Aurelia Butler

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    in Economy

    Egypt’s net foreign assets positive for second month in June

    NFAs slid to 626.6 billion Egyptian pounds in June from 676.4 billion pounds as of end-May. This works out to $13.05 billion at end-June and $14.31 billion at end-May, according to Reuters calculations based on the official central bank currency rate at the time.Egypt has been using its NFAs, which include foreign assets at both the central bank and commercial banks, to help prop up its currency since at least September 2021. NFAs turned negative in February 2022. But in February this year the government boosted its finances by selling the development rights to Ras El Hekma on the Mediterranean coast for $35 billion and in March by signing an $8 billion financial support package with the International Monetary Fund. It also sharply devalued its currency, triggering a flood of portfolio investments and remittances from workers abroad. Foreign assets fell at commercial banks in June but rose at the central bank, while foreign liabilities rose at both commercial banks and the central bank. More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor Hails Epic Bitcoin Adoption Milestone

    This major move by one of the world’s largest wealth management firms has been celebrated by many in the crypto community, including MicroStrategy’s chairman and co-founder Michael Saylor.Morgan Stanley’s decision to enable the solicited sale of Bitcoin marks a pivotal moment in the integration of digital assets into mainstream finance, with Saylor highlighting this significant milestone.In a tweet, Saylor wrote: “Morgan Stanley just became the first major bank to approve Bitcoin for solicited sale to their clients.”Under Saylor’s leadership, MicroStrategy has amassed a huge quantity of Bitcoin, making it one of the largest corporate holders of the cryptocurrency. In July, MicroStrategy acquired an additional 169 BTC for $11.4 million and now holds 226,500 BTC.Saylor, a strong Bitcoin supporter, began buying it in 2020 as an inflation hedge and cash alternative.This move implies the firm’s approximately 15,000 financial advisors will be able to solicit eligible clients to purchase shares of two exchange-traded Bitcoin funds, reportedly BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)’s IShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, starting August 7.The move from Morgan Stanley, one of the world’s top asset management firms, is the latest sign of the adoption of Bitcoin by mainstream finance. In January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved applications for 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs in a remarkable milestone for the crypto industry.This article was originally published on U.Today More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    Economist Raoul Pal on Crypto Plunge: Literally Nothing, Regular Day in Trenches

    As such, what is happening with Bitcoin (BTC) and major altcoins looks like a regular day in trenches to the seasoned macro expert.Also, Pal mentioned impressive performance of Church of the Smoking Chicken Fish (SCF), a novel eccentric Solana-based meme coin.He added that the pessimism on this market is nothing but “noise.” Pal’s statements were echoed by BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes. As covered by U.Today previously, Hayes calls the current days “shopping time.”The BitMEX founder attributed current volatility spikes to macro processes in the U.S. and Japan.However, as covered by U.Today previously, some voices of Crypto Twitter do not share the enthusiasm of Pal and Hayes. For instance, trader Henrik Zeberg said that we might be two months short of the largest collapse since the 1929 Great Depression.He “lifted the deadline” for the major macro top to this October. Also, a number of prominent traders insist that we will not see new highs for Bitcoin (BTC) in the next four years.This article was originally published on U.Today More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    MEET48 GIPR2 Dapp Ranks Top Globally, Announces the 1st Web3 Metaverse Idol Popularity Ranking in Hong Kong 2025

