Daily News 19

Category: Coins

Digital assets, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and currency news.

  • Strive Adds $143 Million in Bitcoin, Becoming the Fifth-Largest Public Holder

    Strive Adds $143 Million in Bitcoin, Becoming the Fifth-Largest Public Holder

    Strive has strengthened its position among corporate Bitcoin holders after purchasing 1,800 $BTC for approximately $143 million. The acquisition increased the company’s Bitcoin treasury to 23,156 $BTC, moving Strive ahead of Bullish and into fifth place.

    Strive bought the Bitcoin between August 24 and August 28 at an average price of $79,431 per coin. The latest purchase extends the company’s aggressive Bitcoin accumulation strategy.

    Strive accelerates its Bitcoin strategy

    The purchase follows Strive’s acquisition of 1,110 $BTC during the previous week. As a result, the company added 2,910 $BTC over two weeks for approximately $224.5 million.

    The buying spree highlights Strive’s growing commitment to Bitcoin as a central treasury asset. The company now ranks behind Strategy, Twenty One Capital, Metaplanet, and MARA Holdings.

    Equity issuance supports Bitcoin purchases

    Strive continues to fund its Bitcoin expansion through ASST common stock and SATA preferred stock programs. Its Class A share count increased by 3.58 million during the most recent reporting quarter.

    The number of SATA shares also rose by 803,099 to approximately 9.07 million. However, issuing additional equity can reduce the value held by existing shareholders.

    Strive has created up to $4.2 billion in potential fundraising capacity. The company could use that capital to purchase more Bitcoin if market prices are favorable, giving it substantial room to expand its treasury further.

    Related: Ripple Emerges as Top Holding in New York-Traded C1 Fund

    Source: cryptonews.net

  • Lazarus Moves $30 Million Through Hyperliquid as U.S. Talks Advance

    Lazarus Moves $30 Million Through Hyperliquid as U.S. Talks Advance

    Wallets linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group have sold more than $30 million worth of Bitcoin through Hyperliquid over the past three weeks, converting the proceeds into Ethereum and Solana before transferring the assets to centralized exchanges, according to Arkham blockchain data.

    Lazarus-linked wallets move Bitcoin into ETH and SOL

    Arkham said wallets associated with the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus Group sold more than $30 million in Bitcoin on Hyperliquid during the three-week period. The wallets then used the proceeds to buy Ethereum and Solana, sending the assets to exchanges including Kraken, LBank and KuCoin.

    Crypto investigator ZachXBT first identified the addresses in 2024. Arkham later labeled them as connected to Lazarus.

    Public blockchain records show transfers between addresses but do not identify the individuals or entities controlling receiving exchange accounts. CoinDesk reported that it could not determine who held the accounts or whether the exchanges knew about the reported source of the funds.

    Kraken said compliance is central to its operations and that it continuously monitors blockchain activity with support from analytics providers. The exchange said its controls are designed to identify and block assets connected to sanctioned wallets before they reach the platform.

    LBank said it uses industry-standard compliance tools for continuous monitoring. The exchange described illicit transfers across platforms, blockchains and jurisdictions as an industry-wide problem that no single company can independently detect or resolve.

    KuCoin said it could not confirm the reported activity without reviewing the underlying wallet data. It also cautioned that public blockchain records do not reveal every action taken after assets arrive at a centralized platform, including account restrictions, regulatory reports and other risk controls.

    Hyperliquid transfers raise U.S. sanctions concerns

    The reported transfers have a direct U.S. regulatory dimension because the Treasury Department has sanctioned Lazarus Group and identified it as a cyber organization controlled by the North Korean government.

    U.S. authorities have linked Lazarus to several digital-asset thefts, including the $625 million Ronin Network attack in 2022. As previously reported by crypto.news, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper recently cited North Korean hacking groups while arguing that regulated domestic crypto markets could give U.S. law enforcement better access to customer and transaction records.

