Headlines
▌US SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has received multiple death threats since 2022
Recently, a Bloomberg reporter requested through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to reveal that since 2022, Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has received multiple threatening emails and voice messages from the United States and internationally. These threats contain violent rhetoric, one of which claimed to shoot and "chop him into pieces", and another threatening email with the subject "Go to hell" came from Australia. Some threats may even come from government employees.
Although these threats are not explicitly related to Gensler’s cryptocurrency regulatory policies, Gensler has long been ridiculed and criticized in the crypto community for his crackdown on the digital asset industry. Many crypto users have publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with him on social media. At the 2024 Bitcoin Conference, Donald Trump promised to "fire" Gensler "as soon as he takes office," winning a warm response from the audience.
Gensler's term currently runs until 2026, but the election results could affect his stay.
SBF appeals against its fraud conviction and asks the court for a retrial
SBF, the founder of crypto trading platform FTX, has formally appealed his fraud charges, requesting a retrial and accusing the judge hearing his case of being unfairly biased against him.
Last November, a New York jury convicted SBF of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in connection with the collapse of its cryptocurrency trading platform in November 2022. In March, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) sentenced SBF to 25 years in prison for the crimes, of which he has currently served six months.
In a 102-page appeal filed Friday afternoon, SBF’s attorneys argued that Judge Kaplan treated the FTX founder unfairly throughout the trial, making “scathing remarks that undermined the defense” and “ridiculing” his testimony in front of the jury.
Quotes
As of press time, according to Coingecko data:
BTC’s latest transaction price is $60,578.87, with a daily change of +4.1%;
ETH's latest transaction price is 2,440.71, with a daily change of +3.3%;
BNB's latest transaction price is $556.77, with a daily change of +2.2%;
SOL's latest trading price is $139.12, with a daily change of +2.2%;
DOGE’s latest trading price is $0.1071, with a daily change of +4.3%;
XPR recently traded at $0.5728, with a daily change of +1.9%.
policy
▌Galaxy Research: US SEC's attitude towards SAB-121 has eased
Paul Munter, chief accountant of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), appeared to relax his stance on SAB-121, which restricts banks from providing digital asset custody services, in a speech on September 9. According to analysis by Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, Munter proposed exemption criteria that would allow bank holding companies and introducing brokers to circumvent the custody provisions in SAB-121.
Banks can avoid SAB-121’s reporting requirements by obtaining written permission from state regulators, keeping customer assets in a “bankruptcy remote” manner, specifying standards in contracts, and conducting regular risk assessments. Introducing brokers must meet three conditions: they cannot hold customer private keys, cannot be a third party to a transaction, cannot be an agent of an introducing broker, and must obtain a legal opinion confirming their exemption status.
While this exemption may allow a large number of entities to avoid the reporting requirements of SAB-121, large national banks may still have to appeal directly to the SEC. Thorn believes that the SEC's relaxation of SAB-121's adoption of the crypto industry and digital assets is a positive development, although some believe that these measures may initially target the crypto industry.
▌Magic Eden CEO: We welcome regulation, unclear regulation is inevitable
Last month, OpenSea received a notice from the U.S. SEC Wells. Although the regulator had previously taken enforcement actions against NFT projects, the disclosure against OpenSea indicated that the U.S. SEC has begun to review entities that provide trading platforms for NFTs, not just the entities that initially provided these platforms.
Magic Eden has not yet become a target of the SEC, but its CEO Lu acknowledged that the lawsuit against OpenSea could have broad implications for the cryptocurrency space, which has been relatively untouched by regulators compared to exchanges or cryptocurrency issuers. "Regulatory ambiguity is basically inevitable," Lu said. "If this incident can bring more clarity to this space, I welcome it."
Blockchain Applications
▌Ethereum Foundation researcher Danny Ryan leaves after seven years of contribution
Ethereum Foundation researcher Danny Ryan announced his resignation to end his seven years of contributions to the Ethereum ecosystem. He stated on GitHub that the reason for his departure was personal reasons and to make room for new opportunities, emphasizing that this decision does not reflect problems with Ethereum or the crypto industry.
Ryan played an important role in key upgrades of Ethereum, including the launch of Beacon Chain in 2021 and the implementation of the "Merge" protocol, and he also actively participated in the progress updates of Ethereum Improvement Proposals. He said that although the experience of working on Ethereum was very valuable, he is now ready to make room for other things and find new directions.
Cryptocurrency
▌If Bitcoin breaks through $61,000, the cumulative short order liquidation intensity of mainstream CEX will reach 452 million
According to Coinglass data, if Bitcoin rebounds above $61,000, the cumulative short order liquidation intensity of mainstream CEX will reach 452 million.
On the contrary, if Bitcoin falls below $58,000, the cumulative long order liquidation intensity of mainstream CEX will reach 727 million.
