Headlines
Fed Chairman Powell: I dont think the next move may be a rate hike
Fed Chairman Powell said in a speech that the US PPI data is actually quite mixed, and it is uncertain whether inflation will continue. Restrictive policies may take longer than expected to work to reduce inflation. The US will reduce the inflation rate back to 2%. Restrictive policies may take longer than expected to work to reduce inflation. In many ways, the policy interest rate is restrictive. It is not believed that the next move may be to raise interest rates, and it is more likely to maintain the policy interest rate at the current level. (Jinshi)
Fed Chairman Powell reiterates likelihood of keeping rates high for longer
Fed Chairman Powell said in a speech today that it looks like it will take longer to be confident about inflation and may need to stay at the current policy rate for longer. The Fed needs to be patient and wait for more evidence that high interest rates are curbing inflation, thereby doubling the need to keep interest rates high for longer. Powell expects inflation to fall month by month, but first quarter price data undercut his confidence. The lack of further progress on inflation in the United States in the first quarter is noteworthy. The Fed does not think it is a smooth road to fight inflation, but recent data is higher than anyone expected. This tells people that they need to be patient and let restrictive policies work. (Jinshi)
Fed Chairman Powell: Inflation is expected to decline month-on-month
Fed Chairman Powell said in a speech that the US economy is performing very well and has a very strong labor market. In the first quarter, there was no further progress in US inflation. There is no expectation that the inflation path will be smooth. We must wait patiently for the policy to take effect. US GDP will continue to grow at a rate of 2% or higher. Confidence in the decline in inflation is lower than before, and the inflation rate is expected to decline month-on-month. (Jinshi)
Industry News
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel in the Netherlands found Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev guilty of laundering $1.2 billion in illicit assets on the cryptocurrency mixer platform Tornado Cash. The panel is expected to sentence Pertsev on Tuesday, and Alexey Pertsevs lawyers will have 14 days to appeal the judges decision. (DL News)
Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev gets 64 months in prison
A Dutch judge ruled at the Court of s-Hertogenbosch that Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was guilty of money laundering. The court sentenced Pertsev to 64 months in prison. The developer was first sentenced to prison in the Netherlands in August 2022 after Tornado Cash was blacklisted by the US government. At the time, the US Treasury claimed that Tornado Cash was a key tool of the North Korean hacker group Lazarus. The Lazarus Group was linked to the $625 million hack of Ronin Network, owned by Axie Infinity, as well as other major cryptocurrency thefts. (Coindesk)
Former U.S. CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo Joins Stablecoin Issuer Paxos Board of Directors
Former U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo announced that he has joined the board of directors of stablecoin issuer Paxos. J. Christopher Giancarlo said in a statement: Paxos has become a leader in connecting traditional and digital asset markets by launching regulated solutions that are safe for institutions and consumers. It is an honor to join the Paxos board of directors and become part of innovation in the financial field. (Coindesk)
Project News
LayerZero CEO: As many as 100,000 addresses have exposed themselves as witches
LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino posted on the X platform that as many as 100,000 addresses have been recognized as Sybils.
Earlier, LayerZero published a statement on the X platform stating that distributing tokens to persistent users (rather than Sybil users) is in the best interest of the protocol. Sybil users now have two options: 1. Self-report Sybil addresses before May 17; 2. Once an address is marked by LayerZero’s internal Sybil report or bounty hunter, further reporting will no longer be valid and no tokens will be received.
Bryan Pellegrino said in a reply to a user on the X platform that Syrk Self-Reporting is not for ordinary users, but for large-scale Sybil users. The focus of the report is on large-scale Sybils rather than individual users.
LayerZero: Witch Bounty Event Begins on May 18th at 10:00
LayerZero Labs posted on the X platform that the Sybil Bounty campaign will start at 10:00 on May 18th, Beijing time. The bounty report will be closed at 07:59 on June 1st, Beijing time, and must contain at least 20 addresses.
A bounty hunter who successfully reports a witch will receive 10% of the witchs expected token allocation, while the witch will receive 0 allocation.
