Netflix has ventured into new territory within the streaming market by announcing that it will broadcast WWE events for a decade starting in 2025, in a deal worth $5 billion. This agreement allows the company to tap into WWE’s extensive fan base and strengthen its position in the live sports entertainment arena. Live broadcasts of sports events, such as the upcoming boxing match between Mike Tyson and social media star Jake Paul in July, enhance the platform's appeal, targeting not just younger audiences but also older demographics. The company is set to release its first-quarter report soon, anticipating significant growth in subscribers. This increase in the subscriber base is expected to be supported by stricter measures against password sharing and new, lower-cost, ad-supported subscription plans. Analysts predict revenues around $9.27 billion and higher subscriber numbers compared to previous quarters, which could further solidify Netflix’s market position while creating new opportunities to boost advertising revenue through regular live content broadcasts.

Binance's American subsidiary, Binance.US, announced on Tuesday the appointment of Martin Grant, a former official of the New York Federal Reserve, to the board of directors of BAM Management US Holdings. He will assist in overseeing the company's financial reporting processes and internal controls. Grant brings over three decades of regulatory, legal, and compliance experience in government and the digital asset industry, currently serving as the global head of regulatory affairs at JST Digital, a financial services provider.

Under PayPal's new guidelines, the company's buyer protection program no longer applies to NFT purchases. The policy will come into effect on May 20th and will extend to NFT sales exceeding $10,000, which will no longer be protected against false claims and other frauds that could cause sellers to lose money.

Drift, a Solana-based decentralized financial platform, announced its upcoming token, DRIFT, designed as a governance token. Alongside this, they announced their intention to distribute 100 million DRIFT tokens among the platform's 180,000 users based on their activity on the platform. The exact dates of the expected events will be announced later.

A decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) project, SendingNetwork, focusing on web3 communication, has received $7.5 million in funding in a seed financing round. Among the investors were Nomad Capital, Symbolic Capital, Balaji Srinivasan, and others. The project aims to decentralize communication by creating a new TCP/IP stack. This is a protocol suite that governs internet communication and facilitates data transfer between devices.

In the UK, there was a slight decline of 18,000 (0.1%) between January and February 2024, followed by a significant increase of 352,000 (1.2%) in the year to February 2024. March 2024 saw a preliminary month-on-month decline of 67,000 (0.2%), but an annualised increase of 204,000 (0.7%) to 30.3 million, but caution is advised due to possible revisions. Also, the volatility of the Labour Force Survey estimates makes them worth using in conjunction with other indicators such as Workforce Jobs and PAYE Real Time Information. Source: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/APRIL2024

China's economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter, data released on Tuesday showed, providing some relief to officials trying to support growth amid prolonged weakness in the property sector and rising debt levels of local governments. However, a number of March indicators released alongside the GDP data, including housing investment, retail sales and industrial production, showed that domestic demand remains weak, dampening overall momentum.

The team behind the WOO Network, a system of centralized and decentralized financial services, has announced the launch of an innovation hub focused on the Bitcoin ecosystem. Teams will be selected from experts in RWA, DeFi, AI, BTC Layer-2, and DePIN fields, based on their ability to integrate their projects into the WOO Network.

Cryptobroker OKX has launched its own Ethereum-based, zero-knowledge layer 2 network. Named X Layer, the network utilizes the Polygon Chain Development Kit, allowing users to move cryptocurrencies through OKX with access to over 170 dApps, including Graph, Curve, LayerZero, QuickSwap, Galxe, and Timeswap. Fees on the platform will be payable in the platform token, OKB.

Rising inflation in March did not deter consumers, who continued to shop at a faster pace than expected, the Commerce Department reported Monday. According to Census Bureau data, seasonally but not inflation-adjusted, retail sales rose 0.7% for the month, significantly faster than the Dow Jones consensus forecast of a 0.3% increase.

Apple's smartphone shipments fell by about 10% in the first quarter of 2024, driven by increased competition from top Android smartphone makers, according to data released Sunday by market research firm IDC. Global smartphone shipments rose 7.8% to 289.4 million units in January-March, with Samsung taking the lead from Apple with a 20.8% market share.

