Australia-based Monochrome Asset Management announced that its spot BTC exchange-traded fund (IBTC) will be available for trading starting tomorrow, listed on the Cboe Australia exchange. This product is the first and only ETF in Australia that directly holds bitcoin; other similar products only hold bitcoin indirectly and are not subject to investor protection rules under the Australian Financial Services Licensing (AFSL) regime.

Crypto broker OKX has announced the official launch of its trading platform and web3 wallet service in the Netherlands. The platform allows Dutch customers to trade nearly 150 crypto assets. As a promotional offer, Dutch customers can deposit euros into their accounts for free, and the broker offers at least 60 trading pairs that can be traded with EUR.

The eurozone manufacturing sector's prolonged slump may have turned a corner last month, according to a survey that showed new orders fell at the slowest pace in two years, leading to an improvement in business confidence. The HCOB's latest euro-area manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, rose to 47.3 points in May from 45.7 points in April, rising below the 50 level that indicates a 23rd monthly increase in activity.

NewsQUICK OVERVIEW FTX Digital Markets co-CEO sentenced to 7.5 years in prison PayPal launches PYUSD on Solana Circle, issuer of USDC, partners with Latin America's largest investment bank Fetch.ai, SingularityNET, and Ocean Protocol to merge on June 13 Mastercard introduces new P2P crypto payment option Babylon Bitcoin staking protocol raises $70 million Tether invests $100 million in mining company Bitdeer Japanese crypto broker DMM Bitcoin hacked, loss exceeds $300 million 11 companies in Hong Kong receive virtual asset management licenses US LegislationThe US Treasury's new risk assessment on illegal financing deemed NFTs highly vulnerable to fraud and scams and greatly exposed to theft. NFT platforms lack proper controls to combat money laundering and sanctions evasion, prompting the proposal of additional regulations. President Joe Biden vetoed a bill that would have repealed SEC Accounting Bulletin 121, which pertains to the custody of crypto transactions by companies.Financial Institutions and Crypto BrokersMoonPay announced the launch of its Web3 Tools platform to help brands provide a smoother web3 experience for consumers. This platform enables companies to build web3 communities, foster loyalty, and unlock new revenue streams. PayPal has launched its Paxos-issued stablecoin, PayPal USD, on the Solana blockchain. Users of Solana, now the third most widespread blockchain in the world, can use PYUSD for cross-border transactions in addition to Ethereum.Circle, the issuer of USDC, announced partnerships with Latin America's largest investment bank BTG Pactual and neobank Nubank to expand access and use of its USDC stablecoin in Brazil. Mastercard announced the launch of its first Mastercard Crypto Credential P2P pilot transaction, allowing crypto brokerage users to send and receive crypto assets through the service. The pilot phase includes users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru,...

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced that a total of 11 platforms—HKbitEX, PantherTrade, Accumulus, DFX Labs, Bixincom, xWhale, YAX, Bullish, Cryptocom, WhaleFin, and Matrixport HK—have officially applied for virtual asset management licenses. Among the major and well-known crypto brokers, only Cryptocom received a license, while the others withdrew. The reason for these withdrawals was revealed to be a requirement that restricted Chinese users in any region of the world, which most offshore brokers were unwilling to comply with.

The decentralized financial exchange Velocore on zkSync and Linea has confirmed that it fell victim to a hacking attack. The systems were breached, and a significant portion of their liquidity, amounting to approximately $10 million, was stolen. The hackers transferred part of the ETH through the chains to the Ethereum mainnet. In a statement, Velocore said they are already working with security teams and centralized exchanges (CEXs) to potentially freeze the stolen assets.

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest has amended its S-1 filing, revealing that ARK Invest will no longer partner with 21Shares on the proposed spot Ethereum ETF. Previously named the Ark 21Shares Ethereum ETF, the fund is now rebranded as the 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF. A spokesperson confirmed the news and added that 21Shares and ARK will continue collaborating on the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF launched in January and other existing futures products.

U.S. President Joe Biden vetoed a bill that aimed to repeal the SEC's SAB 121 accounting standard, which pertains to the custody of crypto transactions by companies. "By virtue of invoking the Congressional Review Act, this Republican-led resolution would inappropriately constrain the SEC's ability to set forth appropriate guardrails and address future issues" stated the President.

