Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. United States Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has given his verdict on the evolution of the DeFi market, claiming there is a definite need for robust regulation before the nascent market could expand to retail. Maple Finance CEO believes that separating the risk from lending saved DeFi from the market crash. He added that crypto lending has operated as intended through the crypto winter because of the transparency. Members of the Ooki DAO are …

Across all tradeable markets and currencies, U.S. Treasuries — government bonds — have significant influence. In finance, any risk measurement is relative, meaning, if one insures a house, the maximum liability is set in some form of money. Similarly, if a loan is taken from a bank, the creditor has to calculate the odds of the money not being returned and the risk of the amount being devalued by inflation. In a worst-case scenario, let’s imagine what would happen to the costs associated with issuing debt if the U.S. government temporarily suspended payments to specific regions or countries. Currently, there …

U.S. think tank Bitcoin Policy Institute is calling for the United States to reject Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and look to Bitcoin (BTC) and stablecoins as alternatives. In a whitepaper shared on Sept. 27, authors including Texas Bitcoin Foundation executive director Natalie Smolenski PhD, and former Kraken growth lead Dan Held argue CBDCs would strip the public of financial control, privacy and freedom. #CBDCs don’t solve any problem. They do extend state control to the last remaining free areas of individual economic life. My latest white paper for the #Bitcoin Policy Institute. ⬇️ https://t.co/PS4rOlvcOw — Natalie Smolenski (@NSmolenski) September …

United States Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has spoken out about the expansion of decentralized finance (DeFi) and its impact on the traditional finance ecosystem, calling for appropriate regulation. During an event titled the “Opportunities and challenges of the tokenisation of finance” hosted by the Banque de France on Sept. 27, Jerome Powell said there were “very significant structural issues around the lack of transparency” in the DeFi ecosystem. The comments followed those by Bank for International Settlements (BIS) general manager Agustín Carstens who expressed concern over the contrast between DeFi and traditional finance. Carstens added that the “huge challenge” …

Michael J. Burry, the financial wizard who was portrayed in the movie "The Big Short", is known for predicting crises. For instance, his investment fund made billions from the 2008 housing crash, and Burry liquidated almost all his entire portfolio during the 2Q of 2022. Given that no one seems to know whether traditional markets will bounce before entering a further recessive environment, it might be a good time to consider investing in cryptocurrencies. Below are some examples on how experienced investors sometimes miss incredible rallies. In May 2017, Burry said people should expect a "global financial meltdown" and World …

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), a cryptocurrency fund that currently holds 3.12% of the total Bitcoin (BTC) supply, or over 640,000 BTC, is trading at a record discount compared to the value of its underlying assets. Institutional interest in Grayscale dries up On Sep. 23, the $12.55 billion closed-end trust was trading at a 35.18% discount, according to the latest data. To investors, GBTC has long served as a great alternative to gain exposure in the Bitcoin market despite its 2% annual management fee. This is primarily because GBTC is easier to hold for institutional investors because it can be managed …

Crypto prices keep falling but why? This year’s market crash has turned most winning portfolios into net losers and new investors are probably losing hope in Bitcoin. Investors know that cryptocurrencies exhibit higher than average volatility, but this year’s drawdown has been extreme. After hitting a stratospheric all-time high at $69,400, Bitcoin price crumbled over the next 11 months to an unexpected yearly low at $17,600. That’s a nearly 75% drawdown in value. Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market capitalization, also saw an 82% correction as its price tumbled from $4,800 to $900 in seven months. Years of historical …

Cryptocurrencies have been in a bear trend since mid-August after they failed to break above the $1.2 trillion market capitalization resistance. Even with the current bear trend and a brutal 25% correction, it has not been enough to break the 3-month-long ascending trend. The crypto markets' aggregate capitalization declined 7.2% to $920 billion in the 7 days leading to Sept. 21. Investors wanted to play it safe ahead of the Federal Open Markets Committee meeting, which decided to increase the interest rate by 0.75%. By increasing the cost of borrowing cash, the monetary authority aims to curb inflationary pressure while …

Ethereum's Merge on Sep. 15 turned out to be a sell-the-news event, which looks set to continue. Notably, Ether (ETH) dropped considerably against the U.S. dollar and Bitcoin (BTC) after the Merge. As of Sep. 22, ETH/USD and ETH/BTC trading pairs were down by more than 20% and 17%, respectively, since Ethereum's switch to Proof-of-Stake (PoS. What's eating Ether bulls? Multiple catalysts contributed to Ether's declines in the said period. First, ETH's price fall against the dollar appeared in sync with similar declines elsewhere in the crypto market, driven by Federal Reserve's 75 basis points (bps) rate hike. Second, Ethereum …

Can we all agree that the Federal Reserve has a plan to combat runaway inflation? They do. Chair Jerome Powell has all but admitted it. After tempering his comments before previous rate hikes, allowing wiggle room which gave way to market rebounds, Powell has left no bones about this one. It is necessary to wreak some havoc on the economy and put downward pressure on the labor markets and wage increases to stop the creep of inflation. Whether you buy into that logic or if you believe — like Elon Musk — that such movements could result in deflation — …

Bitcoin (BTC) retreated and reversed its intraday gains after the Federal Reserve announced its third consecutive 75 basis point (bps) interest rate rise on Sep. 21. Traders sold the news BTC's price dropped circa 6.5% from its intraday high of $19,950, hitting $18,660 minutes after the Federal Open Market Committee's statement. Its decline mirrored a similar sudden correction in the U.S. stock market, with the benchmark S&P 500 dropping 0.5% minutes after the Fed update. On the other hand, the 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield surged to 3.6% after the Fed's announcement versus 3.56% five minutes before it. Similarly, the …

Bitcoin (BTC) underwent a weak rebound on Sep. 21, and the U.S. dollar jumped to a new yearly high as investors await today's Federal Open Market Committee's interest rate decision. BTC price hold $19K ahead of Fed decision BTC's price has managed to cling on to $19,000 with a modest daily gain of 1.33% . Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index (DXY), which measures the greenback's strength versus a pool of top foreign currencies, rose to 110.86, the highest level in twenty years. FOMC rate hike scenarios The Federal Reserve is poised to discuss how far it could raise its benchmark …