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Bitcoin Holds Strong at $114K Ahead of Key US CPI Data, Analysts Predict Surge to $160K

By
Ojukwu Emmanuel
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0

Bitcoin (BTC) is holding steady around the $114,000 mark after a sharp rally on Wednesday, as traders brace for the release of US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data later today.

The flagship cryptocurrency ended several weeks of downward price action on Sept. 2 with a daily candle close above the corresponding trend line, a day after seeing its lowest levels in nearly two months.

Currently, BTC has surged to a 17-day high of $114,500, extending its recent bullish momentum and breaking through the crucial $113,000 resistance level that had repeatedly capped gains over the past week.

BTC Breaks Key Resistance as Bulls Regain Control

Earlier attempts to break above $113,000 were met with swift rejections, sending BTC tumbling by several thousand dollars on both September 6 and September 10. However, this time, bulls managed to overcome the resistance, setting the stage for further upward movement.

Despite a slight pullback, BTC remains firmly above $114,000, with traders anticipating heightened volatility once the CPI report drops. Historically, CPI releases have caused sharp, short-term declines before Bitcoin rebounded strongly.

Popular crypto analyst Rekt Capital noted that Bitcoin’s consistent rebounds suggest strong bullish momentum. “Each rejection from $113K has resulted in shallower and shallower pullbacks,” Rekt Capital explained, adding that it’s unlikely Bitcoin has already peaked this cycle, as that would make this one of the shortest bull markets in history.

Macro Tailwinds: Inflation and Rate Cuts

Bitcoin’s rise has been supported by broader macroeconomic trends. A recent drop in US inflation data has boosted risk assets such as Bitcoin and gold, with expectations growing for the Federal Reserve to begin interest rate cuts as early as next week.

Trader Jelle noted on X: “If today’s CPI report matches expectations, it will likely confirm a rate cut later this month, which could fuel further upside for BTC and the broader market.”

Analysts Eye $160,000 BTC Target

Fresh on-chain data has further fueled optimism. Trader BitBull highlighted a “golden cross” forming on Bitcoin’s MACD chart, a signal historically linked to major rallies. “Last time this occurred, BTC surged 40% in a month and set a new all-time high,” BitBull said. If history repeats, BTC could climb to $160,000, a target many traders are eyeing for late 2025.

Altcoins Join the Rally

Bitcoin’s momentum has spilled over into the altcoin market. Avalanche (AVAX) surged more than 7%, nearing the $30 level, while Dogecoin (DOGE) and Stellar (XLM) jumped by up to 3%.

Ethereum also saw gains, climbing 2.3% to trade above $4,400.

The standout performer, however, was Mantle (MNT), which soared to a new all-time high of $1.65, leading the market in percentage gains. In contrast, Worldcoin (WLD) dropped almost 8% after its recent strong rally.

The overall crypto market capitalization has surged past the $4 trillion mark, now standing at $4.06 trillion, according to CG data. Bitcoin’s dominance has steadied at 56%, reflecting renewed investor confidence in both BTC and altcoins.

Future Outlook

Bitcoin’s breakout above $113,000 signals strong bullish momentum as traders await critical CPI data. If macroeconomic conditions align and historical patterns repeat, analysts believe BTC could rally toward $160,000, potentially setting the stage for a new all-time high.

CleanCore’s $67M DOGE Purchase Is A Bold, High-Risk Bet to Redefine Itself as a Crypto-Centric Company

By
Paul Ugbede Godwin
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0

CleanCore Solutions, Inc. (NYSE American: ZONE), a Nebraska-based company originally focused on aqueous ozone cleaning technology, has pivoted to establish the “official” Dogecoin treasury in partnership with the Dogecoin Foundation and its commercial arm, House of Doge.

This move began with a $175 million private placement announced on September 2, 2025, involving over 80 institutional investors like Pantera Capital, GSR, and FalconX, with proceeds earmarked primarily for acquiring Dogecoin (DOGE) as the company’s core reserve asset.

