Trump uses BTC for cryptocurrency transactions for the first time; Pectra upgrade will be split into two executions (September 20)

Odaily Planet Daily reported that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump used Bitcoin to buy a cheeseburger at PubKey Bar in New York City, which is considered his first transaction using Bitcoin. Trump called it a "historic moment." The official X account of PubKey Bar released the news and mentioned that the transaction occurred at block height 861871. Trump then distributed burgers to bar customers, calling them "crypto burgers." Earlier this week, Trump helped launch World Liberty Financial, a decentralized financial project that his sons have been developing. (The Block)

Odaily Planet Daily News Ethereum developers agreed on Thursday to split the upcoming hard fork Pectra into two batches, aiming to make large-scale upgrades less cumbersome and reduce the risk of mistakes or errors. It is reported that the first software package may be launched in 2025 (as early as February). Among them, the first part of Pectra will include Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), including EIP-7702, which aims to improve wallets. The second part will see EIPs aimed at upgrading the Ethereum Virtual Machine (called EOF). (Coindesk)

According to SoSoValue data, yesterday (September 18, Eastern Time), the total net outflow of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $52.827 million.
Yesterday, Grayscale ETF GBTC had a single-day net outflow of $8.1347 million, and the current historical net outflow of GBTC is $20.069 billion.
Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF BTC had a single-day net inflow of $2.6634 million, and the current historical total net inflow of Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust BTC is $385 million.
As of press time, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $54.846 billion, the ETF net asset ratio (market value to the total market value of Bitcoin) is 4.61%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached $17.444 billion.

According to SoSoValue data, yesterday (September 18, US Eastern Time), the total net outflow of Ethereum spot ETFs was US$9.738 million.
Yesterday, Grayscale's Ethereum Trust ETF ETHE had a single-day net outflow of US$14.6629 million, and the current historical net outflow of ETHE is US$2.768 billion. Grayscale's Ethereum Mini Trust ETF ETH had a single-day net outflow of US$0.00, and the current historical total net inflow of Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETH is US$263 million. The Ethereum spot ETF with the largest single-day net inflow yesterday was BlackRock's ETF ETHA, with a single-day net inflow of US$4.9249 million, and the current historical total net inflow of ETHA reached US$1.035 billion.
As of press time, the total net asset value of the Ethereum spot ETF was US$6.302 billion, the ETF net asset ratio (market value as a percentage of Ethereum's total market value) reached 2.25%, and the historical cumulative net outflow has reached US$616 million.

Odaily Planet Daily News Binance CEO Richard Teng said that his team has been working "day and night" to bring Tigran Gambaryan, an executive arrested in Nigeria, back to the United States because his health is deteriorating. "We have repeatedly called on the Nigerian government to release Tigran so that he can go home and get the proper treatment he needs."
"There is no need to detain our employees. He has been detained unjustly and unfairly," Teng said at the TOKEN 2049 conference in Singapore on September 19.
"This is painful for all of us," he said, "especially for his family. For Binance, this is our top priority. We have a working group working around the clock internally to find different ways from legal to political (to help Tigran return home)."
Teng hopes that the United States can designate Gambaryan as illegally detained to speed up the process. He added that Binance has also tried to call on the Nigerian government to release Tigran on humanitarian grounds. He
also said that since being detained in Nigeria, Gambaryan has been infected with malaria and pneumonia twice. His declining health even caused him to collapse during a court appearance in May. (Cointelegraph)

Odaily Planet Daily News: Konstantin Richter, founder of blockchain infrastructure company Blockdaemon, said the company may go public in 2026. Blockdaemon's website shows that the US company, founded in 2017, has obtained more than 400 institutional clients, and its supporters include Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase and Citi Ventures Inc.
Richter said Blockdaemon's latest valuation is about $3.3 billion. He said on Wednesday that Hong Kong, China is currently more suitable for listing than the United States because the latter's cryptocurrency regulatory environment is "really bad." He added that regardless of the outcome, the regulatory environment in the United States will improve after the US election in November. He also said that Asia is a growth driver for its business and the company may double the size of its team in the region within a year.
According to a press release, Blockdaemon's post-investment valuation in a $207 million round of financing in 2022 was $3.25 billion, and investors included SoftBank Vision Fund 2. (Bloomberg)

Odaily Planet Daily News Solana Mobile officially announced the details of the next-generation Web3 smartphone Solana Seeker. Formerly known as "Chapter Two", the device is scheduled to be released in 2025 and will offer a number of improved features. Seeker has received more than 140,000 reservations, and the Solana mobile development community has actively embraced Seeker and developed a large number of exclusive dApps and features for the device. Seeker's core features include a built-in self-hosted Seed Vault wallet, Solana Mobile dApp store, Seeker Genesis Token (a soul-bound NFT), and upgraded hardware configuration. Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko said Seeker will offer a higher standard than Saga at a more affordable price, aiming to become the most defining Web3 mobile device next year.

