1. Summary of This Week’s CPI Data

a. US CPI Unadjusted Annual Rate for July Stands at 3.2% link

In the United States, the non-seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July registered an annualized rate of 3.2%, slightly below the anticipated 3.3%, with a previous value of 3%. Similarly, the core CPI for July, excluding volatile components, showed an annualized rate of 4.7%, just below the expected 4.8%, and matching the previous value of 4.8%, marking the lowest level since October 2021. According to data from CME, the likelihood of the Federal Reserve refraining from any interest rate hikes during the FOMC meeting on September 20th stands at an impressive 90.5%.

b. China’s National Bureau of Statistics Reveals a -0.3% Annual Rate for July CPI link

The Chinese National Bureau of Statistics has released the July Consumer Price Index (CPI) with a yearly change of -0.3%, slightly better than the expected -0.40%, and compared to the previous value of 0.00%. This decline is primarily attributed to the impact of food prices, notably a significant 26.0% drop in pork prices. In terms of monthly changes, the July CPI rose by 0.2%, surpassing the anticipated -0.1% and recovering from the previous -0.2%. The surge in summer travel has played a substantial role, contributing to notable increases of 26.0% in airfare, 10.1% in tourism-related expenses, and 6.5% in hotel accommodations.

2. SEC Plans to Appeal Partial Defeat in Ripple Labs’ Case link

On August 9th, as reported by The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its intention to challenge some of the unfavorable rulings in the Ripple Labs case, informing the Southern District of New York court of its plan to seek an intermediate appeal. This move follows a recent case involving Terraform Labs, where a judge rejected the approach taken by Torres, the judge overseeing the Ripple Labs case. Previously, Torres had ruled that certain XRP sales by Ripple (referred to as programmatic sales) did not violate securities laws, citing their employment of a blind bidding process. In contrast, other tokens sold directly to institutional investors were classified as securities.

3. Federal Reserve Initiates a Novel Program for Overseeing Banking Crypto Activities link

On August 9th, the Federal Reserve initiated a new program to oversee cryptocurrency activities within banks. This program places a significant emphasis on establishing partnerships with non-bank institutions and activities involving crypto assets and blockchain technology. In this context, state-owned banks under the supervision of the Federal Reserve must obtain approval before issuing, holding, or trading USD-backed tokens. They are required to demonstrate adequate safeguards and control measures to mitigate risks and ensure ongoing monitoring of these matters.

4. SoFi Bank Discloses Cryptocurrency Holdings Valued at $170 Million in Quarterly Earnings Report link

On August 10th, San Francisco-based SoFi Bank revealed in its quarterly earnings report that it holds a cryptocurrency portfolio valued at $170 million. This portfolio includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Solana, ETC, and Dogecoin. Back in February 2019, SoFi entered into a partnership with Coinbase to offer cryptocurrency trading. The Federal Reserve has previously noted that “SoFi is currently engaged in activities involving crypto assets and has not yet found these activities to be permissible.”

5. PayPal Introduces Ethereum-based Stablecoin link

On August 10th, PayPal announced its intention to introduce the PayPal USD (PYUSD), a stablecoin backed by deposits of the US dollar, short-term government bonds, and similar cash equivalents, in collaboration with Paxos TrustCo. PYUSD will gradually become available to PayPal’s customers in the United States. Previously, the New York State regulatory agency had compelled the suspension of the issuance of the USD stablecoin BUSD, jointly launched by Paxos and Binance, in February. Additionally, in June, the SEC deemed BUSD a security in its lawsuit against Binance.

PYUSD will be an ERC-20 token issued on the Ethereum blockchain and is set to launch in the coming weeks. Users will have the ability to transfer PYUSD between PayPal and compatible external wallets, facilitating the conversion of any supported cryptocurrencies within PayPal to PYUSD.

It’s worth noting that the planned collaboration between PayPal’s stablecoin and FTX for the initial launch on Solana was halted due to FTX’s insolvency.

6. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Allocates Up to 150 Million Singapore Dollars in the Next Three Years to Foster Financial Technological Innovations Such as Web 3.0 link

On August 7th, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced its commitment to invest up to a maximum of 150 million Singapore dollars over a three-year period to advance innovative financial technology solutions arising from emerging technologies such as Web 3.0. This initiative will be limited to a maximum of 2 million Singapore dollars per project. MAS encourages the utilization of emerging technologies like Web3 in industry use cases.

