Bernstein: Ethereum as a Decentralized Computer, 'Admirable'

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), the Nasdaq’s intraday gain widened to 1% during US stock trading hours, with the storage sector leading the rally. Notable gainers in the sector include: Seagate Technology (STX) up 3.6%; Western Digital (WDC) up 7.4%; SanDisk (SNDK) up 5.2%; Micron Technology (MU) up 4.2%; and SK Hynix ADR up 5.2%.

ether.fi announced that EtherFi Cash’s current lending infrastructure is no longer sufficient to support its growth. The protocol is deploying a dedicated Aave V4 instance on the Optimism blockchain to power its credit card backend. EtherFi Cash’s active loan balance stands at $22 million, with plans to expand its lending capacity to $500 million by 2027. To date, 70,000 cardholders have used cryptocurrency for spending without liquidating their crypto holdings.

Conflux Network announced that its v3.1.0 network hard fork upgrade will introduce multiple network improvements, including EVM compatibility updates, bug fixes, RPC changes, and security enhancements. The upgrade is scheduled for August 25, with the activation of CIP-173 expected on August 26.

Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Kaplan called the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates steady in July “absolutely” correct, urging policymakers to remain open-minded ahead of September. He cited the complex factors influencing inflation, warning that rigid forward guidance would backfire. Kaplan noted: “If we see meaningful improvement, I might be willing to hold steady, but I want to make full use of every period before September to form judgments, avoiding rigidity or preconceived notions.” Current factors at play include inflationary pressures from AI development, tariffs, labor constraints, and surging oil prices; meanwhile, AI applications are working in the opposite direction, accelerating the trend of inflation cooling. Warsh should leverage his speech at this month’s Jackson Hole Symposium to briefly explain the Fed’s reasoning for holding rates steady in July, rather than delivering a purely “philosophical” address. The global rise in long-term U.S. Treasury yields reflects a structural supply-demand imbalance driven by persistent large fiscal deficits, not Federal Reserve policy.

U.S. July Producer Price Index (PPI) year-over-year came in at 4.7%, the lowest since March, below the market consensus of 4.9% and a sharp drop from the prior reading of 5.5%. The monthly PPI was flat, missing the 0.2% forecast. Core PPI year-over-year hit 4.2% in line with expectations, while monthly core PPI rose 0.2%, below projections. Also released, initial jobless claims totaled 209,000, the highest since the week of July 11, exceeding the 202,000 forecast. On a structural basis, goods were the main drag on prices: energy prices fell 3.1% month-over-month, and food prices dropped 0.9%. However, core final demand PPI, which excludes food, energy and trade services, accelerated to 0.4% MoM from 0.1%, indicating underlying price pressures have not fully faded. This, paired with the earlier July Consumer Price Index (CPI) year-over-year decline from 3.5% to 3.4%, marks two consecutive months of moderate inflation signals. Market pricing for a Federal Reserve rate hike in September has cooled notably, with traders’ bet probability falling to around 40%, though hawkish voices have not abated. Cleveland Federal Reserve President Hamaker today reiterated the necessity of a rate hike, saying “current policy is not restrictive enough”, inflation is widespread, and the Fed must be accountable for inflation data. Richmond Fed President Barkin, meanwhile, noted that a rate hike remains an open question: while there is reason to believe inflation will ease as shocks like tariffs and oil prices fade, price pressures may have become entrenched, requiring weaker demand or additional rate hikes to meet targets. Overall, the signals lean more toward a “wait and see” approach rather than a shift to monetary easing. Upcoming August inflation and jobs data, along with oil price trends, will be key variables for the September policy decision.

According to GMGN data, Binance Wallet’s stock-themed meme token UTILITY surged sharply today, with its market capitalization once breaking through $4.6 million and 24-hour trading volume reaching $9.31 million. The token’s market cap has since fallen back to $2.6 million. Back on January 30, CZ stated in a post that GameStop (GME) should issue a utility token on the blockchain, preferably on BSC. Today, bStocks officially reposted CZ’s old tweet and announced that GMEB is now tradable on its platform. BlockBeats reminds users that most meme coins lack real use cases, are subject to high price volatility, and investors should exercise caution.