ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg citing informed sources, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is exploring raising $1 billion in debt financing ahead of a potential IPO. The sources said the company is working with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase on this plan, which is still in its early stages. Any debt raised will be used to drive company growth rather than for operational needs, with a minimum of $200 million to be raised.Another informed source stated that, in addition to debt financing, Kraken is also considering equity financing. No final decision has been made yet, and terms such as the scale of financing may still change. Representatives from Kraken, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase declined to comment.

ChainCatcher news, according to Wall Street Journal reporter and "Fed whisperer" Nick Timiraos, Federal Reserve officials will consider adjusting their $6.8 trillion asset reduction policy. For the past three years, the Fed has been reducing its holdings of U.S. Treasury and mortgage-backed securities accumulated during previous stimulus programs, including measures to stabilize the market during the pandemic in 2020.Currently, the Fed may choose to pause or slow down this tapering process. This move aims to avoid a repeat of the situation in 2019, when balance sheet reduction led to stress in the overnight funding market, forcing the Fed to pivot and expand its holdings.Roberto Perli, the executive in charge of overseeing the balance sheet at the New York Fed, stated this month that pausing the tapering would be a "tactical decision" that "would not change the ultimate goal." RBC Capital Markets interest rate strategist Blake Gwinn pointed out that pausing the tapering makes sense because "the debt ceiling will distort these signals."Currently, the Fed allows up to $25 billion in Treasuries and $35 billion in mortgage-backed securities to mature each month without reinvestment. As holdings decrease, bank reserves also decline. However, the debt ceiling issue could interfere with this process, as the Fed is also the government's banker.Analysts expect that the Fed may pause the tapering for several months until the debt ceiling is raised and the Treasury rebuilds its cash balance before resuming. Gwinn stated that if the economy worsens, this "pause" could also turn into a "stop," prompting officials to terminate this form of policy tightening.

ChainCatcher news, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis stated, "The Bitcoin bill is the solution to our nation's debt problem and the future of prosperity for America."

ChainCatcher news, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated on social media that Tether is "helping to secure U.S. debt."Currently, most of Tether's (USDT) issued reserves are backed by U.S. Treasury bonds, and the market generally believes that the scale of its holdings has reached tens of billions of dollars, making it one of the important buyers of U.S. short-term Treasury bonds.

ChainCatcher news, Framework Ventures co-founder Vance Spencer posted on the X platform that the upcoming stablecoin legislation may restrict international centralized stablecoin issuers' access to the U.S. Treasury market.He believes this is an attempt by domestic interest groups to push regulatory capture, which could undermine the dollar's hegemonic status globally and exacerbate the U.S. debt issue.Spencer emphasized that the largest demand for stablecoins today comes from overseas, and continuing a hostile regulatory stance could lead to the U.S. losing its dominant position in the stablecoin industry.

ChainCatcher news, according to official Aave announcements, the Aave v3.3 version upgrade developed by BGD Labs has officially launched. This upgrade mainly optimizes the bad debt handling and liquidation mechanism, paving the way for the upcoming Umbrella security system.The Umbrella system will replace the existing Safety Module, introducing an automated mechanism that allows users to stake aTokens to earn rewards while absorbing protocol bad debts without the need for governance voting intervention. This system is only open to users without borrowing positions, aiming to enhance the protocol's security, especially to better protect user assets from the impact of bad debts during market volatility.

ChainCatcher message, VanEck's latest research indicates that by 2029, a Bitcoin strategic reserve of $1 million in BTC could offset approximately $21 trillion of U.S. national debt.

ChainCatcher news, U.S. President Trump stated that he is considering distributing 20% of the funds saved by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to Americans, with 20% allocated for debt repayment.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, data analytics company Inca Digital released an investigation report stating that one or more scammers used AI deepfake technology to hide their identities during video calls, successfully defrauding at least $5.6 million by selling fake FTX bankruptcy claims.It is reported that the scammers presented real claim data and forged proof of address in Singapore, with the victims including at least two unnamed companies. Inca Digital CEO Adam Zarazinski stated that the involved funds have been laundered through non-U.S. exchanges, including Binance.

According to ChainCatcher news, Metaplanet announced that the company has raised 4 billion yen through its sixth public bond issuance (0% interest rate, unsecured, and unguaranteed) and has adjusted the originally planned use of funds.Before Adjustment of Fund Usage:• 111.31 billion yen for Bitcoin purchases• 5 billion yen for Bitcoin yield businessAfter Adjustment of Fund Usage:• 4 billion yen for bond repayment (February to August 2025)• 107.31 billion yen for Bitcoin purchases (February 2025 to February 2027)• 5 billion yen for Bitcoin yield business (February to December 2025)The company stated that this move aims to optimize fund management, reduce foreign exchange and interest rate risks, while continuing to treat Bitcoin as a core reserve asset.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Avalon Labs is actively exploring the application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the industry's first Bitcoin collateralized debt obligation (CDO) listed fund, aiming to promote the compliance and popularization of Bitcoin financial products. Avalon Labs stated that this initiative is expected to lower the barriers for Bitcoin financial products to enter the mass market, providing a new pathway for the crypto industry to move towards the mainstream financial system.The co-founder of Avalon Labs successfully issued a dollar-denominated CDO listed fund approved by the SEC in 2021 and has since researched the feasibility of crypto companies issuing listed funds for several years. Avalon Labs indicated that it plans to collaborate with top U.S. law firms to assess the compliance framework for the fund and prepare the relevant application materials. If everything goes smoothly, the fund is expected to become an important milestone for Bitcoin financial products entering the traditional capital market, further promoting the development of crypto assets within a compliant framework.

