05 Feb 2025 - 3:45pm (GMT +1)Previous: 4.8%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 Long term trend of data: Increasing Most expected effect: Forex ( DXY ), US Stocks If new data is higher than previous: Positive ( Forex:DXY, US Stocks: Services sector ) If new data is lower than previous: Negative ( Forex:DXY, US Stocks: Services sector ) 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.

NewsQUICK OVERVIEW OKX no longer supports USDT trading pairs for traders in the European Economic Area BlackRock launches a new tokenized fund for real-world assets (RWA) on the Ethereum network Cardano introduces its new fiat-backed stablecoin The SEC extends the decision deadline for Hashdex spot ETH ETF, ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF, and Grayscale Ethereum Futures ETF until May and launches an investigation against the Ethereum Foundation Hedera joins the Cryptoasset Business Council in the UK Immutable creates a $100 million gaming fund and launches a new GameFi launchpad with OKX crypto broker. WisdomTree obtains cryptocurrency service provider license The EU bans anonymous crypto transactions Regulations and PermitsThe United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has extended the decision deadline for Hashdex spot ETH ETF, ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF, and Grayscale Ethereum Futures ETF until May, citing the need for more time to consider proposed rule changes and questions raised therein. Concurrently, the SEC has initiated an investigation against the Ethereum Foundation based in Switzerland. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart suggests that the likelihood of approval for a spot Ethereum ETF in May is decreasing, as there appears to be a lack of cooperation among potential issuers and US regulators, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco with Galaxy, Grayscale, VanEck, 21 Shares, Ark, and Hashdex. The European Parliament has approved anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legislation that bans the use of unidentified, self-hosted crypto wallets for any size crypto transactions. The ban primarily applies to third-party service providers, such as central brokers offering hosted or custody crypto wallets.Financial Institutions and Crypto ExchangesOKX cryptoexchange announced that it will no longer support USDT trading pairs for traders in the European Economic Area. OKX justified its decision by preparing for the...

The European Parliament has approved legislation aimed at combating money laundering and terrorism financing, which prohibits the use of unidentified, self-hosted cryptocurrency wallets for any size of cryptocurrency transactions. The ban specifically targets wallets provided by third-party services, such as centralized exchanges, whether hosted or custodial.

Polygon's Ethereum layer 2 solution, the zkEVM, failed to produce new blocks until yesterday and has now halted again today. According to an official statement from the Polygon zkEVM team, there was a sequencing issue during a reorganization process, and they are working on a solution. The team is already preparing for the release of the second-generation zkEVM in the coming weeks.

Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic is looking to sell the shares it acquired from the now-defunct FTX, which it purchased three years ago for $500 million when the company went bankrupt. The 8% stake in the highly valued AI startup is now estimated at over $1 billion. According to reports, there has been considerable interest, but Anthropic has been hesitant to engage with Saudi Arabian investors, citing national security concerns.

The Ethereum core development team has decided to incorporate the proposed change outlined in EIP-7251 into the Pectra update, expected to be scheduled by the end of 2024. This development, if implemented, would allow individual validators to maintain an effective balance between 32 and 2048 ETH, instead of the current 32 ETH limit. This proposal is expected to reduce operational burdens for stakeholders by decreasing the required number of validators, currently exceeding 900,000.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again delayed its decision regarding the approval of the Grayscale Ethereum Futures ETF. According to the document, May 30, 2024, has been designated as the deadline for the final decision. They continue to cite the need for more time to issue a ruling on the proposed rule change.

OKX crypto broker has partnered with the Ethereum-based gaming platform Immutable to introduce a dedicated GameFi launchpad on the OKX NFT marketplace. In addition to the launchpad, which will be used to introduce assets tied to games launching on the Immutable zkEVM network, the broker will also support the Immutable zkEVM itself.

