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BlockBeats: Message, June 30. According to Bloomberg, the South Korean government is imposing stricter real estate restrictions on some areas outside Seoul that are near semiconductor hubs. Previously, the semiconductor industry boom drove local home prices up significantly and raised concerns about speculative property purchases. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of South Korea said the government will designate the Dongtan District of Hwaseong City, the Giheung District of Yongin City, and the Guri City area as speculative zones, and will implement stricter loan restrictions starting July 1. The three areas will also be included in land transaction permit requirements starting July 5.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of South Korea said the relevant measures are intended to curb speculative buying and protect genuine housing demanders, while strengthening monitoring of the housing market and accelerating housing supply plans. As the latest measures are rolled out, apartment prices in Seoul have risen for 73 consecutive weeks, indicating that previous government efforts to cool the real estate market had limited impact. After the new rules take effect, 25 districts in Seoul and 15 areas in Gyeonggi Province will be designated as restriction zones.

The Supreme Court protects the independence of the Federal Reserve, yet overturns a 1991 precedent, allowing the president to freely fire the heads of other independent agencies. The map of federal power is redrawn in a single day.
1| The Supreme Court preserves the Federal Reserve and dismantles the 1991 protection umbrella for independent institutions
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two rulings at the same time, drawing new boundaries for federal power. In a 5-to-4 decision, the court ruled that President Trump cannot fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, with Chief Justice Roberts writing that Congress has "ample reason" to protect the Fed governor’s independence. On the same day, in a 6-to-3 decision, the Court overturned the 91-year-old precedent set by Humphrey’s Case, ruling that the president has the power to freely fire leaders of independent regulatory agencies such as the FTC.

BlockBeats: In a June 30 report by Reuters, GameStop said that even though eBay has rejected its $56 billion cash-and-stock acquisition offer, it will continue to push forward with the plan to acquire eBay. GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen proposed the offer to buy eBay in May, surprising Wall Street. He believes the merged company would become a bigger competitor to Amazon and said he would personally oversee operations. eBay rejected the offer earlier that month.
GameStop said it will stick to its plan to acquire eBay, but did not disclose the rationale for the deal or the next steps. In addition, in a brief regulatory filing, GameStop said it expects adjusted EBITDA for fiscal year 2026 to exceed $600 million, up from the $345.4 million reported for fiscal year 2025.

BlockBeats message. On June 30, Serenity posted that, for robot companies, it is bullish on Unitree and Agility Robotics. It also said that, in the humanoid-robot sector, its largest position is currently concentrated in Agility Robotics, because it personally prefers U.S. humanoid-robot companies.
Regarding upstream component exposure, Serenity said it currently holds Harmonic Drive (6324), because components such as harmonic reducers make up a relatively high share in the bill of materials. It also holds Vishay Precision, because of its sensor business and the possibility that it could become a candidate supplier for Tesla Optimus. It is also bullish on LeaderDrive (688017) and Schaeffler, but the individual does not hold them. In other AI data-center-related companies, it also indirectly gains exposure to robotics through directions such as storage. Serenity emphasized that it does not advise anyone to replicate its positions; it is only sharing its personal holdings and views.

BlockBeats message, June 30: the independent research organization SemiAnalysis, focused on semiconductors and AI, published a report stating that one of the most underestimated ways to build AI semiconductors may not be the chips themselves, but the materials. As the industry accelerates production of more advanced semiconductors, demand growth shows up not only in GPUs and wafer-fab equipment, but also in the key materials that support modern chip manufacturing.
Taking tungsten as an example, it is cited as one of the most critical materials in semiconductor manufacturing due to its high-temperature stability and resistance to electrical erosion and wear. Wafer fabs rely on chemical vapor deposition to fill deep, high-aspect-ratio vertical vias that connect multilayer chip architectures, while also using physical vapor deposition to deposit ultra-thin barrier layers around them. Because tungsten covers both of these core deposition steps, it is irreplaceable in advanced chip production.

BlockBeats report: On June 30, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy, crude oil inventories in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) decreased by 5.5 million barrels to 325.7 million barrels, the lowest level since May 1983. The reduction in stocks is part of an agreement reached by the United States, under which 172 million barrels of crude oil will be released from the reserve in order to fill the global inventory gap after the conflict with Iran, and to help lower fuel prices.
Due to strong U.S. crude oil exports and refining demand, U.S. crude inventories have fallen rapidly in recent weeks. Since the outbreak of the conflict at the end of February, as of June 19, the total U.S. inventory—including commercial stocks and strategic petroleum reserves—has decreased by 111.4 million barrels to 743.3 million barrels, the lowest level since 1984. (Jinshi)

BlockBeats report: On June 30, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a final ruling against the crypto platform NanoBit, ordering the parties involved to pay more than $5 million in fines. The case was originally filed in September 2024 during the Biden administration. The SEC alleged that from September 2023 to June 2024, NanoBit and related individuals posed as financial professionals in WhatsApp groups to gain investors’ trust and induce them to invest in NanoBit, falsely claiming that its affiliated company was an SEC-registered broker.
SEC says that so-called financial professionals promoted a fraudulent initial coin offering, but no transactions occurred on the NanoBit platform. Instead, investors’ funds were actually routed to the scam participants—more than $2 million was transferred to Hong Kong bank accounts, and several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of crypto assets were also misappropriated.

BlockBeats news: On June 30, U.S. technology stocks rebounded strongly on Monday, pushing all U.S. stocks to close higher. According to Bitget data, on Monday’s close, the Dow Jones rose 0.59%, the S&P 500 rose 1.18%, and the Nasdaq rose 2.07%. Most of the popular tech stocks climbed: Tesla rose more than 8%, SpaceX rose more than 7%, and Google rose more than 4%.
Semiconductor sector broadly rose. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 3.83%; KLA surged more than 11%; Applied Materials rose more than 10%; TSMC rose more than 5%; ASML rose nearly 5%; Marvell Technology (MRVL) rose more than 4%; and AMD rose more than 3%.
The storage sector rose across the board. Western Digital (WDC) rose more than 11%, Seagate Technology (STX) rose more than 7%, Micron Technology rose more than 1%, after having fallen more than 9% earlier.

BlockBeats message, on June 30, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said that Iran’s top priority at present is to ensure that all provisions of the memorandum of understanding are implemented. Regarding the U.S. commitments under Article 10 that allow Iran’s oil exports, the U.S. has already issued the necessary licenses, and the Iranian side is following up on the implementation progress. Regarding the lifting of Iran’s frozen assets under Article 11, the relevant implementation procedures are also under way. This week, Iran will dispatch a technical delegation to Qatar to consult on the implementation of the memorandum of understanding, including Article 11.