Crypto Morning News: Fed cuts interest rates by 25 basis points, He Yi pledges compensation for users affected by WeChat account theft

Author: TechFlow

Yesterday's Market Dynamics

The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.50%-3.75% early today, in line with market expectations

According to Jinshi Data, the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.50%-3.75%, marking the third consecutive meeting with a rate cut and aligning with market expectations. The Fed has cumulatively cut rates by 75 basis points this year.

Key highlights from the FOMC statement and Powell's press conference:

FOMC Statement:

1. Statement summary: A 25-basis-point rate cut to 3.50%-3.75%, the third consecutive rate-cutting meeting; Miller supported a 50-basis-point cut, while Goolsbee and Schmid favored holding rates steady.

2. Rate outlook: Will consider the magnitude and timing of further adjustments to interest rates. The median in the dot plot remains unchanged from September, projecting one rate cut each in the next two years.

3. Inflation outlook: Inflation has risen somewhat since the beginning of the year and remains relatively high, consistent with prior statements. The SEP下调s inflation forecasts for next year.

4. Economic outlook: Economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace, and uncertainty surrounding the outlook remains elevated, consistent with previous wording. GDP growth forecasts for the next three years have all been上调ed.

5. Labor market: Removed description of unemployment rate as "low," indicating increased downside risks to employment in recent months. Forecast for next year’s unemployment rate remains unchanged at 4.4%.

6. Reserve asset purchases: Will begin purchasing Treasury bills on December 12, buying $40 billion in Treasury bills over the next 30 days. Eliminated operational limits on standing overnight repo operations.

Powell Press Conference:

1. Rate outlook: Can wait and see how the economy evolves. Currently at the upper end of the neutral rate range. No one currently views rate hikes as the base case. Long-term rates could rise if faster economic growth is expected.

2. Inflation outlook: Inflation risks are skewed to the upside. Peak inflation could be slightly higher or lower than current levels by a few tenths of a percentage point. Current inflation overshoot is primarily driven by tariffs. If tariffs are removed, inflation would settle at the lower end of the 2% range. Tariff effects are likely one-time.

3. Economic outlook: Does not believe the economy is overheating; baseline outlook for next year is solid growth, and we can wait and observe developments.

4. Labor outlook: Labor market faces downside risks. Recent job growth was overstated by about 60,000 positions. Unemployment may rise another 0.1%-0.2% at most.

5. Asset purchase details: Short-term Treasury purchases are solely for reserve management. Purchase volumes may remain high over the coming months before gradually tapering off.

6. Latest expectations: As of publication, futures markets expect the Fed to cumulatively cut rates by 55 basis points next year—slightly up from pre-meeting odds—with a 24.4% probability of a 25-basis-point cut in January.

7. Market reaction: From the release of the Fed statement through Powell’s remarks, gold and silver initially rose, then dipped before climbing again. Silver hit a new all-time high, U.S. Treasury yields dropped about 4bps, the dollar weakened broadly, non-U.S. currencies strengthened, and U.S. equities trended upward, with the Dow rising over 1%. Trump criticized Powell after the decision, saying the cuts should have been larger.

Senate Banking Committee may delay审议of Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act until 2026

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett posted on X that bipartisan senators held another discussion today regarding the Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act. After the meeting, Senator Mark Warner indicated it would be “very difficult” to审议the bill next week given its current status—a view echoed by other senators. It now appears likely that the Senate Banking Committee will not take up the bill until the new year.

U.S. banks allowed to act as crypto trading intermediaries for clients

According to Dlnews, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced on Tuesday that U.S. banks may serve as intermediaries in cryptocurrency transactions, executing digital asset trades on behalf of customers. This "no-risk principal trading" model mirrors how banks currently handle securities transactions for clients, where the bank acts solely as an intermediary and does not hold crypto assets on its own balance sheet.

