Trump to Meet with Xi Jinping Within Two Weeks: “Tariff Policy is Unsustainable”
US President Donald Trump said in a statement on October 17 that he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping within two weeks and that the current tariff policy is “unsustainable.” The meeting is expected to cover strategic areas such as trade balance, technology exports, and rare earth elements.
Hassett: “Three Interest Rate Cuts Are Just the Beginning”
White House Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett said the U.S. economy retains its 4% growth potential, adding, “The expected three interest rate cuts are just the beginning.” Hassett said monetary policy should continue to ease and that this would support economic expansion.
Bank of Japan (BOJ): Interest Rate Hikes May Continue
BOJ Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida said interest rate hikes would continue if economic and price trends were in line with expectations. He said that while business confidence was rising in Japan, uncertainties in global trade policies posed a risk. The policy rate, raised to 0.5% in January, is expected to rise to 0.75% next January.
France Expands AML Audits to Crypto Exchanges
French regulator ACPR has expanded its anti-money laundering (AML) investigations to crypto exchanges. Many exchanges, including Binance, are under review. Binance has stated that it is fully compliant with local and EU standards.
Japan’s Three Major Banks to Launch Joint Stablecoin
Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mizuho Bank will launch two stablecoins pegged to the Japanese yen and the US dollar. The first use case will be Mitsubishi Corporation’s clearing transactions. The three banks work with over 300,000 corporate partners.
VIX Index Hits Five-Month High
The VIX, known as the “fear index,” rose 1.89 points to 27.17, reaching its highest level in the last five months. The increase in the index indicates that the market’s expectations for short-term volatility have strengthened.
Ethereum Foundation Researcher Dankrad Feist Joins Tempo
Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Feist announced that he has joined the global crypto payment initiative Tempo. Feist will develop open-source and fast transaction-focused solutions at the company, which aims to combine Ethereum scaling technologies with real-world applications. Vitalik Buterin praised Feist’s contributions and wished him success.
Arbitrum Timeboost Generates $4.2 Million in Revenue
Arbitrum Timeboost has generated $4.2 million in revenue since its launch in April. The system enables users to increase their transaction speed with its priority transaction queuing service.
CryptoQuant: Market Decline Not Structural Weakness, but Temporary Fluctuation
CryptoQuant analysts stated that although the recent volatility resembles that of 2021, there is no “structural breakdown” in the market. Bitcoin reserves on exchanges are at their lowest level in 10 years, indicating limited selling supply. Long-term investors are realizing profits, but there is no panic selling. Analysts argued that this decline is laying the groundwork for the next bull cycle.
OpenSea Transforms into a Crypto Trading Platform
Following the slowdown in the NFT market, OpenSea aims to transform itself into a “crypto asset trading platform.” It now supports trading of meme coins, tokens, and 22 different blockchains in addition to NFTs. CEO Devin Finzer announced that the platform will maintain its non-custodial and KYC-free model.
Tether Opens Source Wallet Development Tools
Tether has released its multi-chain Wallet Development Kit (WDK) as open source. The toolkit supports chains such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Solana, and TON. Developers can use this kit to build secure wallet applications for areas such as DeFi, payments, gaming, and AI finance.
