While the Federal Reserve lowered its policy rate to 4.25-4.5%, a decision widely anticipated, Chairman Powell’s cautious tone on future cuts due to persistent inflation triggered market declines. There was an upward revision of inflation forecasts for 2025, now set at 2.5 % compared to 2.1 %.
The crypto market is undergoing a period of high volatility. Overnight, Bitcoin prices dropped below $100,000, but are now back above $101,000. Altcoins also saw sharp declines. The global crypto market cap fell by 7.18% to $3.42 trillion, with over $780 million in liquidations in 24 hours.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 2.6%, its 10th straight down session, the longest losing streak since 1974. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 fell by 2.95%, and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell more than 3.5%.
Deutsche Bank is building out a layer-2 rollup network on Ethereum with ZKsync technology to address regulatory challenges like transaction transparency and the risk of interacting with sanctioned entities. This tool offers cheaper, more efficient transactions while allowing banks to select trusted validators and giving regulators special oversight.
According to Australia's official cyber security guidelines published last week, traditional asymmetric algorithms (like RSA and ECDH), shorter hash lengths (SHA-224/256), and smaller AES key sizes will be deprecated by 2030 due to quantum computing threats.
BTC mining profitability hit a new record in December, with hashprice rising 5% despite miners selling significant holdings according to a report from JPMorgan.
The combined hashrate of the fourteen U.S.-listed miners the bank tracks has increased almost 94% year-to-date toand now accounts for around 29% of the global network, though facing challenges due to rising mining difficulty.
According to another report from JPMorgan, Donald Trump’s victory in the November presidential election signals a positive shift for the cryptocurrency market in the United States. Since his re-election, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has surged by 65%, reflecting growing confidence in the sector.
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept interest rates unchanged at 0.25% during its Thursday meeting (local time), marking the third consecutive hold following similar decisions in September and October, reflecting careful monitoring of domestic wage growth and US economic policies.
El Salvador has struck a $1.4bn loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after agreeing to scale back its controversial bitcoin policies.
El Salvador, which was the first country to formally adopt bitcoin as a legal tender in 2021, has agreed that the cryptocurrency will only be accepted by the private sector on a "voluntary" basis, the IMF said, adding that bitcoin-related risks "are being mitigated". This deviates from article 7 of El Salvador’s 2021 Bitcoin Law, which stipulates that "every economic agent must accept bitcoin as payment when offered to him by whoever acquires a good or service."
The debate over whether Bitcoin’s 21 million supply cap is truly fixed has resurfaced after BlackRock posted a three-minute Bitcoin explainer video, which added a disclaimer saying there’s no guarantee it won’t be changed.
Satoshi Action Fund reveals potential executive order draft to establish US Bitcoin Strategic Reserve within the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF).
The order allows for an initial allocation of up to 2% of the ESF’s total portfolio value over an 18-month pilot period. Furthermore, it would use BTC in the US government custody as the foundation for the Reserve.