The fitness app Stepn, built on Solana, has teamed up with the footwear and sportswear giant Adidas to launch a new collection called Stepn x Adidas Genesis Sneakers, consisting of 1000 NFTs. The collaboration is set for one year, and according to the agreement, physical merchandise will also be designed for users alongside the NFTs. The NFT collection will debut on April 17 on Stepn's Mooar NFT marketplace.

The regulatory authority overseeing the Hong Kong financial market has approved several spot BTC and spot ETH ETF products today, including funds requested by China Asset Management, Harvest Global, Bosera, and HashKey, among others. The asset managers have not yet disclosed the schedule for the introduction of these products. With these approvals, the region continues its efforts to become a regional cryptocurrency hub.

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Germany's largest federal bank, has announced a partnership with the Austrian cryptocurrency broker Bitpanda. Within the framework of this partnership, Bitpanda would offer custody services to the bank's institutional and corporate clients starting from the second half of 2024. German banks and asset managers have been increasingly active in the cryptocurrency space, offering custody services and developing their own products for the asset class ahead of the EU regulations coming into effect by the end of this year.

NewsQUICK OVERVIEW HashKey Group launches a global crypto exchange platform and introduces its own blockchain called HashKey Chain The launch of BTC and ETH spot ETFs in Hong Kong is imminent EigenLayer goes live on the Ethereum mainnet with significant partners behind it SEC files charges against Uniswap Labs Circle provides smart contract support to BlackRock Berachain receives $100 million in funding HashKey GroupHong Kong-based financial service provider dealing with digital assets, HashKey Group, announced the launch of a new global crypto brokerage platform under the name HashKey Global. As part of the company's international expansion, it obtained licenses in Bermuda, in addition to existing licenses in Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The new brokerage currently offers trading with 21 crypto assets for eligible retail users. Moreover, at the 2024 Hong Kong Web3 Festival, they announced the launch of a new Ethereum layer-2 network in the near future. HashKey Chain is a network employing zero knowledge-proof technology and is created to expand HashKey's web3 ecosystem by offering users low-cost, efficient, and developer-friendly on-chain services. The network will include the platform's native token, HSK. The TON Foundation, behind the Open Network blockchain, partnered with HashKey Group to increase fiat on-and-off ramp access for Telegram wallet users. Within the partnership, support for early-stage projects within the TON ecosystem may also be considered.Financial Institutions and Crypto BrokersChinese asset managers, Harvest Fund and Southern Fund, show strong interest in spot bitcoin ETFs. These companies, each managing assets of over $200 billion, currently cannot offer ETFs due to strict regulations on crypto trading and mining in mainland China, but their Hong Kong subsidiaries have applied for regulatory approval. Kraken crypto broker announced it will delist Monero for its Irish and Belgian customers. According to the...

Iran launched over 200 drones and missiles at Israel, but US and British air forces participated in neutralizing threats before entering Israeli airspace. Minor damage sustained at Israel military base in the country's south. While no Israeli fatalities reported at this point, the country is staying on high alert. Airspaces of several regional countries have been closed, and their air defenses are also on high alert. Western allies of Israel and UN Secretary General condemn Iranian attack. we don't know how Iran is planning to continue the attacks from this point if the attacks continue at all, but Israeli officials vow significant retaliation is coming. Joe Biden warned his Israeli counterpart that the US would not participate in any attack on Iran but helps only in defensive operation. Many worried voiced heard on the internet about a possible start of WW3. While the attack is seriously destabilizing further the Middle East area, it would be too early to say how other nations around the globe are reacting to the situation.

Due to recent price declines, the CRV token's value has dropped to $0.42 or below, putting the lending position of Curve's founder, Michael Egorov, back into the danger zone. Michael has collateralized a loan of $92.54 million in stablecoins with a total of 371 million CRV tokens (worth $156 million). If the CRV price drops further by 10% and there is no margin call or repayment, liquidation will commence.

Cryptocurrency detective ZachXBT issued a community alert stating that a group of scammers who stole tens of millions of dollars from protocols such as Magnate, Kokomo, Lendora, Solfire, and others have launched a new project on Blast, operating under the Leaper Finance moniker. They have begun providing liquidity to the project with assets laundered from previous rug-pulls in an attempt to lure people in again.

