Today's Headlines:
- Federal Reserve Chairman Powell sends the strongest signal for rate cuts so far
- US Federal Court rejects Kraken's motion to dismiss SEC lawsuit
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces withdrawal from presidential race and pledges support for Trump
- US Vice President Harris formally accepts Democratic presidential nomination
- DCG has repaid all short-term debts, leaving only the $1.1 billion promissory note owed by its crypto lending division Genesis after bankruptcy eight years later
- io.net launches staking plan, allowing users to earn block rewards by staking devices in the IO network
- Ethereum Foundation transferred 35,000 ETH to Kraken approximately 7 hours ago, worth about $94.07 million
- Market: Bitcoin rises to around $64,000, Ethereum rises to around $2,760
Regulatory News
US Federal Court rejects Kraken's motion to dismiss SEC lawsuit
According to court documents dated August 23, the US Federal Court rejected the motion by cryptocurrency exchange Kraken to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which accuses Kraken of operating an unregistered securities exchange.
According to the opinion of the Northern District of California, "the SEC reasonably alleges that at least some of the cryptocurrency trading conducted on Kraken's platform constitutes investment contracts and therefore securities subject to the securities laws." An SEC spokesperson stated in a release, "The court has once again confirmed that the framework used to identify securities over the past 80 years remains applicable, regardless of the label used. Investors in crypto assets offered or sold in the form of securities should receive the same protections as other securities investors, even if they trade through intermediaries."
In November 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission charged Kraken with "operating a cryptocurrency trading platform as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency."
Paraguay's National Power Administration detects 693 illegal Bitcoin miners
Paraguay's National Power Administration (ANDE) recently discovered and seized an illegal Bitcoin mining operation involving 693 miners. ANDE inspectors found a tampered electricity meter that failed to record all the electricity consumed by the devices connected to the power grid. The detection was carried out using the SCADA system.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces withdrawal from presidential race and pledges support for Trump
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on August 23 in Arizona, a swing state, that he is withdrawing from the race and will instead support former President and Republican presidential candidate Trump. Bloomberg reported that Kennedy said, "Under relentless systemic scrutiny, I no longer believe I can win." In his speech, he criticized the Democratic Party at length, pointing out the unfairness of the political system to independent candidates. Trump, at an afternoon tax policy event, said, "We just received very good news, Robert F. Kennedy announced his support for me."
US Vice President Harris formally accepts Democratic presidential nomination
According to CCTV News, on August 22, local time, US Vice President Kamala Harris attended the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination for the 2024 US presidential election.
The 2024 US presidential election will take place in early November. Harris officially received the Democratic presidential nomination on August 5 and will compete against former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal cited by Jin10, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell has sent the strongest signal for rate cuts so far, stating the intention to take action to prevent further weakness in the US labor market. Powell said on Friday, "We are not seeking nor welcoming further cooling of the labor market. It is time to adjust the policy now." It is widely expected that the Fed will cut rates at the September meeting. Powell's remarks on Friday almost put an end to the historic Fed action against inflation. Two years ago, Powell said on the same stage that he was willing to accept an economic recession as a cost of reducing inflation. Powell's attitude this time is far less ambiguous than at the press conference after the last meeting. At that time, Powell said the Fed needed more data to be confident about the decline in inflation. Friday's speech indicates that he now has that data.
Fed's Harker: The Fed should start the rate-cutting process
According to Jin10, Fed's Harker stated that we need to start cutting rates, and the Fed should start the rate-cutting process, which should continue to progress.
Project Updates
DCG announced in its quarterly shareholder letter this week that as of June, the company has fully repaid its short-term debts. Over the past 18 months, the company has repaid over $1 billion to creditors, particularly boosted by strong performance in the first half of this year. The company's remaining debt is a $1.1 billion promissory note due in 2032, at which time its crypto lending division Genesis will go bankrupt.