CleanCore executed its initial purchase, acquiring 285,420,000 DOGE tokens for approximately $68 million (at an average price around $0.238 per DOGE). This positions CleanCore as the largest single DOGE treasury holder to date, surpassing prior corporate adopters like Bit Origin.

The company has set an aggressive first milestone of accumulating 1 billion DOGE within the next 30 days, with a long-term goal of holding about 5% of Dogecoin’s circulating supply (roughly 75 billion tokens total). Future buys will occur via OTC desks and public markets to minimize volatility.

The treasury is advised by House of Doge and crypto ETF issuer 21Shares, focusing on governance, yield opportunities (e.g., staking-like rewards via exchanges), and utility development like payments, tokenization, and remittances. Elon Musk’s longtime attorney, Alex Spiro, became board chairman; Dogecoin Foundation Director Timothy Stebbing joined the board; and House of Doge CEO Marco Margiotta was appointed chief investment officer.

CleanCore aims to legitimize DOGE beyond its meme roots by anchoring institutional adoption, integrating it into real-world applications, and creating financial products. CEO Clayton Adams described it as a “watershed moment” for aligning public companies with crypto foundations.

ZONE shares initially plunged over 60% to around $2.69 on the announcement day, reflecting investor skepticism about the pivot from cleaning tech to a meme coin-focused treasury. However, the stock has shown volatility since, with some recovery tied to crypto market sentiment.

Dogecoin’s price hovered around $0.21–$0.24 during these events, with a market cap of about $32 billion. This follows a trend of public companies like Bit Origin adding altcoins to treasuries, though such moves have often led to stock underperformance amid regulatory scrutiny and volatility risks.

By allocating a substantial portion of its $175 million private placement to DOGE, CleanCore is shifting from a traditional operational model to a crypto-heavy balance sheet. This exposes the company to Dogecoin’s price volatility, which could amplify financial risk but also offers potential upside if DOGE appreciates.

The aggressive goal of acquiring 1 billion DOGE in 30 days and 5% of circulating supply long-term suggests significant capital commitment to crypto over traditional business reinvestment. This could strain liquidity if operational needs arise or if DOGE’s value declines sharply.

Plans to explore staking-like rewards via exchanges could generate passive income, but these carry counterparty risks (e.g., exchange insolvency) and regulatory uncertainty, especially in the U.S.  Moving from aqueous ozone cleaning to a Dogecoin treasury signals a near-total reorientation.

This risks alienating existing stakeholders (e.g., cleaning tech customers, traditional investors) while betting on unproven crypto utility in payments, tokenization, and remittances. Collaboration with the Dogecoin Foundation, House of Doge, and 21Shares positions CleanCore as a pioneer in institutional DOGE adoption.

These partnerships could enhance credibility and access to crypto infrastructure but may also tie the company’s fate to DOGE’s volatile reputation. Appointing crypto-savvy figures like Alex Spiro, Timothy Stebbing, and Marco Margiotta strengthens strategic execution but introduces governance risks.

The initial 60%+ drop in ZONE’s stock price reflects investor skepticism about the pivot. Continued volatility is likely as markets assess CleanCore’s ability to balance crypto speculation with operational stability. Recovery may hinge on DOGE’s performance and broader crypto sentiment.

CleanCore’s purchase of 285.4 million DOGE (~0.38% of circulating supply) and planned acquisitions could provide price support for Dogecoin, especially if executed via OTC desks to avoid sudden spikes. However, large-scale buying may also draw speculative traders, increasing volatility.

Following Bit Origin’s smaller DOGE treasury move, CleanCore’s high-profile pivot could inspire other public companies to explore altcoin treasuries, particularly for meme coins. However, it may also invite scrutiny from regulators like the SEC, given the speculative nature of DOGE.

Holding a large DOGE treasury may attract attention from U.S. regulators, especially if CleanCore pursues financial products (e.g., DOGE-based ETFs or payment systems). Compliance with securities laws, custody standards, and anti-money laundering rules will be critical.

DOGE’s meme coin origins could undermine CleanCore’s credibility with traditional investors, especially if the pivot is perceived as speculative rather than strategic. The involvement of high-profile figures like Elon Musk’s attorney may amplify media and regulatory focus.

