Ian's Intel #48
IS IT OVER?
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Let’s dive in.
Market Shock: How Japan's Rate Hike Crashed Global Markets
Japan's sudden interest rate hike to 0.25% has caused a major sell-off in global markets, disrupting the "JPY carry trade". This strategy involves borrowing yen at low rates, converting them to USD, and investing in US stocks.
Here's how it works:
Borrow Yen at Low Rates: Traders borrow Japanese yen at very low-interest rates.
Convert to USD and Invest: They convert the yen to USD and buy US stocks.
Interest Rate Hike: The Bank of Japan raised interest rates, making yen loans more expensive.
Yen Strengthens: The yen strengthens against the USD, causing huge forex losses for traders.
Adding to the panic are fears of an escalating Middle East conflict, US political uncertainty, this combination of factors is fueling investor anxiety and market volatility
The VIX opened at 65 yesterday, before closing at 38 to print the largest daily high - daily close ever — an indication of the heightened market volatility we saw yesterday.
We saw similar drawdowns across Asian markets — the Nikkei experienced its biggest one-day drop (since 1987) yesterday before retracing it completely today. Who said only crypto experienced such volatility!
On to our usual updates.
New Listings
Stader ($SD) listed on Coinbase spot
$LAVA listed on Aevo futures
$L3 listed on Bybit futures
cat in a dogs world ($MEW), Memecoin ($MEME), Jasmycoin ($JASMY) listed on Coinbase International futures
$ONDO listed on OKX futures: Aug 6 at 10:30 UTC
$PENDLE listed on Upbit spot
DeFi
Binance Labs announces first batch of projects admitted into Season 7 Incubation
Circle Said to Be Trading Around $5B Valuation Ahead of Planned IPO — Coindesk
Compound drama resolved: "hostile" proposal cancelled in favour of new proposal for a fee sharing mechanism. 30% of existing treasury and 30% of net new protocol revenue to be directed to staked COMP
Lido announces Lido Institutional
The snapshot of Season 1 for deBridge has been taken
Aave DAO launches Lido-specific market
L1, L2, & Infrastructure
USDT: Tether Releases Q2 2024 Attestation: Reports Record-Breaking $5.2 Billion Profit In First Half Of 2024, Highest Treasury Bill Ownership Ever and Largest Ever Group Consolidated Equity At Almost $12 Billion
DWF Labs announces that it's working on a CeDeFi synthetic stablecoin
Bitcoin/ETH/SOL ETFs
BTC ETF
ETH ETF
Nate Geraci on SOL ETF chances — Link
BLACKROCK IBIT'S TRADING VOLUME EXCEEDED US$1.5 BILLION IN FIRST HOUR on August 5th
Rules & Regulations
US GOV MOVES $2B IN SILK ROAD COINS — ONCHAIN
SEC MOVES TO AMEND COMPLAINT AGAINST BINANCE, SEEKS TO NO LONGER PROVE TOKENS SUCH AS SOLANA ARE SECURITIES — FILING
FOUNDER OF BITCLOUT CHARGED BY THE SEC — SEC
U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to be funded partly by revaluing Fed's gold, draft bill shows — Coindesk
FED LEAVES RATES UNCHANGED AT 5.25-5.5%
Bybit to completely close down operations for French users
THE BLOCK: CFTC subpoenas Ben ‘BitBoy’ Armstrong’s former company in fraud investigation, asks about activity for tokens such as BEN
Rugs & Exploitations
Terra exploited after reverting the upgrade* that patched critical IBC-hooks exploit in April
Reads & Tools
Jump crypto dumping
Trump raises $25M at Bitcoin Conference fundraiser — Eleanor Terrett
Coinbase beats earnings, $1.45B in revenue vs $1.39B — Earnings
Microstrategy to raise another $2B — Press Release
Sahm rule triggered — fejau
Hackers bought the ETH dip
Update: >$1b liquidated in 24hrs on August 4
Disclaimer
The content provided in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. The author and the newsletter are not responsible for any decisions made based on the information provided herein. The opinions, analyses, and information included are based on the author's perspective and while believed to be accurate, should not be relied upon without conducting your own research and due diligence. The author may or may not be invested in any of the projects or tokens mentioned in the newsletter.
Additionally, the views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author alone and do not reflect the views, policies, or positions of any organizations the author is affiliated with or contributes to. It is always advisable to consult with a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. All investments involve risks, including the potential loss of principal.