Note: The liquidation chart does not show the exact number of contracts to be liquidated, or the exact value of the contracts to be liquidated. The columns on the liquidation chart actually show the importance, that is, strength, of each liquidation cluster relative to adjacent liquidation clusters.
Therefore, the liquidation chart shows the extent to which the underlying price will be affected when it reaches a certain position. A higher "liquidation column" means that the price will react more strongly to the liquidity wave after it reaches that position.
Cryptocurrency trading platform Bit2Me obtains Argentina’s virtual asset service provider license
Spanish cryptocurrency exchange Bit2Me said it has received approval from Argentina’s National Securities Commission (CNV) to become a virtual asset service provider (VASP).
In March this year, the CNV opened registration for virtual asset service providers, a must for companies in the sector looking to do business in the country. So far, 79 companies have been approved, according to an official list provided by the CNV.
As previously reported, on June 15, 2023, Bit2Me completed a US$15 million financing round led by Investcorp, with participation from Telefónica Ventures, the investment arm of Spain’s largest telecommunications company Telefónica, Stratminds VC, Cardano and YGG Fund.
▌Aptos on-chain activity hits record high, suspected to be affected by robots
Layer 1 blockchain Aptos is showing significant signs of growth amid a sluggish crypto market. Last month, Aptos’ active monthly addresses reached 5.4 million, and user transaction volume exceeded 578 million, setting a record high. The APT token has gained 4.9% in the past 12 months, showing some resilience.
However, while these data indicate that the Aptos ecosystem is active, the outside world is skeptical about the authenticity of its on-chain activities. Analysts believe that robot activities and airdrops may have led to an increase in transaction volume and active addresses, and these high transaction volumes do not necessarily mean actual economic activity. It will be key to observe whether the growth can be maintained after the promotion ends.
A sustainable blockchain ecosystem requires a balance of new and active users, not just temporary surges in activity.
Important economic developments
▌International gold prices continue to hit new highs, with spot gold and COMEX gold futures both rising by more than 3% this week
International gold prices continued to hit new highs, with spot gold and COMEX gold futures both rising by more than 3% this week. Spot gold rose 0.77% to $2,577.7 per ounce, up 3.21% this week; COMEX gold futures rose 1.08% to $2,608.4 per ounce, up 3.31% this week. Spot silver rose 2.81% to $30.719 per ounce, up 9.97% this week. COMEX silver futures rose 3.22% to $31.075 per ounce, up 10.26% this week.
▌U.S. stocks opened higher and ended higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq recording their biggest weekly gains since November last year
U.S. stocks opened higher and ended higher, with the three major indexes collectively closing higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.72%, up 2.6% this week; the Nasdaq rose 0.65%, up 5.95% this week; and the S&P 500 rose 0.54%, up 4.02% this week. Among them, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq recorded their largest weekly gains since November last year, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its largest weekly gain in a month.
Large technology stocks were mixed, with Intel, Google, and Netflix rising more than 1%, Tesla and Microsoft rising slightly; Amazon, Meta, Nvidia, and Apple fell slightly. Trump Media rose more than 11%, as Trump previously announced that he would not sell his shares in Trump Media Group.
In the cryptocurrency sector, Coinbase closed up 0.098%, up 7.98% for the week; MicroStrategy closed up 8.18%, up 18.83% for the week; Riot Platforms closed up 2.42%, up 9.59% for the week.
▌Goldman Sachs: Still expects the Fed to cut interest rates by 25 basis points next week
Goldman Sachs analysts recently said that they still expect the Fed to cut interest rates by 25 basis points next week, and will cut interest rates at each of the remaining meetings this year (November and December). In contrast, speculation about a larger Fed rate cut has resurfaced. Former New York Federal Reserve Bank President Dudley said on Thursday that there is a high probability that the Fed will cut interest rates by 50 basis points at its meeting next week. Investors reacted strongly to news articles in the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal on Friday, which emphasized that the first rate cut may be a difficult decision for Fed officials, which has triggered market speculation about a larger rate cut.
Golden Encyclopedia
What is the Ethereum Prague-Electra (Pectra) upgrade?
Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade combines two separate upgrades: the Prague upgrade and the Electra upgrade. The Prague upgrade focused on changes to the network’s execution layer, while the Electra upgrade affects the consensus layer. These upgrades are collectively referred to as the “Pectra” upgrade when combined. The Pectra upgrade will follow “Dencun,” a merger of the Deneb and Cancun upgrades in March 2024. Technically, Dencun is an Ethereum hard fork designed to reduce transaction fees for Layer 2 solutions. Pectra is a new milestone on the Ethereum development roadmap and is scheduled to go live in Q1 2025. This timeline allows for the inclusion of additional features to improve the Ethereum user experience (UX).
Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, Golden Finance publishes articles for information reference only and is not intended as actual investment advice. Please establish a correct investment philosophy and be sure to raise your risk awareness.