The Winklevoss brothers, behind the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, have announced plans to create the first football club operated by Bitcoin. As a first step, they invested $4.5 million worth of Bitcoin into the Real Bedford Football Club (RBFC), becoming co-owners alongside Peter McCormack. The investment primarily aims to support Bedford FC's efforts to enter the Premier League.

The team behind the layer-1 blockchain VeChain has announced a partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to tokenize the gloves worn by UFC fighters, making them traceable on the VeChainThor network. The gloves will contain NFC chips that record fight data and authenticate the gloves' authenticity through the VeChainThor network. Fighters will begin wearing the gloves at UFC 300, scheduled for April 13th.

Monthly real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have increased by 0.1% in February 2024, following an increase of 0.3% in January. Real GDP is estimated to have increased by 0.2% in the three months to February 2024, compared with the three months to November 2023. Output in the services sector rose 0.1% in February 2024, following a 0.3% increase in January, and rose 0.2% over the three months to February 2024. Production output rose 1.1% in February 2024, the largest contributor to monthly GDP growth, following a 1.1% fall in January, production output rose 0.7% over the three months to February 2024. Construction output fell by 1.9% in February 2024, following an increase of 1.1% in the previous month; construction output fell by 1.0% over the three months to February 2024.

China's March exports shrank sharply while imports also unexpectedly contracted, both falling far short of market forecasts, customs data showed on Friday, highlighting the difficult task for policymakers as they try to shore up a faltering economic recovery.

Berachain, a layer 1 blockchain built on proof-of-liquidity consensus and EVM compatibility, has completed a $100 million Series B funding round. The round was jointly led by Framework Ventures and the Abu Dhabi branch of Brevan Howard Digital, with partners including Polychain Capital, Hack VC, Samsung Next, Laser Digital from the Nomura Group, Hashkey Capital, Nomad Capital, and others. The company aims to utilize the funds to strengthen its expansion efforts in Hong Kong, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

The TON Foundation, behind The Open Network blockchain, has partnered with the HashKey Group, a Hong Kong-based digital asset service provider, to enhance access to fiat on and off-ramps for Telegram wallet users. Within the partnership, support for early-stage projects within the TON ecosystem may also be considered.

The Chainlink Foundation, providing decentralized data infrastructure, and developer Chainlink Labs have jointly released an application called "Transporter," which offers a user-friendly interface on the CCIP for managing and tracking cross-chain transactions. Additionally, the project's new token transfer mechanism allows for native ETH transfers between WETH token pools. Initially, Transporter supports token transfers across multiple blockchain networks, including Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, BNB Chain, Ethereum, Optimism, and Polygon networks.

Stablecoin issuer Circle has announced the introduction of smart contract support for investors in the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), offering an off-ramp for BUIDL owners to transfer their shares to Circle in exchange for USDC. The relationship between the two companies began in 2022 when BlackRock invested in Circle's $400 million financing round, and they also manage a portion of the USDC reserves.

The ECB's Executive Board today decided to leave the three main ECB key policy rates unchanged, while the inflation outlook reinforces the medium-term projections. Future decisions will depend on the inflation outlook and monetary policy will remain data-dependent and subject to change from meeting to meeting.

China's consumer price index (CPI) stood at 0.1% in March, after a 0.7% increase in February. The market forecast was for a 0.4% increase. China's CPI inflation was -1.0% for the month in March, compared to a 1.0% rise in February, much worse than the 0.5% decline expected. China's producer price index (PPI) fell 2.8% year-on-year in March, compared with the 2.7% decline seen earlier. The figure was in line with expectations for a 2.8% decline.

Kraken cryptocurrency exchange has announced the delisting of Monero for its customers in Ireland and Belgium. According to the disclosure, all XMR trading and deposits for them will cease from May 10, and they must withdraw XMR from the platform by June 10. Any remaining XMR balances will be automatically converted to Bitcoin.

Galxe, a web3 authentication platform, has announced the launch of its "Identity Protocol" mainnet, enabling users to achieve autonomy over their digital identities and private data using zero-knowledge proof technology. Galxe's strategy is to empower users with decision rights on whether to disclose private data across various blockchain environments or not.

