Headlines
▌Biden: Interest rates are expected to fall further
U.S. President Biden said that the work of fighting inflation is not yet done; lowering borrowing costs will help economic growth; interest rates are expected to fall further; the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut indicates that the economy and recovery have entered a new stage; he respects the independence of the Federal Reserve and has not spoken to Federal Reserve Chairman Powell since entering the White House.
▌Block subsidies have become the main source of income for Bitcoin miners, accounting for more than 98%
The impact of halving has led to a reduction in fee income, and block subsidies have become the main source of income for Bitcoin miners. On September 13, of the $25.35 million in miners’ daily revenue, only $398,860 came from transaction fees, accounting for just 1.6% of total revenue. This is a significant change from previous periods, when transaction fees peaked at over 40% of miners’ revenue. Analysts say that with block subsidies halving every four years, transaction fees will only grow in importance in terms of cybersecurity. Some advocate for larger block sizes to accommodate more transactions, while others advocate for a layer 2 solution, which could push more settled transactions back to the main chain.
Quotes
As of press time, according to Coingecko data:
BTC's latest transaction price is $62,888.32, with a daily change of +1.3%;
ETH's latest transaction price is $2,463.92, with a daily change of +3.3%;
BNB's latest transaction price is $566.99, with a daily change of +1.0%;
SOL's latest trading price is $142.96, with a daily change of +5.9%;
DOGE’s latest trading price is $0.1051, with a daily change of +0.7%;
XPR recently traded at $0.5869, with a daily change of +0.1%.
policy
▌German government shuts down 47 cryptocurrency exchanges suspected of being involved in illegal activities
German authorities have shut down 47 cryptocurrency exchanges suspected of being involved in criminal activities such as money laundering, saying that the exchanges deliberately failed to fulfill their obligations to conduct identity and background checks on their customers. Some of the exchanges included Xchange Cash, 60cek, Baksman, and a number of other smaller platforms. One of the exchanges has been active since 2012, while others were founded only the year before.
▌Texas court dismisses Consensys' lawsuit against the US SEC
Consensys' lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler was dismissed in a Texas court on Thursday evening. Consensys' lawsuit was originally filed in April and contained some heavy news, including allegations that the SEC had launched an investigation into Ethereum and that the regulator had issued a wells notice to the company behind MetaMask. "The enforcement action does not constitute a final agency action, and the notice neither marks the completion of the agency's (i.e., the SEC's) decision process nor establishes the plaintiff's legal rights or obligations," the judge said in Thursday's ruling.
Blockchain Applications
▌Hut 8 and Bitmain launch next-generation ASIC miners, increasing hash rate by 80%
Hut 8 Corp. announced the expansion of its collaboration with Bitmain Technologies to launch the next-generation ASIC miner, the U3S21EXPH. Hut 8 plans to deploy the model in the second quarter of 2025 through a 15 exahash per second hosting agreement, leveraging custom data center infrastructure developed in-house. According to the press release, the initial agreement includes approximately 15 EH/s and is expected to increase Hut 8's managed hash rate from 18.5 EH/s to approximately 33.5 EH/s, an increase of 80%. As of press time, the price of Hut 8 stock (ticker: HUT) is up more than 7%.
▌Polkadot launches “Agile Coretime” to improve network efficiency and scalability
Polkadot released its important product "Agile Coretime", paving the way for the Polkadot 2.0 upgrade. This feature replaces the previous auction system by dynamically allocating computing resources, improving the efficiency, flexibility and scalability of the network. Developers can now obtain block space on demand, reduce costs and avoid network congestion. This change is particularly friendly to start-up projects, lowers the entry barrier, and provides more possibilities for future innovative applications. Polkadot's core developers said that this move will attract more outstanding projects.
