Headline
▌Currently, the probability of predicting Trump winning the U.S. presidential election is 57.5%
Prediction market Polymarket shows that the current probability of predicting Trump winning the U.S. presidential election is 57.5%, while Harris's probability of winning is 42.4%. The amount of betting on the U.S. election on the platform has exceeded $2.9 billion.
▌Chen Haolian: Hong Kong has strong Web3 development potential
Hong Kong's Deputy Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Chen Haolian, stated that as an international financial center, Hong Kong has strong Web3 development potential and a sound regulatory system. The global evolution of blockchain ecosystems and key technologies such as decentralized oracle networks have tremendous potential in promoting decentralized finance and digital economic transformation. Therefore, he hopes to let Asia, especially Hong Kong, gain a deeper understanding of these development trends and explore how to apply these technologies to local financial technology and the wave of Web3 innovation.
Market
As of the time of writing, according to Coingecko data:
BTC recent transaction price $69,168.14, daily change -2.6%;
ETH recent transaction price $2,482.61, daily change -2.8%;
BNB recent transaction price $563.59, daily change -3.1%;
SOL recent transaction price $162.93, daily change -4.4%;
DOGE recent transaction price $0.1566, daily change -5.7%;
XPR recent transaction price $0.5081, daily change -2.2%.
Policy
▌Kemi Badenoch becomes the new leader of the UK Conservative Party
After former UK leader Rishi Sunak announced he would resign as leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch was elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party on Saturday after four months of debate. Although the Conservative Party has traditionally been friendly towards cryptocurrency—proposing measures to ensure cryptocurrency is regulated as financial activity and expressing a desire for the country to become a cryptocurrency hub—digital assets were not mentioned in the party leadership contest.
▌Macroeconomic factors in Canada and the U.S. favor Bitcoin prices
Dean Skurka, president and CEO of digital financial services company WonderFi, believes that the interest rate cuts in Canada and the U.S. as well as the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election will continue to drive Bitcoin prices higher in the next 6-24 months. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Skurka explained that the recent decision by the Bank of Canada to cut rates by 50 basis points, along with the Fed's ongoing rate-cutting plans starting in September 2024, will encourage retail and institutional investors to enter the market or increase existing positions. Skurka also emphasized that the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election is a major catalyst for Bitcoin prices, as the cryptocurrency industry believes that Trump's election as president will be favorable for cryptocurrency, while Harris's victory may cause price shocks in the short term.
Blockchain applications
▌The biggest challenge in the application of blockchain is not technology but the establishment of an ecosystem
DBS Bank's Chief Strategy Officer and Managing Director Lin Xinchuan stated that the parent company of DBS Bank has been actively exploring the application of blockchain technology, and the successful experiences are of significant reference for DBS Bank to promote the integration of blockchain and the financial industry in China, especially in Shanghai. As an important trade port city, Shanghai has great potential for blockchain applications, and projects that succeed in Singapore will certainly achieve greater success in Shanghai. Lin Xinchuan emphasized that the biggest challenge in the application of blockchain is not the technology itself, but the establishment of an ecosystem; without enough participants, the network effects inherent in blockchain technology cannot be realized.
▌Grass: Stage 2 has arrived
Grass announced on the X platform that Stage 2 has arrived, aiming to capture the web by building user-owned internet maps. The next season will introduce more rewards and new product launches, such as real-time context retrieval (LCR), hardware, and the launch of the Grass mobile application. As a result of this news, the market shows that the price of GRASS tokens has risen to $1.64, with a market increase of $3.55 billion in the past 24 hours. Additionally, the market cap of GRASS has also exceeded $400 million, currently reaching $402,135,234, setting a new high.
▌Ethereum researchers resign from EigenLayer advisory positions due to neutrality complaints
Two Ethereum researchers revealed today that they have resigned from their advisory positions at the re-staking platform EigenLayer due to controversies. Ethereum researchers Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist posted on the X platform stating that they resigned to focus on the development of the Ethereum base network. Drake mentioned that he stepped down from this position in September.
