Federal Reserve Chairman Powell stated that recent inflation data has slowed down. More good data is needed to boost confidence in the anti-inflation process. The inflation risk continues to be closely monitored. So far this year, our confidence in inflation slowing down enough to cut interest rates has not increased. Powell said that the US economy has made significant progress in employment and inflation. The inflation rate has significantly eased but is still too high. Economic activity is expanding at a steady pace. The Federal Reserve generally expects GDP growth to slow down from last year. Employment growth is still strong but slower than in the first quarter. The FOMC expects the labor market to continue to remain strong.

Hong Kong's Financial Services and Treasury Bureau Secretary Christopher Hui answered a question from member Li Wei-hung at a Legislative Council meeting yesterday, asking whether the government would discuss with relevant regulatory agencies to launch more mainstream virtual asset futures and options products, stating that the Hong Kong government and regulatory agencies will continue to promote the development of virtual asset-related products. Since the policy declaration was issued, virtual asset-related products in Hong Kong have made good progress, with the first batch of virtual asset futures ETFs arriving in 2022 and the first batch of virtual asset spot ETFs in Asia listed in Hong Kong in April this year, providing investors with more diverse virtual asset investment choices. As of the end of May, the total assets under management of virtual asset futures and spot ETFs listed in Hong Kong reached HKD 3.2 billion.

The Federal Reserve ended its two-day interest rate meeting and maintained the federal funds rate target range at 5.25 to 5.5 basis points, keeping the rate at the same level for seven consecutive meetings, which is in line with market expectations. The dot plot, which reflects the future trend of interest rates, shows that Fed officials expect to cut interest rates only once this year, by 0.25 basis points, which is two fewer times than their forecast in March.

Former US President Trump posted on Truth Social, stating that Bitcoin mining is the "last line of defense" against central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and emphasized that Bitcoin should be mined in the United States. After this statement was made, Bitcoin mining stocks generally rose on Wednesday. TeraWulf's stock rose by nearly 20% at one point, reaching $4.13, before falling back to $3.96, about 14% higher than the previous day's closing price. MicroStrategy and Hive Digital Technologies' stocks rose by about 7% and 8% respectively, while Iris Energy rose by about 3%.

Powell stated at the press conference on interest rate decisions that overall, a range of indicators indicate that the labor market has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, which is relatively tight but not overheated. Members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) expect the labor market to continue to strengthen. However, Powell also suggested in his speech that recent strong employment data may be slightly "exaggerated" and hinted that benchmark data may be under revision.

Arkham posted on X early this morning that Michael Egorov, the founder of Curve, is close to liquidating his 140 million US dollars worth of CRV. Currently, Michael Egorov has borrowed 95.7 million US dollars worth of stablecoins (mainly crvUSD) using 140 million US dollars worth of CRV as collateral across 5 accounts in 5 protocols. Based on the current interest rate, Egorov needs to pay 60 million US dollars annually to maintain his position in Llamalend. Egorov has borrowed 50 million US dollars worth of crvUSD on Llamalend, which currently costs him about 120% APY. This is because there is almost no remaining crvUSD available on Llamalend to borrow using CRV as collateral, and Egorov's 3 accounts already account for more than 90% of the borrowed crvUSD on the platform. If the price of CRV drops by about 10%, these positions may begin to be liquidated.

According to insiders, the Joe Biden campaign team is discussing accepting cryptocurrency donations through Coinbase Commerce. Coinbase Commerce is a payment service that allows merchants to accept dozens of cryptocurrencies and has already provided cryptocurrency donations to Donald Trump's Republican campaign team, which began accepting digital currency donations last month. The discussion is said to be the latest effort by the Biden campaign team to attract cryptocurrency supporters before the election. One insider, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussion, told The Block that the Biden team may be seeking sponsorship from wealthy cryptocurrency supporters. Another insider who works with politicians and leaders in the cryptocurrency industry said, "They are paying attention to the issues of the cryptocurrency industry and trying to find a quick way to show their support for the industry. They want to show that they are not enemies."

The stock prices of Bitcoin mining companies rose by about 10% on Wednesday. The day before, US presidential candidate Donald Trump promised to strengthen the country's cryptocurrency mining industry. According to Google Finance data, TeraWulf (WULF) and Hut 8 Mining (Hut) had the largest increase in stock prices among the top ten Bitcoin mining companies by market capitalization, rising by 10.5% and 10.07% respectively on June 12th. Core Scientific (CORZ), Iris Energy (IREN), and Cipher Mining (CIFR) ranked in the top five with increases of 9.87%, 9.72%, and 8.94% respectively. CleanSpark (CLSK) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) also rose by 8.15% and 6.5% respectively, but the largest Bitcoin mining company by market capitalization, Marathon Digital (MARA), only rose by 2.4% that day. (Cointelegraph) Yesterday, Trump said that he hopes all remaining bitcoins will be made in the United States, which will help the country dominate the energy sector.

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po released a blog post, in which he mentioned that he had introduced Hong Kong as a pioneer in embracing Web3.0 development to local regulators and the financial industry in Europe, and how to promote market development from various aspects such as regulatory formulation, product innovation, and government financing. In terms of regulatory formulation, Hong Kong implemented a virtual asset trading platform licensing system in June last year and is formulating other licensing regulations related to virtual asset businesses; in terms of product innovation, the first six virtual asset ETFs in Asia have been listed and pioneered a physical subscription and redemption mechanism; in terms of government bond financing, the SAR government has issued two batches of tokenized green bonds, with the second batch of multi-currency (Hong Kong dollars, RMB, euros, and US dollars) bonds totaling US$770 million, which is the world's first multi-currency government green bond issued in digital native form. Chan also said that he will further expand cooperation space with important stakeholders in the financial technology industry at the Hong Kong Web3 flagship event in October this year on an international level.

On June 12, 2024, the Shanghai People's Procuratorate released the "2023 Shanghai Financial Prosecution White Paper". The "White Paper" shows that in 2023, the number of financial crime cases and suspects in Shanghai continued to show a slight downward trend while operating at a high level. Illegal fundraising crimes accounted for 70% of financial crimes, new types of financial investment fraud crimes showed a double "upgrade" in terms of fraud methods and means, manipulation of the securities market became the main type of securities crime, there were cases of financial fraud in key areas, and innovative methods were used for foreign exchange and illegal payment settlement crimes. The risk of using "virtual currency" to transfer assets across borders was highlighted. (CCTV News)