Global asset manager WisdomTree, which includes the BTCW spot bitcoin ETF among its offerings, has received approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services to conduct crypto asset services in the state. This allows the company to offer custody and wallet services, as well as issue and trade stablecoins and manage stablecoin reserves. To facilitate this, WisdomTree has already established a new entity, WisdomTree Digital Trust Company.

ARK Invest, founded by popular investor Cathie Wood, bought nearly 10,000 shares of the company on Thursday, according to an email from the trustee. However, users of Reddit's largest stock trading forum were sceptical about the company, despite it becoming the platform of choice for retail traders during the 2021 "meme stock" craze.

One of the strangest announcements at chipmaker Nvidia's developer conference was that thousands of real nurses and hundreds of doctors have already taken part in an experiment that is being communicated as a "workforce" that is significantly cheaper than flesh-and-blood nurses. The virtual nurse asks the patient how she is feeling and if she has been able to get the prescribed medicine; the woman asks back that she can take the medicine despite her penicillin sensitivity. From the patient's point of view, the natural, everyday dialogue demonstrates how well the AI systems understand and how naturally they answer our questions - but this is probably a tenth of the work of a nurse.

Hedera (HBAR) has announced its official membership in the Cryptoasset Business Council operating in the United Kingdom. Industry leaders, including Coinbase, Ripple, and Uniswap Labs, under the UKCBC banner, aim to position the country as the epicenter of crypto assets and the web3 space. Their goals include supporting innovation, protecting consumers, and creating a regulatory environment that fosters the safe growth of the digital asset ecosystem.

The Super Sushi Samurai game on Telegram was completely drained due to a token code error. A user discovered that by transferring their wallet's entire balance to themselves, it doubled their money. Exploiting this, they emptied the game's entire liquidity pool and made off with approximately $4.6 million worth of assets from the platform.

Startup Succinct Labs has announced raising $55 million in a funding round led by Paradigm, with participation from investors such as Bankless Ventures, Geometry, as well as Polygon co-founders Sandeep Nailwal and Daniel Lubarov, and EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan. The startup aims to make zero-knowledge proofs technology accessible to every developer, as they believe it is currently one of the most defining technologies for blockchain scalability, interoperability, and data privacy. However, it remains too complex for most developers.

The Swiss National Bank cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.50% on Thursday, becoming the first major central bank to adopt a tighter monetary policy aimed at curbing inflation. The central bank - the first interest rate decision since long-serving president Thomas Jordan announced he would step down in September. The SNB's decision, the first interest rate cut in nine years, was the first in a busy day for European central banks as the Bank of England and the Norwegian central bank also announced their latest policy decisions. The Bank of Norway did not change interest rates and economists do not expect a change from the Bank of England.

Hyundai Motor America and Kia America are recalling a total of 147,100 U.S. vehicles due to a damaged charging unit, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Thursday. The Integrated Charge Control Unit (ICCU) can become damaged and stop charging the 12-volt battery, resulting in a loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash, the safety agency said.

Conflux, the Chinese layer 1 blockchain project, has announced a partnership with AnchorX to jointly create a stablecoin pegged to the Hong Kong dollar. Beta tests are currently underway for AxHKD, with OKLink Trust serving as the custodian, and plans to launch in the second quarter of this year.

Asset manager BlackRock is launching a new tokenization fund for real-world assets (RWA) on the Ethereum network. The USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund product will be represented by the BUIDL token, backed by US Treasury bonds, cash, and repurchase agreements. Securitize will serve as the transfer agent and tokenization platform in this tokenization, in which BlackRock has made a strategic investment.

Robinhood has officially launched its crypto wallet for Android users, following its availability to iOS users for a year. With this Android rollout, the company takes another step towards its goal of making cryptocurrencies more accessible and integrated into everyday life for millions of people worldwide.

The TON Foundation, behind The Open Network (TON) blockchain, has announced the launch of the first round of The Open League, a Toncoin community reward initiative, currently valued at over $115 million at the current exchange rate. As part of the pilot program, 650,000 Toncoins ($2.6 million) have already been distributed among users through liquidity pool boosts, and starting April 1st, 30 million Toncoins will be distributed among competing projects and users within the TON ecosystem.

