ChainCatcher news, CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju posted on social media, "Since the invention of the internet, social media's influence on financial markets has increasingly taken on a religious tone. Elon Musk's Tesla, Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin, and various crypto communities are typical examples.The role of the 'prophet' in religion plays a crucial role in driving asset prices up. Prophets endlessly expand their thoughts about the future, often perceived to have reached a state of enlightenment, and this perceived enlightenment generates blind faith. This faith leads to the formation of religious communities that share the same beliefs. The stronger the followers' faith within the community, the more legitimate the asset is considered, even if it does not generate profits or create social value. This is a stunning phenomenon.Investors must now pay attention to the impact of social media on investment decisions. When evaluating a publicly traded company or token project, it is essential to consider whether there is an influential 'prophet' on social media and how strong their followers' faith is.Companies are rushing to enter social media, trying to form religious communities filled with blind faith. However, not everyone can become a prophet. Most fail to attract followers. Especially in the crypto space, if internal efforts to expand influence fail, they may externally hire Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to create false faith. Only a very few projects have succeeded in this regard.The influence of social media on financial markets will continue to grow. As communities are made up of people, this religious tone will deepen. I believe that understanding how religion operates will help in understanding the future of financial markets."

ChainCatcher news, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, chaired the fourth meeting of the Financial Technology Project Execution Coordination Group. He stated that the Hong Kong government and financial regulatory bodies have been strongly supporting the development of financial technology, including improving financial infrastructure, building a more vibrant fintech ecosystem, nurturing fintech talent, and facilitating discussions among participants on various aspects of fintech, including how to further integrate virtual assets into mainstream financial markets and the application of artificial intelligence in Hong Kong's financial markets. Cyberport and the Financial Management Bureau reported on the green and sustainable fintech concept validation testing funding scheme, as well as the latest developments in the wholesale central bank digital currency project Ensemble.

ChainCatcher news, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) announced that it has joined "Project Guardian," led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, to explore broader channels for acquiring tokenized real-world assets in the financial markets.ANZ stated in a release that it is collaborating with Chainlink Labs and ADDX to experiment with interoperability between private blockchains for the exchange of tokenized real-world assets such as commercial paper.Project Guardian, launched in 2022, is a public-private tokenization collaboration aimed at testing the tokenization of real-world assets. Participating entities include the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Switzerland's Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA), as well as financial institutions like Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, and Apollo. The project is exploring tokenization in the fixed income, wealth management, and foreign exchange sectors.

ChainCatcher news, data released on Thursday showed that the U.S. economy once again highlighted unexpected resilience, alleviating market concerns about the economy. At the same time, boosted by China's unexpected policy package, global financial markets surged.According to 4E observation, the three major U.S. stock indices rose, with the S&P 500 index closing up 0.40%, setting a new historical high; the Dow Jones rose 0.62%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.60%. Chinese concept stocks surged, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index up 10.9%. Non-U.S. currencies rose broadly, while the yen resumed its downward trend; cryptocurrencies rose across the board, with Bitcoin up 2.56%, breaking through $65,000, and Ethereum up 0.96%.Gold, silver, and copper all soared, as major central banks like the U.S. and China cut interest rates, coupled with ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Spot gold's intraday gains expanded to 1%, once again setting a new historical high, with nearly a 30% increase this year; under China's stimulus policies, silver, a key industrial material, rose over 2.5%, reaching a 12-year high, and has increased 37% year-to-date.With global central banks cutting interest rates in succession and China's "policy package" igniting global optimism, combined with resilient U.S. economic data, investors' risk appetite has risen. 4E is a financial trading platform supporting assets such as cryptocurrencies, stock indices, bulk gold, and foreign exchange. This Friday evening, the U.S. core PCE price index will be released, providing further key clues for the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts. 4E reminds you to pay attention to market volatility risks and to allocate assets reasonably.