Edgar Pavlovsky, the creator of the MarginFi crypto lending platform, is leaving the protocol due to internal disagreements. Following the news, significant outflows were observed from one of the most frequently used Solana-based DeFi protocols. According to DefiLlama, after a net outflow of $155 million from MarginFi, the total value locked decreased to $524 million, down from $811 million on April 1st. His departure does not affect the other operations of the platform.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued an official notification, known as a Wells Notice, to Uniswap Labs, the organization behind the Uniswap decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, informing them of its intent to file charges, likely related to the trading of unregistered securities and failure to register as a broker. This move comes amid broader regulatory tightening against DeFi.

The Bank of Canada kept its overnight interest rate target unchanged at 5% at today's meeting, while the federal funds rate remained at 5¼% and the deposit rate at 5%. The central bank continues to maintain its policy of quantitative tightening. The global economy is expected to continue to grow at a rate of around 3%, while inflation in advanced economies is expected to moderate slightly. The US economy has proved stronger than expected, in particular thanks to support from resilient consumption and robust business and government spending. The euro area is slowly recovering from weak growth, and global oil prices have also risen significantly, by around $5 above January forecasts. Bond yields have risen since January, but tightening corporate credit spreads and rising equity markets have contributed to easing overall financial conditions.

The oil price decreased today following the Energy Information Administration's report of a 5.8 million barrel inventory expansion up to April 5th. The growth in fuel stocks contrasted with significant declines the previous week. Gasoline and distillate inventories expanded, with gasoline up by 700,000 barrels and distillate by 1.7 million barrels. Oil prices stabilized, but concerns persist over the Middle Eastern situation and potential Iranian involvement, heightening supply security worries. Analysts suggest prices remain highly volatile, with any single news event capable of reigniting an upward trend, including attacks on Russian oil infrastructure or Israeli actions in Syria.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has decided to keep the official cash rate (OCR) at 5.50% for the sixth time in its April review. According to the RBNZ's Monetary Policy Committee, the economy is developing in line with expectations and high interest rates are reducing capacity pressures and inflation. The committee reached a consensus to keep the OCR unchanged, the RBNZ said.

Shortly after the EigenLayer Ethereum mainnet went live, several major companies joined the protocol as operators. Alongside big names like Coinbase and Google Cloud, other companies such as Deutsche Telekom MMS, P2P, Nethermind, Figment, Swell, and Kiln have also become EigenLayer operators. According to data from The Block, the total value locked in EigenLayer currently exceeds $15 billion.

The FDUSD stablecoin issuer, Hong Kong-based First Digital Trust, has announced that FDUSD stablecoin is now available natively on the Sui blockchain. Vincent Chok, CEO of First Digital Trust, highlights the significance of this expansion, citing that it could promote the acceptance of FDUSD among users of decentralized finance (DeFi). Since its launch, the stablecoin has rapidly become the fourth-largest with a market capitalization of $3.3 billion and was previously accessible on two chains, Ethereum and BNB Chain.

According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 3.034 million barrels in the week ending April 5, surpassing analysts' expectations. Inventories had decreased by 2.286 million barrels the previous week. Additionally, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) increased by an additional 0.6 million barrels, reaching 364.2 million barrels, the highest level since last year. Oil prices declined due to ongoing ceasefire negotiations, although significant progress in resolving the conflict was not achieved. Both Brent and the U.S. WTI benchmark prices were lower, though still showing increases compared to the previous week. Gasoline inventories decreased, while distillate inventories increased compared to the previous week.

The team behind the layer 1 blockchain Nomic has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Babylon bitcoin staking protocol to jointly launch a bitcoin liquid staking token (LST) called stBTC. Babylon also assists in maintaining Nomic's security through BTC and NOM staking, utilizing a dual staking solution. Individuals can stake BTC with Babylon, earning NOM tokens and nBTC rewards, which can be redeemed for BTC.

The restaking protocol EigenLayer and its data accessibility layer EigenDA have gone live on the Ethereum mainnet today. The platform enables restakers to delegate their entire stake to their preferred operator and allows operators to decide whether to run an actively validated service (AVS) on EigenLayer.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has once again postponed the decision on whether to allow the trading of immediate options for spot Bitcoin ETFs, extending the deadline by another 45 days. The NYSE submitted the request on February 9, seeking approval from the SEC to enable options trading.

