All right.
So the Fed ooh hoo.
Not sure what happened there, but the Fed.
Oh.
Who?
Honestly, we just never really know where we stand in crypto.
Do we?
Regulators in the US especially just can't make their mind up and it feels like the ground
is constantly shifting beneath our feet.
So just a few days ago, the Fed was seemingly changing the rules on crypto lending.
Now it seems to be discouraging trade via from getting involved in crypto.
Who knows what policy makers are going to be telling us next week?
Thank goodness November's midterms are going to sort everything out.
Anyway, we're going to take a look at that for you in this episode, get a little bit
of insight into what regulators are thinking from one expert markets.
Meanwhile, well fed minutes are out, so no prizes for guessing about their jitters over
that and Genesis living up to its name by changing its leaders and culling a fifth of
its workforce just another day.
Join thousands of NFT traders who already start their day on CryptoSlam.
So what on earth are America's decision makers thinking?
Well, for those of us living in crypto trying to figure that one out, well, it's left us
feeling a little bit dizzy, hasn't it?
So far this week, the Fed has issued guidelines on how to access its master accounts.
That opened a pathway for crypto banks to tap into this central banking system.
But then, isn't a letter telling traditional banks to check for legal issues on crypto
activity?
So a bit of a mixed signal there.
Meanwhile, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the FDIC, has apparently been trying to deter
banks from doing any business with crypto firms.
So two steps forward, one step back, a few to this side.
Up, down, left, right and start.
This is what makes my head spin.
I'm sure it does yours as well.
Does it all mean, though, that regulators are at least starting to take some action
in the US in particular, even if it does look a little bit messy?
And is that actually a good thing, for instance?
Well, Angelina Kwan, CEO of Stratford Finance, told Forkast that regulators around the world
are making moves and are trying to get to grips with crypto.
What is happening globally is it is true that they are starting to accept, or at least not
accept, but at least state that digital assets are a rising asset class and because of it,
both central banks around the world who have forays together in terms of all the central
banks work together, all of the securities firms work together.
Because of that.
I think this is now what was used to be in the hallways is now being discussed in main
discussion areas.
And I think because of that, certain rules and regulations are actually being consulted
on.
This is the first real asset class that's been developed since.
Stock and futures.
If you really think about it, there are special areas that regulators are grappling with right
now of how best to regulate this and how do they take the differences in digital assets
versus securities versus futures and versus other products?
I mean, that is the area where regulators need to be very careful as well as study it.
And I think that's what they've been doing all this time and working on that.
I don't think the US is behind it is developing.
I think all the countries now are developing and the market always moves faster and it
will always be the case that regulators are always developing and catching up sometimes.
But nevertheless, this has really developed very quickly as an asset class and the adoption
has been very, very quick.
And I think the resources of the governments as well as regulators around the world have
been strained because of it.
Well, you can hear more from Angelina about all of this and more at next week's Crypto
Rising livestream event hosted by Forkast.
Some of Crypto's most influential figures will be talking with Forkast Editor in chief
Angie Lau and Sean Lee from the Crypto Council for Innovation.
It's live at 9 p.m. Eastern August 25th; 9 a.m.
Hong Kong time, August 26th.
Sign up at Forkast News, and don't miss out.
Now over on the markets, most of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap fell overnight.
Bitcoin and Ethereum both down around 2% as of 8 a.m.
Hong Kong time.
Us equities, meanwhile, falling yesterday after the Fed's July minutes, seemed to indicate
that interest rates are set to continue rising.
XRP, the only crypto meanwhile to buck the trend ripple, gaining 7/10 of a percent after
the token's issuer was named among the 5000 fastest growing private US companies.
To dive deeper into today's market conditions, we are joined by ByBit's Igneus Terrenus.
It's always a pleasure to chat with him.
Let's start with general market reaction, Igneus.
Broadly speaking, it looks like things moving in line with equities in response to these
Fed minutes.
Is this surprising at all?
Nowadays we are in almost a web vibe inflation like whether or not we're going to get an
inflation or not inflation.
It's basically based on kind of what everyone's vibe is because like as feds, you can't really
control supply because you know, the supply chain problems caused by the pandemic lockdowns
as well as geopolitical tensions in multiple places in the world, there's not a lot that
they can do, but what they can do is through kind of removal of liquidity and the kind
of like management of the Fed's balance sheet that they're able to nudge on the demand side
to kind of help, hopefully to to to achieve a soft landing.
If you take a long term view, not even that long, just like 20 year long term from 2002
to now, you look at the Fed's balance sheet, it's basically like a one way when we ride
to the top and then all the tapering that they have done in the past month, it's barely
registering a blip.
And in terms of the tail end of all of this, at what point do you think markets are going
to have priced everything into?
Are we looking ahead to the spring, for instance, and how we considering all these risks from
from from interest rates in particular?
I don't think kind of it's something that even even with the crystal ball, you're able
to kind of project a definitive timeline.
But in order to kind of project many months into the future, like there's too much variables
and then there's like human element of like the entire vibe of how everyone is perceiving
the economy is going.
So, you know, it's not something that can be projected into that long term.
All right.
Well, talk to us about Dogecoin.
We always love to chat about memes.
Your thoughts on what's going on there.
Two teams basically both came out of Meta, formerly known as Facebook's DM or even order
named Libra Project.
And then you have SWE, you have the Optus both attracted nine figure venture capital
fund and I think Aptos just released their whitepaper last week.
But you know, it hasn't really captured too much attention outside of the usual kind of
crypto VC and those people who are hyper sensitive to those news.
Whereas those, you know, sometimes having the name, having the word doge in your name
is more powerful an instrument.
Ah, to capture the public imagination, then have a known figure VC cash injection.
So she has been talking about a layer two for the longest time, but those kind of I
stole the thunder under them.
And, you know, it's just kind of like Dogecoin community has.
It's kind of irreverent, but just like really happy, you know, to revert to the word again
vibe and then meme.
Like even though we feel like it's a joke, it's actually such a great tool of just kind
of capture people's imagination and propagate your message, you know, when they're able
to kind of just command such large amount of mindshare on a moment's notice was the
power of meme.
All you need to do is a couple of cute dog photos and a bunch of people vibing to it
lately and ecstatically.
All right, thanks as always.
Igneus Terrenus of ByBit talking to us there.
Now, elsewhere in crypto news, crypto brokerage Genesis has reshuffled its leadership team.
It's slashing 20% of its staff, though CEO Michael Moro is stepping down.
COO Derar Islim is taking over on an interim basis.
Moro is apparently going to stay on to advise the company through the transition.
Genesis, of course, a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which was very
hard hit by the Three Arrows Capital insolvency.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Genesis, provided 50% of the collateral for three aces,
$2.4 billion loan, and a court report, once published on 3AC's liquidation site, showed
that DCG still has a claim on 3AC of up to 1.2 billion.
Bitcoin miners are struggling to stronghold.
Digital mining stock plunged more than 25% in US trading Wednesday.
That was after the Nasdaq listed mining firm posted losses that had widened in Q2 from
a year earlier despite a restructuring plan, Stronghold says it's reached agreements to
return Bitcoin mining rigs to try and reduce its 67 and a half million dollars of debt.
The company is aiming to slash its outstanding dues by about 55% of its total outstanding
as part of this restructuring plan.
Otherwise that's it from us for this episode like and subscribe to this video for more
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