and exit immediately.

Since the end of October, the regulatory level has launched a heavy attack on the currency ecosystem. Who is the core target of this attack?

“It seems like we are going to crack down on digital currencies that raise illegal funds, but in fact the core target of the attack is digital currency exchanges.” The person in charge of a blockchain project in Shenzhen told a reporter from China Brokerage that the core of the chaos in the currency circle is the exchange. For all digital currency projects, if there is no platform, endorsement and publicity provided by the exchange, it will be difficult to cut leeks.

It is the exchanges that really make money in the currency circle. As for various digital currency projects, the income they get from cutting leeks is only a drop in the bucket compared to digital currency exchanges.

On October 30, most of the staff of the Biss exchange were taken away by the police for investigation, mainly on suspicion of fraud and money laundering, including the founder BMAN and BISS employees. It is said that the people taken away also included an intern who had not officially joined the work.

Since BISS Exchange stores a large number of digital currency assets, the exchange itself also issues Villa Coins, a digital currency variety based on the exchange business. After everyone lost contact inexplicably, on the afternoon of October 30, many users belatedly discovered that there was no review of currency withdrawals on the BISS exchange. Users' currency withdrawals prompted a server error, and customer service staff did not respond. Fearing what might have happened, some smarter users immediately began to sell villa coins. That night, the villa coins issued by BISS exchange plummeted by 50% in 15 minutes.

Rectification focus may be on digital currency exchanges

Why digital currency exchanges are the most dangerous part of the industry rectification is because digital currency exchanges are the infrastructure that maintains the operation of the currency circle, and they are also the most capable of cutting leeks. Each exchange is keen to issue its own digital currency. Although securities companies in the A-share market also hope that their companies will issue stocks and go public, this is easy to understand due to the support of licensed businesses. However, digital currency exchanges that do not have domestic license qualifications have more naked intentions in their operations.

Digital currency exchanges issue their own digital currencies. In fact, these copycat teams hope to use their own digital currencies to obtain Bitcoins from users through currency-to-crypto transactions.

Theoretically speaking, Bitcoin may be the only credible asset in the current digital currency field. In other words, the exchange uses the so-called digital currency created by itself and has no scarcity to exchange for the relatively scarce Bitcoin in the hands of users.

High school history textbooks once gave a detailed introduction to the old society's indiscriminate distribution of gold yuan coupons to obtain silver dollars. If the exchange is closed, the digital currency issued by the exchange itself will become worthless. However, by exchanging the Bitcoin in the hands of users, the income has been locked in advance, because Bitcoin assumes the functions of gold and US dollars in the currency circle.

However, BISS is only a smaller exchange after all. Once the regulatory authorities direct their efforts to rectify the currency circle at digital currency exchanges, it means that greater uncertain risks are about to come.

On the evening of November 13, Binance’s official Weibo showed that the account was no longer viewable because it violated laws and regulations and the “Weibo Community Convention.” It is worth noting that when Binance’s official Weibo was blocked, the content displayed in its account and the number of fans were also cleared. Some insiders believe that Binance may have received relatively severe penalties this time.

On the afternoon of November 20, Huobi China’s Weibo account was blocked. This was the second Weibo account to be tricked after Binance’s official Weibo account was blocked on the evening of November 13. Industry insiders pointed out that the blocking of Huobi China’s Weibo account was more serious than the blocking of Binance’s official Weibo account a few days ago, indicating that the regulatory actions launched in Shanghai on November 14 have been extended to the whole country, at least to Beijing.

A digital currency analyst in Shenzhen believes that one of the reasons why Binance was blocked may be that the company openly announced that it would open legal currency transactions. On October 9, Binance announced the launch of OTC fiat currency trading services on the Android version of the app. Shortly thereafter, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao stated on Twitter that users would soon be able to use WeChat and Alipay to purchase cryptocurrencies on the OTC market. After the news was released, Binance Coin issued by Binance Exchange began to rise, with the largest intraday increase of more than 10%. This increase was Binance's largest intraday increase since May 21 this year.

It seems that only OKEX is more compliant? OKEX, an exchange headquartered in Beijing, announced at the end of 2017 that after the regulatory authorities issued an ICO ban, it would stop all RMB-to-Bitcoin transactions and transfer all its business to the overseas site OKEX.

