Jinse Weekly is a weekly blockchain industry summary column launched by Jinse Finance, covering key news of the week, mining information, project dynamics, technological progress and other industry dynamics. This article is the news weekly, taking you through the major events in the blockchain industry this week.
Headline
▌Musk has spent at least $132 million on Trump and his Republican allies
Federal filings show that Elon Musk has provided another $56 million to Donald Trump and other Republicans in the final weeks of the 2024 election, bringing the world's richest man's total spending to boost his allies to the White House and Congress to at least $132 million. (Jinshi)
▌Ripple co-founder has cumulatively donated over $11.8 million to the Harris campaign team
The latest election data shows that with two weeks to go until the US election, Ripple co-founder and chairman Chris Larsen donated nearly $9.9 million to the Future Forward in September, and also donated more than $800,000 to the Harris Victory Fund. Including Larsen's $1 million worth of XRP tokens donated in August, he has donated over $11.8 million to the PACs supporting the Harris campaign, making him one of the largest individual donors in the crypto industry this round.
▌Buffett: I will not endorse any US political candidate
Warren Buffett, just two weeks away from Americans going to the polls to elect the next president, said he will not support any political candidates. The 94-year-old billionaire posted a statement on the Berkshire Hathaway website, hoping to put an end to the proliferation of fraudulent claims on social media about Buffett endorsing investment products and political candidates. "Given the increasing use of social media, there have been endless fraudulent claims about Mr. Buffett endorsing investment products and endorsing political candidates," the statement read, "Mr. Buffett will not prospectively endorse any investment products, nor will he endorse or support any political candidates." Buffett has supported Democratic candidates in the past, endorsing Hillary Clinton against Trump in the 2016 election.
▌Mark Cuban: Harris refused to meet privately with Elon Musk
American billionaire businessman Mark Cuban said he had tried to arrange a private meeting between Elon Musk and U.S. Vice President Harris, but Harris's team refused. Cuban said the meeting did not happen because "they felt Musk couldn't keep the conversation private." "What he says about Harris is so outrageous, I think it would be good for them to talk," Cuban said of Musk. Cuban said that if Harris wins the election, he will still try to arrange a dialogue between her and Musk, who he calls "one of the best entrepreneurs." Cuban added that this is "not for political purposes, but for common sense."
▌Poll: Trump and Harris tied in support
CNN's final poll shows that former President Trump and U.S. Vice President Harris are tied in support at 47% each.
Policy
▌The UK Crown Prosecution Service informs 60,000 Bitcoin victims in the Qian Zhimin case: Contact between countries will only be made after the progress of the proceedings under the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act
In the UK 60,000 Bitcoin money laundering case and the Tianjin Lantian Gere 43 billion yuan illegal fundraising case, the main culprit Qian Zhimin (alias Zhang Yadi) has pleaded not guilty to all money laundering charges in the London Southwark Criminal Court. Investors have revealed that on the day of the trial, they also sent representatives and entrusted a cross-border asset dispute law firm to attend the hearing. The entrusted lawyer has already helped the creditors submit a civil recovery application to the UK High Court. In this regard, the UK Crown Prosecution Service issued a notice on October 22 specifically informing the Chinese victims: The agency has initiated civil recovery proceedings on the assets frozen from Qian Zhimin and others earlier this year, and will only make contact between countries after the proceedings have progressed to the provisions of Section 281 of the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act. The Crown Prosecution Service filed a civil recovery lawsuit in the High Court earlier this year, and if no other individuals or entities claim rights to the criminal assets, half will go to the UK police and the other half to the UK Home Office, with the aim of facilitating the handling of criminal proceeds and preventing further crime.
▌The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passes a bipartisan bill to provide regulatory clarity for digital assets
According to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett's post on the X platform, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan bill to provide regulatory clarity for digital assets, in the context of increasing federal uncertainty over cryptocurrency regulation. The bill was passed by a majority of 176 to 26 votes, including 76 Democrats and all 100 Republicans.
▌The Netherlands seeks public opinion on a proposed crypto tax monitoring law to align with the EU
The Dutch government has sought public opinion on a proposed law that would require crypto service providers (such as exchanges) to collect and share user data with local tax authorities, in line with EU regulations. The Dutch Ministry of Finance said in an October 24 press release that "the purpose of this bill is to increase the transparency of crypto asset ownership to prevent tax evasion and avoidance." Under the new law, tax authorities will share data collected by service providers on residents of other EU countries, as required by the EU-wide crypto tax reporting rules (DAC8) passed last year.
