Zhao Changpeng will be released on September 29, former Celsius CEO faces 115 years in prison

Headlines

▌Former Celsius CEO seeks to subpoena six witnesses to testify as he faces 115 years in prison

According to The Block, former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky requested to subpoena six witnesses who had worked at the crypto company to testify for him because he could face more than 100 years in prison. Mashinsky was arrested last year and prosecutors accused him of defrauding customers and misleading Celsius about its profitability. In a memorandum filed by his lawyers last Friday, he asked the New York District Court to allow these witnesses, including the chief financial officer and chief revenue officer of the crypto lending platform, to testify in his criminal trial. Lawyers said many of the witnesses to be subpoenaed live outside the United States. Mashinsky's lawyers claimed in the memorandum that he did not intend to harm anyone.

▌Changpeng Zhao to be released on September 29

According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons website, Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao will be released from a U.S. prison on September 29. Zhao is currently serving a four-month sentence and was recently transferred to the Long Beach Residential Reentry Management (RRM) in Central California. RRM acts as a local federal prison liaison to assist prisoners who are about to be released by working with federal courts, the U.S. Marshals Service, and local correctional institutions.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is $60,578.87, with a daily increase or decrease of +4.1%;

ETH's latest transaction price is $2,440.71, with a daily increase or decrease of +3.3%;

BNB's latest transaction price is $556.77, with a daily increase or decrease of +2.2%;

SOL's latest transaction price is $139.12, with a daily increase or decrease of +2.2%;

XPR's latest transaction price is $0.5728, with a daily increase or decrease of +1.9%.

Policy

▌Two former SEC staff members will attend a hearing on the politicization of encryption regulation

Golden Finance reported that the U.S. House of Representatives Digital Assets, Fintech, and Inclusion Subcommittee stated in a notice on September 13 that they will hold a hearing entitled "Dazed and Confused: Breaking the SEC's Politicization of Digital Assets." Witnesses at the September 18 hearing will include former SEC Commissioner Dan Gallagher and Michael Liftik, who served as a lawyer, senior advisor or acting head of enforcement during his approximately ten years at the SEC.

▌Kraken denies SEC allegations, saying digital assets are not securities

Golden Finance reported that cryptocurrency exchange Kraken responded to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's allegations that it violated federal securities laws.   In a legal filing on September 12, the cryptocurrency exchange denied the SEC's allegations, saying that the assets cited by the regulator did not meet the legal definition of securities. Kraken stated in the filing that it did not violate "Sections 5, 15(a) and 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934" because the cited assets "are not securities or investment contracts."

Blockchain Applications

▌Risc Zero: Bringing Blockchain Security to “Any” Off-Chain Application

According to a Sept. 16 announcement, Risc Zero is preparing to launch a service designed to bring blockchain security to any off-chain application using zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. Risc said the service, called “Boundless,” aims to solve blockchain’s toughest scalability challenges — including limits on transaction throughput and cross-chain interoperability — by using ZK proofs to “bypass traditional on-chain execution limitations.”

Cryptocurrency

▌Trump: Cryptocurrency companies should have certain security measures

Golden Finance reported that former US President Trump: Cryptocurrency companies should have certain security measures. It is important to establish a legal cryptocurrency framework in the United States.

▌Coinbase CEO denies selling "paper bitcoin" to BlackRock and cbBTC

Golden Finance reported that Coinbase founder and CEO Brian Armstrong denied speculation that the company had sold paper bitcoin to BlackRock and did not maintain 1:1 support. In a statement to cryptocurrency analyst Tyler Durden published on X, Armstrong explained that the Bitcoin minting and destruction of BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF are transparent and carried out on the chain. Durden shared data from Cryptoquant showing that Coinbase was the largest buyer and seller at market highs and lows. In addition, he hinted that the exchange allowed BlackRock to borrow Bitcoin without providing collateral. Since BlackRock is one of the world's largest Bitcoin holders, the analyst said the two companies could profit by controlling the decline and rise of cryptocurrencies.

▌SOL fell below $130

The market shows that SOL fell below $130 and is now at $129.97, with a 24-hour drop of 3.8%. The market is volatile, so please do a good job of risk control.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌Senator Warren calls on the Fed to cut interest rates by 75 basis points at the next meeting

Golden Finance reported that the market generally expects the Fed to cut interest rates by 0.5%, but Senator Warren believes that the Fed needs to take faster action to save the labor market. Bitcoin skeptic Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and other Democratic senators sent a letter to the Federal Reserve on Monday, calling for more aggressive rate cuts than the market expects. “We write today to urge the Federal Reserve (Fed) to cut the federal funds rate (currently at a two-decade high of 5.3%) by 75 basis points (bps) at the September 17-18, 2024 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting,” the senators wrote. ▌ Bitwise Analyst: Expectations of further Fed rate cuts intensify, net positive for crypto assets André Dragosch, head of European research at Bitwise, said: “If the Fed cuts by 50 basis points, the crypto market reaction may be positive, as this particular leading indicator has already shown that underlying economic momentum has even accelerated in September. I believe that the market will be driven more by expectations of rate cuts than the rate cuts themselves in the coming months. Due to the weak US economy and the impending recession, expectations of further rate cuts are likely to intensify, and we expect this to be a net positive for Bitcoin and crypto assets.” Bond traders again believe that Fed policymakers are more likely to cut interest rates by 50 basis points than 25 basis points at this week's meeting. Swap contracts tied to the Fed's interest rate decision show that the probability of the Fed cutting interest rates by 50 basis points this week is more than 50%, compared with last week when traders almost completely ruled out the possibility. This brought the two-year U.S. yield back to its lowest level in two years and dragged the dollar index to its lowest level since January. Philip Marey, senior U.S. strategist at Rabobank, wrote that he expects the Fed to implement a standard 25 basis point rate cut. "Powell's lack of guidance may indicate that the FOMC has not yet reached a consensus. More importantly, retail sales on Tuesday may still change market expectations." (Jinshi)

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 that aims 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 the correct investment philosophy and be sure to increase risk awareness.