    Using a decentralized trading venue can complicate enforcement because Hyperliquid allows users to connect a wallet and trade without opening a traditional brokerage account. Its public blockchain still records transactions, enabling firms such as Arkham to trace transfers between labeled addresses.

    However, the presence of assets linked to a sanctioned actor on a decentralized platform does not establish that Hyperliquid assisted the activity or knew who controlled the wallets. CoinDesk’s report also did not establish that Kraken, LBank or KuCoin credited the transferred assets to unrestricted customer accounts.

    Any U.S. plan to offer Hyperliquid-linked products domestically would need to address sanctions screening, customer identification and account-level controls. Wallet checks can identify previously labeled addresses, but funds may pass through multiple assets or wallets before reaching another venue.

    A recent Hyperliquid testnet deployment illustrated how a permissioned version of its infrastructure could operate. In August, a deployer using Kraken’s name whitelisted 10 wallets and tested controls for canceling orders, reducing positions and moving collateral.

    Neither Kraken nor Hyperliquid had confirmed ownership of the deployment when the report appeared. Because Hyperliquid’s testnet allows outside deployments, the use of the Kraken name alone did not prove that the exchange created or operated it.

    Payward explores regulated Hyperliquid access for U.S. traders

    Bloomberg reported that Kraken parent company Payward is in advanced discussions with Hyperliquid Labs about offering selected perpetual contracts to American traders through Bitnomial, its CFTC-regulated derivatives business.

    People familiar with the talks told Bloomberg that Payward had presented the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with an outline of the proposed structure. Any agreement would still require regulatory approval, while the financial terms remain unknown. Payward and Hyperliquid Labs declined to comment to Bloomberg.

    President Donald Trump brought the potential U.S. expansion into public view during an Aug. 19 White House event. Referring to CFTC Chair Michael Selig, Trump said he understood that the regulator was working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a “fully compliant and legal fashion.”

    A Payward arrangement would give eligible U.S. customers access through a registered operator rather than Hyperliquid’s permissionless interface. Commodity derivatives offered to American retail traders generally must use CFTC-regulated entities, and wallet screening alone does not replace exchange, clearing and brokerage requirements.

    Payward already has the regulatory infrastructure required to operate in the U.S. derivatives market. The company completed its Bitnomial purchase in May after agreeing to pay as much as $550 million in cash and stock.

    The acquisition gave Payward control of a designated contract market, a derivatives clearing organization and a futures commission merchant. Together, the three registrations cover trading, clearing and brokerage services under CFTC oversight.

    Kraken launched regulated perpetuals for eligible U.S. customers in June. The service allows supported users to trade spot, margin, traditional futures and perpetual futures through Kraken Pro while using Bitnomial’s regulated structure.

    Hyperliquid remains a leading decentralized perpetuals platform

    Hyperliquid operates its main exchange through HyperCore, an on-chain trading system that handles order matching, margin calculations and liquidations. Users trade from connected crypto wallets, while the platform’s primary permissionless interface does not require a conventional brokerage account.

    Perpetual futures differ from dated futures because they have no fixed expiry. Funding payments between long and short traders help keep contract prices close to the value of their underlying assets, allowing positions to remain open as long as traders meet margin requirements.

    DefiLlama data showed that Hyperliquid had processed approximately $5.19 trillion in cumulative perpetual trading volume at the time of writing. Its perpetual markets recorded about $60.44 billion in seven-day volume and $204.95 billion during the previous 30 days.

    Open interest stood at roughly $13.3 billion, representing the notional value of outstanding perpetual positions. DefiLlama also recorded more than $32.6 billion in cumulative liquidations on the platform, including approximately $2.25 billion during the preceding 30 days.

    Beyond markets operated by the core protocol, Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal 3 allows outside developers to launch independent perpetual exchanges using HyperCore. Deployers select their contracts, collateral, leverage limits, funding settings and price sources after staking 500,000 HYPE.