▌The U.S. Treasury Department is considering sanctions against Tether
The U.S. Treasury Department is considering imposing sanctions on the stablecoin issuer Tether. According to sources familiar with the matter, the federal government is investigating whether the cryptocurrency company Tether may have violated sanctions and anti-money laundering regulations. The criminal investigation is being led by prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan, focusing on whether USDT has been used by third parties to fund illegal activities such as drug trafficking, terrorism, and hacking, or to launder related proceeds. At the same time, the U.S. Treasury Department is considering sanctioning Tether, as USDT has been widely used by individuals and entities under U.S. sanctions, including the terrorist organization Hamas and Russian arms dealers. Sanctioning Tether would prohibit U.S. persons and sanctioned entities from doing business with it.
▌Russia's new crypto regulations to take effect on November 1, strengthening mining and trading oversight
Russia will implement new laws on November 1 to further tighten regulation of cryptocurrencies. The law allows the government to restrict cryptocurrency mining based on regional needs, and grants multiple federal agencies the authority to monitor transactions to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. In addition, the management of miner registration will be transferred to the Federal Tax Service, with companies and individual entrepreneurs required to comply with new registration requirements, while individual miners can continue to mine without registration as long as they comply with electricity consumption limits. Russia is advancing crypto regulation and developing a state-backed digital ruble, having already legalized crypto mining and allowed the use of cryptocurrencies in international trade, aiming to circumvent sanctions and reduce reliance on the US dollar.
Blockchain Applications
▌Celestia announces the launch of the Ginger upgrade
Modular blockchain Celestia has announced the launch of the Ginger upgrade. The official said that the upgrade will double the data availability throughput by halving the block time. The upgrade includes increasing the block size to 8 MB, introducing a verified signer blob type, versioning the Gas scheduler and timeouts, transaction size limits, and PFB block limits. Ginger will be activated at Arabica height 2348907 (estimated to be November 5, 2024) and is expected to launch on the Mocha testnet in November and the mainnet test version in December.
▌ETHGlobal releases the list of finalists for the San Francisco 2024 competition
ETHGlobal has selected 10 projects from 223 projects to advance to the final round of the latest San Francisco 2024 competition, including: PumpRoyale: Allows users to participate in the global USDC fitness challenge, complete activities, and win rewards from the loser pool, combining fitness with potential income. VVLDrizzy: Allows creators to earn income while creating, watermarking, and licensing viral videos. Media organizations can easily license verified content. IP Infinity: Transforms NFTs into game objects with statistics and integrates them into procedurally generated worlds using Unreal Engine and AI-driven classification. OmiSwap: Enables voice-activated blockchain transactions using AI-powered wearables, supports cross-chain transfers and gas-free USDC sending for seamless crypto interactions. HelloACAI: Achieves on-chain collaborative AI, using smart contracts to constrain specialized agents to work together for efficient task execution and interaction. DAOsaster: A decentralized disaster response system that uses AI agents, drones, and blockchain for autonomous detection and coordination, without relying on traditional infrastructure. Chain Waves: Allows users to watermark and encrypt audio files on the blockchain, ensuring ownership proof, royalty tracking, and automatic dispute resolution for creators. BuildBlocks: Created a drag-and-drop smart contract component that allows anyone to develop, compile, and deploy audited contracts on Rootstock, making Web3 development simple and secure. UniV4Backtester: An institutional-grade UniV4 backtesting tool that faithfully reproduces UniV3 events (Swap, Mint, Burn) and examines the performance of hypothetical positions within a time window.
