Wintermute recently bought ETH. Judge rules XRP trading violates securities laws

Headline

▌Wintermute founder: Wintermute is buying ETH recently

Wintermute founder and CEO wishful cynic responded to other users' questions on social media, "Why are you selling ETH recently?" He said that the agency is actually buying ETH recently. Another user asked, "Is the "buying behavior" mentioned by wishful cynic "completed through OTC or directly through the order book of the trading platform?", but wishful cynic did not respond positively, and asked back that there is no difference between the two.

Previously reported, on August 7, according to The Date Nerd's monitoring, Wintermute deposited 17,368 ETH to Binance in the past 24 hours, equivalent to US$43.17 million. In addition, on August 5, Wintermute was monitored to transfer 22,460 ETH from its market-making account and other trading platform accounts to Binance deposit addresses in the past 24 hours, which were subsequently transferred to Binance hot wallets (wishful cynic did not respond to the data).

▌Judge ruled that the exchange's XRP transactions violated securities laws and fined Ripple $125 million in the SEC case

Analisa Torres, a district judge in the Southern District of New York, found that Ripple's 1,278 institutional sales transactions violated securities laws, so it fined it, and the $125.035 million fine was far lower than the $1 billion in illegal gains and prejudgment interest and $900 million in civil penalties required by the SEC.  

The ruling found that Ripple violated federal securities laws by selling XRP directly to institutional customers, but ruled that Ripple's programmatic sales of XRP to retail investors through exchanges did not violate any securities laws. The SEC unsuccessfully attempted to appeal that portion of the ruling while the case was pending. 

Judge Torres also enjoined Ripple from future violations of federal securities laws and issued an injunction requiring Ripple to file a registration statement if it intends to sell any securities.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is 55,168.94 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.5%;

ETH's latest transaction price is 2,346.69 yuan, with a daily increase or decrease of -4.6%;

BNB's latest transaction price is 475.67 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.8%；

SOL's latest transaction price is 145.15 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.7%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.0959 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -0.2%；

XPR's latest transaction price is 0.602 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +19.1%。

Policy

▌US Democrats launch "Harris' Cryptocurrency" campaign to fight Trump

According to FOX Business, the US Democratic Party launched the "Harris' Cryptocurrency" campaign to fight Donald Trump.

▌UK FCA issues new guidance to ensure cryptocurrency promotion compliance

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued the latest guidance to ensure that cryptocurrency companies meet the promotion compliance requirements that will come into effect in October 2023.

▌Ripple CEO: Respect the court's decision, SEC's resistance to the entire XRP community has disappeared

A US judge announced a fine of $125 million against Ripple in the SEC lawsuit. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse responded on the X platform: "The SEC previously demanded $2 billion in compensation. The court believed that they had overacted, so they reduced their requirements by about 94%. We respect the court's decision and are determined to continue to develop our company. This is a victory for Ripple, the industry and the rule of law. The SEC's resistance to the entire XRP community has disappeared."

Blockchain Applications

▌Starknet v0.13.2 upgrade is now online on the test network

Starknet announced that the v0.13.2 upgrade is now online on the Starknet test network. The update includes parallel execution and block packaging. The next step is scheduled to be launched on the main network on August 28.

Cryptocurrency

▌Crypto Alliance Calls for Clearer Rules and Warns of Risks in Letter to Biden and Harris

A group of more than 50 cryptocurrency companies, the Coalition for Crypto Market Integrity (CMIC), called on U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to set clear rules for the digital asset industry, saying that without them, consumers will be harmed and innovation will stop. The alliance was founded by Coinbase, Circle and The Digital Chamber, and its members include Robinhood, BitGo and Chainalysis. Other jurisdictions, including the European Union, Japan and the United Kingdom, have begun to develop regulatory frameworks, the alliance wrote in a letter to the White House on Wednesday.  

“Many of the losses of the past few years could have been avoided with basic consumer protections, which is particularly concerning to CMIC members given our public commitment to market integrity and our efforts to develop rigorous industry standards to monitor and eliminate market misconduct,” the members said. The letter said that regulators have no clear rules for how to enforce the law on cryptocurrencies, causing compliant U.S. companies to lose customers and market share to entities that do not follow the rules. The alliance also wrote: “We hope to see the U.S. government work with Congress to enact such foundational legislation this year. Missing the legislative opportunity will be a mistake that will be noticed both at home and abroad.”

