ChainCatcher news, Deutsche Bank released a report on this week's FOMC meeting, stating that the Federal Reserve meeting reinforced our fundamental view that the skip (rate cut) in January may turn into an extended pause (rate cut) in 2025. We continue to believe that the nominal neutral rate is around 3.75%, and the committee needs to maintain a restrictive stance relative to that level. Therefore, we reiterate our view that the federal funds rate may remain above 4% next year, with the baseline being no further rate cuts. The report also noted that some Federal Reserve participants have begun to incorporate the potential economic impact of President-elect Trump's policies into their forecasts, which could lead to higher inflation projections for 2025 and 2026. Regarding the labor market, Powell described it as solid but pointed out that the current level of job creation is below what is needed to maintain a stable unemployment rate. (Jin Shi)

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, German financial giant Deutsche Bank is developing an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain network based on ZKsync technology. The project aims to address the compliance challenges of public blockchains in regulated finance by improving transaction efficiency and enhancing regulatory compliance.This development is part of the Project Guardian initiative promoted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Deutsche Bank's L2 network is named Project Dama 2. The project brings together 24 financial institutions to explore the possibilities of tokenizing blockchain assets.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank launched a test version of its asset servicing pilot project Dama 2 in November. The platform includes Layer 2 access to Ethereum and aims to address the regulatory challenges financial institutions face when attempting to use public blockchains, such as the risk of inadvertently transacting with criminals or sanctioned entities.Dama 2 is part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Project Guardian, which involves 24 major financial institutions testing methods for tokenizing assets using blockchain technology. The Dama 2 platform was developed in collaboration with crypto companies Memento Blockchain Pte. and Interop Labs, built using ZKsync technology. The bank hopes to launch it as a minimum viable product (MVP) next year after obtaining regulatory approval.

ChainCatcher news, according to Solid Intel, Crypto.com announced a partnership with Deutsche Bank to provide corporate banking services in Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong. The two parties plan to further expand the scope of cooperation in the future.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, Trump has promised to implement comprehensive tariffs on imported goods upon returning to the White House. During his first term, Federal Reserve staff simulated a similar scenario and concluded that inflation would accelerate but would not last long. Ultimately, they determined that tariffs were a drag on the economy and recommended lowering interest rates as the best remedy.However, there are two main obstacles to taking this approach now. First, the Federal Reserve has not fully overcome the post-pandemic price increase issue. Second, the Federal Reserve has faced severe criticism for describing that price increase as "transitory." Therefore, Powell and his colleagues are least willing to downplay the price surge, believing it will not be persistent.Justin Weder, an economist at Deutsche Bank in the U.S., stated, "Even a price increase viewed as transitory could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, or at least keep them on the sidelines, preventing them from cutting rates significantly as they originally hoped. They must acknowledge the actual inflation rate. Perhaps they can avoid terms like 'transitory' or 'temporary' and instead say something like 'inflation is rising due to tariff effects,' clearly indicating that this is a result of tariffs and not necessarily demand-driven."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptonews, blockchain payment company Partior has completed a $80 million Series B funding round, with Deutsche Bank joining as a new investor. This funding round was initially launched in July 2024, with investors including Peak XV Partners, JPMorgan, Jump Trading Group, Standard Chartered, Temasek, and Valor Capital Group.Partior was founded in 2021, supported by financial institutions such as DBS Bank and JPMorgan. The company provides real-time clearing and settlement services through its blockchain platform, aiming to address the sequential processing issues in traditional payment systems. Patricia Sullivan, Global Head of Institutional Cash Management at Deutsche Bank, stated that as the largest euro clearing bank, the bank plans to join the Partior platform as a euro and dollar settlement bank.The funds will be used to strengthen Partior's global expansion and develop new features such as intraday foreign exchange swaps. Notably, Deutsche Bank has been increasing its investment in the cryptocurrency sector in recent years, having applied for a digital asset custody license from German financial regulators in June 2023.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jin10, Deutsche Bank's head of currency research George Saravelos stated that the market previously believed that the impact of Trump's election as president was somewhat priced in before he took office, but in fact, the market's pricing of the Trump effect has not been excessive at all.He explained: "In our model, the dollar's safe-haven premium is only 3%, while during the first trade war it was as high as 10%. The bottom line is that the market's pricing of the Trump effect has not been excessive at all."

ChainCatcher news, according to Ledger Insights, UBS and Deutsche Bank announced that as part of the European Central Bank's wholesale DLT settlement experiment, the two parties simulated tokenized deposit payments between banks.The Bundesbank's Trigger solution enables blockchain-based systems to connect to the Trigger Chain, allowing payments to be initiated in central bank money on the Target2 payment system. In terms of tokenized deposits, tokens are destroyed on the sending blockchain and minted at the receiving bank.A total of two experiments were conducted, one involving time-sensitive euro payments. The second simulated transactions in pounds and Swiss francs between Deutsche Bank's London branch and UBS Group in Switzerland, with these transactions settled in euros.

ChainCatcher news, Deutsche Bank Asset Management analyst Johannes Müller stated in a webinar that the decline in inflation in the Eurozone next year should enable the European Central Bank to further cut interest rates.The chief economist of Deutsche Bank Asset Management mentioned that the company expects the European Central Bank to cut rates five more times, once in December, and then four more times before the third quarter of 2025. Deutsche Bank Asset Management predicts that the inflation rate will drop to 2.0% in 2025, down from 2.3% in 2024. However, due to strong wage growth and inflation in service prices, core inflation may still remain elevated.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, Trump will appoint Musk (along with Ramaswamy) to lead the new Office of Government Efficiency. Musk announced during the campaign that he would cut U.S. federal spending by $2 trillion (nearly one-third). Ulrich Leuchtmann, head of foreign exchange and commodity research at Deutsche Bank, pointed out that this would have catastrophic consequences for the U.S. economy: "Musk does not believe in gradual and cautious approaches. I do not believe he can take a wise step.Some may say that their suggestions would only be suggestions, with the president and Congress in front during actual implementation. But if the suggestions are not going to be implemented, then why establish such an agency? The president would appear indecisive, which is exactly what Trump does not want to see.Using a radical austerity plan to create a bullish argument for the dollar is very clever, as it will significantly reduce the capital needs of the U.S. Treasury, thereby lowering the capital needs of the entire economy. U.S. government bonds will become scarce and expensive again. However, I believe that the dollar may initially be influenced by the inevitable expansionary monetary policy response."

