During a question-and-answer session held by the Cato Institute on Thursday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the Fed’s commitment to stemming inflation, which increased expectations for a 75 basis points rate hike in September.

Bitcoin (BTC) has risen by over 7% today despite Powell’s hawkish comments, hovering over the $20,000 mark. Ether (ETH) is also more than 3% higher today on above-average volume.

At the moment, buying pressure outweighs selling on the ETH network, thanks to the much-anticipated merge event slated for September 15. This is in line with analysis from investment banking giants Citigroup, who pointed out that the merge would slash the overall Ether issuance by 4.2% annually, making it deflationary.

Investors should also keep a keen eye on whales, who have continuously moved coins to derivatives exchanges en masse this month.

Crypto degens have wasted no time after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, flooding the crypto market with more than 70 new Queen-related meme tokens and hundreds of new NFTs in the same vein.

New tokens launched on decentralized exchanges on the BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum over the past 24 hours include names such as Queen Elizabeth Inu, Save the Queen, Queen, QueenDoge, London Bridge is Down and Rip Queen Elizabeth.

According to data from Dex Screener, the Queen Elizabeth Inu token on BSC-based PancakeSwap has since had the biggest price value gain over the past 24 hours, with an eye-watering 28,506% pump to $0.00008000 at the time of writing.

In other major headlines,

• Animoca Brands Confirms New $110m Funding Round. Read More
• India’s central bank plans CBDC launch in 2022 with help from fintechs, public banks. Read More
• Hubble, Creator of ‘Censorship Resistant’ Stablecoin USDH, Raises $5 Million. Read More
• Ethereum lead developer saved Avalanche from over $24B ecosystem crash. Read More
• Chainalysis Partners with US Regulators to Recover $30m from Ronin Loot. Read More

‍

Crypto Rebel is a proud media partner of this year's World Of Web 3 (WOW) Summit in Lisbon! 😍😍

The WOW Summit is set to bring together stakeholders from all over the world to network and chart the course for the future of Web3!

Be sure to join us at the event this November! 🙌🙌

Richard Fuller, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said the government wants the United Kingdom to be the “dominant global hub for crypto technologies.”

In a parliamentary debate on crypto asset regulation in the U.K. on Wednesday, Fuller spoke in favor of “powerful” use cases for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, including using distributed ledger technology for customs and international trade and storing medical records on the blockchain. Alexander Stafford, the parliamentary private secretary to newly elected Prime Minister Liz Truss, added the prime minister “reaffirmed” her commitment to providing internet connectivity for U.K. residents, which could allow access to buying, selling and mining crypto.

Fuller said that under Truss, the U.K. government plans to move forward with the Financial Services and Markets Bill, legislation introduced in July which aimed to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins. In addition, he suggested support for the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act, which would grant law enforcement “new powers to seize and recover crypto assets.”

In Other News,

• White House Suggests Banning Proof-Of-Work Crypto. Read More
• Bank of Canada Raises Interest Rates by 3.25% And Announces Future Increases. Read More
• US Fed Vice Chairman Brainard Calls for Regulations That Are Crypto-Specific. Read More
• Indian FM Sitharaman To Discuss Crypto Regulation With IMF Chief. Read More

‍

Binance announced on Wednesday that users can now stake the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap and earn rewards at a starting rate of 6% APY. That’s a sizable step above major competitors like Lido and Coinbase, which currently offer 3.5% and 3.25% APY, respectively, on staked ETH.

Staking rewards, however, are subject to change based on Ethereum transaction fee volume among other factors, according to the company.

“As the Ethereum network continues to transition towards The Merge, we are thrilled to now offer ETH staking with some of the highest APY rewards in the industry," Binance US CEO Brian Shroder said in a press release.

In Other News,

• Coinbase Backs Lawsuit against US Treasury over Tornado Cash Sanctions. Read More
• Coinberry Crypto Exchange Files Lawsuit After Losing $3 Million in Software Glitch. Read More
• Nexo Pro launches to offer industrial-level service to individual users. Read More
• Bifrost, Coinbase Cloud collaborate to offer cross-chain liquid staking on Kusama. Read More

Prominent defi protocol Curve Finance is nearing the launch of its native stablecoin, dubbed crvUSD, as per the initial code released by its developers on Tuesday.

The code library will act as an interface to the yet-undeployed crvUSD smart contracts and mark the first step toward the eventual issuance of the much-anticipated tokens. Details on the usage of crvUSD were scarce at writing time, and Curve developers are currently yet to share more information about the tokens.

Plans for the stablecoin were confirmed by founder Michael Egorov last month, who said it was “possible” that crvUSD would be issued in September.

In Other News,

• Bitpanda aims to entice crypto investors to TradFi by adding commodities. Read More
• DeFi DApps activity rose 3.7% in August for the first time since May. Read More
• DeFi protocol token NFD crashes by 99% after a flash loan attack. Read More

‍