▌Grayscale, Bitwise and NYSE propose to allow options trading on spot Ethereum ETFs

Grayscale and Bitwise, together with the New York Stock Exchange, submitted a rule change proposal to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow trading of options on the Bitwise Ethereum ETF, Grayscale Ethereum Trust and Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust. The document states that these options will provide investors with an additional, relatively low-cost investment tool, while serving as a hedging tool to meet investors' investment needs for Ethereum products and positions. Public comments on the proposal will expire in 21 days. Several companies are also seeking trading permission for spot Bitcoin ETF options, but have not yet been approved.

▌Mining company Core Scientific suffered a net loss of $804.9 million in the second quarter

Bitcoin mining company Core Scientific announced financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024. Net loss was $804.9 million, compared with a net loss of $9.3 million in the same period of 2023. Total revenue was $141.1 million, compared with $126.9 million in the same period last year. Operating income was $6.6 million, compared with $9.5 million in the same period of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA was $46 million, compared with $45 million in the same period last year. The main reason for the loss was a net non-cash adjustment of $796 million to warrants and other contingent value liabilities at market value, as the value of equity increased significantly between quarters.

▌Analysis: Selling pressure on cryptocurrencies, beware of spreading to broader risk trades

Bitcoin turned down during the day, and Adam Button, an analyst at the financial website Forexlive, said: This is now a sentiment-driven market, and Bitcoin has always been a good forerunner of market sentiment, so I have been paying close attention to it. In the past 30 minutes or so, Bitcoin has fallen by $1,000. Ethereum also fell 3%, giving up all of yesterday's gains, and its performance since the launch of the US spot ETF has been a disaster. Given these trends, I will be cautious about the Nasdaq index and broader risk trades.

▌Arbitrum now supports USDC as a custom Gas payment token

Arbitrum Orbit Chain can now use USDC as a custom Gas token. This integration opens the door to building new types of applications, including those that require payment channels to achieve a frictionless user experience.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌Former New York Fed President Dudley: 25 or 50 basis points of interest rate cuts may occur in September

Former New York Fed President Dudley said that two weeks ago, he turned from a hawk to a dove, abandoning his support for further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and advocating an immediate interest rate cut to avoid a recession. In the past two weeks, there has been more evidence of a weakening U.S. labor market and further slowing inflation. After that, the longer the Fed waits, the greater the potential damage. Fed members’ estimates of the neutral rate range between 2.4% and 3.8%, meaning the current effective federal funds rate of 5.3% is a long way from neutral. If a recession becomes a reality, the Fed would need to cut rates to 3% or lower. The Fed is expected to cut rates by 25 or 50 basis points at its September meeting.

▌JPMorgan Chase raises odds of a U.S. recession by year-end to 35%

JPMorgan now sees a 35% chance of a U.S. recession by the end of the year, up from 25% at the beginning of last month. News from the U.S. “suggests a sharper-than-expected weakening in labor demand, with early signs of layoffs emerging,” JPMorgan economists led by Bruce Kasman wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. The team maintained its odds of a recession by the second half of 2025 at 45%. “Our modest upward revision to our assessment of recession risk is more significant than our larger revision to our interest rate outlook,” Kasman and his colleagues wrote. JPMorgan now sees only a 30% chance that the Fed and other central banks will keep interest rates high for a long time, down from a 50% chance just two months ago. With inflationary pressures in the U.S. declining, JPMorgan expects the Fed to cut rates by 50 basis points in September and November.

▌The probability of a 50 basis point rate cut by the Fed in September is 71.5%

According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut by the Fed in September is 28.5%, and the probability of a 50 basis point rate cut is 71.5%. The probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut by the Fed by November is 15.5%, the probability of a cumulative 75 basis point rate cut is 51.8%, and the probability of a cumulative 100 basis point rate cut is 32.7%.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is an inverse futures contract?

An inverse futures contract is a financial arrangement that requires the seller to pay the buyer the difference between the agreed price and the current price when the contract expires. Unlike traditional futures, the seller benefits from a drop in price. The nature of inverse futures contracts is nonlinear. When a trader goes long on a BTC/USD inverse futures contract, they are shorting the U.S. dollar. Because the contract is inverse, the trader's position is worth less in Bitcoin, and the higher the value of Bitcoin, the higher its value relative to the U.S. dollar.

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 increase risk awareness.