Top 10 News of the Week
1. US July CPI and retail data link
The U.S. core CPI monthly rate in July was 0.2%, expected to be 0.20%, and the previous value was 0.10%. The U.S. unadjusted CPI annual rate in July was 2.9%, expected to be 3.0%, and the previous value was 3.0%. The U.S. unadjusted core CPI annual rate in July was 3.2%, falling for the fourth consecutive month and the lowest level since April 2021.
The United States announced that the number of initial unemployment claims for the week ended August 10 was 227,000, which was expected to be 235,000, and the previous value was revised from 233,000 to 234,000. This is the lowest number of initial unemployment claims in five weeks. The number of people who continued to apply for unemployment benefits in the United States for the week ended August 3 was 1.864 million, which was expected to be 1.875 million, and the previous value was revised from 1.875 million to 1.871 million. The monthly rate of U.S. retail sales in July was 1%, the largest increase since January 2023. U.S. retail sales growth in July exceeded expectations, which may help ease financial market concerns about a sharp slowdown in the economy.
QCP Capital's latest report pointed out that the latest US CPI data was in line with market expectations, and the market's expectations for the Fed's 25 basis point rate cut in September rose from 47.5% to 62.5%. Although the inflation data was mild, the market briefly reacted to the rise in stocks and cryptocurrencies, but this rise was quickly reversed by the US government's transfer of 10,000 BTC to Coinbase Prime and Jump's sale of 17,000 ETH. In the options market, the volatility of short-term options for BTC and ETH fell by about 10 points after the CPI was released, and the risk reversal indicator fell further, indicating that the market expects more downward pressure due to new supply.
2. Former Bank of Japan board member: The Bank of Japan will not raise interest rates again for the rest of the year link
Makoto Sakurai, a former member of the Bank of Japan's board of directors, said in a report on August 12 that the Bank of Japan will not raise interest rates again at least for the rest of the year, but whether it will raise interest rates once before March next year remains an uncertain question. The Bank of Japan suddenly raised its benchmark interest rate to 0.25% in early August, disrupting the yen carry trade, sending the yen soaring in the foreign exchange market and causing a sharp sell-off in the stock and crypto markets. Makoto Sakurai said that although the rate hike may have disrupted global markets, it is a much-needed change for Japan, moving from an almost zero interest rate to a normal 0.25% is good; it is wise for the central bank to wait and see the effect of further rate hikes.
3. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley bought more than $600 million worth of Bitcoin spot ETFs in Q2 link
According to Bitcoin Magazine, Morgan Stanley stated in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that as of June 30, it held 5.5 million shares of BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF, and Morgan Stanley is currently one of the top five holders of BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF. Morgan Stanley disclosed that it holds $187 million in Bitcoin ETFs.
Reuters reported that in the quarterly disclosure documents (13-F) submitted by Goldman Sachs to the US SEC, as of June 30, it had spent about $418 million to purchase several Bitcoin spot ETF assets, most of which were nearly 7 million shares of BlackRock IBIT, worth about $238 million. The second and third largest Bitcoin ETFs are Fidelity FBTC and Invesco's BTCO. According to the quarterly disclosure documents (13-F) submitted by Morgan Stanley to the US SEC, as of June 30, it held 5.5 million shares of BlackRock IBIT, worth $188 million. It also holds smaller shares of ARKB and Grayscale GBTC.
4. The number of Bitcoins held by the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund has increased to 2,446 link
According to Vetle Lunde, senior analyst at K33 Research, the number of bitcoins held by the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund (NBIM) has increased to 2,446, an increase of 938 from the end of 2023. This growth may be due to algorithm-driven industry allocation and risk diversification strategies, rather than a deliberate decision to increase holdings of Bitcoin. The increase in indirect holdings mainly comes from increased holdings of MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital, Coinbase and Block Inc. The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, full name "Norwegian Government Global Pension Fund", is a national investment fund managed by the Central Bank of Norway (Norges Bank). The fund is one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, established in 1990, and its main source is Norway's oil revenue.