ChainCatcher message, Deutsche Bank stated in a report that the Bank of England released cautious signals regarding future interest rate cuts on Thursday, indicating a positive outlook for the pound in the coming months. Analyst Michael Pfizer said that the Bank of England is unlikely to cut rates in December, as it has raised its inflation expectations for 2025-26 and economic growth expectations for 2025.The Bank of England has "clearly" taken into account the UK's recent budget, which may be more expansionary in the short term than previously expected. "This suggests that the Bank of England will continue to cut rates at a much slower pace than the European Central Bank, while the growth rate of the UK economy may be much faster than that of the Eurozone."

ChainCatcher message, Deutsche Bank stated that despite recent polls leaning towards a Trump victory, market pricing remains cautious. Although there is discussion in the market about the "Trump trade," the extent of market pricing for a Trump victory is still quite cautious.Deutsche Bank illustrates this through the dollar in the foreign exchange market and a basket of S&P 500 companies that are most sensitive to tariffs. They believe that the euro to dollar exchange rate fell from 1.12 to 1.09 mainly due to a repricing of expectations for the Federal Reserve following the release of strong U.S. employment data. They also pointed out that the stock prices of the basket of S&P 500 companies sensitive to tariffs have been trading sideways, only recently starting to perform poorly, which aligns with the recent polling trends. Deutsche Bank wrote, "The market has begun to price in an increased probability of a Trump victory, but the extent of this impact on market pricing remains quite small."

ChainCatcher message, regarding Zhu Su's previous post involving Arthur Hayes, Arthur Hayes responded to Zhu Su saying: "The only true information in your post is that both of us worked at Deutsche Bank. When you are ready to cooperate with the BVI liquidators, please do so as soon as possible and stop making creditors pay legal fees. BitMEX will accept the court's decision as appropriate, but I will not engage in backdoor dealings as you did with CoinFlex, Hodlenaught, Ox, etc."It is reported that Zhu Su previously stated that most of the work he did was for Arthur Hayes, and that the two worked together at the same bank counter at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, possibly having two or three dozen close mutual friends. Zhu Su claimed to have provided many collaboration opportunities to Arthur Hayes, leading many creditors who incurred losses to seize these opportunities. Earlier this year, after Arthur Hayes indicated that this affected his ability to conduct business, Zhu Su withdrew the Expedited Protection Order against Arthur Hayes.

According to ChainCatcher news reported by The Block, Deutsche Bank will provide Keyrock with multi-currency accounts and foreign exchange services, enabling the digital asset company to optimize and expand its market-making and over-the-counter trading services. By integrating services into a single entity, Keyrock can reduce its counterparty and settlement risks, allowing Keyrock to expand its business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia-Pacific (APAC), and Latin America (LATAM).

ChainCatcher message, the interest rate strategist at Deutsche Bank stated that as long as the non-farm data generally aligns with a soft landing, the Federal Reserve does not seem to face pressure to cut rates by another 50 basis points. The strong demand for safe-haven assets due to recent geopolitical tensions has also subsided.

ChainCatcher news, Crypto Finance, a subsidiary of Germany's largest stock exchange operator, has signed an agreement with Commerzbank (CBK) to provide trading services for the bank's corporate clients. Two weeks ago, the bank also reached a similar agreement with Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) in Switzerland.Commerzbank (the second largest bank in Germany by number of branches) will provide custody services. The trading services offered by the subsidiary of Deutsche Börse will be aimed at German clients, initially focusing on trading the two largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Deutsche Bank conducted a survey of 4,850 consumers in Europe, the UK, and the US in March this year. The survey results indicate that cash will not disappear anytime soon. Most respondents stated that they prefer to use debit or credit cards over CBDCs, with 44% of respondents indicating that they would rather use cash than central bank digital currencies.Only 16% of respondents believe that CBDCs will become mainstream, 31% prefer to use cryptocurrencies managed by central banks or governments, while only 21% indicated that they would choose to use private cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC).

ChainCatcher news, Deutsche Bank market strategist Jim Reid stated in a report that the magnitude of the Federal Reserve's first rate cut will influence the overall rate cuts this year. If the Federal Reserve cuts rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, Deutsche Bank expects the Fed's forecast to indicate a total rate cut of 75 basis points for the year. If the Fed opts for a 50 basis point cut, they anticipate a total cut of 100 basis points by the end of the year. According to Refinitiv data, it remains uncertain how much the Fed will cut rates this week, with the money market estimating a 59% chance of a 50 basis point cut and a 41% chance of a 25 basis point cut. (Jin Ten)

ChainCatcher news, Lutz Karl, head of European operations at JPMorgan Chase, stated in an interview with Reuters that the group aims to expand its corporate banking business in Switzerland and hopes to offer blockchain services to clients.Lutz Karl pointed out that JPMorgan plans to expand its Swiss operations over the next 3 to 5 years, aiming to become one of the foreign banks with the largest market share in the region, alongside Deutsche Bank, Citibank, HSBC, and BNP Paribas. (Hong Kong Economic Journal)