NewsSkyDrive, the Japanese development company, has started the construction phase of the SD-05 eVTOL flying vehicle. This is a major milestone in the history of electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL), as the company announced that it is working with no less a player than Suzuki Motor Corporation to achieve the goal. The most striking feature of the flying vehicle, known as eVTOL, is its ability to take off and land vertically like a helicopter - meaning it does not need a dedicated runway.But another argument in favour of these vehicles is their environmental friendliness: as they are electrically powered, eVTOL vehicles can in principle reduce the environmental footprint of aviation and allow for zero-emission flights. An additional benefit is noise reduction, as these vehicles are designed with this aspect in mind. Overall, these vehicles will allow for more flexible urban transport. At least that is the big promise. The distant promise of eVTOL technology is also fully autonomous transport, which would further increase the budget.Sky Drive could produce such vehicles through its subsidiary Sky Works at Suzuki Japan's factory in Iwata. The collaboration between SkyDrive and Suzuki could see up to 100 such vehicles roll off the assembly line each year. SkyDrive is currently working on obtaining type certification for the SD-05 eVTOL aircraft from the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), with the aim of launching this model by 2026, and plans to obtain type certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), while also exploring market opportunities in Asia, such as Vietnam. Initial prototypes produced in Iwata are undergoing extensive flight testing.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"...

The GR00T is NVIDIA's innovative project, a basic model that enables robots to understand natural languages and mimic human movements - enabling them to learn a range of important skills. These skills include coordination, dexterity and other skills needed to navigate, adapt and interact in the real world. In other words, a general robot powered by this model would be able to function like a human.

Avalanche has announced a collaboration with Alipay+, China's largest payment service provider. Within the partnership, an Avalanche Subnet built and managed by AvaCloud has committed to launching an e-wallet and a web3-based voucher program. This opportunity could potentially bring in an additional user base of up to 100 million from the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand for Avalanche.

Immutable, Polygon Labs, and venture capital firm King River Capital have partnered to raise $100 million for a new gaming fund, the Inevitable Games Fund. The funds will be invested in early-stage web3 gaming startups with high growth potential. The first round of funding, totaling $30 million, has already been completed, with participation from names like Alpha Wave Ventures and Merit Circle.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has extended the decision deadline for the Hashdex spot ETH ETF and the ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF until May, citing the need for more time to consider proposed rule changes and related questions. According to Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart, the possibility of approving a spot Ethereum ETF in May is becoming increasingly unlikely, as there appears to be a lack of cooperation among US regulators and potential issuers such as BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, Galaxy Digital, Grayscale, VanEck, 21Shares, and Ark, as well as Hashdex.

Dutch authorities have filed charges against Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev, alleging that he assisted in laundering $1.2 billion of illegal funds through the cryptomixer platform. Pertsev's trial for money laundering and other financial crimes is scheduled for March 26th in the Netherlands.

Matter Labs has partnered with Sygnum, a digital asset bank, to tokenize $50 million worth of treasury reserves on the zkSync Layer 2 blockchain. The tokens will be recorded on the blockchain as security tokens of the Fidelity International Institutional Liquidity Fund (ILF). Fatmire Bekiri, head of tokenization at Sygnum, sees this as a prime example of their mission to bridge blockchain technology and the traditional financial industry.

After two years of testing, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has launched its smart contract platform, Soroban, onto the mainnet. The blockchain, primarily focused on payments, has hailed this move as one of the most significant developments in its ten-year history. Soroban provides developers with the ability to deploy smart contracts, expanding the ecosystem of applications built on the Stellar blockchain. To support development on the new platform, SDF has allocated $100 million.

