Key Takeaways

• Mizuho Securities increased Sandisk’s (SNDK) price objective to $2,200 from a previous $1,825, keeping an Outperform designation
• Price objectives for Seagate (STX) and Western Digital (WDC) were similarly elevated by Mizuho analysts
• Artificial intelligence applications are creating a mismatch between memory supply and demand, with DRAM requirements projected to expand 27% year-over-year in 2026
• Google’s (GOOGL) Tensor Processing Unit volumes may reach 35 million or more by 2028, compared to approximately 4.3 million in 2026, amplifying memory requirements
• Broadcom (AVGO) artificial intelligence revenue projections increased to $122 billion for 2027, with a new $170 billion forecast introduced for 2028

Mizuho Securities has elevated its price objective for Sandisk (SNDK) to $2,200 from a prior $1,825, pointing to artificial intelligence as the primary catalyst driving demand beyond available supply in the memory sector. The investment firm maintained its Outperform designation on the shares.

This optimistic perspective was applied broadly to Seagate Technology (STX), where Mizuho increased its target to $1,090 from $875, and Western Digital (WDC), elevated to $685 from $550. Each of these three companies maintained Outperform designations.

Seagate Technology Holdings plc, STX

Sandisk began trading Monday at $1,982 and climbed approximately 5.69% during the session after the upgrade announcement.

Lead analyst Vijay Rakesh and his research group anticipate DRAM wafer production starts increasing 10% in 2026 and an additional 6% in 2027, primarily fueled by high-bandwidth memory (HBM) requirements. Their models show DRAM demand expanding 27% year-over-year in 2026 and 24% in 2027.

Regarding NAND flash, enterprise solid-state drives represent the primary demand catalyst. Mizuho’s models indicate total NAND demand growing 18% year-over-year in both 2026 and 2027, while wafer production starts are anticipated to decline 5% in 2026 before rebounding 3% in 2027. Additional capacity isn’t expected to come online until 2028.

Google TPU Volumes Draw Attention

Mizuho also conducted its quarterly artificial intelligence ASIC roadmap conference call, and the projections for Google’s Tensor Processing Units were particularly striking. The research firm anticipates more than 35 million TPU units shipped from Google in 2028, climbing from approximately 4.3 million in 2026 and roughly 2.4 million in 2025.

This expansion is connected to Google’s strategy to distribute TPU technology externally through collaborations with Anthropic and other partners. Mizuho notes this figure substantially exceeds its previous projection of approximately 7 million ASIC shipments for Broadcom, suggesting upside potential for the semiconductor company.

Broadcom AI Revenue Projections Increased

Broadcom (AVGO) may achieve 50 million total TPU shipments spanning 2026 through 2028. Additionally, Meta’s (META) MTIA v3/v4/v5 accelerator platforms and OpenAI’s forthcoming ASIC — where Broadcom serves as a critical partner — provide additional growth drivers.

Mizuho elevated its Broadcom artificial intelligence revenue projection for 2027 to $122 billion, up from a previous $120 billion, and established a 2028 projection of $170 billion. TPU products remain Broadcom’s primary AI offering in the firm’s assessment.

Rakesh’s research group stated that investor worries regarding ASIC versus GPU market positioning and competitive pressure from MediaTek are “exaggerated,” and advised capitalizing on the AVGO share price decline.

The research team noted that the optimistic scenario for TPU ASICs in 2028, combined with OpenAI, MTIA, and ARM-associated ASICs, creates favorable conditions for both memory manufacturers like Micron (MU) and Sandisk, as well as storage companies like Western Digital and Seagate.

Sandisk’s price-to-earnings ratio presently stands at 58.32x, versus a historical median of 29.61x, indicating the valuation premium the market assigns to anticipated growth. Insider transaction activity over the previous three months reveals $8.9 million in share sales, with no documented purchases.

Key Takeaways

• WhatsApp’s parent company Meta has filed contempt charges against NSO Group, claiming the Israeli surveillance firm breached a court-ordered permanent ban.
• The messaging platform identified and blocked fresh spear-phishing operations connected to NSO designed to redirect targets to harmful websites.
• The U.S. government has placed NSO Group on its blacklist due to concerns about national security and foreign policy implications.
• Federal judges previously mandated NSO cease all WhatsApp-related operations, with the firm claiming such restrictions threaten its survival.
• The social media giant removed experimental accounts and communities established by NSO, while a dozen advocacy groups back its legal challenge.

Meta Platforms initiated contempt proceedings in federal court on Monday against NSO Group, charging the Israeli surveillance technology firm with breaching a permanent ban preventing it from accessing WhatsApp and its user base.

Shares of META were hovering around $692 when the announcement emerged on Monday.

Meta Platforms, Inc., META

This action intensifies an ongoing legal confrontation that previously delivered a significant victory for Meta. Federal courts ruled last year that NSO must pay $4 million in damages — substantially reduced from the original $167 million judgment — and issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the company from accessing WhatsApp.

Despite the court’s prohibition, Meta alleges NSO continued its operations.