Following Binance, OKX, Gate.io, and HTX, Bybit has also withdrawn its application for a virtual asset trading platform license submitted to the Hong Kong SFC. The reasons for this decision are currently unknown.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has started serving his 4-month sentence at the low-security federal prison in Lompoc, California. Zhao was sentenced in April after pleading guilty to charges of aiding money laundering on his crypto trading platform.

Japanese crypto broker DMM Bitcoin suffered a hacker attack, resulting in the theft of approximately 4,502.9 BTC, valued at 48 billion yen (305 million dollars). The company immediately halted withdrawals and assured users that affected customers would be compensated and damages covered with the support of the group's companies.

Bitcoin miner Bitdeer has entered into a subscription agreement with stablecoin issuer Tether for the private placement of 18,587,360 Class A common shares, generating nearly $100 million in revenue for the company. As part of the agreement, there is also an option to purchase an additional 5 million shares at $10 per share, which would bring in an additional $50 million if fully exercised. Bitdeer plans to use the proceeds to expand its data center and develop ASIC-based mining equipment.

China's manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.5 in May from 50.4 in April, hitting a three-month low. This data was disappointing, especially in light of recent strong industrial activity indicators, and significantly below market and expert expectations that had forecast growth. The main reasons for the decline were a fall in new orders (49.6) and new export orders (48.3), which after two months of expansion turned into contraction again.

Eurostat flash estimates that annual inflation in the euro area is expected to be 2.6% in May 2024, up from 2.4% in April. The highest annual inflation rate is expected in services, which could rise to 4.1% from 3.7% in April. Food, alcohol and tobacco inflation is expected to fall slightly to 2.6% from 2.8% in April. Non-energy industrial goods inflation may fall slightly to 0.8% from 0.9% in April. Energy price inflation, on the other hand, may increase to 0.3% from -0.6% deflation in April.

The American Bitcoin financial and custodial service provider Unchained is partnering with the University of Austin to promote alternative financial strategies and integrate Bitcoin into higher education. Together, they plan to launch a long-term foundation fund aiming to raise $5 million, which will remain invested in BTC for at least five years.

A new digital identity regulation has come into effect in the European Union, requiring member states to provide each citizen with at least one EU digital identity wallet. This digital identity wallet will be used for electronically signing and storing various documents, such as university diplomas and train tickets. According to EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, the wallet will "revolutionize the way European citizens and businesses engage with online services by seamlessly integrating convenience, safety and privacy.” The regulation must be fully implemented by 2026.

US real GDP grew at an annual rate of 1.3% in the first quarter of 2024, according to the second estimate of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, compared with 3.4% growth in the fourth quarter of 2023. The current estimate uses more detailed data than last month's preliminary estimate, which projected growth of 1.6%. The new estimate reflects a downward revision to consumer spending.

Babylon, the Bitcoin staking protocol that builds infrastructure to enable staking rewards for Bitcoin within a proof-of-stake system, has raised $70 million in fresh financing led by Paradigm, with support from Bullish Capital, Polychain Capital, Hashkey Capital, Mantle, Galaxy, and Hack VC. According to the company, this funding will accelerate the process of making Bitcoin the security backbone of PoS systems.

The unicorn crypto trading software provider Talos, backed by Citibank and Andreessen Horowitz, has acquired Skolem to expand its DeFi service offerings for institutional clients. Skolem is Talos's third acquisition within 12 months, and as part of the acquisition, it will be fully integrated into Talos.

Switzerland's sports-adjusted GDP grew by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2024. The services sector grew again and private consumption grew solidly. However, industrial production stagnated. Manufacturing value added (-0.2%) fell slightly in the first quarter and chemicals & pharmaceuticals (-0.9%) continued its weak performance of recent quarters. Value added in other industries remained broadly stable.

Fortunafi, a tokenization platform for real-world assets (RWA), announced that it has raised $9.51 million in its latest, third round of financing. Investors in this round included Shima Capital, Manifold, Jordan Fish (alias Cobie), and Ari Litan from LayerZero Labs. Alongside this funding, the project also introduced its new stablecoin protocol, Reservoir.

The United States Treasury Department, in its new risk assessment on illicit financing, has identified NFTs as highly susceptible to fraud and scams, and significantly exposed to theft. According to the document, NFT platforms lack adequate controls to combat money laundering and sanctions evasion. Therefore, the Treasury recommends additional regulations for the market.