Odaily Planet Daily News According to official news, Sonic Labs announced the launch of Sonic Gateway, a decentralized, trustless bridge between Ethereum and Sonic that eliminates custody risks.
According to reports, Sonic Gateway uses Sonic's validator network for secure ERC-20 token transfers, and users always retain full control of their funds. Transfers from Ethereum to Sonic take up to 10 minutes, and transfers from Sonic to Ethereum take up to 1 hour. In addition, its fail-safe mechanism allows users to retrieve assets on Ethereum in the event of a 14-day failure of Sonic Gateway.

According to community reports, Banana Gun-related wallets are suspected to have been hacked, and some users' funds have been stolen.
The Banana Gun team said in its official TG channel: "We are investigating this issue and have currently suspended the bot service."
Community member yannickcrypto.eth posted on X: "So far, 36 victims have been stolen from the mainnet for nearly 563 ETH ($1.4 million). I wouldn't say that Banana Gun itself was hacked, there aren't enough victims." (The Block)

Odaily Planet Daily News: Web3 authentication and private key management tool Privy announced the launch of a native account abstraction function, allowing users to automatically configure smart wallets and unlock gas fee payment, transaction batching and other functions.

Odaily Planet Daily News: Trump family crypto project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) announced on the X platform: "Thanks to X Spaces for the huge amount of feedback. The support and recognition from listeners and industry leaders is truly overwhelming. Stay tuned. Several important announcements are planned for this week and next week."

Odaily Planet Daily reported that UTXOSwap, a DEX project of RGB++ on the second layer of the Bitcoin network, published an article on the X platform, announcing its roadmap and planning to airdrop for early LP providers in the fourth quarter of this year.

Odaily Planet Daily News According to Yuga Labs co-founder Garga.eth (Greg Solano), the Workshop team released the first ApeChain native product Top Trader, an on-chain trading simulation game that allows users to trade with 1000x leverage without real financial risk. Top Trader integrates multiple tools, such as Ape Portal to support cross-chain payment of buy-in fees, Yuga ID to achieve seamless account abstraction, Gas sponsorship transactions to improve user experience, and manage tournament rewards through the restart protocol.

Odaily Planet Daily News: Fed Chairman Powell said at a press conference that there is no sign in the forecast that the Fed is rushing. If appropriate, the Fed can speed up or slow down, or even pause rate cuts. If the economy remains solid, we can slow down the pace of rate cuts. Similarly, if the labor market deteriorates, we can respond. Our forecasts are not plans or decisions, and we will adjust policies as needed. Taking all the risks into consideration, we cut interest rates by 50 basis points today. This adjustment will help maintain the strength of the economy and the labor market. Powell also said that if the Fed sees the non-farm payrolls report released a few days after the July resolution in advance, it may cut interest rates for the first time at the July interest rate meeting. The July non-farm payrolls report in the United States showed a weak labor market in the United States. Powell pointed out that the Federal Reserve remains firmly focused on its dual mission goals. The U.S. economy is generally strong, and the labor market has cooled from its previous overheated state. Our decision today reflects increasing confidence that the strength of the labor market can continue, and the Federal Reserve is committed to maintaining a strong economy. The unemployment rate has risen, but it is still low. The labor market environment continues to cool, the labor market is not a source of high inflationary pressure, and the downside risks to employment have increased.

Odaily Planet Daily News: Portugal's central bank governor and ECB board member Luis Centeno said in an interview with Politico that the European Central Bank may have to speed up the pace of rate cuts because data released since last week's rate cut showed that economic growth and inflation may be lower than the ECB's new forecasts.
"Given where we are now, in the monetary policy cycle, we really have to minimize the risk of lower-than-expected interest rates because this is the main risk," Centeno said. Centeno's comments are the clearest sign yet that an October rate cut is still possible.
The ECB is grappling with the question of how quickly it should ease policy when the economy is struggling to build momentum but also struggling to curb inflation completely. ECB President Christine Lagarde hinted last week that no further action would be taken before December when the ECB cut interest rates for the second time this year. Although ECB Chief Economist Ryan confirmed on Monday that policymakers "should remain selective" about the October rate cut, hawks on the Governing Council stressed that "a major shift is needed" to consider a continuous rate cut approach. (Jinshi)

According to official news from Odaily Planet Daily, Web3 security company CertiK announced a strategic upgrade of its products and services at the Token 2049 event, aiming to cover security protection throughout the project life cycle. The upgrade includes the launch of free community security tools such as Token Scan and Wallet Scan to help users effectively protect asset security.
In addition, CertiK Ventures announced the establishment of a $45 million fund to focus on supporting high-potential Web3 projects. As a Web3 security track unicorn with a valuation of $2 billion, CertiK has provided security services to more than 4,700 projects in more than 150 countries and regions around the world.

