Headlines
▌Wintermute founder: Wintermute is buying ETH recently
In response to other users' questions on social media, "Why are you selling ETH recently?" Wishful Cynic, the founder and CEO of Wintermute, said that the organization is actually buying ETH recently. Another user asked, "Is the "buying behavior" mentioned by Wishful Cynic "done through OTC or directly through the order book of the trading platform?" However, Wishful Cynic did not respond directly, and instead asked that there is no difference between the two.
As previously reported, according to monitoring by The Date Nerd on August 7, Wintermute deposited 17,368 ETH, equivalent to $43.17 million, into Binance in the past 24 hours. In addition, on August 5, it was monitored that Wintermute transferred 22,460 ETH from its market-making account and other trading platform accounts to Binance deposit addresses in the past 24 hours, and these ETH were subsequently transferred to the Binance hot wallet (wishful cynic did not respond to this data).
▌Judge rules that exchange's XRP trading did not violate securities laws, fines Ripple $125 million in SEC case
U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York found that Ripple’s 1,278 institutional sales transactions violated securities laws and fined it $125.035 million, which is far less than the $1 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and $900 million in civil penalties sought by the SEC.
The ruling found that Ripple violated federal securities laws by selling XRP directly to institutional clients, but ruled that Ripple’s programmatic sales of XRP to retail investors through exchanges did not violate any securities laws. During the trial, the SEC attempted to appeal this part of the ruling, but was unsuccessful.
Judge Torres also enjoined Ripple from future violations of federal securities laws and issued an injunction requiring Ripple to file a registration statement if it intends to sell any securities.
Quotes
As of press time, according to Coingecko data:
BTC's latest transaction price is $55,168.94, with a daily change of -1.5%;
The latest transaction price of ETH is 2,346.69 yuan, with a daily change of -4.6%;
BNB's latest transaction price is $475.67, with a daily change of -1.8%;
SOL's latest trading price is $145.15, with a daily change of +0.7%;
DOGE’s latest trading price is $0.0959, with a daily change of -0.2%;
XPR recently traded at $0.602, with a daily change of +19.1%.
policy
▌The US Democratic Party launched the "Harris's Cryptocurrency" campaign to fight Trump
According to FOX Business, the US Democratic Party launched the "Harris Cryptocurrency" campaign to fight Donald Trump.
▌UK FCA issues new guidance to ensure cryptocurrency promotion compliance
The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published new guidance aimed at ensuring that cryptocurrency firms meet compliance requirements for promotion that come into effect in October 2023.
▌Ripple CEO: Respect the court's decision, SEC's resistance to the entire XRP community has disappeared
A US judge announced a $125 million fine against Ripple in the SEC lawsuit. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse responded on the X platform: "The SEC previously demanded $2 billion in compensation. The court believed that they had overacted, so they reduced their request by about 94%. We respect the court's decision and are determined to continue to develop our company. This is a victory for Ripple, the industry, and the rule of law. The SEC's resistance to the entire XRP community has disappeared."
Blockchain Applications
▌Starknet v0.13.2 upgrade is now available on the testnet
Starknet announced that the v0.13.2 upgrade is now live on the Starknet testnet. The update includes parallel execution and block packaging. The next step is scheduled to be launched on the mainnet on August 28.
Cryptocurrency
▌Crypto Alliance calls for clearer rules and warns of risks in letter to Biden and Harris
A group of more than 50 cryptocurrency companies, the Coalition for Crypto Market Integrity (CMIC), called on U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to establish clear rules for the digital asset industry, saying without them consumers will be harmed and innovation will cease. The coalition was founded by Coinbase, Circle and The Digital Chamber, and includes Robinhood, BitGo and Chainalysis as members. Other jurisdictions, including the European Union, Japan and the United Kingdom, have begun developing regulatory frameworks, the coalition wrote in a letter to the White House on Wednesday.
"Many of the losses of the past few years could have been avoided with basic consumer protections, which is particularly concerning for CMIC members given our public commitment to market integrity and our efforts to develop rigorous industry standards to monitor and eliminate market misconduct," the members said. The letter states that there are no clear rules for how regulators enforce the law on cryptocurrencies, causing compliant U.S. companies to lose customers and market share to entities that do not follow the rules. The alliance also wrote: "We hope to see the U.S. government work with Congress to enact such foundational legislation this year. Missing the legislative opportunity will be a mistake that will be noticed both at home and abroad."