CleanCore’s move, backed by institutional investors like Pantera Capital and GSR, could elevate DOGE’s status beyond a meme coin, especially if utility in payments or tokenization gains traction. However, failure to deliver could reinforce DOGE’s speculative image.

The success of this pivot depends on DOGE’s market performance, CleanCore’s ability to integrate crypto into viable products, and navigating regulatory hurdles. Monitor ZONE’s stock, DOGE’s price, and SEC filings

UAE’s MBZUAI Launches Low-Cost Reasoning Model to Challenge OpenAI and DeepSeek

By
Samuel Nwite
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0

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched a low-cost reasoning model, joining the global AI arms race.

The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), the UAE’s flagship AI research university, unveiled a new reasoning model on Tuesday that it claims can rival those of OpenAI and Chinese lab DeepSeek—at a fraction of the size and cost.

The model, dubbed K2 Think, boasts just 32 billion parameters, compared with the 671 billion that power DeepSeek’s R1, and was built on Alibaba’s open-source Qwen 2.5 framework. Run and tested on hardware from U.S. chipmaker Cerebras, K2 Think is designed to deliver performance on par with the industry’s largest reasoning systems, despite being significantly smaller. OpenAI has not disclosed parameter counts for its flagship models.

The project was developed in partnership with G42, the UAE’s AI champion backed by Microsoft. Researchers say the model achieved benchmark parity with rivals across math (AIME24, AIME25, HMMT25, OMNI-Math-HARD), coding (LiveCodeBenchv5), and science (GPQA-Diamond) tasks.

How it Works

Hector Liu, director of MBZUAI’s Institute of Foundation Models, attributed K2 Think’s performance to methods such as chain-of-thought supervised fine-tuning—a step-by-step reasoning approach—and test-time scaling, which boosts performance by allocating extra compute during inference.

“What was special about our model is we treat it more like a system than just a model,” Liu said. “Unlike a regular open-source model where we can just release the model, we actually deploy the model and see how we can improve the model over time.”

Richard Morton, managing director at the institute, emphasized the scientific focus: “The fact is that the fundamental reasoning of the human brain is the cornerstone of all the thinking process. With this application, instead of taking 1,000 or 2,000 human beings five years to think through a particular question, this vastly condenses that period.”

Why it Matters

Until recently, the AI race has been dominated by the U.S. and China. OpenAI and American Big Tech firms set the early pace with large-scale foundation models, while DeepSeek’s R1 breakthrough earlier this year bolstered China’s standing. The UAE now hopes to insert itself into this competition, using AI not only to diversify beyond oil but also to enhance geopolitical influence.

The country points to G42 as a symbol of this ambition, though its ties to Microsoft have attracted scrutiny in Washington due to G42’s past links with Chinese partners. At the same time, the UAE faces rising regional competition, with neighboring Saudi Arabia investing heavily through Humain, an AI venture backed by its Public Investment Fund.

What’s Next for K2 Think?

If K2 Think fulfills its promise, the UAE could carve out a niche as the hub for cost-efficient, domain-specific AI. MBZUAI’s model could become a tool for emerging markets and smaller economies that lack the infrastructure of Silicon Valley or Beijing by focusing on reasoning for math, science, and clinical research. This would bolster the UAE’s credibility as a scientific power and accelerate the adoption of AI in places historically shut out of the race.

However, there are challenges. While benchmarks are promising, global AI development is driven by firms with enormous capital reserves and infrastructure. If OpenAI and DeepSeek continue to push forward with models that improve efficiency at a massive scale, K2 Think risks being overshadowed. Geopolitical scrutiny of Microsoft’s partnership with G42 could also complicate adoption abroad, particularly in the U.S. and Europe.

K2 Think does not seek to compete head-to-head with ChatGPT or other general-purpose chatbots. Instead, it is targeted at specialized reasoning tasks—where performance, cost, and efficiency matter as much as scale. The release of K2 Think signals a new phase in its ambition for the UAE: positioning itself not only as a consumer of global AI breakthroughs but as a contributor that could shape how scientific reasoning is automated in the years ahead.