    On August 3rd, the “2024 GIPR2” voting event, hosted by the metaverse virtual community MEET48, which is based on an AI and WEB3.0 diverse UGC entertainment content ecosystem, officially concluded. The top participants in the Idol Group, Sprout Group, and Virtual Idol Group were announced, along with their promotion plans for multiple overseas large-scale Web3 events organized or co-hosted by MEET48. The on-chain data of the MEET48 voting event Dapp and its rankings on DappBay and DappRadar have garnered significant attention.The top participants in each group are as follows:It is reported that the top participants in each group will be invited to perform and interact at several international events organized or co-hosted by MEET48. These include the Tokyo WebX, where MEET48 is the title sponsor, the WebX official opening party co-hosted by MEET48 and Line Next, the TOKEN2049 in Singapore where MEET48 is a platinum sponsor, and the “Back to the Streets” event at Clarke Quay co-hosted by MEET48 and Hape. This overseas promotion plan will offer fans more opportunities to interact closely with their idols and further promote the MEET48 brand and philosophy.During this event, the MEET48 “2024 GIPR2” voting event Dapp registered over 3 million users, with a total of over 116 million votes cast, more than 24,000 UGC videos uploaded, and over 10 million views of UGC. These airdropped users will eventually be integrated into the MEET48 intelligent social metaverse community through the MEET48 content ecosystem matrix products.As of August 3rd, the MEET48 event Dapp ranked first in the social category on DappBay and third in the social category on DappRadar. According to DappRadar, the MEET48 event Dapp achieved 31.54 million on-chain transactions and 705.94K UAW in the past 30 days. Similarly, DappBay reported that the MEET48 event Dapp achieved 32.61 million on-chain transactions and 701.68K UAW in the past 30 days.Additionally, MEET48 announced that next year, the global Web3 metaverse voting event, “The 1st Web3.0 All-Metaverse Annual Idol Popularity Audition & Ceremony” will be held in Hong Kong. This event aims to connect Web2 and Web3 users through entertainment, marking the beginning of an era of Web3’s mass adoption by the general public. It is expected to be the largest mass adoption event in Web3 history.About MEET48MEET48 is considered one of the largest Web3 application project teams in the world, with a technical and R&D team of 500 people and a regional operation network covering Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, and Dubai. MEET48 aims to achieve the social-scale application of Web3 technology through an AI UGC content ecosystem focusing on AIGC (Animation, IDOL, GAME, and Comics) Gen Z trendy entertainment content and a graphical, intelligent metaverse social foundation.Official Website: https://www.meet48.xyz/ Twitter (X): https://x.com/meet_48 Telegram: https://t.me/MEET_48 Discord: https://discord.gg/meet48ContactMarketing DirectorYang [email protected] article was originally published on Chainwire More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    Peter Schiff Predicts Japan’s Bitcoin Exit as Price Drops: Details

    Bitcoin extended its sell-off, dropping to an intraday low of $60,240 after the July U.S. jobs report released on Friday fueled concerns that the world’s largest economy might be in danger of recession. Stocks also sank as the unemployment rate jumped to its highest level since October 2021.A further sell-off in Japan occurred in response to the Bank of Japan’s most minimal monetary tightening actions on Wednesday when it lifted its benchmark lending rate to 0.25% from a previous range of 0%-0.1%.At the time of writing, BTC was down 3.56% in the last 24 hours to $62,142.In a tweet, Schiff highlighted the weekly decline in Bitcoin’s value against the Japanese yen, suggesting that Japanese investors might soon abandon the cryptocurrency.Schiff wrote: “This week Bitcoin is down 13% in Japanese yen. That’s a big drop for something Japanese investors bought as a safe haven. Gold is down too, but only 2.5% in yen. That’s not bad considering that Japanese stocks fell 7.3% on the week. The Japanese will soon say sayonara Bitcoin.”In another tweet, Schiff criticizes Ethereum ETFs and predicts a drop to $2,000: “Ethereum ETFs have been trading for just two weeks and they’re already down 15%. They closed the week on new lows. Ethereum itself is now trading below $3,000. It won’t be long before it break $2000. Gold rose 2% this week. Bitcoin fell 10%. The race is over. Gold wins the medal.”Peter Schiff has long criticized cryptocurrencies, typically citing gold as a more dependable store of value. His recent comments reflect his ongoing skepticism towards cryptocurrencies; thus, Schiff’s prediction of Japanese investors abandoning Bitcoin should be read in light of his overall investment approach. This article was originally published on U.Today More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    BitMEX Founder Arthur Hayes on JPY, BTC Moves: ‘Time to Go Shopping’

    Such statements were shared by Arthur Hayes, the founder of major crypto exchange BitMEX and the CIO of Maelstrom Fund, with his 526,000 followers on X.However, he views the period of recession as yet another window of opportunities: Hayes says that the time to “go shopping” has come.Since the local bottom reached on July 11 at about 161 JPY per USD, the Japanese currency managed to add over 10% and stabilize at 140 JPY per USD.By contrast, Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, after being twice rejected at $70,000 on July 29, plunged below $61,000, losing 14% in just three days.The Nikkei Stock Average 225, an index of largest Japanese companies stocks, lost 2,216.63 points, or 5.81% in just one day. The broader Topix index performed even worse with a 6.14% drop to its lowest closing marks in half a year.Economists indicated that both drops are the second-largest in the history of relevant indexes. As such, Japanese stocks have not seen such pressure since Black Monday in 1987.This article was originally published on U.Today More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ Author Unveils How to Survive Current Market Crash

