TechFlow Intelligence Agency: Meta Forced to Withdraw Manus Acquisition Due to Chinese Ban, Bitcoin Shorts Face $1.4 Billion Liquidation Risk

AI / Large Models

China’s First Veto Against Foreign AI Mergers and Acquisitions: Meta Prepares to Withdraw Manus Acquisition

The National Development and Reform Commission explicitly bans foreign investment in acquiring AI startups Manus, requiring Meta to complete the transaction withdrawal within weeks, with the founder leaving Meta, and discussions ongoing for investor buyback and technology decoupling plans. This is China’s first use of veto power to block foreign AI M&A.

WSJ | Zhihu

OpenAI Revenue and User Growth Miss Targets Ahead of IPO

WSJ reports that OpenAI failed to meet its revenue and user growth targets during the critical IPO sprint period, potentially affecting valuation expectations and the listing timetable.

WSJ

Disney Employees Call Claude 51,000 Times Daily

Internal documents show Disney’s tech team heavily relies on Anthropic’s Claude and Cursor, with one employee making 51,000 calls per day, reflecting the entertainment giant’s deep integration of AI into content production and technical workflows.

Hot Take: Based on Claude API pricing, this guy alone could generate enough revenue for Anthropic to buy a Tesla every month.

Business Insider

DeepSeek Capital Increases to 15 Million RMB, Tencent and Alibaba Reportedly Participating in Series A Funding

DeepSeek’s registered capital has increased from 10 million RMB to 15 million RMB, with founder Liang Wenfeng’s share rising from 1% to 34%. Multiple sources say Tencent and Alibaba are in talks to participate in its Series A funding.

Hot Topic: The community is lively discussing why DeepSeek chose to build its data center in Inner Mongolia rather than rent cloud computing power from big providers, speculating on data sovereignty, costs, and autonomous control.

Sino Market | Zhihu

DeepMind Co-Founder David Silver Raises $1.1 Billion, Betting on Unsupervised Learning AI

After leaving DeepMind, AlphaGo creator David Silver has started his own venture, recently completing a $1.1 billion funding round, aiming to develop fully self-learning AI systems that do not rely on human-labeled data.

TechCrunch

Cryptocurrency / Web3

Kevin O’Leary Liquidates All Altcoins, Reallocates Portfolio to 90% BTC/ETH

“Mr. Shark” announced on social media that he has sold all his altcoin holdings, reallocating his portfolio to 90% Bitcoin and Ethereum, citing increased regulatory clarity and shifts in institutional capital flows.

Hot Take: The last time he made such a big public call, FTX was still alive.

Reddit

Bitcoin Falls Below $77,000, Hormuz Strait Tensions Push Oil Prices Higher

Bitcoin drops 2.4% in 24 hours to $76,923, with mainstream coins like Ethereum and Solana also declining. Brent crude oil has risen for seven consecutive days, as geopolitical risks are pulling liquidity out of the crypto market.

CoinDesk

ZetaChain Suspends Cross-Chain Transactions Urgently, GatewayEVM Contract Attacked

Cross-chain protocol ZetaChain announced it is suspending all cross-chain transaction functions after discovering a security vulnerability in the GatewayEVM contract that was exploited. The team is assessing losses and preparing a fix.

Finance Feeds

Bitcoin Short Positions Face $1.4 Billion Liquidation Risk, Potential Price Surge to $80k

On-chain data shows that current Bitcoin short positions have a liquidation risk of $1.4 billion. If the price rebounds quickly past $78,000, it could trigger chain reactions of liquidations, pushing the price toward $80,000.

Cointelegraph

Semiconductors / Hardware

TSMC’s Five N2 Fab Lines Ramp Up Simultaneously, First-Year Output 45% Higher Than N3

TSMC announced that five 2nm (N2) wafer fabs will enter capacity ramp-up this year, with first-year output 45% higher than 3nm. Apple and Nvidia have secured initial capacity.

IT House

Tech Companies

Slack Files Lawsuit Against Microsoft in the UK, Accusing Teams of Anti-Competitive Bundling

Slack has officially sued Microsoft in UK courts, accusing it of forcing the bundling of Teams with Office suite, violating competition laws and harming market fairness, seeking substantial damages and injunctions.

IT House

Spotify Refuses to Provide AI Music Filtering Button

BBC reports that Spotify has explicitly stated it will not offer users a filter option for AI-generated music, despite a surge in AI music content on the platform causing dissatisfaction among users and independent artists.

Hot Take: Not providing a filtering button is because if users see how much music is AI-generated, subscription rates might plummet.

BBC

US Stocks

Spotify Q1 Revenue Grows 8%, Paid Subscribers Reach 293 Million

Streaming giant’s Q1 revenue increased 8% year-over-year, driven by price hikes in the US market, with paid subscribers rising to 293 million, but slowing user growth raises concerns about a growth ceiling.

Reddit

Finance / Macroeconomics

WTI Crude Surges Past $100, Brent Up Over 2% to $103.9

Global oil prices surged, with WTI crude surpassing $100 per barrel (up 2%) and Brent crude breaking $103 (up over 2%), as tensions in the Hormuz Strait continue to escalate, boosting energy prices.

Jin10 Data

Multiple Central Banks Sell Gold Collectively, Spot Gold Falls Nearly 1% to $4,637

Several central banks worldwide have recently reduced their gold reserves, with spot gold dropping nearly 1% to $4,637 per ounce, silver down over 3% to $73.1, signaling liquidity tightening or policy shifts.

Hot Topic: The community debates whether this signals a top for risk assets or if central banks are cashing in at high levels in preparation for the next crisis.

Zhihu

Today’s Underlying Trends

OpenAI struggles to deliver revenue ahead of IPO, Disney’s frantic calls to Claude prove demand is real, but the money isn’t flowing into OpenAI’s pockets. China’s veto blocks Meta’s Manus acquisition, signaling tighter regulation. Meanwhile, oil prices break $100, central banks sell gold, and crypto crashes—liquidity is retreating, and AI bubbles and geopolitical risks are resonating, making money scarcer and more cautious.