    Validators can slash the stake if a deployer manipulates an oracle or violates market rules. HIP-3 operators receive half of the trading fees generated by their markets, while newer permission tools tested on the network could allow individual deployers to restrict access to approved wallets.

  • Hyperliquid and Kraken Parent Explore Regulated U.S. Futures Launch

    Hyperliquid and Kraken Parent Explore Regulated U.S. Futures Launch

    Hyperliquid Labs and Payward, the parent company of Kraken, are in advanced discussions to offer selected Hyperliquid-linked perpetual futures to U.S. traders through Bitnomial, a derivatives exchange regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

    Hyperliquid may reach U.S. traders through Bitnomial

    Bloomberg reported on Aug. 31 that Hyperliquid Labs and Payward are considering a structure that would list selected crypto perpetual futures on Bitnomial, the U.S. derivatives exchange owned by Kraken’s parent company.

    Under the proposed arrangement, eligible U.S. customers would trade the contracts through Bitnomial instead of connecting directly to Hyperliquid’s decentralized platform. The companies have not disclosed which assets would be included, how many contracts could be listed, or whether $HYPE would be among the underlying tokens.

    According to Bloomberg, Payward has already presented the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with an outline of the arrangement. Regulatory clearance is still required, and the companies have not announced a launch date or commercial terms.

    Bitnomial would provide the U.S. trading venue, customer access, and compliance infrastructure. Hyperliquid technology would support the assets or markets linked to the selected products, separating the regulated contracts from the permissionless platform used by the protocol’s existing customers.

    U.S. users remain unable to access Hyperliquid directly. An August filing cited in earlier coverage of the protocol said the platform continued to restrict U.S. users. It also said Hyperliquid Strategies was not aware at the time of any pending CFTC approval process for the network.

    The discussions do not represent approval for Hyperliquid itself to operate as a U.S. exchange. Instead, Bloomberg’s reported structure would place any American trading activity within Bitnomial’s regulated system and limit access to contracts selected for that venue.

    Payward controls a complete U.S. derivatives platform

    Payward completed its acquisition of Chicago-based Bitnomial on May 1. The transaction had initially been valued at up to $550 million in cash and stock, although the final price was not disclosed.

    The acquisition gave Payward control of a designated contract market, a derivatives clearing organization, and a futures commission merchant. Together, the three CFTC-regulated entities allow Bitnomial to provide exchange trading, clearing, and brokerage services within one corporate group.

    As crypto.news previously reported, Bitnomial spent more than a decade securing the licenses required to operate that structure. Payward said when the acquisition was announced that Bitnomial would retain its regulatory framework and continue serving third-party clients after joining the company.

    The infrastructure has already supported Kraken’s U.S. expansion. In June, Kraken introduced perpetual futures for eligible American clients through Bitnomial, placing the contracts alongside spot, margin, and traditional futures products on Kraken Pro.

    Kraken said customers could use a single collateral pool across perpetual futures and other derivatives positions. John Palmer, Kraken’s global head of derivatives, said the arrangement reduced the need for traders to split capital and positions across separate platforms.

    Perpetual futures differ from dated futures because they have no fixed expiration date. Recurring funding payments between long and short traders help keep the contract price close to the value of its reference asset.

    The format is common on offshore exchanges and decentralized platforms, but federal derivatives rules have historically limited U.S. access. Bitnomial’s involvement could give American traders access through a supervised exchange without opening Hyperliquid’s full range of onchain markets to U.S. customers.

    CFTC review will shape the final structure

    The CFTC would be the primary federal regulator for the proposed crypto derivatives because Bitnomial operates under the Commodity Exchange Act. Depending on the final structure and the assets referenced, regulators would need to determine how the contracts should be classified and whether the listing process satisfies applicable exchange requirements.

    Groups linked to Hyperliquid are already engaging U.S. regulators on related issues. In an Aug. 24 comment letter, the Hyperliquid Policy Center asked the Securities and Exchange Commission and the CFTC to recognize qualifying cash-settled equity perpetuals as security futures.

