Rhythm Morning News｜A summary of important news from last night and this morning on August 9

Placeholder Partner: Central banks around the world are about to relax policies, and crypto assets are ushering in an early bull market layout

BlockBeats news, on August 9, Chris Burniske, former head of Ark Invest encryption and current Placeholder VC partner, said on social media, "While sentiment is reset and leverage is cleansed, the lows of most high-quality crypto assets are significantly higher than the levels in 2023. At the same time, central banks around the world are about to be forced to relax policies. Although there may be some fluctuations in the third quarter, this is a good early bull market layout anyway."

JPMorgan Asset Management: It is expected that the Bank of Japan will avoid raising interest rates again in the short term

BlockBeats news, August 9 On the 2nd, Morgan Asset Management said that the Bank of Japan will avoid raising interest rates again in the short term, and further tightening of policy may depend on the direction of the US economy. "The Bank of Japan actually has a path to act again, but that is a path where the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates and tries to stabilize the US economy," said Seamus Mac Gorain, the company's global head of interest rates. "Of course, if the United States falls into a recession, the road is blocked."

Mac Gorain believes that further tightening of monetary policy may not be until 2025. He said in an interview that the Bank of Japan may make a series of rate hikes, but it depends on having a fairly benign global background. "Obviously, the Bank of Japan will not act until the market stabilizes," Mac Gorain said. "It certainly also depends on whether the U.S. and global economies can avoid recession." (Jinshi)

Wall Street expects the Fed to end its balance sheet reduction this year, but the possibility of an emergency brake is not high

BlockBeats news, on August 9, the Fed's end of balance sheet reduction is in sight, but the actual closing date depends on the pace of interest rate cuts and financing market pressures. Policymakers hinted that they would complete the reduction of U.S. debt holdings by the end of the year, and many on Wall Street believed that quantitative tightening was unlikely to end suddenly. But recent weak economic data and liquidity pressure risks have cast uncertainty on the outlook. "If the Fed intends to stimulate the economy, it may stop shrinking its balance sheet," Bank of America strategists Mark Cabana and Katie Craig wrote in a report to clients on Wednesday. "If the Fed's goal is to normalize monetary policy, then the balance sheet reduction can continue."

Growing signs that economic growth is slowing faster than expected a few weeks ago triggered a sharp rise in global bonds on Monday, as traders bet that the Federal Reserve and other central banks will become more aggressive in cutting interest rates. Morgan Stanley analysts wrote, "Two possible drivers may cause the Fed to end its balance sheet reduction early, one is the exhaustion of money market liquidity, and the other is a US recession. But we think neither is likely to happen." (Jinshi)

Bloomberg analyst: Bitcoin ETF options may be launched in the fourth quarter of this year

BlockBeats news, on August 9, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart posted on social media that he believes Bitcoin ETF options will be launched in the fourth quarter of this year. The deadline for the SEC's decision is about September 21, but after that, it is still necessary to wait for further steps from the OCC and CFTC.

CBOE just withdrew its application for spot Bitcoin ETF options. At first glance, this seems like a bad thing. But at the same time, they just resubmitted a brand new and updated application.

TASS: Putin signs decree to legalize cryptocurrency mining in Russia

BlockBeats news, August 8, according to TASS: Russian President Putin signed a law legalizing cryptocurrency mining in Russia.

Binance: As of the end of July, the security team has recovered or frozen $73 million in stolen funds

BlockBeats news, on August 8, according to Binance official disclosure data, as of July 31, 2024, the Binance security team has recovered or frozen more than $73 million in user funds stolen from outside this year, exceeding the $55 million recovered or frozen in 2023.

Through active efforts and cooperation with industry participants and the public sector, Binance has successfully helped users recover their lost digital assets, of which about 80% of the recoveries were related to external hacker attacks, vulnerability exploits and thefts.

Franklin Templeton's blockchain fund has been launched on the Arbitrum network

BlockBeats reported that on August 9, as the RWA tokenized fund attracted the attention of investors, the global asset management company Franklin Templeton's blockchain-based money market fund has been launched within the Arbitrum ecosystem.

Trump's second son: Beware of fake tokens, the official Trump project has not yet been announced

BlockBeats news, on August 9, Eric Trump, the second son of former US President Donald Trump and current executive vice president of the Trump Organization, posted on social media, "Be careful of fake tokens, the only official Trump project has not yet been announced, and the news will be announced on Twitter as soon as possible."

BlockBeats previously reported that on August 7, Eric Trump, the second son of former US President Donald Trump and current executive vice president of the Trump Organization, posted on social media, "I really fell in love with cryptocurrency/DeFi (decentralized finance). Stay tuned for major announcements."

ENS domain name is now available on Linea

BlockBeats news, on August 9, according to official news, ENS domain name is now available on Linea.

Sushi Labs will build native DEX Saru on ApeChain

BlockBeats news, on August 9, ApeCoin announced on the X platform that Sushi Labs will build native DEX Saru on ApeChain. It is reported that Saru means "ape" in Japanese, reflecting the commitment to the broader APE ecosystem.

