NEWSLETTER
Thursday / September 29Sep 29
Wednesday / August 31
US Congress cracks down on crypto
The US House Committee on Oversight and Reform is upping the pressure on federal agencies and crypto exchanges to protect Americans from fraudsters.
In letters sent Tuesday morning, the committee asked four government agencies Department of the Treasury, the Federal Trade Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as five digital asset exchanges Coinbase, FTX, Binance, Kraken, and KuCoin for information and documents about what they are doing, if anything, to safeguard consumers against scams and combat cryptocurrency-related fraud.
More than $1 billion in crypto has been lost to fraud since the start of 2021, according to research from the FTC.
The letters ask that the federal agencies and crypto exchanges respond by Sept. 12 with information about what they are doing to protect consumers. The committee says that these responses could be used to craft legislative solutions.
In particular, the letters ask that the exchanges produce documents dating back through January 1, 2009, two days ahead of the time Bitcoin was introduced.
Hawkish Fed messaging continues
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said Tuesday he expects interest rates to continue higher and to remain at those levels until inflation is subdued.
Echoing comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell's Jackson Hole speech, Williams told The Wall Street Journal that he also is in the -rates-higher-for-longer camp when it comes to monetary policy.
“We’re going to need to have restrictive policy for some time,” Williams said in a live interview. “This is not something we’re going to do for a very short period and then change course.”
Williams didn’t specifically say where he’d like to see rates go. “I do think with demand far exceeding supply, we do need to get real interest rates above zero. We need to have somewhat restrictive policy to slow demand, and we’re not there yet,” Williams said.
US stocks
US stocks fell for a third day on Tuesday, as the Federal Reserve continued to signal they will raise interest rates to squash inflation despite the negative consequences for economic growth.
The S&P500 fell 1.1% to 3,986, dropping below the 4,000 level for the first time since July. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.1%, to close at 11,883. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 308 points, or nearly 1%, to 31,790.
The Dow and Nasdaq have both lost more than half their gains since the middle of June and now sit about 6% and 11%, respectively, above their summer lows.
Taiwan strait heats up
Taiwan fired warning shots at a Chinese drone which buzzed an offshore islet on Tuesday. President Tsai Ing-wen said she had ordered Taiwan's military to take "strong countermeasures" against what she termed Chinese provocations.
It is the first time such warning shots have been fired during a period of heightened tensions between China and Taiwan. Communist Beijing views the island as its own territory, while Taiwan views mainland China as its own territory.
The drone headed back to China after the shots were fired, a Taiwanese military spokesperson said.
Tawainese Foreign Ministry announced that Governor of Arizona would visit the island Wednesday through Friday.
Europe's energy crisis
Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Tuesday, it would suspend gas supplies to France's main provider Engie from Thursday after it failed to pay for all deliveries made in July.
"Gazprom Export has notified Engie of a total suspension of gas supplies from September 1, 2022, until the full receipt of the financial sums due for the deliveries," Gazprom said in a statement published Tuesday on Telegram.
It said a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March banned it from exporting gas to a foreign buyer if the client did not make all payments within a time period stipulated in the contract.
Gazprom added that as of late Tuesday it had not received all the sums due for deliveries made to Engie in July.
"Very clearly Russia is using gas as a weapon of war and we must prepare for the worst case scenario of a complete interruption of supplies," France's Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said.
The US House Committee on Oversight and Reform is upping the pressure on federal agencies and crypto exchanges to protect Americans from fraudsters.
In letters sent Tuesday morning, the committee asked four government agencies Department of the Treasury, the Federal Trade Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as five digital asset exchanges Coinbase, FTX, Binance, Kraken, and KuCoin for information and documents about what they are doing, if anything, to safeguard consumers against scams and combat cryptocurrency-related fraud.
More than $1 billion in crypto has been lost to fraud since the start of 2021, according to research from the FTC.
The letters ask that the federal agencies and crypto exchanges respond by Sept. 12 with information about what they are doing to protect consumers. The committee says that these responses could be used to craft legislative solutions.
In particular, the letters ask that the exchanges produce documents dating back through January 1, 2009, two days ahead of the time Bitcoin was introduced.
Hawkish Fed messaging continues
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said Tuesday he expects interest rates to continue higher and to remain at those levels until inflation is subdued.
Echoing comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell's Jackson Hole speech, Williams told The Wall Street Journal that he also is in the -rates-higher-for-longer camp when it comes to monetary policy.
“We’re going to need to have restrictive policy for some time,” Williams said in a live interview. “This is not something we’re going to do for a very short period and then change course.”
Williams didn’t specifically say where he’d like to see rates go. “I do think with demand far exceeding supply, we do need to get real interest rates above zero. We need to have somewhat restrictive policy to slow demand, and we’re not there yet,” Williams said.
US stocks
US stocks fell for a third day on Tuesday, as the Federal Reserve continued to signal they will raise interest rates to squash inflation despite the negative consequences for economic growth.
The S&P500 fell 1.1% to 3,986, dropping below the 4,000 level for the first time since July. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.1%, to close at 11,883. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 308 points, or nearly 1%, to 31,790.
The Dow and Nasdaq have both lost more than half their gains since the middle of June and now sit about 6% and 11%, respectively, above their summer lows.
Taiwan strait heats up
Taiwan fired warning shots at a Chinese drone which buzzed an offshore islet on Tuesday. President Tsai Ing-wen said she had ordered Taiwan's military to take "strong countermeasures" against what she termed Chinese provocations.
It is the first time such warning shots have been fired during a period of heightened tensions between China and Taiwan. Communist Beijing views the island as its own territory, while Taiwan views mainland China as its own territory.
The drone headed back to China after the shots were fired, a Taiwanese military spokesperson said.
Tawainese Foreign Ministry announced that Governor of Arizona would visit the island Wednesday through Friday.
Europe's energy crisis
Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Tuesday, it would suspend gas supplies to France's main provider Engie from Thursday after it failed to pay for all deliveries made in July.
"Gazprom Export has notified Engie of a total suspension of gas supplies from September 1, 2022, until the full receipt of the financial sums due for the deliveries," Gazprom said in a statement published Tuesday on Telegram.
It said a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March banned it from exporting gas to a foreign buyer if the client did not make all payments within a time period stipulated in the contract.
Gazprom added that as of late Tuesday it had not received all the sums due for deliveries made to Engie in July.
"Very clearly Russia is using gas as a weapon of war and we must prepare for the worst case scenario of a complete interruption of supplies," France's Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said.
