Headlines
▌Pavel Durov: Telegram is ready to exit incompatible markets
Telegram founder Pavel Durov spoke through Telegram after being arrested in France, saying that the company is ready to withdraw from markets that are incompatible with its privacy and security principles. Durov further mentioned that Telegram has taken similar actions in several countries, such as Russia and Iran.
Last month, Durov was arrested at the Paris airport and charged with "assisting in the dissemination of child pornography and drug trafficking." He has been released by French authorities but is subject to judicial supervision and remains in France temporarily. It is reported that Telegram mainly relies on cryptocurrency-related activities for revenue and held $400 million worth of digital assets in 2023.
▌Hunter Biden, son of US president, pleads guilty to nine tax charges
On September 5, local time, Hunter Biden, son of US President Biden, pleaded guilty to nine charges in his federal tax case. Previously, Hunter Biden was charged with nine federal tax crimes in December last year, including failure to declare and pay taxes, tax evasion, and filing false or fraudulent tax returns. There were three felonies and six misdemeanors in the nine charges. The indictment stated that Hunter Biden failed to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes in the four years from 2016 to 2019, and evaded tax assessments for the 2018 tax year by filing false returns around February 2020. (CCTV)
Quotes
As of press time, according to Coingecko data:
BTC's latest transaction price is $56,182.27, with a daily change of -3.1%;
The latest transaction price of ETH is 2,369.47 yuan, with a daily change of -3.3%;
BNB's latest transaction price is $502.59, with a daily change of -0.9%;
SOL's latest trading price is $129.51, with a daily change of -3.0%;
DOGE’s latest trading price is $0.0985, with a daily change of +0.3%;
XPR’s most recent trading price was $0.5447, with a daily change of -2.4%.
policy
▌Former FTX executive Ryan Salame’s guilty plea fails to stop investigation into his partners
U.S. prosecutors said they did not violate a plea agreement with former FTX executive Ryan Salame and did not promise to stop investigating his partner Michelle Bond. Salame previously accused the government of threatening his partner Bond during plea negotiations, but prosecutors stressed that they repeatedly made it clear to Salame’s lawyers that the guilty plea would not affect the ongoing investigation of Bond.
Salame pleaded guilty in September to participating in an illegal political donation conspiracy and operating an unregistered money transmission business and was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. Bond was accused of using illegal funds to finance his campaign for the New York State Assembly last month. Prosecutors also revealed that Salame was suspected of misconduct during his time at FTX, including using other people's identity information to open accounts and overseeing the payment of bribes to immigration officials.
▌Trump promises to embrace "future industries" such as cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence
Donald Trump reiterated in a public speech at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday that if re-elected president, he will make the United States the world's cryptocurrency capital and embrace "future industries" such as cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. He said: "We will not attack future industries, but embrace them, including making the United States the world capital of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin."
In an hour-long speech, Trump outlined his plans to reform the U.S. economy after his reelection, including cutting regulations and promoting growth in domestic energy production. Trump also said he would adopt Elon Musk's suggestion to set up a government efficiency commission to audit federal government spending and identify waste, and offered to lead the commission.
▌Trump will set up a government efficiency committee, and Musk has agreed to lead the committee
According to market news, former US President and Republican presidential candidate Trump said that if he is elected as the next US president, he will set up a government efficiency committee, and Musk has agreed to serve as the leader of the committee.
Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said Trump will work with Tesla CEO Elon Musk to explore ways to implement the mission of the government efficiency commission.
It was previously reported that Trump will adopt Musk's proposal for a government efficiency committee and will launch an economic plan to reduce the cost of living to "make America affordable again."
▌Trump adopts Musk's proposal to launch an economic plan to reduce the cost of living "to make America affordable again"
Donald Trump is about to give a speech at the Economic Club of New York to launch an economic plan called "Make America Affordable Again" aimed at easing the financial pressures on the American people. The plan focuses on lowering the cost of living by reducing government waste, scaling back regulations and freeing up domestic energy production.
