Investment Learning

  • July 30, 2024

NFT Artists Sue SEC Over Securities Classification

According to Odaily, two NFT artists have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the classification of NFTs as securities and the agency's jurisdiction over them. Law professor Brian Frye and Jonathan Mann, known for his 'Song a Day Mann' series, initiated the legal action on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against the SEC and its five commissioners. The artists' attorneys accuse the SEC of launching a 'jurisdictional grab' and argue that categorizing NFTs as securities is absurd, using Taylor Swift concert tickets as an example to illustrate their point. The lawsuit also references two recent cases the SEC has brought against NFTs.

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  • July 30, 2024

US Senate Delays Vote On Cryptocurrency Regulation Bill

According to Odaily, the United States Senate has postponed the vote on a cryptocurrency regulation bill this week. The bill may be revisited when lawmakers return to Washington in September. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair, Michigan Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow, has been working on the bill and planned to hold a markup hearing on Wednesday. However, she did not secure the support of the committee's top Republican, Arkansas Senator John Boozman.Cody Carbone, Chief Policy Officer of the Digital Chamber, stated in a release, 'As industry leaders and committee members continue to provide feedback to Senator Stabenow's team, the bill has undergone multiple iterations. It appears that the review of the bill will be delayed until after the August recess to achieve more consensus. Senator Stabenow continues to engage with stakeholders to solicit feedback, which is positive.A statement from Stabenow's office, obtained by Politico reporters, indicated that she is collaborating with the Senate Banking Committee to draft the bill and emphasized the need for a Republican senator to 'step up.'

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  • July 29, 2024

Lawsuit Filed Against SEC Over Digital Art Sales Jurisdiction

According to Foresight News, law professor Brian Frye and Jonathan Mann, the creator of 'Song a Day Mann,' have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its five commissioners. The lawsuit was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on Monday. The plaintiffs' attorneys accuse the SEC of launching a campaign to assert jurisdiction over the sale of digital artworks, using examples such as Taylor Swift concert tickets and referencing two recent NFT-related cases by the agency. Both companies involved in these cases are preparing NFT projects and are seeking a court ruling on the matter. The SEC has declined to comment on the lawsuit. Ashley Ebersole, Chief Legal Officer at 0x Labs and a former SEC attorney, noted that previous SEC enforcement actions regarding NFTs have been settled, leaving courts with limited opportunities to determine whether NFTs qualify as securities.

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  • July 29, 2024

Fed's September Rate Cut Signals Awaited Amid Economic Data Releases

According to BlockBeats, the market has fully priced in a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September. However, a key question for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on July 30-31 is how clearly the FOMC will signal this move. Economists, including Anna Wong, believe that the communication from the July meeting will only provide a preliminary hint of a rate cut in September. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is expected to indicate that a rate cut is possible if the data evolves as anticipated. The main reason for this cautious approach is the significant amount of data yet to be released before the FOMC meeting on September 17-18, including two inflation and employment reports, which could show considerable changes. The best time to clearly signal a September rate cut would be during Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole central bank symposium at the end of August, by which time he will have an additional month of employment and inflation data.Economists' expectations for the July 30-31 FOMC meeting are that, despite calls from many Wall Street analysts for a rate cut, the FOMC will unanimously decide to keep rates unchanged at 5.25%-5.50%. Since the June FOMC meeting, inflation data has been encouraging, while economic activity data has been somewhat concerning. Overall, the committee is likely to view the balance of risks between its two goals—price stability and full employment—as roughly equal.

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  • July 28, 2024

Fed Likely To Maintain Rates In August

According to BlockBeats, the CME FedWatch Tool indicates a 95.9% probability that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged in August. There is a 4.1% chance of a 25 basis point rate cut.Looking ahead to September, the probability of maintaining the current interest rate drops to 0%. The likelihood of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut stands at 85.8%, while the chances of a cumulative 50 basis point cut are 13.8%. The probability of a cumulative 75 basis point cut is 0.4%.

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  • July 28, 2024

Fed Officials Likely To Agree On Balancing Employment And Inflation Risks

According to Odaily, institutional economists suggest that during next week's meeting, most Federal Reserve officials are likely to reach a consensus on one key issue: the downside risks to the Fed's full employment mandate are roughly balanced with the upside risks to inflation. It is anticipated that officials will generally agree that a rate cut will be appropriate at some point in the near future, although there may be slight differences in opinion regarding the exact timing of such a move.

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  • July 27, 2024

Social Media Platform X Under Investigation By Irish Data Protection Commission

According to Cointelegraph: Elon Musk's social media platform X is under scrutiny by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) following reports that a change in default settings allows user data to be fed into the training of Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok.“The DPC has been engaging with X on this matter for several months, with our latest interaction occurring as recently as yesterday,” the DPC told TechCrunch on July 25. The Commission expressed surprise at the recent developments and is awaiting a response from X, with further engagement expected early next week.Grok and User Data ControversyGrok is an AI chatbot designed to be witty, informative, and engaging, developed by xAI, a research and development company founded by Musk. Several posts on X have warned users about the controversial setting change, which allows the platform to use posts, interactions, inputs, and results with Grok for training and fine-tuning purposes.Encrypted email service ProtonMail advised its 304,500 X followers on how to turn off the default setting: “Your data on X is used by default to train Grok. Turn it off in Settings > Privacy and safety > Data sharing and personalization > Grok,” Proton explained in a July 26 X post.Open Source Move and Legal BattlesThis controversy comes months after Musk announced that xAI would make Grok open source, amid a lawsuit against rival AI chatbot developer OpenAI. Musk's announcement received positive responses from users, with many praising the decision and calling for OpenAI to do the same.On February 29, Cointelegraph reported that Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming a breach of the agreement made when OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit organization. Musk argued that OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft contradicts the founding principles of the nonprofit agreement to advance open-source artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the benefit of humanity.

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  • July 26, 2024

Silvergate Agrees To Pay $43 Million To Fed Over AML Violations

According to Bloomberg, Silvergate has agreed to pay $43 million to the Federal Reserve for allegedly failing to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. The settlement was announced by the Fed on Friday. This agreement comes as part of ongoing efforts to enforce compliance with financial regulations and ensure the integrity of the financial system.

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  • July 25, 2024

Fed Likely To Maintain Rates In August, Potential Rate Cuts In September

According to BlockBeats, the CME's 'FedWatch' tool indicates a 93.3% probability that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged in August, with a 6.7% chance of a 25 basis point rate cut.Looking ahead to September, the likelihood of the Fed maintaining the current interest rates drops to 0%. There is an 88.6% probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut, an 11% chance of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut, and a 0.3% probability of a cumulative 75 basis point rate cut.

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