Cryptocurrency
▌Viewpoint: Bitcoin may break new highs and is expected to rise to more than $100,000 by the end of the year
CoinDesk analysts predict that Bitcoin may be about to usher in a new round of price breakthroughs, with prices expected to rise to $108,000 to $155,000 based on past market cycles. Since reaching a high of $73,000 in March, Bitcoin has experienced a lengthy correction, with many investors believing the market has peaked. However, recent Bitcoin price action has been similar to its performance during two bull markets in 2016 and 2020. Both of those bull markets ended the year with significant gains. This suggests that Bitcoin may be on track to see a similar move again before the end of the year. Despite the weakness since March, Bitcoin is still up 290% since the market low in November 2022, consistent with previous bull cycles. If Bitcoin follows past trends, its price could see a 600% to 900% increase before the end of the year, reaching a range of $108,000 to $155,000.
▌“Trump buys burgers with Bitcoin” concept coin BURGER market value exceeds $4.5 million
The market value of the Ethereum ecosystem Meme coin BURGER has exceeded 4.5 million US dollars, and the trading volume of the token has reached 15 million US dollars in the first 18 hours since its launch. Earlier news today showed that former US President Trump used Bitcoin to buy a cheeseburger at PubKey, a Bitcoin-themed bar near New York University. Note: Meme coins have no actual use cases, and their prices fluctuate greatly. Users should invest with caution.
▌There was no inflow or outflow of funds in GBTC and ETHE yesterday
According to Farside Investors, the data of US spot Bitcoin ETF and spot Ethereum ETF (September 19) are as follows: Spot Bitcoin ETF: BTC net outflow of US$9.5 million; GBTC has no inflow or outflow. Spot Ethereum ETF: ETHE, ETH have no inflow or outflow.
Important economic developments
▌U.S. stocks continued to rise, with the Nasdaq up nearly 3%
US stocks continued to rise, with the S&P 500 index rising by more than 2%, setting a new record high; the Nasdaq rose by nearly 3%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by about 1.5%. Tesla rose by more than 7%, Nvidia rose by more than 5%, Meta rose by more than 3%, and Netflix, Microsoft, and Google rose by more than 2%.
▌Standard Chartered Bank: Bitcoin and the broader crypto market will continue to rise after the Fed cuts interest rates
Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick predicts that Bitcoin and digital assets will continue to rise after the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut, driven more by favorable macroeconomic conditions than the results of the U.S. presidential election. “For the first time, digital assets have topped the list in terms of performance following the FOMC meeting. This is the case despite Polymarket showing Kamala Harris’ approval rating at 52/47 today,” Kendrick noted in an email on Thursday. He attributed the positive performance to macroeconomic drivers starting to overwhelm election-related uncertainty. Kendrick insisted that the U.S. presidential election is not as influential on Bitcoin prices as it used to be. “While the U.S. election is important, macro drivers are starting to take over,” he said, adding that he is monitoring the difference between short-term and long-term U.S. Treasury yields as an indicator of market conditions that are favorable for digital assets. “I look at the U.S. 2s10s curve, and a steeper U.S. yield curve is favorable for digital assets.”
▌S&P: Emerging market central banks are expected to continue/start cutting interest rates in late 2024 and early 2025
S&P said it expects emerging market central banks to continue/start cutting interest rates in late 2024 and early 2025 to boost domestic demand. Uncertainty about the U.S. economy, geopolitical risks, and political uncertainty could create the basis for future market volatility.
▌Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Summers: The rate cuts in the next few years are expected to be less than the Fed's forecast
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said inflation could keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates as much as expected in the coming years. "On monetary policy, the Fed faces the risk of rising inflation if it wants to actually cut rates as much as it predicts," he said. Fed policymakers predicted in their latest dot plot that the median federal funds rate would be 3.4% by the end of next year, equivalent to a possible 150 basis point cut on top of the 50 basis point cut announced on Wednesday. Summers said that if inflation pressures re-emerge, interest rates will not fall as much as officials predicted in their dot plot. He warned that investors also overestimated the Fed's next easing efforts.
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.