At the 2024 Hong Kong Web3 Festival, HashKey Group from Hong Kong announced the launch of a new Ethereum layer-2 network in the near future. HashKey Chain utilizes zero knowledge-proof technology and is created to expand the HashKey web3 ecosystem by offering users low-cost, efficient, and developer-friendly on-chain services. The network will also feature its own token, HSK.

Investors rewarded Chief Executive Jane Fraser with a share price rise after Fraser announced in September a sweeping overhaul of Citi's dispersed structure and cost-cutting by laying off 5,000 employees. They then want to see growth in asset management and investment banking. Wall Street investors have welcomed Fraser's restructuring, but warned the CEO that there are serious challenges ahead to boost returns and catch up with rivals, including regulatory problems, weak earnings and an uncertain workforce.

NewsAccording to Carlos De Alba, analyst at Morgan Stanley, the US metals and mining sector has an optimistic outlook, particularly in terms of the industry's preparation for huge investments. The US government has already identified critical minerals that are key to the country's economy and national security. Investment in the industry has been at a low point in recent decades, increasing the country's dependence on imported minerals, particularly from China.The analyst points out that China's global dominance in rare earths poses a national security risk to the United States. Government policymakers need to focus on the country's mineral dependence and supply chain vulnerabilities, especially at a time of Sino-US tensions.The US government and industry players are initiating political and economic reforms to revitalise the US mining and separation sector. U.S. permitting reform and government incentives are helping to spur the development of new mining projects and the growth of the domestic mining industry. Important companies: MP Materials: Focus: rare earth metals Plan: Restoring the US rare earth supply chain, including NdFeB alloy. American Rare Earths Ltd (ARR.AX): Focus: Rare Earths Project: Halleck Creek deposit, Wyoming - potentially one of the largest rare earth deposits in the United States. USA Rare Earth (private): Focus: Rare Earths Project: Round Top property in Texas - planned magnet production and rare earth element mining. Perpetua Resources (PPTA.TO): Focus: Antimony Project: Stibnite Gold Project in Idaho - has large economic reserves of antimony that could meet a significant portion of demand in the United States. IperionX Ltd (IPX.AX, IPX.O): Focus: titanium and rare earths Project: Titanium Project in Tennessee - extraction of titanium minerals and production of titanium alloys Related categories RecommendedYou may also be interested in these articles![brbl_post_grid...

The global airline industry faces a summer squeeze as travel demand is expected to exceed pre-plague levels, while Boeing's production problems are causing a sharp drop in aircraft deliveries. Airlines are spending billions on repairs to continue flying older, less fuel-efficient aircraft and paying a premium to insure aircraft from lessors. However, some airlines are still being forced to reduce their schedules to cope with the shortage of available aircraft. At the same time, the number of travellers worldwide is set to rise to historic highs: 4.7 billion people are expected to travel in 2024, up from 4.5 billion in 2019.

The STFIL protocol, the second-largest DeFi protocol on Filecoin, announced in an X post that the Chinese police are investigating the main technical team of STFIL. Additionally, in recent days, there have been abnormal, unplanned updates to the protocol, and FIL tokens on STFIL have been transferred to an unknown address. This is not the first police case involving Filecoin, as last year, four executives of a Filecoin mining company were charged with criminal offenses, including organizing a pyramid scheme worth over 600 million yuan.

Chinese asset managers, Harvest Fund and Southern Fund, are showing keen interest in spot bitcoin ETFs. These companies, each managing assets worth over $200 billion, are currently unable to offer ETFs in mainland China due to strict regulations on cryptocurrency trading and mining. However, their Hong Kong subsidiaries have applied to regulatory authorities for permission.

The dYdX decentralized trading platform blockchain, the dYdX Chain, was down for over 9 hours. The source of the issue was the planned v4 update of the chain. Since then, the team has updated the software, and block production has resumed. The dYdX perpetual futures DEX remained operational throughout the chain outage.