The payment service provider Mastercard has announced the launch of its first Mastercard Crypto Credential P2P pilot transaction, where crypto brokerage users will be able to send and receive crypto assets through the service for the first time. During the pilot phase, users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Uruguay will be able to send cross-border and domestic transfers in multiple currencies and blockchains.

Three web3 protocols focused on artificial intelligence—Fetch.ai, SingularityNET, and Ocean Protocol—have announced the completion of their cryptocurrency merger on June 13. The tokens will be unified under Fetch.ai and will continue under the new name, Artificial Superintelligence Alliance. Starting June 11, users can swap their FET tokens for ASI, and the native tokens of SingularityNET (AGIX) and Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) can be exchanged two days later.

Circle, the issuer of USDC, announced a partnership with several major entities, including Latin America's largest investment bank, BTG Pactual, and the neobank company Nubank. This collaboration aims to expand access to and usage of the USDC stablecoin in Brazil. According to the company's statement, this initiative is seen as an opportunity to enhance USDC accessibility in a market that leads in fintech innovation and adoption.

PayPal is launching its stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), issued by Paxos, on the Solana blockchain. In addition to Ethereum, users of the world's third most widely used blockchain can now utilize PYUSD for cross-border transactions. PayPal aims to provide its users with a digital currency that has stable value, designed for commerce and payments.

The monthly CPI index rose by 3.6% in the 12 months to April. The most significant price increases were in Housing (+4.9%), Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+3.8%), Alcohol & Tobacco (+6.5%) and Transport (+4.2%). The monthly CPI index rose by 3.6% in the 12 months to April, following a 3.5% increase in the 12 months to March. The annual movement in the monthly CPI excluding volatile items and holiday travel was 4.1% in April, unchanged from March.

The GaiaNet artificial intelligence infrastructure project, aimed at decentralizing networks of generative AI tools, has raised $10 million in its seed funding round. Participants included EVM Capital, Mirana Ventures, Mantle EcoFund, and Generative Ventures Lex Sokolin. The funds will support the development of their AI-based chatbot and the distributed network needed for more private and secure AI tools.

Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, has been sentenced to 90 months in prison after pleading guilty last September to illegal political donations and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. In addition to the prison sentence, $6 million was confiscated from him, and he was ordered to pay more than $5 million in restitution.

Anzen Finance, the issuer of the USDz digital dollar, has received $4 million in funding from investors such as Mechanism Capital, Circle Ventures, Frax, Arca, and Infinity Ventures. The fresh capital will be used to expand support for USDz across various blockchains and protocols. USDz is backed by real-world assets (RWA) and can be utilized by other DeFi protocols.

Blockchain payment infrastructure provider MoonPay has announced the launch of its Web3 Tools platform aimed at helping brands offer an enhanced web3 experience for consumers. The platform enables companies to build web3 communities, foster loyalty, and unlock new revenue streams.

Seasonally adjusted retail sales in April 2024 rose by 0.1% month-on-month, while they increased by 1.3% compared to the same period last year. Due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, trend estimates between March 2020 and June 2022 are not available as these trends are unlikely to accurately reflect the evolution of retail activity.

The gaming platform Sandbox has announced the launch of its decentralized autonomous organization, The Sandbox DAO. This initiative allows SAND holders and virtual LAND (NFTs representing plots in the game) owners to vote on projects and propose improvements using Sandbox Improvement Proposals (SIPs). The first voting opportunity begins on May 28.

Solana blockchain validators have approved Solana Improvement Document (SIMD)-0096 with 77% support, which allocates all transaction priority fees to the validators for the blocks they produce, instead of the previous 50%. This change aims to enhance network security and improve incentives within the validation system.

Amazon's computing unit AWS is in talks with Italy to invest billions of euros to expand its data centre business in the country, as part of the tech giant's drive to boost its cloud services in Europe, four people familiar with the matter said. According to the sources, the size and location of the investment are being discussed between the parties, with one of them saying Amazon Web Service (AWS) is considering expanding its current Milan site or building a new one.

The developers of the popular memecoin Floki have introduced a Telegram-based trading bot that allows FLOKI holders to trade any token on the BNB Chain blockchain. Initially, it will be available to a small user base during the testing phase, with a broader rollout planned for mid-June.

