Apple, Google fined in Europe, Trump's encryption project criticized

Headlines

▌Apple and Google were fined in Europe at the same time, involving a case of up to 15 billion euros

The European Court of Justice ruled on the 10th that Apple Inc. of the United States must pay 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland. At the same time, it upheld the 2.4 billion euro fine imposed on Google Inc. of the United States for abusing its monopoly to suppress competitors. The European Court of Justice's statement confirmed the maintenance of the European Commission's 2016 ruling that Apple Inc. must pay 13 billion euros in back tax benefits to Ireland. The European Court of Justice also rejected Google's appeal on the same day, upholding the European Commission's 2017 ruling that it abused its dominant position and favored its own shopping service "Google Shopping", and imposed a fine of 2.4 billion euros.

▌US Democratic Congressman Maxine Waters criticizes Trump's cryptocurrency project

At a congressional hearing, US Democratic Congressman Maxine Waters used World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency lending platform promoted by Trump and his sons, as an example to highlight the higher risks consumers face in the DeFi field.  

Last week, the Twitter accounts of Trump's daughter Tiffany Trump and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Lara Trump (Trump's daughter-in-law) were hacked. Under the control of hackers, these accounts promoted fake tokens issued by World Liberty Financial in an attempt to defraud potential buyers. "Due to the popularity of the people behind the project, criminals took advantage of this opportunity to defraud potential users," Waters said. "Legislators have a responsibility to consider establishing strong protections to prevent this type of scam from happening." 

According to Trump's son Eric Trump, Twitter blocked the social media accounts controlled by hackers "within minutes." But Waters pointed out that many people were still actually hurt by this, buying about $1.8 million worth of fake tokens that were actually unrelated to the project.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC recently traded at $57,648.67, with a daily increase or decrease of +1.2%;

ETH recently traded at $2,389.79, with a daily increase or decrease of +1.4%;

BNB recently traded at $517.47, with a daily increase or decrease of -0.1%；

SOL's latest transaction price is 135.75 US dollars, and its intraday change is +0.7%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.1028 US dollars, and its intraday change is -0.7%；

XPR's latest transaction price is 0.5414 US dollars, and its intraday change is +0.5%.

Policy

▌Blockchain advocacy group Digital Chamber calls on the U.S. Congress to legislate to clarify NFT regulation

The Digital Chamber, a cryptocurrency and blockchain advocacy group, called on the U.S. Congress to introduce legislation to define certain NFTs (non-fungible tokens) as consumer products and exempt them from federal securities law regulation. The move is in response to possible enforcement actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the OpenSea platform. Devin Finzer, CEO of OpenSea, said the Wells notice received on August 28 indicated that the SEC was entering "unknown territory." Digital Chamber criticized SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's approach to regulation through law enforcement, saying that the lack of a clear legal definition would put the NFT industry at risk. The organization stressed that NFTs should not be considered securities, but should be classified as consumer products.

▌The U.S. SEC has fined the cryptocurrency industry $7.4 billion since 2013

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined the cryptocurrency industry $7.4 billion since 2013, according to a study published by Social Capital Markets.  

With Terraform Labs agreeing to pay $4.47 billion earlier this year, the total fines in 2024 have exceeded previous years, reaching $4.7 billion, the report said. However, the report also said that the total number of fines issued fell to 11 from 30 last year, when the SEC fined the crypto industry a total of $150 million.  

Social Capital Markets said in its report: "The overall increase in fines suggests a strategic shift toward fewer, higher-impact cases. This change underscores the need for crypto companies to prioritize regulatory compliance as the financial risks associated with noncompliance have escalated."

Blockchain Applications

▌Crypto Yield Protocol Ethena Has Seen Nearly $1 Billion in Outflows Since July

Crypto Yield Protocol Ethena has seen nearly $1 billion in outflows since July, according to DefiLlama data. This represents a 27% reduction in the token's supply. The protocol's governance token, ethena (ENA), has fallen 85% from its April high.  

Meanwhile, the funding rate for cryptocurrency perpetual futures, the main source of yield for USDe, has fallen to near zero in the past few weeks. In March, the rate reached an annualized 40%-70%. DefiLlama said USDe's yield has fallen to 4.4% from a high of more than 50% in March, which is lower than lower-risk investments such as ordinary money market funds or other digital token products backed by the U.S. Treasury. "Lower funding rates make it less attractive to hold and stake USDe," said Julio Moreno, an analyst at CryptoQuant. ▌ Web3 protocol ARPA Network plans to launch native re-staking rewards as early as September ARPA Network, a Web3 protocol built on EigenLayer, plans to start issuing rewards to re-stakers with its native token ARPA as early as September. “If everything goes well, we will launch (ARPA rewards) in late September, and if not, then definitely in October,” Jason Zhao, head of business development, told Cointelegraph. In addition to native token rewards, ARPA is also testing an “incentive program to provide additional EIGEN reward boosts to our stakeholders and operators,” ARPA CEO Felix Xu said in the statement. This will be the first time EigenLayer’s third-party Active Validation Service (AVS) will pay re-stakers for securing and validating its network. EigenLayer’s in-house AVS, EigenDA, already pays re-stakers in wETH.

Crypto

▌Macro factors push Bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P 500 to a 23-month high

Affected by macroeconomic factors, Bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P 500 has risen to 0.67, a nearly two-year high. Recently, Bitcoin prices fell 10% due to weak US employment data, and then partially recovered, closing down 3% on the week. The upcoming US CPI data and the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on September 18 are expected to further affect the crypto market. ▌ Ethereum on-chain stablecoin trading volume reached a record high of $1.46 trillion. According to The Block, Ethereum's on-chain stablecoin trading volume has reached a record high of $1.46 trillion, and trading volume has more than doubled from $650 billion at the beginning of the year. Among them, decentralized stablecoin DAI led with a trading volume of $960 billion. However, after data cleaning and filtering, DAI's trading volume lags behind USDT and USDC, indicating the possibility of false transactions and large transfers. The report said that the growth in the use of stablecoins is more likely to indicate the increasing maturity of the ecosystem. The higher the volume of stablecoin transactions, the deeper the liquidity pool, the less slippage, and the more efficient the market as a whole.