Brevis partners with Aster to bring ZK security and privacy to on-chain trading

According to official announcements, ZK-powered verifiable computing platform Brevis has partnered with Aster. As a multi-chain DEX, Aster supports yield-bearing collateral and hidden order functionality. This collaboration aims to address the long-standing triple challenge faced by DEXs—achieving true balance among speed, security, and privacy.

Brevis enables complex on-chain computations to be moved off-chain, generating efficient ZK proofs that allow verification on-chain at far lower cost than native execution. Through this partnership, both parties will explore leveraging these capabilities to achieve centralized-exchange-level execution speed, cryptographically secure validation, and user position data privacy—all without compromising overall market transparency.

Bitwise CEO: The four-year cycle is dead; we've been in a bear market since February, with major rally expected in 2026

Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley shared on social media that the traditional four-year crypto cycle has ended, signaling that the market has evolved and matured.

Horsley said that when looking back at 2025, it will become clear that the market has actually been in a bear phase since February, masked only by persistent buying from corporate treasury programs. He believes all factors are aligning for a major market move in 2026.

Darknet 'Silk Road'-linked wallets transfer $3.14 million in BTC to unknown address after ten years of dormancy

According to The Block, hundreds of cryptocurrency wallets linked to the darknet marketplace Silk Road were reactivated on Tuesday after more than a decade of inactivity, transferring $3.14 million worth of BTC to an unknown address.

Data from Arkham Intelligence shows approximately 312 wallets associated with the defunct Silk Road marketplace collectively transferred BTC to the address "bc1q…ga54." The reason for the reactivation remains unclear. As of now, Silk Road-linked wallets still hold around $41.3 million in BTC. In January, Coinbase director Conor Grogan stated on X that he had identified about $47 million worth of BTC linked to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.

Earlier this year, former U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order granting clemency to Ulbricht, who is serving a prison sentence.

He Yi: Will airdrop BNB to users who incurred losses due to WeChat account hack

Binance co-founder Yi He recently had her WeChat account compromised, leading some users who trusted posts in her feed to purchase a meme coin and suffer losses. Yi He has announced she will personally distribute a certain amount of BNB to compensate users who traded the meme coin via Binance’s keyless wallet or Alpha platform during the period of account compromise and incurred losses. The airdrop will be completed within 24 hours.

Strategy responds to MSCI proposal excluding DAT from index: Formally requests MSCI withdraw proposal

Strategy has submitted a response to MSCI’s consultation on digital asset treasuries, formally requesting that MSCI withdraw the proposal. The organization argues the proposal is arbitrary, discriminatory, unworkable, contrary to U.S. policy, and would stifle innovation. Strategy emphasized that Digital Asset Treasury companies (DATs) are operating businesses, not investment funds, and index standards should remain neutral, consistent, and reflective of global market trends.

HashKey Holdings IPO in final stage, public offering oversubscribed nearly 148x

HashKey Holdings (stock code: 03887), parent company of Hong Kong-licensed virtual asset exchange HashKey Exchange soon to list on HKEX, continues to attract strong market interest. Its international placement has already been oversubscribed, drawing participation from long-term investors including global and Chinese institutional funds.

Demand from the public offering segment has also been robust. According to latest data from multiple brokers as of press time, total subscription funds borrowed through brokerage channels have reached approximately HK$24.898 billion. Based on the public tranche fundraising target of HK$167 million, this represents initial oversubscription of about 148.91 times, reflecting strong investor enthusiasm.

HashKey Holdings' IPO subscription period will close on December 12.

Crypto AI platform Surf raises $15 million, led by Pantera Capital

According to Fortune, AI platform Surf has announced a $15 million funding round led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Digital Currency Group.

Founded by Ryan Li, Surf aims to solve the "hallucination" issues prevalent in mainstream AI platforms like ChatGPT when handling cryptocurrency information. The platform launched in invite-only mode in July and opened to the public in September. It now has over 300,000 users and has generated more than 1 million search results.

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