The Japanese banking giant Nomura and its digital asset division, Laser Digital, have announced a partnership with Japan’s GMO Internet Group to explore the management of stablecoins denominated in Japanese yen and U.S. dollars. Their plans include a "stablecoin-as-a-service" product aimed at assisting companies in issuing stablecoins in compliance with regulations.

05 Jun 2024 - 3:45pm (GMT +1)Previous: 51.3Becslés: 712K Source: forexfactory.com Previous data Impact on markets A general market effect that is constantly changing depending on the current economic environment. Summary - Analysis Long term trend of data: Unknown Most expected effect: Forex ( DXY ), US Stocks If new data is higher than previous: Positive ( Forex:DXY, US Services Stocks ) If new data is lower than previous: Negative ( Forex:DXY, US Services Stocks ) Effect-balancing with other data: Yes More on TOTM PROConclusion Conclusions based on the new data will be included in the TOTM PRO level live stream announcements every Monday and Thursday.

NewsAurora will be used for a wide range of scientific work: a physicist at Princeton's Plasma Physics Laboratory will use the machine to study mechanisms that protect the safety of fusion reactors, a researcher at Argonne National Laboratory will study the dark side of the universe, dark matter and dark energy to map the currently little-known 95% of the universe, but it will also be used to carry out research into cancer cures, neuroscience and the design of new, lower-powered aircraft.According to Intel, the next generation of scientific research will require extreme HPC (high-performance computing, also known as supercomputing) systems, which can only be met by newer developments. Intel has developed the machine in partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Argonne, and it is their first large-scale system based on Intel hardware components. The Aurora is based on HPE's Cray Shasta supercomputer architecture, which includes the latest generation of software, Intel Exascale Compute Blades, Intel Xeon CPU Max Series processors and Intel Data Center GPU Max Series accelerators. The machine's storage system is DAOS (Distributed Asynchronous Object Storage) based, with a capacity of over 230 petabytes, and boasts outstanding CPU and GPU numbers: 21 248 Sapphire Rapids Xeon CPUs and 63 744 Ponte Vecchio GPUs.1,012 exaflop/s performance. This is currently (officially) the second fastest computer in the world, capable of more than a trillion floating point operations per second, putting Aurora just behind the highest-capacity supercomputer, Frontier. Intel recently commissioned the machine at Argonne National Laboratory, a research centre of the US Department of Energy, and Aurora made the TOP 500 list of the world's best supercomputers, where it was ranked second in November 2023, and has managed to retain its position this year, only this time with a much higher exaflop performance.Related categories...

China has set up its third planned state-backed investment fund to boost the semiconductor industry with a capital of 344 billion yuan ($47.5 billion), according to a government-maintained company registry announcement. The investment of hundreds of billions of yuan in the sector puts into perspective President Xi Jinping's ambition for China to become self-sufficient in semiconductors. This commitment has taken on renewed urgency after the US imposed a series of export control measures over the past few years, citing Beijing's fears that it could use advanced chips to boost its military capabilities.

NewsQUICK OVERVIEW Grayscale announces CEO resignation and two new Trust products Coinbase to launch oil and gold futures trading FIT21 crypto law approved in the USA SEC approves all 8 spot Ethereum ETFs OKX exits Hong Kong Anti-CBDC law passed in the USA Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital partners with Kenya Farcaster raises $150 million from investors USA, Legislation, and Spot ETH ETFsRepublican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced that he will accept political donations in the form of cryptocurrencies. This marks the first time a major party presidential candidate has embraced crypto donations for campaign contributions. The US House of Representatives passed the "Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act" (FIT21). The crypto market structure bill, approved by a vote of 279-136, now moves to the Senate, where its future is uncertain. There is no companion bill in the Senate, and the leading lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled Senate have shown little interest in it, with the Biden administration signaling opposition to the bill. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the 19b-4 forms for all 8 spot Ethereum ETFs submitted by issuers including BlackRock, Fidelity, VanEck, Grayscale, Bitwise, ARK 21Shares, Invesco, and Franklin Templeton. This approval is the first of two important steps needed to start trading spot ETH ETFs. The S-1 forms, required for the public offering of new securities, also need approval. The timeline for this process is unclear, but some analysts suggest it could take weeks. On May 23, the US House of Representatives passed a bill amending the 1913 Federal Reserve Act, prohibiting Federal Reserve banks from offering certain products or services directly to individuals and banning the use of central bank digital currency (CBDC) for monetary policy and other purposes. The bill still requires Senate approval to become law.Financial Institutions and Crypto BrokersBarry...

