Federal Reserve Governor Barr: Should resolutely raise interest rates if inflation does not cool

Injective officials announced that community contributors coordinated an accelerated network upgrade yesterday. As the time required for all validators and ecosystem infrastructure to complete the upgrade exceeded expectations, some validators were temporarily jailed, leading to a temporary dip in the network’s staked amount. Several exchanges also temporarily suspended INJ deposits and withdrawals. Injective stressed that its blockchain network and INJ token remained fully secure throughout the process: the underlying protocol and consensus mechanism were not compromised, user and staked funds suffered no losses or risks, and the network continued processing transactions without any downtime. The official noted that the accelerated upgrade was triggered by attacks on a small number of binary options market applications within the Injective ecosystem. The incident only impacted those applications, and did not exploit the Injective blockchain, protocol, native assets, or consensus mechanism. The attack vector has since been contained and repaired. Injective added that its team is deploying enhanced security mechanisms, real-time monitoring systems, and additional protective measures to identify abnormal activities earlier and reduce the risk of similar incidents recurring.

Hyperliquid’s block trading layer Silhouette has announced the mainnet launch of its RFQ (Request for Quote) trading system, with initial support for xStocks, Payward’s tokenized stock framework. According to the announcement, traders can submit quotes for supported xStocks, receive competitive bids from multiple market makers, and final executed trades settle directly on-chain, with support for 24/7 trading and large-sized orders. This model eliminates the need to build separate order books for each tokenized stock; once trading activity reaches a certain threshold, the assets can also be listed on Hyperliquid’s HyperCore market. Data shows that since its launch in June 2025, xStocks has recorded a cumulative trading volume exceeding $40 billion, with over 200,000 holders, of which nearly $20 billion in volume has been settled on-chain. The current global tokenized stock market size is around $2.53 billion, with xStocks boasting a market cap of ~$620 million, ranking third globally. In addition, Payward announced today that it will tokenize the 100 largest companies by market cap listed on the London Stock Exchange. The first batch of London-listed xStocks is expected to launch in the coming weeks, pending regulatory approval.

U.S. job openings rose slightly in July, signaling that overall labor demand has remained stable in recent months. Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday showed that July job openings climbed from June’s downwardly revised 7.18 million to 7.27 million, versus economists’ median estimate of 7.31 million. The report notes the U.S. labor market is still in the "low hiring, low layoffs" pattern that has prevailed for most of the past few years. Amid geopolitical uncertainty and persistent inflation, employers are cautious about expanding their headcount but reluctant to cut staff easily. The increase in job openings was driven mainly by manufacturing, state and local governments (excluding education), healthcare and social assistance sectors. Meanwhile, layoffs hit their lowest level since January this year, while the quits rate — a measure of the share of workers who voluntarily leave their jobs each month — edged down to 1.9%. Source: Jinshi

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted during a fireside chat at the G20 summit that the U.S. energy sector’s “3-3-3” plan targets crude oil equivalent. Since Trump took office, U.S. daily oil production has risen by 1.6 million to 2.2 million barrels, he added, emphasizing that risks must be mitigated. Bessent also said bypassing the Strait of Hormuz will be achievable within two years, at which point the strait will become “worthless waters” as oil will be transported via onshore pipelines instead of through the strait. When discussing the Iran issue, he pointed out that 85% to 90% of Iranian factories have reconstruction capacity, and Iran may hold the world’s third-largest energy resources. Additionally, the U.S. may announce bank sanctions this week and next, having secured strong support from the European Union, European Central Bank, the U.K., the U.A.E., and Bahrain. The U.S. has adopted a zero-tolerance stance toward Iran, aiming to strangle its economic development, and will also focus on Iran-related aircraft leasing firms. Bessent stated: “We are aware of Iran-related accounts in the British Virgin Islands. Funds stolen from the Iranian people can be returned to them, or Iranian funds can be used to assist terrorism victims.” (Jinshi)

Bitcoin kicked off September on a weak note, falling below $78,000. Since 2013, September has been Bitcoin’s worst-performing month on average, with an average decline of around 3% and only five monthly gains, earning it the market nickname "Rektember". However, Bitcoin has posted gains in each of the past three Septembers. It rallied roughly 25% in August, its strongest monthly performance since November 2024, and may face short-term consolidation or even correction pressure. The macroeconomic environment is also weighing on assets. After Federal Reserve Chair Waller delivered hawkish signals at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, global bond markets sold off, pushing the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield to as high as 4.784%. Markets currently assign a roughly 66% probability of a 25-basis-point rate hike by the Fed on September 16, and are pricing in potential additional hikes this year. Higher interest rates typically tighten financial conditions, boost the U.S. dollar, and weigh on risk assets like Bitcoin. Meanwhile, persistent tensions in the Middle East have lifted oil prices, with WTI crude trading near $88 per barrel, while gold fell more than 2% on Tuesday. Traditional markets also face seasonal headwinds: since 1975, September is the only month with a negative average performance for the S&P 500 index.

Elon Musk stated in his speech at the G20 summit that he expects artificial intelligence to significantly boost productivity, noting that AI could lift the global economy by 20% to 30%.