    The group argued that regulators should first examine how a derivative is structured and traded before using its underlying asset to divide oversight. Under its proposal, futures-like perpetual contracts tied to individual stocks would fall under the security futures framework jointly administered by the SEC and CFTC.

    According to the policy center, HIP-3 markets using Hyperliquid infrastructure processed more than $480 billion in cumulative notional volume during their first 10 months. The markets use central limit order books and continuous margin, while funding payments help align perpetual contract prices with their reference assets.

    The proposed Payward arrangement concerns selected crypto contracts, not unrestricted access to HIP-3 or the broader Hyperliquid platform. Bloomberg did not report that the SEC is involved in the discussions, and neither Payward nor Hyperliquid has published a list of the proposed contracts.

    U.S. regulators would also expect the regulated venue and its intermediaries to apply customer identification, anti-money laundering, and sanctions controls. Those requirements differ from the permissionless access model used by decentralized trading protocols.

    $HYPE extends its August rally

    $HYPE traded at about $84.50 when checked, up roughly 3% over 24 hours after recovering from an earlier decline. The token had gained more than 60% since the start of August, although available reports did not establish that expectations of U.S. access were responsible for the entire monthly advance.

    Hyperliquid processes more than $4 billion in daily trading volume, according to figures cited in the original report. Any Bitnomial offering would cover only a selected portion of Hyperliquid-linked markets. The companies have not disclosed whether revenue from the U.S. contracts would flow to the protocol or affect $HYPE’s existing token-buyback system.

  • Bitwise’s Solana ETF Reaches $1 Billion in Assets Under Management 10 Months After Launch

    Bitwise’s Solana ETF Reaches $1 Billion in Assets Under Management 10 Months After Launch

    Bitwise’s Solana staking ETF has surpassed $1 billion in assets under management, placing $SOL alongside bitcoin and ether among the small group of cryptocurrencies with ETF products exceeding that threshold.

    The fund, which trades under the ticker BSOL, reached the milestone exactly 10 months after its launch, according to Bitwise.

    “The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, BSOL, just crossed $1 billion AUM, exactly 10 months after its launch,”

    the asset manager said on X.

    Bitwise said most of the approximately $1 billion in inflows arrived during a bear market, indicating that investors continued building Solana exposure despite a difficult first half for digital assets. Across the broader category, U.S. Solana ETFs now hold about $1.43 billion in assets, equivalent to roughly 2.35% of $SOL’s marketcap.

    Solana ETF inflows remain resilient during market weakness

    The market’s response to BSOL crossing $1 billion in assets has highlighted the strength of demand for Solana investment products. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas pointed to approximately $1.7 billion in cumulative inflows across the entire category, with little evidence of sustained withdrawals despite the earlier market downturn.

    Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley said bitcoin, ether and solana are currently the only three crypto assets with ETFs that have grown beyond $1 billion. The scale of these products can improve liquidity, attract larger institutional investors and make the underlying assets more accessible through conventional brokerage accounts.

    Source: Hunter Horsley on X

    Solana’s price recovery has reinforced the trend. $SOL has climbed roughly 46% this month and is about 80% above its June low. The token has risen back above $100, lifting its market capitalization above $60 billion.

    Institutional access is also expanding beyond ETFs. Charles Schwab said on Aug. 27 that it plans to add spot trading for Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink to Schwab Crypto in the coming months. The brokerage oversees more than $12 trillion in client assets across approximately 39 million accounts.

    Growing ETF assets and broader brokerage access could give Solana a stronger foothold among traditional investors who prefer not to manage digital tokens or wallets themselves.

    For Bitwise, reaching $1 billion is significant not only because of the fund’s size but also because of the timing. Much of the capital entered while crypto markets were under pressure. As $SOL stages a sharp recovery, those inflows increasingly appear to reflect sustained institutional allocation rather than short-term opportunistic trading.