However, not providing legal currency trading services does not mean that there is no cutting of leeks. Brokerage China reporters have obtained multiple videos of investors going to OKEX to defend their rights. OKEX is also considered to be one of the companies with the most records of investor rights protection. Brokerage China reporters also learned on the 21st that OKEX's alleged "misappropriation" of customer funds has been officially filed in the Hangzhou Internet Court recently.

This wave of sweeps by regulatory authorities since the end of October has caused many small and medium-sized investors in the currency circle to begin to consider risk control.

A digital currency investor in Shenzhen told a reporter from Brokerage China that he and some friends have been selling digital currencies one after another since October. The number of digital currency assets held has dropped by half compared to June this year. In particular, the assets stored in some risky digital currency exchanges have been sold out, and he is worried that something will happen.

The digital currency market is bleak

After the heavy blows of regulatory authorities in recent days, the digital currency market has been bleak. On the afternoon of November 22, the digital currency market suddenly plummeted across the board.

Bitcoin plunged 11% intraday on November 22, once falling below 7,000 US dollars, and the circulating market value of Bitcoin also fell below 1 trillion yuan. This was the largest single-day decline for Bitcoin since the regulatory launch of Bitcoin at the end of October this year, and its decline in three weeks was close to 30%.

Trading data shows that on the evening of November 22, the top 100 companies by market capitalization Of the digital currencies, more than half of the currencies have fallen by more than 10% intraday, and more than 90% of the varieties have suffered financial suppression. After the regulatory authorities rectified the currency circle, the OKEX digital currency exchange, which was trapped in the "customer funds gate", also encountered greater market pressure. The OKB issued by it has experienced six consecutive declines. On November 22, the intraday decline reached 15%, and the decline in the past three weeks reached 30%.

The above information means that the regulatory authorities are strongly attacking, or confirm that the regular army is expected to completely replace the existing currency ecosystem, including the three major digital currency exchanges that store a large number of users' funds. Once they fail to obtain operating licenses issued by regulatory authorities, they may face the fate of being banned. The risk appetite of digital currency investors has dropped sharply. As investors' willingness to hold currency has been significantly reduced, the pressure to sell funds has also increased, leading to a collapse in currency prices.

The central bank’s digital currency recruitment staff will have a monthly salary of at least 50,000?

Not long after the regulatory authorities launched a forceful attack, a recruitment message hinted that the currency circle’s anti-bandit operation was preparing for the entry of the regular army.

The Yangtze River Delta Financial Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the People's Bank of China, recently released recruitment information for 2019. According to the official introduction, the Yangtze River Delta Financial Technology Co., Ltd. is a financial technology company established by the Central Bank's Digital Currency Research Institute and relevant units in Suzhou. It will undertake the construction and stable operation of legal digital currency infrastructure; undertake key technical research and pilot scenario support, supporting R&D and testing of legal digital currency; focus on the cutting-edge directions of financial technology such as blockchain and cryptography.

According to the main recruitment positions of Yangtze River Delta Financial Technology Co., Ltd., they mainly include data center managers, security and cryptography research specialists, senior network engineers, architects (platform, mobile), blockchain technology directors, blockchain architects, blockchain R&D engineers, big data R&D engineers, etc. It is reported that these positions have a minimum monthly salary of 50,000.

It is worth mentioning that at the 2019 China Economy 50 Forum held in Shenzhen, Zhu Min, dean of the National Institute of Financial Research at Tsinghua University, spoke on November 22 and believed that if digital currencies are not issued, central banks of various countries will face great pressure, including pressure from the market. Various cryptocurrencies are currently emerging in the market. Although these cryptocurrencies are not sovereign currencies, they are actually eroding the field of sovereign currencies. The central bank of some small countries is particularly worried that if it does not issue a digital currency, the sovereign currency of the host country is likely to be marginalized.

Huang Yiping, deputy director of the National School of Development at Peking University, believes that mastering the global digital currency will have a great influence on the global payment and monetary system. Not only the central banks of various countries will participate in the competition, but also some less formal non-governmental organizations and institutions. He believes that the People's Bank of China is well prepared for research and is likely to become the first to officially issue a central bank digital currency.

