Daily Digest — 26 Jun 2026

Global technology stocks tumbled sharply today as mounting concerns over the rising cost of AI infrastructure triggered a broad sell-off. South Korea’s Kospi sank 8%, SoftBank plunged 13%, and SK Hynix slid 10%, while S&P 500 futures also fell. Apple and Microsoft hiked prices over surging chip costs, further rattling markets. Bitcoin dropped nearly 3% to $⁠59,751, Ethereum fell almost 6% to $⁠1,546, and Solana slid 0.8%, though tokenised gold PAXG edged up.

Geopolitical risks added to the unease. A container ship was struck near the coast of Oman, prompting the UN to pause a Hormuz ship evacuation plan — the first such attack under a peace deal. Meanwhile, twin earthquakes of magnitude 7+ struck Venezuela, killing at least 235 people and injuring over 4,300. Rescuers continue searching rubble in La Guaira, compounding economic hardships in the crisis-hit nation.

In finance, asset management giant Invesco filed for a tokenised fund targeting the stablecoin reserve market, deepening its blockchain push. Coinbase’s Base blockchain resumed after a two-hour outage that temporarily halted transaction processing on the Ethereum layer-2 network. Strategy’s yield-generating STRC stock shows ever-tighter correlation with bitcoin, undermining its appeal as a steadier income vehicle.

Elsewhere, Om Malik — the influential tech writer and founder of Gigaom — passed away at 60 after a long heart condition. A team of researchers successfully read an entire Herculaneum scroll for the first time, virtually unwrapping PHerc. 1667. In sports, Australia reached the World Cup round of 32 after a 0-0 draw with Paraguay, while King Charles revealed he paid £12.9m in tax for 2024-25 — the first monarch to publish such figures — and will not move into Buckingham Palace after renovations.