The core of the "Make America Affordable Again" plan is to establish a government efficiency commission proposed by Elon Musk to conduct a comprehensive audit of the federal government to identify waste and inefficiency in order to streamline government operations and curb inflation. In addition, Trump plans to promote deregulation in the housing and energy sectors, open up federal land for large-scale housing development, and speed up the approval of energy projects to reduce housing and energy prices.
Trump also reiterated his support for "smart tariffs" on imported goods, arguing that such a move would boost domestic manufacturing, reduce inflation, and make the U.S. economy more competitive globally.
It was previously reported that Trump will adopt Musk's proposal for a government efficiency commission.
Blockchain Applications
▌The RWA process is accelerating, which is expected to broaden the cross-border financing channels for mainland enterprises
RWA (Real World Assets—tokenization) is becoming a new trend in cross-border financing for enterprises. Recently, A-share listed company Langxin Group cooperated with Ant Digits to complete the first domestic RWA based on new energy physical assets in Hong Kong, with an amount of approximately 100 million yuan. This is also one of the four tokenization theme cases in the progress of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's sandbox project. Globally, many international financial institutions such as BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, and Citibank have made their first layout in the RWA field, and the entry of giant companies has also opened up more imagination space for RWA. Yu Jianing, co-chairman of the Blockchain Committee of the China Communications Industry Association, told reporters that this successful case of Langxin Group demonstrated the huge potential of RWA tokenization in practical applications, and also provided a demonstration effect for other mainland companies to explore similar paths. (Securities Daily)
Cryptocurrency
Harris' presidential campaign raised more than $300 million in August
According to NBC News, sources said Harris' presidential campaign raised more than $300 million in August.
Coinbase's lobbying spending surges 34-fold since 2017
According to the Social Capital Markets report, Coinbase's lobbying spending has surged 34 times since 2017, from $80,000 to $2.86 million in 2023. Ripple Labs also increased its lobbying spending from $50,000 to $940,000 in the same period, an increase of 1,780%. Binance.US's lobbying spending increased by 656% to $1.2 million in 2023. Tether, Uniswap, and Block Inc. also invested $1.2 million, $280,000, and $1.7 million in lobbying in 2023, respectively. The entire crypto industry's lobbying spending has increased by 1,386% since 2017.
▌CZ may not be able to hold any leadership position in Binance for life
According to Wacherguru, Richard Teng, the current CEO of Binance, said that CZ's departure from Binance is actually a "lifetime ban". In fact, according to a previous report by Axios, CZ has been banned from holding any leadership position in Binance. Although the possibility of his return is small, he may still resume his position on the platform at some point in the future. However, this may not be the case now. Richard Teng pointed out that CZ's lifetime ban was a key condition of Binance's settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, the cryptocurrency exchange was ordered to pay a fine of more than $4 billion.
Analysis: Ethereum has underperformed Bitcoin by 44% since switching to proof-of-stake
CryptoQuant analysts said Ethereum has underperformed Bitcoin by 44% since its switch to proof-of-stake. Analysts added that even after the Ethereum spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) was approved in the United States on July 23, Ether continued to underperform Bitcoin, with the ETH/BTC price currently at 0.0425, the lowest level since April 2021.
CryptoQuant analysts added that Ethereum could fall further relative to Bitcoin: “We estimate that Ether would need to fall to around 0.02 of Bitcoin, or a 50% drop, to enter undervalued territory”.
▌UK FCA: 87% of crypto company registration applications do not meet approval standards
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said more than 87% of crypto company registrations received in 2023-24 did not meet approval standards.
The Financial Conduct Authority said in its annual report that only four of the 35 applications received in the 12 months ending March 31 were successful. The companies that successfully registered included Binance's payment partner BNXA (PayPal UK subsidiary) and Nomura's cryptocurrency custody joint venture Komainu. The rest of the companies were either refused a license or were rejected for lacking key elements required for the assessment.