▌Mu Changchun, Director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China: Systematically Enhancing Monetary Bridge Technology from Three Aspects
Mu Changchun, Director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, stated at the Sibos 2024 conference session "Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridges: Connecting Central Bank Digital Currencies to the Global Economy" held on October 23 that the Digital Currency Research Institute will systematically enhance monetary bridge technology in three aspects: First, the privacy protection mechanism. In the future, privacy protection technology based on zero-knowledge proof will be developed, with plans to launch it in 2025. The design of zero-knowledge proof can prove the compliance of the transaction parties and the sufficiency of the funds without disclosing details such as account balances and transaction timestamps. Second, the system development and operation and maintenance system. The monetary bridge system is deployed in a decentralized manner, with each party independently maintaining operations. Third, the openness and transparency of the monetary bridge platform. To strengthen trust among participants, the source code of the current monetary bridge is fully transparent to all participating central banks. In the next step, the Digital Currency Research Institute plans to promote joint development, code delivery, code review, and continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment through the development and operation and maintenance system. At the same time, the Digital Currency Research Institute will cooperate with the Bank for International Settlements to hire service providers to conduct third-party code review and open-source evaluation to achieve full open-source.
▌Kraken Plans to Launch Its Native Blockchain Network Next Year
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken plans to launch its native blockchain network next year.
▌Offchain Labs, the Developer of Arbitrum, Launches "Fast Withdrawal" Feature, Reducing Withdrawal Time from 7 Days to 15 Minutes
Offchain Labs, the original developer of Arbitrum, announced the launch of a new "Fast Withdrawal" feature, allowing selected Orbit chains and RaaS providers to achieve withdrawal finality within 15 minutes, compared to the usual waiting time of up to 7 days. The team stated: "With the implementation of fast withdrawals, the withdrawal time has been reduced by over 90%, making the withdrawal process very similar to withdrawing from a traditional bank account. While not exactly the same, it is a substantial improvement over the traditional blockchain standard, bringing it closer to the traditional TradFi fund transfer experience."
Cryptocurrencies
▌Russia Attempts to Use Bitcoin for Transactions Within the BRICS Countries to Effectively Bypass Western Sanctions
On October 23, as the BRICS summit opened in Kazan, Russia, the issue of cryptocurrencies was put on the agenda. Russian lawmakers are pushing the idea that Russian miners can sell their tokens to international buyers, and domestic buyers can use Bit markets and other crypto markets to pay for imported goods, effectively bypassing Western sanctions. American economist and emeritus professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Richard Wolf, commented on this situation, stating that the BRICS alliance is surpassing the already peaked United States. The United States is on a downward trajectory and trying to maintain its international dominance.
▌Bitwise CEO: Banks Will Soon Become Major Allies in the Cryptocurrency Sector
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley predicts that banks will soon become major allies in the cryptocurrency sector, unlocking a $30 trillion market by making it easier for mainstream investors to access crypto assets. Meanwhile, Bitwise Chief Information Officer Matt Hougan is optimistic about Bitcoin's upside, noting that recent ETF inflows and potential regulatory clarity could trigger a rapid price surge.
▌JPMorgan: Tokenized Sovereign Debt Will Challenge Stablecoins but Not Completely Replace Them
JPMorgan analysts stated that the tokenized sovereign debt market is growing, with tokenized US Treasuries being favored as a yield alternative to stablecoins and potentially challenging the dominance of stablecoins. However, the analysts pointed out that regulatory constraints and liquidity issues suggest that tokenized sovereign debt may only partially replace stablecoins. The analysts noted that Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC), as major stablecoin issuers, do not share reserve earnings with users, a practice that not only reduces their revenue but also classifies stablecoins as securities. The analysts stated that this classification would subject them to stricter regulatory oversight, potentially limiting their use as collateral assets in the cryptocurrency market.
▌Japan Maintains a Cautious Stance on Cryptocurrency ETFs
In contrast to the United States, Hong Kong, and other markets that have approved spot cryptocurrency ETFs, Japan's regulatory authorities have taken a conservative and distinct approach. At the policy level, Japan remains hesitant to remove tax and regulatory barriers to facilitate widespread cryptocurrency adoption, with tax and regulatory restrictions still being the main obstacles. Spot cryptocurrency ETFs would also enjoy tax benefits such as loss carryforwards. However, according to Keisuke Kimura, Vice President of the Japan Crypto-Asset Business Association and former SMBC Nikko Securities financial advisor, many changes are still needed to get the regulatory authorities to take action and introduce these potential tax benefits.
