Headlines

▌The Total Market Capitalization of Crypto Is Back Above $1 Trillion

According to the latest data from CMC, the price of BTC has rebounded to above $20,000, currently at $20,079.55, a 24-hour increase of 0.3%. ETH is currently at $1,587.34, up 2.2% over 24 hours. Affected by the market rebound, the total crypto market value has returned to above $1 trillion, which has exceeded $1.02 trillion at the time of writing.

Cryptocurrency

▌Reuters: The U.S. Department of Justice Asked Binance to Voluntarily Hand Over Internal Record Data Related to Changpeng Zhao in 2020

According to the latest news from Reuters, U.S. federal prosecutors have asked Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to provide a large amount of internal record data about its anti-money laundering checks, which may involve its CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao. According to Reuters, the U.S. Department of Justice’s anti-money laundering unit in 2020 asked Binance to voluntarily hand over information about Changpeng Zhao and 12 other executives and partners about illegal transactions and recruiting U.S. customers. U.S. regulators also sought any company records with instructions such as “documents destroyed, altered, or removed from Binance files” or “transferred from the United States.”

▌Celsius Third Bankruptcy Hearing No Issues Settled

A bankruptcy hearing for cryptocurrency lender Celsius Networks took place on Thursday, and much of the three-hour hearing focused on whether escrow account holders should be able to get their funds back, and what types of escrow account holders are eligible. Celsius clients believe that any escrow account holder, i.e., any client who deposits funds in an escrow account but retains ownership of the assets, rather than expecting some kind of yield or yield earning and borrowing clients, should receive their funds. Celsius insists that only "pure" escrow account holders are eligible, not customers who initially deposit funds into Earn products and subsequently switch to escrow. Under U.S. law, funds transferred 90 days before Celsius filed for bankruptcy may be subject to recovery. Judge Martin Glenn of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has not ruled on the matter.

▌Tether Asks Court to Terminate Roche Freedman from Class Action

Stablecoin issuer Tether Tether wants the judge presiding over a class action suit against it to remove law firm Roche Freedman from the case, a request that if granted could weaken the suit against the stablecoin giant. The request comes less than a week after Kyle Roche, one of Roche Freedman's founding partners, posted a video by anonymous blogger Crypto Leaks, with an accompanying post alleging Roche strategically brought multiple class actions on behalf of development company Ava Labs. Roche claims that the video was selectively edited and illegally obtained, and both he and leadership at Ava Labs vigorously deny the allegation. Yesterday Roche filed to remove himself from the case, among other class actions, citing that he is no longer with the firm's class action practice. But in a filing made yesterday, Tether’s lawyers argue Roche’s prior involvement in the case is enough to throw the firm off of it.

Key Economic Events

▌Danske Bank: Fed Will Be Forced to Hike US Economy into a Recession in 2023

Despite the recession fears, the U.S. economy performed relatively well this summer. But in the view of economists at Danske Bank, the Fed will continue to steer the U.S. economy into a recession. Despite the U.S. falling into a technical recession in the first half of the year, the recent easing in gasoline prices will support positive growth in real private consumption during the second half of the year. U.S. headline inflation has peaked, but the labor market and underlying price pressures remain strong. The Fed will be forced to hike US economy into a recession in 2023. Danske Bank’s economists adjust the U.S. GDP forecast to +1.6% in 2022 from +2.4%, and to -0.2% for 2023 from +0.1%. The downward revision for 2022 largely reflects the weaker-than-expected growth in the first half of the year, but risks remain tilted to the downside for 2023.