Cryptocurrency
▌As Bitcoin gets closer to being an asset, it moves further away from being a widely circulated currency
Lü Lei, Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China, stated in the preface he wrote for (Monetary Theory) that the urgent issue facing major developed economies is 'to save central banks from the hands of central bankers'. Although this idea is by no means the current central bank digital currency (CBDC), as I believe CBDCs do not change the institutional implications of monetary increments, is there a type of digital currency that can overcome the impact of various digital assets, achieve stablecoin effects, and maintain the existence of sovereign currency (solving the issue of monetary unification but fiscal decentralization in the Euro)? Currently, digital assets are following the old path of the gold standard, and the stablecoin concept is merely a practical proposal of the 'soft version' optimal currency area theory. In the field of monetary economics predictions and practices, two respected figures are Robert Mundell, who recently passed away, and the still-mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, who has watched his creation, Bitcoin, evolve into an extremely expensive digital asset. Currently, the energy consumed worldwide to mine the last 2 million coins is enough for over a hundred million people to use for more than a year. According to the marginal cost pricing method, as Bitcoin gets closer to being an asset, it moves further away from being a widely circulated currency.
▌IRS: Crypto rewards received before account freeze must be taxed in the year received
The IRS issued a memorandum in October addressing the tax obligations for digital asset rewards in accounts frozen due to bankruptcy. This guidance was sent to Michael R. Fiore of the IRS Small Business/Individual Taxpayer Department and studied a hypothetical taxpayer (referred to as 'Taxpayer A') who held cryptocurrency in an account on a bankruptcy platform and received rewards before the account was frozen, such as staking bonuses. According to the IRS regulations: Taxpayer A received rewards during the first year before the account was frozen and must include the fair market value of the rewards received on the date and time of receipt in the total income for the first year, even if the account remained frozen on December 31 of the first year. This interpretation follows the provisions of Internal Revenue Code Sections 61 and 451, which stipulate that income must be recognized in the year received, regardless of whether it is later inaccessible.
▌U.S. Department of Justice sues Gotbit CEO for market manipulation and conspiracy to commit fraud
The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted Aleksei Andriunin, founder and CEO of crypto financial services company Gotbit, accusing him of committing telecommunications fraud and conspiring to manipulate the market. Russian citizen Aleksei Andriunin, residing in Portugal, was arrested on October 16. Court documents show that Gotbit provided market manipulation services to create artificial trading volumes for multiple cryptocurrency companies (including those based in the U.S.) to get cryptocurrencies listed on CoinMarketCap. Gotbit conducted millions of dollars in fake trades on behalf of clients and earned tens of millions of dollars from these fraudulent services. Andriunin transferred millions of dollars in profits from Gotbit to his personal Binance account.
▌Zhu Su: Good crypto applications do not need or benefit from venture capital funding
Zhu Su, founder of Three Arrows Capital, posted on X platform stating that a subtle view on why cryptocurrency venture capital firms invest in infrastructure rather than crypto applications is that good applications do not need or benefit from venture capital funding (especially large financing rounds) because they can achieve net profitability very quickly and have lower building costs.
▌Berkshire Hathaway's cash reserves exceed $300 billion
Berkshire Hathaway A (BRK.A.N) ended Q3 2024 with cash reserves of $325.2 billion, setting a new record high, up from $276.9 billion at the end of Q2.
Important economic dynamics
▌NVIDIA to be included in the Dow Jones index
S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that NVIDIA will be added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing the current chip sector component Intel. Also announced was that Sherwin-Williams Co. will replace Dow Chemical as another component of the Dow. Analysts believe this adjustment marks the increasing importance of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
▌Berkshire Hathaway continues to reduce its stake in Apple in Q3, with a reduction of 25%
According to Berkshire Hathaway A (BRK.A.N)'s 10-Q report, the company sold 100 million shares of Apple (AAPL.O) stock in Q3 2024, reducing its holdings in Apple to 300 million shares. After reducing nearly 50% of its Apple shares in the second quarter, Berkshire has now reduced its Apple stake by 25%. Since the beginning of this year, Berkshire's total shares in Apple have decreased by about two-thirds from 905 million shares.
Golden Encyclopedia
▌What is the Aptos blockchain?
Aptos aims to be a fast, scalable, and reliable blockchain that supports decentralized applications (DApps) and is designed to accelerate the development of Web3. Launched by Avery Ching and Mo Shaikh on October 12, 2022, it is designed for high throughput and low latency, meaning it can process about 160,000 transactions per second and verify them in under 1 second on average. Aptos technology natively integrates the Move language to provide these fast and secure transactions, allowing developers to write smart contracts and build DApps. Aptos provides everything needed to 'build your great idea', even combining with artificial intelligence to make it easy for both novices and experts to use Web3.
Disclaimer: Golden Finance, as a blockchain information platform, publishes the content of articles for informational reference only and does not constitute actual investment advice. Please establish a correct investment philosophy and be sure to raise risk awareness.