The AIOZ Network, a decentralized computing platform, has become the first DePIN solution to be listed in Nvidia’s prestigious Accelerated Applications Catalog. By appearing alongside industry giants like Adobe and Epic Games in Nvidia's global developer ecosystem, AIOZ gains significant visibility for its distributed infrastructure model, promoting open, decentralized solutions for web3 AI, data storage, and streaming services.

The popular Solana DEX aggregator Jupiter has announced the Grand Unified Markets (GUM) initiative, aiming to create a "unified atomic market" on Solana. In collaboration with the Solana Foundation and market makers Wintermute and DWF Labs, the GUM Alliance intends to establish liquid markets for crypto, real estate, forex, stocks, and bonds in tokenized form on Solana.

The decentralized social network Farcaster has announced raising $150 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Paradigm. Investors included a16z, Haun Ventures, and Union Square. Dan Romero, former Coinbase executive and founder of Farcaster, previously stated that this funding would raise the valuation of the company behind the project, Merkle Manufactory, to $1 billion.

MakerDAO has introduced two new stablecoins, NewStable and PureDAI, created to eventually replace DAI. NewStable will be backed by real-world assets and designed to generate yield, with the capability to be frozen if necessary. In contrast, PureDAI will be a fully decentralized, over-collateralized stablecoin supported solely by ETH and staked ETH, which resembles an algorithmic solution.

Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital (MARA) has announced a collaboration agreement with Kenya's Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to invest over $80 million in developing green energy projects in Kenya. The company will assist the African nation in monetizing its excess energy and managing renewable energy production.

Ethereum's core developers are planning to launch Pectra, the next upgrade for Ethereum, in the first quarter of 2025. This update will include the integration of the EVM Object Format (EOF) and replace the account abstraction solution with a new proposal introduced by Vitalik, EIP-7702. Discussions are still ongoing regarding the final scope of the update.

The crypto-ransomware group LockBit has leaked data stolen from the Canadian pharmacy chain London Drugs after the company refused to pay the $25 million ransom. Reports indicate that dozens of folders have been made public, containing the personal information of hundreds of employees, including payroll data, electronic signatures, resignation letters, medical records, and performance evaluations. LockBit operates a ransomware-as-a-service model, extorting cryptocurrency from its victims.

The crypto broker OKX has announced that after reassessing their business strategy, they have decided to withdraw their OKX HK VASP license application and will cease providing crypto asset trading services to Hong Kong residents in compliance with regulatory requirements as of May 31, 2024. This decision does not affect OKX's self-custody web3 wallet services.

Finance leaders of the Group of Seven industrial democracies began a two-day meeting in Italy on Friday to reach a common position on the need for a loan to Ukraine and to oppose China's "unfair" industrial policies. However, statements from officials ahead of the meeting in Stresa in northern Italy suggest that no concrete details will emerge on the US push for a loan to Ukraine backed by future proceeds from some $300 billion of frozen Russian assets.

In April 2024, the volume of UK retail sales fell by 2.3%, compared with a revised decline of 0.2% in March 2024, down from 0.0%. Sales volumes fell across most sectors, with clothing retailers, sports equipment, toy and game stores and furniture stores performing particularly poorly, driven by low footfall due to bad weather.

On May 23, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill amending the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, prohibiting Federal Reserve banks from directly offering certain products or services to individuals, and banning the use of central bank digital currency (CBDC) for monetary policy and other purposes. For the law to take effect, it still requires a vote in the Senate.

Dadvan Yousuf, a 23-year-old crypto enthusiast born in Iraq, successfully climbed the world's highest mountain on May 20 and unfurled the iconic orange Bitcoin flag at the summit of Mount Everest. "A symbol of freedom and independence, even at the highest places in the world," he wrote in a post. The Dubai-based crypto investor and businessman, whose net worth exceeded $300 million, saw the Everest summit as an opportunity to use his success to draw attention to the global lack of financial literacy.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the 19b-4 forms for all eight spot Ethereum ETFs submitted by issuers, including BlackRock, Fidelity, VanEck, and Grayscale. This approval is just the first of two crucial steps needed for the spot ETH ETFs to begin trading. The S-1 forms, required for the public offering of new securities, still need to be approved. It is currently unclear how long this process will take, but some analysts believe it could take several weeks.

