Mars Finance takes you through last week's hot topics and recommended content:
Powell's Jackson Hole speech sent the strongest voice for interest rate cuts, and Bitcoin broke through $64,000
Key points of Powell's speech at Jackson Hole - sending the strongest voice for interest rate cuts 1. Interest rate guidance: The time for policy adjustment has come, and the direction of policy is clear. The timing and pace of interest rate cuts will depend on the balance of data, prospects and risks.
2. Inflation outlook: Confidence in inflation returning to 2% has increased.
3. Labor market: The labor market seems unlikely to be a source of rising inflationary pressures in the short term; further labor market cooling is not sought or welcomed.
4. Risk balance: Upside risks to inflation have weakened, while downside risks to employment are increasing.
5. Market impact: The market regards Powell's remarks as "the strongest signal of interest rate cut so far". The short-term fluctuation of spot gold in 15 minutes reached 20 US dollars, and the US dollar index DXY fell below 101. The probability of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 50 basis points in September has increased.
Related reading: " Today's Recommendation | What did the Fed Chairman say that made Bitcoin soar? The full text of Powell's "Review and Outlook" speech "
Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France, and TON plummeted 12.4%
According to TheBlock, TELEGRAM and TONCOIN $TON founder PAVEL DUROV was detained in France. Local media reported that Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has been detained by French authorities.
Related reading: " Today's Recommendation | Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested immediately after his private plane landed in France and was charged with terrorism, fraud, money laundering and other crimes ", " Hudson Researcher interprets the real reason for Pavel Durov's arrest, which may be France's retaliation for launching a proxy war against Russia in Africa "
Robert Kennedy Jr. withdraws from 2024 US election, says he will support Donald Trump
Robert Kennedy Jr. said he will now support former US President Donald Trump and agrees with Trump on many key issues. Robert Kennedy Jr. added that he will suspend his campaign rather than end it and remove his name from the ballot in 10 key states.
CZ may be released on September 29th, may have left prison, but is still in custody
According to Decrypt, according to information from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, CZ is expected to be released on September 29. But parts of the crypto community seem to have mistakenly and prematurely celebrated the freedom of the crypto entrepreneur. The confusion may be partly due to CZ's transfer from a minimum security prison in Southern California to RRM Long Beach this week. This is a residential program that prepares prisoners nearing the end of their sentences to reintegrate into society. From a technical analysis, some Twitter users claim that CZ has been released from prison, which is correct. But he is definitely still in the custody of the U.S. government and cannot move freely. By the end of September, CZ should regain his right to move freely and may return to Dubai to reunite with his family.
TRON ecosystem meme platform SunPump is hot, with single-day agreement revenue exceeding Pump.fun
TRON ecosystem DEX SUN.IO launched SunPump, which will be the first meme coin issuance platform in the ecosystem. Justin Sun frequently posted content about SunPump on social platforms to promote it, and this week, the single-day protocol revenue exceeded Pump.fun several times. The SunPump platform has been integrated into DEXTools, and users can use DEXTools to track the newly launched Meme tokens on SunPump; at the same time, DWF Labs announced this week that it has reached a cooperation with SunPump.
Related reading: " Tron ecosystem newcomer: SunPump ignites memecoin craze "
Binance launched 7 perpetual contracts last week
On August 19, Binance launched the SYSUSDT perpetual contract with a maximum leverage of 50 times. On August 20, Binance launched the BRETTUSDT perpetual contract with a maximum leverage of 50 times. On the same day, Binance launched the VOXELUSDT perpetual contract with a maximum leverage of 50 times. On August 22, Binance launched the POPCATUSDT and SUNUSDT perpetual contracts with a maximum leverage of 75 times. On the same day, Binance launched the ALPACAUSDT perpetual contract with a maximum leverage of 75 times. On August 23, Binance launched the VIDT/USDT perpetual contract with a maximum leverage of 75 times.
