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Nick Timiraos, the Feds mouthpiece: Three Fed officials who support raising interest rates arguably provided more reasons than most FOMC members did in Wednesdays statement or press conference. Logan reiterated her view from two weeks ago that underlying inflation, after adjusting for recent shocks, is close to 2.5%, which she sees as justification for a tighter policy stance.July 31 – A national conference on promoting grain and material reserves was held in Beijing on July 31. The conference emphasized that the entire system must unify its thinking and actions with the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, focusing on goals and tasks, highlighting key points, and grasping crucial aspects to solidly carry out all aspects of grain and material reserves work. First, efforts must be intensified to advance project construction. Second, efforts must be intensified to promote grain purchase, storage, and regulation. Adhering to a combination of market-oriented procurement and policy-based storage, various policy tools should be used in a coordinated manner to stabilize grain prices and ensure smooth sales for farmers. Third, efforts must be intensified to promote the development of the grain industry. The construction of grain storage and logistics facilities should be strengthened, "two new" projects in the grain sector should be actively promoted, the quality and efficiency of grain circulation should be improved, grain brand building should be vigorously promoted, and the National Whole Grain Action Plan should be implemented in depth. Fourth, efforts must be intensified to enhance the role of reserves. Fifth, efforts must be intensified to improve management levels. Sixth, efforts must be intensified to promote planning guidance and reform and innovation.U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessenter stated that the United States will actively pursue Iranian assets globally to ensure compensation funds are available for victims of Iranian-backed terrorism. The U.S. governments military and economic blockade measures against the Iranian regime will continue without easing.On July 31, three Federal Reserve policymakers stated that the dissenting votes for a rate hike this week stemmed from persistent inflationary pressures, indicating increasing internal pressure on Fed Chair Warsh to act. In a statement released Friday morning, Hamack and Kashkari expressed concern that while the current price increases may stem from short-term factors such as President Trumps tariff policies and the Iran war, the inflation situation now warrants Fed action. Logan joined in, stating that even if inflation cools somewhat, it is unlikely to fall completely back to the Feds 2% target level without a rate hike; in the absence of any policy constraints, inflation could continue to rise above the target level until an unexpected shock occurs. Kashkari indicated that if inflation remains stubborn, he might support a series of rate hikes, rather than just one, to prevent further entrenching of inflation. He said, "A series of small policy adjustments may be better than waiting for the situation to develop and ultimately having to take stronger action." Hamack stated that if the Fed does not tighten policy, the pace of price increases could continue to accelerate. She stated, "Inflation has been stubbornly above 2% for more than five years, and I am not confident that it will fall back to our target level on its own."Russian Defense Ministry: Russian forces struck a ship delivering supplies to Ukrainian troops in the Black Sea.

Ethereum blockchain to undergo major upgrade to cut energy use

Skylar Shaw

Sep 13, 2022 11:48

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This week, the Ethereum blockchain is slated to get a long-awaited software update aimed at reducing its enormous energy usage, a move that supporters think may increase the technology's use and bolster the price of the ether token.


The "Merge," an update that will fundamentally alter how ether tokens are produced and transactions on the Ethereum blockchain take place, will take place. According to the Ethereum Foundation, a group that serves as the network's spokesman, the new system will use 99.95% less energy.


Although the precise time of the Merge is uncertain, it was predicted on Monday by Google and other websites monitoring the blockchain that it will occur in the early hours of Thursday. According to the Ethereum Foundation, it will happen from September 10 to 20. The event has already been postponed multiple times.


If it is successful, Ethereum will switch from its current "proof of work" system, which relies on energy-guzzling computers to validate transactions by solving difficult mathematical puzzles, to a "proof of stake" protocol, in which users and organizations act as validators and use ether as collateral in an effort to win new tokens.


According to statistics website CoinGecko, ether is the second-largest cryptocurrency behind bitcoin, with a market capitalization of almost $200 billion. According to statistics from CoinMetrics, there are around 1 million to 1.5 million transactions per day on the Ethereum blockchain as opposed to 200,000 to 300,000 for Bitcoin.


Early this year, the price of cryptocurrencies fell precipitously as investors fled riskier investments due to a general decline in the financial markets. Ahead of the Merge, Ether has increased by almost 65% since the end of June, whereas bitcoin has hardly changed.


In terms of Ethereum's broader developmental plan, this is a very significant event, according to James Malcolm, head of FX strategy at UBS. However, he said, the Merge is already included into the price of ether, so it may not necessarily have an effect.

ENERGY-SAVING?

Some investors and environmentalists have criticized the excessive energy consumption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. According to researcher Digiconomist one Ethereum transaction presently consumes as much energy as a typical U.S. home does in a week.


According to supporters, the energy-saving improvement marks a significant advancement in the competition to become the best blockchain in the world.


In the area of decentralized finance, Ethereum has emerged as the preferred blockchain for a variety of tasks, including smart contracts and initiatives using tokens that represent conventional assets like stocks and bonds.


Supporters of Ethereum claim that the technology will serve as the foundation for a new financial system in which assets and money can be traded in the form of digital tokens without the need for traditional financial service providers.


Others see it as the foundation of the so-called "Web3," a much-hyped but as-yet-unrealized version of the internet where blockchain technology and digital assets take center stage.


Even yet, trading is by far the most common application of ether, which has only recently seen limited mainstream popularity as a form of payment.