Ozak AI, or $OZ, has rapidly become one of the most exciting AI-powered crypto projects this year, putting together high-performance predictive intelligence with a DePIN-driven decentralized infrastructure model. Situated at the crossroads of AI automation and tokenized network growth, Ozak AI has managed to gain the interest of both retail traders and large-scale investors. As Phase 7 of its presale gains momentum, the project continues to exude strong market conviction against overall turbulence across the wider crypto sector.

Presale Progress: Nearing the $5.5M Mark With Fast Climbing Demand

The momentum of Ozak AI’s presale has now reached an unprecedented high, with the project currently in Phase 7 at a token price of $0.014. It has oversold 1.05 billion $OZ tokens sold, pushing total funds raised to $5.12 million. Such rapid progress places Ozak AI well within reach of its first $5.5 million milestone-an impressive level that signals both widening adoption and early investor confidence.

From its earliest phases, the $OZ token price has climbed significantly, reflecting more than a 400% appreciation from its starting range. With the next phase set to introduce a higher price and the project maintaining its $1.00 listing target, interest has continued to build among those seeking early entry into an AI-driven ecosystem poised for real-world adoption.

The Technical Foundation Behind Ozak AI’s Growing Appeal

The strength of Ozak AI’s architecture lies in its fusion of AI-powered infrastructure with a robust DePIN layer. By distributing compute workloads through decentralized networks and enhancing them with predictive analytics, Ozak AI enables faster data processing, automated insights, and the ability to adapt dynamically to market behavior.

Cross-chain compatibility ensures that the ecosystem can operate seamlessly across various blockchain environments, reducing friction for developers and partners integrating Ozak’s technology. Staking, governance, and ecosystem-wide participation strengthen the utility of the $OZ token, creating a long-term alignment between tokenholders and protocol development.

Security remains a central pillar of the project. Ozak AI’s successful Sherlock audit, which reported zero unresolved issues, reinforces its credibility at a time when presale investors are more cautious than ever.

A Powerful Partnership Network Fueling Ozak AI’s Expansion

Much of Ozak AI’s rising demand can be attributed to its expanding roster of strategic partnerships, each adding a new layer of value to the ecosystem. Its collaboration with SINT enhances the project’s real-time intelligence by enabling one-click AI agent upgrades, voice-controlled automation, and seamless execution of Ozak’s predictive signals. The project’s work with Hive Intel (HIVE) deepens its analytical capabilities, giving Ozak AI access to multi-chain blockchain datasets, NFT activity, smart contract intelligence, and wallet behavior patterns significantly boosting accuracy and model training.

Meanwhile, Ozak AI’s integration with Weblume empowers developers to instantly embed actionable market insights into dashboards and dApps using a no-code interface, speeding up real-world adoption. Its partnership with Meganet, a bandwidth-sharing network supported by over 6.5 million nodes, strengthens the project’s distributed compute environment, ensuring faster and more cost-efficient AI processing.

Why Retail and Whale Investors Are Buying Aggressively Before Listing

Despite recent market pullbacks, Ozak AI’s investor base continues to expand, with on-chain activity and presale participation indicating strong inflows from both retail traders and larger capital players. The appeal lies in the combination of low entry price, verified technology, and a clear roadmap that integrates AI, DePIN, and token utility into a cohesive ecosystem. Many analysts believe that the project’s fundamentals, especially its partnerships and expanding use-case network position it for substantial post-listing appreciation.

With a projected listing near the $1.00 mark, early investors purchasing at $0.014 see a favourable risk-reward ratio compared to other emerging AI tokens in the market.

Conclusion

As Ozak AI nears the $5.5 million mark, it continues to lead a trajectory proving that robust fundamentals and technological utility actually attract investor confidence-even in choppy market conditions. Having sold more than 1.03 billion tokens thus far in the fast-advancing presale, along with its rapidly expanding partnership ecosystem, Ozak AI is starting to stand out as one of the most promising AI-centric blockchain projects heading into its listing phase.

The surge of retail and whale participation is not accidental; it reflects growing recognition that Ozak AI is building infrastructure that could define the next wave of decentralized AI innovation. For many investors, getting in at $0.014 may be one of the most compelling early-stage opportunities before the project enters its next major valuation cycle.

For more information about Ozak AI, visit the links below:

Website: https://ozak.ai/

Twitter/X: https://x.com/OzakAGI

Telegram: https://t.me/OzakAGI

China’s Guangzhou Futures Exchange (GFEX) has announced a fresh set of trading curbs for selected platinum and palladium futures contracts, tightening position requirements and daily trading limits as part of broader efforts to manage volatility and curb speculative activity in the niche precious metals market.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the exchange said the changes will take effect from December 29 and will apply to several forward-dated platinum and palladium contracts that are actively traded by investors. For platinum, the affected contracts are PT2606, PT2608, PT2610, and PT2612, while the adjustments for palladium cover PD2606, PD2608, PD2610, and PD2612.

Under the revised rules, the minimum daily opening position for the specified platinum and palladium contracts will be raised from one lot to two lots. The minimum closing position will remain unchanged at one lot. Exchange officials said the adjustment is intended to raise the entry threshold for new positions, discouraging short-term, low-capital trades that can amplify price swings, while still allowing investors to reduce or exit positions smoothly.

Beyond the opening position requirement, GFEX will also impose a daily opening position limit of 300 lots per contract for non-futures company members and individual clients. The cap applies on a per-contract basis and is designed to prevent concentrated bets from dominating trading in markets that are relatively small compared with major base metals or energy futures. The exchange clarified that hedging transactions and market-making trades will be exempt from the limits, ensuring that industrial users and liquidity providers can continue to operate without restriction.