▌U.S. Democratic Congressman: Regulators or the crypto industry itself do not have a "consensus definition" of DeFi

The U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Digital Assets Subcommittee discussed DeFi regulation at a hearing. Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch said that regulators or the industry itself do not have a "consensus definition" of DeFi. He also criticized the entire crypto industry, saying that the industry has been damaged by the "implosion incident" and called for legislation.  

Stephen Lynch said: "The committee should have explored digital asset topics such as DeFi and tokenization long before legislation was introduced. The FIT Act, which I strongly oppose, excludes DeFi services. I urge the committee not to advance similar legislation that would raise the same consumer and investor protection risks by legitimizing the industry."

▌Analysis: Uncertainty over Trump-Harris Debate Pressures Stocks and Cryptocurrencies

QCP Capital analysts believe that uncertainty over Tuesday night's debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is weighing on U.S. equities and, in turn, crypto markets. "Macroeconomic uncertainty is currently dominating the cryptocurrency market, with the 30-day correlation with the MSCI World Equity Index at 0.6, close to its highest level in 2 years," the analysts noted. 

QCP Capital's unit reported active derivatives market activity, with investors expecting heightened volatility around tonight's Trump-Harris debate, which begins at 9 p.m. ET. The analyst added: "We are seeing a large influx of buying, with the number of Bitcoin options contracts expiring on September 11 reaching 400 with a strike price of $57,500."

▌SwissBorg Launches USDC Earn Product Based on Morpho

SwissBorg, a fintech platform focused on cryptocurrencies and serving the European market, has announced the launch of a USDC Earn product that leverages the Morpho protocol. The new product, now available to SwissBorg app users, provides Web2 audiences with access to a custom Morpho Vault, which is reportedly accessible to Morpho's WBTC/USDC and wstETH/USDC markets, marking the first time Morpho's Vaults have been used in a CeFi environment.

▌Paypal and Venmo integrate Ethereum domain name service ENS to support crypto payments

ENS Labs announced on Tuesday that Paypal and Venmo have integrated the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) into their payment platforms, which means that US users of Paypal and Venmo can enter ENS domain names to send cryptocurrencies without copying and pasting wallet addresses.  

ENS was founded in 2017 with funding from Ethereum. There are more than 2 million domain names registered on the chain and more than 4 million domain names registered off the chain. Paypal and Venmo began supporting cryptocurrencies in 2021.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌Traders Still Expect at Least Two Big Fed Rate Cuts in the Near Future

Traders in the U.S. interest rate options market are still betting on at least one super-large rate cut by the Federal Reserve this year, though it may not happen before the November 5 presidential election. With the Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week, at first glance, Fed swap contracts reflect expectations of a 25 basis point rate cut, with little chance of a larger cut. But a closer look tells a different story. Recent options activity related to the secured overnight funding rate suggests that traders are increasingly positioning for a rate cut of about 150 basis points before the Fed's January 29 policy decision. This is the same as what the swap market is currently pricing in. To achieve this, policymakers would have to implement at least a half-percentage point cut at two of the four meetings before January, without an inter-meeting rate cut.

▌The probability of the Fed cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in September is 69%

According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Fed cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in September is 69%, and the probability of cutting interest rates by 50 basis points is 31%. The probability of the Fed cutting interest rates by 50 basis points by November is 26.1%, the probability of cutting interest rates by 75 basis points is 54.6%, and the probability of cutting interest rates by 100 basis points is 19.3%.

▌UBS strategist: S&P 500 expected to fall at least 10%

UBS's head of U.S. equity derivatives strategy said she expects the S&P 500 to fall at least 10% from its peak within a month. "I am tactically bearish for the next two months," Rebecca Cheong wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday. "A slight disappointment in the upcoming economic data could trigger a massive pullback." She recommends investors buy tail hedges in ETFs to protect against losses, and lists the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF US) and the iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) as top picks.

▌Goldman Sachs: Global rate cut cycle is good for the dollar

Analysts at Goldman Sachs Group said the upcoming Fed rate cut poses limited downside risk to the dollar as other central banks are also easing policy. In fact, such synchronized rate cut cycles are usually accompanied by a stronger dollar, currency analyst Isabella Rosenberg wrote in a note to clients. She based her conclusion on an analysis of rate cut cycles since 1995 and the degree of policy coordination among developed countries.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is the Ethereum Prague-Electra (Pectra) upgrade?

Ethereum's Pectra upgrade combines two separate upgrades: the Prague upgrade and the Electra upgrade. The Prague upgrade focuses on changes to the network's execution layer, while the Electra upgrade affects the consensus layer. These upgrades are collectively referred to as the "Pectra" upgrade when combined. The Pectra upgrade will follow "Dencun," a merger of the Deneb and Cancun upgrades in March 2024. Technically, Dencun is an Ethereum hard fork designed to reduce transaction fees for Layer 2 solutions. Pectra is a new milestone on the Ethereum development roadmap and is scheduled to go live in the first quarter of 2025. This timeline allows for the inclusion of additional features to improve the Ethereum user experience (UX).

Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, Golden Finance publishes articles for information reference only and is not intended as actual investment advice. Please establish a correct investment philosophy and be sure to raise your risk awareness.