  • Ripple Overtakes Kraken as Top Holding in NYSE-Traded C1 Fund Portfolio

    Ripple Overtakes Kraken as Top Holding in NYSE-Traded C1 Fund Portfolio

    Ripple Labs has become the largest holding in C1 Fund’s portfolio, accounting for 17.49% of net assets and moving ahead of Payward Inc., the parent company of Kraken, at 16.92%.

    C1 Fund had invested $41.3 million across 11 private digital-asset companies as of June 30, 2026, according to the fund’s second-quarter update. The fund trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CFND and focuses on secondary-market investments in late-stage private companies involved in digital-asset infrastructure and related services.

    Ripple Becomes C1 Fund’s Top Holding

    Ripple’s increased portfolio weighting was partly driven by a company share buyback. C1 Fund said the partial buyback generated a 141.5% return on the portion of its Ripple investment included in the transaction over approximately four months.

    The result reflects the return from the buyback rather than simply indicating that C1 Fund purchased additional Ripple shares during the quarter.

    Interest in private-market exposure to Ripple is also growing among traditional investment firms. Kinetics Internet Portfolio reported holding 1,875 Class A Ripple shares valued at approximately $246,319 as of June 30. The position represented about 0.1% of the fund’s $248.3 million in net assets and was classified as a Level 3 asset because Ripple remains a privately held company.

    Ripple equity and $XRP are separate investments. Ripple shares represent an ownership interest in the private company, while $XRP is a separate digital asset. Institutional participation in both markets nevertheless reflects broader acceptance of crypto-related financial products.

    Institutional Investors Increase $XRP ETF Exposure

    Institutional demand is also expanding through $XRP exchange-traded products. Goldman Sachs disclosed approximately $86.5 million invested across five spot $XRP ETFs as of June 30, after reporting no exposure to $XRP ETFs at the end of the previous quarter.

    The holdings included products from Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, Canary Capital, 21Shares and Grayscale.

    The wider digital-asset sector is also moving closer to the public markets. BitGo completed its initial public offering in January, while Kraken and Blockchain.com have confidentially filed IPO registration statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to C1 Fund’s update.

  • Cardano Brings Blockchain Verification to Latin America’s Largest Fashion Group

    Cardano Brings Blockchain Verification to Latin America’s Largest Fashion Group

    Cardano and Blockforce Launch Blockchain Traceability System for Brazilian Leather Supply Chains

    The Cardano Foundation and Brazilian technology firm Blockforce have deployed a dual-ledger traceability system with more than 500,000 records anchored as of August 31, 2026.

    Fashion and retail group Azzas 2154 is using the platform to audit leather sourcing across its supply chain by cross-referencing tax documentation, supplier records, procurement data, commercial invoices, and official public databases.

    Commercial agreements are expected to generate 6.5 million certified records by the end of 2030. Joint batch-processing optimization through the uVerify protocol has reduced the operational cost per record by 92% compared with earlier deployment estimates.

    Cardano Provides Public Verification Layer

    On Monday, August 31, the Cardano network began operating as the public cryptographic verification layer for Blockforce’s enterprise traceability platform, which is designed for large corporations across Latin America.

    The system has been integrated into Azzas 2154, which became the region’s largest fashion group after the merger of Arezzo&Co and Grupo Soma. The company uses the framework to trace the origin of its leather supplies by correlating commercial invoices, procurement records, and information from official public databases.

    The architecture separates confidential operational data from the information required for public verification. Sensitive business data is stored on a permissioned network based on Hyperledger Fabric, while cryptographic proofs for individual batches are published on the public Cardano blockchain.

    Technical information from Blockforce states that the approach enables external auditors to verify the authenticity of product batches without accessing internal commercial data. The Cardano Foundation’s technical report says that optimizing joint batch processing through the uVerify protocol cut the issuance cost per record by 92% compared with previous deployment estimates.

    Dual-Ledger Design Supports Export Compliance

    The dual-ledger infrastructure is intended to address regulatory requirements in foreign markets. European Union deforestation regulations, known as EUDR, and digital product passport mandates impose increasingly strict environmental verification requirements on raw-material suppliers.