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MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) — The global governance should be improved through reform in order to calibrate the right course of history, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while addressing the "China in the World" session of the ongoing Munich Security Conference.

Wang said the international situation has become more volatile and intertwined over the past year. The law of the jungle and unilateralism have been rampant, and the cause of human peace and development has reached a new crossroads.

Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Governance Initiative, calling for the practice of sovereignty equality, international rule of law, multilateralism, a people-centered approach, and real actions, in a bid to build a more just and reasonable global governance system, Wang said.

The initiative conforms to the progressive trend of the times, represents the broadest common ground of the international community, and has been quickly and widely supported and endorsed, he said. It has injected new impetus into the building of a community with a share future for humanity, and also provided a Chinese compass for the ship of history to navigate through the storm to reach the bright shore.

Humanity has gone through hardships to this day, and sticking together through thick and thin is the right choice, Wang said, calling on the global community to improve global governance through reform and calibrate the course of the historical ship.

In his remarks, Wang made four suggestions in this regard.

First of all, the United Nations (UN) system needs to be revitalized. The UN is an important achievement of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, a historical choice of our ancestors, and a peace project to which countries have injected the most effort so far. Wang said the world only has the responsibility to reinforce and repair this "edifice" jointly built by the people of the world, but has no right to destroy it.

Without the UN, the world will return to the era of the law of the jungle, and the vast number of small and medium-sized countries will lose their multilateral support they rely on, Wang said. Today, the most important task is to return to our original aspirations, revitalize the leading position of the UN, abide by the purposes of the UN Charter, enhance the effectiveness of the UN system, in order to help it better adapt to the needs of the 21st century, Wang added.

Secondly, countries should coordinate and cooperate. Wang said the reason why the current international system is not functioning enough is that some countries enlarge differences, pursue their own priorities, and are keen on camp confrontation. Wang said that to maintain international coordination and cooperation is to seek common ground while reserving differences and achieve win-win cooperation. Dialogue and cooperation are needed when there are differences. He expressed hope that countries can respect and empower each other, achieving harmony without uniformity.

Looking back on history, Wang said every progress made by humankind is the result of sincere cooperation among countries across differences. He said that unity is strength, and unity brings hope.

Thirdly, to always practice multilateralism. In the upcoming multipolar world, it is necessary to practice true multilateralism and promote the democratization of international relations, Wang said, urging countries to abide by the same set of rules, that is, the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, so that all countries, especially the vast number of small and medium-sized countries, can find their place and play their due role in the international system.

In particular, big countries should set an example in various fields, including taking the lead in promoting cooperation and not engaging in conflicts and confrontations, abiding by the rules and not engaging in double standards, practicing equality instead of coercion, promoting opening up rather than self-interest, Wang said.

Noting that the Global South is rising collectively, Wang said the global governance system should keep pace with the times to more fully reflect their voices and their representativeness.

Fourthly, Wang said the top priority now is to stop the war and promote peace. Today, there are still over 60 conflicts lingering around the world. The vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security proposed by President Xi has pointed out the solution. All parties should promote peace talks, oppose fanning the flames, and resolve conflicts through mediation and dialogue.

Wang called for unremitting efforts to achieve a ceasefire and reconstruction in Gaza, saying that implementing the two-State solution and restoring fairness and justice to the Palestinian people is an inescapable responsibility of the international community. The situation in Iran affects the overall peace situation in the Middle East, and all parties should act with caution to avoid triggering new conflicts. The Ukraine crisis has finally opened the door to dialogue. Wang said all parties involved should seize this opportunity to strive to reach a fair, lasting and binding peace agreement, eliminate the root causes of conflicts and achieve long-term stability in Europe. On the issue of Venezuela, the bottom line of international rule of law must not be crossed and the principle of national sovereignty must be upheld, Wang said.

China will be a firm contributor for peace, stability and historical progress, and will promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, Wang said.

The Chinese foreign minister also answered on-site questions on the Ukraine issue, China-EU relations, China-US relations and the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

During the security conference, Wang met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, and Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Petr Macinka.