Binance Launchpool launches Dogs (DOGS); DOGS airdrop claim period extended again
On August 21, Binance Launchpool launched Dogs (DOGS). Dogs (DOGS) is a Ton memecoin born in the Telegram community. The webpage is expected to be launched within 24 hours before the launch of the new pool. Users will be able to stake their BNB and FDUSD in a separate pool to mine DOGS tokens within three days, starting at 2024-08-23 00:00 (UTC). Binance will list DOGS at 2024-08-26 12:00 (UTC) and open DOGS/USDT, DOGS/BNB, DOGS/FDUSD and DOGS/TRY trading pairs. On August 21, the Meme project DOGS decided to adjust the TGE date again. The updated time is: the deadline for applying to the trading platform and Telegram wallet will be extended to 24:00 on August 23, Beijing time; the service for applying to non-custodial wallets will start from 16:00 on August 26, Beijing time; TGE and listing will be carried out at 20:00 on August 26, Beijing time.
Related reading: A quick look at Binance’s latest Launchpool MEME project Dogs (DOGS )
"Two High Courts": The conversion of criminal proceeds through virtual asset transactions can be considered as "money laundering"
On August 19, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly held a press conference and issued the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases of Money Laundering" (hereinafter referred to as the "Interpretation"). The "Interpretation" will come into effect on August 20, 2024. The "Interpretation" clarifies that if the amount of money laundering is more than 5 million yuan, and there are multiple acts of money laundering; refuse to cooperate with the recovery of property, resulting in the inability to recover the stolen money and property; cause losses of more than 2.5 million yuan; or cause one of other serious consequences, it shall be deemed as "serious circumstances". The "Interpretation" lists "virtual asset" transactions as one of the methods of money laundering. It is clear that the transfer and conversion of criminal proceeds and their proceeds through "virtual asset" transactions and financial asset exchanges can be identified as "concealing and concealing the source and nature of criminal proceeds and their proceeds by other means" as stipulated in Article 191, paragraph 1, item 5 of the Criminal Law.
Related reading: " New regulations on digital currency money laundering are introduced, and the two high courts strike hard to crack down on underground banks and digital currency money laundering "
Japanese giant Sony launches Ethereum Layer 2 network Soneium
On August 23, Coindesk reported that Sony Block Solutions Labs, a joint project between Japanese giant Sony Group and Singapore Startale Labs, said on Friday that it will launch a new Layer 2 network called Soneium on the Ethereum blockchain. Soneium is expected to be launched on the test network in the next few days. It will use Optimism Rollup technology and be built using the OP Stack of the Optimism blockchain ecosystem. It is reported that the CEO of Startale Labs is Sota Watanabe, who is the director of Sony Block Solutions Labs and the co-founder of Astar Network.
Magic Eden announces launch of ME token
On August 22, Magic Eden will launch and adopt the ecosystem token ME, which is developed by the ME Foundation. ME tokens will be claimed in the Magic Eden wallet, which is available on both iOS and Android. After claiming, ME token rewards will be deposited into the user's wallet.
Ethereum Foundation transfers 35,000 ETH to exchanges, causing concern; responds that it is part of its fund management activities
On August 24, according to Arkham monitoring, the Ethereum Foundation transferred 35,000 ETH to Kraken in the early hours of the morning, equivalent to about 94.07 million US dollars. On the same day, Aya Miyaguchi, executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, said, "This is part of its fund management activities. The Ethereum Foundation has an annual budget of about 100 million US dollars, which mainly consists of grants and salaries. Some recipients can only accept legal currency. For a long time this year, we were told not to conduct any fund activities because the supervision was complicated and we could not share plans in advance. From now on, we will sell gradually and in a planned manner."
According to crypto analyst DefiIgnas, the foundation currently holds $845 million worth of ETH, about 0.25% of the total supply. The Ethereum Foundation allocated $30 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 and $8.9 million in the third quarter. The funds are mainly used for global conferences, online courses, innovative projects, etc. The Ethereum Foundation lacks a comprehensive and transparent total expenditure report. The latest available 2021 report shows that the Ethereum Foundation's total expenditure on internal expenses, external grants and rewards is $48 million, including $21 million for L1 R&D, $9.7 million for community development (including grants and education), and $5.1 million for internal operations (salaries, legal fees, etc.).
At a spending rate of $100 million per year, the Ethereum Foundation will deplete its ETH reserves in 8 years.