According to a recent statement, stablecoin issuer Tether has helped 145 law enforcement agencies recover over $1.088 billion USDT related to illegal activities since its launch in 2014. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoini wrote in a statement on August 23, "Tether is steadfast in supporting global law enforcement in combating the illegal use of cryptocurrencies." Since its launch, Tether has "voluntarily frozen" over 1,900 cryptocurrency wallets related to illegal activities worldwide.
Jupiter DAO's small grant proposal is now open for voting, ending on August 28
Jupiter on the X platform announced that the Jupiter DAO small grant proposal has now begun voting, with the main goal of funding a micro-grant system, ending on August 28. In the proposal, CWG proposes a grant of $150,000 to test a new micro-grant system in approximately 30 grants for a period of 3-6 months.
Cryptocurrency investment firm 1confirmation released its Q2 LP letter, with founder Nick Tomaino stating that Ethereum's market value will surpass Bitcoin's in the next five years. Currently, Bitcoin's market value is four times that of Ethereum, and both will continue to grow, but Ethereum will eventually surpass Bitcoin. Bitcoin has a clear narrative (digital gold) and institutions have already accepted and bought into it. Ethereum has been the most influential blockchain in the field over the past 5 years, but ETH has not been well understood. Ethereum is scarce, generates income, and has real use cases. As its market value is now significantly smaller than Bitcoin's, Wall Street can have more of it. It is expected that Wall Street will continue to buy in and promote Ethereum to the world in the coming years.
The prediction market is a breakthrough use case for 2024, with the market size expected to grow 100 times in the coming years. Polymarket is indeed the best way to track elections and other global events, and it is a product that has truly stood out this year. After the November election, news, culture, and sports markets are expected to become even more popular tracks, and Polymarket is very suitable for any areas of disagreement.
DeFi and NFTs are expected to return to the peak, while SocialFi and other new use cases that are currently hard to imagine will emerge through application chains, L2, and L3. Non-custodial products will continue to grow, allowing users to trade, borrow, lend, mint, and earn without trusting third parties. Application chains, Base, and other L2 and application-specific L3 will bring scalability and improved UX to cryptocurrencies, ultimately expanding the market. L1 tribalism will disappear, and excellent developers will build where they can capture the most value and have the most control.
Mudit Gupta, Chief Information Security Officer of Polygon, stated on the X platform that Polygon's community Discord has been attacked, and users should not click on any links. The team is trying to regain ownership.
CATIZEN Mini Game Center goes live, token application scenarios officially unveiled
The Catizen Mini Game Center has officially launched, gradually introducing 18 well-known mini-games from web2 and combining them with the Web3 mini-game model to further expand the business landscape.
The launch of the mini-game center provides a stable application scenario for the upcoming $CATI token airdrop, allowing nearly 30 million users to familiarize themselves with the uses of the $CATI token, laying the foundation for the economic cycle and user consensus after the $CATI airdrop.
At the same time, the $CATI token economic model has officially set sail, with $CATI holders having various rights such as profit sharing from the mini-game center, staking assets to receive other token airdrops, and governance voting.
QCP Capital: Bitcoin to fluctuate in the range of $61,000 to $70,000 until the fourth quarter
Singapore-based crypto investment firm QCP Capital stated that BTC has easily returned to the familiar range of $61,000 to $70,000, with selling supply slowly decreasing, and spot ETFs seeing net inflows on 10 out of the past 12 days. Similar to last night, cryptocurrencies seem to be looking for a breakthrough in the bullish narrative that has persisted for months. Although next week's Nvidia earnings report and the rate cut in September are significant, spot prices will continue to fluctuate in this range until the fourth quarter. QCP Capital still believes that the US election and seasonal bullish factors could become catalysts for reaching new all-time highs.
Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX released an announcement regarding Indian Rupee withdrawals and the subsequent steps for cryptocurrencies, stating that due to a network attack on July 18, 2024, and the subsequent suspension of withdrawals and trading to mitigate the impact on the platform, the past month has been a difficult period for WazirX platform users. In the past few weeks, the WazirX team and its partners have developed a plan to address two main user issues: cryptocurrency balances and Indian Rupee balances.