▌Alliance Releases 2024 Cryptocurrency Startup Trends Report: Ethereum Remains the Primary Ecosystem for Building Blockchains
Alliance has released the 2024 Cryptocurrency Startup Trends Report, which provides insights into trends observed from their application data and their potential impact on the broader startup ecosystem. Key points: 1. Ethereum remains the primary ecosystem for startups to build blockchains, with Solana and Bitcoin experiencing rapid growth in the past 1.5 years. 2. Rising product vertical popularity: Infrastructure, DeFi, Payments, AI x Crypto; Declining product vertical popularity: DAO and Non-Fungible Tokens. 3. Europe (31%), the US and Canada (29%), and Asia (27%) are the three main regions where startups are building today, with the percentage of startups from the US and Canada steadily declining over the past few cohorts, while Asia and Africa have been growing. 4. Trending buzzwords in the past 12 months include Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), Chain Abstraction, Memes, SocialFi, Prediction Markets, Liquidity Staking, Re-Staking, Real-World Assets, Stablecoins, L1, L2, and L3. 5. Currently, 30% of founders applying to our accelerator have experience from large tech companies (S&P500), and 12% are from top-tier universities (QS Top 100). 6. 39% of startups have solo founders, and in multi-founder startups, the equity split is equal 50% of the time. 72% of startups are fully remote.
Important Economic Dynamics
▌Fed's Schmieder: Personally Inclined to Avoid Steep Rate Cuts
Fed's Schmieder said that interest rates may be significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels; called for a cautious, gradual and prudent rate cut strategy; is personally inclined to avoid steep rate cuts; "reasonably believes" that inflation will fall to 2%; sees the labor market normalizing rather than deteriorating.
▌Fed's Daly: No Reason Yet to Stop Cutting Rates
Fed's Daly said the Fed will continue to adjust policy to fit the economic situation; expects further rate cuts in the future; sees no reason yet to stop cutting rates; monetary policy is still quite tight; does not want to see further deterioration in the labor market; the Fed's recent rate cuts were passed by a narrow margin, and I strongly supported a 50 basis point cut at the time.
▌QCP Capital: US Election and Rate Cut Expectations Benefit Crypto Market, Focus on Next Friday's Nonfarm Data
Singapore crypto investment firm QCP Capital said that with only 2 weeks left until the US election, the current focus is on it. In the prediction market, Trump has begun to widen his lead over Harris, and current polls in key swing states are leaning towards the Republicans. The market is currently pricing in the possibility of Trump being elected president. Discussions about tariffs and tax cuts have led to a stronger US dollar and higher US Treasury yields. Given Trump's more crypto-friendly stance, the rise in Bitcoin's trading price is not surprising. The S&P 500 index continues to hit new highs, and the US 2-year Treasury yield has again exceeded 4%. Driven by the unprecedented open interest on exchanges, Bitcoin has advanced to $69,000. The market currently expects 1.5 rate cuts by 2024. The stronger-than-expected labor market and the increased likelihood of Trump being elected president have reignited hopes that US economic growth will remain robust. Due to the continued uncertainty in the labor market, all eyes are on the nonfarm payrolls (NFP) report to be released next Friday. As the last NFP report before the next Fed meeting, it will play a crucial role in shaping market expectations for the Fed's next rate action. Ahead of the employment data release and the election, Bitcoin and Ethereum remain well-supported and have upside potential.
▌Financial Times: If Harris Wins, the Fed May Cut Rates Quickly Next Year
The Financial Times team recently updated their forecast for the Fed's interest rate outlook, predicting that if Harris wins, the Fed may cut rates quickly next year. The analysis suggests that after a 50 basis point cut in September, the Fed may cut rates twice more by 25 basis points in 2024. The Fed will cut rates by a total of 100 basis points by the end of this year, bringing the fed funds rate to 4.25-4.5%. This is consistent with the Fed's September economic projections summary. If Harris wins the US presidential election, the Fed will cut rates 3 more times by 25 basis points each in the first half of 2025, bringing the policy rate to 3.5-3.75%. (Gold Ten)
▌The Probability of a 25BP Rate Cut by the Fed in November is 96.3%
According to the CME "Fed Watch", the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut by the Fed in November is 96.3%, and the probability of keeping the current rate unchanged is 3.7%. The probability of keeping the current rate unchanged in December is 1%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 28.5%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 70.5%.
Disclaimer: Jinse Finance, as a blockchain information platform, publishes articles solely for informational reference and not as actual investment advice. Please everyone establish the correct investment concept and be sure to increase risk awareness.