    While they are crashing, he still sees an opportunity for investors and entrepreneurs.Robert Kiyosaki reminded his 2.1 million followers on X that he had been predicting this crash in his multiple tweets issued over the past few years. The author of “Rich Dad Poor Dad” many times warned that a crash would be coming soon.One of the ways to behave now, he said, is to use the chance to get rich, which he believes has emerged now — to start “buying assets at bargain basement prices.” He admitted that losses that many investors and companies are facing now are “substantial.”He referred to his aforementioned book and stated that “Rich dad taught his son and me when markets are crashing is the time the rich get richer” using the recommendation from above.He explained that this was not actually a prediction but rather his “target, a dream, and a wish.” Curiously, he also revealed that he was holding and buying not only Bitcoin but also leading altcoins, in particular Ethereum and Solana.Kiyosaki has been actively tweeting about Bitcoin since at least 2020, when the pandemic landed, and he kept accusing the U.S. government of printing “fake” U.S. dollars to support the economy. This year, the financial guru has been giving another big reason for his Bitcoin surge expectations — the size of the U.S. national debt (by now) has reached a staggering $35 trillion.This article was originally published on U.Today More

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    in Economy

    U.S. keeps Vietnam as non-market economy, despite efforts to woo Hanoi

    WASHINGTON/HANOI (Reuters) -The U.S. Commerce Department announced on Friday it will continue to classify Vietnam as a non-market economy country, a decision disappointing to Hanoi, which the U.S. has been wooing in its efforts to push back against China.Vietnam has long sought an upgrade, which would have reduced the punitive anti-dumping duties levied on non-market economies marked by heavy state influence. Only 12 other economies are labeled as non-market by Washington, including China, Russia, North Korea and Azerbaijan.A change in status has been opposed by U.S. steelmakers, Gulf Coast shrimpers and honey farmers and members of the U.S. Congress representing them, but backed by retailers and some other business groups.”Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its determination that Vietnam will continue to be classified as a non-market economy country for purposes of calculating U.S. antidumping duties on imports from Vietnam,” the department said in a statement after a year-long review.”This finding means that the methodology used in calculating U.S. antidumping duties on imports from Vietnam remains the same,” it said.Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said upgrading Vietnam would have been an objective and fair move.”Vietnam regrets that despite several positive improvements in the Vietnamese economy recently, the U.S. Department of Commerce still has not recognized Vietnam as a market economy country,” it said in a statement.Vietnam has long argued it should be freed of the non-market label because of recent economic reforms, and it has said that retaining the moniker is bad for increasingly close two-way ties that Washington sees as a counterbalance to China.Opponents of an upgrade have countered that Hanoi’s policy commitments have not been matched by concrete actions and it operates as a planned economy governed by the ruling Communist Party. They say Vietnam is increasingly being used as a manufacturing hub by Chinese firms to circumvent U.S. curbs on imports from China.A 284-page Commerce memo explaining the decision said it was taken despite Vietnam’s “impressive reforms and economic growth.”BLOW TO CLOSER TIESWashington has worked hard to foster closer ties with Vietnam in the face of growing strategic competition with China and the issue of whether to upgrade Vietnam has been awkward given the approaching U.S. election in November and claims by each side that they stand for worker rights.Some analysts said before the announcement a failure to upgrade Vietnam could be negative for U.S.-Vietnam relations.”Vietnamese leaders have seen this decision as an important benchmark in their improving relationship with the U.S. and the achievement of normalization between the two countries,” said Edmund Malesky, a professor of political economy and director of the Duke Center for International Development.Murray Hiebert, a senior associate of the Southeast Asia Program at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, called the decision “ridiculous.””Vietnam’s market is as free as many others not on the NME list,” he said, adding that the decision seemed “out of whack” with U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Hanoi last year, when the two sides elevated ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has also promoted Vietnam as a “friend-shoring” destination to shift U.S. supply chains away from China.Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy, said that even if the Biden administration were to have taken the politically risky step of upgrading Vietnam, it would have been a pyrrhic victory given that any future Trump administration was certain to reverse it.Nazak Nikakhtar, a former Commerce Department official in the Trump administration now with the Wiley Rein law firm, said the decision reflected “ample” evidence from industry groups “that Vietnam’s economy has not transformed to the extent that would warrant treatment as a market economy.” “Ignoring distortions in the economies of trading partners is unfair and prejudicial against American interests,” she said. More