Elon Musk founded the xAI startup last year, and its first product, Grok, promises to break away from the usual chatbot solutions and answer questions with humour, even "suggesting what to ask", according to the company's presentation. Elon Musk has previously criticised and even sued OpenAI for not operating as a non-profit organisation as originally intended and not necessarily focusing on developing open source general AI for the benefit of humanity, as ChatGPT 4, for example, has essentially become a Microsoft product.

Exxon CEO Darren Woods emphasized that the company should be entitled to IRA incentives for their low-carbon hydrogen project. The current IRA criteria only apply to green hydrogen production, not the blue hydrogen planned by Exxon. Woods stated that they won't proceed if they find lobbying influences regulation. The inflation reduction law provides greater support for green hydrogen production, but support for other methods is also planned. Exxon warned they couldn't continue the Baytown facility without modifications to the federal government's plan. According to their plans, the Baytown facility would significantly reduce emissions and could start within the next few years with incentives.

The Reserve Bank of Australia kept interest rates unchanged on Tuesday and eased its tightening bias, signaling that inflation will return to target as the economy slows. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which wrapped up its two-day March rate-setting meeting, kept interest rates at a 12-year high of 4.35% for the third consecutive meeting and said it was not ruling out any policy action.

The Bank of Japan announced a historic rate hike at 4:36 a.m. CET. The Bank of Japan can't take it anymore and is responding to the slowdown of the economy with a drastic step. This move could bring significant volatility to the foreign exchange and bond markets. The Japanese yen (JXY) is down 0.9% since dawn and the US dollar (DXY) is up 0.36% at time of writing (10:21 CET). The markets are eagerly awaiting the opening of the US market today, as well as the FED interest rate decision on Wednesday. Follow the events with us at the TOTM PRO level!

Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, co-founder and former CEO of Binance, has announced the launch of a new educational project, Giggle Academy. The new platform will be a gamified, adaptive platform aimed at providing free elementary education to everyone in a playful manner. According to the concept, it will be primarily designed for disadvantaged children living in developing countries, offering educational content from first grade to twelfth grade.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose more than 2%, breaking above the $82 level for the first time since late October.Geopolitical Tensions: Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries have increased geopolitical risks in the region, raising concerns about possible disruptions to oil shipments. China Economic Data: China's factory output and investment exceeded expectations at the start of the year. In addition, China refined a record amount of crude oil, suggesting that demand for oil remained strong in the world's second-largest economy.

Apple is in talks to integrate Google's Gemini artificial intelligence engine into the iPhone, Bloomberg News reported Monday. The talks are about enabling some of Gemini's new features that will be released for the iPhone software this year, the report said, adding that the terms or branding of the AI agreement and how it will be implemented have not yet been decided.

According to Mercedes-Benz, the humanoids will be used to automate low-skilled, repetitive and physically demanding tasks, but the first step is to assess exactly what jobs the robot can help with. Apollo was unveiled to the public last year - the robot's aim, according to the company's CEO Jeff Cardenas, is to enable people to do less work by taking on the most boring, least creative tasks. The robot will later be used in space, courtesy of NASA, while on Earth it will serve in warehouses and factories. Mercedes-Benz will use it for logistics tasks: the robot will deliver parts while checking their condition and quality.

OKX crypto broker has announced that it will no longer support trading pairs with USDT for traders in the European Economic Area. OKX justified its decision by stating that it is preparing to adopt a comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies accepted in the European Union.

A New York jury found David Brend and Gustavo Rodriguez guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud as former supporters of the IcomTech "cryptomining and trading company." They claimed to provide guaranteed daily returns to ItomTech investors through crypto trading and mining. However, prosecutors argued that the company didn't actually trade or mine cryptocurrencies but operated a Ponzi scheme, using investors' money to pay off other investors. Both face a maximum penalty of 20 years for their roles in the scheme.

