Weekly Update: 28th of August
What happened between the 21st and 28th of August?
- Bitcoin experiences an upward trend as the latest Federal Reserve (Fed) minutes imply that the central bank is becoming more dovish. Read more
- Digital asset exchange Kraken’s motion to dismiss the US Securities and Exchange Commission case was denied by a Judge in the San Francisco federal court. Read more
- RFK Jr. drops out of the presidential race and endorses Trump, allowing the ex-president to recover lost ground against vice-president Kamala Harris. Read more
Dovish minutes relieve financial markets
On August 21st, the latest minutes of the Federal Reserve were published, revealing an increasingly dovish stance that suggests an interest rate cut may be imminent. The Fed's sixth meeting of the year is scheduled for September 18th, and the key question is whether they will reduce interest rates by 25 or 50 basis points. Following the publication of the minutes and the anticipation of a potential rate cut, Bitcoin experienced an upward trend, as looser monetary policy typically benefits risk-on assets. Since the release of the minutes, Bitcoin has risen from approximately $59,000 to over $63,000.
The SEC continues its case against Kraken.
Over the past two years, the SEC has been targeting various companies within the digital assets space with fines and lawsuits, including the digital assets exchange Kraken. The exchange has been charged with operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency. Additional charges include the mishandling of customer information and funds. These charges were brought by the SEC in November 2023, and recently, the firm sought to dismiss the case on the grounds that the SEC was overreaching its congressionally-approved mandate. However, a judge has denied the motion to dismiss, leading to a court case against the SEC. A trial date is expected to be proposed on October 15th.
RFK Jr. drops out of presidential race and endorses Trump
On August 23rd, news broke that RFK Jr. was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Donald Trump. While Trump had been leading the polls against incumbent President Joe Biden significantly, RFK Jr.'s withdrawal and endorsement of Harris caused Trump's lead to diminish, even making Harris the favorite to win the election. Before dropping out, RFK Jr. had garnered 3-5% of the U.S. vote, but his poll numbers had been declining in recent weeks. With his endorsement of Trump, the former President is gaining ground. For instance, on the betting platform Polymarket, Trump’s chances of winning have increased to 50%, while Harris’s are at 49%, compared to just 44% on August 16th. Although the digital asset market initially reacted positively to the prospect of a Trump victory, volatility is now decreasing; however, this may increase as the election approaches.
In other digital assets news
- Digital asset manager Grayscale launches another investment trust, this time it's for Avalanche’s AVAX token, allowing investors to access the digital asset professionally.
- US investment firm Franklin Templeton is launching a tokenized money market fund on Avalanche. This move is shortly followed by the launching of another fund on Layer 2 network Arbitrum.
- Former President Donald Trump endorsed a digital asset project spearheaded by his two sons called 'The DeFiant Ones', a decentralized finance project.
Sign up for our newsletter to stay on top of the cryptocurrency market.