ChainCatcher news, Federated Hermes Senior Portfolio Manager for Global Equities Lewis Grant stated that as the U.S. election approaches, financial markets may continue to be volatile due to the uncertainty surrounding the election results. He mentioned that the first presidential debate between Democratic candidate Harris and Republican candidate Trump provided little substantive policy clarification, "the uncertainty surrounding which candidate's economic agenda will take effect— and even what those agendas are— will affect market sentiment."Federated Hermes expects that market volatility will further intensify ahead of the Federal Reserve's meeting next week and the U.S. election. "In the short term, the market will react quickly to changes in the U.S. election and macro outlook." (Jin Shi)

ChainCatcher news, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes posted on X that the first wave of shocks in the financial markets has passed, and now we are waiting for the issues of over-leveraged investors in the traditional financial sector to emerge.He anticipates that the second wave of shocks is about to begin and hinted that if a market rescue is to occur, the market may need to undergo more adjustments before this Friday. The current respite is only temporary, and market volatility will continue.

ChainCatcher news: The Japanese Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Japan, and the Financial Services Agency will hold a meeting at 3 PM local time to discuss the international financial markets (Jin Ten).

ChainCatcher news, Premier Miton Group's Chief Investment Officer in London, Neil Birrell, stated that the UK has finally cut interest rates. The Bank of England has shifted from worrying about inflation to worrying about economic growth, although they will certainly be cautious about further rate cuts and cannot allow the bond market to develop overly high expectations too soon. However, this is an important move, and so far, only the United States has not joined the global rate cut trend. We may see financial markets further reflect the shift in the cycle overall, but there may be more within asset classes.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) stated in guidance released on Friday that stablecoin issuers operating in Switzerland pose risks to the banks they partner with.This is because these issuers accept deposits from the public and should be considered banks, but they avoid the requirement for a banking license by entering into agreements with registered lenders to repay customers in the event of default.FINMA stated in the guidance: "This poses risks to stablecoin holders and the banks providing default guarantees. If a stablecoin issuer engages in misconduct, the banks providing default guarantees may suffer reputational damage due to their contractual relationship with the issuer and may face legal risks."

ChainCatcher news, KPMG stated in a report that many forms of digital currencies, such as Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), tokenized deposits, and stablecoins, are expected to coexist in the financial markets over the next decade. These digital currencies are not a single dominant choice; although their usage may overlap, the report predicts that users will lean towards the most efficient and automated solutions.

ChainCatcher news, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino posted on the X platform that Tether may invest significant resources to establish a P2P financial market terminal based on Holepunch technology. As humanity enjoys the pleasure of breaking free from monopolistic intermediaries in payments, we can also achieve the same results in the financial market data infrastructure. Any trading platform in the world will maximize its own data revenue while maintaining direct control over its use. The financial market will thus become more resilient, and the world may become a better place.Holepunch is a Web3 development platform backed by investments from Tether, Bitfinex, and Hypercore. Holepunch aims to build a new generation of internet layers and applications to promote the development of P2P technology. The Holepunch development team also plans to apply its technology to other areas, such as P2P encrypted communication applications.

ChainCatcher message, the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) reminds the public to remain highly vigilant regarding investment advice from BYBIT. BYBIT is not authorized to provide digital asset services in France, and the AMF may take legal action to block the website. The AMF points out that BYBIT has been blacklisted since May 20, 2022, for failing to comply with current French regulations.It is reported that BYBIT operates elsewhere, having obtained a minimum viable product (MVP) preparatory license issued by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the EU financial market regulators released the first final report on the rules under the landmark Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) on Monday, along with a third consultation document package.The report from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) continues last year's round of consultations, which included proposals for the information that regulators will require companies to provide for authorization. The report also includes the requirements for companies to establish the provision of crypto services and the intention to acquire crypto assets, as well as how service providers should handle complaints.

ChainCatcher news, according to the official announcement from MicroStrategy, the company will release its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2023 after the close of the U.S. financial markets on February 6.