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Powell’s warning of ‘pain’ could bring pain on the Fed itself
“Jerome Powell’s rhetoric is dangerous, and a Fed-manufactured recession is not inevitable — it’s a policy choice,” Warren told POLITICO. “Some might find this controversial, but higher unemployment should not be the economic policy of the United States, particularly when the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes are ill-suited to address inflated food and energy prices from Putin’s war in Ukraine, supply chain bottlenecks, and corporate price gouging.” The stock market tumbled on concern that higher interest rates will spark a recession after Powell said last week that “some pain” is ahead for the American people. The government on Friday will offer another indication of whether the hurt has already begun when it reports on August unemployment. Analysts are still optimistic, predicting a n...
Powell’s ‘dangerous’ words risk resistance from lawmakers
“Jerome Powell’s rhetoric is dangerous, and a Fed-manufactured recession is not inevitable — it’s a policy choice,” Warren told POLITICO. “Some might find this controversial, but higher unemployment should not be the economic policy of the United States, particularly when the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes are ill-suited to address inflated food and energy prices from Putin’s war in Ukraine, supply chain bottlenecks, and corporate price gouging.” The stock market tumbled on concern that higher interest rates will spark a recession after Powell said last week that “some pain” is ahead for the American people. “We must keep at it until the job is done,” Powell said at the Fed’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. A full-blown downturn could end a period of remarkable growth for...
CFTC and SEC open comments for proposal to amend crypto reporting rules for large hedge funds
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, have called for comments on a proposal which would require large advisers to certain hedge funds to report exposure to crypto. In a joint proposed rule published to the Federal Register on Sept. 1, the SEC and CFTC established a 40-day comment period for amendments to Form PF, the confidential reporting document for certain investment advisers to private funds of at least $500 million. The proposal suggested qualifying hedge funds report exposure to crypto in a different category other than “cash and cash equivalents,” as the current iteration of Form PR does not specifically mention cryptocurrencies. Members of the public have until Oct. 11 to submit comments regarding the ...
Former blockchain skeptic David Rubenstein discloses investments in crypto companies
Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein acknowledged on Sept. 2 that he has invested personally in a number of crypto companies, and is optimistic about the industry’s path to regulation in the United States. Speaking with CNBC’S Squawk Box on Thursday, the billionaire said he believes that government regulation will be positive for the industry, and that the U.S. Congress will tak a collaborative approach to boost an innovation environment in the country. “The crypto constituency is very strong in congress [and] they tend to be very Republican [or] very libertarian,” he noted. “The industry is not likely to be soft when dealing with members of Congress.” Previously skeptical about cryptocurrencies, Rubenstein reportedly changed his mind ...
Tether requests Roche Freedman to be booted from class action
USDT-issuer Tether wants law firm Roche Freedman “terminated” as counsel from the Bitfinex and Tether class action lawsuit following a motion from Kyle Roche to be removed as counsel in the case. In an Aug. 31 court order request by Elliot Greenfield of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, the law firm representing Tether and Bitfinex requested that Roche’s law firm be removed from the case entirely and to certify that they’ve returned or destroyed all defendant-issued documents and have not shared them with any third-party, including Ava Labs. The request follows shortly after Roche submitted a Notice of Motion to Withdraw from the Tether class action lawsuit amid ongoing fallout from a recent CryptoLeaks expose, which alleged the U.S. lawyer had a secret pact to “harm” Ava Labs competitor...
Celsius files to reopen withdrawals for a minority of customers
Beleaguered crypto lender Celsius Network has filed a motion with the United States Bankruptcy Court yesterday to allow customers with digital assets held in certain accounts to be withdrawn. There’s a catch, however, as the motion will only apply to Custody and Withold Accounts and for custodied assets worth $7,575 or less in value. Celsius has structured their Custody and Withhold Accounts, which essentially serve as storage wallets, in a way that still enables users to maintain legal ownership of cryptocurrency. This ownership however is not extended to assets held in accounts that offer annual crypto earnings or borrowing services (Earn and Borrow accounts). The community response to the motion has been mixed, with creditors happy that Celsius Network has conceded funds held in i...