WhatsApp’s security teams uncovered fresh “spear phishing” operations attributed to NSO within the past several weeks. These sophisticated attacks sought to manipulate users into activating malicious links that would route them to compromising websites — what Meta characterizes as a “1-click phishing” scheme, where one tap can infiltrate a device or account without requiring credential input.

According to Meta, WhatsApp discovered and eliminated testing accounts and communities that NSO allegedly established within the platform. NSO Group has not provided comment when contacted.

The Mechanics Behind the Phishing Operations

The assault tactics resembled NSO’s documented strategies from prior incidents. Targets received malicious links designed to deploy surveillance technology with a single click, bypassing traditional authentication requirements.

NSO’s primary offering, Pegasus spyware, sits at the heart of these allegations. Meta and WhatsApp have previously charged NSO with exploiting a platform security flaw to deploy Pegasus across more than 1,400 devices worldwide. Documented victims have included members of the press, political figures, and human rights workers.

U.S. authorities have officially blacklisted NSO Group, pointing to operations that conflict with American national security objectives and foreign policy goals. NSO has previously stated that the permanent injunction poses an existential threat to its business operations.

Advocacy Groups Rally Behind Meta’s Legal Strategy

Last month, a coalition of 12 civil liberties organizations joined Meta in opposing NSO’s appeal of the permanent injunction. This alliance comprises cybersecurity researchers, privacy protection groups, and digital freedom advocates who submitted amicus briefs supporting Meta’s legal stance.

Meta has characterized commercial spyware as a “national security threat” and emphasized that individual corporations cannot combat surveillance-for-hire operations in isolation.

This contempt motion represents Meta’s most recent effort to uphold the judicial order and prevent NSO from accessing its services. Federal courts will now review the new allegations.

The market for tokenized real-world assets has climbed 589% since early 2025, with tokenized stocks emerging as the fastest-growing segment, according to Binance Research.

Binance Research said in its latest Monthly Market Insights report that active tokenized RWAs continued to expand despite pressure across digital asset markets from interest-rate concerns, regulatory uncertainty, and weaker investor sentiment during 2026.

Data from the report showed tokenized stocks recorded a 422% increase in market value over the period, outpacing every other major RWA category. Binance Research attributed much of that growth to platforms offering blockchain-based access to traditional equities and exchange-traded funds.

Among the largest contributors, Binance Research highlighted Ondo Global Markets, which surpassed $1 billion in total value locked within eight months of launch through its tokenized stock and ETF offerings.

While equities led growth rates, fixed-income products remained the largest source of new capital entering the sector. Binance Research reported that tokenized bonds and money market funds added $6.5 billion in value, representing an 83% increase during the period.

“2026 marks RWA tokenization’s maturation from a Treasury-dominated narrative into a diversified yield ecosystem.”

Tokenized equities attract new demand

Fresh activity in tokenized equities has accelerated as crypto firms expand access to publicly traded and private-market investments through blockchain networks.

Recent attention has centered on tokenized exposure to private companies. As crypto.news reported earlier, Kraken introduced a tokenized version of SpaceX stock through the xStocks tokenized equities platform, bringing one of the world’s most closely watched private companies into the growing tokenization market.

Trading activity has followed the expansion. According to figures cited in the report, cumulative volume across xStocks exceeded $25 billion within roughly eight months of launch.

Outside equities, tokenized precious metals also attracted investor demand. Binance Research reported that the sector added $1.5 billion in value, representing growth of 39% during the measured period.

Most of those gains occurred during January and February, when geopolitical tensions increased demand for defensive assets. Binance Research said tokenized gold products briefly pushed the sector above $6 billion before momentum slowed alongside a pullback in gold prices.

Institutional participation expands across asset classes

Institutional activity has also increased beyond tokenized securities and commodity-backed products.

In real estate, Apex Group has begun providing fund services through Goldman Sachs’ Digital Asset Platform, a development that Binance Research cited as evidence of rising interest in blockchain-based settlement and fund administration.

Financial institutions are also examining tokenized deposit networks as stablecoins gain market share in global payments. Binance Research said banks are exploring blockchain-based payment infrastructure to modernize transaction systems and improve settlement efficiency.

Separate industry data suggests blockchain networks are already benefiting from that trend. As crypto.news reported earlier, Messari’s State of Solana Q1 2026 report showed Solana’s real-world asset market capitalization rose 43% quarter over quarter to $2.01 billion

 Messari also reported that Solana generated $342.2 million in Chain GDP during the first quarter, highlighting growing activity around tokenized financial products on the network.

Hyperliquid has accounted for nearly half of all token buyback activity across the crypto market in 2025, according to a new report from Citrini Research, which has highlighted the decentralized exchange’s revenue model as one of the strongest in the sector.

According to Citrini’s Substack publication released Monday, more than 90% of the fees generated by Hyperliquid are directed to the protocol’s Assistance Fund, which uses the proceeds to purchase HYPE tokens on the open market.

The research firm said the scale of the program sets Hyperliquid apart from most crypto projects and has turned HYPE into a token backed by what it described as meaningful cash flow generation.