Grayscale, Bitwise, and NYSE propose to allow options trading on spot Ethereum ETFs
Grayscale and Bitwise, together with the New York Stock Exchange, submitted a rule change proposal to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), proposing to allow trading of options on the Bitwise Ethereum ETF, Grayscale Ethereum Trust, and Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust. The document states that these options will provide investors with an additional, relatively low-cost investment tool, while serving as a hedging tool to meet investors' investment needs for Ethereum products and positions. Public comments on the proposal will expire in 21 days. Several companies are also seeking trading permission for spot Bitcoin ETF options, but have not yet been approved.
▌Mining company Core Scientific reported a net loss of $804.9 million in the second quarter
Bitcoin mining company Core Scientific announced financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024. Net loss was $804.9 million, compared with a net loss of $9.3 million in the same period of 2023. Total revenue was $141.1 million, compared with $126.9 million in the same period of 2023. Operating income was $6.6 million, compared with $9.5 million in the same period of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA was $46 million, compared with $45 million in the same period of 2023. The loss was mainly due to a net non-cash adjustment of warrants and other contingent value liabilities to market value of $796 million, due to a significant increase in equity value between quarters.
▌Analysis: Cryptocurrency sell-off, beware of wider risk trading
Bitcoin turned down during the day. Adam Button, an analyst at the financial website Forexlive, said: This is now a sentiment-driven market, and Bitcoin has always been a good forerunner of market sentiment, so I have been paying close attention to it. In the past 30 minutes or so, Bitcoin has fallen by $1,000. Ethereum also fell 3%, giving up all of yesterday's gains. The performance of US spot ETFs since their launch has been a disaster. Given these trends, I will be cautious about the Nasdaq index and broader risk trading.
▌Arbitrum now supports USDC as a custom gas payment token
Arbitrum Orbit Chain now supports USDC as a custom gas token. This integration opens the door to building new types of applications, including those that require payment channels for a frictionless user experience.
Important economic developments
▌Former New York Fed Chairman Dudley: Rate cuts of 25 or 50 basis points are possible in September
Dudley, former chairman of the New York Fed, said that two weeks ago, he turned from a hawk to a dove, abandoning his support for further interest rate hikes by the Fed and advocating an immediate rate cut to avoid a recession. In the past two weeks, there has been more evidence of a weakening U.S. labor market and further slowing inflation. After that, the longer the Fed waits, the greater the potential damage. Fed members' estimates of the neutral interest rate range between 2.4% and 3.8%, which means that the current effective federal funds rate of 5.3% is still a long way from the neutral level. Once a recession becomes a reality, the Fed will need to cut interest rates to 3% or lower. It is expected that the Fed may cut interest rates by 25 or 50 basis points at the September meeting.
▌JPMorgan Chase raises the probability of a U.S. recession to 35% by the end of the year
JPMorgan Chase & Co. now sees a 35% chance that the U.S. economy will fall into recession by the end of this year, up from 25% at the beginning of last month. News from the U.S. "suggests a sharper-than-expected weakening in labor demand, with early signs of layoffs emerging," JPMorgan economists led by Bruce Kasman wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. The team maintained its odds of a recession by the second half of 2025 at 45%. "Our modest upgrade to our assessment of recession risk is offset by a larger revision to our assessment of the interest rate outlook," Kasman and his colleagues wrote. JPMorgan now sees only a 30% chance that the Federal Reserve and other central banks will keep interest rates high for a long time, down from a 50% chance just two months ago. With U.S. inflation pressures fading, JPMorgan expects the Fed to cut rates by 50 basis points in September and November.
▌The probability of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 50 basis points in September is 71.5%
According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Fed cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in September is 28.5%, and the probability of cutting interest rates by 50 basis points is 71.5%. The probability of the Fed cutting interest rates by 50 basis points by November is 15.5%, the probability of cutting interest rates by 75 basis points is 51.8%, and the probability of cutting interest rates by 100 basis points is 32.7%.
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.