Odaily Planet Daily News: Solana ecosystem DeFi platform Drift announced the completion of a $25 million Series B financing round, led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Blockchain Capital, Primitive Ventures, Folius Ventures and others. The new financing brings Drift's total financing to $52.5 million. The company plans to double its headcount from 25 to 50 next year.
Drift Labs co-founder Cindy Leow said the goal is to make Drift the "Robinhood of the cryptocurrency field" by building a set of financial service tools on Solana, including spot and derivatives trading and prediction markets. She added that about half of Drift's leadership team are women. (Fortune)

Odaily Planet Daily reported that Solana developer platform Helius announced the completion of US$21.75 million in financing, with participation from Haun Ventures, Founders Fund, Foundation Capital, 6th Man Ventures, Chapter One and Spearhead.

Odaily Planet Daily News: Brightband, a startup founded by a former Google executive, aims to use artificial intelligence to improve weather forecasts. The company said on Thursday that it has received $10 million in Series A financing, led by Prelude Ventures, with participation from investors including Bain Capital's Future Back Ventures and Slack co-founder Carl Henderson. The company was launched this summer by former Google executive Julian Green and three scientists with the goal of developing a paid product and an open source artificial intelligence forecasting model trained on raw weather observations. Amy McGovern, co-founder of Brightband and professor of computer science and meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, said in an interview that Brightband will initially focus on predicting the behavior of extreme weather, including heat waves and tropical cyclones, a few days ahead of traditional forecasts. (Jinshi)

Odaily Planet Daily News Foresight Ventures announced a multi-million dollar strategic investment in L1 blockchain Aptos.
According to a press release, the funds will be used to accelerate product development, enhance liquidity, and support the development of Aptos' scalable and upgradeable L1 blockchain infrastructure.
Aptos Chief Technology Officer Avery Ching pointed out that the partnership will help expand the influence of the blockchain in the Asia-Pacific region while promoting the development and innovation of Web3 applications. (The Block)

Odaily Planet Daily News Bitcoin Ecosystem Decentralized Verification Infrastructure Bool Network announced the completion of a $2 million seed round of financing on X, with participation from Antalpha Ventures, ViaBTC Capital, Spark Digital Capital, Cogitent Ventures, Web3Port, Satoshi Lab, D 11 Labs, Sharding Capital, etc.
The new financing will be used to further develop Bool Network's decentralized infrastructure, with a focus on unleashing the potential of BTCFi. The integration of DHC technology and Taproot enables Bitcoin holders to seamlessly interact with DeFi applications (including stablecoins, re-staking, and bridging) while maintaining self-custody and ensuring asset security.

Odaily Planet Daily reported that according to official news, Tether announced a strategic investment of US$1.5 million in Sorted Wallet. It is reported that the platform provides users in emerging markets with access to cryptocurrencies, aiming to enhance financial inclusion in Africa and South Asia.

Odaily Planet Daily News: SunPump announced on the official X platform that it has made a strategic investment in SunDog. The specific amount has not been disclosed. Since its launch, SunDog's market value has exceeded 360 million US dollars within one month. At present, SUNDOG has been launched on 17 mainstream exchanges, with a 24-hour trading volume of 180 million US dollars, and the liquidity pool size in decentralized exchanges has reached 5.27 million US dollars.

Odaily Planet Daily reported that BlackRock Investment Institute head Boyven said in a report that the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by 50 basis points may boost the market in the short term, but if U.S. inflation and economic growth do not meet the Fed's expectations, the risk of increased market volatility in the coming months will also increase.
"Given the extremely uncertain outlook and the differences of opinion ahead of the Fed's 'regulatory period', the near-unanimous decision may be more surprising than one dissent." Data from LSEG Refinitiv showed that the market expects the Fed to cut interest rates by a further 71 basis points in 2024. "We still believe that market expectations for rate cuts will ultimately be disappointing, and instead, positive news will come from resilient economic growth," Boyven said. (Jinshi)

Odaily Planet Daily News ByBit Institutional Director Chris Aruliah has a different view on the impact of rate cuts on the crypto market. Aruliah wrote in an emailed statement: "The general slowdown in the global economy caused by weaker economic indicators and geopolitical complexities is weakening investor sentiment. Therefore, although the Fed's 0.5% cut in the policy rate may boost the cryptocurrency market in the short term, it is critical to remain vigilant to the potential challenges posed by economic uncertainty and market volatility."
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes pointed out in an interview that he believes that an overall rate cut is unnecessary. A 50 basis point rate cut will trigger a short-term market rebound, but it will eventually expose deeper problems in the global financial system, causing prices to fall further.
He said: "At a high level, I don't think they should raise interest rates. I believe the U.S. economy is quite strong. If you look at the GDP data for the past eight or nine quarters, you will find that it has been growing continuously. If they decide to continue to cut interest rates, inflation will accelerate into the fourth quarter." (CoinDesk)

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