ExxonMobil is expanding its Fawley site in the United Kingdom to produce low-sulfur diesel, aiming to meet current British energy demands and lay the groundwork for future lower-carbon fuels. The new investment includes a hydrogen unit and plans for future biofuel production from vegetable oils. Exxon aims to increase low-sulfur diesel production by 40% to reduce imports to the United Kingdom. This investment contrasts with trends in Europe, where many refineries are converting to biofuel production or closing due to economic challenges. For instance, Scotland's Grangemouth refinery plans to cease refining activities by 2025 to become an import hub. Meanwhile, major oil companies have announced closures of European refineries, converting some to biofuel facilities, such as Eni's Livorno refinery in Italy and Shell's Wesseling refinery in Germany. Economic challenges and declining demand for transportation fuels may threaten over 20% of global refining capacity, particularly in Europe and China, according to Wood Mackenzie's report. The gradual phase-out of free carbon emission allowances and expected reductions in demand for transportation fuels in developed countries are likely to decrease European refining margins starting from 2030.

The spread of conflicts and coups in the Sahel region is causing concern in West Africa as it jeopardizes oil extraction projects and export terminals in coastal countries of the region. The escalation of extremist violence in the Sahel and the risk of its spread pose a serious threat to the United States and international security. The international community, including the United States and the European Union, has made strong commitments to combat instability and maintain regional stability, through financial support and military assistance. Key oil projects in the region, such as the Ghanaian Jubilee field and the Eni project in Ivory Coast, are crucial for regional economies but are endangered by instability. New infrastructure developments, such as the Benin-Niger pipeline, complement oil export opportunities but also pose risks due to instability. Maintaining regional stability and ensuring the security of oil projects are of paramount importance for economic and political stability in West Africa.

The 1inch Network, a decentralized financial platform, has announced plans to introduce a new debit card in collaboration with Mastercard and Baanx, featuring a bridge function between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. The 1inch Card will encompass all standard bank card functionalities, leveraging Mastercard's leading technology and standards to bridge the gap between the Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 worlds.

Microsoft has announced the creation of a new artificial intelligence (AI) centre in London, focusing on product development and research. The unit will be led by Mustafa Suleyman, the London-born co-founder of Google DeepMind, who was hired by Microsoft last month.

Chinese developer Shimao Group said on Monday that China Construction Bank (Asia) had filed for liquidation in Hong Kong over unpaid debts, a rare legal action by a state-owned bank during a property slump. The petition is over Shimao's failure to repay a HK$1.58 billion (US$201.75 million) loan and contrasts with legal action against rival firms such as China Evergrande Group and Country Garden by overseas lenders for defaulting on their debts.

A Missouri judge slashed a $1.56 billion verdict against Bayer (OTC:BAYRY) to $611 million for three people who claimed its Roundup weed killer caused their cancer, by reducing punitive damages.Bayer said on Friday it is appealing. Roundup is among the most widely used weedkillers in the United States, though Bayer phased out sales for home use last year.Though Bayer has won the majority of its more recent Roundup trials, plaintiffs have won more than $4 billion of verdicts, including $2.25 billion in a single case in January. Bayer is appealing those verdicts.

HashKey Group, a Hong Kong-based financial services provider specializing in digital assets, has announced the launch of a new global cryptobroker platform under the name HashKey Global. As part of the company's international expansion, it obtained licenses in Bermuda, in addition to existing licenses in Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The new brokerage platform currently offers trading with 21 cryptocurrencies for eligible retail users.

In recent days, the Solana network has faced serious congestion issues, resulting not only in delays in transaction processing but also in deletions. The congestion affecting the network, amidst the meme coin craze, is largely due to the influx of spam transactions, where bots attempt to prioritize their activity over regular users. Solana developers are working on solutions, including software fixes and updates, promising improvement by next week.

