Headlines
Fed Chairman Powell: I don't think the next move may be a rate hike
Fed Chairman Powell said in a speech that the US PPI data is actually quite mixed, and it is uncertain whether inflation will continue. Restrictive policies may take longer than expected to work to reduce inflation. The United States will reduce the inflation rate back to 2%. Restrictive policies may take longer than expected to work to reduce inflation. In many ways, the policy interest rate is restrictive. It is not believed that the next move may be to raise interest rates. It is more likely that the policy interest rate will be maintained at the current level. (Jinshi)
Fed Chairman Powell reiterates likelihood of keeping rates high for longer
Fed Chairman Powell said in a speech today that it looks like it will take longer to be confident about inflation and may need to stay at the current policy rate for longer. The Fed needs to be patient and wait for more evidence that high interest rates are curbing inflation, thereby doubling the need to keep interest rates high for longer. Powell expects inflation to fall month by month, but first quarter price data undercut his confidence. The lack of further progress on inflation in the United States in the first quarter is noteworthy. The Fed does not think it is a smooth road to fight inflation, but recent data is higher than anyone expected. This tells people that they need to be patient and let restrictive policies work. (Jinshi)
Fed Chairman Powell: Inflation is expected to decline month-on-month
Fed Chairman Powell said in a speech that the US economy is performing very well and has a very strong labor market. In the first quarter, US inflation did not make further progress. There is no expectation that the inflation path will be smooth. We must wait patiently for the policy to take effect. US GDP will continue to grow at a rate of 2% or higher. Confidence in the decline in inflation is lower than before, and the inflation rate is expected to decline month-on-month. (Jinshi)
Industry News
Dutch court finds Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev guilty of money laundering, gives him 14 days to appeal
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel in the Netherlands found Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev guilty of laundering $1.2 billion in illicit assets on the cryptocurrency mixer platform Tornado Cash. The panel is expected to sentence Pertsev on Tuesday, and Alexey Pertsev's lawyers will have 14 days to appeal the judge's decision. (DL News)
Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev gets 64 months in prison
A Dutch judge at the Court of 's-Hertogenbosch ruled that Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was guilty of money laundering. The court sentenced Pertsev to 64 months in prison. The developer was first sentenced to prison in the Netherlands in August 2022 after Tornado Cash was blacklisted by the US government. At the time, the US Treasury claimed that Tornado Cash was a key tool of the North Korean hacking group Lazarus. The Lazarus Group was linked to the $625 million hack of Ronin Network, owned by Axie Infinity, as well as other major cryptocurrency thefts. (Coindesk)
Former U.S. CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo Joins Stablecoin Issuer Paxos Board of Directors
Former U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo announced that he has joined the board of directors of stablecoin issuer Paxos. J. Christopher Giancarlo said in a statement: "Paxos has become a leader in connecting traditional and digital asset markets by launching regulated solutions that are safe for institutions and consumers. It is an honor to join the Paxos board of directors and be part of innovation in the financial field." (Coindesk)
Project News
LayerZero CEO: As many as 100,000 addresses have "exposed themselves" as witches
LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino posted on the X platform that as many as 100,000 addresses have been recognized as witches. Earlier, LayerZero posted on the X platform that it is in the best interest of the protocol to distribute tokens to persistent users (rather than witch users). For witch users, there are now two options: 1. Self-report witch addresses before May 17; 2. Once the address is marked by LayerZero's internal witch report or bounty hunter, further reporting will no longer be valid and no tokens will be received. Bryan Pellegrino said in a reply to a user on the X platform that "witch self-reporting" is not for ordinary users, but for large witch users. The focus of the report is on large-scale witches rather than individual users.
LayerZero: Witch Bounty Event will start on May 18th at 10:00
LayerZero Labs posted on the X platform that the witch bounty campaign will start at 10:00 on May 18th, Beijing time. Bounty reports will be due at 07:59 on June 1st, Beijing time, and must contain at least 20 addresses. Bounty hunters who successfully report witches will receive 10% of the witch's expected token allocation, while witches will receive 0 allocation. Self-reporting of witches will be open until 07:59 on May 18th, Beijing time. Addresses that self-report as witches will receive 15% of their expected allocation. Addresses that do not self-report and are identified as witches by LayerZero's internal report co-written with Chaos and Nansen, or addresses discovered during the bounty process will not receive tokens.