Sybil self-reporting will be open until 07:59 GMT+8 on May 18th. Addresses that self-report as Sybils will receive 15% of their intended allocation. Addresses that do not self-report and are identified as Sybils by LayerZero’s internal report co-authored with Chaos and Nansen, or that are discovered during the bounty process will not receive tokens.
Lens Protocol: Developing the blockchain network Lens Network
Lens Lab, the team behind Lens Protocol, a Web3 social platform built on Polygon PoS, announced that it is now developing its own blockchain network, Lens Network. The new network will be built on Matter Labs’ ZK Stack and powered by zkSync on Ethereum.
PEPE continues to hit new highs, with 24-hour trading volume of nearly $2.9 billion, exceeding SOL
CoinGecko data shows that PEPEs 24-hour trading volume is close to US$2.9 billion, currently at US$2,893,749,805, surpassing SOL ($2,287,698,756) and ranking sixth among all cryptocurrencies.
According to OKX market data, PEPE briefly touched 0.000011533 USDT, setting a new historical high; it is currently trading at 0.000010988 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 15.88%.
Sonne Finance suffered an attack that cost it over $20 million and has suspended its Optimism market
According to Paiduns monitoring, the DeFi lending protocol Sonne Finance was hacked and its time-lock contract needs to be carefully checked. The current loss exceeds 20 million US dollars.
Sonne Finance posted on the X platform that all Optimism markets have been suspended. The markets on Base are safe and more information will be provided in a timely manner.
Character*Voice
Former SEC Chairman: The return of meme stocks is troubling, but Roaring Kittys behavior is legal
CNBC interviewed former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. Regarding GMEs 187% rise this week and the resurgence of Meme stocks, Clayton said: It bothers me on many levels. It is closer to gambling than trading, and certainly not investing.
In addition, Clayton commented on the legality of Roaring Kittys recent behavior. Although it does not constitute insider trading or stock market manipulation, Clayton believes that Kitty should express her thoughts directly and clearly (Tell people why you do this.), and her behavior is legal.
Opinion: Tornado Cash developers 64-month sentence unlikely to impact Roman Storms US case
According to the verdict, the Dutch court convicted Pertsev, 31, of laundering $1.2 billion through Tornado Cash. A panel of three judges sentenced Pertsev to five years and four months in prison. The court finds that it is legally and factually proven that the suspect, together with others, laundered money through Ethereum obtained through crimes, and that he was accustomed to such money laundering, the court said in its final conclusion. Meanwhile, Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storms trial in the United States is scheduled to begin on September 23. Last year, U.S. prosecutors charged Storm and another co-founder, Roman Semenov, with conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to violate sanctions, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business. At the time of the prosecution, Semenov was still at large.
A spokesperson for the DeFi Education Fund said they were disappointed with the outcome of Pertsev’s case in the Netherlands, but believed it should not affect the U.S. case against Storm. “As we argued in our previously filed amicus brief in Roman Storm’s case, the government’s theory of liability in the indictment is unprecedented,” a spokesperson for the fund said in an emailed statement. “The allegations in the indictment hold software developers criminally liable years after they create open-source, generally available software when that software is used by third-party bad actors with whom they had no direct or active interaction.”
This is simply not current law in the United States, they added. (The Block)
Investment and Financing
Crypto prediction market Polymarket has completed two rounds of financing totaling $70 million. The latest round of financing was led by Founders Fund and others, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and others participated. A Polymarket spokesperson said that Founders Fund led the $45 million Series B financing. General Catalyst earlier helped the company raise $25 million in Series A financing. (Bloomberg)
The tokenized reinsurance RWA platform Re has completed a new round of financing of US$7 million, led by Electric Capital. It is reported that the project had completed a seed round of financing of US$14 million at the end of 2022. Res goal is to support US$200 million in premiums by the end of this year. (Coindesk)
Solana on-chain DEX Zeta Markets completes $5 million financing, led by Electric Capital
Solana DEX Zeta Markets announced the completion of a new round of $5 million in financing, led by Electric Capital, Digital Asset Capital Management, Selini Capital and Airtree Ventures, as well as angel investors including Anatoly Yakovenko of Solana, Mert Mumtaz of Helius, Richard Wu of Tensor, Genia Mikhalchenko of Pyth, JMR Luna of Wintermute and Nom of Bonk. (TheBlock)