NewsQUICK OVERVIEW China is building a large-scale blockchain infrastructure Paradigm plans to create a $750 million crypto fund The CEO's son of VanEck investment firm plans stablecoin issuance Galaxy Digital Holdings is creating a $100 million fund Ripple is entering the stablecoin market PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin is now available to US customers Bhutan's investment arm, Druk Holding & Investments, partners with Bitdeer Genesis sold Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares Financial Institutions and Crypto BrokersMembers of the dYdX decentralized finance platform community have approved plans to establish a foundation in the Cayman Islands to support the protocol's operation and governance, providing legal benefits to users. This step could protect dYdX users from legal threats as US securities regulators show signs of tightening regulations on DeFi protocols. Deribit FZE, the Dubai-based arm of the world's leading crypto derivatives options platform, announced that it has obtained conditional approval from the Dubai Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), which covers both spot and derivative trading. However, some regulatory conditions still need to be met for full operation. The company plans to relocate its global headquarters to Dubai.StablecoinsNick Van Eck, the son of Jan Van Eck, CEO of VanEck investment firm, is the co-founder of Agora stablecoin issuer, which received $12 million in financing led by Dragonfly Ventures. Investors include General Catalyst and Robot Ventures. The company's token will be pegged to the USD and backed by cash and short-term US Treasury bonds. VanEck Asset Management will manage the reserves. Ripple announced plans to launch a USD-pegged stablecoin, initially available on the XRP Ledger and the Ethereum blockchain. With their new product, they aim to provide more options for institutional investors. The stablecoin will be backed by USD bank deposits and short-term US Treasury bonds. PayPal introduced a new...

ZA Bank, Hong Kong's largest virtual bank, has shown keen interest in the stablecoin market lately and has actively participated in Hong Kong's stablecoin sandbox. Based on the information obtained here, it has announced its intention to take on a leading role in providing banking services to cryptocurrency stablecoin issuers in the future and managing secure fiat reserves.

After two weeks of civil proceedings, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon, was found guilty of fraud by a jury. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against Terraform Labs and Kwon in February 2023 over the Terra USD algorithmic stablecoin, which dramatically collapsed a year earlier. According to the charges, both the Singapore-based company and its co-founder, Do Hyeong Kwon, misled investors, raising billions from investors by offering and selling a package of crypto securities in interconnected transactions, often in unregistered transactions.

Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis completed the sale of shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) on April 2nd and used the proceeds to purchase 32,041 bitcoins. The value of the bitcoins is currently around $2.2 billion, and they are likely to be distributed among the lenders on Gemini Earn.

Former employees of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and BlockTower Capital, Michael Bucella and Steve Lee, have launched a new digital asset investment firm. Based in Miami, Neoclassic Capital will focus on derivative transactions, tokenization of real-world assets, entertainment, gaming, and community life. The company is backed by notable investors such as Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, and Jeff Vinik, the owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In March, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 303,000 and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Job growth was primarily seen in the health care, government and construction sectors. The household survey showed minimal variation in unemployment rates across demographic groups, with slight fluctuations observed across racial and gender categories.

Asset manager BlackRock has updated the list of authorized participants (APs) for the spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT and added more institutions to the existing list. Partners now include Citadel, Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Citigroup. The expected expansion of the total number of APs from four to nine is likely to increase IBIT liquidity and provide greater accessibility for investors.

South Korean financial authorities are introducing new guidelines for listing tokens on central cryptocurrency trading platforms. According to the report, under the new regulations, brokers will not be allowed to list tokens issued by projects that have been hacked or are experiencing security issues, and they may even request a special white paper specific to the local market for listing.

The UK construction industry rebounded in March, reversing a six-month decline, British construction firms have reported. The rebound was driven by increased sales pipelines and new business enquiries, reflecting an improving economic outlook and stable financial conditions. Despite the positive momentum, employment concerns persisted as headcount fell for the third consecutive month, even as new orders expanded at the fastest pace since May 2023.

Relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates have soured following the UAE's cessation of humanitarian aid coordination with Israel, as Israel ramps up security measures in response to Iranian threats. The surge in Brent oil prices and plummeting stock values are direct consequences of escalating geopolitical tensions. Additionally, the Israeli military is on standby for potential Iranian retaliation, while President Biden urges an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, issuing an ultimatum to Israeli leadership to address humanitarian concerns.

Ethena Labs, renowned for its synthetic dollar, announced that it has supplemented the backing of USDe with Bitcoin. This innovation allows for more than a 2.5-fold scaling of the token pegged to the dollar and makes its products safer for traders. Ethena added that Bitcoin offers better liquidity and a delta hedge profile compared to liquid staking tokens, providing more stable backing for USDe.