Lens Protocol: Developing a blockchain network Lens Network
Lens Lab, the team behind Lens Protocol, a Web3 social platform built on Polygon PoS led by Stani Kulechov, announced that it is now developing its own blockchain network, Lens Network. The new network will be built on Matter Labs’ ZK Stack and powered by zkSync on Ethereum.
PEPE continues to hit new highs, with 24-hour trading volume of nearly $2.9 billion, exceeding SOL
According to CoinGecko data, PEPE's 24-hour trading volume is close to 2.9 billion US dollars, currently 2,893,749,805 US dollars, surpassing SOL (2,287,698,756 US dollars), ranking sixth among all cryptocurrencies. According to OKX market, PEPE briefly touched 0.000011533 USDT, setting a new record high; it is now reported at 0.000010988 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 15.88%.
Sonne Finance suffered more than $20 million in losses from an attack and has suspended its Optimism market
According to Paidun, the DeFi lending protocol Sonne Finance was hacked and its time-locked contract needs to be carefully checked. The current loss is more than 20 million US dollars. Sonne Finance posted on the X platform that all Optimism markets have been suspended. The market on Base is safe and more information will be provided in a timely manner.
Character*Voice
Former SEC Chairman: Meme Stock Return Is Troubling, But Roaring Kitty's Behavior Is Legal
CNBC interviewed former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. Regarding the 187% increase in GME this week and the resurgence of Meme stocks, Clayton said: "It bothers me on many levels. It is closer to gambling than trading, and certainly not an investment." In addition, Clayton commented on the legality of Roaring Kitty's recent behavior. Although it does not constitute insider trading or stock market manipulation, Clayton believes that Kitty should express his thoughts directly and clearly (Tell people why you do this.), and his behavior is legal.
Opinion: Tornado Cash developer's 64-month sentence unlikely to impact Roman Storm's US case
According to the verdict, the Dutch court convicted Pertsev, 31, of laundering $1.2 billion through Tornado Cash. A panel of three judges sentenced Pertsev to five years and four months in prison. "The court finds that it is legally and factually established that the suspect, together with others, laundered criminally obtained Ethereum and that he was accustomed to such money laundering," the court said in its final conclusion. Meanwhile, Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm's trial in the United States is scheduled to begin on September 23. Last year, U.S. prosecutors charged Storm and another co-founder, Roman Semenov, with conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to violate sanctions, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business. At the time of the indictment, Semenov was still at large. A spokesperson for the DeFi Education Fund said they were disappointed with the outcome of Pertsev's case in the Netherlands, but believed that it should not affect the U.S. case against Storm. "As we argued in our previously filed amicus brief in the Roman Storm case, the government's theory of liability in the indictment is unprecedented," a spokesperson for the fund said in an emailed statement. "The allegations in the indictment hold software developers criminally liable years after they create open source, generally available software if that software is used by third-party bad actors with whom they had no direct or active interaction." "This is simply not current U.S. law," they added. (The Block)
Investment and Financing
Crypto prediction market Polymarket completes two rounds of financing totaling US$70 million, led by Founders Fund and others
Crypto prediction market Polymarket has completed two rounds of financing totaling $70 million, with the latest round led by Founders Fund and others, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and others participating. A Polymarket spokesperson said that Founders Fund led the $45 million B round of financing. General Catalyst earlier helped the company raise $25 million in the A round of financing. (Bloomberg)
Tokenized reinsurance RWA platform Re completes $7 million in new round of financing, led by Electric Capital
Tokenized reinsurance RWA platform Re has completed a new round of financing of US$7 million, led by Electric Capital. It is reported that the project completed a seed round of financing of US$14 million at the end of 2022. Re's goal is to support US$200 million in premiums by the end of this year. (Coindesk)
Solana on-chain DEX Zeta Markets completes $5 million in financing, led by Electric Capital
Solana DEX Zeta Markets announced the completion of a new round of $5 million in financing, led by Electric Capital, Digital Asset Capital Management, Selini Capital and Airtree Ventures, as well as angel investors including Solana's Anatoly Yakovenko, Helius' Mert Mumtaz, Tensor's Richard Wu, Pyth's Genia Mikhalchenko, Wintermute's JMR Luna and Bonk's Nom. (TheBlock)
