Assange is expected to be released. The European Central Bank publishes its first CBDC progress report

Headline

▌Julian Assange to be released after reaching a plea deal with the US

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to be released after reaching a plea deal with US authorities, which will be equivalent to the time he served in a British prison. Assange will plead guilty to a charge brought by the United States of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information. In return, he will be sentenced to 62 months in prison, which is the same time he served in Belmarsh Prison in London. Assange is an Australian citizen and is free to return to Australia after his release.

▌ECB releases first CBDC progress report

The European Central Bank (ECB) released its first central bank digital currency (CBDC) progress report on June 24, focusing on privacy protection. The ECB promises to prevent individual transactions from being tracked through pseudonymization, hashing functions and encryption functions, and payment service providers are not allowed to use consumer financial data without individual consent. The report also introduces methods to support offline transactions. The newly formed "rule-making group" will submit a draft CBDC technical and regulatory framework by the end of 2024. Privacy issues remain a major concern for CBDC, and opposition continues to grow in the crypto community.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is $60,370.9, with a daily increase or decrease of -4.4%;

ETH's latest transaction price is $3,357.35, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.9%;

BNB's latest transaction price is $567.90, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.6%；

SOL's latest transaction price is 132.26 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +3.9%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.119 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -2.6%；

XPR's latest transaction price is 0.474 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.1%。

Policy

▌The Biden Administration Rehires its Former Cryptocurrency Advisor Carole House

The Biden Administration announced that Carole House, a key official who advised and co-wrote President Biden’s 2022 executive order on cryptocurrencies and digital assets, has returned to the administration. House will serve as a special adviser to the White House National Security Council, focusing on “critical infrastructure policy” and cybersecurity. “It’s an honor to serve again to shape the future of a secure and trusted digital economy,” she said. 

House’s return to the White House comes as Biden works to strengthen his credibility in the cryptocurrency space in response to former President Trump’s enthusiastic embrace of the digital asset industry. House most recently served as an “executive in residence” at Terranet Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on cryptocurrencies. She has extensive government experience, having served as an advisor to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the National Security Council. 

Dave Grimaldi, executive vice president of the Blockchain Association, a cryptocurrency lobbying group, described House as a “pragmatic expert” and believes her pragmatic approach will have a positive impact on the Biden team. House has been moderately supportive of cryptocurrencies, emphasizing their potential for international economic applications while also stressing the need for stronger law enforcement.

▌Iranian Officials Slam Blockchain Game Hamster Fight as Soft Power Tool

Iranian government officials and hardliners have strongly criticized the popularity of the blockchain game Hamster Fight, arguing that the simple play-to-earn click game is a soft power tool used by Western countries. Iranian military deputy chief of staff Habibollah Sayaria and religious leader Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi accused the game of attempting to divert Iranians' attention from the upcoming presidential election. In addition, they viewed the entire cryptocurrency space as rife with fraud. Despite Iran's severe economic woes, including Western sanctions and high inflation, blockchain games like Axie Infinity have quickly taken off in the developing world, providing residents with a significant source of economic income.

Blockchain Applications

▌Blockchain Developers Warn of Centralization Risks in Crypto AI Competition

In an interview, Julian Peh, CEO of Kip Protocol, warned that the risk of centralization has emerged in the field of AI as Fetch.ai, AGIX and Ocean Protocol merged into the $7.5 billion Alliance for Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI). He pointed out that companies like OpenAI are training giant models with collective data and have full control over the regulatory process, which may lead to individuals losing their economic participation rights in the future. Peh emphasized that if you want to have a say in the AI-driven future, you must take back the ownership of data and knowledge. He introduced that Kip Protocol aims to provide decentralized AI infrastructure for blockchain developers to promote fair competition and resource sharing. In addition, Fetch.ai CEO Humayun Sheikh said that the protocol is ready to generate revenue in the short term by deploying agent networks and commercial products.

▌Report: DePIN and SwanChain will disrupt the cloud computing industry

The Cointelegraph Research report shows that the DePIN network and SwanChain ecosystem are expected to disrupt the cloud computing market. The cloud computing market is expected to reach $2.3 billion by 2032, but it is currently dominated by a few companies and is high risk. DePIN and DeREN can reduce these risks, improve data processing security and transparency, and reduce costs. SwanChain's decentralized platform meets computing and storage needs through a bidding market, with costs 40-50% lower than AWS and others. The report also pointed out that the application of zero-knowledge computing technology on the SwanChain platform demonstrated its large-scale processing capabilities.