Berlin’s Born Raises $15M to Reimagine AI Companions as Social, Not Isolating

By
Samuel Nwite
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0

Berlin-based AI gaming startup Born has secured $15 million in Series A funding, bringing its total raised to $25 million, as it seeks to reframe the role of AI companions in everyday life.

At the center of its pitch is Pengu, a virtual pet app powered by generative AI that requires users to co-parent and collaborate with another human, whether a friend, sibling, or partner. Unlike conventional chatbot companions that focus on one-to-one bonds, Born’s model emphasizes shared experiences, which co-founder and CEO Fabian Kamberi says makes AI companionship less isolating.

“It feels like it fuels the loneliness epidemic, instead of making it more fun and giving users the opportunity to make their lives better,” Kamberi told TechCrunch.

The Series A round was led by Accel, with participation from Tencent and Laton Ventures, alongside earlier backers. The capital will fund the expansion of Pengu, the release of new AI characters, and a new social AI product for young people.

Pengu’s Model vs. the Chatbot Boom

Born’s push comes at a time when AI companions like Replika, Character.AI, and Inflection’s Pi have drawn millions of users, but also criticism for promoting one-on-one attachment to bots. These platforms often market their AI as “friends” or “partners,” creating what some researchers describe as dependency-driven relationships.

By contrast, Pengu’s freemium model — with a paid Pengu Pass for extra features — places the AI as a mediator between people, not a substitute for them. The app has already attracted more than 15 million users globally, though the company has not disclosed how many are paying subscribers, a key metric for the long-term sustainability of any subscription-driven platform.

The difference, Kamberi argues, is that Pengu functions as a shared project, encouraging users to engage with both the AI and their human relationships.

From Slay to Born

The company’s ethos can be traced back to its origins as Slay, a teen-focused social media app centered on exchanging compliments. Kamberi once described Slay as a place for teens to “rediscover social interactions in various play modes.”

That principle carried over into Born’s pivot: designing AI experiences that build community, not isolation.

The new capital will also help Born open a New York office later this year, led by head of finance Enrico Dal Re, and deepen its investment in AI research. A key focus is improving the character engine, so each AI companion maintains a consistent personality, remembers past interactions, and grows alongside users.

While Born primarily relies on OpenAI’s models, Kamberi said the startup has added extra safety layers tailored to its younger demographic, where children as young as 13 can use the apps.

The Next Product

Born is also preparing a stealth AI social app aimed at users aged 16 to 21. The platform will allow users to create and engage with “culturally relevant AI companions that feel like real friends.” These companions might, for instance, recommend TikTok or Instagram content aligned with a user’s interests and foster network effects by encouraging users to share their AI creations on social media.

“We don’t believe that the current chatbot landscape is the final form factor for how AI friends and consumer AI is done,” Kamberi said. “There must be ways for consumer social AI to be way more engaging to users than just entering a platform and texting a bot that was maybe created by me or another person.”

Investor View

For Luca Bocchio, partner at Accel, Born’s vision represents a new category of consumer social AI — one that emphasizes emotional intelligence and real-world connections rather than solitary chatbot relationships.

“We’ve been really impressed by the team’s ability to develop chart-topping apps and their inspiring product vision, and we’re looking forward to continuing our partnership with them as they scale globally,” Bocchio said.

The contrast between Born and rivals such as Replika or Character.AI highlights a broader debate in consumer AI: whether these technologies should serve as companions that replace human connection or as tools that amplify social bonds.

As Born prepares to scale globally, it faces the dual challenge of converting its large user base into paying subscribers and proving that its “shared experience” model can compete against the entrenched one-to-one chatbot trend that dominates the space today.

Oracle Shares Surge Most Since 1992, Defying Growth Projection Predictions

By
Ojukwu Emmanuel
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0

Oracle Corporation, a company known for its database and cloud computing solutions, has seen the price of its shares surge by 36%, setting the company up for a historic gain.

The surge comes after the company’s cloud demand numbers posted an all-time high and had its best day since 1992. The rally raised Oracle’s market cap from $678.4 billion at Tuesday’s closing share price to around $957 billion as of Wednesday.