This week's hot articles
A quick look at the 12 most highly valued new public chains
Public chain technology is reshaping the future of finance and technology. L1 and L2 public chains occupy a large share of the crypto market, with steady performance and growth potential. Monad, Aleo, Aztec, Scroll, Espresso Systems, Eclipse, CAPE, Berachain, Movement, Linera, Anoma, Gasp and Talus are representative public chain projects that are committed to improving transaction speed, protecting privacy, providing privacy protection and scalability, achieving cross-chain transactions and democratizing artificial intelligence. These projects have received hundreds of millions of dollars in financing and are expected to play a greater role in the future to promote the development of the entire crypto market.
Is DeFi on the decline? Leading projects are returning to value
OG tokens in the DeFi space were affected by the black swan event in the crypto market on August 5, and underperformed Bitcoin and Ethereum. Despite this, DeFi has shown strong resistance to pressure, but TVL and lending volume have declined. DEX trading volume and stablecoin market value are still growing, and institutional financing is also showing signs of recovery. The value of DeFi remains to be seen, but leading projects such as Aave continue to develop. Aave and Uniswap are leading in market share and market value, while EigenLayer is a pioneer in the concept of re-staking. With the entry of traditional financial institutions and the possibility of mergers and acquisitions, the value of DeFi projects may be re-evaluated. DeFi applications with practical uses, high market fit and strong resilience will usher in new development opportunities.
BTC ecological project starts staking, how do Babylon and Lorenzo reshape the Bitcoin ecosystem?
The BTC ecosystem is developing rapidly. Ordinal became popular first, then expanded, and finally came to Staking/Restaking. Ordinal became popular on the asset side first, and then various XX20s, but now the returns are relatively low. Solv and DLC.Link provide interest and liquidity, Babylon and Lorenzo are benchmarked against EigenLayer, and the asset entry is very important. Solv has returns on both Cefi and Defi, Lombard has an advantage, and Lorenzo integrates Pendle's principal and interest separation function. The LST project provides dual incentives of YAT and points, and Binance has also invested in multiple projects. Interest generation/liquidity release is an important direction and deserves attention.
The moment TON proves its independence, how deeply is its value related to its original designer Pavel Durov?
After Pavel Durov was arrested, TONcoin plummeted 18%, attracting the attention of investors and analysts. Investors believe that Durov has a great influence on TON, but members of the TON Foundation said that Durov's arrest may attract new traders, but in the long run, TON's success depends on whether the community can establish an independent narrative and prove that the network does not rely on individuals. Investors will pay close attention to whether TON can get rid of Durov's shadow.
8 questions and answers about Sony’s Ethereum Layer 2 network Soneium
Sony Japan plans to launch the Ethereum Layer 2 network Soneium, using the Optimism technology stack to build a scalable blockchain to support global users. Soneium, in cooperation with Astar Network, will launch a testnet in the next few days, where developers and creators can experience the development environment. Soneium will use ETH as the Gas fee for the L2 network, and the ASTR token plays an important role in the ecosystem. There is an opportunity to participate in the project early, you can follow the official channels or join the official Discord community to obtain OG status. There is no plan to issue coins yet.
A16 has led the A+B rounds with a total investment of US$140 million. Why is a16 optimistic about Story Protocol?
Story Protocol, a first-layer blockchain designed to tokenize intellectual property, has raised $80 million in a Series B round led by a16z crypto. It will launch mainnet later this year, using blockchain technology to ensure that original content creators are rewarded in the era of artificial intelligence. The platform has also made a lot of improvements and optimizations for IP, and the founder of Polychain Capital said that its impact on content and IP is as important as Bitcoin's impact on currency and finance, and a decentralized intellectual property system is needed to protect ownership.
Interpreting Berachain: Redefining L1
Bera is a new cryptocurrency that uses a novel POL consensus mechanism to solve the blockchain trilemma. BGT is a governance token that users can earn rewards by delegating to validators while also increasing their governance participation. Validators play a key role in the ecosystem, and the POL model ensures alignment of interests for all network participants. The Berachain ecosystem operates collectively to form a more comprehensive ecosystem flywheel. POL consensus solves the challenges faced by liquidity providers and provides multiple reward streams for applications. POL is the first protocol layer's scalable incentive system designed to ensure the long-term success and longevity of the network.
Last week's Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF data review
Last week, Bitcoin spot ETF holdings increased by $506.4 million, and Ethereum spot ETF had a net outflow of $171 million