Important economic developments
▌Ignoring the Fed's expectations of rate cuts, the size of U.S. money market fund assets hit a new high
Investors poured cash into U.S. money market funds for a fifth straight week, the latest sign of strong demand ahead of a potential rate cut by the Federal Reserve. About $37 billion flowed into U.S. money market funds in the week ended Sept. 4, bringing recent inflows to about $165 billion, according to the Investment Company Institute. Total assets rose to a record $6.3 trillion from $6.26 trillion the previous week. Despite the strong demand, debate is heating up over whether money market funds will remain popular once U.S. policymakers start to lower interest rates, which are widely expected to happen later this month. The attractive returns from high interest rates have driven a surge in U.S. money market funds.
▌Citigroup and other major banks' 50 basis point rate cut forecasts are about to face a big test
Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls data will be the biggest test for Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, which have made bold bets on a 50 basis point rate cut in September. Forex traders haven’t been as excited ahead of the U.S. jobs report in more than a year. Options that measure the dollar’s performance against major trading partners hit their highest level since March 2023 ahead of the release of the key nonfarm payrolls data. Risk reversals showed widespread bearish sentiment on the dollar. Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase have been predicting 50 basis point rate cuts in both September and November and a 25 basis point cut in December since the weaker-than-expected July nonfarm payrolls data on Aug. 2. Interest rate swaps put the probability of a big 50 basis point rate cut at the Fed’s Sept. 17-18 meeting at about 35%, but traders and economists see a 25 basis point cut as the most likely.
Billionaire John Paulson expects the Fed to cut interest rates to 2.5% by the end of 2025
Billionaire investor John Paulson predicts that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to as low as 2.5% by the end of 2025. Paulson said the Fed has been too slow to cut rates and will take steps to lower them in the coming months. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Paulson estimated that the federal funds rate could fall to 3% or even 2.5% next year. He noted that maintaining high real interest rates (the gap between bond yields and the current inflation rate) means that the Fed has fallen behind in easing monetary policy. Paulson also stressed that comments from the president and the Treasury secretary on economic policy are crucial.
▌The Federal Reserve publicly solicits opinions and seeks to reform the discount window operation
The Federal Reserve is seeking public input on the discount window, the oldest tool the central bank uses to provide liquidity support to depository institutions. According to a statement from the Fed on Thursday, the public comments cover the collection of legal documents, the procedures for pledging and withdrawing collateral, the procedures for applying for, receiving and repaying loans, the provision of intraday credit, and the communication methods related to the mechanism. Fed policymakers and regulators want banks to be more comfortable using the discount window on a regular basis to ensure that they can respond quickly in the event of financial shocks such as bank runs. Banks have been reluctant to use the Fed's discount window, fearing that it would be seen as a sign of weak or even desperate liquidity conditions. In addition, many industry insiders also believe that the operation of the discount window is clumsy, backward and cumbersome.
▌Trump talks about economic vision: corporate tax rate drops to 15%, hires Musk to review federal spending
Trump pledged to lower corporate tax rates, cut regulations and audit the federal government as he presented his agenda to Wall Street and business leaders in New York. That's in line with ideas floated by his billionaire backer Musk. A centerpiece of his speech was a push to lower the corporate tax rate to 15% for companies that make goods in the United States. That would be a sharp cut from the current 21%. The current rate was a key policy victory in Trump's 2017 tax law. Trump also vowed to create a task force to review federal spending, a proposal from Musk. Trump said the commission's mission "is to conduct a comprehensive financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and to make recommendations for radical reform." "Because Elon isn't very busy, he has agreed to lead the task force," Trump said of hiring Musk.
Golden Encyclopedia
What is an inverse futures contract?
An inverse futures contract is a financial arrangement that requires the seller to pay the buyer the difference between the agreed price and the current price when the contract expires. Unlike traditional futures, the seller benefits from a drop in price. The nature of inverse futures contracts is non-linear. When a trader goes long a BTC/USD inverse futures contract, they are short the U.S. dollar. Because the contracts are inverse, the trader's position is worth less in Bitcoin, and the higher the value of Bitcoin, the higher its value relative to the U.S. dollar.
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.