Bitpush editor selects Web3 news for you every day:
[ The Federal Reserve keeps interest rates unchanged, saying that inflation progress has stagnated]
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve kept the benchmark federal funds rate range unchanged at 5.25-5.50% on Wednesday, in line with market expectations.
Also in line with expectations, the FOMC acknowledged that progress in reducing inflation this year has stalled and said it would not cut interest rates until it had more confidence that inflation was "sustainably" close to 2%.
In addition, the FOMC announced that it would slow the pace of reduction in Treasury securities held on its balance sheet, known as quantitative tightening (QT), from $60 billion per month to $25 billion per month.
[ VanEck : Currently, various ETFs, countries, public and private companies hold about $175 billion worth of Bitcoin]
VanEck said in a new report that various ETFs, countries and companies currently hold a total of about $175 billion worth of Bitcoin, which is about 15% of the total supply of Bitcoin. VanEck said in the report: "Institutional investors' interest in Bitcoin has also increased. Hedge funds, asset management companies and endowment funds are increasingly recognizing Bitcoin's potential as a means of storing value."
The VanEck report details why Bitcoin is a solid investment, stating: “Merchants and businesses are now more willing than ever to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment, and infrastructure is being built to make it more convenient for ordinary people to use Bitcoin.”
[Source: U.S. federal authorities are reviewing Jack Dorsey 's company Block 's non-compliant encryption business]
Two people familiar with the matter told NBC News on Wednesday that Jack Dorsey's company Block is facing federal scrutiny for its non-compliant crypto business. The investigation includes Square and Cash App divisions, and it is reported that its business may be suspected of processing crypto transactions related to sanctioned countries and terrorist organizations.
Most of the transactions discussed with prosecutors, including credit card transactions, U.S. dollar transfers and bitcoin, were not reported to the government as required, and Block did not correct its processes when it was alerted to the violations, the people said.
Block said in a statement that its internal legal team, external counsel and consultants are "advising on the issue and appropriate remedial actions," adding that the company already conducts regular sanctions screening for all its merchants.
[ Tether : Net profit in the first quarter of 2024 exceeded US$4.5 billion, a record high]
Tether Holdings Limited (BVI) has published an attestation report for the first quarter of 2024 issued by independent accounting firm BDO. The company reported a record net profit of $4.52 billion in the first quarter of 2024. The main contributing entities are those responsible for issuing stablecoins and managing their respective reserves, with about $1 billion in profit coming from net profit, mainly from holdings of U.S. Treasuries. The remainder of the reported profit consists of gains on the mark-to-market of Bitcoin and gold positions.
The proof highlights the company’s direct and indirect ownership of U.S. Treasuries, which is now said to be worth more than $90 billion. Tether also revealed for the first time that its total net assets as of March 31 this year were $11.37 billion. “This reflects a significant increase from the $7.01 billion of equity recorded on December 31, 2023,” Tether’s statement added.
[Standard Chartered Bank says Bitcoin could fall further to $50,000]
Investment bank Standard Chartered said in emailed comments on Wednesday that Bitcoin's fall below the $60,000 technical level has opened the way for another drop to the $50,000 to $52,000 range. The bank noted that U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have now seen outflows for five consecutive days, and BTC is currently trading below the average ETF purchase price of about $58,000.
“This means that more than half of all cash ETF positions are distressed, so liquidation risk for some of these positions must also be considered,” analyst Geoff Kendrick wrote.
The bank recommends buying Bitcoin if it reaches the $50,000 to $52,000 range, or if the U.S. Consumer Price Index (a measure of inflation) becomes “friendly.”
[ Solana Ecosystem DEX Derivatives Platform Drift Opens Airdrop Inquiry, 12% of the Total Amount is Used for Airdrop]
Solana Ecosystem DEX derivatives platform Drift has launched an airdrop query portal, with a total of 1 billion tokens, 12% of which are used for airdrops. 64% of the total airdrops are allocated to users who used the V2 version before January 22 this year, 30% to participants who participated in the trading points activity on April 18, 5.5% to early V1 users, and the remaining 0.5% to Keepers with a total transaction volume of more than $1,000.
Author: BitpushNews Mary Liu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitpushNews
BitPush TG Exchange Group: https://t.me/BitPushCommunity
Bitpush TG subscription: https://t.me/bitpush
Btok subscription: https://btok360.com/bitpush