R. Kelly Says He Won’t Testify in Chicago Trial as Defense Calls First Witnesses
R. Kelly’s lawyers began mounting a defense Thursday in Chicago against federal charges of child pornography, enticement of minors for sex and fixing his 2008 state trial, with an initial witness contending the singer was himself a victim of blackmail. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The presentation to jurors won’t include Kelly taking the witness stand. Judge Harry Leinenweber asked Kelly directly on Thursday morning if he would testify, and the Grammy Award winner responded that he would not. The judge raised the issue minutes before attorneys for Kelly and two co-defendants began calling their first witnesses, endeavoring to counter two weeks of government testimony — including from four women who accused Kelly of sexual abuse. Co-d...
Mississippi water crisis: ‘Huge mountain to climb’
The crisis in Jackson spotlights the chronic problems plaguing the city’s water plant and whether federal funds through various avenues, including the infrastructure package, have reached the facility. Managers of both drinking water and sewage systems across the nation are eyeing infrastructure dollars to gird their facilities against flooding and more extreme storms. The city’s water plant, plagued with technical issues and staffing shortages, was overwhelmed when extreme rainfall swelled the Pearl River earlier this week, causing dangerously low water pressure (Greenwire, Aug. 30). Lumumba has said that while he welcomes incoming help from the federal government and state, the city has largely been forced to handle its myriad water problems alone (Greenwire, Aug. 31). For now, the city’...
US dollar smashes yet another 20-year high as Bitcoin price sags 2.7%
Bitcoin (BTC) faced familiar pressure on the Sept. 1 Wall Street open as the U.S. dollar hit fresh two-decade highs. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Trader: DXY could hit 115 before ‘slowdown’ Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it fell to $19,658 on Bitstamp, down 2.7% from the day’s high. The pair faced stiff resistance trying to flip the important $20,000 mark to solid support, with macro cues further complicating the picture for bulls. That came in the form of a resurgent U.S. dollar index (DXY) on the day, which beat previous peaks to reach 109.97, its highest since September 2002. U.S. dollar index (DXY) 1-day candle chart. Source: TradingView Risk assets thus broadly lost ground, with the S&P 500 and Nas...
Mayo Clinic taps into blockchain technology for clinical trial design
On Thursday, Dutch blockchain startup Triall announced that it has partnered with American nonprofit medical center Mayo Clinic to optimize clinical trial design and the management of study data. Starting this September, Triall’s eClinical platform will support a two-year multi-center pulmonary arterial hypertension clinical trial that includes 10 research sites and more than 500 patients across the United States. The software will support activities such as data capture, document management, study monitoring and consent. As told by Triall, the purpose of the collaboration is to demonstrate an immutable public ledger audit trail through its blockchain technology to boost the integrity of clinical trials. Investigators, regulators and stakeholders can then review and assess such...
Former CFTC commissioner Jill Sommers joins FTX US Derivatives board
Jill Sommers, who served as a commissioner at the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has joined the board of directors for FTX US Derivatives. In a Thursday announcement, crypto exchange FTX US’ derivatives arm said Sommers had become its latest board member in a move seeming to increase the company’s regulatory efforts. Sommers served as a CFTC commissioner from 2007 to 2013 under former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush and was the managing director of regulatory affairs for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. According to Sommers, FTX US Derivatives aimed to become “the most regulated digital asset exchange in the world.” She said the board would work closely with regulators, suggesting discussions with the CFTC and others within the United States government. “Add...
Cardano gets listed on Robinhood but ADA bulls are running out of steam, risking 40% drop
ThCardano (ADA) market has witnessed back-to-back pieces of good news since Aug. 31, from its listing on Robinhood, a U.S.-based retail investment platform, to the release of its first lending and borrowing protocol, Aada Finance. Additionally, Cardano developer IOHK stated that they are close to clinching “three critical mass indicators” that would lead to the launch of their long-awaited Vasil hard fork in September. Vasil aims to improve Cardano’s scalability and transaction throughput through pipelining. The upgrade could also improve the decentralized application (DApp) and smart contract capabilities by changing the Plutus script, a programming language used for smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain. This week, we’re well on our way to hitting our...
