Odaily Microsoft (MSFT.O) reported strong growth in its cloud business, with an increase in the number of AI paying users. Meanwhile, investors remain focused on whether the tech giant's spending on data centers will yield returns. Microsoft's fourth-quarter earnings per share were $4.81, up from $3.65 in the same period last year and above Wall Street's estimate of $4.24. Quarterly revenue reached $90 billion, surpassing the expected $87.6 billion, representing an 18% year-over-year increase. Azure remains one of the most closely watched metrics by investors, serving as a bellwether for overall AI demand. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated: "Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time, and paid seats for Microsoft 365 Copilot exceeded 30 million, reflecting that customers trust us to power their AI transformation." Microsoft's Azure cloud business generated $39.3 billion in revenue in the fourth fiscal quarter, with a growth rate of 43%, exceeding the expected 40% growth. Microsoft's stock rose as much as 4% in after-hours trading. So far this year, Microsoft's stock has accumulated a decline of about 18%. (Jin Shi)

Odaily Odaily reports that Meta Platforms (META.O) posted record revenue in the second fiscal quarter, but updates on its AI spending plan sparked investor concerns about the costs of building its infrastructure. Meta slightly raised the lower end of its annual capital expenditure guidance from $125 billion to $130 billion, while keeping the upper end unchanged at $145 billion. Its second-quarter revenue was $60.8 billion, up 28% year-over-year, but net profit was $15.8 billion, below analyst expectations. As a result, Meta's stock fell over 6% in after-hours trading. In an effort to catch up in the AI race, Meta has already invested tens of billions of dollars in chip procurement, data center construction, and top talent recruitment. Recently, it partnered with BlackRock to raise at least $12 billion to build a data center in Texas. Meta's free cash flow in the second quarter was $784 million. (Jin Shi)

Odaily reported that on the afternoon of July 29 local time, U.S. President Trump told the media at the White House that, because "Iran launched missiles at U.S. troops in the Middle East," the U.S. "will deliver a heavy blow to Iran," and now it is "America's turn to strike back." Trump stated, "Iran knows this strike is inevitable and has asked the U.S. not to launch an attack," but the U.S. will "teach them a lesson." Regarding the "drone attack on a liquefied natural gas tanker in Egyptian waters," Trump said he has been briefed on the matter and "the issue will be resolved." Earlier that day, Trump said in an interview that the U.S. would carry out "a powerful retaliation" and "hit Iran hard." Trump also stated that he hopes to include a clause authorizing the U.S. to impose tariffs on Iran in the sanctions bill against Russia previously pushed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham. (CCTV International News)

Odaily Planet Daily News: The Ethereum Foundation has announced that Pascal Caversaccio, also known as pcaversaccio (or "pc"), has joined its Board of Directors, increasing the board's membership to four.

Caversaccio is a co-founder of the Ethereum security organization SEAL 911 and a well-known security expert and privacy advocate within the crypto ecosystem. He has gained attention for his technical security capabilities, as well as his commentary on cypherpunk culture, privacy, and decentralization, and is the author of the "Ethereum Cypherpunk Manifesto".

Aya Miyaguchi, Chair of the Ethereum Foundation, stated that Caversaccio brings not only security and privacy expertise but also practical experience highly aligned with Ethereum's core values. She expressed anticipation for the new perspective he will bring to the foundation, pushing it to think more deeply about security and privacy issues.

Currently, the Ethereum Foundation Board of Directors includes Aya Miyaguchi, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Swiss legal representative Patrick Storchenegger, and the newly added Caversaccio. The foundation stated that the board acts like a "security committee," responsible for protecting the foundation's core mission and ensuring its compliance as a Swiss foundation.

This appointment is also part of recent adjustments within the Ethereum ecosystem's governance. As the foundation has faced discussions regarding organizational changes, governance transparency, and roadmap coordination in recent years, the inclusion of a figure focused on security and privacy on the board may further strengthen Ethereum's cypherpunk positioning and long-term value narrative.

Odaily reported that Visa CEO Ryan McInerney stated during the earnings call that Visa's role in the stablecoin space is not to pick winners, but to help clients securely and scalably connect to the stablecoin ecosystem.

Last month, Visa joined forces with over 140 companies, including Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, and Coinbase, to support Open Standard, which plans to launch the stablecoin Open USD (OUSD) later this year. Following the announcement, market speculation arose that OUSD could challenge Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC.

When asked whether Visa views OUSD as a competitor to USDT and USDC, McInerney said that Visa will maintain a "multi-currency, multi-chain" strategy going forward and will not bet on a single stablecoin, network, or infrastructure.

He stated that Visa's goal is to support clients in accessing the stablecoin ecosystem, regardless of which stablecoin, network, or underlying infrastructure is ultimately adopted.

Ark Invest analyzed that Visa is clearly interested in Open USD, but this does not necessarily mean it views OUSD as an exclusive strategic bet. Overall, Visa appears to be keeping its participation open at the stablecoin infrastructure level, rather than directly aligning with a specific stablecoin issuer.

Odaily reported that Federal Reserve Chairman Walsh stated at the press conference: "Today's three dissenting votes do not fully reflect the substance of the discussions, and the decision we made received overwhelming support. The June core CPI data had a limited impact on the decision-making process. We will communicate with the inflation working group within a few weeks. We have obtained some encouraging inflation data, and we will closely monitor it in the coming period. What matters is the inflation trend. In the period ahead, we will face important decisions." (Jin Shi)