Regarding cryptocurrency balances, the platform's available token assets are insufficient to repay the platform's debts due to token balances. It has been decided to implement a Singapore arrangement plan to facilitate a fair and user-approved distribution of cryptocurrency assets according to the plan. Users will be able to vote on and approve the restructuring proposal before the plan takes effect. As for Indian Rupee (INR) balances, the suspension of INR withdrawals will be lifted on August 26, 2024, and INR withdrawals will be phased in. Additionally, withdrawal fees will be reduced by 60%—from 25 Indian Rupees to 10 Indian Rupees.
Next, WazirX will submit an application to the High Court of Singapore to ensure that the platform has sufficient time and breathing space to restructure according to the arrangement plan. Meanwhile, INR withdrawals will be phased in. The announcement notes that the Singapore arrangement plan is a corporate rescue and restructuring mechanism provided by the Singapore regulatory framework under the Bankruptcy, Restructuring, and Dissolution Act, through which companies can propose a restructuring of debts to creditors and provide a more powerful recovery than liquidation (subject to approval by creditors and the court).
Previously, WazirX lost over $230 million in the hacking incident in July.
The DePIN protocol io.net of the Solana ecosystem has announced the launch of a staking plan, aimed at enhancing the security and performance of the GPU Internet (IOG) while providing community members with the opportunity to earn rewards through contributions. By staking devices in the IO network, users can convert computing power into a source of income and receive block rewards based on device performance. The plan accommodates various devices, from high-end GPUs to more moderate setups.
The staking plan allows users to directly contribute to the IO network, enhancing its ability to resist threats and improve its ability to operate on a large scale, thereby enhancing network security. To ensure transparency and fairness, io.net has implemented safeguards such as penalty policies for fraudulent activities to maintain the integrity of the network. Participants must stake IO tokens corresponding to the functionality of their devices to be eligible for block rewards. The plan also provides a 14-day unstaking period for users who wish to withdraw tokens, during which devices will not receive block rewards. After the launch of the plan, there will be a 14-day grace period, after which the minimum staking requirement will take effect. These requirements will soon appear on the user's block reward nomination list after the launch, and the specific block IDs for execution will be announced separately.
Previously on August 19, DePIN protocol io.net opened staking functionality.
Important Data
USDC Treasury minted over 212,782,139 USDC on the Ethereum chain early this morning
According to Whale Alert monitoring, the USDC Treasury minted 212,782,139 USDC through two transactions early this morning on the Ethereum chain, with 50,000,000 USDC minted approximately four hours ago and 162,782,139 USDC minted approximately two hours ago.
According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin's monitoring, the Ethereum Foundation address transferred 35,000 ETH (worth $94.07 million) to Kraken 7 hours ago. The last time they transferred ETH to Kraken was on May 6th last year, when they transferred 15,000 ETH (worth $30.10 million) to Kraken, and ETH subsequently dropped by 13% ($2,006→$1,740) over the next 6 days.
Market: Bitcoin rises to around $64,000, Ethereum rises to around $2,760
According to the European OKX market, Bitcoin reached a high of $65,000 early this morning and is currently trading at $64,041; Ethereum reached a high of $2,799.75 early this morning and is currently trading at $2,761.80.
Cumberland DRW dormant address deposited 650.93 BTC to Coinbase 4 hours ago, worth $41.96 million
According to @ai_9684xtpa monitoring, the dormant Cumberland DRW associated address deposited 650.93 BTC to Coinbase 4 hours ago (at the peak of the BTC price), worth $41.96 million. This portion of BTC was aggregated six years ago from multiple addresses of DRW, with an average price of only around $4,000; if sold at the current price of $64,463, it would yield a profit of approximately 15 times (equivalent to about $39.35 million).
Bitcoin spot ETF saw a net inflow of $252 million yesterday, continuing a net inflow for 7 days
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