Cardano has announced its first fully fiat-backed stablecoin, the USDM, which is pegged to the US dollar, becoming another player in the $146 billion stablecoin market. Founded by Mehen Finance, the stablecoin can be minted or exchanged for USD and existing Cardano-based synthetic stablecoins like DJED and iUSD. Matthew Plomin, co-founder of Mehen, stated that launching the stablecoin project was not easy as they struggled to find suitable US banking partners. They now utilize the services of the fintech company Plaid for minting and burning USDM against the US dollar.

In recent times, the attention of the copper market has been focused on the development of Shanghai copper inventories, as these data can help assess demand and the potential impact of capacity closures. Leading copper smelters in China, such as Jiangxi Copper and Tongling, have implemented production cuts in response to the plummeting processing fees for copper concentrates. This move may exacerbate tensions in the copper market and support further price increases. The global decline in industrial production has led to low demand, while China continues to accelerate its economic activity, which could bring stability to prices. Amidst negative sentiment in the American stock markets, investors seek "Safe Haven" assets such as bonds, gold, and silver, which may result in increases in the prices of silver and other industrial metals, including copper.

NewsQUICK OVERVIEW The London Stock Exchange plans to introduce Bitcoin and Ethereum crypto ETNs in the second quarter of 2024 Spot BTC ETFs will be available in India Grayscale has filed plans for the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, and Cboe Global Markets have completed testing on the Canton Network, an interoperable blockchain-based communication system The Ethereum Dencun upgrade has been successfully executed QANplatform secures the government infrastructure of a European Union member state Spot BTC ETFsThe London Stock Exchange has confirmed that it will accept applications for the listing of Bitcoin and Ethereum crypto ETNs in the second quarter of 2024. The exchange-traded funds will require cold storage of Bitcoin or Ethereum, with custody governed by AML regulations in the UK, EU, Switzerland, or the USA. The product is expected to be available only to professional investors. Mudrex, an Indian subsidiary of Y-Combinator venture capital, announced the listing of spot Bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton to make spot Bitcoin ETFs available to Indian institutional and retail investors. This move opens up another significant market for these products. The Thai regulatory authority has amended its rules to allow institutions and ultra-high net worth individuals to invest in US-issued spot BTC ETFs. Previously, this was not possible due to legislation governing the investments of asset management companies not extending to ETFs for digital assets. Grayscale Investments LLC, the largest crypto asset manager, has filed plans with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust, which would be backed by Bitcoin and traded under the "BTC" ticker. Essentially, they seek to launch a clone of the world's largest Bitcoin-based trust, but with significantly lower fees. If approved, the...

Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng (NYSE:XPEV) has announced plans to launch a lower-cost brand of electric vehicles that will hit the market next month at prices between 100,000 and 150,000 yuan ($14,000 to $21,000), the company said on its official WeChat account.Competition in China's EV market has intensified as companies race to cut prices, with market leader BYD (SZ:002594) leading the way. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), on the other hand, said on Saturday that it will raise the price of its Model Y electric vehicles (EVs) by around €2,000 ($2,177) in several European countries on March 22, or the equivalent in local currency.Previously, the company raised the price of some Model Y vehicles by $1,000 on March 1 and announced on Friday that it will raise the price of all Model Y vehicles in the United States by $1,000 on April 1.In January, the company warned of " notably lower" sales growth this year as it focuses on production of its next-generation EV, code-named "Redwood". These two developments highlight the strategic importance of competition and pricing in the EV market, with manufacturers adopting different approaches to increase market share and meet customer needs.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has released a report revealing that an increasing number of manufacturing companies in the United States are shifting their focus to the industrial metaverse, aiding production processes within their firms. According to the document, 92% of American manufacturing leaders are exploring various implementations of the metaverse within their companies, with the top 100 executives in 10 industries considering up to six different use cases.

Charlotte Fang, also known as Krishna Okhandiart, the leader of the popular Milady NFT collection operated by Remilia Corporation, has been targeted in a hacker attack. Attackers managed to steal over $3 million worth of ETH and NFTs from her. The main losses were incurred in Fumo LP and staked NFTs, which are now irrecoverable. However, ownership rights of other NFT contracts and metadata had previously been transferred to a hardware wallet, ensuring their security.

