● Ark Invest report: Bitcoin's unused supply hits a record high in a year, and investor confidence increases

Nearly 70% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply has not been moved in at least a year, according to a new report from asset management firm Ark Invest, suggesting a strengthening base of holders and confidence among long-term Bitcoin investors.

Ark reports that OTC Bitcoin balances reached a one-year high in June, and by the end of the quarter, OTC Bitcoin balances had increased by 60%. The rise indicates that institutions and large capital allocators are paying more and more attention to Bitcoin as an investment option.

● Animoca continues to increase its investment in blockchain games and is waiting for the approval of the Metaverse Fund

According to Cointelegraph, Animoca co-founder Yat Siu expressed optimism about blockchain games and explained the latest situation of its Metaverse Fund. Animoca originally planned to set up a Metaverse Fund of US$2 billion in November 2022, but was forced to reduce it to US$1 billion in January according to the 2023 report. In March, anonymous sources pointed out that the fund was further reduced to US$800 million. Yat Siu said the company is still waiting for a license before it can start investing funds.

Yat Siu expects AAA blockchain games to be launched by the end of 2024, marking a shift in attention, capital and talent from mainstream games to the industry.

● The New York Fed and Wells Fargo Bank successfully tested the "Regulated Accountability Network" using distributed ledger technology

According to The Block, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and several large US banks including Wells Fargo and Citi reported that an experiment using distributed ledger technology to conduct domestic and international payments between different financial institutions has been successful. The payment system, called the "Regulated Accountability Network," has achieved success in five aspects: programmability, privacy, interoperability with other wholesale payment systems, all-day and weekly availability, and settlement speed.

Participants include Citibank, Bank of New York Mellon, HSBC, PNC Bank, TD Bank, Truist, U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo, Mastercard, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Swift, an international payments messaging system. The project uses only a private distributed ledger for the U.S. dollar, and no external digital assets, including stablecoins, are used in the proof-of-concept program.

● Report: Bitcoin miners’ transaction fee income in Q2 reached $184 million, a 270% increase from the previous quarter

As Bitcoin prices soared and BRC-20 tokens became popular, Bitcoin miners earned $184 million from transaction fees in the second quarter, far exceeding their revenue in the entire 2022, Cointelegraph reported.

According to a July 5 report from cryptocurrency analytics platform Coin Metrics, this figure represents an increase of more than 270% from the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter to exceed $100 million since the second quarter of 2021. However, it is worth noting that transaction fees only accounted for 7.7% of the total miners’ revenue of $2.4 billion this quarter.

● Tether CTO: Tether Gold does not compete with Bitcoin but with legal tender

Paolo Ardoino, Tether's chief technology officer, tweeted that the Tether Gold token, which is backed by physical gold, is not competing with Bitcoin, but with fiat currency. Bitcoin is the best currency ever created by mankind, but not everyone is ready to understand Bitcoin, so Tether Gold may be the first step to more easily abandon fiat currency and enter a new digital paradigm.

● The probability of the Fed raising interest rates by 25 basis points in July is 92.4%

According to CME Fed Watch, the probability of the Fed raising interest rates by 25 basis points to the range of 5.25%-5.50% in July is 92.4%, and the probability of pausing interest rate hikes is 7.6%. The Fed will announce its July interest rate decision on July 27, after which Fed Chairman Powell will hold a monetary policy press conference.

● Dallas Fed President Logan: The economy is unexpectedly strong and further interest rate hikes are needed

According to Jinshi.com, Dallas Fed President Logan said there is a case for raising interest rates at the June policy meeting, a reiteration of her view that further rate hikes are needed to cool the still-strong economy. She said: "It is entirely appropriate to raise the interest rate range at the June meeting, which is consistent with the data we have seen in recent months and the Fed's dual mandate goals."

Logan noted that projections released at the June FOMC meeting showed more rate hikes were expected, and said it was "important for the FOMC to follow through on the signal we sent in June," adding that "two-thirds of FOMC meeting participants expected at least two more rate hikes this year."

"I remain very concerned about whether inflation can return to target levels in a sustainable and timely manner," Logan said. "The prospect of persistently above-target inflation and a stronger-than-expected job market requires a more restrictive monetary policy."

● Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission will change its view on security tokens and have the opportunity to open them to retail investors

According to BlockBeats, Huang Lexin, head of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission's fintech group, said in an interview with blockchain analysis company Elliptic that the SFC will soon issue an update notice to change the view on STO four years ago (2019). Securities Tokens (security tokens) or RWAs (physical assets) will not be defined as complex products and have the opportunity to be open to retail investors. In addition, RWAs will be regulated based on the underlying assets. For example, if the tokenized asset is a bond, it will be regulated in the form of a bond.

● The UAE’s combined Bitcoin mining power is about 400 MW, accounting for 4% of the world’s total

According to Cointelegraph, the combined Bitcoin mining power of the United Arab Emirates is estimated to be about 400 MW, accounting for 4% of Bitcoin's global computing power. The Middle East has become a popular region favored by cryptocurrency companies and supporting Web3. The UAE has 30 free trade zones. Although countries such as the United States, China, Russia, and Kazakhstan are the four countries with the highest share of global Bitcoin computing power, its share of computing power is likely to gradually climb due to the resources provided by the UAE.

● The European Commission’s Metaverse Strategy, originally scheduled to be released next week, will be postponed

According to CoinDesk, the European Commission’s strategy on the metaverse was originally scheduled to be released next week, but it was delayed and will not have substantive legal binding force. This strategy may point out the future direction of how the metaverse will deal with policy issues such as property rights, technical standards and privacy.