Platinum and palladium futures are among the newer contracts launched by the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, which was established to expand China’s derivatives market beyond traditional commodities and to strengthen the country’s role in pricing strategic resources. Both metals are critical inputs in automotive catalytic converters and are also used in electronics, chemicals, and jewellery, making their prices sensitive to shifts in global auto production, emissions regulations, and substitution between the two metals.

Market participants say these contracts can be prone to sharp price moves, particularly when liquidity thins or speculative interest rises. As a result, Chinese exchanges frequently adjust trading rules such as position limits, margins, and transaction thresholds to maintain orderly markets and contain systemic risk. Similar measures have been deployed in the past across commodities ranging from steel and coal to lithium and rare earths during periods of heightened volatility.

The timing of the latest curbs also comes as global platinum group metals markets face structural uncertainty. Demand is being reshaped by slowing growth in internal combustion vehicle sales in some regions, rising adoption of electric vehicles, and ongoing shifts in emissions standards. Supply dynamics, including output from major producers in South Africa and Russia, continue to add to price sensitivity.

By exempting hedging and market-making activity, GFEX appears to be signaling that its focus is squarely on speculative excess rather than on restricting legitimate risk management or liquidity provision. Traders said the measures are likely to moderate intraday volatility without materially harming overall market participation.

The exchange did not indicate whether further adjustments are planned, but analysts expect GFEX and other Chinese exchanges to remain proactive in fine-tuning trading rules as market conditions evolve and as newer futures contracts gain broader participation.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said Japan’s underlying inflation is gradually accelerating and moving closer to the central bank’s 2% target, reinforcing the case for further interest rate increases as the country continues its cautious exit from decades of ultra-loose monetary policy.

Speaking on Thursday to Keidanren, Japan’s most influential business lobby, Ueda said the BOJ remains prepared to keep tightening policy as long as economic conditions and price trends evolve in line with its projections. He stressed that the central bank is no longer fighting deflation but is instead focused on ensuring that inflation is sustained by rising wages and corporate pricing power, rather than by temporary cost shocks.

“Given that real interest rates are very low, the BOJ will continue to raise interest rates in accordance with improvements in the economy and prices,” Ueda said, signaling that policy normalization remains a work in progress rather than a one-off adjustment.

His remarks come just days after the BOJ raised its short-term policy rate to 0.75%, the highest level in roughly three decades. The decision marked another milestone in Japan’s slow dismantling of a monetary framework built on negative or near-zero interest rates, yield curve control and massive asset purchases that were maintained for years to counter entrenched deflation and weak domestic demand.

Ueda said the latest rate increase reflected growing confidence within the BOJ that Japan’s economy can withstand higher borrowing costs, particularly as global headwinds appear to be moderating. He noted that uncertainties linked to U.S. tariff policies and broader trade tensions, which had previously weighed heavily on Japan’s export-driven economy, have eased somewhat, allowing the central bank more room to focus on domestic conditions.

A key pillar of the BOJ’s optimism is the labor market. Ueda said Japan’s labor conditions remain tight and are likely to stay that way unless there is a major economic shock. Structural challenges, including the country’s shrinking and ageing population, have reduced the supply of workers and strengthened employees’ bargaining power, pushing companies to offer higher pay and improved working conditions.

Those pressures, he said, are already feeding through into wage growth and corporate behavior. Large firms agreed to the biggest pay hikes in decades during last year’s annual wage negotiations, and early signals suggest that companies are preparing to maintain similar momentum in the next round of talks. Ueda said sustained wage increases are essential to creating a stable cycle in which higher incomes support consumption, allowing firms to raise prices without eroding demand.

He also highlighted a notable shift in how companies are setting prices. In the past, many firms absorbed higher costs to avoid losing customers, reinforcing Japan’s low-inflation mindset. Ueda said that behavior is changing, with businesses now more willing to pass on rising labor and input costs across a wider range of goods and services, not just food and energy.

“Japan’s underlying inflation has followed a moderate uptrend as a whole,” Ueda said. “Amid tightening labor market conditions, firms’ wage- and price-setting behavior has changed significantly in recent years. Achievement of our 2% inflation target, accompanied by wage increases, is steadily approaching.”

The comments are likely to be closely scrutinized by financial markets, which have been sensitive to any hint about the pace of future rate hikes. At last week’s post-policy meeting briefing, Ueda’s cautious tone was interpreted by some investors as dovish, triggering renewed weakness in the yen. The currency has remained under pressure against the dollar, amplifying concerns about rising import costs and their impact on households.

A persistently weak yen has become a political and economic issue, as it lifts prices for fuel, food and other essentials, squeezing real incomes even as wages rise. While exporters benefit from a cheaper currency, policymakers are increasingly wary that excessive yen depreciation could undermine public support for the BOJ’s policy shift and dampen consumer spending.

Ueda did not directly comment on exchange rate levels but reiterated that policy decisions would be guided by the outlook for inflation and economic activity, rather than short-term market moves. He also emphasized that the BOJ would proceed carefully, adjusting policy step by step to avoid destabilizing the economy or financial system.

Markets widely expect the BOJ to keep rates unchanged at its next policy meeting on January 22–23. Attention will instead focus on the central bank’s updated quarterly forecasts for growth and inflation, which could offer clearer signals on how policymakers view the durability of recent price increases and the likelihood of further rate hikes later in the year.

However, Ueda’s remarks underline a growing confidence within the BOJ that Japan is finally edging closer to a long-sought goal: a self-sustaining cycle of wage growth and inflation that allows monetary policy to return to more normal settings. But risks from global growth, currency volatility and domestic consumption remain firmly on the radar.