The decentralized finance platform PancakeSwap has released the codebase and whitepaper for the protocol's fourth version. The new version allows for custom liquidity pools and flash settlement, aimed at reducing user fees and preventing liquidity providers' impermanent loss. Additionally, they are launching a development fund to cover the costs of further PancakeSwap protocol development.

The yield-generating protocol Mozaic Finance, operating on multiple blockchain networks, fell victim to an exploit on the Arbitrum network. According to CertiK's report, the attacker compromised the application with private key access, managing to siphon off assets worth $2.4 million. The protocol's development team stated that the exploiter deposited all stolen assets with the MEXC crypto broker, expressing hope for the return of the funds.

The American multinational coffee chain Starbucks is discontinuing its Odyssey Beta NFT program as of March 31st, which was an NFT extension of its existing rewards system. The Odyssey marketplace will transition to the Nifty marketplace, but Stamps, like several other NFTs, can be transferred to external wallets and traded on other marketplaces as well.

The European Parliament on Wednesday adopted the legislation on artificial intelligence by a large majority. The aim is to guarantee the safety of such systems without unnecessarily hampering innovation. According to a statement on the European Parliament's website, the proposal for a regulation, which was agreed with Member States last December, was adopted by 523 votes to 46, with 49 abstentions.

Nissan Motor and Honda Motor are considering establishing a strategic partnership to produce key components for electric vehicles and artificial intelligence for automotive software platforms, the companies announced today. The potential partnership could help the two rivals gain an edge in electric vehicle manufacturing, which is key for Japanese automakers as they face stiff competition from China's BYD, Tesla and other electric vehicle makers.

QANplatform, with Hungarian roots, has partnered with an unnamed EU member state to protect governmental-owned cybersecurity infrastructure against quantum computer attacks. Partners are developing and implementing post-quantum cybersecurity (PQC) solutions based on QAN blockchain platform's post-quantum feature, in line with the recommendations of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These PQC solutions will be integrated into corporate software by the partners.

Binance crypto broker has announced the completion of integrating Binance Web3 Wallet into the Solana network. With this update, users can now seamlessly manage and trade Solana network tokens and access various Solana network dApps through the Binance Web3 Wallet. Newly added Solana-based dApps include Drift, Dual Finance, Jito, Jupiter, Magic Eden, MarginFi, Orca, PsyOptions, Pyth Network, and Raydium.

Dutch-based crypto broker D2X has secured $10 million in a funding round led by Point72 Ventures, alongside investors such as GSR Markets. The company aims to double its European presence with the capital infusion. These funds will be utilized for acquiring appropriate liquidity, developing new features, and expanding business primarily within the EU.

The Arbitrum Foundation, the team behind the Arbitrum layer 2 network, has announced plans to invest 200 million ARB tokens, equivalent to approximately $400 million, over two years in supporting blockchain-based gaming projects. Following DAO approval, a significant portion of the funds would be directed towards the growth of the gaming ecosystem through support provided to developers.

BNB Chain has announced a new rollup-as-a-service (RaaS) solution, providing infrastructure for dapp projects to build cost-effective, dedicated rollups on the BNB Smart Chain (BSC) network, including options for codeless deployment. With the help of RaaS and the ecosystem's interoperability capabilities, developers will have a comprehensive toolkit to build efficient and scalable layer 2 solutions on the BSC.

Today marked the end of the six-week court trial in the United Kingdom initiated by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) against Craig Wright to prove that he falsely claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. The British court reached its verdict today, confirming that Wright is indeed not the father of Bitcoin. Wright has been waging legal and media warfare for years to convince people that he is the creator of Bitcoin, originally based on claims he made to the Australian Tax Office in 2013, stating that he owns over 1 million bitcoins.

