Star: Cryptocurrency is entering the era of On-Chain Finance, a significant portion of the global economy will move to the blockchain

February 12 — Per Onchain Lens data, multiple crypto whales are ramping up their holdings of gold-backed tokens. A new wallet (0xcF7) received 2,100 XAUT (valued at $10.58M) from Bitfinex. Additionally, two wallets (0x83F and 0xd95) linked to the same entity withdrew 986 PAXG (valued at $5.01M) from Binance.

Nomura Securities has pushed back its forecast for the Federal Reserve’s first interest rate cut this year from March to June, while still projecting a total of 75 basis points of reductions in 2024 to bring the target rate to 3%. The cuts are expected in June, September, and December (25 basis points each). Led by Chief U.S. Macro Strategist Oscar Munoz, Nomura’s team noted the anticipated policy easing is not driven by worsening economic conditions, but rather inflation gradually moving toward the Fed’s target—allowing monetary policy to “normalize.” Improved employment outlooks will enable the Fed to shift its focus to its inflation mandate, the team added. The firm also forecasts U.S. 10-year Treasury yields will continue falling this year, with the benchmark yield seen ending 2024 at 3.75% (up from its prior forecast of 3.5%). (Source: FXStreet)

On Feb. 12, Elon Musk announced he has restructured his AI startup xAI following the departure of two co-founders earlier this week. The revamped company will focus on four core areas: Grok, Programming, Imagine video products, and Macrohard — the latter responsible for generating and managing xAI’s digital intelligence. The two co-founders, Jimmy Ba and Tony Wu, resigned in quick succession, with several other employees also leaving in recent days. Before these departures, xAI had just merged with SpaceX, pushing the combined entity’s valuation to $1.25 trillion. The deal is expected to ease xAI’s financial strain, as the company has been burning through significant cash to build data centers, purchase high-cost computing chips, and cover talent expenses. Source: (Jinshi)

**Feb. 12 Cryptocurrency Update** According to alternative data, the **Fear & Greed Index** for crypto is at 5 on Feb. 12—down from 11 the day prior—leaving the market in "extreme fear" territory. *Note: The index ranges 0–100, with components: Volatility (25%) + Market Volume (25%) + Social Media Hype (15%) + Market Surveys (15%) + Bitcoin Dominance (10%) + Google Trends Analysis (10%).* ### Key adjustments for American English/breaking news style: 1. **Date format**: Used *Feb. 12* (common U.S. shorthand) instead of full "February 12". 2. **Conciseness**: Shortened "today's cryptocurrency fear and greed index is 5" to "the Fear & Greed Index for crypto is at 5" (capitalized the index name for clarity). 3. **Flow**: Added em dash to connect the day-over-day change (more readable than parentheses in quick updates). 4. **Tone**: Used "leaving the market in X territory" (natural for U.S. financial news, instead of "a state of"). 5. **Clarity**: Removed redundant HTML tag

February 12th: Bitcoin Stays Range-Bound; Bearish Sentiment Reflected in Major Exchange Funding Rates (Per Coinglass Data) Bitcoin has maintained a range-bound trend as of February 12th, according to analytics firm Coinglass. Current funding rates across top centralized (CEX) and decentralized (DEX) exchanges signal bearish market sentiment, with specific rate details available in the attached image. **BlockBeats Note**: A funding rate is a mechanism crypto exchanges use to keep perpetual contract prices aligned with the underlying asset’s spot price. It involves fund transfers between long and short traders—**the exchange does not charge this fee itself**. The rate adjusts the cost or profit of traders holding positions to ensure contract prices track the underlying asset closely. Sentiment benchmarks for funding rates: - 0.01% = baseline - >0.01% = generally bullish - <0.005% = generally bearish

Feb. 12 — LookOnChain monitoring data shows a wallet address linked to Galaxy Digital (FFDAa) has deposited 200,000 SOL (approximately $16 million) across Binance, OKX, and Bybit over the past 5 hours.