7. KuCoin Declares Further Strengthening of KYC Policy, Mandating New Registrants to Complete KYC Process link

On August 7th, KuCoin announced its enhanced Know Your Customer (KYC) policy, mandating new registrants to complete the KYC process. This entails submitting identification documents and undergoing facial recognition. Existing users who have not completed KYC will have limited access, restricted to services such as spot selling, contract closing, leverage closing, fund redemption, and ETF redemption. Additionally, they won’t be able to utilize deposit services (withdrawals remain unaffected).

8. Binance’s Weekly Summary

a. Binance Acquires Bitcoin and Digital Asset Service License in El Salvador link

On August 8th, Binance announced that the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador has granted them a Bitcoin Services Provider License (BSP). Additionally, Binance has been awarded the country’s first non-temporary Digital Assets Service Provider License (DASP) by the National Cryptocurrency Council. Consequently, Binance has become the inaugural fully licensed cryptocurrency exchange in El Salvador. Notably, El Salvador became the world’s first nation to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender two years ago in 2021, and has since established legal frameworks for both national and private entities to issue other cryptographic assets.

b. Binance Issues Ninth Reserve Audit, Reducing Reserves by 3,835 BTC link

On August 6th, Binance released its ninth Reserve Report (snapshot taken on 8–1). Compared to the previous report on July 1st, users’ deposited BTC assets decreased by 0.6%, amounting to a reduction of 3,835 BTC. Deposited ETH assets witnessed a decrease of 2.3%, totaling a reduction of 95,000 ETH. Furthermore, deposited BNB assets decreased by 1.4%, equating to a reduction of 423,000 BNB. Lastly, users’ deposited USDT assets decreased by 1.2%, resulting in a reduction of 197 million USDT.

9. The Curve Incident Results in Approximately $73.5 Million Worth of Cryptocurrency Stolen on Ethereum, with 73% Recovered link

According to Shield, on August 7th, the Curve incident resulted in approximately $73.5 million worth of cryptocurrency being stolen from Ethereum. Around 73% of this amount (approximately $52.3 million) has already been returned, leaving approximately $19.7 million worth of cryptocurrency yet to be returned by the initial attacker of Curve CRV-ETH. Notably, AlchemixFi has fully reimbursed $22 million (consisting of 7,258 ETH and 4,821 alETH). Jpegd, an early trader, has returned about 90%, approximately $11.5 million. c0ffeebabe.eth has returned $7 million, and Alchemix (White Hat Operation) has returned $13 million.

10. MakerDAO Elevates Dai Savings Rate (DSR) to 8%, Attracting Considerable Whale Deposits link

The MakerDAO Dai Savings Rate (DSR) has been increased to 8%. As monitored by @EmberCN, the current 8% APY of $DAI is attracting significant interest from whales: one whale recently converted 5640 $ETH into 10.32 million DAI, collateralized 5400 wstETH ($11.2M), borrowed 4 million DAI, and then deposited the 14.32 million DAI into MakerDAO to earn the current 8% APY. On August 10th, Justin Sun pledged 231,000 stETH ($427M) to mint 176 million $DAI and deposited it into Maker. As of the time of writing, according to Debank, the total value locked (TVL) in the DAI pool has surpassed $1.1 billion.

The @bitfish1 strategy involves pledging ETH for wstETH, then using wstETH to generate DAI through MakerDAO and finally depositing DAI into the DSR. Currently investing 1,000 ETH could yield around 50 ETH and 25k DAI annually, providing both coin-based and U-based cash flows.

Fundraising

• Web3 community management tool Rep3 has announced the successful completion of a pre-seed funding round led by Better Capital and Lightspeed India. link

• The LSDfi protocol, unsheth, has declared the accomplishment of a $3.3 million seed funding round. link

• The generative art NFT platform fxhash has secured $5 million in seed funding, with 1kx as the leading investor. link

• GoldLink, a DeFi lending protocol, has concluded a $1.4 million Pre-Seed funding round. link

• Binance Labs has disclosed a strategic investment in the Ethereum scalability project, AltLayer. link

• Coinbase Ventures has revealed a strategic investment in Rocket Pool. link

• Binance Labs has committed a $5 million investment in Curve DAO (CRV). link

• Bitcoin wallet Xverse has raised $5 million in a seed funding round led by Jump Crypto. link

Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.

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