Elon Musk's company has been developing the Starship for years, which now has every chance of being the first to send humans to Mars. The company's founder recently shared an interesting piece of information about the spacecraft, which he claims will simulate gravity on its journey to Mars. So far, SpaceX has carried out two tests with the Starship, which have not gone entirely to plan, but the second time the spacecraft has already made it into space. The next test is on 14 March.

The European Union's financial regulatory authority aims to incorporate additional stablecoin regulatory guidance into the regulatory framework for crypto asset markets (MICA). These new proposals detail procedures and standards necessary for stablecoin issuers to effectively address complaints. The European Banking Authority (EBA) has clearly stated that the framework should support innovation and fair competition while providing a high level of protection for retail owners.

Yesterday's Dencun update on Ethereum delivered on its promise, significantly reducing transaction costs for larger layer 2 chains that introduced blobs. It can be stated that almost all associated blockchain networks reported multiple fee reductions, which is very positive news for users.

President Vladimir Putin told the West on Wednesday that Russia is technically ready for nuclear war and that if the United States sends troops to Ukraine, it will be a major escalation of the conflict. Putin, speaking ahead of elections on March 15-17 that are likely to give him another six years in power, added that the nuclear war scenario is not "rushed" and that he sees no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

The Ethereum core developers have implemented the Dencun update on the mainnet, introducing "blobs" that significantly reduce transaction costs for layer 2 chains. Layer 2 rollups can now use blobs instead of the "calldata" method to submit transactions. This is aimed at maintaining low costs even during periods of high network congestion on chains like Base, Optimism, Arbitrum One, zkSync, Starknet, and others.

NewsThe first autonomous potholing robot with artificial intelligence is on its way to make life easier for motorists. The machine, called PREVENT (Autonomous Road Repair System), built by a company called Robotiz3d under the direction of researchers at the University of Liverpool, is being tested in Hertfordshire. The innovative device autonomously detects and repairs road defects, helping to improve road quality.The PREVENT robot is currently in test operation and researchers are testing its effectiveness in real-life conditions. The machine searches for asphalt irregularities on its own, using its cameras and artificial intelligence algorithms to identify and classify them. The ARRES EYE system accurately lists road defects by type and severity, and produces a map of pothole locations. Cracks are patched immediately, preventing further potholes from forming.PREVENT works day and night, detecting road defects at speeds of up to 100 km/h. Although the test version is not yet perfect in appearance and only repairs cracks, the project plans further improvements, including the creation of a more scaled-up version that can perform multiple road repair tasks. The introduction of ARRES PREVENT could open a new era in the use of autonomous road repair robots.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" column_gap_y="0px" show_avatar="off" thumb_size="medium" content_length="120" overlay_icon_color="RGBA(255,255,255,0)" post_bg_color="RGBA(255,255,255,0)" content_bg_color="RGBA(255,255,255,0)" column_count_tablet="2"...

On Wednesday (March 13th), Goldman Sachs issued analyses on shipping companies. For Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE:NCLH) stocks, they set a neutral rating with a target price of $19.00. The analyst firm holds a more favorable opinion on Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL), recommending a buy rating with a target price of $20.00 for its shares. They also recommend buying shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL), setting a target price of $162.00. RCL operates the current largest ocean liner, the Icon of the Seas.

The UK economy returned to growth in January after entering a shallow recession in the second half of 2023, according to official figures, giving Prime Minister Rishi Sunak some relief ahead of elections expected this year. Gross domestic product rose 0.2% month-on-month - boosted by a rebound in retail sales and housebuilding - after a 0.1% plunge in December, in line with a Reuters poll of economists.

MakerDAO, the issuer of the Dai stablecoin, plans to launch the first phase of Endgame in the summer. One month later, two new tokens, NewStable and NewGovToken, will be introduced, allowing users to upgrade their Dai and Maker (MKR) tokens to the new crypto tokens. These new tokens are expected to support the ecosystem's new staking and yield farming functions.