Bhutan's investment arm, Druk Holding & Investments, has partnered with cryptocurrency mining company Bitdeer Technologies Group to triple Bhutan's mining capacity using state-of-the-art technology. The proposed developments aim to double mining capacity by 500 megawatts in the first half of 2025, resulting in a total capacity of 600 megawatts.

Sony, the Japanese conglomerate in the gaming and entertainment industry, announced the issuance of its own stablecoin on the Polygon network through its banking arm, Sony Bank. The token, based on a proof-of-concept mechanism, would be pegged to fiat currency and primarily aimed at adoption in the gaming sector. Due to the benefits of reduced payment and transfer fees, the company is currently examining potential legal issues related to the transfer of Japanese yen-based stablecoins.

PayPal has introduced a new service allowing US customers to send international money transfers using the company's PYUSD stablecoin, starting from Thursday. Through its international payment service called Xoom, US customers can convert PYUSD to dollars and send money to nearly 160 countries without paying transaction fees.

Binance, the cryptocurrency broker, announced that starting April 18th, their NFT marketplace will no longer support Bitcoin Ordinals. The decision was made as part of ongoing efforts to streamline the product offering in the NFT marketplace. The platform requests users to withdraw their Bitcoin Ordinals from the marketplace before May 18th.

Ripple has announced plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the USD, initially available on the XRP Ledger and the Ethereum blockchain. With their new product, they aim to provide more options for institutional investors. The stablecoin will be backed by USD bank deposits and short-term US Treasury bonds. With the stablecoin market projected to grow from $150 billion to $2.8 trillion by 2028, Ripple aims to compete with leading stablecoins like USDT and USDC.

The average gasoline price in America stands at $3.58 per gallon, marking the highest in nearly six months. Behind this surge are the increasing seasonal demands and higher oil prices. Decreasing gasoline inventories reinforce demand, while a tightening oil supply exerts further pressure on prices. The upward trend is expected to continue, with anticipations of further hikes during the summer months, particularly in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern regions. Concurrently, the United States' gasoline demand continues to grow, signaling potential additional price increases.

Exxon warned about its first-quarter revenue figures due to lower oil and gas prices, as well as losses in its fuel-derived business segment. The company reported an operating income of $6.65 billion in the first three months of the year, significantly less than the $11.6 billion achieved in the same period of the previous year. Despite oil prices being lower compared to the previous year, they still remained at a lower level following the 2022 oil market crisis. Gas prices suffered due to oversupply in the United States. As a result of the price weakness, Exxon had to account for approximately $600 million in losses compared to the previous quarter. The fuel-derived business segment caused a $1.1 billion loss for the company compared to the same period of the previous year. However, the previous year brought significant profits to Exxon, enabling it to have the financial comfort necessary for acquisitions, such as the purchase of Pioneer Natural Resources and Denbury.

Activity in the French services sector continued to fall at the end of the first quarter, according to the latest data from S&P Global, although the decline in output and new orders was milder and companies' growth expectations rose sharply. Jobs have been rising steadily for five months, while inflationary pressures continue to weigh on prices. The seasonally adjusted HCOB France Services PMI® business activity index fell slightly in March, from 48.4 to 48.3 points.

n March 2024, the consumer price index remained unchanged at 107.1 points compared with the previous month, while inflation rose by +1.0% compared with the same month of the previous year. The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) reported that the stability of the price index reflected opposite trends, with prices for travel and clothing rising while prices for accommodation and cars fell.

The Bank of England and the UK's financial regulatory authority, the Financial Conduct Authority, are set to commence the first testing phase of distributed ledger technology (DLT) for trading and settlement of digital securities such as stocks and bonds this fall. The recently launched consultation on the Digital Securities Sandbox aims to facilitate the adoption of innovative technologies in the realm of digital assets. The sandbox is planned to run for five years and will contribute to the new regulatory framework for securities settlement.

Zeus Network, an interoperability layer built on the Solana network, has raised $8 million in a funding round led by Mechanism Capital, with significant investors such as OKX Ventures and Animoca Ventures also participating. With this funding round, the company's valuation reached $100 million, and today they are launching their own token.

17 Apr 2024 - 11:00am (GMT +1)Previous: 2.6%Becslés: 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 ------------Conclusion Conclusions based on the new data will be included in the TOTM PRO level live stream announcements every Monday and Thursday.