“Unlike the memetic majority of crypto (bitcoin included), HYPE generates legitimate cash flow.”

Citrini said the buyback mechanism is attractive on its own, but argued that the size of the Assistance Fund is what makes the model stand out. The firm estimated that Hyperliquid repurchases have represented close to half of all token buybacks recorded across the digital asset industry this year.

At the same time, Hyperliquid (HYPE) has continued to outperform much of the market. Data from crypto.news showed the token recently reached an all-time high near $75 and was trading more than 8% higher over the previous 24 hours during Thursday’s Asian trading session.

Revenue growth continues to support buybacks

Recent developments around Hyperliquid’s treasury infrastructure could further strengthen the buyback program.

As reported earlier by crypto.news, HYPE climbed more than 12% on June 8 after Coinbase activated its role as the official USDC treasury deployer on Hyperliquid.

Coinbase said it had enabled the AQAv2 framework through two designated treasury wallet addresses and assumed responsibility for deploying the decentralized exchange’s USDC reserves.

According to Coinbase, the framework routes most of the yield generated from Hyperliquid’s USDC treasury back into the protocol ecosystem. The exchange previously estimated that the arrangement could increase Hyperliquid’s annual revenue by as much as $200 million.

Because Hyperliquid directs up to 99% of protocol revenue toward HYPE repurchases through its Assistance Fund, any increase in treasury income could expand the amount available for future token buybacks.

Additional interest has also come from prominent industry figures. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has once again been linked to HYPE after a wallet associated with him reportedly withdrew tokens from Bybit, following his earlier exit during a market correction, according to blockchain tracking reports covered by crypto.news.

Institutional interest keeps building

Beyond protocol revenue, Citrini pointed to growing investor participation through exchange-traded products linked to Hyperliquid.

The research firm highlighted recently launched Hyperliquid ETFs from Bitwise and 21Shares as another source of market attention. Data from SoSoValue shows the two products generated nearly $600 million in trading volume and attracted more than $136 million in net inflows during their first three weeks of trading.

Despite Hyperliquid recently overtaking Solana on a per-token price basis, Citrini noted that Solana’s market capitalization remains more than twice the size of HYPE’s. Even so, the firm argued that Hyperliquid still has room to capture additional market share within the decentralized derivatives sector.

“The Hyperliquid runway is wide,” Citrini wrote. “We think there is still significant market share to be captured.”

AI-fueled transactions on the Base network have crossed the 100 million mark in aggregate transaction count, based on information provided by blockchain analysis company Chainalysis and published by crypto-focused news site Coin Bureau on X. This development takes place against a backdrop where AI bots are becoming more prevalent within blockchain networks and are making significant strides in payment volume. Information provided with the report shows that transactions exceeding $1 constitute 95% of all payment volume made by AI bots on Base.

In addition to showing the growing popularity of using blockchain networks for AI agents’ financial transactions, this data sheds light on the growth trajectory of AI bot payments and the kinds of use cases developers are testing onchain.

Key Takeaways

• Transactions paid by AI agents on Base exceed 100 million cumulative
• According to Chainalysis statistics, 95% of payment amounts are above $1
• The transaction volume increased from thousands to tens of millions in one year
• The Coin Bureau highlighted Base’s growth with a graph demonstrating the total increase

Chainalysis Data Shows Rapid Growth

Data from Chainalysis showed a sharp increase in cumulative AI agent transactions on Base, according to the Coin Bureau report. From the graph, it is evident that the transaction number hit almost 2,000 at the start of the first quarter of 2025 before reaching almost 59,000 in the next quarter.

Activity surged in the latter part of 2025, when the total transaction count hit 83.9 million during the third quarter of that year. In early 2026, transaction activity saw another boost: transactions reached 97.6 million before breaking the 100 million mark. The graph published by Coin Bureau visualizes this acceleration over consecutive quarters.

Higher-Value Transfers Dominate Payment Activity

The Chainalysis breakdown also focuses on the makeup of payment volume within the network. As shown in the data, transactions that exceed $1 now constitute 95% of AI agent payment volume on Base.

That concentration suggests usage beyond small testing payments. Observers often use transaction size to infer how networks are used; larger transfers could point to increased adoption by services relying on autonomous payments and higher-value commercial activity.

AI Agents Expand Their Presence on Blockchain Networks

AI agents are programs that can perform actions and make transactions with minimal human intervention. As accessibility to blockchain networks improves, developers continue researching ways for such programs to communicate with decentralized systems.

Base has become one of the networks gaining traction for automated payments. Its low fees and quick transaction speeds make it easier for developers to build applications that involve frequent onchain actions, which supports experimentation and scale for agentic payment flows.

Market Watches Adoption Trends

The new milestone arrives amid growing interest in the intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. Market participants have been monitoring transaction patterns while testing scenarios where software operates autonomously.

Although the overall chart shows continuous growth up to 100 million transactions, experts will likely watch future performance and the economic value of those transactions closely as use cases and monetization models evolve.