    Latin American exporters face growing scrutiny over the origin of their materials. According to statements by André Salem, CEO of Blockforce, publicly verifiable proofs are emerging as an entry requirement for international trade with European markets.

    In Brazil, the livestock and textile industries are working to modernize their auditing processes. Azzas 2154 documentation sets a corporate target of achieving 100% traceability for leather supplies across all of the group’s commercial brands by 2030.

    The compliance system is designed to avoid requiring small producers to adopt new information technology platforms. Instead, the software processes existing tax documentation and uses it to create a unified, auditable history for each product batch.

    Blockchain Traceability Expansion

    The project is also being positioned as a test of whether decentralized blockchain networks can provide practical enterprise verification alongside or instead of closed corporate systems.

    Data from the Cardano Foundation indicates that institutional anchoring activity could expand into supply chains in the automotive, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries in the coming quarters.

    Active contractual agreements schedule the issuance of 6.5 million certified proofs by 2030. The next compliance milestone is expected when the first audited reports under European regulations are published at the end of the current fiscal year.

  • Crypto.com to Launch Prediction Markets Tracking AI Jobs and Adoption

    Crypto.com to Launch Prediction Markets Tracking AI Jobs and Adoption

    Crypto.com to Launch AI Prediction Contracts Based on Workplace and Consumer Trends

    Crypto.com will introduce prediction contracts allowing users to forecast how quickly artificial intelligence is changing workplaces, consumer behaviour and major industries.

    More than 20 contracts are expected to begin rolling out in September. Unlike prediction markets linked to elections or sporting events, these contracts will be settled using surveys and company disclosures that measure how people and businesses are adopting AI.

    Users will trade on future AI adoption trends

    Crypto.com and PYMNTS have agreed to an exclusive two-year partnership covering the new products, according to their announcement.

    The contracts will trade through OG Prediction Markets, an exchange and clearinghouse regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Crypto.com and other partners will provide access to the markets.

    The initial group of contracts will focus on consumer behaviour, workplace changes, corporate AI adoption, healthcare, retail and financial services. Around 25 additional contracts are expected to be added each quarter.

    Although the individual questions have not yet been published, a contract could ask whether AI use among American workers will exceed a specified level in an upcoming survey.

    Participants would trade based on their expectations for the survey results, with the outcome determining which contracts pay out. Users will not be betting directly on whether AI succeeds or fails. Instead, they will be forecasting what future research shows about AI adoption and its economic effects.

    PYMNTS data will determine contract outcomes

    The markets will rely exclusively on measurements produced by PYMNTS Intelligence.

    PYMNTS surveys 4,000 US adults each month about their use of AI in areas including work, education, shopping and healthcare.

    A separate quarterly survey of 500 US companies examines how businesses use AI agents and automation. The research tracks whether productivity has improved and how employment and software requirements have changed.

    PYMNTS will also review company filings, earnings materials and public statements for evidence of AI investment, revenue changes and workforce effects.

    The organization has collected nearly 30 months of historical data, which will provide a baseline for measuring future changes in AI adoption and its impact across the economy.

  • Strive Adds $143 Million in Bitcoin as Treasury Firms Return to the Market

    Strive Adds $143 Million in Bitcoin as Treasury Firms Return to the Market

    Strive has purchased another 1,800 Bitcoin worth approximately $143 million, continuing its aggressive cryptocurrency accumulation strategy and expanding one of the largest corporate Bitcoin treasuries.

    CEO Matt Cole said Monday that Strive paid an average of $79,431 per Bitcoin for the latest purchase. The transaction brings the company’s total holdings to 23,156 BTC, valued at approximately $1.76 billion at the reference price cited in the disclosure.

    Strive expands Bitcoin treasury strategy

    The purchase follows Strive’s recent $81 million Bitcoin acquisition alongside a share sale. The company trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker ASST after merging with Asset Entities earlier this year.

