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CoinDesk
The Protocol: Bitcoin Gets Political as U.S. Government Ponders Airdrops
In this week's issue of CoinDesk's newsletter on blockchain tech, we examine U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis's call for a national "Bitcoin Strategic Reserve." We've also got photos from the Bitcoin Nashville conference, where it seemed like nearly everyone was talking about staple-gunning layer-2 networks onto the original blockchain.
It's a Different Sort of Olympics as Cryptographers Face Off in Polyhedra's 'Proof Arena'
A nice thing about watching Olympic swimming is that it's not too complicated to determine who's the fastest. Everyone dives into the same pool, there's some paddling, and at the end of the final lap, one person touches the wall first. The same can't be said for blockchains, where engineers are always releasing ever more powerful, speedier systems, and use-cases and transaction types vary from project to project, as do tools and methods for measuring performance. The dilemma extends to designers of cryptographic tools, and the myriad ways of reporting hashes per second. Such was the backdrop as Polyhedra Network, a team building a crucial blockchain component known as a cryptographic "prover," set out to develop a just-released platform called "Proof Arena" that's designed to serve as, well, a proving ground. Just a few months ago, the Polyhedra team released an open-source zero-knowledge proof system – used in many setups for auxiliary blockchains known as "layer 2s" – that was "nearly 2x faster than alternatives." But how did they really know?
Fed Holds Policy Steady, Expresses More Caution Than Expected on September Rate Cut
As expected, the U.S. Federal Reserve left its benchmark fed funds rate range unchanged at 5.25%-5.50%. Maybe somewhat surprisingly though, the Fed gave little indication that a September rate cut is guaranteed. "Inflation has eased over the past year but remains somewhat elevated," said the central bank in its policy statement. "The economic outlook is uncertain, and the [FOMC] is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate," the statement continued. In the minutes following the more hawkish than expected statement, bond yields and the dollar rose a bit, but both remained lower for the day. The price of bitcoin {{BTC}} edged lower to $66,550, but remained modestly higher over the past 24 hours. U.S. stocks remained sharply higher for the session, the Nasdaq up 2.4% and S&P 500 1.6%. Dealing with galloping inflation at the time, the Fed's historic run of tighter policy began in early 2022 taking the fed funds rate from 0% to 5.25%-5.50% in the space of less than 18 months. The rate has remained at that level for more than a year as the central bank has been cautious to ease while inflation stubbornly remained well above its 2% target.
Does the SEC Really Have Jurisdiction Over NFT Art? Two Artists Sue SEC to Get an Answer
Two American artists filed suit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, seeking a declaratory judgment from a Louisiana court that their forthcoming non-fungible token (NFT) projects would not violate U.S. securities laws.
How Founders Can Revitalize VC Tokens
To get listed on major exchanges, many crypto projects are over-inflating their valuations at launch, scaring away investors. How do founders get exposure to VC funding without playing the inflation game? CoinDesk columnist Azeem Khan, a VC himself, has some ideas.
Coinbase Concerned About 'Ongoing Regulation by Enforcement' in Australia, Despite 'Healthy' Regulator Talks
Coinbase (COIN) is concerned about “ongoing regulation through enforcement” which is not “helpful to the overall direction of the industry” in Australia ahead of expected draft legislation, senior executives of the cryptocurrency exchange told CoinDesk.
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