Celestia is about to upgrade to Lemongrass, involving multiple consensus layer changes

BlockBeats reported that on August 9, Celestia will be upgrading to Lemongrass, which includes multiple consensus layer changes, such as inter-chain accounts, packet forwarding middleware, and CIP-10 (a mechanism to simplify future upgrades). According to the plan, Celestia will activate Lemongrass on Arabica Devnet in August. Mocha Testnet will also be upgraded in August. The Celestia mainnet beta is scheduled to release the Lemongrass version in early to mid-September. The main changes in this upgrade include:

CIP-6 implements the minimum gas price to reduce network junk transactions;

CIP-9 introduces packet forwarding middleware to improve the efficiency of IBC cross-chain transfers;

CIP-10 establishes a new network upgrade signal mechanism to simplify and accelerate future upgrades;

CIP-14 introduces cross-chain account functions to enhance interoperability with the Cosmos ecosystem;

CIP-20 abandons the Blobstream module, simplifies the network architecture and improves performance.

Zeus Network launches APOLLO testnet activity, may launch its token in the future

BlockBeats news, on August 8, Solana ecological cross-chain communication network Zeus Network launched APOLLO incentive testnet activity.

A public beta event has been launched on Galxe, which is the last testnet stage before the mainnet launch in the third quarter of 2024. The public test event "Prophecy of Light" on Galxe marks the upcoming launch of zBTC, which is pegged to Bitcoin 1:1, on Solana. According to official documents, joining the APOLLO final test event and accumulating Galxe loyalty points will receive future rewards.

It is reported that APOLLO is the first Bitcoin DeFi liquidity platform developed by Zeus Network and deployed on the Solana chain. In addition, Zeus Network officials stated that APOLLO may launch its token in the future.

Coinbase-supported Vega network launches prediction market

BlockBeats news, on August 8, Coindesk reported that the Vega network supported by Coinbase Ventures entered the prediction market track through a major upgrade. The update of the Vega blockchain and decentralized perpetual trading platform will allow users to bet on the results of future events.

Vega uses the Cosmos network infrastructure and is one of the crypto platforms focusing on perpetual futures. Vega's new features expand its DEX application into a prediction market, providing an open framework. Users can trade assets normally, and some of them will be used as prediction bets.

Lavarage co-founder Fire analyzes Tephra points system and hints at launching tokens

BlockBeats news, on August 8, Lavarage co-founder Fire, a Meme coin leverage platform on Solana chain, introduced the operating mechanism of its points system "Tephra" in a tweet: The Tephra points system aims to reflect the contribution of users to the platform by rewarding their economic activities (such as paying transaction fees and increasing the total locked value TVL), thereby promoting the consistency and common growth of the interests of the platform and users. Unlike other airdrops, Lavarage's points system creates long-term substantive value for the platform.

Fire said that the platform will gradually launch 8 to 10 two-week "tasks" for users to obtain Tephra points (so we can deduce that the token may be launched in the fourth quarter). The mission is to balance the distribution of points among traders, liquidity providers and partners through interaction, aiming to establish the fairest and most optimal reciprocal structure before the launch of the token and maximize its long-term value.

The platform will recently clarify doubts to users through AMA, aiming to strengthen the agreement and trust between the platform and users. Fire said it looks forward to creating value with community members and achieving breakthroughs in the DeFi field together.

Stablecoin protocol Usual has been launched on Pendle

BlockBeats news, on August 8, the stablecoin protocol Usual announced that it is now online on Pendle, becoming the second stablecoin on the protocol. On Pendle, users can earn extra Usual Pills, and as long as they stay in Pendle or other Usual products, they can enjoy Boost Catchup. USD0++ YT: Earn 3 Usual Pills/day for every YT; Earn 3 Usual Pills/day for every 1 USD0++ provided in LP; PT will not award any Usual Pills, but stay in Pendle or other common products to still benefit from Boost Catchup and the final Boost multiplier.

Amazon faces UK merger investigation over $4 billion Anthrotic AI investment

BlockBeats news, on August 9, according to Cointelegraph, Amazon and artificial intelligence research company Anthropic are under de facto merger investigation in the UK. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a formal notice on August 8, announcing the launch of an investigation into Amazon's $4 billion investment in Anthropic and its exclusive agreement. The core issue of the investigation is whether Amazon's minority stake and the exclusivity of the two companies constitute an anti-competitive partnership. The current first phase of the investigation will officially begin on August 9. The CMA said it will announce on October 4 whether it intends to conduct a more in-depth "second phase" investigation.

BlockBeats previously reported that on March 28, Amazon (AMZN.O) will spend another $2.75 billion to support artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, whose Foundation model and chatbot Claude can compete with OpenAI and ChatGPT. The two companies announced an initial investment of $1.25 billion in September 23, and said at the time that Amazon would invest up to $4 billion. Anthropic previously launched its latest artificial intelligence model, Claude 3, which the company said was the fastest and most powerful artificial intelligence model to date.