Following Oracle’s earnings call on Tuesday, analysts who have been covering the company’s stock were blown away and were in shock by the numbers. Wall Street was floored. The earnings call turned into a chorus of disbelief, with analysts admitting they were caught off guard by the scale.

Here Are Some Analysts’ reactions;

  • Derrick Wood, a Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at TD Cowen said, “The RPO figure is just really amazing to see. We’re all kind of in shock, in a very good way.” He hiked his price target, citing the “seismic shift” in AI computing.
  • Guggenheim’s John DiFucci: “I’m sort of blown away. Momentous quarter.” He emphasized the multi-billion-dollar deals as proof of Oracle’s AI infrastructure dominance.
  • Deutsche Bank’s Brad Zelnick echoed the shock, calling the backlog “unprecedented” and upgrading his rating on the back of 20%+ CAGR projections through FY2029.
  • D.A. Davidson’s analyst Gil Luria in an interview with CNBC’s “Fast Money” after the report, called Oracle’s projected cloud revenue figure absolutely staggering”, and said it represents a tenfold increase in the next five years.
  • Morgan Stanley: Pre-earnings, they upped their target citing >20% CAGR from AI deals; post-earnings, they called it a “validation” of Oracle’s pivot from legacy software to AI powerhouse.

Oracle CEO Ellison’s Wealth Surges

Oracle co-founder and Chairman Larry Ellison experienced the largest single-day wealth increase ever recorded, surging $101 billion to reach $393 billion, edging out Elon Musk’s $385 billion and claiming the title of world’s richest person for the first time.

This dramatic shift was triggered by Oracle’s explosive Q1 FY2026 earnings report, which highlighted massive AI-driven cloud growth: total cloud revenue up 28% YoY to $7.2 billion, infrastructure revenue soaring 55% to $3.3 billion, and a jaw-dropping $455 billion in remaining performance obligations (up 359% YoY).

Forbes notes Ellison’s total wealth now exceeds $400 billion in some estimates, marking him as only the second person (after Musk) to hit that milestone. Yet, as one Bloomberg analyst quipped, “These rankings change faster than a Tesla acceleration” with Musk’s proposed $900 billion pay package potentially catapulting him toward trillionaire status if Tesla hits $8.5 trillion market cap.

Oracle’s Strategic Positioning in AI AI-Driven Era

Following Oracle’s earnings call on Tuesday, the company unveiled four multi-billion-dollar contracts, amid an industry-wide shift, led by companies such as OpenAI and xAI, to aggressively spend to secure the massive computing capacity needed to stay ahead in the AI race.

Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that OpenAI has signed a contract to purchase $300 billion in computing power from Oracle over roughly five years, marking one of the biggest cloud contracts ever signed.

A majority of the new revenue Oracle described on Tuesday will come from the OpenAI deal, the report said.

Oracle projects $144 billion in cloud revenue by 2030, boosts capex 65% to $35 billion. CEO Safra Catz said in the earnings statement that the company signed four multibillion-dollar contracts with three different customers in the quarter.

Oracle’s explosive Q1 FY2026 earnings, offer a clear lens into how companies are capitalizing on the AI boom. Firms leveraging AI infrastructure are reaping massive rewards as demand for generative AI and large language models (LLMs) skyrockets.

Oracle’s pivot from legacy database software to a leading AI cloud provider underscores the massive opportunity in AI infrastructure. Its cloud revenue ($7.2 billion, +28% YoY) and multi-cloud database deals (up 1,529% YoY) with hyperscalers like AWS, Azure, and Google show that companies building scalable, high-performance compute and storage solutions for AI workloads are capturing outsized market share.

Future Outlook

Businesses prioritizing inference optimization through specialized databases or hardware are carving out a lucrative niche as enterprises deploy AI at scale.

This focus reflects a maturing AI market where inference (real-time application) is overtaking training (model development) as the bottleneck. Companies like Oracle, which optimize for low-cost, high-speed inference, are gaining traction over pure-play training providers.

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