5. US SEC sends letters to major venture capital funds regarding Uniswap Labs link
Axios reported that several venture capital funds, including Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures, received letters from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission due to their relationship with Uniswap Labs. The regulator seems likely to allege that Uniswap is an unregistered exchange. Uniswap Labs received and responded to the Wells notice earlier this year.
6. Marathon Digital announced that it will mark every Bitcoin block it mines with "Made in the USA" link
Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital Holdings announced that it will mark every Bitcoin block it mines with the words "Made in the USA". This move coincides with the remarks made by presidential candidate Trump earlier this summer. Trump expressed the hope that "all remaining Bitcoins are made in the United States" because he believes that more Bitcoin mining in the United States will help the United States achieve its goal of energy dominance. Marathon announced in 2021 that it would launch an OFAC-compliant BTC mining pool to produce clean Bitcoin that complies with regulations, which sparked industry criticism.
7. MetaMask is working with Mastercard and Baanx to launch a blockchain-based debit card link
Digital asset wallet MetaMask is working with Mastercard and Web3 payment financial company Baanx to launch a blockchain-based debit card, with the first batch limited to thousands of European and British users participating in the test. The card allows users to pay directly with their USDC, USDT and wETH assets stored on the Linea blockchain (Ethereum's second-layer network). It is reported that this debit card will be fully promoted in the EU and the UK later this year, and is planned to be gradually launched in other regions.
8. Venezuelan government blocks access to Binance, Twitter, other online services amid turmoil over presidential election link
On August 9, the local anti-censorship organization VE sin Filtro said it had detected a DNS blockade of Binance, affecting the operation of its website and mobile applications; on August 10, the official account of Binance Latin America said that like the websites of many companies in different industries in Venezuela, the Binance page also faced access restrictions, and guaranteed that users' assets were safe and that the situation was being monitored to seek the best solution. Binance's P2P service is very popular in Venezuela, where local residents try to exchange cash for cryptocurrency to cope with the highly inflated Bolivar currency through the service.
9. Vitalik: All the "Animal Coins" received in the past year have been donated to charity link
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said on social media that he has donated all the "Animal Coins" received in the past year to charity. Vitalik emphasized that he would prefer that these tokens be directly distributed to charities and called for more complex public funding to begin in 2024. According to data, Vitalik donated a total of 200 ETH (about $530,000). Previously, Vitalik sold Neiro for 40 ETH, and today he transferred 200 ETH to Kraken for donations; he had earlier published an article discussing memecoin, suggesting that memecoin could be considered for charity.
10. Ethereum network gas fee hits a five-year low link
Last weekend, the median Gas fee of the Ethereum network hit a new low in the past five years. On August 10, the median Ethereum Gas fee was lower than 2gwei for the first time in the past five years. The number of ETH destroyed daily on the Ethereum network has dropped to a low point this year. Due to the lower Gas fee, only 210 ETH were destroyed last Saturday. Recently, the real-time Ethereum Gas fee was once lower than 1gwei. Etherscan posted that because the Gas on the Ethereum chain has recently fallen below 1 Gwei, three decimal points have been retained in the Gas tracker to improve accuracy. It also said that the basic fee of block 20496029 is 0.614 gwei, which is the lowest fee recorded last week.
Key financing events
Binance Labs announces investment in decentralized AI ecosystem MyShell link
Chaos Labs, a provider of DeFi risk management tools, announces $55 million Series A funding link
Stablecoin payment platform Sling Money announces completion of $15 million Series A funding link
Decentralized AI blockchain platform Sahara AI announces $43 million in funding link
Essential, the Ethereum L2 blockchain developer, announces $11 million Series A funding link
Ethereum L2 network Reddio announces completion of seed round, led by Paradigm and Arena Holdings link
Solana Edge Data Intelligence Network 375ai Announces $5 Million Seed Round Link
Ion Protocol raises $4.8 million for development of native yield platform Nucleus link
Rivalz Network announces $9 million in funding link
Crypto Infrastructure Company Parfin Announces $10 Million Series A Funding Link
Rhinestone announces $5 million seed round link
Satflow announces $7.6 million seed round link
Crunch Lab announces $3.5 million seed round link
Web3 liquidity provider Orderly Network announces $5 million in strategic financing link
For more industry funding events, please visit crypto-fundraising.info.