▌Aave community members proposed to add dlcBTC to Aave V3 on Ethereum and Arbitrum

Aave official governance forum shows that community member akibalogh initiated a proposal to add dlcBTC to Aave V3 on Ethereum and Arbitrum. dlcBTC is a decentralized wrapped Bitcoin on Ethereum.

Cryptocurrency

▌The entire network has exploded $375 million in the past 24 hours

Data shows that the entire network has exploded $375 million in the past 24 hours, of which long orders exploded $317 million and short orders exploded $58.4219 million, mainly long orders. Among them, BTC exploded $181 million and ETH exploded $80.1076 million.

▌Fan Token Market Value Has Fallen 13% Since Euro 2024 Kicks Off

The UEFA Euro 2024 football tournament kicks off on June 15, and on the surface, one might think that soccer-related cryptocurrency tokens, especially those associated with football, would perform very well during the quadrennial event. However, the reality is quite different. The Block’s Sports Token Index, which tracks the performance of fan tokens of prominent European football teams, is one of the worst performing baskets of assets on the market this week.

The index has fallen sharply since the tournament began on June 15, with the cumulative market value of these tokens down by about 12.8% at the time of publication. Over the same period, the price of Bitcoin has fallen by 3%, while the price of Ethereum has risen by about 1%.

▌ZK token valuation drops to $3.4 billion, down 40% from launch

Data shows that the current market value of ZKsync Era token ZK is about $600 million, with a fully diluted valuation of $3.4 billion as of press time, down 40% from the valuation when it was launched on June 17.  

Analysts at The Block pointed out that this may be due to the continued selling pressure from airdrop recipients and poor overall market conditions. The 7-day moving average of active addresses on Zync Era hit a record high of nearly 675,000 on the day of the ZK token launch, but just three days after the token was launched, the number of active addresses was reduced by half.

▌Kansas City Fed studies stablecoin insurance costs

A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City found that stablecoin insurance costs are higher than bank deposit insurance. Since 2019, the average annual insurance cost of four unnamed stablecoins has been 3.2%, but it has fallen below 1% in the past year, while bank FDIC insurance costs range from 2.5 to 42 basis points. Stablecoin prices and issuance fluctuate greatly, and capital buffers are small, averaging only 0.9%. Nevertheless, insurance costs can be covered by the interest on stablecoin reserves.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in August is 89.7%

According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in August is 89.7%, and the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 10.3%. The probability that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged by September is 32.3%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 61.1%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 6.6%.

▌Fed proposes a looser version of bank capital reform

The Federal Reserve has shown other regulators a document that may revise bank capital reform, which would greatly reduce the burden on Wall Street banks, according to people familiar with the matter. The revised bill would withdraw key parts of the landmark proposal, people familiar with the matter said. The Fed's document did not include an updated estimate of how much additional capital large banks must hold to cushion financial shocks. But people familiar with the matter said preliminary calculations showed that the proposed reforms could result in a minimum increase of 5% in total capital. The initial version called for an overall increase of 16%. The substantial revision of the plan is more likely to meet Federal Reserve Chairman Powell's goal of attracting broad support from the Federal Reserve Board.

▌Fed Daly: If inflation falls rapidly or the job market weakens beyond expectations, it is necessary to cut interest rates

Fed Daly said that if inflation falls slower than expected, the policy interest rate must remain at a high level for a longer period of time; if inflation gradually falls and the labor market rebalances slowly, then the Fed can gradually adjust its policy; if inflation falls rapidly or the labor market weakens beyond expectations, it will be necessary to lower the policy interest rate.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is an unlimited coin attack?

An unlimited coin attack is when an attacker manipulates the contract code to continuously mint new tokens that exceed the authorized supply limit. Malicious actors may profit from such attacks by selling illegally created tokens or interfering with the normal operation of the affected blockchain network. The prevalence of infinite coin minting attacks highlights the importance of conducting thorough code audits and incorporating security measures into smart contract development to prevent such vulnerabilities.

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.