ChainCatcher news, Cynthia Lummis, the proposer of the "Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Act" and chair of the Senate Banking Committee's Digital Assets Subcommittee, stated, "If we use 5% of the total supply of Bitcoin (about 1 million Bitcoins) to establish reserves, then the U.S. debt could be reduced by half over the next 20 years."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptoslate, the decentralized credit protocol Maple reported that during the market crash on February 2, platform users' positions were not liquidated, and no bad debts were incurred. The report noted that users avoided liquidation by depositing an additional $10 million in margin.On that day, the price of Ethereum briefly fell to $2,000, with mainstream cryptocurrencies generally dropping by 10% to 30%, leading to over $10 billion in positions being liquidated. Maple's "blue-chip" and "high-yield secured loan" products maintained over-collateralization throughout the volatility, thanks to additional margin calls before the collateral threshold. During the liquidation period on February 2, the high-yield secured fund pool attracted $2 million in inflows.The Syrup fund pool combines two strategies to enhance yield, issuing additional margin calls on 35% of loans, with new deposits of $5 million, borrowers adding $7.4 million in collateral and repaying corresponding loans, stabilizing the Maple loan book. As of February 6, the average collateralization ratio across the fund pools was 165%, and the treasury achieved double-digit annual returns.

ChainCatcher news reports that several banks completed a $5.5 billion bond sale on Wednesday backed by Elon Musk's social media company X. These banks initially planned to sell about $3 billion in bonds at a price of approximately 95 cents on the dollar.According to insiders, they expanded the deal after seeing investor demand. Ultimately, investors agreed to purchase the loans at a price of 97 cents on the dollar. The interest rate on these floating-rate bonds is about 11%, which is several percentage points higher than the riskiest loans on Wall Street.The sale of X company's bonds demonstrates the strong investment enthusiasm that has swept Wall Street since Trump's election in November. Given Musk's close relationship with President Trump and his growing influence since the election, investors are eager to bet on Musk.

ChainCatcher news, MicroStrategy is seeking to hire a new Director of Capital Markets, who will be responsible for leading all aspects of financial and capital market activities, including equity, convertible debt, and preferred stock issuance.The position involves close collaboration with senior leadership and cross-functional teams to execute financing plans, optimize the balance sheet, and ensure compliance with company policies. The ideal candidate should have experience in capital markets, structured finance, investment banking, private equity, or public equity investing, and possess a strong interest and understanding of Bitcoin.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, Elon Musk, who leads the U.S. government's efficiency department "DOGE," recently outlined a blueprint for significant cuts to U.S. spending and regulations, including the abolition of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Musk stated in an X Spaces audio conference that a thorough cleanup of U.S. regulations is needed, revealing that his team is pushing to close this foreign aid agency established by U.S. Congress, which would be the largest reduction plan to date.Additionally, Musk announced that he will have a dialogue with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon this week, attempting to persuade the bond market that his "DOGE" cost-cutting plan can enhance market confidence in U.S. debt. Any signs of significant spending cuts and improvements in the fiscal deficit are good news for investors betting on a decline in U.S. Treasury yields. This nearly hour-long audio discussion was Musk's first detailed talk about the "DOGE plan" since Trump's election victory, with participation from Republican Senators Joni Ernst, Mike Lee, and former "DOGE" co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy in this free discussion.Analysts believe that Musk's intensive actions two weeks before Trump's administration indicate that the authority of "DOGE" has far exceeded the scope of the executive order that created the department—this order only required it to "improve government efficiency and productivity by upgrading federal technology software."

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, THORChain governance proposal No. 6 has been approved by a majority of validators, aimed at addressing the platform's nearly $200 million debt crisis. According to the proposal, THORChain will convert the defaulted debt into equity by issuing equity tokens TCY (Thorchain Yield).The total supply of TCY is 200 million tokens, distributed to creditors at a rate of 1 TCY = 1 USD, with holders permanently enjoying 10% of THORChain's revenue sharing rights. To ensure the liquidity of TCY, the core team will draw $5 million from the treasury to establish a RUNE/TCY liquidity pool at a price of $0.1 per token, with initial liquidity of $500,000.Previously, due to uncertain financial conditions, THORChain suspended THORFi services, including "savings and lending," on January 23 and initiated a 90-day restructuring plan.