The Dfinity Foundation has announced the release of a new API that allows Internet Computer smart contracts to read and write on any Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This solution enables dapps to benefit from cross-chain liquidity, community integration, and simplified API key management. Optimism, Arbitrum, and Base systems have already been added, and anyone can add other EVMs at any time.

Crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments has announced the launch of two new investment products for individual and institutional accredited investors. The Grayscale Near Trust invests in NEAR, supporting the Near protocol, while the Grayscale Stacks Trust invests exclusively in STX, part of the Bitcoin Layer 2 Stacks. Daily subscriptions for these products became available on May 23.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to underlying strength in the labor market that is expected to continue to support the economy. A second weekly decline announced Thursday by the Labor Department reversed much of the jump earlier in the month, bringing claims to levels last seen at the end of August last year. Although job growth is slowing due to the cumulative effect of large Fed rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, layoffs remain very low.

Business activity in the French private sector contracted again in May, although the decline was weaker than in the previous year. New orders rose on the back of strong demand in the domestic market, while exports continued to fall. Employment continued to rise for the fourth month in a row.

Taiko, an Ethereum layer 2 rollup project, plans a "genesis airdrop" for community members, distributing 5% of its 1 billion token supply before the mainnet launch, which is expected soon. The network will operate as an Ethereum-equivalent ZK-EVM. The project has undergone an extensive development period, conducting significant improvements through six testnets.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the "Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act" (FIT21). The bill, which addresses the structure of the crypto market, was approved with a 279-136 vote and now moves to the U.S. Senate, where its future is much more uncertain. The Senate has no companion bill for FIT21, and leading legislators in the Democrat-controlled Senate have shown little interest in the bill. Additionally, the Biden administration has indicated its opposition to the proposal.

Kelp DAO, an Ethereum liquid restaking platform based on EigenLayer, has raised $9 million in a private token sale round. The round was led by SCB Limited, a Bahamas-based company, in collaboration with Laser Digital. Currently, Kelp offers an Ethereum liquid restaking platform. With the new funding, it plans to launch liquid restaking services for other blockchains, including Bitcoin, Solana, and BNB Chain, in the third quarter of this year.

Asset manager WisdomTree has received approval from the UK financial authority to launch physically-backed BTC and ETH exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the London Stock Exchange. The ETPs are expected to be listed on May 28.

Consumer prices (including housing costs) have risen by 3% over the past year, a slower pace than the 3.8% increase seen previously. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 0.5% in April, compared with 1.2% in April last year. Consumer prices excluding housing costs rose 2.3% over the past year, 3.2% lower than a year earlier. On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.3% in April, compared with 1.2% in April last year.

In New Zealand, restrictive monetary policy has reduced pressures on the economy's capacity, which has moderated consumer price inflation. Annual consumer price inflation is expected to return to the central bank's target range of 1-3 percent by the end of 2024. The decline in inflation is partly due to lower price increases for imported goods and services. Globally, inflation has also eased in a number of advanced economies from its previous 30-year peak. However, services inflation is slowly falling and expected interest rate cuts continue to be delayed.

The Cboe BZX exchange has submitted revised 19b-4 forms for the Franklin Ethereum Trust, Fidelity Ethereum Fund, VanEck Ethereum Trust, Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF, and ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF. These revised filings are among the documents that need SEC approval for the spot ETH ETFs to become effective. Additionally, VanEck's spot ETH ETF has appeared on the DTCC website, which lists both active and inactive funds, indicating that asset managers are preparing for potential approval.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has announced that he will accept political donations in the form of cryptocurrencies. In his 2024 campaign, this marks the first time a major party presidential candidate has embraced crypto assets for donations.

The crypto broker Coinbase has announced that it will begin offering retail futures contracts for oil and gold starting June 3. Coinbase Derivatives, regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), already offers its clients futures contracts for bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash, litecoin, and dogecoin.

