Is bitcoin safe?

Is bitcoin safe?

A blockchain used by crypto exchanges to move bitcoin [BTC] has been hacked, with around 4,000 BTC stolen out of the 4,200 held – equivalent to roughly $320m. The Liquid Network platform said the perpetrators appear to be “white-hat hackers”. This breach adds to a string of recent attacks targeting digital assets, including a $6m exploit at a Crypto.com-linked lending platform and an August attack on offline BTC wallet Coldcard.

Canada/US trade war becomes entrenched

Canada has imposed retaliatory tariffs of up to 50% on nearly CA$28bn of US goods, including steel, furniture and clothing, as trade talks remain stalled. Ottawa and Washington have expressed interest in a deal, but negotiations collapsed in August. Donald Trump has also threatened to halt US business with Bombardier [BDRBF] unless the Canadian aircraft maker shifts production south.

Chip giant assembles backers for next-gen AI

ASML [ASML] says Samsung Electronics [SSNLF], Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co [TSM] and Intel [INTC] are advancing its latest High-NA EUV lithography technology, supporting the outlook for next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. The companies are also exploring 12-inch photomasks, which ASML says could lift machine throughput by 40% and improve productivity. TSMC’s adoption is particularly significant, accounting for around 16% of ASML’s revenue, Bloomberg reported. 

Robinhood’s underwriting debut

In its first underwriting gig since receiving regulatory approval in June, the retail brokerage [HOOD] was listed as an official backer in Oura’s IPO paperwork filed 3 September, alongside Goldman Sachs [GS] and Morgan Stanley [MS], among others. The smart-ring maker, which will list under the ticker “OURA”, was valued at $11bn in its latest funding round and could raise $2.5bn in its as-yet unscheduled IPO, according to Renaissance Capital IPO Research estimates. 

Starman knows it’s all worthwhile

GoPro [GPRO] has agreed to sell a 90% stake to privately held Starman Optical for $285m, pivoting away from its struggling consumer camera business towards AI, defence and optical infrastructure markets. The deal will wipe out GoPro’s $92m debt burden and hand shareholders $1.14 per share in cash. Aureon weighs whether Starman’s optical transceiver technology can finally give GoPro the growth engine it has spent a decade searching for.

Mistral doubles valuation in latest round

The Paris-based AI startup raised €3bn in a funding round led by Samsung, bringing its valuation to €21bn – up from €11.7bn a year ago. The funding is expected to support Mistral’s industrial AI expansion, following deals with large European firms including Airbus [EADSY], BMW [BMWKY] and ASML, and fund the buildout of data centres as the company positions itself as Europe’s sovereign alternative to US AI behemoths OpenAI and Anthropic. 

Is UiPath on the right track?

UiPath [PATH] beat Q2 revenue expectations and raised full-year guidance, but shares swung wildly after a slowdown in net new ARR raised concerns about subscription growth. The dominant RPA player now faces a fresh threat from Salesforce [CRM] and Anthropic’s new Claudeforce integration, which could erode UiPath’s grip on enterprise AI orchestration. Aureon weighs the bull and bear cases, as analysts remain split on whether UiPath’s business model can beat the competition.