    Strive was initially co-founded by entrepreneur-turned-politician Vivek Ramaswamy. It is among a growing group of public companies that have adopted Bitcoin treasury strategies, raising capital to accumulate the asset and link their financial performance to its price.

    The approach was pioneered by Michael Saylor’s Strategy and has attracted numerous imitators over the past year. However, corporate Bitcoin treasury strategies carry significant risk because of the cryptocurrency’s volatility.

    Corporate crypto buying resumes

    Strive’s latest purchase comes amid renewed buying across the sector as Bitcoin has rallied. Strategy ended an approximately two-month pause with a $370 million Bitcoin purchase this week, its first since June, after a market recovery pushed its position back into profit.

    Tom Lee’s Bitmine also made its largest Ethereum purchase since June, highlighting how crypto treasury companies have resumed accumulation as prices recovered.

    Bitcoin traded at around $78,600 on Monday, slightly lower on the day but on track to finish August with a gain of more than 24%, which would make it the cryptocurrency’s strongest month since 2017.

    Strive’s average purchase price for the latest tranche is slightly above current market levels, leaving the new Bitcoin investment roughly at break-even for now.

  • Tom Lee Makes a “Massive Bull” Bitcoin and Ethereum Prediction With One Condition

    Tom Lee Makes a “Massive Bull” Bitcoin and Ethereum Prediction With One Condition

    Tom Lee, Fundstrat’s head of research and chief investment officer, outlined his latest outlook for the Federal Reserve’s September policy decision, U.S. stocks and global markets in an interview with CNBC.

    Although September has historically been a weak month for financial markets and uncertainty remains over the path of interest rates, Lee said markets could deliver an upside surprise contrary to prevailing expectations.

    September Fed meeting seen as market turning point

    Lee described the Fed meeting on September 15th as a critical turning point. He said that if the central bank leaves interest rates unchanged, stock markets could trigger a very strong rally.

    According to Lee, a major market correction could be delayed until October. Alternatively, stocks could see only a limited pullback after the S&P 500 rises above the 8,000-point level.

    Crypto market recovery could accelerate

    Lee also said the periodic slowdown in the cryptocurrency market, often referred to as a “crypto winter,” had been relatively shallow and was approaching its end. He noted that crypto assets became the best-performing macro asset class during the third quarter of the year.

    With institutional investors increasingly turning to crypto stocks, Lee said investor interest could return quickly as the four-year crypto cycle reaches its conclusion in the coming days.

    The analyst identified potential regulatory changes as the sector’s biggest catalyst, stating:

    “If the CLARITY Bill passes Congress this year, Bitcoin and Ethereum will have an extremely strong and massive fourth quarter.”

    This is not investment advice.

  • Renowned Economist Says Fed Should Raise Interest Rates in September

    Renowned Economist Says Fed Should Raise Interest Rates in September

    SMBC Chief Economist and former U.S. Treasury Department official Joe Lavorgna said the Federal Reserve should raise interest rates in September and suggested the central bank is likely to move in that direction.

    Speaking on CNBC, Lavogna assessed the U.S. economy’s strong growth momentum, the recovery in manufacturing and volatility in real interest rates.

    U.S. economic growth strengthens

    Lavorgna said the U.S. economy has entered a growth trajectory approaching 5% in the third quarter. He argued that the Fed’s 75 basis point interest rate cuts last year, which were introduced amid concerns about the labor market, are no longer necessary.

    “I believe the Fed should and will raise interest rates in September. Given the economic outlook and growth expectations, reversing the extra rate cuts made last year would be a logical step.”

    Higher short-term rates could reduce market risks

    In response to a question about how an interest rate increase could be negotiated with the U.S. president, Lavorgna said higher short-term interest rates would reduce the market risk premium and could push long-term bond yields lower.

    He also said short-term rate increases would offer higher returns to depositors and Treasury bond investors, potentially supporting the economy over the medium to long term.

    This is not investment advice.