According to BlockBeats, on August 19th, billionaire investor and Omega Advisors CEO Leon Cooperman warned this week that the US economy could fall into recession within the next year, dragging down the stock market. He pointed out the similarities between the current market and the "Nifty Fifty" crash of the 1970s, and expressed concern about cooling optimism regarding AI.

"I think we'll see a recession sometime next year, which could cause the market to fall," Cooperman said in an interview with CNBC. He also believes there is a misalignment in market expectations for S&P 500 earnings growth (FactSet data shows a year-over-year increase of over 50% this quarter). He currently deviates significantly from the mainstream bullish view on Wall Street, particularly avoiding tech stocks and holding a negative outlook on the overall market.

He cautioned investors against underestimating the risks of a rebound in inflation. Brent crude oil prices remain high (around $90 per barrel, more than 20% higher than pre-war levels) after the Iran-Iraq War, and July retail sales fell 0.6% month-on-month (far below the expected 0.1% growth). Higher inflation could hit stock valuations, similar to the sharp decline in growth stocks following the oil price surge in the 1970s. "The most dangerous phrase in investing is: 'This time is different,'" Cooperman said. He added that the current market is almost universally bullish, and investors could quickly sell off if a negative catalyst emerges.

Meanwhile, increased volatility in the bond market added to the pressure. The yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury note touched 5.33% on Tuesday, its highest level since June 2007, breaking through a three-year trading range. Analysts warned that if yields rise rapidly toward 6%, the stock market could face further valuation pressure. Historically, after a similar trend in 1999, the S&P 500 subsequently entered a correction, coinciding with the bursting of the dot-com bubble.

BlockBeats reported on August 19th that Velaura AI, an AI chip design company, announced the completion of a $110 million Series A funding round, valuing the company at over $1 billion. The round was led by Seligman Ventures, with participation from new investor Capricorn Investment Group, and existing shareholders Samsung Catalyst Fund, StepStone Group, and Maverick Silicon.

Velaura AI focuses on developing low-power chips and software technologies, primarily serving the data center and physical AI sectors (including robotics and autonomous driving systems). The company stated that the funding will be used to accelerate AI product development and deployment, and to expand its engineering and customer teams. Earlier this year, the company launched its self-developed chip design platform, Titan Core, designed to improve the energy efficiency and power consumption of data center workloads.

Velaura has reportedly partnered with three of the world's four largest cloud service providers (names not disclosed) as potential clients, and its technology has been deployed in over 30 million chips. The company employs a business model similar to Arm's early chip licensing approach, which involves upfront licensing fees plus revenue sharing based on customer energy savings.

According to BlockBeats, on August 19th, blockchain security company PeckShield disclosed that two wallet addresses (0xfdea...447a7BF and 0x4388...C919dd7) each minted approximately 463 million MemeCore (M) tokens, totaling approximately 1 billion tokens. These tokens were subsequently transferred and merged into address 0x69cB...F6FF4681, currently valued at approximately $1 million.