Cryptobroker Coinbase has announced its intention to sell $1 billion worth of notes to institutional investors. The sale of convertible senior notes aims to raise funds for repaying existing debts and covering corporate expenses. The issuance of notes, maturing in 2030, could increase the company's obligations by up to $1 billion, potentially raising its debt to $4 billion.

Cryptobroker OKX's Singaporean subsidiary has received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a Major Payment Institution license. The in-principle approval brings OKX closer to its goal of providing digital payment token services in Singapore and joining the ranks of major corporations already holding such licenses, such as Blockchain.com, Circle, Coinbase, and Ripple.

Popular crypto wallet provider MetaMask is reportedly testing a fully on-chain payment card issued by Baanx, a UK-based financial institution, and running on the Mastercard network. The card would allow users to pay for everyday purchases with cryptocurrencies wherever the card is accepted. According to marketing material, this would be the first truly decentralized, web3-based payment solution.

Several leading financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, and Cboe Global Markets, have completed testing of the Canton Network communication system, which has been operational for a year. The system is designed for institutional assets and serves as an interoperable blockchain network. Institutional investors conducted over 350 simulated transactions through distributed ledger technology in areas such as tokenized assets, fund recording, digital cash, repo, securities lending, and margin management.

The United States Attorney's Office announced that they seized around $1.4 million worth of Tether (USDT), suspected to be proceeds from a customer service scam. The successful seizure was led by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with stablecoin issuer Tether actively assisting in the operation. Tether reported that they continue to cooperate with law enforcement agencies worldwide to create a safer environment.

After passing out of committee last week with a 50-0 vote, the bill now moves to the House of Representatives and then the Senate. The former wants to bring the matter to a vote very quickly, according to The New York Times, in the two-thirds majority procedure reserved for consensus legislation.

According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflationary pressures in the United States continued in February, with the Consumer Price Index rising 0.4% from the previous month and 3.2% year-over-year. Both indicators were broadly in line with economists' forecasts. 'Core' prices, which exclude food and petrol, continued to rise, rising 0.4% month-on-month and 3.8% year-on-year, both higher than expected.

The largest crypto asset manager, Grayscale Investments LLC, has filed plans with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust, which would be backed by bitcoin and traded under the ticker symbol "BTC." Essentially, it looks like they want to launch a clone of the world's largest Bitcoin fund, but with significantly lower fees. If approved, the exchange-traded fund would be launched with an unspecified percentage of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), and existing GBTC shareholders would automatically receive shares in both GBTC and BTC without triggering a taxable event.

Thai regulatory authorities have amended their rules, allowing institutions and high-net-worth individuals to invest in US-issued spot BTC ETFs. Previously, this was not possible because regulations governing investment firms did not extend to digital asset ETFs.

Monad Labs is planning a funding round of over $200 million led by venture capital firm Paradigm, which will provide $150 million in support for the project at a corporate valuation of $3 billion. Monad is a high-performance Ethereum-compatible L1 network that introduces optimizations in four main areas, resulting in blockchain speeds of 10,000 transactions per second (tps).

Reddit is targeting a valuation of up to $6.4 billion in its US initial public offering, the social media platform said on Monday, as it nears one of the most anticipated IPO debuts in years. The company, along with some of its existing investors, is targeting to sell about 22 million shares at between $31 and $34 each, for proceeds of up to $748 million.

American software technology company MicroStrategy announced today that it has purchased approximately 12,000 bitcoins between February 26, 2024, and March 10, 2024, for approximately $821.7 million. The funds for the purchase came from the $800 million raised in a successful bond issuance completed on March 8.

Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced that its USDT stablecoin will soon be available on the Celo blockchain as well. Celo is a network used to facilitate payments for mobile users, which is also EVM-compatible. The Celo ecosystem will help facilitate the adoption and use of USDT in countries like Kenya and Ghana.