Statistics Canada will release its April Consumer Price Index report on Tuesday morning. Economists expect Canada's annual inflation rate to fall slightly last month from 2.9% in March. The RBC forecast prices were 2.7 percent higher in April compared with a year earlier.The Bank of Canada will be watching Tuesday's report closely as it prepares for its June 5 interest rate decision. Financial markets are leaning toward a rate cut in July, but economists say new inflation data will help to firm expectations.

IBM announced on Tuesday that it will make a family of artificial intelligence models available as open source software and will contribute to the training of an Arabic-language artificial intelligence system in Saudi Arabia. The company, based in Armonk, New York, has a different strategy for exploiting AI than some of its competitors, such as Microsoft, which closely guards its AI models and charges for access. IBM, like Facebook owner Meta Platforms, prefers to provide open access to its models. On Wednesday, it unveiled the "Granite" family of AI models that can be customised for businesses.

Uniswap Labs and Across Protocol are introducing a new Ethereum ERC-7683 token standard to improve cross-chain interoperability. Uniswap will use this new token standard for cross-chain swaps on the upcoming UniswapX platform. The implementation of this new technology will significantly reduce costs for users.

The Sei Foundation announced a proposal to upgrade the layer 1 Sei blockchain. The upgrade to version 2 would be implemented by Sei Labs and includes the introduction of a high-performance, parallelized Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This would enhance the network's capabilities and allow Ethereum-based contracts to be ported and used on Sei. If the governance proposal is approved, the network upgrade will occur one week later.

Someone minted 5 billion GALA tokens, worth over $200 million, from the treasury of the Gala Games web3 gaming platform and has so far exchanged a portion for 5913 ETH. According to a statement from Gala Games, they have blocked the hacker's address and are investigating the individuals behind the exploit.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is asking companies planning to introduce and trade shares of spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to update and resubmit their 19b-4 forms, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter. These documents are intended to inform the SEC about proposed amendments. Analysts have subsequently raised the likelihood of spot ETH ETF products being approved to 75%.

Barry Silbert, the founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG), the parent company of Grayscale, announced that Michael Sonnenshein, the CEO of Grayscale Investments, will resign from his position after 10 years. Sonnenshein's successor, starting August 15, will be Peter Mintzberg, a former executive at Goldman Sachs. Mintzberg brings over 20 years of experience from renowned asset management firms, including BlackRock, OppenheimerFunds, and Invesco.

NewsIn February, Sony tested a prototype of the device at Aichi Medical University, where it was tried out by doctors not involved in microsurgery. The test was performed by connecting 0.6 mm vessels, and future plans are to use the device for similarly complex procedures and further improve its accuracy with further improvements.Microsurgery, unlike macrosurgery, requires not only a high level of knowledge and skills, but also the use of magnifying instruments to make the smallest details visible to the doctor. Optical magnification is an extremely important component, as the procedure usually has to be performed on blood vessels less than 1 mm in diameter. Sony's aim is to expand the possibilities of microsurgery, which they are achieving with the robot - the device is not autonomous but works remotely, but it gives surgeons smooth movement and a good view of the area, making it easier to maintain manual control.The device consists of a VR goggle-like device that does not need to be placed on the head, making it more comfortable to use, and a robotic device with tiny pliers and needles that can be operated with fingertip control. The device allows ultra-precise surgery and automatically switches the devices at the end of the tiny robotic arms as needed during surgery. The very low latency, zero friction at component connection points and high-resolution 4K imaging ensure that the device is accurate and faithfully conveys the user's movements during the procedure.Related categories RecommendedYou may also be interested in these articles![brbl_post_grid include_categories="current" order="DESC" post_count="3" post_padding="0px|0px|0px|0px|true|true" content_padding="0px|0px|0px|0px|true|true" image_height="200px" date_spacing="0px" date_icon_size="0px" date_icon_color="RGBA(255,255,255,0)" excerpt_spacing_top="0px" author_spacing="0px" author_icon_size="0px" author_icon_color="#ffffff" column_gap_x="30px"...

Oil prices continued to rise on Monday amid political uncertainty in major producing countries after the Iranian president died in a helicopter crash and the Saudi Arabian crown prince cancelled a trip to Japan citing health concerns about the king. Brent rose by 41 cents, or 0.5%, to $84.39 a barrel, after earlier rising to $84.43, the highest since 10 May.